For those who can’t get ahold of the hardcover, now-sold-out _The Glamour Girls of Bill Ward_ (also edited by Alex Chun) or who can’t afford the huge _The Wonderful World of Bill Ward_ (published by Taschen), this is a cheap, readily available alternative with enough of Ward’s classic glamour girls to satisfy all but the most hard-core, completist fan of Ward’s work. The book is published in trade-paperback format, so the illustration reproductions are not as big as in the other two books, but the quality is quite satisfactory.

As he did in _Glamour Girls_, Chun has chosen to focus on the art that Ward is most famous for, and the art that Ward himself loved the best; the voluptuous, elegantly dressed, Ekbergesque (as in Anita Ekberg, one of the inspirational models for Ward’s beauties) lovelies that populated the pages of so many men’s magazines in the 1950’s and 1960’s – and not the raunchier work that he did in his later years, much of which he did strictly for the fee. These classic cartoons, by contrast, were done as much for love as for money, and it shows; there’s an elegant lushness in them that doesn’t show up in his later X-rated work. The selection includes a healthy number of Ward’s (in)famous “telephone girls”. While some of the cartoons and drawings chosen for this book are the same as in _Glamour Girls_, many of them are new to book publication; thus, if you really love Ward’s girls, you’ll want to get all three of the books that are currently in print. Definitely a “must have” for fans of pinup art.
Rating: 5 / 5

Now that Alex Chun’s first book on Bill Ward is sold out Fantagraphics have wisely decided there is a market for a cheaper edition. This is not a straight reprint of the original, ‘The Glamour Girls of Bill Ward’ (ISBN 1560975318) which was a large size portfolio edition, beautifully printed. This current title is much smaller with an edited intro from the original but what looks like a different selection of art. Still good value if you like Bill’s art.

Considering that he can only really be considered on the fringes of quality girly art it is amazing that three books of his output have been published in the last three years. Ward claims to have drawn thousands of pin-ups over the years so I expect there will be more titles in the future.

The two from Fantagraphics are good but Eric Kroll’s The Wonderful World of Bill Ward, King of the Glamour Girls (Various)with its chunky size, comprehensive illustrated biography and hundreds of pin-ups must really be the last word on Ward.

Rating: 5 / 5