My friend Mark Brammeier recently turned me on to a fantastic new book about pulp artist and painter, Norman Saunders. He's most famous for painting images on Topps trading cards in the sixties and seventies - like Mars Attacks and Wackv Packages - but he produced masterpieces of consumable fun from the 1930's thru the 1980's, from pulps to comic book covers to baseball cards.
The Weird Wheels stickers were one of the last jobs he did, but they are full of groovy, ghouly, garish goodness! Half of the cards were painted by Gary Hallgren, but I can't tell the difference. You can see all the cards at:
You can look at the Weird Wheels sticker cards individually at:
http://www.bubblegum-cards.com/Weird-Wheels/index.html
Norman Saunders also painted the 1966 Batman cards for Topps
http://www.comiccovers.com/image.php?dir=Batman%201966%20Reissue%201989%20[DC-%20Topps]%20Card%20Set
Norman Saunders painted the classic Mars Attacks cards!
http://www.marsattacksfan.com/cards.htm
Civil War News Trading Cards
Painted by Norman Saunders
http://www.bubblegum-cards.com/Civil-War-News/index.html
Norman Saunders' life story is a riveting read.
You can read all about him in the new
biographical art book,
Norman Saunders, by his son David Saunders.
See a gallery of all the Norman Saunders cards at:
http://www.normansaunders.com/TOPPS.html
