The creator of the talking tree at Lazarus has passed away. Gordon
Keith, of Upper Arlington, born in 1924, also created the Street of
Yesteryear at the old COSI, the outside nativity for State Auto and
helped build the Tiki Gardens at Indian Rocks Beach, FL. Obituary in
today's Dispatch.
For
those curious about the earliest days of superhero comics, when
creators had the freedom to go wherever their whims took them and the
formulas for the genre hadn't yet been written in stone, Fantagraphics
Books has published a handy and hefty sampler of the era.
Shot
from the original comics (no computer coloring here), Supermen! covers
the spectrum from very obscure (Rex Dexter of Mars, Fero, Planet
Detective, Yarko the Great) to seminal early work by Jack Kirby, Basil
Wolverton, Jack Cole, outsider Fletcher Hanks and more. Greg Sadowski's notes
in the back of the book give great historical context; I learned a lot
about the various competing and overlapping comics publishers and
editors during this primordial period.
Reading Supermen! can
actually become depressing because nearly every story contained in the
book is more fun, and utilizes more imagination and whimsy, than any
superhero comic book on sale today. Inside these pages you'll find
pulp-colored dreams, crazy acts of violence (by the heroes!),
hallucinogenic imagery, and the promise and fulfillment of illicit,
bizarre thrills. As many in The Sex Pistols' audience went on to start
their own groups, these stories must have spurred the creative
imaginations of hundreds of future creators.
I cannot recommend
this book highly enough; it needs to be on the shelves of anyone who
reads any superhero comics, as it contains examples of the original
formation of the genre. One small complaint: the credits for the book
design, so essential for a finely packaged collection of graphics, is
squirreled away in small print on the last page of the book. Not cool, Fantagraphics.
I just received copies of the debut of The Digest Enthusiast, Richard
Krauss and D. Blake Werts' new series covering the world of digest
magazines. The book looks great, with interviews, a review by Rob Imes,
and a crime story by Krauss I illustrated. I'm looking forward to
reading the issue this week. You can order copies from Larque Press
here: http://larquepress.com/
From my drawing board today...
