W. J. Dittmar, best known for his Ragtime sheet music artwork for the Vandersloot Publishing Co. in Williamsport, PA in the 1910s, was also a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. His long out-of-print poster "The Road from Earth to Heaven" is now available from Calvary Comics:
http://www.calvarycomics.com/comics/Road/index.html
Other Christian books, graphic novels, etc. are also available at this site:
Enjoy!
Alec Stevens,
publisher
Replies
Evidently, a good segment of people still like holding at physical books and hanging up posters (or framing them).
The poster did indeed go into reprint, and it continues to sell well! As we approach Christmas, the graphic novels and other books are also seeing increased sales. Apparently not going digital (just yet) is proving to be a good thing.
The orders for the poster continue to come in---most recently from New York and Western Australia. I'm glad to see work of this calibre (artistically and spiritually) continues to be used of God to both instruct and inspire.
More orders from TN and NY this past week---I may have to go into reprinting before the month is out!
Multiple orders have also come in from Tennessee, and today, Mississippi and Hellenthal, Germany.
Part of the amazing back-story on this poster is that it was drawn in 1932 (as far as I can ascertain) and was in print until the early 1950s. The artist Walter J. Dittmar died in 1964, and the following year the Union Gospel Press threw a stack of his original art, including this poster, into a trash dumpster. It was rescued by a fellow artist/employee who was appalled at what had happened; he has since passed on, and his son sent me a number of high-res scans of the work, having shown them in a gallery presentation in upstate NY a few years ago. Additionally, I've been in touch with Dittmar's granddaughter who also has a stack of her father's original art for the Gospel Herald magazine from the 1910s - 1960s.
Hope everyone (in/from the U.S.) had a happy Thanksgiving!
Blessings,
Alec Stevens
www.calvarycomics.com
More orders for the poster have come in from Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Texas, as well as for the other books and graphic novels. Below are a few comments on W. J. Dittmar's pen & ink illustration:
"Awesome!" B. H.
"Very cool! Did you have access to the original art?" D. B.
"Congrats, man." M. W.
"WOW, impressive image. It is a style I appreciate, yet I don't think I could do. I stared at it for a while just admiring the line work..." J. S.
"That poster is really quite an artistic achievement. Great design and an effective perspective choice :) ...It's great to be reminded that comics and cartoons have been used in more edifying ways." J. B.
"Wow!!! What a great piece..." M. P.
"Beautiful!" P. C.
"I very much like the poster..." M. R.
The text at the bottom, as is the poster image, is from the website, so the 'Ordering' icon is on the Calvary Comics site, not this thread. The actual webpage:
http://www.calvarycomics.com/comics/Road/index.html
Thus far orders for the new poster have come in from the southern U.S. (Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina) as well as Ohio and Pennsylvania, and from Canada (Manitoba). It's free to have a look! Do so---and consider one as a Christmas gift...for your home church, a loved one, or yourself. The poster is creatively edifying without compromising the Gospel in the slightest. Come and see!
By the way, here is another Dittmar poster---this one with color (which interesting, as his granddaughter told me he had red-green color blindness, but you'd never guess that from this image):
http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/images/CNs/330/330-OS1/330-003...
This one, however, is not available at my site, but you may enjoy seeing an enlarged image (for free) at the above link.
Best regards,
Alec Stevens
www.calvarycomics.com
Thanks! I have a new book coming out early next year, another graphic novel completed, and yet another started.
Some years ago I wrote a short bio of W. J. Dittmar (the artist of the aforementioned poster) for the Christian Comics International website:
http://www.christiancomicsinternational.org/pioneers1.html#Anchor-W...
He worked for almost fifty years for a single Christian publisher. Now that's a good run!
Kind regards in Christ Jesus,
Alec
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