The hits just keep on coming, though this one is not unexpected. I had the thrill of meeting George when he still lived in Queens, NY, and he graciously did programs on How to Break into Comics at two library branches where I worked. The second of those times was when he had a broken arm and couldn't doodle while he talked. Older teens packed our meeting room both times and he patiently looked through portfolio after portfolio, offering tips and advice. Thanks for everything, George and rest in peace. You earned it.
Showing posts with label obits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obits. Show all posts
Saturday, May 07, 2022
Friday, April 29, 2022
Neal Adams RIP
This poor neglected blog. I'm still reading comics, though not as many as previously. Saga is back and I'm enjoying the heck out of Nightwing. Lady Mechanika is good and Catwoman is entertaining with nice art. There was even a new Astro City! It just feels tedious to type up my 2-6 sentence reviews here.
But some news can't be ignored. The great Neal Adams died yesterday. He was truly one of the greats. I loved his work on Batman and other books, but it was his work with Denny O'Neil on Green Lantern/Green Arrow that made the biggest impact on me, along with making me a fan of both characters. I'd read GL comics before that and I loved Speedy, but GL/GA was comics perfection. And Adams' amazing, realistic art influenced so many other artists. He'll be missed.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Len Wein RIP
I just read that Len Wein died. Comics have lost some great creators over the past few years and he was one of the greatest. He wrote some of my favorite comics. He co-created Swamp Thing. He was a creative genius, and from everything I've read, he was also a great guy. He will be missed.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
RIP Dick Giordano
The news that Dick Giordano has died saddens me a great deal.
This is the start of a rough decade, I fear. I was born in the '50s and grew up in the '60s. The '60s and its icons shaped me nearly as much as my parents and teachers did. We got our TV in 1958 when I was five, two years before I started reading comics. So many of the actors and creators of my entertainment are now in their 70s and 80s and I fear we'll be losing a lot of them in the next ten years. The other day it was Robert Culp, who starred on the groundbreaking show "I Spy" with Bill Cosby in the mid-'60s, the first integrated TV show that co-starred a black actor. Culp was one of my all-time favorites. He was 79, just a few years younger than my father. The first link cited a fall as the cause; this report says he had a heart attack.
And now, Dick Giordano.
Dick Giordano was one of a few comic book artists whose work I could recognize immediately back when I was an adolescent, even when he was inking only. There were others, of course, but mostly, they were tied to a particular character in my mind. It took me years of careful comics reading to learn to distinguish who was drawing what and even then, I had to double check the story credits for most of them. But not with Dick Giordano, along with Carmine Infantino, Vince Colletta, and Joe Kubert.
There was just something about Dick Giordano's work and it wasn't long before I found the "tell." It was how he drew women. Not that they were always pretty though not sexualized, although that was true. And not the expressive eyes, though that was true, too. It was their lips. Somewhere, more than once, there would be a little circle or oval, usually on the bottom lip, to suggest moisture, perhaps. It was just one of those things that would jump out at me. With the other artists whose work I came to recognize easily, it was the overall body shapes or the way they drew their lines. But with Dick, it was those luscious lips that caught my eye first.
His inking made every artist he inked better. His solo art was functional for telling a story, clean, crisp, and attractive. The books he edited were clear and the stories cohesive. The characters were consistently written. His work epitomized DC for me. His name was attached to so much of what was good about DC.
This is the start of a rough decade, I fear. I was born in the '50s and grew up in the '60s. The '60s and its icons shaped me nearly as much as my parents and teachers did. We got our TV in 1958 when I was five, two years before I started reading comics. So many of the actors and creators of my entertainment are now in their 70s and 80s and I fear we'll be losing a lot of them in the next ten years. The other day it was Robert Culp, who starred on the groundbreaking show "I Spy" with Bill Cosby in the mid-'60s, the first integrated TV show that co-starred a black actor. Culp was one of my all-time favorites. He was 79, just a few years younger than my father. The first link cited a fall as the cause; this report says he had a heart attack.
And now, Dick Giordano.
