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Topic: Q: for John Byrne...ANYTHING you enjoy these days? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Paul Greer
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | 1  

Pure comic book. That's a good line Francesco. I can honestly say without the coloring of nostalgia that Steranko, Adams, John Buscema and others that brought a more realistic style to their art were still 100% pure comic book. Too many of todays guys are pure photoshop or just good with character poses. I'm not saying there are not some great comic book artists in this current crop, but a pound for pound comparision I don't think they would win for the pure comic book title.
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Fred J Chamberlain
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 1:56pm | IP Logged | 2  

Dynamic storytelling and art that tells a story....? Sal Buscema's Hulk run.
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Joe Zhang
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | 3  

People coming around to "save" JB from his ignorant ways. Regular as clockwork. 
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Greg Kirkman
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | 4  

The comics of yesterday really were crammed with stuff. Action, drama, comedy, romance, and sub-plots galore. It takes me (on average) 15-25 minutes to read older comics, whereas most of today's comics can be consumed in 5-10 minutes and are then forgotten.

Seems to me that many of today's books are written at one level, for one level. There's little in the way of interweaving different types of stoytelling into a book. If the main plot's tone is grim, then the entire book is grim. There's no attempt to please different kinds of readers out there.

Back in the day, some people read Spider-Man only for the action, others enjoyed the "boring" stuff (Peter Parker's personal life), and still others enjoyed both. Today, it seems like an given issue can only be all "action" or all "personal", with no attempts to focus on more than one idea per issue.



Edited by Greg Kirkman on 19 January 2007 at 2:01pm
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Bruce Buchanan
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | 5  

The ADAMS/O'NEill Batman..the Perez Justice League...they dont read well...

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Say what?!? To each his or her own, Stephen, but I continue to believe those comics you mentioned hold up just as well today as they did when they were published.

In the case of Batman, I wish more of today's writers would take a cue from Denny O'Neill and write the character as a detective, rather than a nearly omniscient mastermind or one-man wrecking crew.

I agree with your point that there are some good comics out there today, though. You mention Kurt Busiek and I'd probably read a grocery list if he wrote it. Geoff Johns, too.

 

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Fred J Chamberlain
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | 6  

>People coming around to "save" JB from his ignorant ways. Regular as clockwork. 

All I saw was a poster offering to give up his own hardcopy collection of a book he genuinely likes if JB hasn't read it already. It was an open offer, not obligatory or pushy. Simply a polite and generous offer to share something he himself enjoys.

What is sadly just as common here as the generousity of posters are those posts that criticize and condemn with an air of condescension and criticism. Really Joe, what was the point of this?

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Paul Greer
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | 7  

I loved those old titles that would claim to be so crammed with story they had to make it a double sized issue. Now it's, "even I couldn't milk three issues out of this."

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John Byrne
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | 8  

John, if i send you the first hardcover collection of Invincible would you read it? I honest to goodness think you might enjoy it! Its just old fashioned comic book fun…

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I always cringe when I read or hear that statement. Illustrative example of why? I set out to do "old fashioned comic book fun" and did BATMAN & CAPTAIN AMERICA and GENERATIONS. Frank Miller set out to do "old fashioned comic book fun" and did DK2.

The term simply has too wide an interpretation to have any meaning any more.

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Stephen Sadowski
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | 9  

JOE,
 HARDLY "saving" JB..merely recommending some titles that someone who has maybe lost faith/interest in modern comics, might actually REALLY enjoy or give him "THAT SPARK".

 Oh, and Bruce,dont get me wrong about teh O'Neill/Adams Batman..STILL and ALWAYS will be  my FAVORITE comics...EVER!
 I LOVED that they put out teh ADAMS hardcover collections..makes looking at them ( often) MUCH EASIER!!

 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | 10  

I can honestly say without the coloring of nostalgia that Steranko, Adams, John Buscema and others that brought a more realistic style to their art were still 100% pure comic book.

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This touches obliquely on something I was discussing with a couple of folk just the other day -- that there are some characters that artists, no matter how brilliant, simply cannot handle. Top of this list is Jack Kirby doing Batman. He was never able to "get" whatever it is that makes Batman work. Other artists have had the same problem -- somehow Batman eludes them. In many cases, this is because they try to be "realistic" and end up with a really good drawing of a guy in a Batman suit --- but not a drawing of Batman.

What makes this even more curious, of course, is when we look at a super-realist like Neal Adams, who could somehow draw Batman in a way that made him thoroughly believable, yet never lost whatever the "magic" is that takes the character that one step beyond simple realism.

The really great comicbook artists -- and this goes outside the superhero genre -- are the ones who are able to draw the character not as they would look, but as they should look.

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Jason Fulton
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | 11  

Can someone post a Jack Kirby Batman picture?
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Stéphane Garrelie
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Joined: 05 August 2005
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Posted: 19 January 2007 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | 12  

My favorite comicbook these days: Mouse Guard

Cover to issue #6

From the preview to issue #6:

2 favorite pages from issue #2:

and:

 



Edited by Stéphane Garrelie on 19 January 2007 at 2:29pm
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