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Post by berkley on Jun 27, 2021 19:02:30 GMT -5
Was Ron Wilson ever given a high-profile title as regular artist - the FF, Thor, Avengers, etc? He should have been, at some point, one would think. Maybe it happened in the 80s after I stopped reading Marvel.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 28, 2021 1:01:09 GMT -5
Was Ron Wilson ever given a high-profile title as regular artist - the FF, Thor, Avengers, etc? He should have been, at some point, one would think. Maybe it happened in the 80s after I stopped reading Marvel. Marvel Two-in-One was his longest run, I believe, and he also did the Thing solo series, when it replaced MTIO. Outside of that, he did a lot of single stories or short runs. He basically was a utility artist, who could do whatever story you needed, but wasn't necessarily the star artist who got all the attention for a short period. he was a guy who just gave you good work again and again, like so many other artists who didn't get long lines at conventions, but drew many more memorable stories.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 28, 2021 1:07:42 GMT -5
Ron Wilson on Marvel/Star Comics Masters of the Universe should have been awesome. But instead was such a letdown. Wilson was only doing breakdowns and given poor finishes. I also believe (based upon the art in the comic) he was instructed to have everything resemble the toys themselves. So with poor stories it seems to me they were just out to sell the newest toy figures. Really sad. With better plots and Wilson doing full pencils while paired with a stronger inker MTOU could have been as much fun as MTIO. There I said it... I've found that it was not uncommon for titles based on toys not exactly treated like the publishers' top shelf titles, which was evident in DC's Captain Action (1968-69) and Marvel's Team America (1982-83) despite some all-time great talents working on both. That, plus having to please the license holder. They want something to help promote the toys, just like movie companies wanted something to promote the film. Micronauts was a different story, as Mantlo had a great idea (if not necessarily an original one) and got an artist that made it stand out. Same with Rom, to a lesser extent. Both outlasted the toy lines by years. Shogun Warriors? Not so much. Sectaurs? Wait, there was a comic called Sectaurs? A toy line called Sectaurs? Next, you'll tell me Wonder Woman was supposed to head up a toy line.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 28, 2021 12:43:45 GMT -5
Ron Wilson on Marvel/Star Comics Masters of the Universe should have been awesome. But instead was such a letdown. Wilson was only doing breakdowns and given poor finishes. I also believe (based upon the art in the comic) he was instructed to have everything resemble the toys themselves. So with poor stories it seems to me they were just out to sell the newest toy figures. Really sad. With better plots and Wilson doing full pencils while paired with a stronger inker MTOU could have been as much fun as MTIO. There I said it... I've found that it was not uncommon for titles based on toys not exactly treated like the publishers' top shelf titles, which was evident in DC's Captain Action (1968-69) and Marvel's Team America (1982-83) despite some all-time great talents working on both. In the case of Captain Action, the title was dumped on young and eager Jim Shooter and was hampered immediately because the toy's premise (that Captain Action could "become" various well known heroes) was useless since of the nine identities CA could become, only three -- Superman, Batman and Aquaman -- were DC characters. (The others were Flash Gordon, Sgt. Fury, Captain America, the Phantom, Steve Canyon, and the Lone Ranger.) Thus Shooter had to jettison all that for another concept, one derivative of Captain Marvel's, but not so derivative that it was an out-and-out copy. But the artwork was top-notch (#1 was by Wally Wood, who inked a few other issues). As of issue 3, the pencils -- and IIRC, some of the inks -- and the writing, were done by Gil Kane, and his covers and interior art are right up there with his best. He was able to do a lot with what he was given, and had the book had more time, like some of the other new and unique books DC published in that same time ( Anthro, Bat Lash, etc.), Kane might have been able to find a niche where it fit in.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jun 28, 2021 14:21:19 GMT -5
Ron Wilson on Marvel/Star Comics Masters of the Universe should have been awesome. But instead was such a letdown. Wilson was only doing breakdowns and given poor finishes. I also believe (based upon the art in the comic) he was instructed to have everything resemble the toys themselves. So with poor stories it seems to me they were just out to sell the newest toy figures. Really sad. With better plots and Wilson doing full pencils while paired with a stronger inker MTOU could have been as much fun as MTIO. There I said it... MOTU #4 was the only issue that credited Wilson with breakdowns. Credits for the other issues he worked on had him as penciller or artist and Dennis Janke or Danny Bulanadi as inker.
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Post by tarkintino on Jun 28, 2021 17:07:24 GMT -5
I've found that it was not uncommon for titles based on toys not exactly treated like the publishers' top shelf titles, which was evident in DC's Captain Action (1968-69) and Marvel's Team America (1982-83) despite some all-time great talents working on both. In the case of Captain Action, the title was dumped on young and eager Jim Shooter and was hampered immediately because the toy's premise (that Captain Action could "become" various well known heroes) was useless since of the nine identities CA could become, only three -- Superman, Batman and Aquaman -- were DC characters. (The others were Flash Gordon, Sgt. Fury, Captain America, the Phantom, Steve Canyon, and the Lone Ranger.) Thus Shooter had to jettison all that for another concept, one derivative of Captain Marvel's, but not so derivative that it was an out-and-out copy. But the artwork was top-notch (#1 was by Wally Wood, who inked a few other issues). As of issue 3, the pencils -- and IIRC, some of the inks -- and the writing, were done by Gil Kane, and his covers and interior art are right up there with his best. He was able to do a lot with what he was given, and had the book had more time, like some of the other new and unique books DC published in that same time ( Anthro, Bat Lash, etc.), Kane might have been able to find a niche where it fit in. CA also had disguises for the Green Hornet and Spider-Man. You post reminds one of the essential problem faced with merchandising CA beyond its action figure, such as Aurora Plastics' kit of the character, which flopped--the oft-stated reason being no one wanted to build a CA model instead of the many characters associated with his action figure.
