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Post by tarkintino on Aug 14, 2022 17:24:22 GMT -5
The late Spanish artist/writer Fernando Fernandez had a long career of breathtaking work in comics, but its arguable none stood out like his adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. While it was originally created for the very non-obscure Spanish version of Creepy in 1982, Fernandez is not a household name among those more interested in capes and cowls where comic books are concerned, so I wanted to provide a sample of his fantastic work here. I'd say he created the greatest adaptation of both Dracula from the novel and as comic book material in history, which is a monumental feat, considering the sheer volume of Dracula adaptations published over the decades. Examples:      He had a great eye for realistic and appropriately skewed composition when needed, easily mastering scenes as simple as characters discussing the issue, to the more dramatic, horrific conflicts throughout the story. One would tend to believe film has every advantage over the comic book in terms of making the written word come alive, yet there's not a film adaptation of Dracula that has brought out the engaging, sweeping and quite eerie majesty of Stoker's writing in this way. |
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Post by tonebone on Aug 14, 2022 18:41:11 GMT -5
The late Spanish artist/writer Fernando Fernandez had a long career of breathtaking work in comics, but its arguable none stood out like his adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. While it was originally created for the very non-obscure Spanish version of Creepy in 1982, Fernandez is not a household name among those more interested in capes and cowls where comic books are concerned, so I wanted to provide a sample of his fantastic work here. I'd say he created the greatest adaptation of both Dracula from the novel and as comic book material in history, which is a monumental feat, considering the sheer volume of Dracula adaptations published over the decades. Examples: He had a great eye for realistic and appropriately skewed composition when needed, easily mastering scenes as simple as characters discussing the issue, to the more dramatic, horrific conflicts throughout the story. One would tend to believe film has every advantage over the comic book in terms of making the written word come alive, yet there's not a film adaptation of Dracula that has brought out the engaging, sweeping and quite eerie majesty of Stoker's writing in this way. Man, I love the way he creates a gothic horror mood, but without resorting to muddy, desaturated colors. I love the vibrant hues! I will be on the lookout for this! |
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Post by badwolf on Aug 14, 2022 21:22:05 GMT -5
Hampton brothers did a bit of stuff for DC. I know they did a couple issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing. This is going back on memories 30 years back, but I am pretty sure they did some shorts also in some of the Pacific/Eclipse series that were like 'modern' EC comics. I just know if the Hampton brothers were doing the artwork, it was always amazing looking whether the story was good or not. One that is worth looking for if a Archie Goodwin or Batman fan is the 90s graphic Novel "Night Cries" which is literally one of the darkest tales of the Dark Knight at least up to that point. Got to wonder how different comics of that era had been if Goodwin would have just concentrated on writing instead of editing. I feel like I saw Scott's stuff more than Bo's.
Scott's stuff appeared in Tales of Terror and Tapping the Vein from Eclipse. And and adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Pigeons from Hell. I have a collection of his horror work called Spookhouse (Book Two--sadly I missed the first one).
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Post by tarkintino on Aug 15, 2022 15:44:38 GMT -5
Man, I love the way he creates a gothic horror mood, but without resorting to muddy, desaturated colors. I love the vibrant hues! I will be on the lookout for this! Fernandez knew how to mix what would be the normal Victorian everyday life with such a powerful, realistic kind of horror imagery--none of it beating the reader over the head in a "look! Its scary! Aren't you frightened" way that so many artists who illustrated horror comics made, almost as if it was their--or the publisher's--default approach to horror. You can grab a copy on amazon. |
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Post by dabellwrites on Aug 19, 2022 2:38:53 GMT -5
How many of these comics are easy to find?
