(click for a slideshow from this book)

I teach at Syracuse University occasionally for fun on comic history or on creativity or on toy design. I was intrigued to see a vintage ad taped to another professor’s office for this 1964 book “Daddy is an Artist”. It looked like fun and kind of Arf-y so I tracked a copy down. Turns out it is stunningly, beautifully drawn (reminds me of Alex Toth’s work). And it was done by a bona fide cartoonist, Dan Heilman, who drew the comic strip “Judge Parker”. And it’s pretty wonky.

At a certain point the son and daughter decide to help Daddy and “finish” one of his paintings while he’s sleeping. “Well, after we had finished, it really was a scene…with purple trees and yellow grass and sky a pretty green.” Dad doesn’t appreciate the young Picassos and gets all pissy, throws a hissy fit and sends the errant offspring to their rooms. Does Daddy’s squelching of the kid’s creativity remind you a bit of Hitler’s admonition? The Nazi leader said, “Anybody who paints and sees a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized”. Amen to that!

Seriously, what about the cartoonist’s name? Dan Heilman. As in “Sig Heil”? I’m not passing judgement, just pointing this out.

Anyway, click on the cover above to see more pages from this wonderfully drawn, but a little disturbing, book.