Blog Archives
Shonen Jump
Shonen Jump, “The World’s Most Popular Manga”, was a monthly Americanized version of the original weekly Japanese Shonen Jump. The first American Issue (no. 0) came out in November 2002. The magazine featured around 6 different comics, each by a different artist with ongoing stories that continued from one issue to the next. Featured manga titles include Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, and Yu Yu Hakusho.
The library has a total of 98 Shonen Jump‘s (all but 2) from the first to the final issue.
Remember: manga reads from right to left!
The images that follow are all from the comic YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi, which centers around teenage rebel/gang member/punk Yusuke Urameshi.
The compositions, in fight scenes especially, are extremely dynamic, with onomatopoeia sprinkled all over the place (WHAM!):
The comic is graphically playful — many different textures (halftones, gradients, speckles, marble, probably achieved through Letratone) are juxtaposed side-by-side and flatten the image.
Togashi sometimes entirely changes his drawing style for a single panel and draws a character off-model for comedic or dramatic effect.
Airbrush Action
Since 1985 Airbrush Action has been teaching artists how to satisfy clients that go in for the Kenny Powers aesthetic. This fine magazine includes tips, tricks, step-by-step how-to’s, competitions, and interviews with airbrush artists. Seemingly every variety of airbrushed material is covered: t-shirts, cars, trucks, buses, helicopters, giant lobster statues, magazine ads, snowmobiles, pre-photoshop photo retouching, medical illustration, toy packaging graphics, fake marble walls, leotards, pleather jackets, bowling pins, bicycles, caricatures, fingernails, hair, prosthetic puppets, and fine art paintings.
The SVA library has nearly all of the Airbrush Action magazines released between 1988 and the present. Feast your eyes.

Airbrush Action. March-April 1991.
Gangs, Cults & The Occult +++
The 81 images in this folder are a glimpse into the bizarre initiation rituals and undertakings of secret societies, cults, and gangs. Pictures feature members of groups such as the Polish Falcons of America, Lion’s Club, Scientology, the KKK, Heaven’s Gate, Freemasons and its many Orders (Order of the Masonic Jesters, Order of the Royal Jesters, Woodmen or the World, Shriners, Red Men of America, Fraternal Order of the Police, Order of the Moose, Job’s Daughters, Order of the Rainbow for Girls) and of course, the Anti-Masons.
See also (related folders): Circus – Clowns (for Shriner Clowns), Ceremonies, Symbols & Symbolism.

Evidence that Shriners were so proud of making it through brutal hazing rituals that they hung commercial art celebrating their result.
Ritual America by Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner.

A penny stamp on a colorful postcard promoted one’s favorite fraternal order.
Ritual America by Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner.

Humorous blast warns of terrible Masonic initiations.
(Anti-Masonic Publication)
Ritual America by Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner.

Shriner Lodge Rituals enacted in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
Ritual America by Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner.

“Binding myself under penalty of having my throat cut across from ear to ear. My tongue torn out by the roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea.”
Ritual America by Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner.

Interview, June 1991.
Members of the extremist white supremacist group, the Klu Klux Klan, hiding their faces behind masks.

Sightings, Vol 2, Issue 5. 1997.
Heaven’s Gate homepage

“Heaven’s Gate leader Marshall Applewhite lured seemingly sane adults into a cult and, ultimately, to death in San Diego. Were they still alive, his followers might put it another way: In March, 38 of them–of their own free will–downed poisoned applesauce and vodka in order to break free of their bodily ‘containers’ and catch a ride on a passing spaceship hidden behind comet Hale-Bopp.”
Life, 1997. “The Year in Pictures.”