Glamor Girls of Don Flowers

When the life of Don Flowers was cut short in 1968 by the ill effects of emphysema, he left behind a career in newspaper cartooning that spanned more than four decades as well as one of the most fluid lines to grace the comics page. His cartoons evoked the art of Russell Patterson and Hank Ketcham, and nowhere was this more evident than in his quintessential single-panel pin-up cartoon, the aptly named Glamor Girls: Whether blondes or brunettes, showgirls or housewives, Flowers rendered his comely protagonists with equal aplomb.

A close look at Flowers' body of work reveals that he was really an illustrator playing cartoonist. He was equally skilled with the brush and the pen, and was also highly regarded by his fellow artists for his expert spotting of blacks. Flowers boasted "about the finest line ever to be bequeathed to a cartoonist," wrote Coulton Waugh in his classic history, The Comics. "It dances; it snaps gracefully back and forth; the touches related."

While Flowers spent nearly a quarter of a decade on Glamor Girls, it wasn't until the 1960s that he finally broke free of Russell Patterson's influence and established a more modern style that was uniquely his own. This volume collects the best of those cartoons, and showcases Flowers at the height of his skill. Don Flowers' Glamor Girls also features a foreword by cartoon legend Sergio Aragonés and an introductory essay by editor Alex Chun.