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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 17, 2024 11:26:30 GMT -5
(...) Yeah, I was more of an idealist back then. Can't say you were wrong, though. And very perceptive. Speaking for myself, at that point, even at the young age when I first read Bicentennial Battles, I'd already internalized a lot of that stuff.
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Post by tarkintino on Nov 17, 2024 12:48:20 GMT -5
Most of the other MTE I own are B&W translations of the early issues. I really enjoyed the Hulk and Spider-Man ones at the time, mainly thanks to the diversity of material featured; back then I thought the Thor and FF ones, being all Kirby, didn't feel as special. Agreed. The best of the 70s tabloid books reprinted issues across various eras (the majority of the Batman LCEs were particularly great at that). Sheesh. Cap's dialogue: "Yeah, he was a ghetto kid who wanted to make it! And so this is one! He isn't crying...he's trying! If he can't get quality education, he's got enough guts and brain matter to go out and find it! Sure, that's it! That's truly America!" Its one thing to promote hard work, but the "he isn't crying...he's trying" line, especially at that period in history (still heard today) was straight out of the Right Wing playbook, which ignored the realities of not only a poor education limiting opportunity to many, particularly black American kids, but it reeked of the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" blather of the Ronald Reagans of the world, an argument that a child or adult living in generational, systemic discriminatory situations should not feel or express anguish over his plight, but just make things happen as if that's all it took in a nation that--as of 1976--had Civil rights protections on the books, but were still not universally enforced, to say nothing of poverty often preventing anyone from even accessing educational or employment programs. That panel was one of the most myopic sociopolitical lines ever found in a 1970s comic. If the panels in question were not bad enough, Kirby has Captain America run into John L. Sullivan, recognized as the first gloved boxing heavyweight, then declare, "I've got to deal with the boxing champion of ALL TIME!" Absurd. No one in the 1970s would ever describe Sullivan as the the boxing champion of all time, living in the era of Ali, Frazier, et al. To have Cap say that always read as the author's questionable preference in crowning Sullivan the greatest boxing champion of all time, despite how ridiculous the assertion was. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 18, 2024 12:40:21 GMT -5
Side note: I'd always assumed Golden Age comic book (not comics page) artwork was more primitive because page rates were so low and readers hadn't come to expect more yet, but seeing the FULL Books from whence the stories we know so well have been reprinted, I'm amazed to discover that Kane, Shuster, Moulton Marston, and the like just sucked compared to what their contemporaries were churning out on the non-superhero features. Some of the action, detective, and pirate features in those anthology books were positively visually breathtaking. Even Mr. Terrific, Black Cat, and The Crimson Avenger looked amazing in comparison. Was the concept of a guy dressed as a bat so powerful that folks were demanding more of him even with the substandard artwork? I disagree in regards to Shuster. Some of his later work show signs of overwork, but go back and look at Detective #1. Every other strip is staid and boring, even though some of them are better rendered. They all look like newspaper strips rearranged to fit the page. Shuster's work, on the other hand, is clearly drawn to take advantage of the page, and his storytelling is dynamic and compelling. I think that's a big reason Superman became the hit that he did. |
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Nov 18, 2024 14:22:10 GMT -5
Side note: I'd always assumed Golden Age comic book (not comics page) artwork was more primitive because page rates were so low and readers hadn't come to expect more yet, but seeing the FULL Books from whence the stories we know so well have been reprinted, I'm amazed to discover that Kane, Shuster, Moulton Marston, and the like just sucked compared to what their contemporaries were churning out on the non-superhero features. Some of the action, detective, and pirate features in those anthology books were positively visually breathtaking. Even Mr. Terrific, Black Cat, and The Crimson Avenger looked amazing in comparison. Was the concept of a guy dressed as a bat so powerful that folks were demanding more of him even with the substandard artwork? I disagree in regards to Shuster. Some of his later work show signs of overwork, but go back and look at Detective #1. Every other strip is staid and boring, even though some of them are better rendered. They all look like newspaper strips rearranged to fit the page. Shuster's work, on the other hand, is clearly drawn to take advantage of the page, and his storytelling is dynamic and compelling. I think that's a big reason Superman became the hit that he did. I'd even agree that the art on Superman is vastly superior to that of early Batman or Wonder Woman, but it still doesn't hold a candle to the artwork seen in the non-superhero features in those books. Of course, I can only speak for the limited sampling of reprints I've seen. I've never seen Detective #1. |
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