Lost Art Books

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KREMOS: The Lost Art of Niso Ramponi, Vols. 1 & 2

Debuts at SPX!

A decade in the making and collected for the first time anywhere, Lost Art Books publishes a grand two-volume set on Niso Ramponi (1924–2002), covering the Italian cartoonist and animator’s entire career. As part of the ongoing Lost Art Books imprint, Kremos: The Lost Art of Niso Ramponi represents the publisher’s ninth collection of never-before-reprinted art.

Although Ramponi worked under numerous names—Kremos, Niso, Nys O'Ramp—he occupies a singular space as Italy’s premiere pin-up cartoonist. From the mid-1940s through the early 1960s, Ramponi’s work was everywhere. In an Allied-occupied Rome, Ramponi and future film legend Federico Fellini industriously set up shop, collaborating on caricatures to sell to American soldiers (Ramponi worked out the backgrounds, and Fellini filled in the likenesses). Capitalizing on Ramponi’s war-time career in television animation, the pair parlayed their skills and experience into a collaboration on an animated featurette for Roberto Rossellini’s film “Rome, Open City” (1945).

By the late 1940s, Ramponi found himself in high demand as a movie-poster artist for the likes of Walt Disney and as a gag cartoonist and cover artist for some of Italy’s more irreverent satirical magazines. It was in these sometimes-confiscated periodicals that Ramponi made his name drawing some of the world’s best “good girl” art for over a decade. As contemporary cartoonist Jerry Carr describes in Volume 2’s foreword, “Kremos’s work reminds us of the layouts of Hank Ketcham, the polish of Bill Ward, the humor of Dan DeCarlo, and the grace of Jack Cole—while exemplifying something entirely original.” Eventually, however, beautifully drawn covers were slowly displaced by photography on the newsstands, and in the mid-1960s Ramponi returned to working in animation for the remainder of his career.

Benefiting from careful restoration, Volume 1 collects over 200 of Kremos’s bodacious black and white cartoons and illustrations and is fronted by a 6,000-word introduction by Ramponi’s friend and current-day animator, Mario Verger. Volume 2 adds 250 curvaceous color comics and covers to the set, with a foreword by contemporary comic artist Jerry Carr. Combined, these volumes offer nearly 500 examples of his work and a comprehensive overview of a maverick artist at the height of his powers.

Debuting at this years Small Press Expo: “KREMOS: The Lost Art of Niso Ramponi, Vols. 1 &2” from LostArtBooks.com.

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THE LOST ART OF RAY WILLNER: THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD

All 14 stories collected for the first time Introduction by Joseph V. Procopio Career-spanning bonus gallery

Ray Willner was a casualty of the culture wars. With a comics career dating to 1939, Willner produced impressive work for publishers small and large throughout the 1940s. By 1949 he landed one of the only steady gigs in his career for an unusual publisher: The Brown Shoe Company. It was there that Willner found a simpatico spirit in fellow artist Reed Crandall. Although their collaboration on the Brown Shoe Co. series The Adventures of Robin Hood lasted less than a year — cancelled in the wake of the scaremongering backlash against comics in the 1950s — the seven issues produced by Willner with Crandall represent a seldom seen high-water mark in comics art. They were the last comics Willner would ever draw.

The Lost Art of Ray Willner collects these comics for the first time since their original publication in 1956 and includes an introductory essay on Willner’s life and career.

 212 pages • 8½”x11” • Full Color