shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,862
|
Post by shaxper on Dec 17, 2015 16:25:09 GMT -5
#8. Carl Barks Not just the sole creator and definer of Uncle Scrooge, nor the primary driving force behind the most successful franchise of the 1950s who raised Disney Comics from a merchandising fad into an international success and legitimate art form, Barks brought a tremendous range to his work that continues to stagger me today. Whether telling everyman stories that alternatively made us laugh out loud or feel immense pathos, or sweeping adventure stories that were brilliantly plotted, mixing seamless excitement and humor with stunning attention to factual detail leaving you to believe these places really could be out there somewhere in the uncharted world, Barks just seemed to succeed at any kind of story he tried to tell with those darn ducks, even possibly telling the very first story to ever feature giant robot/mecha exo-suits (?) Heck, it's Christmas time, but it doesn't feel like the season until I pull out my Walt Disney's Christmas Parade stories and read my favorite Barks tales that make the season come alive with warmth, laughter, and sheer creative brilliance.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 17:51:34 GMT -5
#8 Bill MauldinA little distance helps you to see a bit more clearly what influences helped to shape you. Many are obvious, but there are also many tiny pieces in the mosaics of our lives that make you wonder how the hell they got in there. Bill Mauldin’s work didn’t change my life completely, but his work, primarily his World War Two cartoons and his later editorial cartoons, which I first encountered when I was 15, helped to shape my perceptions of the world, a small world that for many reasons had been circumscribed by a very few, very domineering influences. I came to know Mauldin and many other cartoonists and strip artists through a book by Stephen Becker called Comic Art in America (1959), which I took out so many times from my hometown library that I knew it page by page. Even today when I take it down from the shelf, I am whisked back to the many nights I spent enraptured by its loving discussion of the art form we here find so compelling. The chapter devoted to editorial cartoons was one I read and reread. In those antediluvian days, books on comics were scarce, and they rarely appeared in anybody’s public library. Thus, my finding Becker’s book and Feiffer’s The Great Comic Book Heroes (of which more later), were akin to Moses’ finding a burning bush in the desert. They were the word of God in comic form for me. Mauldin’s story burned into my brain: a teenager in the National Guard in 1940 who served with the 45th Infantry, was wounded in Italy and drew “Up Front,” a series of cartoons for Stars and Stripes. The cartoons showed the war from the average GI’s view: survival, not heroism, was the theme. What made such an impression on me was that Mauldin’s superiors, the officer corps, right up to Patton himself, had no use for him or his protagonists, Willie and Joe. You’ll recall that Patton wanted his soldiers clean-shaven and spiffy. It didn’t matter if they were up front. Reportedly he wanted to arrest Mauldin, but Eisenhower gave the word that Mauldin was to be left alone. Mauldin was bringing a welcome dose of reality to the many readers who saw his cartoons at home, and Ike thought that Willie and Joe’s mud-soaked, fight to stay alive was a welcome balance to the unceasing flow of feel-good propaganda that was the steady diet on the home front. He hoped it would remind them that the war was no walk in the park.  The 1944 Pulitzer Prize went to...  Mauldin essentially spat in the eye of those who extolled war for its glory, honor, adventure and excitement. His drawings of Willie and Joe are laced with irony, sarcasm, and frustration. You don’t have to look far to find anger rippling beneath the surface, but Mauldin skillfully (at age 23!) walks the line between wryness and bitterness, and it is well he did, because he might well have been shut down if he’d turned strident. Becker grasps Mauldin’s outlook perfectly: “Mauldin was apparently aware of every argument adduced to make war palatable: he was also aware that absolutely none of those arguments could stand up under any logical scrutiny… [his cartoons] are swift, uncompromising refutation of all the hymns of glory ever raised to war” (326). After the war, with the 1944 Pulitzer in hand, Mauldin wandered from career to career, even trying acting (he was in John Huston’s Red Badge of Courage) because his savage irony and his strong support of civil liberties made it difficult for him in post-war America. He always said he was a born trouble-maker, and that was not going to change. Eventually, though, he landed a gig with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, won another Pulitzer in 1959...  "Won the Nobel Prize for Literature. What was your crime?" and soon went to Chicago, where he was a mainstay at the Sun-Times until he retired in 1991. November 23, 1963...  Like so many vets, Mauldin did not have an easy time of it after he came home, but he probably owed much of the emotion, directness, clarity, and his acuity that were always so evident in his work to that horrendous experience. He never lost his anti-authoritarian streak, his humanistic sensibility or his enviable irascibility. Here are some examples from one of the great practitioners of a nearly lost art. He tried to make us think. He certainly succeeded with me and I will always be grateful. And a couple on civil rights...   - I wanted to say this and I'm blaming myself for not thinking of him in the 1st place and I wanted to congratulate you for picking him because his art is so realistic, enduring, tells a great story, and most of all he makes it personal to you. Thanks for sharing these great pictures today! |
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Dec 17, 2015 18:46:29 GMT -5
Bill Mauldin - I wanted to say this and I'm blaming myself for not thinking of him in the 1st place and I wanted to congratulate you for picking him because his art is so realistic, enduring, tells a great story, and most of all he makes it personal to you. Thanks for sharing these great pictures today! Thanks for what you wrote, mecha! It was my pleasure. Maudlin was a real genius of this form and I am delighted to celebrate him. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 20:56:36 GMT -5
On the fifth day of Christmas, comics, my true love, gave to me... Colleen Doran for A Distant Soil and many, many others.  Much like Shanower's Age of Bronze, A Distant Soil is a labor of love for Doran who uses money she makes on other projects to fund issues of this series that she began working on as a teenager. There was a spate of issues from Image a year or so back (about the same time Shanower put out the last Age of Bronze issue-more parallels), but seems to be on hiatus again while she does other work. I discovered Doran's work with her collaborations with other writers I like-Gaiman on Sandman, Ellis on Orbiter, etc. and her occasional more mainstream work, but it was her own series, A Distant Soil, where I came to really groove what she is doing. A Distant Soil is a sprawling sci-fi epic with strong fantasy elements as well and serves as a tapestry for any number of stories. It is a story of alienation, of coming of age, of struggling with family heritage, of finding the hero within, and many more things with a rich cast of characters. Some samples...     Since she has been working on the series since her mid teens (and redrew much of the earliest stuff before publication) you can really see her craft evolve as you read through the series, watch her growth as an artist, as awriter and as a storyteller. She was good when it started, but has improved with experience as well. -M |
|
|
|
Post by benday-dot on Dec 17, 2015 21:57:40 GMT -5
If this looks familiar it's because I posted it in the wrong day in error. Thanks Kurt for the catch, sorry guys and especially Mark Schultz fans, But hey... he moves up a notch! 8) Mark SchultzSo lets hear it for Mark Schultz and his long labour of love, the exquisitely gorgeous and rip-snortin'ly fun Xenozoic Tales (or Cadillac and Dinosaurs if you prefer). It seemed every comic book creator you looked about for in the 80's and 90's was into doing the grim 'n gritty thing with their craft. Well, not Mark Schultz. Schultz took inspiration from an age and an aesthetic some might have thought to have passed, but which he ably proved was timeless. Take Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, Al Williamson, Wally Wood and especially Frank Frazetta and throw in the masters of the Golden Age of Illustration like Howard Pyle and the great dinosaur illustrator Charles Knight, along with the riotous spirit of pulpish adventure and you begin to get a sense of Schultz's Xenozoic. Drawn with a breathless beauty that would be painfully daunting to lesser artists, Xenozoic is a post apocalyptic romp with danger at all turns (did I mention dinosaurs are in this epic!) and only the wits and courage of the handsome and resourceful, but ever no nonsense Jack Tenrec and the luminously intelligent (and sexy!) scientist Hannah Dundee will serve to win the day. Good news is that Mark Schultz has just announced that he has returned at long last to the task of finishing his masterpiece.   |
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 17, 2015 22:07:48 GMT -5
