Friday, November 18, 2022
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Recently Read: The Superman Chronicles, Vol. 10
In (sadly) the last volume of DC's Superman Chronicles, reprinting early Superman stories in chronological order, one half of the team who created the character is nearly missing. Joe Shuster only pencils one of the twelve collected stories. The others are penciled by Leo Nowak and John Sikela, each of whom does an okay job mimicking Joe's (more cartoony) style.
The stories are all written by Jerry Siegel, though, and the series at this point still holds a lot of charm. Lex Luthor shows up, as do an assortment of early, more obscure villains. Either out of boredom or a desire to branch out, Siegel's last two stories here work on a meta level: the first involves Clark and Lois seeing a Paramount Superman cartoon in a movie theater (how can Clark prevent Lois from seeing the scenes in the short which show Clark changing into Superman?). The second is a parody of the cartoonist Li'l Abner and a parody of its creator, Al Capp (here called Al Hatt), a premise resulting in a great panel in which Superman slugs Abner! Was the story a response to Capp's popularity and notorious ego? Probably.
Recommended.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Recently Read: Fantastic Four: Full Circle, by Alex Ross
Alex Ross finally gets the opportunity to write and draw classic Marvel characters in Fantastic Four: Full Circle, an oversized, hardbound production from Marvel and Abrams. A sequel to the classic "This Man, This Monster" published in 1966 in The Fantastic Four No. 51, Full Circle finds the FF journeying back into the Negative Zone, a dimension which allows Ross to indulge in trippy, psychedelic visuals. Using a more ink-based art style here, with experimental color palettes, the book has a unique and visionary feel.
Though it doesn't have the cohesiveness or poignancy of Kirby and Lee's original story, it does lay the groundwork for future story ideas to be exploited, and consistently pays heartfelt homage to a stupendous time in cartooning history.
Along with Barry Windsor-Smith's recent Monsters graphic novel (originally proposed as a Hulk story), Full Circle confirms (again) that there's much to be gained by mainstream publishers allowing top-notch cartoonists to create their own stories using the publisher's properties. Steve Rude, long left out in the cold, is another amazing talent Marvel could invite in for project or two.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Monday, November 7, 2022
Friday, November 4, 2022
Thursday, November 3, 2022
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