The Classic Pin Up Art of Jack Cole
Edited by: Alex Chun
Fantagraphics Books
Jack Cole (1914 - 1958)
Review by Lando da Pimp

If there is one form of cartooning that I love, it's the Playboy magazine's cartoons of the busty pin-up art from the 50s and 60s. Today's cartoons are great but nobody did it better than Jack Cole.

Jack Cole began his career as a comic book artist in the 1940s. Cole's most notable creation was the character Plastic Man. After leaving the comic book world, Jack worked as a struggling freelance cartoonist.

Finding it hard to support himself, Cole began working with the Humorama line of digest magazines. This led Jack to becoming a single panel pin-up cartoonist leaving the multi-panel comic book pages. He also discovered his ability to render the female form leading him to work for Playboy magazine where he signed his cartoons "Jake."

Jack rose to prominence in the 1950s as Playboy's marquee cartoonist under the Playboy head Hugh Hefner. He held the position until his death at the age of 43.

A new book from Fantagraphics Books gives us a great collection of Jack's work. The book contains a foreword by editor Alex Chun, with a collection of work that has not seen print in more than 50 years. The cartoons may not be as graphic as the Playboy cartoons of today but the humor and classic pin-up drawings will be forever remembered.

Swing by Fantagraphics for more details.

Article ©2004 MillionairePlayboy.com