shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 21, 2015 23:47:54 GMT -5
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 21, 2015 23:56:01 GMT -5
It’s still going strong at issue # 209 and his goal is to surpass Cerebus in consecutive issues by an indepedent creator doing all the Heavy lifting. I hope he suceeds. Usagi Yojimbo is up to #201 if you don't count the renumberings experienced when Sakai had to change publishers twice (there was no delay in the publishing of issues). He was actually ahead of Larson until his wife got ill and eventually died, necessitating time off. Prior to that, he'd been running like clockwork since 1984, publishing ten issues per year once Usagi earned an ongoing title in 1987 (if you include the three years worth of stories he did prior to that, he's waaaay past #209 issues, btw). Even still, he's been at this for longer than Larsen and did it without the help of a major publisher, without missing a single deadline, and without any plot or art assists at any point in time, so it's very debatable just who will succeed Sim. Wow ! I didn't know that. I'll bet most people don't know that. What Larsen, and Sakai, have done is so great. Having creators like them, or Sim, really own a character heart and soul and have real consequences and complete control is so rare especially for decades. Admittedly, Larsen has grown on me overs the years because of that respect. I had the initial mini and just recently picked up the first 50 issues and am looking forward to finally sitting down with them after I finish Astro City, another great series. |
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Post by foxley on Dec 22, 2015 2:07:51 GMT -5
Today I walk a well-trodden path, but for a slightly different reason to most of my fellow travellers. #4. Darwyn Cooke
I certainly enjoyed The New Frontier, but I don't hold it in the same kind of affection as many of my fellow posters. If I were basing my choice solely on this work, Cooke probably would not have made my list. But I regard Cooke as one of the finest (maybe even the finest) writer and artist producing noir in modern comics. And Cooke has two works from the allowable period that fall squarely in that category: Solo #5 and the graphic novel Selina's Big Score. Looking at these works (especially Big Score) demonstrate why he was the perfect choice to adapt Richard Stark's Parker novels into graphic novel format. If you haven't checked these out, your realy should, although are too recent to qualify for this list. (And it is certainly no coincidence that Selina's Big Score features a professional thief named Stark.)     |
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Post by berkley on Dec 22, 2015 5:03:16 GMT -5
4. Charles SchulzThe only news-strip artist appearing in my list. I haven't actually read Peanuts for years but it's one of those rare childhood monuments that hasn't diminished in stature over the years in my imagination: when I think of it, it seems as significant to me now as it did then. Schulz's minimalist style was the perfect match for the wry, low-key humour of his writing, and the deep sadness that lay just beneath its surface - actually quite overt and not beneath the surface at all, in many cases. A great influence on many later comics artists, including my next pick. 
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Dec 22, 2015 8:13:02 GMT -5
Still playing catch up, but my #4 choice is Art Spiegelman for his incredibly moving holocaust masterpiece, Maus...  What can I say about Maus that hasn't already been said better by others who have already picked the book as one of their choices in this year's Classic Comics Christmas? In particular, Prince Hal's eloquent and acutely observant description of its contents and its impact was fantastic. Suffice it to say, Maus is brilliantly written, intelligently structured and really well drawn. There are some truly haunting scenes and pieces of dialogue that will stay with you long, long after you've read it. Simply put, it packs a huge emotional wallop. The allegorical, Aesop's' Fables-style device of making the book's characters anthropomorphised animals is a good one, but you know what? I don't think the story needs it. Maus is such a harrowing, affecting and powerful story, that it would've still been a masterpiece without that storytelling device. I don't use the word "masterpiece" very often to describe any artistic creation, be it music, books, painting or whatever. But I'll easily call Maus a masterpiece without any hesitation at all.   |
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Post by benday-dot on Dec 22, 2015 22:04:26 GMT -5
