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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 14, 2015 9:06:15 GMT -5
I've written before about how my exposure to underground comix in junior high (thanks, Billy Jackson, wherever you are!) changed my understanding of how much more the medium could be than super-heroes, funny animals and bucktoothed teenage redheads. And no artist expanded my awareness more than today's entry: #11. Victor Moscoso Responsible for some of the most iconic posters of the psychedelic Sixties, Moscoso also dabbled in comics. His experiments in abstract and non-linear storytelling in the pages of Zap are still ahead of their time four decades later. Whenever I get bogged down with some niggling detail of continuity, I remind myself that Moscoso created amazing work, work that stimulates and challenges the intellectual and emotional sides of our brains, without any of the usual tools/crutches of narrative storytelling and my perspective is restored. Cei-U! I summon the genuine genius! |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Dec 14, 2015 9:09:58 GMT -5
#11. Lynd Ward "God's Man" is one of the more impressive comic book works I've ever read, published in 1929, long before we had a modern understanding of what a "comic" or "graphic novel" was. I'm employing a technicality here, as there is no actual writing in "God's Man," but there is a clear story being told by Ward through his brilliant, painstakingly produced woodcuts. It's a moving story of the artist's journey, from seeking inspiration and solace, to seeking prosperity, to seeking freedom from an oppressive society and exploitive industry, to seeking reconciliation with self and with the divine. Damn powerful stuff that one person shouldn't...just shouldn't...have been able to do on his own, especially before there were even any established conventions for the art form he was working in.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 9:14:27 GMT -5
shaxper, Gorgeous Art Work by Mr. Ward here. Loved all 4 panels!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 9:53:33 GMT -5
#11 Jack Kirby Forever PeopleI'm a huge Jack Kirby Fan and I walked in my Comic Book Store right around May of 1971 and I came across and it's jumps right at me Jack Kirby Forever People and I was shocked to see Jack Kirby jump from Marvel Comics to DC Comics and being a fan of the Fantastic Four I was hooked on the saga of Mark Moonrider, Big Bear, Vykin the Black, Serifan, Beautiful Dreamer, and Infinity Man. I was stunned by the visual energies of his work and the vivid colors that he used throughout this series and brought pretty much the whole series and regretted selling it in the 90's to buy a new car. Full of visual imagery, action, and one of the best work that he did for DC Comics.  My first book and fortunately - I still have it and it's a good thing that I brought two copies back then; I sold the other one for a new car in the 90's. I just loved the way he puts the "heads" of the Forever People on the bottom of May 1971 Issue. Beautiful Dreamer One of my favorite character that Jack Kirby created and I also like Infinity Man and Big Bear too.
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 14, 2015 10:16:22 GMT -5
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Cei-U!
I summon the retcon!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 10:22:53 GMT -5
#11Dave Stevens - The Rocketeer
 Simply one of comics's best artists ever who unfortunately, won't be around anymore. He has a great knack in creating people who react beautifully and realistically to situations, from Cliff’s crazy jealousy to Peevy’s consternation to Betty’s concern. This is the recoloured version as the original colouring, done back in the 80s, didn't do it much justice. Also available in black and white. 
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 14, 2015 10:33:09 GMT -5
11: Jack ColeAs I suspect is the case with many of you, my ordering is somewhat arbitrary. Until I get to the highest rankings, a creator's specific position in my top 12 is not very meaningful. Thus, I decided to salute Jack Cole on his birthday, December 14, 1914. He'd have been 101 had he survived this long.  The very first I had heard of his signature character, Plastic Man, was when one of my few comics readings pals in 1971 described him as an "old hero". I thought he meant that the character was an old man, but he explained things a little more clearly and I got it. But I didn't actually see Cole's work until DC published this in one of their 100-Page Super-Spectaculars:  While I wasn't a big fan of humorous characters, this story struck me as being better than almost anything being published by DC at the time. Jack Cole just wowed me with what he was able to do. I soon found Jules Feiffer's history of comics on my library shelves, and read Plastic Man's origin--not quite as polished, but inventive and memorable. A summer later, I was in Texas visiting my sister, talking with my brother-in-law about comics. He'd grown up in the 50's, and remembered loving Plastic Man. I explained to him that the comic was no longer published, but when he took me to the local PX to buy some comics to keep me busy, we found a new Plastic Man comic on the stands--DC Special #15, a reprint of Cole classics which had mysteriously remained on the spinner racks almost a year past its expiration date! I was embarrassed to be proven "wrong", but delighted to find a new serving of Cole's magic. I don't think I have to do much more to justify my choice, as I bet most of us here are familiar with his work, and I doubt that