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Post by MDG on Oct 19, 2023 9:13:14 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 18, 2023 15:04:01 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 18, 2023 13:51:41 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 18, 2023 10:00:34 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 18, 2023 9:55:17 GMT -5
It's hard to make (in-universe) songs work in comics since you cant actually hear the songs being sung (sure, you've got lyrics sometimes, but you dont know how they're being sung) or even know what the style of the song is. Feel free to prove me wrong (as I would actually like to see a good music-based comic).
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Post by MDG on Oct 17, 2023 13:56:31 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 17, 2023 9:28:59 GMT -5
robot1a
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Post by MDG on Oct 17, 2023 9:26:32 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 17, 2023 9:15:32 GMT -5
Steranko wasn't doing comics full time, though. he was still doing advertising work while doing comics stuff. He also had a career as a cover artist for paperback books. As far as I am concerned, "prolific" is not a factor in talent or in influence. Tons of people loved and followed Steranko's work and copied it. His art sold well around the world. That is a mark of rgeatness. As for the magazine, it depends on which version you are talking about, as it evolved extensively. There was Comixscene, which expanded into Mediascene and then Prevue. I bought a few of the later incarnation and they were fine, for what they were, which was movie publicity articles and interview with people who would talk to the magazine, which was more lower tier actors and actresses. The issues I had featured a lot of "scream queen" and B-movie actresses, some of whom had also done porn. It wasn't that different from Femme Fatales which was a sister magazine of Cinefantastique. For me, the real selling point of the magazine was the ads for various books and things he sold through his Supergraphics company. I was able to fill in the gaps in my Modesty Blaise collection there, get some copies of some European stuff, a signed Captain America hardcover, collecting his three issues a copy of his Super Girls calendar, from the early 70s (with some semi-nude illustrations of women in various superhero costumes, some female characters and others females in the male character costumes, like The Phantom. He sold a lot of the Bettie Page-related stuff, as that was hot, then (early 90s). It was no worse than a lot of Hollywood-related magazines.
"No worse than" isn't exactly high praise. But I admit I was thinking mostly of Comixscene/Prevue. I didn't even know or remember that Steranko was behind Starlog, etc. However, even so, none of thos mags ever attracted me much - all of them came across as pretty lightweight ot me, though it's possible I didn't give them a close enough look to judge.
But even if they had been much better than I think they were, my question would be, were they as magazines as unique and high level as Steranko's comics art was as comics art? I think the answer is a resounding no, and therefore feel that in a perfect world his time would have been better spent doing what he did best.
This is it.
There was a time in the 70s-80s when I was all in on Steranko and kept waiting on his next big thing (or even small thing) and it never came. In the meantime, creators who started long before him like Eisner and Toth, as well as creators who started around the same time like Spain and Kim Deitch, were able to find ways to get published even if that wasn't where they made most of their income. Eventually, it just seemed like he didn't have anything to say.
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Post by MDG on Oct 17, 2023 9:02:31 GMT -5
I don't think horror anthologies were killed by Alan Moore as much as they were killed by the direct market. Horror was one of the genres that appealed to whatever "casual" readers were left--folks who might pick up a comic or two off a newsstand once in a while, but weren't making a point to get every single issue. Buyers in comic shops were in it for the soap opera. Shouldn't it work the other way around? Something released on the stands had to have mass appeal and cater to the largest common denomenators, whereas the direct market allowed for more niche interests to flourish. Well, by the time you hit the 80s, comics themselves were a niche market and the subniche that the DM catered to was the one for ongoing serials. The people who went into a comic book store for comic books and nothing else.
The people who might have picked up a comic along with a coke or a candy bar or issue of MAD or Famous Monsters (or Creem or Circus, like some of my friends in the 70s) at a stationery store or toy shop were still going into those stores, but comics weren't there, so they didn't buy them.
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Post by MDG on Oct 16, 2023 20:25:33 GMT -5
I disagree with the tinfoil hat theory that Moore killed the horror comic. Horror may have died out as a genre, but what the likes of Moore and Gaiman did was produce more sophisticated horror stories. Yes, they may have only included elements of horror, but you can still argue that they're horror stories. ... I don't think horror anthologies were killed by Alan Moore as much as they were killed by the direct market. Horror was one of the genres that appealed to whatever "casual" readers were left--folks who might pick up a comic or two off a newsstand once in a while, but weren't making a point to get every single issue. Buyers in comic shops were in it for the soap opera.
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Post by MDG on Oct 16, 2023 20:03:33 GMT -5
... which wasn't all that great, if I remember.
Maybe not, but he also produced two volumes of his History of Comics.... Of a planned six-volume series
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Post by MDG on Oct 16, 2023 19:59:08 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 16, 2023 9:21:11 GMT -5
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Post by MDG on Oct 16, 2023 6:32:13 GMT -5
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