A Gorey Comic Page

For the May 1966 issue of Esquire Magazine Edward Gorey was engaged to create illustrations for a two page spread authored by David Newman and Robert Benton entitled From Weehawken With Love. 

Founded in 1933, Esquire is an upscale men's magazine with a history of publishing articles and fiction by current authors. While it has featured the pin-up style illustrations of other magazines for men, Esquire is not a Playboy style publication showcasing nude photos of women. Edward Gorey was commissioned three times by Esquire in 1966. The February, May, and December issues all feature works created for articles in the magazine.

Robert Benton (1932 - 2025) worked at Esquire first as art director then as a contributing editor. David Newman (1937 - 2003) worked as an editor for the magazine when the two became professional writing partners who would be nominated for an Oscar as screenwriters for the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Their professional partnership had continued success with screenplays and librettos for Broadway musicals until Benton turned his talents to directing films. Newman then collaborated with his wife Leslie Newman on screenplays for many Hollywood blockbuster films.

Benton and Newman were obviously navigating the complicated world of Hollywood screenwriting when they created this piece, as evidenced in the introduction panel under the title. They also were enjoying writing a humorous pastiche of the James Bond spy films. 

Edward Gorey was a self-avowed film addict who enhanced the story line by adding his own touches of suggestive humor to the drawings. Presented in a comic book format with captions appearing as speech bubbles in each panel, this piece also reads as a storyboard for a film. 

Responding to the parody story line, Edward Gorey draws an eccentric cast of characters including a scientist that has turned blue, presumably because of an experiment that did not go as planned. Mr. Gorey also alters his usual style for the hand lettered text to be "comic book" style rather than "Gorey" style. 

Adapting to the comic book format, Edward Gorey embraces the sex and violence spy theme. The drawings include nudity, an extremely voluptuous Femme Fatale, and bloody violence in his drawings. Agent Ilya Ipcress even appears completely disheveled after having sex with the secretary. Not typical Gorey illustrations, but a format and theme he obviously had fun illustrating.

As the cover of the magazine suggests, this is a comic full of Spying, Science, and Sex.

Photo of Benton and Newman (cropped) by Burton Berlinski 

Original Art by Edward Gorey

I recently added two pieces of original art by Edward Gorey to my collection. This exciting pair of unfinished pieces with a Christmas theme was obviously intended to be a front and rear cover of...something? The lightly penciled in guide lines indicate a place for a title above each image and the artist has sketched in EDWARD GOREY below each drawing. The drawing style and characters pictured firmly indicate that this pair of drawings was executed in or around 1990. The large 8" x 8" image size and formal lettering suggests these pieces were going to be covers for a book or possibly a boxed set of books. 

The central feature of both drawings is a pair of leafless tree trunks that have grown together to form an arch. In a typical Gorey visual turn, the front and rear covers show views of the same arch from opposite sides, but the rest of the details have changed. The front cover has had more finish work completed, with the arch and several of the figures being completely finished. This pair of drawings is a fascinating study on how Edward Gorey approached a project. After sketching in the basics in pencil, he first inked a fine outline to define the main elements. 

On the front cover, a classic Gorey family consisting of a father, mother and baby in swaddling clothes. The woman (mother?) is busy making what we might assume to be a Christmas list. In her unfinished state, she has the appearance of a ghost or phantom, but Mr Gorey has simply not finished drawing her in completely.

Appearing to the left of the arch is a strange figure dressed in an apron, bowler hat, collar, cuffs, and shoes with white spats. It is unclear if this figure is otherwise clothed or naked. The face appears to be covered by the same skin tight fabric as the rest of their body. Edward Gorey often drew stealthy cat burglar figures covered from head to toe in a body stocking in this manner, so the identity of the figure is left to our imagination. Is the identity of this person a waiter, servant, entertainer, or that of a nefarious personage? This person's pose also indicates that they may have just thrown the fruitcake tied with a ribbon that is flying above the arch. The trailing ribbon indicates that the fruitcake is on a trajectory rather than floating or gently falling from the sky.

The central trio of well dressed children on the rear cover may or may not be related to the family on the front. A helpful robot and an alligator flank the arch, each supplied with footstools to extend their reach. All the figures on the rear cover are busy decorating the arch with Christmas ornaments. Edward Gorey has completed less line work on the rear cover, but what has been filled in is rather wonderful. Edward Gorey has fully rendered the alligator and the body of the robot. He had also begun to fill in the arch, but did not get very far.

What the project was or why it remains unfinished will probably never be known, but we can make a couple of guesses. The figures all relate to a suite of drawings Edward Gorey created for A Very Gorey Christmas in The New York Times Book Review (see my post from December 2, 2024 https://goreyana.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-gorey-christmas.html). Perhaps the publishers or Mr. Gorey himself intended to publish the illustrated writings but the project stalled.

Another amusing theory concerns the stain on the upper left corner of the drawing for the rear cover. Edward Gorey is on record as stating that he gave his cats free reign in the house and occasionally they would walk over his drawing table and spill the ink bottle, damaging a work in progress. This stain in the upper right hand corner certainly has the appearance of a cat-spill, and even though the black ink did not encroach into the image area it may have been enough to halt the drawing. We shall never know.