"In the Conversation for Greatest of All Time"

Doug: I have an anecdote I've been wanting to share for the better part of a month, and various real-life tasks and events (well, and writing comic book reviews) have conspired to keep me from bringing this to you. It's Friday evening as I write this, and I will alternate my attention between this post and the Olympics coverage.

Back in mid-July, as I've done for the past six summers, I helped with the facilitation of two national teacher conferences at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. During one of the sessions at the English/language arts conference, teachers from around North America were discussing whether or not they'd use Art Spiegelman's Maus with middle school/junior high-aged students. Several voiced concern that the material was a bit too mature for that audience. One of the young teachers in the room raised her hand and remarked that her husband was an artist, and his grandfather had written a graphic novel that fit the bill. I was in the back of the room observing the session, but you know my ears perked up -- face it, it's not just anyone who can say their grandfather wrote a graphic novel. She went on to say that the graphic novel that she has successfully taught from was called Yossel. The author? Joe Kubert. I about fell off my chair.

When the session ended I approached the young teacher who'd offered the suggestion to her fellows. I just wanted to express to her, and to her husband, how much joy their grandfather had given me, really since the time I was six or seven years old. She was very grateful, and said that she had never actually met Kubert but had heard so many things about him. She added that her father-in-law, Joe's son-in-law, would be at the conference on the next day and would I like to meet him. I agreed, and later was able to express many of my same sentiments. It was a wonderful conversation, and everything I'd ever heard about Joe Kubert as a human being was confirmed by his son-in-law.

Yesterday marked four years since Joe Kubert's passing (it is the same date, in some crazy comic cosmic twist of fate that Mark Gruenwald and Mike Wieringo passed as well). One of the things I wanted to say to Joe Kubert's family was that Joe was a treasure; the man is in the conversation of the greatest artists of all time in the comics industry. They appreciated that so much.

http://comicsalliance.com/joe-kubert-rip-passes-away-hawkman-sgt-rock-legendary-artist-age-85/

When I returned home from Washington, DC, and I've mentioned this, the Jack Kirby's Thor Artist Edition was waiting for me. On the first day I was able to look through the book with some degree of detail, I was also telling my wife the Kubert story. But when I got to the last pages of the Kirby book I had to add on. Near the end of the last text piece in the book was the date Jack Kirby died: February 6, 1994. I shrugged, and said aloud that I remember exactly where I was when I heard that he'd died. There aren't many figures in comics history who would merit mention on a national radio newscast, but Kirby did. I was about to get out of the car with our oldest son, then 2 1/2 years old, to leave him at childcare before I headed to school. It's one of those types of dates that gets burned into the human mind. I told her that the artist of the book I had was one of the greatest creators ever.

http://www.hqfan.com.br/2015/06/top-criadores-de-quadrinhos-que-foram.html

I sat at the desktop computer in our living room some 14 years ago when I found out that John Buscema -- my all-time favorite penciler -- had died. Place, time, setting -- I'll never forget.

So that brings us to this weekend's conversation, and it's multi-faceted. First off, maybe the important question is "how does a creator make your list of all-time greats?" Is it pretty objective? For example, I don't have a tremendous amount of experience with the work of Alex Toth, but I'll accept the opinions of those who say he's in the conversation. Same with Frank Frazetta. For both men, a large chunk of their important output was before my fandom. Or, is your all-time list populated by your personal favorites?

For me, I would have to say that people like Kirby, Kubert, Toth, Jack Davis, Frazetta, John Severin, and others are pretty much pillars of the industry. But can I add Buscema, Neal Adams, Wally Wood, and even John Romita to the mix?

What about you?

Spotlight On... Pick a Creator Day!

In the past, we've discussed many, many creators. Among them are: Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Claremont, the Filipino masters, Frank Robbins, John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, and Steve Englehart. Toss out a few more for conversation today!

Suggestion Unboxed - Wonky-looking Teeth and Other Concerns

Doug: Back in October we ran a post requesting ideas from our readers. We promised to run all of those suggestions at some point. While we've covered many of them, it's been a while since some of those thoughts graced our blog. Here's another one:

DisneyMarvel: I know that there have been discussions of the Thing and his different artists, but I would like to read opinions on if he should be shown with teeth or not. The way Kirby would do it was only show them when great effort or anger was involved. A friend of mine feels that the Thing needs to have teeth to seem more realistic for modern audiences. For me, showing teeth makes him look ridiculous - especially if the proportions are off. He looks like a 'have a nice day' meme of a cat with human teeth. Even Buckler has redrawn Fantastic Four #159 showing the Thing's open mouth now with teeth and I don't like it.

Doug: And I'll add on -- what other aspects of certain characters can just seem "off" to you?

Discuss: Flame-outs

Doug: We have all seen moments of brilliance - zenith, even - followed by Poof! Gone! I'm thinking of the aforementioned Mike Ploog on Monster of Frankenstein. Obviously as moderator I don't want to take any more suggestions away from our conversational readers, but I'd lie if I didn't say Marshall Rogers' run on Detective Comics didn't fit into this category.

Doug: So here's the charge today -- who are those creators whose tenures on a given book were so short that it just left a hole in your reading enjoyment after their departure? And as we said last Tuesday, the following writer or artist (or combination) didn't have to be a step down -- I mean, John Buscema followed Ploog, for crying out loud! Not exactly a consolation prize. You might mention, if you know, who the succeeding creator was (hey, if you know the preceding creator that might be fun as well) and we can add that to our discussion. Should be fun!

PS: Karen's a lucky duck -- she and her husband have been at Disneyland the past few days. She hopes to bring you a report very soon on the Marvel and Star Wars influences in the park. I'm looking forward to it!

#Inktober - Joe Kubert's Jungle Lord

Doug: We're now 60% through our celebration of #Inktober. So far we've featured a couple of the masters inking themselves in John Buscema and John Romita. Today we finish that trend with a look at Joe Kubert's DC Comics revival of Tarzan of the Apes. While you won't find a lot of the pencil lines that were featured in the previous two posts, I hope you'll still appreciate the natural beauty of Kubert's work. There's a reason he's considered among the best ever.

Next weekend we'll look at some Spider-Man pages penciled by Romita, Gil Kane, and Mike Zeck, all under the influence of various inkers. After that? I got nothin'... yet.

#Inktober -- Jazzy Johnny Romita

Doug: Welcome back to another weekend -- and who doesn't like that? This time around we're featuring the art of John Romita, Sr. as part of the Twitterverse's month-long celebration called #Inktober. Last weekend we presented some pencil and ink sketches by Big John Buscema, and if he's the Michelangelo of comics, then Romita is certainly some other Renaissance luminary. I am using John Romita's The Amazing Spider-Man Artist's Edition, Volume 2 from IDW for the pretty pictures. In all cases, the Jazzy one inked himself (albeit with Tony Mortellaro credited for an assist here and there). In some cases you'll note that these books are so big that I could not fit my entire selection on the scanner bed. Sit back and enjoy.

#Inktober -- Big John Buscema

Doug: As the new month dawned, I noticed lots of tweets and retweets with the hashtag #inktober. Artists displayed their wares, and enthusiasts posted inked pages or sketches. It's been fun to see the variety of work. So, ever the thief of ideas, I thought we'd spend our weekends this month admiring the work of some of our favorite artists. To kick it off, who better than the "Michelangelo of Comics" himself, Big John Buscema? Enjoy the master.