I agree with your fine write-up completely Shax. Kirby in the early 70's is where the King was at his apogee. One small point of correction. Of course, Kirby was considering and even in the early stages of designing and conceptualizing his Fourth World epic as early as the late 60's while still at Marvel. Which leads me to your point about Phillip Druillet. Kirby was only introduced to the work of Druillet some time after the Fourth World books were cancelled. IIRC it was through Richard Kyle's Long Beach, Ca comic shop, that Jack sometimes dropped into, that the introduction to Druillet was made. Needless to say Kirby was impressed, but I would not say influenced by. Likewise, Druillet's own intro to Kirby came well after the French creator was in high gear with Lone Sloane and his other space operas. I find that surprising as there are so many moments in the first Lone Sloan volume that are just so clearly echoed in Kirby's work on the Fourth World and The Eternals. I don't have the time nor energy to scan comparison panels, but I can't be the only one who sees some very clear resemblances. Even the Mobius Chair. Must be the collective unconscious at work. Kirby pretty much had a direct line to the cosmos when he was creating. Despite Stan Lee, not much was mediating his tale-telling by way of influence. Kirby was a huge reader, but what he put down on the page was pretty much all him. Which is of course the source of much love and, yes a wee bit of loathing. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 22, 2015 22:12:28 GMT -5
Schulz's minimalist style was the perfect match for the wry, low-key humour of his writing, and the deep sadness that lay just beneath its surface - actually quite overt and not beneath the surface at all, in many cases. Isn't it interesting that the two biggest comic strips of the past half century, Peanuts and Garfield, both have an overwhelming and overt sense of depression at their cores? It's one of the reasons I actually found myself liking the new Peanuts movie in spite of the CG. It did its homework well and had a loving grasp of the characters and material, but it also sent the very clear message that all the harsh injustices Charlie Brown had ever experienced (even reading War and Peace for a book report on New Year's eve) were inadvertently self-inflicted extensions of a self-fulfilling prophecy; the universe could be a just and fair place after all. You can call that disloyal to the original premise. I think it was handled incredibly well and felt like a theraputic release after three decades of identifying with Charlie Brown and his plight within the universe. Anyway, I'm waaaaaay off topic here, but I think the film is worth checking out. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 22, 2015 22:15:26 GMT -5
Schulz's minimalist style was the perfect match for the wry, low-key humour of his writing, and the deep sadness that lay just beneath its surface - actually quite overt and not beneath the surface at all, in many cases. Isn't it interesting that the two biggest comic strips of the past half century, Peanuts and Garfield, both have an overwhelming and overt sense of depression at their cores? It's one of the reasons I actually found myself liking the new Peanuts movie in spite of the CG. It did its homework well and had a loving grasp of the characters and material, but it also sent the very clear message that all the harsh injustices Charlie Brown had ever experienced (even reading War and Peace for a book report on New Year's eve) were inadvertently self-inflicted extensions of a self-fulfilling prophecy; the universe could be a just and fair place after all. You can call that disloyal to the original premise. I think it was handled incredibly well and felt like a theraputic release after three decades of identifying with Charlie Brown and his plight within the universe. Anyway, I'm waaaaaay off topic here, but I think the film is worth checking out. Off topic as well but I second that recommendation, the Peanuts Movie was one of the best comic movies ever made in my mind. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 22, 2015 22:26:57 GMT -5
I find that surprising as there are so many moments in the first Lone Sloan volume that are just so clearly echoed in Kirby's work on the Fourth World and The Eternals. I don't have the time nor energy to scan comparison panels, but I can't be the only one who sees some very clear resemblances. Even the Mobius Chair. Must be the collective unconscious at work. Kirby pretty much had a direct line to the cosmos when he was creating. Despite Stan Lee, not much was mediating his tale-telling by way of influence. Kirby was a huge reader, but what he put down on the page was pretty much all him. Which is of course the source of much love and, yes a wee bit of loathing. I thought the visual concept of the Star-Bridge of Torquedara Varenkor was reminiscent of Kirby's Source Wall and the Promethean Giants. But I agree that this and other parallels aren't necessarily signs of direct influence. Not that it would matter much to me if it did turn out that Kirby had been inspired by Druillet: creators get their ideas from all over the place, it's what they do with them that counts. Unless of course it's a case of a straight lifting of someone else's work that you're trying to pass off as your own - like that film-maker who stole complete snatches of dialogue from a Daniel Clowes comic a year or two back. |
