|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 10, 2021 18:14:27 GMT -5
Re-read Jerry Bingham's Beowulf graphic novel published by First Comics in 1984. It won the 1985 Kirby Award (later split into the Eisners and the Harveys) for Best Graphic Album.  An excellent presentation of the Beowulf saga. It's very clear that Bingham was completely invested in the project and that he was given reins to do it his way. Artistically it feels a bit like John Buscema meets Prince Valiant. There are no word balloons and very little dialogue, reading more like a re-telling in the oral tradition. The art is Bingham but there is a feel of his building on the barbarian tradition started by Buscema in his run on Conan.  I'd consider it a must read for any sword & sorcery fan.  |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,143 
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 11, 2021 0:11:55 GMT -5
I re-read Amazing Spider-Man #110 and #111 last night.  These issues see the debut of that Z-list of all Z-lister villians, the Gibbon, and the return of Kraven the Hunter. These are enjoyable, but rather slight Lee/Conway/Romita issues. The origin of the Gibbon -- a guy who looks unusually simian-like and just happens to be a whiz at climbing trees -- is ridiculous, but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time. He also has a surprisingly touching backstory of childhood alienation and years of ridicule in Stan Lee's hands. Initially the Gibbon wants to partner up with Spidey, but when the web-slinger rejects him, Kraven takes advantage of his anger and mentors him in the skills of jungle combat, while plying him with a cocktail of special herbs that brainwash the Gibbon and give him increased strength. Kraven then telepathically sends him to attack Spider-Man. Of course, even with his augmented "jungle strength", the Gibbon is no match for the Wall-Crawler and is easily beaten, leaving Kraven sulking in his apartment. In all honesty, these are pretty throwaway issues of ASM, but then again, even slight Lee/Conway/Romita Spider-Man comics are worth reading, as far as I'm concerned. |
|
|
|
Post by Ricky Jackson on Feb 11, 2021 0:50:56 GMT -5
I re-read Amazing Spider-Man #110 and #111 last night. These issues see the debut of that Z-list of all Z-lister villians, the Gibbon, and the return of Kraven the Hunter. These are enjoyable, but rather slight Lee/Conway/Romita issues. The origin of the Gibbon -- a guy who looks unusually Simeon-like and just happens to be a whiz at climbing trees -- is ridiculous, but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time. He also has a surprisingly touching backstory of childhood alienation and years of ridicule in Stan Lee's hands. Initially the Gibbon wants to partner up with Spidey, but when the web-slinger rejects him, Kraven takes advantage of his anger and mentors him in the skills of jungle combat, while plying him with a cocktail of special herbs that brainwash the Gibbon and give him increased strength. Kraven then telepathically sends him to attack Spider-Man. Of course, even with his augmented "jungle strength", the Gibbon is no match for the Wall-Crawler and is easily beaten, leaving Kraven sulking in his apartment. In all honesty, these are pretty throwaway issues of ASM, but then again, even slight Lee/Conway/Romita Spider-Man comics are worth reading, as far as I'm concerned. I had Marvel Tales reprints of these two issues as a kid (back then I only had a few random issues from the 70s) so I've always had a soft spot for this storyline. Sure, the Gibbon is ridiculous, but damn if his origin isnt a bit touching. Always thought Spidey was kinda a dick in how he rejected him. Kraven being there to step in and mentor/corrupt young Marty was a brilliant touch imo. Also great Romita art, and 110 was, I believe, Stan's swan song on the book after nearly 10 years. I also dug the Gibbon's return years later in Spectacular Spider Man, a two-parter (issues 59-60) also featuring a guilty pleasure character of mine, the Beetle |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,143
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 11, 2021 6:35:57 GMT -5
Also great Romita art, and 110 was, I believe, Stan's swan song on the book after nearly 10 years. Absolutely right. ASM #111 is Gerry Conway's first issue. #110 sees Stan kind of going out with a whimper instead of a bang, and issue #111 is hardly a stella start for Conway either. Agree that John Romita is firing on all cylinders, as usual. |
|
|
|
Post by commond on Feb 11, 2021 8:59:40 GMT -5
I finished Red Nails, which is considered by many to be Barry Smith's best work on Conan. What interested me is that Roy Thomas wrote an editorial where he said it might be the final issue of Savage Tales. It seems Marvel had a difficult time publishing their black and white magazines, which is a shame because they are a clear precursor to the rise of independent comics, graphic novels, and comics for mature readers. If that trend had begun earlier we would have seen some amazing creator driven stuff in the 70s.
|
|
|
|
Post by kirby101 on Feb 11, 2021 10:39:55 GMT -5
I finished Red Nails, which is considered by many to be Barry Smith's best work on Conan. What interested me is that Roy Thomas wrote an editorial where he said it might be the final issue of Savage Tales. It seems Marvel had a difficult time publishing their black and white magazines, which is a shame because they are a clear precursor to the rise of independent comics, graphic novels, and comics for mature readers. If that trend had begun earlier we would have seen some amazing creator driven stuff in the 70s. Red Nails was truly a great offering from the Smith - Thomas team. When it came out it was obviously such a superior effort to the regular books. I have the Archives Edition of Red Nails, reproduced from Barry's original art printed full size. And as wonderful as it looked in Savage Tales, the original art is spectacular. There are details that just didn't show up printed on newsprint.