Its understandable why DC wanted to produce a CA comic, but some enterprising editor should have called up Marvel to produce a joint-company CA comic where the disguises actually made an appearance, despite how hyper-competitive the companies were at the time (as we would see in the following decade in a certain treasury edition). Just imagine some of the late 60s DC & Marvel talents joining forces--and characters in a CA book...it could have been a major hit.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2021 7:17:18 GMT -5
Was trying to think of the best thread to post this in since it's movie related, but probably this one fits the spirit best. The talk in another thread about the Green Lantern and Daredevil movies got me thinking about live action adaptations in general.
I'm going to say something that will sound probably more than a bit crazy, but the closest to my vision of what live action super-heroes should be was this:
When I saw this back in the day, I immediately thought "imagine if they made a real movie with them looking like this". Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed plenty of the live action stuff for what it is, but it doesn't "look" like comic books to me (I actually kind of hate the body armor/leather/whatever attempts to make it less "cheesy", Christopher Reeve as an example made the "faithful" look work better than any of that IMO).
Obviously it has no doubt been massively more lucrative with the approach that's been taken over the years, but my point is I feel like I'm watching really slick sci-fi/action movies (which is not a bad thing) versus the comic books literally come to life. That's why I tend to heavily gravitate towards animation when it comes to comic book material.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 2, 2021 11:07:40 GMT -5
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. I feel the same way - I mean, how is it that a Snickers commercial can get The Joker right, but the major films can't?
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Post by tonebone on Jul 2, 2021 12:50:39 GMT -5
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. I feel the same way - I mean, how is it that a Snickers commercial can get The Joker right, but the major films can't? Needs more facial tattoos and silver teeth. Said no one.
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Post by tonebone on Jul 2, 2021 12:51:13 GMT -5
Was trying to think of the best thread to post this in since it's movie related, but probably this one fits the spirit best. The talk in another thread about the Green Lantern and Daredevil movies got me thinking about live action adaptations in general. I'm going to say something that will sound probably more than a bit crazy, but the closest to my vision of what live action super-heroes should be was this: When I saw this back in the day, I immediately thought "imagine if they made a real movie with them looking like this". Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed plenty of the live action stuff for what it is, but it doesn't "look" like comic books to me (I actually kind of hate the body armor/leather/whatever attempts to make it less "cheesy", Christopher Reeve as an example made the "faithful" look work better than any of that IMO). Obviously it has no doubt been massively more lucrative with the approach that's been taken over the years, but my point is I feel like I'm watching really slick sci-fi/action movies (which is not a bad thing) versus the comic books literally come to life. That's why I tend to heavily gravitate towards animation when it comes to comic book material. Those masks are fantastic, in particular Cap.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 2, 2021 13:08:08 GMT -5
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. I feel the same way - I mean, how is it that a Snickers commercial can get The Joker right, but the major films can't? That was quite awesome.
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Post by tarkintino on Jul 2, 2021 13:49:00 GMT -5
When I saw this back in the day, I immediately thought "imagine if they made a real movie with them looking like this". Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed plenty of the live action stuff for what it is, but it doesn't "look" like comic books to me (I actually kind of hate the body armor/leather/whatever attempts to make it less "cheesy", Christopher Reeve as an example made the "faithful" look work better than any of that IMO). Obviously it has no doubt been massively more lucrative with the approach that's been taken over the years, but my point is I feel like I'm watching really slick sci-fi/action movies (which is not a bad thing) versus the comic books literally come to life. That's why I tend to heavily gravitate towards animation when it comes to comic book material. Some more comic-based costumes can work in live action (e.g., the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial and the Shazam! TV series), others do not, since they were not designed with live action adaptations in mind--at least not in the Bronze Age and earlier. For that reason, the outfits in the milk spot seem like Halloween costumes, instead of what one might expect in an adaptation taking human perceptions / expectations of how a superhero costume would really work into consideration.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 2, 2021 19:37:30 GMT -5
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. I feel the same way - I mean, how is it that a Snickers commercial can get The Joker right, but the major films can't? "I'm not crazy, I'm just differently sane."
Well, that one's going in my quote book
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 2, 2021 20:02:58 GMT -5
Doesn't sound crazy to me at all. I feel the same way - I mean, how is it that a Snickers commercial can get The Joker right, but the major films can't? "I'm not crazy, I'm just differently sane."
Well, that one's going in my quote book
Should I worry about how often you must use this line that you're going to be writing it down for future reference?
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Jul 2, 2021 20:20:33 GMT -5
You can't beat the Sixties Batman tv show for capturing a comic book aesthetic in live-action.
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