Dick Giordano was one of a few comic book artists whose work I could recognize immediately back when I was an adolescent, even when he was inking only. There were others, of course, but mostly, they were tied to a particular character in my mind. It took me years of careful comics reading to learn to distinguish who was drawing what and even then, I had to double check the story credits for most of them. But not with Dick Giordano, along with Carmine Infantino, Vince Colletta, and Joe Kubert.
There was just something about Dick Giordano's work and it wasn't long before I found the "tell." It was how he drew women. Not that they were always pretty though not sexualized, although that was true. And not the expressive eyes, though that was true, too. It was their lips. Somewhere, more than once, there would be a little circle or oval, usually on the bottom lip, to suggest moisture, perhaps. It was just one of those things that would jump out at me. With the other artists whose work I came to recognize easily, it was the overall body shapes or the way they drew their lines. But with Dick, it was those luscious lips that caught my eye first.
His inking made every artist he inked better. His solo art was functional for telling a story, clean, crisp, and attractive. The books he edited were clear and the stories cohesive. The characters were consistently written. His work epitomized DC for me. His name was attached to so much of what was good about DC.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Well, Damn
Michael Turner passed away, according to this item in Blog@Newsrama. If ever there was someone I thought could beat horrible odds, it was him. From everything I'd read about him, he seemed like someone who had an indomitable spirit. I wasn't the biggest fan of his art, but I was rooting for him. Damn shame.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Jim Mooney
Aw, damn. Another comics artist has passed away. Jim Mooney drew the Supergirl I grew up with. While I might've liked later art more, Kara will always be in my mind the way Mooney drew her.
I'm behind with posting my reviews. I'll try to get them up tonight or tomorrow.
I'm behind with posting my reviews. I'll try to get them up tonight or tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Steve Gerber
By now the news that Steve Gerber died has been on nearly every comic blog I read and then some. A number of folks blogged about how they grew up reading Howard the Duck or came of age with that comic, but for me, Howard just hit at the right time. I was reading comics for quite a while, since 1960 or thereabouts, and was an adult by the time I discovered Howard the Duck. And that was just good timing.
I was a DC fan, so I mostly read DC comics, along with Archies. I read some romance comics and have since discovered that Marvel published some of those titles, so I guess I read some Marvels without knowing it. The one Marvel comic I know I read in the '60s was an issue of Fantastic Four in the dentist's office.
In the '70s, I thought I should broaden my comics reading to include Marvel, but I didn't want to read the established superhero books. I wanted to try the titles that got away from all that. So I tried Man-Thing (and decided I liked DC's Swamp Thing better), Killraven, and a perverse little comic that got under my skin in ways I'd never expected, a comic about a cigar smoking duck that pretty much turned the wholesome image of cartoon ducks on its ear, then spun it around til it got dizzy and collapsed.
Howard the Duck became the first comic I read each week it came out. It was a delightful obsession that made me laugh and sometimes cry. And Steve Gerber was the man responsible for it. I'm sure I read other comics he wrote, but it's Howard the Duck I associate with his name and that I'll always remember.
He had enormous talent and will be missed.
I was a DC fan, so I mostly read DC comics, along with Archies. I read some romance comics and have since discovered that Marvel published some of those titles, so I guess I read some Marvels without knowing it. The one Marvel comic I know I read in the '60s was an issue of Fantastic Four in the dentist's office.
In the '70s, I thought I should broaden my comics reading to include Marvel, but I didn't want to read the established superhero books. I wanted to try the titles that got away from all that. So I tried Man-Thing (and decided I liked DC's Swamp Thing better), Killraven, and a perverse little comic that got under my skin in ways I'd never expected, a comic about a cigar smoking duck that pretty much turned the wholesome image of cartoon ducks on its ear, then spun it around til it got dizzy and collapsed.
Howard the Duck became the first comic I read each week it came out. It was a delightful obsession that made me laugh and sometimes cry. And Steve Gerber was the man responsible for it. I'm sure I read other comics he wrote, but it's Howard the Duck I associate with his name and that I'll always remember.
