What Classic Comic Have You Read Lately? Pt. 2

[mrc1214]

For those of you wondering, I have had neither the time nor the interest in doing Batman reviews in my limited free time as of late. I do plan to get back to them soon before starting my next review project though (still probably going to be Sgt. Fury, but I may yet impulsively change my mind). The plan is still to go just beyond the introduction of Tim Drake, to Grant and Breyfogle's introduction of Anarchy, before putting the Batman reviews on the back burner.

I will be looking foward to that. The Grant/Breyfogle run is one of my all time favorites. Truly great stuff cant wait to see what you think about them (with you kind of being the resident Batman expert IMO).

[The Confessor]

I've been reading a coupe of volumes of The Perishers newspaper strips and also working my way through a newly purchased Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. TPB, which collects the Steranko stories from Strange Tales. The Perishers are always a pleasure to read and the Steranko stuff is really, really good as well. It's interesting seeing Steranko start to put his own stamp on the character and the strip as the stories roll on...I can definitely see why people make such a fuss about his work on Nick Fury.

[Chicago Expat]

After years of only having the fifth and final issue of Ted McKeever's "Industrial Gothic", I found the remaining four issues in a quarter bin a couple weeks. Read an issue a day starting five days ago.

It wasn't bad. Didn't blow my mind or anything, but the story is decent and Ted's art is solid. It's not the best thing he's ever done, but it's a nice title to have a piece of a total body of work.

[Beria]

Just finished The Teen Titans: Judas Contract TPB. A pretty good read with some really nice Perez artwork. It was better than the Terra Incognito trade, which I read a couple of months ago. The series is very reminiscent of Claremont's X-Men, but I think Wolfman is a better scripter.

This summer I also finally got around to reading Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was interesting and well drawn, if a little too cosmic for my tastes.

[Roquefort Raider]

I'm re-reading the Thomas/Docherty/Villagran/Cruz run that ended the Conan the barbarian mag and finished in several issues of SSoC. It suffers from Roy trying to tie too many characters and situations from his first ten years with the new material, but it also has a lot of great stuff. Although she was really overused during that run, Red Sonja evolved into a real character, at 180 degrees from the steel bikini centerfold who's been strutting around for many years now in her current comic. Thomas' then- Sonja wore a bulky leather armor that actually made sense. Here relation with Conan was also deepened; although some sexual tension was still present, you could tell that those too had indeed grown into true friends. One page in the graphic novel "the ravagers out of time" (set during that period) is especially moving, and surprisingly so.

The art is lovely. Ah, Ricardo Villagran... I really, really like the style of most Argentinian comic-book artists from the 80s and 90s: bold brush strokes, heavy contrast, and an almost painterly feel to their B&W work. Cruz also does a good job on Docherty, but I wish Villagran had made the transition from CtB to SSoC.

CtB 250 starts Conan career as a kozak, and it's a blessing that Roy decided to end that run so; otherwise, this would have been the third time that we had missed it. (Conan was due to become a kozak a few months after Roy initially left after issue 115, but his successors dropped all pretense of telling a continuing story. Jim Owlsey then set things up for the kozak career shortly after issue 205, but his own successors also dropped the ball).

The back issues are pricey because of the very limited print run, but I am shocked that it should have been so; back in the early 90s, these books would strike me as being far superior to most of the stuff published by Marvel. They should have sold better, by Crom!

[Griffard]

I don't know if these count as classic, but I'm reading through Volume 3 of The Demon, brought on by my winning an auction of 28 of the books.

[Libaax]

A proud owner of the first volume of Abuli's and Bernet masterwork. Some comics makes the word classic mean something.

I found the book in some roleplaying board games store. Its actually out of print and much more expensive online.

[Francis Dawson]

^ I read this recently too. Also features art by Alex Toth. Nice find!

[Libaax]

^ I read this recently too. Also features art by Alex Toth. Nice find!

I have read volume 3 only so far thats the only one still in print of the first 3 IDW volumes. The dark humor, very adult,amoral tone, the art blew me away.

When i read the history info on the back pages, the lucky accident that Abuli got Bernet as artist because Alex Toth thought it was too dark i thought it was the best replacement in comics history :D

Toth i know only as some old famous name. Bernet is the best artist i have read,seen. The ideal european style. I wonder what style Toth has.

[Francis Dawson]

Toth is incredible. One of the 2 or 3 best American genre artists ever - in the same rank as Kirby or Ditko for example. Incredible minimal stylist, his pages sang.

