Thursday, March 22, 2012
Random Reads: "The Nightmare Maker!" by Maggin, Swan, and Anderson
Greetings, Groove-ophiles! While Superman has had his ups and downs over his 70-plus year career, having his adventures illustrated by the dyn-o-mite duo of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson (aka "Swanderson" to those fans in-the-know) was definitely one of the "ups". While Swan was the unchallenged Superman artist of the 1970s, the times he was paired with inker Anderson are universally considered the very best of the best. While the quality of the stories could vary wildly from writer to writer, Swan kept things consistent and Anderson's inks could elevate even the most mundane to something special. Not saying writer Elliott S! Maggin's story is "mundane"--I mean, we've got "ghost stars", mad scientists and the Abominable Snowman fer crine out loud! Nah, you definitely got your double-dime's worth when you peeled back the action-packed Nick Cardy cover of Superman #266 (May 1973) to read..."The Nightmare Maker!"
As great as the Swanderson team was, I think I'd have to go with George Klein as the all-time best inker of Swan's pencils. And yeah, a lot of it has to do with Klein generally having better stories to work with than Anderson did. Every time I see Steve Lombard in a story, I have to cringe -- Lombard was the "Anti-Groove" to the Groovy Age.
ReplyDeleteThat ... has made my day. (Maybe my week.) You know, there's a lot of talk about how great the Batman comics of the 70s were, but that overlooks the terrific work done with Sups.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big Swanderson fan. I look back and feel that these were some of the best illustrated comic books. When I see the work that Swanderson produced I'm puzzled by all the acclaim that Romita and Buscema got. Swanderson's way better.
ReplyDeletepsst,let's not forget Bob Oksner.mmmm,yum!
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