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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 21:52:40 GMT -5
So i picked up a nice big chunk of Neal Adam's Continuity Comics as part of a "grab bag" from Half Price Books. . . and man, oh man, am I having a hard time getting thru them. These are mainly the "Deathwatch 2000" stuff. . . so it's across multiple titles, and includes many gimmick covers (TYVEK !!. . Polybagged with card! flip the cover to see another image!!). . but that doesn't bother me. what IS giving me trouble, I think, is the coloring is so . . . stagnant (I guess that's the word I'm looking for), that it makes everything very hard to figure out what's going on. which is a shame, because even tho Mr. Adams isn't the artist on the books (he's credited with layouts on most of them tho), the art is totally muddied by the coloring. And some of the art looks to have been well done. the colorist seems to also be named Adams, so I'm guessing either Wife, Child, or some other relative? but I'm wondering if this line would have been successful (or more successful) if the books had been done in Black and White? the Writing isn't the best, but is at least as good as some of the early Image books. The character designs are, for the most part, strong . . . tho I dunno about the "Limahl / George Lynch two-tone kittycat" look of "Cyberrad" I dunno. . I'm having a tough time getting thru these books. what do y'all think of the Continuity output?
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 29, 2017 22:46:04 GMT -5
I've never read one, so probably shouldn't comment, but I have read that the Continuity books have a surprisingly bad reputation for such an otherwise stellar creator.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 22:54:04 GMT -5
here's an interior page (a house ad for another upcoming crossover after "Deathwatch 2000").. . perfectly illustrates what I was talking about with the coloring making the image so muddy it's hard to tell what's going on:
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Dec 29, 2017 22:55:49 GMT -5
I've never read one, so probably shouldn't comment, but I have read that the Continuity books have a surprisingly bad reputation for such an otherwise stellar creator. I could be wrong on this, but I think the only creative part Adams played in any of the Continuity Comics was cover art. It was his company of course, but not his creative vision. Adams is a businessman first, originally using comics as a stepping stone towards getting into advertising, and only returning to comics when that's where the real money was in the '90s.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 22:58:14 GMT -5
The only Continuity book I have ever gotten into is Echo of Futurepast, the sci-fi anthology book, but that's because I like sci-fi anthologies of all sorts. I tried reading a few (Armor and Revengers) when I was big into Adams in high school and just discovering indy publishers, but they never grabbed me. They just seemed so plodding (whether it was the art or the writing I am not sure but the pacing of the books was agonizing to read) and lifeless. The long delays between issues as they came out didn't help either. I never really thought about the why I didn't like them. I wanted to like them, I just didn't. By the time they got to the Deathwatch stuff in 1993, I was long gone and looking at stuff like the Ultraverse to get my indy fix and didn't give them a second glance. I've been tempted a few times to give them another try when I run across the in quarter bins and such, but then I flip through an issue and remember how ploddingly slow reads they were and think better of it.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 23:00:34 GMT -5
I've never read one, so probably shouldn't comment, but I have read that the Continuity books have a surprisingly bad reputation for such an otherwise stellar creator. I could be wrong on this, but I think the only creative part Adams played in any of the Continuity Comics was cover art. It was his company of course, but not his creative vision. Adams is a businessman first, originally using comics as a stepping stone towards getting into advertising, and only returning to comics when that's where the real money was in the '90s. He was the scripter and co-penciller of Revengers at least, the book I tried in high school. GCD entry for Revengers #1and he scripted and inked a young Tom Grindberg's pencils in Armor. That was the 80s incarnation. By the time the 90s stuff hit he may not have been involved. -M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2017 23:05:18 GMT -5
I've never read one, so probably shouldn't comment, but I have read that the Continuity books have a surprisingly bad reputation for such an otherwise stellar creator. I could be wrong on this, but I think the only creative part Adams played in any of the Continuity Comics was cover art. It was his company of course, but not his creative vision. Adams is a businessman first, originally using comics as a stepping stone towards getting into advertising, and only returning to comics when that's where the real money was in the '90s. Just checked, and in the dozen or so books I got, he's listed as "Plot/Layouts" in all of em. now, I suppose that he could just be getting that 1st spot in the credits as owner of the company, but I don't really know.
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 29, 2017 23:34:15 GMT -5
I have pretty much most of his Continuity books from the beginning to the 90's books and finally to the books he published under the Valiant Windjammer imprint. I bought it for the artwork which was influenced by Adams. Of all the books, I only really enjoyed the first volume of Armor. When he brought back the line to cash in on the 90's comic craze, it was a miss mosh of crossover nonsense. I still have all the books. It seemed that he was more involved with MS. Mystic.
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 30, 2017 0:47:37 GMT -5
Everyone will agree that Neal's contribution to the industry is huge, and yet, Continuity is mostly not part of that.
I like that he tried, but once again, this is one of the best reasons why I say good editors are needed.
Neal can draw like nobody else. Artistically, few can match him for layout, design, drama, etc, but, he falls down hard on plot and especially dialogue.