Bernet is amazing too. Pretty much the only modern DC comics I've bought in the last few years is the Bernet drawn Jonah Hex.

[The Confessor]

Recently finished reading my newly purchased Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. TPB, featuring Jim Steranko's run from Strange Tales. Overall, it was superb...great sci-fi/espionage storytelling, wonderfully told through Steranko's ground-breaking artwork. I'm seriously thinking of trying to pick up the subsequent Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D. series from 1968.

By way of a complement to the TPB I've just read, I've moved on to re-reading Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 2, which reprints the stories that accompanied the Nick Fury ones I've just read, in the pages of Strange Tales. I decided to re-read these Dr. Strange stories in order to try and get a feel for what the original issues of Strange Tales must've been like to read. I've gotta say that when you think about it, Nick Fury and Dr. Strange are just about as far away from each other thematically as you can get, but somehow they do seem to complement each other rather well. Weird.

[Chicago Expat]

Wrapping up Watchmen. I haven't read the thing for something like ten years (a fact which seems inconceivable to me, but I think it's accurate). I'm reminded of so many of the specifics of why this title is one of the greatest ever, as opposed to generalizations borne from memory.

Truly brilliant. Alan Moore deserves all the accolades he receives.

[Francis Dawson]

Toth is incredible. One of the 2 or 3 best American genre artists ever - in the same rank as Kirby or Ditko for example. Incredible minimal stylist, his pages sang.

So here's a ranked list of who I think are the most important / most influential American adventure cartoonists. This isn't my strongest area at all so you are very welcome to disagree/ school me:

1) Jack Kirby - King of comics. Invented comic book genres. Drew innumerable pages himself and did countless layouts for other artists. Responsible for Marvel's house style during its most influential decade.
2) Alex Raymond - With Hal Foster the innovator of the representational, illustrative look of adventure comics.
3) Milton Caniff - Innovated visual techniques derived from film.
4) Image Partners (Jim Lee / Rob Liefeld / Todd McFarlane) - Like it or not adventure comics in 2011 (especially if they're published by DC) are massively influenced by the Image partner's stylistic tropes.
5) Neal Adams ... and here's where they derive their chops from.
6) Alex Toth I'm not sure whether he's as influential as he should be but I believe he's the most confident, purposeful line maker ever to draw adventure comics. Incredible graphic sense in the service of clear sequential storytelling.
7) Mort Meskin - A cartoonist's cartoonist. For a time in the '40s kept pace with Kirby's development. Confident, underrated cartoonist. Major influence on ...
8) Steve Ditko - Brilliant and enigmatic. The work he's putting out currently is underrated in my opinion. It's funny peculiar for sure but it's also funny ha ha.
9) Jim Steranko - Pop art. So many ideas and roads less traveled for adventure cartooning ...
10) Burne Hogarth? Wally Wood? Al Williamson? Berni Wrightson? Noel Sickles? Hal Foster? Roy Crane?

Ha ha copped out a bit on that last one. I'm not sure how many of the above are a living influence on modern genre cartoonists and I'm pretty sure I've skewed too heavily towards an older generation. Maybe I should have included John Romita jr? Joe Kubert? Like I say it's not really my area so your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Libaax]

I finally got time to read and finish Torpedo volume 1


This is not the first time i have read Torpedo, i have read Volume 3 before this. I knew what to expect. But still this volume was better than volume 3. Written better, funnier and had even more hardcore,amoral Luca "aka" Torpedo just the way i like it. The many short stories are either darkly funny or just very bleak. It will be too vulgar,dark for some readers who dont like the sense of humor or noir stories.

When you dont laugh at Torpedo he is the most twisted gangster i have read in books, comics, seen in films. He makes other hitman,mobsters look like priest, saints.

Alex Toth drew the first issues of the series and i know Toth is legendary name in american comics and his art was vivid,very nice. But Torpedo series is not the same without the stunning art of the masterful Jordi Bernet. When you see the first issue drawn by Bernet its like the art rose to new levels. Torpedo and others characters suddenly look like they always should have been drawn.

[benday-dot]

So here's a ranked list of who I think are the most important / most influential American adventure cartoonists. This isn't my strongest area at all so you are very welcome to disagree/ school me:

Its hard to argue with that list.

I would probably throw in Will Eisner. Though he was very much his own man in the history of American cartooning and pursued an aesthetic and design sense the mainstream forces may not have always overtly acknowledged its hard to deny that Eisner's contributions to sequential art and graphic storytelling techniques have not been considerable and profound.