My #8 pick is the Brazillian artist/writer Léo (real name Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) for his Aldebaran and Betelgeuse series.  I was recommended the English translation of the Aldebaran series a few years back by a guy in my local comic book shop who was trying to persuade more of the shop's customers to read some bande dessinée books. As well as turning me on to Edgar P. Jacobs' Blake & Mortimer series (which will be appearing later on in my Top 12) he also recommended the first book in the Aldebaran cycle. I dutifully purchased it and was hooked within a few short pages. I motored through the first volume, feverishly ordering subsequent installments from Amazon as fast as I could. The phrase "a real page-turner" doesn't even come close; this story is simply addictive! Léo's artwork is really pretty and highly detailed. He's a master at communicating character emotion with facial expressions, but I feel as if his figures are a bit stiff or somehow mannequin-like. However, within the context of the strange, other-worldly locales that the Aldebaran and Betelgeuse stories take us, this stiffness actually plays into the strange environments and serves to accentuate the weirdness of it all. I must also make mention of the high degree of inventive imagination on display in Léo's depictions of alien fauna and flora, which is quite staggering. At their heart, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse are fantastical sci-fi adventures and damn good ones at that.    I loves me some beautiful monsters so I'm going to need to pick these up! This is why I love the classic christmas, it never fails to broaden my horizons. |
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Dec 17, 2015 22:22:07 GMT -5
8. Mike GrellI have a lot of respect for Mike Grell because he was one of the first creators for the big two to create a character that was independent of their continuity and actually become a top seller. ( Warlord).I think in the 80’s the only big selling titles for Dc were New Teen Titans and Warlord. He went on to do Starslayer for Pacific comics which was a backwards copy of Warlord. ( He was a ancient Warrior thrust into the future where as , The Warlord was a modern person thrown into a ancient society). He created Jon Sable freelance for First Comics which actually had a short lived TV show. And he redefined Green Arrow with his “Long Bow Hunters” Miniseries. He also has other series that he created ( Shamans Tears, Bar Sinister) and it’s for all these ideas that sprang out of his head that makes him #8. Warlord Starslayer Green Arrow The infamous Black Canary torture scene. 
|
|
|
|
Post by thwhtguardian on Dec 17, 2015 22:41:18 GMT -5
On the Fifth Day of Classic Comics Christmas I give unto thee... Russ Manning
Russ Manning is a taste I learned from my grandfather and his love for Tarzan, he had that classic style to his line work and his poses seemed like they came out of the old Hollywood movies which made his art just feel warm, inviting like the old films themselves. You look at his art and you just feel yourself being transported to a distant land and a simpler time. It's a beautiful experience.  But although my introduction was through Tarzan it was his sci-fi work on Magnus Robot Fighter and more recently my discovery of his work on the Star Wars Daily strip that really cemented him in my mind as one of my favorites. Simmilar to the way his work on Tarzan could fill your heart with nostalgia for the glory of old Hollywood, his sci-fi work perfectly captured that sci-fi kitsch feel from the 40's and 50's. The heroes all have that same square jaw and those impossibly broad shoulders and the women all had those big expressive eyes and full beautiful lips  On top of that he had a great way of expressing action and movement   It was all larger than life and reading it always gave me a very cinematic experience that I seldom experience with other artists. |
|
|
|
Post by Paste Pot Paul on Dec 17, 2015 23:30:29 GMT -5
I think the thing that has struck me most this year is the vast range of entries. Almost everyone is coming up with different people, and the differences are huge. Political cartoonists sit with super-hero artists, next to underground comix, across the table from newspaper strips. The array of independent artistes is amazing, the lack of super-heroes is refreshing, and the self inflicted pressure to post something decent is increasing.
I was determined from the start to select a reasonable range of talent, the brief from Kurt was wide enough to capture strips etc and enabled us to think further from the box, but damn man, each box here is a different shape and size. Some of your inclusions have forced me to reconsider my own choices as I rediscover the love of books I'd completely forgotten about.
If this thread were on the old site it would be inundated with hero-centric creators(not that my own entries arent), I'm glad its not. Im glad you all have such different tastes, I'm glad you like stuff I dont, and I'm glad you like stuff I WANT now. There have been some truly amazing people included who I am determined to sample.
