Shell Game

Years ago I used to sell Brian Bolland’s art. Brian, besides being a very fine and meticulous artist, has a wry sense of humor. He’s also quite the Badminton player. Anyway, years ago we were talking and I complimented an Animal Man painting he had done, one that featured a beautiful portrait of a lobster. Brian thanked me for the compliment, as well as giving credit to his wife Rachel for assisting him on it; she excels at painting animals.

Brian went on to tell me that the comic the cover appeared on had a missive in the letters column (remember those?) from an irate reader. The fan was upset by acts of cruelty perpetrated on some creatures in an earlier issue. Apparently, from what Brian said, the editor replied a bit cheekily, “No animal was harmed in the production of this comic.” Brian then revealed, “That’s not entirely true. I went down to my local market, picked out a lobster, and they killed it for me.” Brian then took his newly acquired model home and set about to immortalize it. The cover took Brian a week to complete, at the end of which he had a lovely piece of art…and a rather rank crustacean.The cover in question--hopefully Brian didn’t go to similar lengths to ensure realism with all elements of the piece.