|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Jul 17, 2018 20:57:01 GMT -5
I never had X-Men #105 and 107 for some reason the first time around when i was a comic addict. Not sure why, they just never crossed my path at the right price or something, but I was lucky enough to collect #94-97 (which I've no doubt I'll never get back) and the key #101 (which I am lucky enough to have gotten again), so I was appreciating Dave Cockrum comics anew because of them. Somehow I ran across the two issue Starjammers comic he did later on and gave that a try and enjoyed it enough to go after The Futurians in various formats (four regular comics and the one 1983 'graphic novel'. I did have some of his DC comics in the past, some Superboys with his Legion, two issues of Ms. Marvel, and the Blackhawk reboot for a few issues. Also his second run on X-Men and countless great covers. It wasn't Mr. Cockrum's strong suit to stay on one title for a long time and concentrate exclusively on it, but it seemed like maybe he could've done it with a bi-monthly Futurians title. It's too bad the first non-Marvel publisher fell apart on him after three issues and a fourth was printed twice, once in a collection with the other three and another on it's own but in b&W (which is what I have). His first X-Men run was shaky in places. I remember Nightcrawler being the favorite then with his image transducer and Errol Flynn shtick, a bit odd for a dark blue furry guy that looked like a scary demon, but the Beast also dark blue and furry seemed overly jovial as well, maybe blue and furry is where it's at? Wolverine was a blank then, but Storm was at least as interesting as Nightcrawler if not always given the same attention, and then Phoenix was a red hot mama visually with the big flame bird and coping with the sudden surge in raw power. Part of the problem was lack of a regular inker artwise, something that John Byrne and the title itself was lucky with Terry Austin not to have had to deal with much. Other titles with Byrne and a different inker almost every issue, like Iron Fist and The Avengers really suffered for it. The second run was more consistent artistically, but far too often things degenerated into the cutesy I feel. Supposed sudden genius Kitty designing the worst costumes and changing her code name was not entertaining, her bedtime story issue made me cringe, Nightcrawler supposedly being cuddly to everyone didn't work all that well either erasing the pathos that had started to haunt him in the Byrne years, Wolverine stayed suitably tough and interesting from those issues I think however. The Starjammers were good for three issues, but there were a lot of below-average issues surrounding them. I think but for the graphic novel and the Emma Frost academy in #151-152 I might well have quit the title during this second Cockrum run. Too often ideas seemed to be off the top of someone's head and not well thought out... "wouldn't it be fun if"... but it wasn't usually fun when these cute ideas undercut the strength of the concept, such as Kitty impersonating Phoenix one issue, ick! I know there was a Nightcrawler mini-series, and although Dave Cockrum created him I don't really like his Errol Flynn bouncy take on the character so I've avoided it to this day. How cutesy was it? I did see the Airwolf strip in Marvel Fanfare, but feel no great need to revisit that, sort of a substitute for Blackhawk and I'd rather just got for the Blackhawks. There might be some Cockrum comics I don't know about which I would like, and will keep an eye peeled. I still remember the sadness when his death made a tv news show, and feel it again when I happen to see some of his own comic collection listed on ebay. He was a great comic artist at his best, it doesn't really get much better. Greedily I wish he had made a lot more comics, like Ms. Marvel #20 & 21, and like X-Men #107, and like all of The Futurians I've seen.  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 21:06:21 GMT -5
If you want to look through it, here is a list of all Cockrum's credits via the GCD. I remember a few issues of John Carter from Marvel by Cockrum, but don't know how long her stayed on the book. And he did a lot of the art for Marvel ads, like the Hostess ads according the GCD. -M |
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Jul 17, 2018 21:26:39 GMT -5
I thought the Hostess ad comics usually looked more like Sal Buscema. But then I suppose Cockrum would be looking at our pal Sal's Hulks if he was to do a Hulk at all. There were some very odd Hostess comics, one had a woman turned into a flat clothing pattern by an evil factory boss and then fruit pies distracted him enough to end his spell. That site seems most useful when I search Cockrum pencils by date. Defenders #57 added to the want list. And maybe John Carter #11. Thanks!  |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jul 17, 2018 21:59:23 GMT -5
He did odd issues of John Carter and several covers; all great.
The Marvel Fanfare story was Sky Wolf (Airwolf was the Jan Michael Vincent tv series, with Ernest Borgnine and Alex Cord). It was fine, though his Blackhawk stories were better.
