Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,057
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Post by Confessor on Jan 19, 2017 19:21:40 GMT -5
No arguments from me there. Andru drew fantastic comics and I always particularly liked the way he drew (clone) Gwen Stacy. But the thing that always comes to my mind when I think of his tenure on ASM is how well he depicted Spidey's acrobatics among the skyscrapers: it always looked much more dangerous than how other artists depicted it. Andru was brilliant at rendering those vertigo-inducing heights that Spider-Man scaled and you really got a vivid sense of just how high above the ground he was. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, no other artist has ever depicted this aspect of Spider-Man comics better than Andru. I've said this here before. Andru's art always, always looked better at Marvel than at DC. When I'd see his Spider-Man, it's almost like I had to re-check the credits to convince myslef that the same guy who drew the graceful, lithe Spider-Man was the same guy who drew the blocky, chunky, ungainly Flash. To be fair, my primary exposure to Ross Andru's work is in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. Outside of that, I'm not sure I could really comment.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 19, 2017 19:27:28 GMT -5
I always had an un-appreciation for Ross Andru due to his many years of slap dash work on the insipid Wonder Woman comics of the 1960s. Next, as Hal mentioned, he moved over to replace the elegant Carmine Infantino with his sub-par Flash art.
Yes, his work for Marvel looked much better. But many Silver Age fans of DC did not place him in high regard. That includes those early Metal Men
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 19, 2017 21:35:43 GMT -5
I think part of the problem with Andru's DC work was his close friend, classmate, inker and business partner, Mike Esposito. They were practically joined at the hip for decades, but most of Ross' Spider-Man issues were inked by Frank Giacoia, who was a much better inker.
Interesting - the spellchecker doesn't recognize the word "inker". Is that a CCF thing or on my PC?
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 19, 2017 22:06:08 GMT -5
I think even people who praise Andru's Spider-Man mean his '70s work, not his '60s work.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2017 23:20:22 GMT -5
I think part of the problem with Andru's DC work was his close friend, classmate, inker and business partner, Mike Esposito. They were practically joined at the hip for decades, but most of Ross' Spider-Man issues were inked by Frank Giacoia, who was a much better inker. Interesting - the spellchecker doesn't recognize the word "inker". Is that a CCF thing or on my PC? There's a fe w possibilities as to the difference in quality-the inker being a primary place to look. Second is how much did Romita's Raiders retouch/redraw his stuff when he was at Marvel vs. the art department at DC doing corrections, and third is, how much difference did working Marvel style vs. the full script at DC have on his layouts and investment in the project. If a writer is calling for panel after panel that is difficult or uninspired it can make the drawing a chore and the creative freedom of working Marvel style when he came to Marvel in the 70s could have reenergized his enthusiasm for his work and allowed him to frame/compose some panels and pages the way he wanted to rather than the way the writer called for. I'd say 1 and 2 would account for differences in the figures and faces in his work, but 3 would account for the more dynamic layouts and storytelling that characterized his Spider-Man work but not his DC stuff. Not that Marvel style is inherently better, but if a writer is mailing it in full script it's difficult for the artist to do much exciting with it either, especially if there is a strong editorial control over the house style on the books. -M
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,057
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Post by Confessor on Jan 20, 2017 0:23:33 GMT -5
I think even people who praise Andru's Spider-Man mean his '70s work, not his '60s work. He only did one Spidey story in the '60s though, right? Marvel Super-Heroes #14. As I noted above, the art in that comic is a far cry from the heights of his '70s tenure on ASM.
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Post by coke & comics on Jan 20, 2017 4:11:10 GMT -5
I think even people who praise Andru's Spider-Man mean his '70s work, not his '60s work. He only did one Spidey story in the '60s though, right? Marvel Super-Heroes #14. As I noted above, the art in that comic is a far cry from the heights of his '70s tenure on ASM. Yeah, that's the one. I missed that you had already mentioned it. But it makes me think criticisms of his '60s work are fair. How do the X-Men say it? He got better.
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Post by berkley on Jan 20, 2017 22:08:25 GMT -5
He only did one Spidey story in the '60s though, right? Marvel Super-Heroes #14. As I noted above, the art in that comic is a far cry from the heights of his '70s tenure on ASM. Yeah, that's the one. I missed that you had already mentioned it. But it makes me think criticisms of his '60s work are fair. How do the X-Men say it? He got better. It's true - I was about to disagree and say that though I couldn't say anything about the interiors Andru drew some nice WW covers during his run, but when I went to comics.org to check I saw that all the good covers I had been thinking of were from the 70s.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 19:38:59 GMT -5
Does anyone know of a website that lists a character's first cover appearance?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 21:37:39 GMT -5
Does anyone know of a website that lists a character's first cover appearance? Try these two sites:
link or link
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2017 23:10:49 GMT -5
Does anyone know of a website that lists a character's first cover appearance? You could also use the GCD to search cover appearances and then have it list the results in chronological order. -M
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 8, 2017 14:43:27 GMT -5
What's the first Tintin book I should read? I've seen the movie but haven't read any of the comics yet.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 8, 2017 17:47:29 GMT -5
What's the first Tintin book I should read? I've seen the movie but haven't read any of the comics yet. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first, though The Crab with The Golden Claws features the debut of Capt. Haddock, and the Cigars of the Pharaoh introduces the Thompson Twins (yes, the 80s band was named after them). The earliest books are also the source of the harshest criticisms relating to negative stereotypes and even politics. Edits were made over the years. Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in America, particularly, featured a lot of questionable material. There has been much back and forth as to how much of that reflected Herge and how much his publisher. Herge himself blamed much on the society in which he was born and raised.
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Post by foxley on Feb 8, 2017 20:38:36 GMT -5
I'd start with either Crab with the Golden Claws or Cigars of the Pharaoh. The early books are a little hard to take, so it is better to read the later ones and get a feeling of who the character is supposed to be, then read the early ones if you're interested to know what he started as.
Although if you enjoyed the movie, you might like to start with The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure as it was largely based on these two books (which form one story), with some material from The Crab with the Golden Claws thrown in.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Feb 9, 2017 20:02:54 GMT -5
Can anyone point me to some backstory comics on General Grievous; if there is any? I'm curious while watching Clone Wars series if there more on him.
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