No theme again this week, and again I like where my A.D.D. took me.
There have been some references to Mac Raboy lately so I thought I’d lead with a monster of a splash page from the man himself. We all love the cover to Master Comics #21 and now we can love the splash too, from December 1941.
I’m a big fan of Bernie Wrightson and there were a lot of great splash pages to choose from, somehow I kept coming back to this great full-page pencil and ink from Swamp Thing #2, January 1973.
Rob Liefeld gives us a nice action splash, like this page from Captain America Heroes Reborn. Except for Cap’s face I really like this splash!
I’m an Al Hartley fan thanks to my nice collection of Spire Christian comics. Below is Al Hartley’s great splash from Patsy Walker’s Fashion Parade #1, from the Summer of 1965.
Al Hartley’s biggest claim to fame (or notoriety, if you will) was Hansi, The Girl Who Loved The Swastika.
Hmmm, definitely an A.D.D. selection.
I find the Raboy foreground forgettable. The background is the real art, especially the tiny fleeing figures.
The Wrightson is number four-thousand seven-hundred and eighty-three in the elebendy-seven total of magnificent Wrightson works. You really shouldn’t include this kind of thing in assortments that include work by mere mortals.
I was about to say that I couldn’t say anything nice about the Liefeld, but I actually like Captain America except for that atrocious face. Certainly not enough for inclusion in this company.
Love the Fashion Parade – when I think great _comic book_ art, that is what I think of. Top notch on the mere mortal scale.
I am guessing Chris would change his tune on that Raboy if it was in black and white! I think it suffers from the inferior printing and colorization! Bernie had to have made some awful pictures at some point but I haven’t ever seen them and this one is pretty incredible… I’ll have to break out my copy and look at it in the flesh so to speak! The Al Hartley is wonderful… you have to give those romance artists a lot of credit for making the most boring drawings fantastic! I usually don’t say anything positive about Liefeld but that pic isn’t bad…I actually recognized the enemy as AIM without reading the text!
I think that Wrightson piece is awesome. I agree with the Raboy assessment, the 1st thing I noticed about that splash was that background!!
There was a news story on the CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme last night featuring some guy named Joe? Singh and his massive original comic art collection. They showed a whole bunch of his stuff. Anyone else see it? You can view the newscast on their website.
That’s Jeff Singh, an ER doctor in Toronto. He’s been collecting for a good long time: I used to always see him at the Toronto conventions.
Mac Raboy is an acquired taste….but look at the details…The villain astride some victim, taunting Capt Marvel and Bullet-man, who also are in the splash. Then people fleeing in the background, a home ablaze… quite the introduction. I love Al Hartley`s work on Archie and at Marvel beautiful Chris. It reminds of a story told by another famous Archie Millie artist…Stan Goldberg.
Stan Goldberg:
” Stan would drive me home and we’d plot our stories in the car. I’d say to Stan,”How’s this? Millie loses her job.” He’d say,”Great! Give me 25 pages.” And that took him off the hook. One time I was in Stan’s office and I told him, “I don’t have another plot.” Stan got out of his chair and walked over to me, looked me in the face, and said very seriously, “I don’t ever want to hear you say you can’t think of another plot.” Then he walked back and sat down in his chair. He didn’t think he needed to tell me anything more.”
[interviewer: ” Sounds like you were doing most of the writing then.”]
“Well, I was.”One time I was in Stan’s office and I told him, “I don’t have another plot.” Stan got out of his chair and walked over to me, looked me in the face, and said very seriously, “I don’t ever want to hear you say you can’t think of another plot.” Then he walked back and sat down in his chair. He didn’t think he needed to tell me anything more.”