I liked his swashbuckling stuff, with Nightcrawler. It fit with Nightcrawler's circus background and how you imagine he wished people could see him. Until he started getting saddled with the religious characterization, he was a fairly lighthearted figure, with occasional down moments. Once Claremont started amping up the angst, he still mostly kept his enthusiastic spirit. Cockrum handled that better than Byrne, I felt.
I loved "Kitty's Fairytale"; but, I'm a sucker for swashbuckling, romantic adventure (and a Flynn fan). It was a nice break after some fairly angst-ridden issues.
Futurians got screwed by David Singer, whose Lodestone imprint was the publisher for the follow up to the Marvel graphic novel. Singer was a liar and con artist and fed Cockrum a bunch of fantasies, then couldn't pay his bills. He basically stole Cockrum's artwork, which was retrieved by Kieth Giffen when he saw it in Singer's office. That fiasco totally derailed Futurians and Cockrum's chance to make a bigger smash. The industry decline of the 90s and health issues prevented him from doing much with it, as he had to concentrate on paying jobs to pay the bills.
I used to have a Cockrum portfolio, which had some great illustrations of John Carter, Flash Gordon, Blackhawk and more. He was one of the best character designers out there. Would have loved to have seen him do a full on John Carter adaptation.
|
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Jul 17, 2018 22:20:21 GMT -5
Looking through his full comic story credits it's sadly fairly thin. I'd forgotten about his Star Trek comics though. It seemed like he could've maybe handled a bi-monthly comic and still be able to do a few covers and fun things on the side. The Futurians could've been that comic if he'd gone to First or somewhere more stable and reliable. I liked his Black Cat villainess in Spider-Man as basic as it was it was purr-fect (iconic) and pretty much all of his costume designs worked well, though they often had a very '70s feel you probably had to be into.  A Camaro Firebird with Phoenix colors is the coolest car I can imagine, green and gold or the original white and gold he seemed to have intended.  |
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Jul 17, 2018 22:31:06 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 22:36:18 GMT -5
Cockrum is an amazing artist and I do enjoy his work when he did Phoenix -- of the post that I've liked so well and you've provided some excellent examples of that.
|
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 18, 2018 4:47:08 GMT -5
Cockrum did not, unfortunately, do much work on Marvel's John Carter series: he inked Gil Kane's pencils in the first issue, inked Kane's covers to the first two issues, and did the cover and interior pencils for issue #11 (both inked by Rudy Nebres). He also did a bunch of character sketches, which are included in the Warlord of Mars omnibus I'm flipping through right now. I generally like the series, but it would have been awesome if Cockrum had either done the art throughout, or had an extended run as penciler, or at least an extended run as Kane's inker - the art in that first issue is really nice.
Needless to say, I'm a fan of Cockrum's art, and I think he was one of the best costume designers this side of Ditko.
On your other points, I mostly agree with your views on his second run on X-men. His art didn't seem to have the pop that it did during his first run, which was probably due to the fact that at that point X-men was a monthly rather than bi-monthly. As I understand it, Cockrum worked more slowly than other pencilers. Not to go off on a tangent, but I very much agree with your stance on Kitty as well: initially I couldn't stand her, and while I didn't cringe while reading the fairy-tale issue, it didn't set my world on fire and I never understood why it's such a fan favorite. I actually thought it was a good idea to move her into the New Mutants once that series was launched, and I only grew to appreciate the character when she had guest appearances in that title and interacted with those characters.
|
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jul 18, 2018 5:26:51 GMT -5
I was never a big fan of his work on the X-men but I absolutely LOVE the work he did on 4 issues of the Avengers series when Steve Englehart was writing it. He inked 2 issues over John Buscema ( # 124,125) and one issue over Bob Browns vastly underrated pencils on # 126. He is credited with doing the entire Giant-size Avengers # 2 , which is one of my favorite books. Try to track down those books, beccabear67. Avengers # 124  From GS Avengers # 2    But I could swear that the last few pages of GSA were inked by Neal Adams. |
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Jul 18, 2018 5:44:52 GMT -5
Cockrum also pencilled Giant-Size Avengers #3, which was inked by Joe Giella. Considering how disparate their styles were, it worked surprisingly well.
As I've mentioned before, I crossed paths with Dave's son a few times back when we both worked for the Washington State Employment Security Department. He rarely taled about his father, not because he wasn't proud of him but because fanboy types had tried to exploit the connection in the past. He did tell me one time that as much as his dad loved comics, he didn't like depending solely on them to support his family. His commercial artwork (among other things, he drew the instructions for Aurora model kits) of necessity was a higher priority, which is why he never seemed to stay with one book/series for very long.
