Now then. Pay attention:

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BLAST was the short-lived literary magazine of the Vorticist movement in Britain. It had two editions, the first published on 2 July 1914… the magazine has become famous as emblematic of the first modern art movement in England and is now recognised as one of the seminal texts of 20th-century modernism. The magazine originally cost 2/6.

“Our Cause is NO-MAN’S,” they said. James Joyce believed it to be primarily a painter’s magazine for which he’d produce poems. He didn’t know what they were going to do with typography.

Vorticism… is more closely related to Futurism in its embrace of dynamism, the machine age and all things modern.

They also liked shouting, and manifestos.

When Wyndham Lewis returned from the trenches, he hoped to revivify the Vorticist spirit (under the name Group X), planning a third issue of Blast and regaining contact with old allies. But the whole context of pre-war experimentation had been dispersed by the destructive power of mechanized warfare, which persuaded most of the former Vorticists to pursue more representational directions thereafter. By 1920 even Lewis was obliged to admit that the movement was dead. (ME: ALSO, CORE VORTICISTS WERE UNHELPFULLY DEAD)

You are the designer for the long-delayed third issue of BLAST. The above is what you know about it. Approach it in any way you see fit.

You have one week.

That gave me this:

The Yellow Book, published in London from 1894 to 1897, was a quarterly literary periodical (priced at 5s.) that lent its name to the “Yellow” 1890s. It was a leading journal of the British 1890s; to some degree associated with Aestheticism and Decadence, the magazine contained a wide range of literary and artistic genres, poetry, short stories, essays, book illustrations, portraits, and reproductions of paintings. Aubrey Beardsley was its first art editor, and he has been credited with the idea of the yellow cover, with its association with French fiction of the period.

Authors found within its pages during the three years of its existence include:
Max Beerbohm, “Baron Corvo,” Henry James, H. G. Wells and William Butler Yeats.

…in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), a major corrupting influence on Dorian is “the yellow book” which Lord Henry sends over to amuse him after the suicide of his first love. This “yellow book” is understood by critics to be À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans, a representative work of Parisian decadence that heavily influenced British aesthetes like Beardsley. Such books in Paris were wrapped in yellow paper to alert the reader to their lascivious content…

So here’s the deal:

You are an artist/designer.

You have to put together the cover for VOLUME 14 of THE YELLOW BOOK.

It must retain the sense of Aestheticism and Decadence, and yet be of its time.

I’m very interested to see what happens with this one.

YOU HAVE ONE WEEK, Wednesday to Wednesday. Go.

– W

So I went:

Warren’s brief:

So here’s the deal:

You are an artist/designer.

You have to put together the cover for the first issue of what you have been told is the first ever romance comic. It is called YOUNG ROMANCE.

The publisher wants to be sure that you get the text ALL TRUE LOVE STORIES on the cover somewhere.

And that’s it.

So here’s the deal:

You are an artist/designer. You have to put together the cover for issue 15 of a comic called AMAZING ADULT FANTASY.

Now, the publisher has decreed that, with #15, the title will become simply AMAZING FANTASY. But, I dunno, you’re a drunk, or a drug fiend, or you have seizures or something, and you’ve totally forgotten about that. AMAZING ADULT FANTASY it is.

Thing is, there’s a new character to be introduced on the cover. You remember that instruction. But you lost all the notes and pages — you used them for bedding or toilet paper, you don’t really recall. You know nothing about that character beyond its name, and that it apparently fits in a book called AMAZING ADULT FANTASY (which was once subtitled “The magazine that respects your intelligence”).

All you know that is the title is AMAZING ADULT FANTASY, the issue number is 15, and there has to be a character called SPIDER-MAN on the cover somewhere.

And that’s it.

I came up with two this week, one a bit Robert Crumb-like, the other a tiny bit more subtle:

I think I’m happier with the second one. This week the remake is for Young Romance #1...

You are an artist/designer. You have to put together the cover for the first issue of a weekly science-fiction anthology comic called 2000AD.
You don’t know much about what’s in it. You’ve been given the following pieces of information to include on the cover somehow:

“featuring the new DAN DARE”

“M.A.C.H. 1 – his incredible hyperpower will amaze you!”

“SPACE-AGE DINOSAURS! Read ‘FLESH’ ”

“STOP PRESS! GREAT BRITAIN INVADED!”

The cover must include a logo and the numbering, which you’ve been told is not the usual “issue one,” but “Programme 1.”

And that’s it.

I couldn’t possibly resist something like that now could I?

Damn right I couldn’t. 2000AD, prog. 1, circa 1840.

Mister Ellis had this character description -

From 1941, when the drugs were apparently very good:

Mr. E appealed for guidance and assistance to a statue of a ancient tribal god named King Kolah which he housed in a subterranean temple beneath his home. Kolah presented Mr. E with visions that led him to criminals. The idol also gave Mr. E the assistance of his elven messengers. The messengers were small gnome-like creatures who could shapeshift into a variety of creatures and wreaked mischief against Mr. E’s enemies. One of the messengers was named Butch. Mr. E used his visions and assistant gnomes to fight crime in Washington DC. Mr. E dated a girl named Miss Terry.

Zombie Kitty tomorrow. Hopefully by then my arms won’t feel like they’re made out of lead…

Atoma was a historian from the year 2446, a time of peace. She befriends Dusty Rhodes, an ordinary 20th century kid who becomes a time traveler when he is thrown 500 years into the future. Atoma knew of his arrival from reading his memoirs and was waiting for him. They teamed up to stop a robot riot, putting it to a halt with Dusty’s slingshot. While Atoma has no super-powers, she does wear EDF (electronic directional flight) control nylon-xenton wings which allow her to fly.

I took it to the zoo!