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Phil Frances
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 August 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 348
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 5:18am | IP Logged | 1
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Driven by The Invaders Omnibus recently, I've been appreciating Frank Robbins' work ; apparently also a writer, instrumental in returning Batman to his more gothic roots, and co-creator of Man-Bat - before moving over to Marvel and The Invaders.
Wondered if he's unfairly overlooked - have to say I now love his Invaders work.
Any Frank Robbins appreciation out there ?
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Eric Jansen
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Joined: 27 October 2013
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 7:13am | IP Logged | 2
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I love Frank Robbins!
Which is a weird first reaction--because I remember sometimes being disappointed if he drew an issue where I wasn't expecting him. I loved him on INVADERS...but not on CAPTAIN AMERICA.
I think he had the bad luck of following Sal Buscema (who's one of my very favorites!) on CAP, Mike Kaluta on THE SHADOW, Paul Gulacy and P. Craig Russell on MORBIUS/FEAR--perfect artists for those features. But then I was disappointed when he was replaced on INVADERS.
So strange that he was mostly a writer at DC and mostly an artist at Marvel. A MAN-BAT series written AND drawn by him would have been perfect! Did he ever write & draw the same series?
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Shaun Barry
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 11:37am | IP Logged | 3
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There's a wonderful quirkiness to Robbins' work that maybe didn't seem like a perfect fit to the overall product of '70s Marvel, but for me, that's why he stands out. Love his line-work and energy... and he could draw gloriously creepy vampires (somehow, the first thing I think of, when his work is mentioned)!
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Doug Centers
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Joined: 17 February 2014
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 12:05pm | IP Logged | 4
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I think everyone above has the same sentiments as I.He held a nice little corner in my comic book reading- Invaders and Ghost Rider.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 1:04pm | IP Logged | 5
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I have a Robbins INVADERS page and a JOHNNY HAZARD daily strip hanging on the walls of my Studio. (Curiously enough, the strip was offered for sale on the basis of a prominently featured female character resembling Joan Collins.)
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Peter Hicks
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Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1992
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | 6
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Sorry for those who liked his stuff. The bizarre contortions of the figures he drew always turned me off.
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Eric Jansen
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 7:31pm | IP Logged | 7
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I just finished reading the second LUKE CAGE Epic Collection, and Robbins came in for a few issues written by Don McGregor. Somewhere in there Sal Buscema did one issue, inked by Neal Adams! (It said "Crusty Bunkers" but it was clearly mostly if not all by Adams!) Oh yeah--that's how I like my comics! Once again, Robbins suffers by comparison, by being given assignments he wasn't quite right for. And then the volume ends with some issues drawn by Lee Elias--similar to Robbins, but (and my apologies to him and his fans) I never cared for Elias at all. There's technically not that much difference between their styles, yet I sort of love Robbins and really do not love Elias.
I do not think I would have enjoyed INVADERS as much without Robbins. I love Sal Buscema and Neal Adams, but I would prefer Robbins on that one.
I agree, Robbins did some nice vampires! He did MORBIUS, the LEGION OF MONSTERS one-shot (with Morbius), and Baron Blood in INVADERS. I think I might have preferred Robbins on TOMB OF DRACULA! (Of course, I love Gene Colan--just might have preferred him somewhere else. His couple of issues with Steve Gerber on Son of Satan in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT were amazing!)
I might have assigned Frank Robbins to write and draw a MAN-BAT series, SGT. FURY, TOMB OF DRACULA, or perhaps some dark vigilante like THE SHROUD.
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Robert Bradley
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | 8
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I really liked the Frank Robbins/Vince Colletta pairing on THE INVADERS, much more than I had liked the other pairings on CAPTAIN AMERICA or later on in THE INVADERS.
Robbins was one of many veteran artists who migrated to Marvel in the early 70's from DC - Ross Andru, Bob Brown, Jim Mooney, Win Mortimer, even Carmine Infantino eventually - who helped Marvel with their ever-increasing number of titles. And of course Gil Kane was doing covers across the entire line.
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Peter Martin
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| Posted: 13 October 2024 at 12:26am | IP Logged | 9
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An acquired taste. I'm mainly familiar with him from Batman and Captain America and the initial reaction was that his art was stylistically not in line with where it should be -- but after a while I came to appreciate it. It's distinctive and tells the story.
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Scott Gray
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| Posted: 13 October 2024 at 3:35pm | IP Logged | 10
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Frank Robbins is the perfect litmus test to determine if a comics fan's taste ever progressed past the age of 12.
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Craig Earl
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Joined: 13 July 2019
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| Posted: 13 October 2024 at 3:53pm | IP Logged | 11
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Art appreciation is subjective, of course, but Robbins' style, particularly on The Invaders, just did not work for me.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 13 October 2024 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | 12
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I didn’t real care for his art on BATMAN—one wag commented that Robbins’ Batman looked as if he’d just been working on the Batmobile—but I took an immediate shine to his INVADERS.
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