Cei-U!
I summon the family man!
|
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jul 18, 2018 6:13:35 GMT -5
Cockrum also pencilled Giant-Size Avengers #3, which was inked by Joe Giella. Considering how disparate their styles were, it worked surprisingly well.
As I've mentioned before, I crossed paths with Dave's son a few times back when we both worked for the Washington State Employment Security Department. He rarely taled about his father, not because he wasn't proud of him but because fanboy types had tried to exploit the connection in the past. He did tell me one time that as much as his dad loved comics, he didn't like depending solely on them to support his family. His commercial artwork (among other things, he drew the instructions for Aurora model kits) of necessity was a higher priority, which is why he never seemed to stay with one book/series for very long. Cei-U! I summon the family man! That's right, I forgot about that one. But I really hated giellas inks, maybe I chose to forget.... |
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Jul 18, 2018 8:15:34 GMT -5
My 1st Cockrum was in Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. Instant love affair. Then he appeared at Marvel inking/penciling some Avengers and his art just looked more improved, slick and smooth. When he began X-Men he was hitting it out of the ballpark for me. Wish he had done more as you can never have enough Cockrum art in the world. Always brings a smile to my face looking at Dave's art.
|
|
|
|
Post by tarkintino on Jul 18, 2018 8:32:38 GMT -5
If you want to look through it, here is a list of all Cockrum's credits via the GCD. I remember a few issues of John Carter from Marvel by Cockrum, but don't know how long her stayed on the book. And he did a lot of the art for Marvel ads, like the Hostess ads according the GCD. -M Cockrum was a man of many talents. What is not often discussed is his time employed by the famed Aurora Plastics Corporation in the early 1970s, where he--brought in by Andy Yanchus--created new designs for the company's monster model kits under the Monsters of the Movies banner (see photo). Additionally, he provided layouts for proposed kits never completed, such as the Metaluna Mutant (from This Island Earth) and Gort (from The Day the Earth Stood Still).  His best known contribution was being partially responsible for bringing in real comic book artists--some among the comic industry's greatest talents--to provide updated art for Aurora's reissued superhero kits originally released in the 1960s, renamed the Comic Scenes series. The logical idea behind it was to use artists with work that was the most known and/or face of that period for a re-released character to illustrate the new box art and packed-in comic. So, in addition to Cockrum naturally illustrating the Superboy kit's box & comic, the other boxes were updated by the pens of John Romita (Spider-Man and Captain America), Neal Adams (Tarzan), Herb Trimpe (the Hulk), Dick Giordano (Batman and Robin), Curt Swan (Superman) and Gil Kane (The Lone Ranger and Tonto). Cockrum was on a creative roll at this period of his career, having finished his game-changing run on Superboy featuring The Legion of Super Heroes, and moving on to his Marvel work. Between it all, he was a major player in the licensing / development of four, major entertainment brands (DC, Marvel, Universal and Toho), at a time when most comic artists were not diversifying themselves with as much high profile work beyond comics (with the exception of Adams). |
|
|
|
Post by hondobrode on Jul 18, 2018 9:03:41 GMT -5
That Aurora Superboy is so very Cockrum.
I'm with you Becca on the Futurians. Sad it couldn't have gone on to be more than the glimpse that we've gotten.
Honestly, someone should do something with it.
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Jul 18, 2018 9:15:04 GMT -5
Cockrum was in the middle of his second X-Men run when I started collecting with #149. Through Mile-High Comics, I bought back-issues back to #137, which I had heard was a big story, but I was too young to even notice that some issues were by Cockrum and some were by Byrne, and some were fill-ins by others. Even the Sienkiewicz regular issue and annual just seeemed "different" to me, but it never occurred to me at the time that the difference was a different person drawing the characters. Duh! So Cockrum was my default for what the X-Men looked like. When Paul Smith came along, that was a jarring change at first, though one I came to welcome. It didn't help that in the first Paul Smith issue, Scott Summers' hair was consistently colored blue (i.e. black) rather than brown, a mistake which I thought must somehoe be the fault of this new artist who couldn't even draw the characters right (i.e. like Cockrum). By the way, Cockrum's idea of a white and gold Phoenix did eventually see the light of day in the final issue of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men:   |
|