there is a single detractor among us, but I'll point to Cole's inventiveness and liveliness and enthusiastic joy as the highlights of his writing, and his expressiveness and rich, cartoony rendering as the most appealing hallmarks of his artwork. One more sample of his work, this one from Midnight, a clone of Eisner's The Spirit, that Cole did for Smash Comics:  Cole was one of Eisner's ghosts on the real thing, but his work on Midnight was almost as good. Check out how deftly Jack reverses the direction of reading across this page! You don't really need the helpful arrows (and if you didn't understand that you were supposed to go right-to-left on that panel, and instead read it in conventional order, it still makes sense! This page makes me imagine how much more visually appealing and visually inventive DC's Flash would have been with Jack Cole in charge!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Dec 14, 2015 10:39:52 GMT -5
I own several LPs that feature Moscoso's artwork on the cover and even have an original 1967 handbill that he created for a Moby Grape gig at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, but I have unfortunately never been exposed to any of his underground comics work. The above looks intriguing and psychedelic. I need to experience more old 60s and 70s underground comics in general. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Dec 14, 2015 10:41:41 GMT -5
#11Dave Stevens - The Rocketeer
I knew this would show up on your list at some point.  It only narrowly missed pout on a place in my Top 12 actually. Great choice, Jez. |
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Dec 14, 2015 10:58:12 GMT -5
#11, the awkward comic reluctant Johnen Vasquez! I bought Johnny The Hommicidal Maniac right off the stands back in 1995. I was already way past teen angst and had no fascination for serial killers at all, but this looked quite funny, and it was! I always liked some of the goth scene aspects, but altogether couldn't help to find it outrageously ridiculeous (I went to a halloween goth party dressed as a ghost when I was 16!). But Vasquez was cool because he understood the culture and yet made vast amount of fun of it! He spawned dozens of imitators, many successfull ones (Ted Naifeh), but none achived that sens of unease and intricacy. And thus it began with this dark comic of very black humor, with artwork that was back then its own, standing out from anything around, really intricate and cohesive despite its own limitations.     This series which probably reflected on Vasquez own inner demons was a huge indie success, one that his creator seems to struggle to cash on, but it was followed by Squee, a mini about Johnny's aford pictured young neighbour, and it was just as darn dark and funny.     But the culmination of Vasquez storytelling skills and world within comics would be his I Feel Sick mini, a funny and sad epic on teen life, and his farwell to regular comics writing/drawing, leaving for a very successfull life of work in animation ( Invader Zim!).    I really got captivated by his way to depict youth urban paranoia, the growing uncertainties of the 90ies, and his simple but intricate artwork helped convey that unease, but was always generous on comic relief. He now is almost totaly dedicated to animation, but every now and hten, a special one-off project can lure him back to the funny pages.    
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Dec 14, 2015 11:04:14 GMT -5
I have a feeling we'll be seeing this gentleman again: 11. Don RosaMy exposure to Don Rosa consists entirely of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. That's enough to land him on any top 12 list, though. In terms of pure cartooning, it's hard to top Rosa's epic exploration of Uncle Scrooge's history. He somehow weaves together all the random clues left behind by Carl Barks into one coherent narrative, a feat that would make Roy Thomas proud. The fact that he does it in the form of an amazing story told with brilliant art is even more impressive. One of the best ever:   |
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Post by MDG on Dec 14, 2015 11:10:17 GMT -5
I gotta say, this seems like a jaw-dropping choice from you. |
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Post by hondobrode on Dec 14, 2015 11:12:16 GMT -5
You realize that third image is Art Adams, not Kirby, right? Cei-U! I summon the misidentification! Nope, MG is right. That's Kirby. |
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Post by MDG on Dec 14, 2015 11:12:31 GMT -5
Charles Burns’ world is a dark world, one that can be hilarious or terrifying—sometimes both at the same times Though his style varies between cartoonish Big Baby, El Borbah) and realistic (Black Hole), his art is always in the same stark black and white that is definitely modern, even when it has the feel of pre-code horror and romance stories. When he gave a talk here (“here” meaning where I work) a couple years ago, he spoke a lot about the influence Herge and Tintin had on him which surprised me, but is pretty evident once you see it. Here’s the video:  I first saw his work in Raw and he immediately became one of the artists I’d buy as soon as new work appeared.  ![]()  |
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Post by MDG on Dec 14, 2015 11:14:37 GMT -5
You realize that third image is Art Adams, not Kirby, right? Cei-U! I summon the misidentification! Nope, MG is right. That's Kirby. MG took down the Adams piece. |
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It only narrowly missed pout on a place in my Top 12 actually. Great choice, Jez.