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Post by tartanphantom on Aug 19, 2022 9:46:51 GMT -5
While I wouldn't necessarily describe it as beautiful, I would describe it as "cinematic"--
I'm a long-time fan of Doug Wildey's "Rio". It's a shame that he didn't produce more of it in his lifetime.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 19, 2022 20:57:02 GMT -5
How many of these comics are easy to find? Depends on which ones you are talking about. The Upturned Stone is probably easier to find in the Heavy Metal issue where it was published, but less so in the graphic album format, from Kitchen Sink. Warren issues can be found easily, in some cases, but not cheaply. However, there were hardcover reprints, from Dark Horse. Some indie companies are easier to find in certain areas than others. I have had little trouble finding the average Eclipse comic over the years, but certain things are more common than others. Lost Planet, from Bo Hampton, isn't tremendously hard to find; but, it also wasn't a massive seller. European material, from a US source is often quite hard to find, depending on the publisher. Valerian was rare in the US, until the Cinebook reprints came along. Prior to that, Darguad USA had published a few volumes (think it was 4 of them) and Bryon Preiss' iBooks reprinted 3 stories in a single volume, around the release of the Fifth Element (as one of the stories had directly resulted in Bruce Willis' character being changed from a factory worker to a cabbie and artist Jean-Claude Mezieres was one of the conceptual designers of the film). DC had a deal with Humanoids, in the early 00s; but, many of those books are hard to come by, at an affordable price, now. Others have been reprinted by other sources. Some series were always hard to find, because of low print runs, like William Messner-Loebs' Journey, either the Aardvark-Vanaheim or the Fantagraphics issues. Ms Tree can be difficult to find from any stage of its life. Indie comics usually meant much smaller print runs and less comic shop support (let alone distributor); so, they will always be harder than DC or Marvel. Even then, it depended on the series. I found it far easier to find Matt Wagner's Grendel issues than his Mage issues, despite both being from Comico. |
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Post by rberman on Feb 28, 2024 11:56:52 GMT -5
Among modern artists, the one who most deserves a thread of his own is Jeremy Bastian for his series Cursed Pirate Girl. I have to use a magnifying glass to see all the detail he puts in each page; it really needs an oversized Artist Edition.  Here's Martin Simmonds in "Universal Monsters: Dracula" #1, an adaptation by James Tynion IV  Daniel Govar's book "Tuskers" is about efforts to stop elephant poaching. He mixes caricaturish humans with fully rendered animals.  Jared Cullum's' "Kodi" is about a girl and a bear. His passion for landscapes and scenery is evident.  Eric Powell's recent series "Hillbilly" is an Appalachian fantasy.  Sean Gordon Murphy's "The Plot Holes" is a lovely adventure tale about Murphy and his feisty grandmother helping fictional characters fix the problems in their various stories.  Terry Moore is well known for his cleverly written stories of super-women and super-spies. He's great with faces and body language. "Rachel Rising" is about a zombie woman.  Jackson Guice and Mike Perkins for the "Amber Blake" series:  In the early 1990s, Gray Morrow produced a Buck Rogers series which was published by TSR along with role-playing material:  Is Aspen an indie? This "Eternal Soulfire" series is "fantasy vs sci-fi." Alex Konat's pencils were colored without inking.  |
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 29, 2024 17:15:31 GMT -5
Kenneth Smith put out four issues of Phantasmagoria. I have #1 and #4, and hope to acquire #2 and #3. I know nothing about him but his work is great.   |
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Post by tonebone on Feb 29, 2024 17:35:55 GMT -5
Among modern artists, the one who most deserves a thread of his own is Jeremy Bastian for his series Cursed Pirate Girl. I have to use a magnifying glass to see all the detail he puts in each page; it really needs an oversized Artist Edition. I ran into him at a con, and was astonished to see that he was drawing the originals at ACTUAL SIZE. Which was standard comic book size, not even magazine size. He was really nice, but extremely introverted and it was actually very difficult to communicate with him in a noisy environment. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2024 20:41:42 GMT -5
Rachel Rising looks fabulous, so does Amber Blake! Googling now.....
Rachel's in B&W??
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Mar 1, 2024 0:04:59 GMT -5
Rachel Rising looks fabulous, so does Amber Blake! Googling now..... Rachel's in B&W??
All of Terry Moore's stuff is in B&W Strangers in Paradise, Rachel Rising. Echo, Parker Girls etc. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2024 0:34:53 GMT -5
Damn, wish it was colour, might still give it a shot. I've got an office mate named Rachel who always tells me she feels dead in the morning lol, she'll get a kick from this.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 1, 2024 3:46:58 GMT -5
Although not obscure to comics fans in Croatia and its neighborhood, this work by Ive Svorcina from this relatively recent GN called "Cosmic Trash" is probably obscure to most people here:    Svorcina has done some work for American publishers, but exclusively as a colorist. As you can see, he's damn good penciler/inker as well. (I wrote a brief review of this book over in the European Comics thread.) |
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Post by rberman on Mar 1, 2024 9:12:48 GMT -5
Among modern artists, the one who most deserves a thread of his own is Jeremy Bastian for his series Cursed Pirate Girl. I have to use a magnifying glass to see all the detail he puts in each page; it really needs an oversized Artist Edition. I ran into him at a con, and was astonished to see that he was drawing the originals at ACTUAL SIZE. Which was standard comic book size, not even magazine size. He was really nice, but extremely introverted and it was actually very difficult to communicate with him in a noisy environment. Yes, Jeremy's work is shockingly small even without taking his detail into consideration, but much moreso considering it. Here he is with a Cursed Pirate Girl page I own. Many artists are introverts, and he's no exception, but I didn't find communication difficult at Heroes Con. It may have helped that it wasn't noisy there.  |
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