(*"Blown Away!", baby! Blown a-way!)
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Making a Splash: Jim Starlin's Captain Marvel
What it is, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove's feelin' especially cosmic today and there's no better way to swing to that tune than to dig some of Judo Jim Starlin's simply sensational splashes (and double page spreads, to boot) from his climb to super-stardom on the good ship Mar-Vell! Starlin combined Kirby and Ditko, updated them with some Barry (Windsor-) Smith, Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, and Wally Wood flourishes, mixed 'em up into one of the most unique, dynamic, and recognizable styles to ever hit the four-colored pages we know and love so dearly. Even with inkers as diverse as Chic Stone, Dave Cockrum, Pablo Marcos, Dan Green, Al Milgrom, Klaus Janson, and Jack Abel you know it's Starlin pencils, baby! I dare ya to click these images, view 'em in large size, and not be like Captain Marvel #34 (June 1974)*!
(*"Blown Away!", baby! Blown a-way!)
(*"Blown Away!", baby! Blown a-way!)
COSMIC! Jim Starlin rocks! I really dug his Adam Warlock in Strange Tales/Power of Warlock! I aways wondered why we never got to see a cosmic trio story? With Marv-ell, Warlock & the Silver Surfer.
ReplyDeleteI would had loved to see them battle the Defenders. The Hulk, savage Sub-Mariner, oh crud that's right the Surfer was a Defender & a founding member to boot! Maybe if the Thing joined the defenders sort of a Titans Three vs the Cosmic Trio!
Hey Groove! For some reason I was just thinking about "Judo" Jim Starlin, then I clicked on your blog and there he was in all his star-spanning glory...
ReplyDeleteTalk about being cosmically aware!
Captain Marvel was one of my favourite strips of the '70s. Thanks for posting!
Starlin certainly has done some great stuff, but his long necks, which have seemingly gotten worse as he's gotten older, really bug me.
ReplyDeletelOVE IT GREAT POST!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved Dave Cockrum's inking of Jim Starlin's pencils in Captain Marvel #26 (see the 2nd and 3rd pages you posted: "BETRAYAL!" and the page featuring Thanos and two others).
ReplyDeleteI selfishly wish Dave Cockrum had continued to ink other artists' work.
I agree with you 100%, Richard! Cockrum's inks were fabulous. As slick as his mentor's Murphy Anderson's, but original and modern in their own right. His inks over Starlin are my fave of the CM run, and his work with John Buscema and Bob Brown (!) in the Avengers was magnificent, as well. And of course, his inks over Gil Kane in Warlord of Mars #1 was sheer heaven!
ReplyDeleteLove seeing all those Starlin Splashes again, although i think that you missed out on not including the one of him flying over the buildings in issue #30.
ReplyDeleteI also love Cockrum's inks on 26, but the Milgrom inks are by far my favorites. In fact, my two main influences in doing my inks were both featured on this run of books! Milgrom and Marcos were to ones for me. Anyone who finds any of the comics that I inked in the quarter bins will see the influence.
Cockrum did make Bob Brown look great on an issue or two of the Avengers as well!
Captain Marvel #33 is one of the first Marvel comic I ever read: I was six or so and it blew my mind, of course. Thanks for this post!
ReplyDelete