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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 10, 2022 17:39:41 GMT -5
Warren Ellis was on my list at one time.. Transmet is amazing, and I loved Doom 2099 as well... but I've realized since that Transmet is all he's got.. most of his other stories are either poor imitations or just generic 'edgy' sci fi. Planetary has entered the chat.
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Post by commond on Apr 10, 2022 19:44:54 GMT -5
I've begun sampling work by various creators.
Frank Miller -- Hard Boiled -- this is more notable for Geof Darrow's amazingly detailed artwork, but it's from the period that I would consider "prime Miller." It's a short sci-fi story stretched over three issues due to Darrow's gorgeous panel designs. It's basically Miller playing with the ideas from Blade Runner. Incredibly violent. Not much in the way of substance.
Neil Gaiman -- The Sandman: Endless Nights -- a collection of short stories featuring each of the Endless. Still making my way through this. Not essential reading, but Gaiman always had a knack for short stories. I remember much of the hype surrounding Sandman was due to the prestigious fantasy award Gaiman won for his Midsummer Night's Dream story. From what I've read thus far, I prefer his straight storytelling to the wildly fragmented narratives he uses for Despair and Delirium.
Jack Kirby -- OMAC -- Wow, OMAC is pretty wild. One thing that surprises me about 70s Kirby is how he was using all this crazy-ass lingo and had all these far out ideas about where civilization and mankind were heading. It's a far cry from the image I have of Kirby as the Godfather of comics, sitting at his drawing board with cigar in hand. Another observation I have about his work is how fast paced it is. A lot of 70s writers were filling up caption boxes to the brim, and when that didn't suffice, they'd switch to entire blocks of text. The only thing that slows Kirby down is the last panel, and he fills that with hype for the next issue.
Moebius -- Airtight Garage -- Very trippy and imaginative. I liked the art, but the story was difficult to follow. That's partly because Moebius was letting his imagination run wild, but also because of the way it was serialized with Moebius releasing only a few pages at a time. I'd definitely like to see more of Moebius' work, but I'm in no immediate hurry.
Tardi -- The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec -- I read a couple of Adele Blanc-Sec stories. Decent yarns. They reminded me of that old French serial Les Vampires. Tardi drew exquisite backgrounds, but I'm still getting used to the way he draws his characters. I can't say anything definitive about Tardi as it appears he worked in different genres.
Carl Banks -- Uncle Scrooge -- I read a couple of Uncle Scrooge stories. I don't think they were from the height of Banks' peak, but they were enjoyable stories. I can't see myself reading this type of comic in large volumes, but they're an enjoyable alternative from time to time.
Joe Kubert -- Tarzan -- I'd been putting off reading this because I was like, "it's Tarzan, what could I possibly get out of it?" But man, I really liked this. If I had been collecting DC comics in the 70s, Tarzan and Jonah Hex would have been books I bought on a monthly basis. (Well, probably not, since I would have been a kid and probably bought something with superheroes in it.) Kubert's art is fantastic. Very excited to read all of this.
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Post by Trevor on Apr 11, 2022 5:41:35 GMT -5
Day Fourteen Response and Wrap—Up
No additional Alans for me, while I do like much of their work, especially Alan Davis.
Easy pass on Caniff only because of my sad unfamiliarity with his work.
Hurts to say no to Sparky, Peanuts is pretty darn important in my life, both in strip form and animation. But if I have to consider strips then that takes up probably at least three in my list, and it's hard enough to narrow this down to ten.
My list so far: Frank Miller Jack Kirby Carl Barks Alan Moore Mike Mignola Jeff Lemire
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Post by Trevor on Apr 11, 2022 5:43:48 GMT -5
Day Fifteen Choices
In an episode of the podcast (11oClock Comics) Vince proclaimed that Ross Andru was the greatest artist of Spider-Man of all time, to which Wood offered Andru was one of 6 artists in that discussion along with Steve Ditko, Todd McFarlane, both Romitas, and Gil Kane.
