Friday Comic Book Day.
I have always found Ric Estrada to be a pretty cool artist.I know him best from his work for Warren and DC . He did do some stuff for EC as well, I believe for one of Harvey Kurzman's war books. But none of that is what makes him so cool - it's his autograph. Anyone with such a swinging ignature must be a fun guy.
His style is swinging as well. He is not as good as the great stylists of the late fifties, Alex Toth or Mort Meskin or Bernie Kigstein. But he has something of them all, the same love of bold chiascuro work, tempered by a solid understanding of anatomy. I have always suspected he must have had a real job on the side, seeing how little work he did. and indeed, he seems to hav elived and worked in Germany for a while in the sixties.
Here is some work of his I didn't know yet, for St. John's Teen-Age Romances. Stylish fun, I'd say.
