John Asperger
04-22-2010, 04:35 PM
I would really like it if someone could write books ABOUT classic comics characters ( Others types , too , but let's just stick to this now . ) , covering their " life " over the years , the different directions they took , the internal workings in the companies behind that at any various times , some notable stories that were never published , some of the best/worst/notable-oddball stories...Really , imagine looking at the 70-ish years of Superman or Batman , the approaching 50 of Spider-Man , etc.
I imagine these being unauthorized histories - meaning not officially OK'd by DC , Marvel , or any other of their companies's owners , honestly accurate but opinionated .
They'd be written by and for fans (but intelligent ones) , so the point wouldn't be to tear them apart , but they WOULD give opinions:smile: !
As unathorized histories , perhaps we could have titles like:
" THE SKYSCRAPER-SWINGING TEENAGER FROM QUEENS
An Unauthorized History Of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man "
" THE HERO FROM ANOTHER PLANET
An Unauthorized History Of DC Comics' Superman "
and so forth .
A real commercial problem this brings up is that , then , it is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY :wink: unlikely that any of the companies would grant the nessecary liscences to use copyrighted artwork and repros !
Perhaps this could be somewhat dealed with by using what combination art and movie-TV still repros and clippings that are PD - And , possibly , trying to get some art not actually OF the copyrighted characters , BUT by artists associated with the copyrighted ones , by artists associated with the character - A Superman book , say , could look for some Joe Shuster , Al Plastiono , John Byrne , Jerry Ordway , etc. art from various places .
This was the book's jacket/publicity could honestly say: " Includes art by Artists Joe Shu. , Al..." , etc.
I am really serious here .
A Spider-Man book could go through all the years of the various tites , see how various eras differed , talk about things like the " whay did Steve Ditko leave ? " and how much did he contribute controversy , likewise Joe Simon's claims , the story of the Gwen killing and the claim that Stan ordered the mid-70s clone story , a look at the 90s clone disaster...and so on .
These would not be sociological/academic histories , either , that concentrated on " Superman's symbolism as a Jewish immigrant " , blaah blaah blaah , and stuff like that .
There's a place for that , but this would be exploring the comics (and the movie/TV/etctera versions)themselves , and the stories behind their creation:biggrin:!
Actually - I a touch fear to say this:frown: - but those 90s unathorized Star Trek , etc. , histories that the late Hal Schuster?? used to publish , often written by James Van Hise , were part of my inspiration here !
I imagine these being unauthorized histories - meaning not officially OK'd by DC , Marvel , or any other of their companies's owners , honestly accurate but opinionated .
They'd be written by and for fans (but intelligent ones) , so the point wouldn't be to tear them apart , but they WOULD give opinions:smile: !
As unathorized histories , perhaps we could have titles like:
" THE SKYSCRAPER-SWINGING TEENAGER FROM QUEENS
An Unauthorized History Of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man "
" THE HERO FROM ANOTHER PLANET
An Unauthorized History Of DC Comics' Superman "
and so forth .
A real commercial problem this brings up is that , then , it is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY :wink: unlikely that any of the companies would grant the nessecary liscences to use copyrighted artwork and repros !
Perhaps this could be somewhat dealed with by using what combination art and movie-TV still repros and clippings that are PD - And , possibly , trying to get some art not actually OF the copyrighted characters , BUT by artists associated with the copyrighted ones , by artists associated with the character - A Superman book , say , could look for some Joe Shuster , Al Plastiono , John Byrne , Jerry Ordway , etc. art from various places .
This was the book's jacket/publicity could honestly say: " Includes art by Artists Joe Shu. , Al..." , etc.
I am really serious here .
A Spider-Man book could go through all the years of the various tites , see how various eras differed , talk about things like the " whay did Steve Ditko leave ? " and how much did he contribute controversy , likewise Joe Simon's claims , the story of the Gwen killing and the claim that Stan ordered the mid-70s clone story , a look at the 90s clone disaster...and so on .
These would not be sociological/academic histories , either , that concentrated on " Superman's symbolism as a Jewish immigrant " , blaah blaah blaah , and stuff like that .
There's a place for that , but this would be exploring the comics (and the movie/TV/etctera versions)themselves , and the stories behind their creation:biggrin:!
Actually - I a touch fear to say this:frown: - but those 90s unathorized Star Trek , etc. , histories that the late Hal Schuster?? used to publish , often written by James Van Hise , were part of my inspiration here !