Monday, October 21, 2013
Groove's Faves: "Death Flies the Haunted Sky" by Goodwin and Toth
Here's a classic if ever there were one, Groove-ophiles! Archie Goodwin and Alex Toth teamed up in Detective Comics #442 (May 1974) to deliver this love-letter to their fellow Batman creators. They called it "Death Flies the Haunted Sky" and considered by many fans and pros alike to be one of the all-time great bat-tales. Dig it!
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Toth was a master of storytelling and design, but his Batman looks goofy and Dick Sprang-ish, especially after Neal Adams DEFINED the Batman of the early '70s and dispelled the camp creation of the '60s. It's no wonder he was not asked to do another Batman tale. Neal Adams' art of "Ghost of the Killer Skies" has similar themes, but is much better drawn. Toth oversimplified here, and unintentionally proved that less is not always more.
ReplyDeleteChris A.
Disagree strongly. Toth was an amazing draughtsman; like Garcia Lopez and Stuart Immonen among others, probably so good that laymen just don't realize how good. Adams is all flash and finish with very little in the way of sound construction underneath (I know; I've inked the guy's work.) Toth was also a brilliant, almost cinematic storyteller. So what if his Batman is a little more square jawed here than Adam's rather more aquiline rendition? This is rightly regarded as a classic of the genre, in terms of storytelling and drawing.
DeleteThanks for this story, Groove. I really enjoyed the era when this story appeared in Detective Comics, the 100 Page Super Spectacular Days. We got to see a lot of great artistic interpretations of Batman during that run, with some really good stories from Archie Goodwin, plus the Manhunter series to boot.
ReplyDeleteIt's like seeing the "Super Friends" Batman in a dark, dramatic story. Weird juxtaposition.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Toth was asked to do other Batman stories. Editor Mark Chiarello got Toth to commit to drawing an Archie Goodwin-penned story for Batman Black and White #4, but Toth changed his mind and just did the incredible cover instead. Goodwin's story ended up being drawn by Gary Gianni. Adams' early 70s Batman was incredible, but with Giordano, Novick, Brown, Chaykin, Amendola and others all following Adams' style, it was a nice shock to see Toth's version. - Jeff Clem
ReplyDeleteIf you look at Toth's annotations for this story at www.tothfans.com, you'll see in his own handwriting that the fans didn't like it and therefore he was not subsequently asked to draw another Batman story. That BATMAN B&W cover was terribly weak---a sad denouement to a career with many great moments, but by that point he was just doodling, and never really invested himself in his art again.
ReplyDeleteChris A.
I'd have to disagree. That Batman b/w cover shows a mastery of draftsmanship. Toth was such a visual genius he created something beautiful as well as simple and precise with that cover. If anything I would say as he grew older his style only grew and he realized what was truly needed in a page and what wasn't. Also, his lack of involvement in comics may have been more due to his disgust with the comics industry. Overall I feel he was a master to the end.
DeleteFirst of all, I must say that, as many, many others, I'm a diehard fan of Alex Toth and his work, in comics, animation, whatever; he really was a genius. However, I've seen some hacks by him (the third Sea Hunt one-shot on Dell's Four-Color, as well as some lazyness (the rendition of the time machine in Dell Four-Color adaptation of the film "The Time Machine"); aside from these occasional flaws, he was indeed a master of masters. On every interview, he always declared that it was Sheldon Mayer that "taught" him the true value of the "less is more" method of artwork in comics. I've read several accounts of his unpredictable moods, but hey, the guy was a genius, but he was also human! Nobody is perfect... as an artist, he was almost flawless - just being judgmental as to what should (or not) be portrayed in whatever he did, is not reason enough to say he failed in whatever piece of art he created.
ReplyDeleteThe "goofiness" of this tale is what makes it work. I love a lot of o'Neil and Adams on the character, but many of their storylines were no less goofy. The intense "serious" tone of the art often drew out the absurdity of a rich guy who can do anything he wants but what he wants to do is dress up like a bat and beat bad guys up. It's all too often way overdone. But some of the panels in this Toth story: the crash thru the roof of the water tower, the delayed recovery, the panel of Bruce lookng up at the escaping perp and likely wondering about his life choice, that's "real" on a needful level. This story is far better than many say it is.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, Michael. There has to be some "goofy" in comics or they become so depressing, even stodgy, that they're worthless. Comics should be fun, period. Anything else is the old icing on the cake. They can be fun and STILL be art, as, I hope, many of the comics I've shared on this very blog testify. The "reality" and "seriousness" should be in the service of the story. Every story is its own reality--and thank goodness it's never truly ours!
ReplyDelete