The Wonderful World of Bill Ward

Photographer and veteran “TASCHEN” editor Eric Kroll spent a lot of time in collectors’ basements researching the art of Bill Ward (1918-1998), gleaning prime samples of his work for this sumptuous retrospective of Ward’s long and prolific career as a comic creator and illustrator. Early in his career, around the time of the Second World War, Ward earned his living creating such characters as Captain Marvel, Blackhawk, and Torchy, the ultimate military female fantasy. In the early 1950s, Ward turned almost exclusively to “girlie art” and dedicated the rest of his life to creating conte crayon drawings of glitzy, buxom women. These pieces have become highly collectible, which is why Kroll has had to trawl through basements and archives across America to assemble this broad selection of Ward’s very best work. Drawn from over 1000 illustrations and dozens of pages of interviews with Ward’s wife, son, and adult model Candy Samples, this meticulously researched book is the ultimate tribute to the great Bill Ward.