Greetings, Groove-ophiles! We're back with another cool Ka-Zar adventure! This time Herb (Incredible Hulk, Ant-Man) Trimpe has taken over the art chores from his pal Barry (Windsor-) Smith (perhaps because Conan was about to go double-size for Marvel's flirtation with the 52 page, 25 cent format?). Note that Herb, while not directly copying Smith's style, is at least trying to keep the look and feel of Ka-Zar and company consistent. Ol' Groove thinks Happy Herb did a bang-up job on Roy Thomas' scintillating script for "Deluge!" in Astonishing Tales #7 (May 1971). And he did the cover, too! Dig it!
"Hey, Groove! Where's the story from issue 6?" It's right here, baby! Shared that one waaaaaay back in March '09!
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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!
Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.
All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.
As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!
Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.
All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.
As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!
Looking at this artwork afresh after many years, it's hard to believe that Barry Smith had no hand in it - sure, there are visual tics that are pure Trimpe, but there are many more where you'd have to think either Smith supplied some detailed breakdowns which were then gone over by Trimpe...or else Happy Herbie was given a pile of Conan books (and it would have been a quite small pile back then) and told "Do it like this!"
ReplyDeleteBut for what reason? Herb's style was fine at the time...were they expecting Barry to be back next issue, and wanted to maintain some sort of visual consistency? (A check shows that Barry did come back, but only for two non-consecutive issues). Never happened before or since that I'm aware of...at any rate, I shouldn't be grumpy because I quite liked it (first exposure to Ka-Zar and all).
And it sure beats the daylights out of those dark days in the 90s when editorial told Herb to draw like Rob Liefeld!
DeleteWhich I found frustrating as I preferred Herb's style to Rob's.
DeleteDidn't we all? Talk about a waste (and abuse!)of talent!
DeleteGroove, I do remember pondering over this book and buying it, with reservation. I'm thinking it was to do with the Dr Doom portion not tickling my taste buds. No chance you will show that portion??? Thanks
ReplyDeleteWe ran the Wally Wood illustrated Dr. Doom stories some time back, CH47. But those Gene Colan illoed stories are a very, very good idea...Thanks, Groove-ophile!
DeleteYes, beautiful work. One would have thought there was a great disparity between the two artists, but they did work well together on Machine Man years later.
ReplyDelete