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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 17, 2019 15:40:22 GMT -5
Agree wholeheartedly about Maneely, what a talent! I love his work, with its meticulous details. He's probably my favorite artist of the Atom Age. His "million little lines" approach is endlessly captivating. Of course, my fascination with Maneely may have almost as much to do with his tragic end as it does his mastery of technique. That might also explain my fanaticism over Joy Division, Lovecraft and a host of others. Sensing a pattern? Where can I get to read some of Maneely's work ?
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Post by Phil Maurice on Aug 17, 2019 15:47:06 GMT -5
He's probably my favorite artist of the Atom Age. His "million little lines" approach is endlessly captivating. Of course, my fascination with Maneely may have almost as much to do with his tragic end as it does his mastery of technique. That might also explain my fanaticism over Joy Division, Lovecraft and a host of others. Sensing a pattern? Where can I get to read some of Maneely's work ? Here's a link to Black Knight #1: BK1
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 17, 2019 15:49:40 GMT -5
Thanks PM.
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Post by Farrar on Aug 17, 2019 15:53:30 GMT -5
I heard it said on this forum that if he hadn't died, he might have been the " Jack Kirby" of the Marvel universe. Yes, I've read that, here and elsewhere. From what I have read Maneely and Stan were friendly and their families socialized. Also Stan liked that he was incredibly fast--Maneely's pencils were essentially squiggles/lines/breakdowns and he normally inked his own work, filling in the details. Stan even sent the young John Romita Sr. to Maneely for advice. Romita often credits Maneely with teaching him how to depict texture, such as feathering the cheekbones to indicate the underlying bone structure. To this day whenever I see a Romita face, I think of Maneely. Anyway Maneely was Stan's go-to guy in the mid-50s and he would have been first in line to receive the assignments from Stan, so it's surmised that had he not died in 1958, he would have been first in line to receive the FF #1 assignment from Stan. Personally I think his style would not have worked for the FF (or would have made it an entirely different type of book); his style was not as in your face and dynamic as Kirby's. I could see Maneely being a good fit for the early Spider-Man or Thor comics, though.
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Post by kirby101 on Aug 17, 2019 16:18:00 GMT -5
And we don't know how creative Maneely was in regard to superheroes and villains. We know Kirby was probably the greatest creative force comics has ever seen. So Maneely's FF would have been very different, and probably not as amazing. Of course Kirby was still at Maervel, so he would have gotten work, but not to the extent that he did.
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 17, 2019 16:45:33 GMT -5
And we don't know how creative Maneely was in regard to superheroes and villains. We know Kirby was probably the greatest creative force comics has ever seen. So Maneely's FF would have been very different, and probably not as amazing. Of course Kirby was still at Maervel, so he would have gotten work, but not to the extent that he did.That's an understatement , for sure. Kirby was almost doing every book in the first 2 years.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 17, 2019 17:11:22 GMT -5
Agree wholeheartedly about Maneely, what a talent! I love his work, with its meticulous details. He's probably my favorite artist of the Atom Age. His "million little lines" approach is endlessly captivating. Of course, my fascination with Maneely may have almost as much to do with his tragic end as it does his mastery of technique. That might also explain my fanaticism over Joy Division, Lovecraft and a host of others. Sensing a pattern? That Love Will Tear Us Apart, Again?
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 17, 2019 17:25:15 GMT -5
Agree wholeheartedly about Maneely, what a talent! I love his work, with its meticulous details. He's probably my favorite artist of the Atom Age. His "million little lines" approach is endlessly captivating. Of course, my fascination with Maneely may have almost as much to do with his tragic end as it does his mastery of technique. That might also explain my fanaticism over Joy Division, Lovecraft and a host of others. Sensing a pattern? I discovered Maneely via the Black Knight reprints that appeared in a few issues during the heyday of the Marvel Super-Heroes title (issues 12-16 and 19), and like you and I'm sure many others, fell in love with his style. Great draftsman and a great storyteller, in the same vein as Russ Heath. As you say, Farrar, he would have been a natural for Thor, and when you see his mystery stories, there's enough "Ditko-ness" to say he'd have been good on that, too. I wonder if, had he been given Sgt. Fury, it would have taken on a whole different tone and been more like Sgt. Rock and less like a superhero title, especially given the Marvel method of art and writing. And oh, his Westerns were also superb.
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Post by beccabear67 on Aug 18, 2019 0:51:40 GMT -5
I guess Maneely wouldn't have co-created Dr. Strange but I can only being to imagine what his version of that might've been like! Looking at viking characters on the first page inside Black Knight #1 his Thor would've been something amazing, but I think like Ditko with Dr. Strange, Thor would just not have begun without Kirby.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Aug 18, 2019 7:47:13 GMT -5
I guess Maneely wouldn't have co-created Dr. Strange but I can only being to imagine what his version of that might've been like! Looking at viking characters on the first page inside Black Knight #1 his Thor would've been something amazing. . . Oh, the idea of a Maneely Thor is tantalizing! I would also like to have seen his take on the Hulk. Maneely drew a very sympathetic Monster in "Your Name is Frankenstein" from Menace #7.
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Post by MDG on Aug 19, 2019 9:28:45 GMT -5
I bought this comic only about 7 or so years after its publication, and I remember thinking that the comic was positively ancient in my eyes! When I bought my first two original ECs, they were about 22 years old, and I thought they were truly something from another age (which, in comic book terms, they were). Now, it's probably been that long since I bought a new color comic off the stands--or at least since I made a "weekly run."
Catching up on Maneely: As a couple people said, as talented an artist as he was, I don't think there's a way to judge what kind of contribution he'd've made to the Marvel Age. Going by his style and the types of stories he used to specialize in, it might have meant a line that contrasted with DC by being more "ground level" than cosmic. That is, Ditko's Spider-Man would've been the template more than the FF and Thor, and a grittier tone overall.
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Post by Farrar on Aug 19, 2019 12:30:09 GMT -5
I guess Maneely wouldn't have co-created Dr. Strange but I can only being to imagine what his version of that might've been like! Looking at viking characters on the first page inside Black Knight #1 his Thor would've been something amazing... Right, that's exactly what I was thinking when earlier I mentioned a Maneelian Thor--his Asgard would have been something to see!
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 19, 2019 13:45:27 GMT -5
But could he pull off the action that jumped off the page with Kirby’s art ?
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Post by beccabear67 on Aug 19, 2019 14:06:07 GMT -5
But could he pull off the action that jumped off the page with Kirby’s art ? Maybe one place to see would be the Lo-Zar jungle character comics he did (re-named Tharn and given red hair for the early '70s reprints). Steve Ditko came from a mystery/horror comic background as much as anyone. I'm thinking his first superhero work was Captain Atom in 1960? He was also doing Konga (the giant ape) that year.
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Post by kirby101 on Aug 19, 2019 14:07:20 GMT -5
But could he pull off the action that jumped off the page with Kirby’s art ? Could anyone?
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