Not sure I have all the Continuity issues, but at least most, more out of perverse curiosity of what might have been than anything else.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2017 2:37:37 GMT -5
My thoughts on Continuity. Their sins are many, starting with the abysmal writing. We are talking high school-level, at best. Some of the dialogue makes Kirby's read like Neil Gaiman. The art, though Adams or Adams-derivative, often suffered through so-so printing and weird coloring. Their stuff looked like no other, with lots or metallic oranges and purples. There was little editorial consistency and the publishing schedule was all over the place. I met Clarke Hawbaker once, who worked on Samuree, and he said everything passed through Neal's desk for approval; but, that was secondary to his commercial art jobs. When he got around to it, he tweaked art and story, then published it. Neal had his hands in everything, either directly or through influence. He massively edited Esteban Maroto's Cinco Por Infinito, when he published it in English, as Zero Patrol. Adams made art changes, major story changes and made it totally incomprehensible. The shame of it is that it is one of the seminal Spanish comics works and 1960s European works; yet, it has not been published in English, in America. Basically, the main problem at Continuity was that there was no real editor, especially with a story background. Neal was a fine artist; but was not a great writer and refused to bring in any real writers or editors. Everything about Continuity was visual. It made for nice portfolio work; but, not for great comic stories. You wanna got through a real rabbit hole? Try Adams' Skateman, from Pacific (where he launched the Continuity hero line, with Ms Mystic). That is also covered in my Other Guys thread. That thing reads like something out of the Twilight Zone and not in a good way.
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 30, 2017 6:24:26 GMT -5
My thoughts on Continuity. Their sins are many, starting with the abysmal writing. We are talking high school=level, at best. Some of the dialogue makes Kirby's read like Neil Gaiman. The art, though Adams or Adams-derivative, often suffered through so-so printing and weird coloring. Their stuff looked like no other, with lots or metallic oranges and purples. There was little editorial consistency and the publishing schedule was all over the place. I met Clarke Hawbaker once, who worked on Samuree, and he said everything passed through Neal's desk for approval; but, that was secondary to his commercial art jobs. When he got around to it, he tweaked art and story, then published it. Neal had his hands in everything, either directly or through influence. He massively edited Estevan Maroto's Cinco Por Infinito, when he published it in English, as Zero Patrol. Adams made art changes, major story changes and made it totally incomprehensible. The shame of it is that it is one of the seminal Spanish comics works and 1960s European works; yet, it has not been published in English, in America. Basically, the main problem at Continuity was that there was no real editor, especially with a story background. Neal was a fine artist; but was not a great writer and refused to bring in any real writers or editors. Everything about Continuity was visual. It made for nice portfolio work; but, not for great comic stories. You wanna got through a real rabbit hole? Try Adams' Skateman, from Pacific (where he launched the Continuity hero line, with Ms Mystic). That is also covered in my Other Guys thread. That thing reads like something out of the Twilight Zone and not in a good way. You capture the feel of these books perfectly. I do have a book called Zero Patrol in the bunch. Could it be it was published after all ? * edit* This is the book I have
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Dec 30, 2017 8:46:59 GMT -5
Neal can draw like nobody else. Artistically, few can match him for layout, design, drama, etc, but, he falls down hard on plot and especially dialogue. The only story I've ever read that he wrote was an issue of The Spectre from back during the Silver Age. I really liked it, but I was also holding it to the standard of 1960s DC scripts as opposed to, well, good writing
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2017 9:05:46 GMT -5
1. Ridiculous concepts. I mean Skateman? Really? 2. Poor writing. 3. Garish coloring. 4. Delays.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2017 9:09:10 GMT -5
My thoughts on Continuity. Their sins are many, starting with the abysmal writing. We are talking high school=level, at best. Some of the dialogue makes Kirby's read like Neil Gaiman. The art, though Adams or Adams-derivative, often suffered through so-so printing and weird coloring. Their stuff looked like no other, with lots or metallic oranges and purples. There was little editorial consistency and the publishing schedule was all over the place. I met Clarke Hawbaker once, who worked on Samuree, and he said everything passed through Neal's desk for approval; but, that was secondary to his commercial art jobs. When he got around to it, he tweaked art and story, then published it. Neal had his hands in everything, either directly or through influence. He massively edited Estevan Maroto's Cinco Por Infinito, when he published it in English, as Zero Patrol. Adams made art changes, major story changes and made it totally incomprehensible. The shame of it is that it is one of the seminal Spanish comics works and 1960s European works; yet, it has not been published in English, in America. Basically, the main problem at Continuity was that there was no real editor, especially with a story background. Neal was a fine artist; but was not a great writer and refused to bring in any real writers or editors. Everything about Continuity was visual. It made for nice portfolio work; but, not for great comic stories. You wanna got through a real rabbit hole? Try Adams' Skateman, from Pacific (where he launched the Continuity hero line, with Ms Mystic). That is also covered in my Other Guys thread. That thing reads like something out of the Twilight Zone and not in a good way. You capture the feel of these books perfectly. I do have a book called Zero Patrol in the bunch. Could it be it was published after all ? * edit* This is the book I have Oh, it was published; but, Neal pretty much gutted Maroto's work. He tinkered with the art to the point it no longer looks like Maroto and totally rewrote the story. The original is an epic adventure, with a group of people who are infused with great power by an alien, to become a kind intergalactic peace-keeping force. The original was a huge hit in Spain and across Europe, rivalling the works of Moebius and Druillet and the others producing science fiction, in the late 60s and early 70s. Here's a look at the original... and the Zero Patrol version... Adams re-inked panels and flat out changed some, to make it fit more into the Continuity house style (his) and changed a lot of the tone and actual story points. It was not a respectful adaptation. I keep hoping Fantagraphics or someone else (Cinebook or Europe Comics, or Titan) will do a faithful translation and collection (Fantagraphics did Hector Oesterheld and Francisco Lopez's Argentinian comic, The Eternaut). The only collection I have seen is in Spanish and is pretty pricey on Amazon ($1200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 30, 2017 10:29:20 GMT -5
Nice pages in the original version. I guess Adams owns it and can ruin it if he wants.
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