He had enormous talent and will be missed.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Real Quick Almost Reviews
Green Arrow Year One 3
I'm really enjoying this. Art is fine and the story is spare, a wonderful blending of words and pictures. Ollie's background is really being fleshed out here.
Countdown 38
Reviewing weekly books, unless there's a major happening, get rather redundant. So, I'll say I enjoyed it and leave it at that.
Criminal: Lawless 3
I LOVE this book. LOVE IT! Can I be any clearer? Brubaker and Phillips do noir as good as anyone.
Jack of Fables 12-13
Jack really doesn't know Jack, or rather, he might not be who he thinks he is. Good, fun stuff here, as usual.
Green Lantern 22
Wow, a lot of story and a whole lot of characters are packed into this story and this issue seemed more crowded than the previous issue, but it's all good. And we end with "guys in chains" with Guy and John chained up. Can't say this book doesn't divvy up its torture equally.
Sheena 1-2
Nice start. Nothing Earth shattering and most of it -- hell, all of it -- is fairly predictable and/or unsurprising, but it works. The characters of Sheena and Bob are appealing, but I wish the guys, especially Bob, looked more manly or at least, less like women who shave.
The name Mike Wieringo wasn't familiar to me, but as I read through comic blog after comic blog commenting on his death at 44, it became too well known. I didn't know his art offhand, but looking at the illos accompanying those posts, I saw a few pieces I'd seen before and others that spoke of a great talent. Forty-four is too damned young to die. The comic world has lost someone special.
I'm really enjoying this. Art is fine and the story is spare, a wonderful blending of words and pictures. Ollie's background is really being fleshed out here.
Countdown 38
Reviewing weekly books, unless there's a major happening, get rather redundant. So, I'll say I enjoyed it and leave it at that.
Criminal: Lawless 3
I LOVE this book. LOVE IT! Can I be any clearer? Brubaker and Phillips do noir as good as anyone.
Jack of Fables 12-13
Jack really doesn't know Jack, or rather, he might not be who he thinks he is. Good, fun stuff here, as usual.
Green Lantern 22
Wow, a lot of story and a whole lot of characters are packed into this story and this issue seemed more crowded than the previous issue, but it's all good. And we end with "guys in chains" with Guy and John chained up. Can't say this book doesn't divvy up its torture equally.
Sheena 1-2
Nice start. Nothing Earth shattering and most of it -- hell, all of it -- is fairly predictable and/or unsurprising, but it works. The characters of Sheena and Bob are appealing, but I wish the guys, especially Bob, looked more manly or at least, less like women who shave.
~~~o0o~~~
The name Mike Wieringo wasn't familiar to me, but as I read through comic blog after comic blog commenting on his death at 44, it became too well known. I didn't know his art offhand, but looking at the illos accompanying those posts, I saw a few pieces I'd seen before and others that spoke of a great talent. Forty-four is too damned young to die. The comic world has lost someone special.
Monday, March 26, 2007
RIP Marshall Rogers
According to The Beat, Marshall Rogers has died. Damn. At 57, he was way too young to leave us. I loved his art. And at a comicon in 1978, I got to meet him and got the above. He was an amazing talent who will be greatly missed.
Monday, February 19, 2007
RIP Bob Oksner
Bob Oksner died. Here's Mark Evanier's obit. I hadn't realized he was 90. Wow. I mostly knew his work from the '70s, specifically on Supergirl, inking Carmine Infantino. The above is from Supergirl 1.
While I'm at it, here Infantino and Oksner show off Kara's new costume in SG 13. Superman is underwhelmed. The best he can call it is "something." It happens to be probably my favorite SG costume, though I very much like the one above it, with the V-neck tunic. I just don't like the sleeves ont hat thing. The spandex sleeves are more flattering to Kara. And for anyone worried the skirt's too short, she's wearing tasteful blue panties underneath.
Gee, her adoptive dad hardly recognizes her in her new costume. Then again, he's a bit beefed up since his last artist, so I'm amazed she recognizes him.Carmine Infantino had some wonderful inkers over the years, but Oksner over his pencils was a good fit for Supergirl. Bob Oskner was one of the good ones.
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