Today I ask you two questions. The first, are any of the artists - sans the Romitas who were already an option - on your Top 10?
The second is who is your favorite Spider-Man artist?
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 11, 2022 5:56:13 GMT -5
Day Fifteen ChoicesIn an episode of the podcast (11oClock Comics) Vince proclaimed that Ross Andru was the greatest artist of Spider-Man of all time, to which Wood offered Andru was one of 6 artists in that discussion along with Steve Ditko, Todd McFarlane, both Romitas, and Gil Kane. Today I ask you two questions. The first, are any of the artists - sans the Romitas who were already an option - on your Top 10? The second is who is your favorite Spider-Man artist? Andru, Ditko, and especially Kane are strong contenders but for now I'm going to stick to my guns and keep my list restricted to artist/writers (Perez temporarily excepted). McFarlane? Oh, hell, no.
Andru is my favorite Spidey artist, followed by Ditko, then Romita, Sr.
Cei-U! I summon the web-slinging wonders!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2022 5:57:40 GMT -5
Ah, these are going to fill in some spots today!
My favorite Spider-Man artist of all time is Ditko, he also makes my list for his Dr. Strange run plus I love a lot of earlier work by him (we actually were just discussing this on the Zoom call yesterday). My runner-up was always a tie between Andru and Pollard, but some time back I remember John Byrne answering this question, and he said Ditko was the best followed by Romita inking Gil Kane which stood out to me as a great answer as well.
Top 10 "age of innocence": Sal Buscema George Perez John Byrne Roy Thomas Walt Simonson Ross Andru (added)
Top 10 "angsty teen years": Alan Moore Frank Miller Moebius David Mazzuchelli Art Adams Brian Bolland
Top 10 "old man Supercat": Jack Kirby Carl Barks Russ Heath Steve Ditko (added) Gil Kane (added)
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 11, 2022 7:17:36 GMT -5
I'll answer the top Spider-man artists first. Tied for first place are: Ditko, Romita Sr., Kane and Andru - I can never honestly give one precedence over the other.
As to whether any of these choices go into my top ten, I'll have to say no, although two, Gil Kane and Steve Ditko, go into my ever-expanding just short of top-10 category (I think maybe I should call it the multiple elevens). Kane in particular was tough to leave out, because he's an artist whose work I appreciated immediately when I first saw it (in Amazing Spider-man Annual #10) and I never stopped loving it. However, I've found that I mainly like Kane's post-1970 output far more than his earlier material.
So my list so far remains: the Buscema brothers, Moore, Simonson, Byrne, and Brennert.
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Post by Dizzy D on Apr 11, 2022 7:34:11 GMT -5
I like Ditko a lot, but mostly for Dr. Strange and less so for Spider-Man. I think my favourite Spider-Man would be Romita, but even there I don't have really strong feelings about him.
Neither make my Top 10 though.
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Post by commond on Apr 11, 2022 8:05:19 GMT -5
A few years back I read Amazing-Spiderman #1-300-something, and one thing I really enjoyed about it was the lineage of artists. I'm not sure if I have a favorite. They all have high points. I guess if I were pressed, I would probably put them in chronological order -- Ditko, Romita, Kane, Andru. Personally, I think Kane and Andru had better careers than Ditko. Ditko is a strange one in that he was a master stylist, but he doesn't have the body of work to match his talent. If you ask for more Ditko to read after Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, the chances are that you'll be disappointed in some way or another. It's almost the opposite of the Steranko problem where everything's so good that you crave more, but there isn't any.
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Post by badwolf on Apr 11, 2022 9:39:33 GMT -5
None of the Alans, although I like Alan Davis' work very much.
I always get Alan and Paul Kupperberg mixed up.
Ross Andru is my favorite regular Spidey artist, but not top 10 creators for me. Like Kirby, Ditko probably should be in a top 10, but I just don't like his art.
