Good Girl Artist

Dan DeCarlo was a lovely man who drew lovely women. Many of them were for Archie where, though he didn't invent the house art style, he still managed to become the guy everyone else looked at to see how to do it. And beyond the staggering quantity of work he did for that company, he also managed to do a staggering quantity for other publishers and even for men's magazines and other venues.

A bountiful sampling of his work is on display in the just-released volume, The Art of Dan DeCarlo, written by my friend (and more importantly, Dan's friend) Bill Morrison. A lot of books about great comic artists are labors of love and this one sure qualifies. Bill had unlimited access to Dan's widow and personal collection…and Bill already had a great collection of DeCarlo work from which to draw. Beyond the art, he tells the story of Dan's life — triumphs and tragedies, both — with passion and accuracy. This one has our highest recommendation so here's an Amazon link to get one.