H.J. Ward
(2010 - Illustrated Press)

(by David Saunders) Three-quarters of a century after his early death, Ward still remains in the limelight, such as it is, as a result of his contribution to the pulp-magazine phenomenon, and, to only a slighter extent, his shaping of the visual presence of cultural radio icons The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. This book attempts to be both a gallery book and the sorely-needed biography of this artist. That comprehensiveness then makes this volume about half-again bigger than it should be for manageability. The many chapters are: Childhood, Education, The Inquirer, First Pulps, The Lone Ranger, WXYZ Radio, The Green Hornet, Ned Jordan, Superman, Midcareer, World War II, Pulp Checklist. You'll find here 138 pages that each sport a featured reproduction and another 89 that have multiple images share the page. You'll be surprised at the amount of original paintings that are presented, but admittedly the majority of the cover art is the high-quality presentation of the covers themselves. Some fans will be happy to know that each of the original cover paintings are accompanied nearby with a smaller presentation of that cover, as it was seen on the newsstand. A number of the large reproductions are examinations of excerpts blown-up even more. Two of those excerpt's are blown-up so big as to flow over the central gutter, but both do so in an acceptable fashion. The remaining pages are given over to more of the extensive text that strives to detail the shorter life of Ward (and also featured there happens to be an Thornton Oakley illustration of an art school they both shared).