|
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 11, 2021 12:59:47 GMT -5
Re-read Ernie Colon's 1984 graphic novel Medusa Chain (DC Graphic Novel #3). This one was also nominated for the 1985 Kirby Award for Best Graphic Novel.  This is a decent SF tale but it's Colon's artwork that make it stand out. The story isn't anything great. Flawed hero done wrong by evil corporation. Ambiguous redemption arc. The science is about what you'd expect from a comic book artist. I've always felt that Colon is underrated as an artist, possibly because of his long-term association with the Harvey funny books. But the few things he's written in more serious genres have never impressed me as better than adequate.  |
|
|
|
Post by kirby101 on Feb 11, 2021 14:09:20 GMT -5
Ernie Colan is terribly under rated.
|
|
|
|
Post by profh0011 on Feb 11, 2021 17:19:13 GMT -5
MARVEL PREVIEW #3An ironic name for the anthology series in this case, as it contains a 4-part BLADE story that was clearly intended for 4 separate issues of VAMPIRE TALES, but that magazine (and its 4 related B&W horror mags) all got cancelled within a couple months of each other (to "make room" for new mags; they'd never admit they all got canned due to POOR sales, which even back then I put down to all being such mish-mashes of good material side-by-side with poor material, 20-year-old reprints and terrible articles all included to pad out the page counts). TONY DeZUNIGA is always better when he does full art (instead of inking other people's pencils). The problem here is, he did part 1, but only the pencils for part 2. Rico Rival inked part 2, but then took over on full art on parts 3 & 4, and he's no DeZuniga. Even so, what murders this is CHRIS CLAREMONT. Every time I re-read one of his old comics, I'm reminded of what a terrible writer he so often was. When he first started out, he always reminded me of a Marv Wolfman wannabe in style, but Wolfman wasn't that great, either. Early-on, the narration refers to plunging the hero into "his own personal hell", and I almost stopped right then, as Claremont's favorite thing to do was to put every character he wrote THRU HELL. It had nothing to do with drama or character growth, I think he just liked inflicting pain on characters... and, his audience. What amazing is that his dialogue is always consistently even worse than his stories. How did I ever put up with him in the 70s? It's been pointed out at some time that Gene Colan based Blade on actor JIM BROWN (that's 2 Marvel heroes based on the same actor, as LUKE CAGE was also modelled on Brown). I can half understand not being able to see any resemblence at all in the art (after all, it's not Gene Colan), but it's impossble to "hear" Brown in the dialogue. Or, any normal person speaking, for that matter. I sometimes think all these guys back then went to the "Roy Thomas school of dialogue writing". GRAY MORROW:  TONY DeZUNIGA: 
|
|
|
|
Post by Calidore on Feb 11, 2021 20:00:03 GMT -5
TONY DeZUNIGA is always better when he does full art (instead of inking other people's pencils). No surprise there, as he was busted (in the early 90s, I think) for outsourcing his inking work to some Filipino artists for a relative pittance and pocketing the difference. He got caught when one of the artists called DC directly with a question instead of going through DeZuniga.
Don't remember anything being said about his penciling, though, so that's probably all him.
|
|
|
|
Post by profh0011 on Feb 11, 2021 21:41:06 GMT -5
Ernie Colan is terribly under rated. Some years back I discovered he did a whole series of "Bank Street Classics" for BOYS' LIFE magazine, where, astoundingly, he compressed entire classic novels into 16-PAGE comics adaptations. (Insane but true!)
Here's a page from his "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" from the March 1995 issue.
Even more mind-boggling was the work he did in the November 1996 issue, on "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".
|
|
|
|
Post by kirby101 on Feb 11, 2021 23:15:34 GMT -5
He did several issues of Valiant's Magus Robot Fighter, done in complete color. Probably took to much time to be practical.  |
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on Feb 11, 2021 23:55:05 GMT -5
This period, the 20-cent era, is probably when I was most deeply immersed in Marvel comics. I really liked the Gibbon and wanted to see more of him, but not as a villain. I wanted to see him succeed! After all these years, I still remember the Gibbon's name - Martin Blank. I think this was the year I nominated John Romita as Artist of the Year in the Academy of Comic Book Arts awards. His Spider-Man work was the main reason. PS. Confessor, I think spellcheck may have turned "simian" into "Simeon" in your post. |
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,143
|
Post by Confessor on Feb 12, 2021 2:16:35 GMT -5
PS. Confessor, I think spellcheck may have turned "simian" into "Simeon" in your post. Oops! Good catch, Rob. Thanks for pointing it out, I've fixed it now. |
|
|
|
Post by Duragizer on Feb 13, 2021 4:01:02 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #39-50 & Annual #3
Some months back, I'd mentioned that I had grown weary of Lee's writing and was going to begin skipping over it to concentrate on Kirby's art alone. A number of folks here advised against that, saying this was the point in the title where the plotting picked up and became worth reading. I decided to take your advice to heart. This last batch of issues has been far more engrossing than what came before. I still dislike how Lee writes the women and romantic relationships in this series, but at least I'm enjoying the plots.
|
|
