GAH! How the heck did I get so busy all of a sudden? Must be the holiday thing. Or maybe it had something to do with my being too sick to actually get much of anything accomplished over the weekend. I was hoping to post a nice piece on the suspension of disbelief in comics, but I do not have nearly the time for that today. Most of what is keeping me busy is comic related though, so I'll mention that here...1) Holiday shopping. Gotta get comic related gifts for relatives and continue to try to drag them into the fun that is comics! I mentioned my gift for my nephew already, so it's just the rest of my relatives I need to find something for!
2) Band practice. OK, this one's not comic related but it completely eats up my Monday and Thursday evenings.
3) Jack Kirby Collector #50. Due out in February, I need to finish my column by Friday, and I'm not nearly as far along as I'd like. But it focuses on Jack's 50 Greatest Character Designs -- and I'll warn you now, you won't agree with me. Dave, for example, was quite adamant last night that Dr. Doom should rate much higher than I've placed him, and my choice for the number one spot was absurd.
4) Super-Secret Project X. I can't reveal too much about this one yet, but I'm busy working behind-the-scenes on something cool with several comic industry folks. I won't try to claim it'll crack the internet in half or anything, but I think it's cool in a kind of Friends of Lulu/CBLDF sort-of way. I'm currently working on the initial press release announcing the project to the world, and hopefully we'll go public by the end of the year. I'll definitely post more on this as I can. But you can blame the Occasional Superheroine for getting me tied up with this group!
5) I've been flooded with requests -- well, one request -- to check out all the new Zuda comics and post some commentary here. I haven't had a chance to even swing by the site since the last batch ended, but it's on my To-Do list.
6) The Day Job. Yeah, well, this one is only comic related in that it's how I pay for all the comics I talk about here. But it does have a tendency to eat up a good chunk of the day.
More later!
2 comments:
Sean, you have a big scan of that Kirby Superman, right. I don't have the cash to buy the JKC. It's all I can do to buy comics for my ersatz nieces. So what I'm saying is...
Hand it over, okay?
I said it before: man, that is one amazing picture of Superman. Wow. It's terrific.
Actually, you keep it, Sean. The JKC's money oughtta be the JKC's money, that's kind of why it exists I guess. But do come over and play my new blog-game. Good heavens that is some kinda comic-art picture though. Not my most coveted Kirby by any means (my most coveted is that 1930s mural of his childhood on the Lower East Side -- wow), but I never saw the Kirby-face Superman 'til you started posting it on this site. It was always like a myth to me. Hmm, dunno why I'm pouring it all out here now, but...what strikes me about it is, what a fantastically heroic Superman it is. And that's what they didn't like, probably, don't you think? I mean, even Neal Adams' Superman didn't have vigour like that; there was always still a suggestion of Clark-Kent-ism in that head, and probably by design. I see very little Clark Kent in this image of Superman -- in fact I see a radical break between Clark and Superman in this image, rather in the 30's style. So tell me, Sean...
...Have you seen any Kirby-drawn heads of Clark Kent, in your time at JKC? Does he have slicked-back hair? Does he look unintelligent in a graphical sense? Is it basically all what Quitely's been doing with A-S-S? Clunky Clark, doughy Clark?
By the way, Sean, I would LOVE to hear your views on A-S-S. Since you hate Morrison and find him obscure (dunno what you think of Quitely...I imagine the same) I wonder if because this is a recognizable Superman Family-type Superman you might find it more palatable.
Or less so!
I'll be totally up-front, and say that I dig it big. But how much more would I dig a large-scale negative critique of it, with pictures and everything, from you? That would be the BEST. I actually don't think you should do it, because it would only attract more of the same kind of sonsabitches who commented on the Batmobile post (I suppose you noticed that their name-links led to nowhere -- cowards), but if you ever do in fact do it I'll definitely be right there reading. Becaquse I'm damn curious.
Anyway, goodnight,
I've seen Jack's un-retouched Superman a few times in various issues of JKC. (Well worth the price, believe-you-me!) I don't think I've seen Jack's Clark Kent, but his Superman was "problematic" because he could never quite figure out the hair. He tended to put in a huge part on one side, slicked the hair over to the other, and the classic S-curl became more of a C. It's not a bad drawing; it just didn't look like the same guy Curt Swan had been drawing for the previous 20-some years.
As for A-S-S, I've actually never cared much for Superman as a character in the first place, so that title didn't even warrant a blip on my radar screen, regardless of who is/was working on it. I don't have anything actively against Quietly, but I haven't seen much of his stuff either.
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