The first career retrospective of the great Archie comics artist.

Dan DeCarlo was one of the greatest artists working in humor comics in the latter half of the 20th century. He was without a doubt the most prolific, and for that reason was often referred to as The Jack Kirby of humor comics. But he might have been likewise compared to pinup artist Gill Elvgren for his ability to render the female form in a way that was at once funny, charming, and unbelievably sexy. DeCarlo worked mostly on wholesome All-American features like Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica and My Friend Irma, but he populated these innocent stories with his irresistibly attractive women. This unique blend of hilarious homespun humor and libido-sparking art made DeCarlo's work outshine the competition.

For nearly six decades, DeCarlo entertained the world with his special talents. Though best known as the definitive Archie Comics artist and creator of Josie and the Pussycats, DeCarlo also brought his unique style to dozens of other characters including Millie the Model, Willie Lumpkin, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Big Boy, Batman, and even The Simpsons.

In 2005, Fantagraphics published The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo, a beautiful two-color knock-out of a collection featuring his best pin-ups from the 1950s/'60s Humorama digest. With Innocence and Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo, Fantagraphics Books presents a fitting tribute to the life and art of one of the world's all-time best cartoonists in a wider-ranging career retrospective. DeCarlo fan, friend, and fellow cartoonist Bill Morrison has written and produced the ultimate book on this remarkable artist, lavishly designed with over 300 illustrations. Included are rare World War II-era cartoons, original Humorama pinups, seldom-seen newspaper strips, examples of his justly famous commercial comics work, and of course, lots and lots of those fabulous DeCarlo girls!

"This coffee-table tribute tome...chronicles DeCarlo's long career, from cartoons he drew for his wife...and through early non-Archie comic-book work....Plenty to peruse for partisans of pop-cult pulchritude." Booklist

"[B]eautifully designed....What Innocence and Seduction needs in its text is less about the former and more about the latter....It would have benefited greatly from some serious analysis and theorizing about what those sexy drawings meant to young readers... (Grade: B)" Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

Dan DeCarlo was born in 1919 and passed away in 2001.

Since 1994, Bill Morrison has served as editor and as a principal writer and artist at Matt Groening's Bongo Comics, helping to creatively oversee the Simpsons empire. He was also an art director for the hit animated TV series Futurama on Fox Television.