Orrin's Artist of the Week: Les McClaine

This is a new feature we're trying out. Every Wednesday, we'll each highlight a new artist that we really like. We're going to try to stick with smaller names that you might not know, and avoid folks like, say, Mike Mignola. This week, my contribution is Les McClaine. He's probably best known for his newstrip-style adventure comic Johnny Crossbones, although with there being a TV show of his comic The Minute Man coming out soon, that may change. I like him best, though, when he's riffing on classic horror tropes. Recently, he premiered this image on his website:
I love so many things about that picture. I love the way he draws the damsel-in-distress, I love the Jack Kirby dots, I love the butler-y attitude of the monster, I love the simian qualities of the mad doctor and his creations, I love the brain in the jar, I love the skylight roof, and I love the girl sneaking in through the window with a shovel. He's also got penciled and inked versions of the picture up, which show the process as well as any images I've seen.

For more of his great work on horror tropes, try his dullahan or his completely brilliant ghoul.