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Post by MDG on Apr 11, 2022 11:49:58 GMT -5
Steve Ditko is definitely in my top 10. A true auteur in the work for hire era and someone who knows the grammar of comics. Plus his ability top work in many genres.
His work on Captain Action shows that Gil Kane had more to share than we were getting. (I don't think I've ever seen a copy of His name is Savage in the wild.) Kane was a great figure artist, though, and I'm shocked how many covers he touched at Marvel.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2022 11:56:32 GMT -5
Ditko and Kane would be in my top tier of creators, but just outside of my top 10. Both would definitely be top 20, and if I have recently read any of Kane's sword & sorcery flavored stuff (or the aforementioned Savage) he could sneak into the top 10 in that given day. I feel we lost out a bit that Kane worked at a time where he had to work on projects other people wanted to bring to market and not at a time where he could have spent more time and effort bringing his own products to market (like Savage and Blackmark).
-M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 11, 2022 12:55:56 GMT -5
Day Fifteen ChoicesIn an episode of the podcast (11oClock Comics) Vince proclaimed that Ross Andru was the greatest artist of Spider-Man of all time, to which Wood offered Andru was one of 6 artists in that discussion along with Steve Ditko, Todd McFarlane, both Romitas, and Gil Kane. Today I ask you two questions. The first, are any of the artists - sans the Romitas who were already an option - on your Top 10? The second is who is your favorite Spider-Man artist? None of them make my top ten. I'm honestly a big fan of Ditko, Andru, Kane and Romita, Sr. (about whom we've spoken). But none are top ten. McFarlane probably wouldn't make the top 1000. Favorite Spider-Man artist? Probably Romita, Sr. with Andru a very close second and Ditko a very very close third. Top Ten (Comic Books): Gaiman, Moore, Barks, Cooke, Ellis, Brennart Top Ten (Comic Strips): Watterson, Breathed, Caniff, Schulz
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Post by Trevor on Apr 11, 2022 13:50:56 GMT -5
There’s a potentially fun mechanic the original place added to the game that I’ll probably be adding tomorrow. There, everyone is sticking to the implied main rule of this thing being one list of 10 creators only. The twist sorta depends on that.
So no pressure, feel free to ignore it, but one list building up to 10 and 10 only would keep everyone on the same ground and make the twist work better.
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 11, 2022 15:13:18 GMT -5
Day Fifteen ChoicesIn an episode of the podcast (11oClock Comics) Vince proclaimed that Ross Andru was the greatest artist of Spider-Man of all time, to which Wood offered Andru was one of 6 artists in that discussion along with Steve Ditko, Todd McFarlane, both Romitas, and Gil Kane. Today I ask you two questions. The first, are any of the artists - sans the Romitas who were already an option - on your Top 10? The second is who is your favorite Spider-Man artist? Andru? The greatest Spider-Man artist? Now that's funny, and a major no. He was such a major drop off from the unforgettable, character-defining highs of Romita, Kane and Romita inking Kane, that the strength of the stories was the only thing keeping me collecting TASM at the time.
Ditko: Foundational, but from the start, I found his off-kilter style and lack of diversity in many faces (a lot of repeating approaches) and the lack of awareness of the extremes of camera angles to capture how a Spider-Man would be moving through a major city, fighting, etc. So..no.
McFarlane. No x 1,000,000,000,000. Absolutely awful, deformed scribblings and hideous character design. It took a lot of intestinal fortitude to get through his period on TASM.
Kane: As noted above, he was one of the character-defining artists of Spider-Man (and I just cannot forget his grand work on Blackmark, Silver and early Bronze Age DC, etc.), is an easy yes.
My list so far:
John Romita Sr. John Buscema: Neal Adams Denny O'Neil Roy Thomas Marv Wolfman George Perez Charles Schulz
Gil Kane
Since this game could go on for the rest of 2022, I almost feel like adopting the format of other members who categorized by vocation (e.g., artists, writers, comic strips, etc.), but time and daily offerings will determine that.
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