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Post by berkley on Dec 22, 2015 22:38:30 GMT -5
Isn't it interesting that the two biggest comic strips of the past half century, Peanuts and Garfield, both have an overwhelming and overt sense of depression at their cores? It's one of the reasons I actually found myself liking the new Peanuts movie in spite of the CG. It did its homework well and had a loving grasp of the characters and material, but it also sent the very clear message that all the harsh injustices Charlie Brown had ever experienced (even reading War and Peace for a book report on New Year's eve) were inadvertently self-inflicted extensions of a self-fulfilling prophecy; the universe could be a just and fair place after all. You can call that disloyal to the original premise. I think it was handled incredibly well and felt like a theraputic release after three decades of identifying with Charlie Brown and his plight within the universe. Anyway, I'm waaaaaay off topic here, but I think the film is worth checking out. Off topic as well but I second that recommendation, the Peanuts Movie was one of the best comic movies ever made in my mind. I have to say, visually it looks all wrong to me. It looks as if they wanted to combine the "3-D" effect of modern Pixar-style animation with the extreme simplicity of Schulz's drawings and it is not a happy marriage, from what I've seen in the previews. As for the thematic observations Shaxper makes, I can't really say what I think without having seen the movie myself, but from the description here I feel suspicious: much human suffering is or can be psychologically self-inflicted but much is the unavoidable consequence of the reality we live in. I don't agree that the universe is inherently just and fair for all - or, for that matter, unjust or unfair: these are human concepts that don't necessarily apply to, for example, the laws of physics. But I have seen the film and perhaps I misunderstand Shaxper's point. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 23, 2015 11:43:25 GMT -5
Isn't it interesting that the two biggest comic strips of the past half century, Peanuts and Garfield, both have an overwhelming and overt sense of depression at their cores? An interesting observation. I certainly see it with Charlie Brown and his companions, but I see Garfield as a cruel, selfish character. Now, he may have been depressed and his depression manifested as narcissism, but that still doesn't make me fell any more sympathy toward him. I never saw in Garfield (the strip or the character) the charm or the insights into human nature that Schulz brought to Peanuts. However, I was never an avid or even occasional reader of Garfield (and I'm a dog guy, not a cat person), so my sample size and my experience may not be enough to go on. If it's Jon who is the depressed character at the center of the story, I perhaps jumped to a wrong conclusion. I would be more than happy to be set right on this, but I think Iago and Dexter, two other self-centered characters, are more interesting than Garfield. |
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 23, 2015 12:30:31 GMT -5
An interesting observation. I certainly see it with Charlie Brown and his companions, but I see Garfield as a cruel, selfish character. Now, he may have been depressed and his depression manifested as narcissism, but that still doesn't make me fell any more sympathy toward him. I never saw in Garfield (the strip or the character) the charm or the insights into human nature that Schulz brought to Peanuts. However, I was never an avid or even occasional reader of Garfield (and I'm a dog guy, not a cat person), so my sample size and my experience may not be enough to go on. If it's Jon who is the depressed character at the center of the story, I perhaps jumped to a wrong conclusion. I would be more than happy to be set right on this, but I think Iago and Dexter, two other self-centered characters, are more interesting than Garfield. Perhaps he refers to Garfield minus Garfield. A meditation on how sad and pathetic one man can be. garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/3garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/10 |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 23, 2015 16:43:47 GMT -5
Perhaps he refers to Garfield minus Garfield. A meditation on how sad and pathetic one man can be. "Garfield minus Garfield"? Now that I might read.  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 23, 2015 17:09:51 GMT -5
Perhaps he refers to Garfield minus Garfield. A meditation on how sad and pathetic one man can be. "Garfield minus Garfield"? Now that I might read. Garfield minus Garfield is brilliant. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 23, 2015 18:05:30 GMT -5
"Garfield minus Garfield"? Now that I might read. Garfield minus Garfield is brilliant. And a pleasure to read. |
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