Many times has Ol' Groove ruminated on the magnificence of Jim Starlin's titanic tenure as writer/artist on Adam Warlock's strip, but we must ne'er forget the greatness of Gil Kane as he and Roy Thomas re-created Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Him as the bejeweled messiah of Counter Earth. With inkers like Dan Adkins and Tom Sutton, and writers like Mike Friedrich and Ron Goulart, Kane supplied some of his most stupendous splashes (sometimes more than one per ish!). Though he only drew a half-dozen issues (Marvel Premiere #'s 1-2, Warlock 1, 3-5, January 1972-January 1973), Kane's designs, along with the power of his pencils, made Warlock a cult fave and helped pave the way for Judo Jim's legendary saga.
Groove: My goodness, you have some magnificent Kane here! That first splash of Warlock is Hall of Fame Kane! Students studying figure drawing should keep a copy handy! -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteGreat new layout and header!
ReplyDeleteBill @ The Uranium Cafe
Fantastic stuff. Warlock has to be my favourite Gil Kane material. There's something about the strip that just seems perfect for him.
ReplyDeleteHey Groovy One!
ReplyDeleteThis is Gil Kane at his finest! Dan Adkins, Tom Sutton, Klaus Jansen, "Joltin" Joe Sinnott & Tom Palmer. Always made Kane's beautiful pencils look even better!
Every time I see these beautiful books. I think about the times I lost out on. Buying the cover to Marvel Premiere#1 for $1,500 & like 5-6 of these pages for like $65-$75 each! They were for sale in the CBG in 1999! GGRR!! I think I got a TTUUMMOORR!!!All because the morons at the IRS screwed up my tax returns!! IDIOTS!
Thank You for honoring the artist!
ReplyDeleteThe post-boomer generations increasingly elevate the story above all else, often leaving the artist unappreciated and unacknowledged.
Like film, comics are a collaborative venture with writer and artist sharing equal credit, backed by skilled artisans & technicians. The industry however has tragically exemplified a vile prejudice against the artists - Bob Kane & Bill Finger, Stan Lee & Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby, Hugh Hefner & Art Paul, the paperback cover illustrators by the hundreds who were uncredited. Writers tend to get the fame and fortune, while the artists who create the visual reality get the weekly paycheck (imagine Doc Savage without James Bama, Conan without Frazetta, Sci Fi without Richard Powers; imagine the Star Trek franchise without the utterly iconic starship Enterprise).
One final note about the comic artists in the 60s, 70s, and 80s - beginning in the 50s, Modernism rapidly diminished human representation for non-objective abstract expressionism. The classical art ideal was denounced and destroyed, centuries-old art academies were shut down or trashed. From the 50s to the 90s any and all figurative art was radioactive - comics were considered trash for the uneducated and uncultured. Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Alex Toth, Kubert, Buscema, Romita, Steranko, and the others in comics and illustration - they were the artists who carried the traditional, humanistic torch against the engulfing of nihilistic modernism. They were the ones who kept portraiture, anatomy, perspective, the standard of draftsmanship alive. They were mostly maligned in their lifetimes (in social gatherings they would divert conversation from what they did for a living), and now the new millennium generations mostly dismiss them.
65 years old now, I've watched half a century of artists - accomplished lifelong painters and sculptors, when they die their family and friends take pieces that they like - the rest goes in the dumpster. And the children of those family and friends, they have no interest in their parents' art collection, and leave it in storage until it goes in the dumpster. Museums and galleries routinely throw away tons of art that has been donated by well meaning friends and family. Think of all the extraordinary murals and sculptures in extraordinary Victorian, Beaux arts, Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, and 50s Modern buildings that have been torn down and bulldozed into the city dumps. Yes there are art luminaries who are collected, but they are the exceptions rather than the norm.
So! Long life and a candle-light blessing on all who honor the lowly artist.
Thank You for honoring the artist!
ReplyDeleteThe post boomer generations increasingly elevate the story above all else, often leaving the artist unappreciated and unacknowledged.
Like film, comics are a collaborative venture with writer and artist sharing equal credit, backed by skilled artisans & technicians. The industry however has tragically exemplified a vile prejudice against the artists - Bob Kane & Bill Finger, Stan Lee & Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby, Hugh Hefner & Art Paul, the paperback cover illustrators by the hundreds who were uncredited. Writers tend to get the fame and fortune, while the artists who create the visual reality get the weekly paycheck (imagine Doc Savage without James Bama, Conan without Frazetta, Sci Fi without Richard Powers; imagine the Star Trek franchise without the utterly iconic starship Enterprise).
One final note about the comic artists in the 60s, 70s, and 80s - beginning in the 50s, Modernism rapidly diminished human representation for non-objective abstract expressionism. The classical art ideal was denounced and destroyed, centuries-old art academies were shut down or trashed. From the 50s to the 90s any and all figurative art was radioactive - comics were considered trash for the uneducated and uncultured. Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Alex Toth, Kubert, Buscema, Romita, Steranko, and the others in comics and illustration - they were the artists who carried the traditional, humanistic torch against the engulfing of nihilistic modernism. They were the ones who kept portraiture, anatomy, perspective, the standard of draftsmanship alive. They were mostly maligned in their lifetimes (in social gatherings they would divert conversation from what they did for a living), and now the new millennium generations mostly dismiss them.
65 years old now, I've watched half a century of artists - accomplished lifelong painters and sculptors, when they die their family and friends take pieces that they like - the rest goes in the dumpster. And the children of those family and friends - they have no interest in their parents' art collection, and leave it in storage until it goes in the dumpster. Museums and galleries routinely throw away tons of art that has been donated by well meaning friends and family. Think of all the extraordinary murals and sculptures in extraordinary Victorian, Beaux Arts, Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, and 50s Modern buildings that have been torn down and bulldozed into the city dumps. Yes there are art luminaries who are collected, but they are the exceptions rather than the norm.
So! Long life and a candle-light blessing on all who honor the lowly artist.