We're hearing that a fine artist and a fine gentleman, Jim Silke, has passed. No cause is yet known but he was 93. Jim's long career moved from trying to draw comics to work as a graphic designer, then back to comics, particularly of the "glamour" variety. Much of his graphic design work was on record albums for Capitol Records and he was a multiple Grammy Award nominee and one-time winner in the category of "Best Recording Package." The time he won, it was for this record…
I took Stan Freberg to a WonderCon in San Francisco one year and Jim asked me if I'd introduce him to Stan. Jim had worked on several of Stan's records for Capitol and they'd never met. It was a very pleasant meeting for both men with lots of compliments exchanged.
Later in life, Jim pursued his personal muse and drew many comics — that's why he was at WonderCon — and became a close and treasured friend to many in the field. Dave Stevens never felt his work was complete until he'd shown it to Jim and received a thumbs-up, and once I saw them spent twenty minutes discussing the way Dave had drawn Bettie Page's foot. The two of them were the experts at drawing the lovely Ms. Page.
Jim was liked and respected by everyone who knew him. Here are a few of the comics he did…