|
|
|
|
Post by coke & comics on Dec 18, 2015 1:20:22 GMT -5
On the fifth day of Christmas, Santakukoru gave to me... #8, Jiro Taniguchi I was exposed to him randomly just a few month ago. I had never heard of his work and was browsing the comics section at Barnes & Noble. Walking Man jumped out at me as something that looked good. I picked it up. An amazing comic. |
|
|
|
Post by coke & comics on Dec 18, 2015 3:54:05 GMT -5
Holy frijoles! Ileft leo out of my list because I thought English-speaking readers wouldn't be familiar with his work. Thank God you were there to pick up the slack, Confessor!!! Not to yell at your for your life choices, but we're here to learn. I am not the only person for whom European comics are a weakness. We need to learn! |
|
|
|
Post by foxley on Dec 18, 2015 6:24:02 GMT -5
In seeing other people's (awesome) entries, I have to remind myself that I am not attempting to list the greatest, the most influential, or the most popular; merely writer/artists whose work appeals to me. And that could be Frank Miller, or Jinky Coranado, or my next choice: #8. Budd Root
Budd Root is the creator of Cavewoman, and the definitive writer and artist for the character. He originally set out to do a T&A book, but found that the story kept developing as he was writing it. He has described as "Little Annie Fanny in the Stone Age", and he succeeded admirably. His art was a little raw when he started, but even in his early days it had a verve and energy to it. And he draws fine looking women, dinosaurs, and giant gorillas. In recent years, Budd has pretty much turned the character over to Devon Massey, who's take on the character (while interesting), is considerably different to Budd's. But if you're interested in a series that features a strong (in all senses of the word) sexy heroine battling dinosaurs and other threats, you could do a lot worse that checking out Cavewoman: Reloaded (Budd's remastering of the original Cavewoman series with better art), Cavewoman: Rain (IMO the best of the series) and Cavewoman: Pangean Sea.
|
|
|
|
Post by DubipR on Dec 18, 2015 6:44:12 GMT -5
In seeing other people's (awesome) entries, I have to remind myself that I am not attempting to list the greatest, the most influential, or the most popular; merely writer/artists whose work appeals to me. And that could be Frank Miller, or Jinky Coranado, or my next choice: #8. Budd Root
Budd Root is the creator of Cavewoman, and the definitive writer and artist for the character. He originally set out to do a T&A book, but found that the story kept developing as he was writing it. He has described as "Little Annie Fanny in the Stone Age", and he succeeded admirably. His art was a little raw when he started, but even in his early days it had a verve and energy to it. And he draws fine looking women, dinosaurs, and giant gorillas. In recent years, Budd has pretty turned the character over to Devon Massey, who's take on the character (while interesting), is considerably different to Budd's. But if you're interested in a series that features a strong (in all senses of the word) sexy heroine battling dinosaurs and othe threats, you could do a lot worse that checking out Cavewoman: Reloaded (Budd's remastering of the original Cavewoman series with better art), Cavewoman: Rain (IMO the best of the series) and Cavewoman: Pangean Sea.
Excellent choice! I love Budd's artwork very much! Nice to see him break into the lists! Well done! I first saw his work in an article in Wizard (Palmer's Picks...the only good thing in that magazine) and scoured the comics stores and conventions for the original mini. I found online in the early days of dial-up an online shop that had the mini and bought them. Glad I did.. |
|
|
|
Post by Pól Rua on Dec 18, 2015 10:17:28 GMT -5
This next one's very much a personal choice. As anyone who knows me knows, there are few things I can resist less than an ornery roughneck in a colourful mask, dispensing righteous justice with suicide dives, flying legscissors and stepover toehold facelocks. And for all that there's a vast industry in the adventures of heroes like El Santo, The Blue Demon (my favourite) and Huracan Ramirez South of the Border, the lucha hero hasn't made much of a mark on US-based funnybooks, but when it does, I'm pretty much guaranteed to snap it up. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they can be pretty bad... but the creme de la creme of Masked Wrestling Funnybooks is 'SONAMBULO' by my #8 choice... #8. RAFAEL NAVARRORafael Navarro is a man of many skills. He's a cartoonist, a storyboard artist, an animator, and an all-round suave sonofagun. In his time, he's done work for the late, much-lamented lucha libre fanzine 'From Parts Unknown', contributed storyboards to shows like 'Rugrats' and 'Mucha Lucha'. In the late 90's, he began the creation for which he is most famous, 'SONAMBULO', the story of a retired professional luchador turned detective in a weird, dreamlike Los Angeles that's equal parts 1950's space age bachelor pad chic, late-nite Z-grade Chiller Theatre and Chandler-esque town of mean streets and broken hearts. Sonambulo debuted in 1996's 'Sleep of the Just', and over the next ten years or so, made sporadic appearances in a series of one-shots and a follow-up mini-series 'Mexican Stand-Off'. What makes Navarro's work on 'Sonambulo' so good is that he nails the tone both of the Supernatural Noir, and of the Masked Wrestler story. And it's harder than it sounds. A lot of creators will veer off into parody or farce, but he reaches deep down, past all the weird spectacle, and into the heart. Oh, don't get me wrong, all the weird spectacle is definitely still there, but it's not just a fun-park ride. It's a story that means something, and because he plays the characters sincerely, he thrusts you into the world and into the drama, instead of allowing you to stand back a pace and watch it like it's some machine at a penny arcade you drop a coin into, crank it up and watch it go. This storytelling is, of course, complemented by the art. Navarro's quirky style is loose and energetic, and its reminiscent of guys like Bruce Timm, marrying a Kirbyesque energy and bombast, with the stylized pin-up cuties of classic girly cartoonists. In addition, he's a fiend for Alex Toth and (especially) Frank Robbins. He also has a real knack for atmospheric tone and colour, whether it's film noir monochrome or psychotronic colour explosion which really enhances his relatively minimalist linework. He's currently working on a series called 'Guns-a-Blazin' with writer Mike Wellman, which charts the time-and-space travelling adventures of a pair of transdimensional rock-and-roll cowboys, and I can't wait to check it out.   |
|
|
|
Post by DubipR on Dec 18, 2015 10:49:55 GMT -5
This next one's very much a personal choice. As anyone who knows me knows, there are few things I can resist less than an ornery roughneck in a colourful mask, dispensing righteous justice with suicide dives, flying legscissors and stepover toehold facelocks. And for all that there's a vast industry in the adventures of heroes like El Santo, The Blue Demon (my favourite) and Huracan Ramirez South of the Border, the lucha hero hasn't made much of a mark on US-based funnybooks, but when it does, I'm pretty much guaranteed to snap it up. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they can be pretty bad... but the creme de la creme of Masked Wrestling Funnybooks is 'SONAMBULO' by my #8 choice... #8. RAFAEL NAVARRORafael Navarro is a man of many skills. He's a cartoonist, a storyboard artist, an animator, and an all-round suave sonofagun. In his time, he's done work for the late, much-lamented lucha libre fanzine 'From Parts Unknown', contributed storyboards to shows like 'Rugrats' and 'Mucha Lucha'. In the late 90's, he began the creation for which he is most famous, 'SONAMBULO', the story of a retired professional luchador turned detective in a weird, dreamlike Los Angeles that's equal parts 1950's space age bachelor pad chic, late-nite Z-grade Chiller Theatre and Chandler-esque town of mean streets and broken hearts. Sonambulo debuted in 1996's 'Sleep of the Just', and over the next ten years or so, made sporadic appearances in a series of one-shots and a follow-up mini-series 'Mexican Stand-Off'. What makes Navarro's work on 'Sonambulo' so good is that he nails the tone both of the Supernatural Noir, and of the Masked Wrestler story. And it's harder than it sounds. A lot of creators will veer off into parody or farce, but he reaches deep down, past all the weird spectacle, and into the heart. Oh, don't get me wrong, all the weird spectacle is definitely still there, but it's not just a fun-park ride. It's a story that means something, and because he plays the characters sincerely, he thrusts you into the world and into the drama, instead of allowing you to stand back a pace and watch it like it's some machine at a penny arcade you drop a coin into, crank it up and watch it go. This storytelling is, of course, complemented by the art. Navarro's quirky style is loose and energetic, and its reminiscent of guys like Bruce Timm, marrying a Kirbyesque energy and bombast, with the stylized pin-up cuties of classic girly cartoonists. In addition, he's a fiend for Alex Toth and (especially) Frank Robbins. He also has a real knack for atmospheric tone and colour, whether it's film noir monochrome or psychotronic colour explosion which really enhances his relatively minimalist linework. He's currently working on a series called 'Guns-a-Blazin' with writer Mike Wellman, which charts the time-and-space travelling adventures of a pair of transdimensional rock-and-roll cowboys, and I can't wait to check it out. Great choice, Munkee! Raf's a good buddy and overall amazing guy. And yes, I'll get those Guns-A-Blazin' issue to you after the new year. He'll be tickled pink to see this selection.
|
|
