I’m Not an Artist (...or Colorist), But… WHAT Massive Fist?!

I am not an artist, nor am I a colorist.  If I WERE a colorist, I would be a worse colorist than I would be as an artist.  

It's not just a matter of specific skills of art and coloring that I have never possessed, it's also my admitted lack of creative imagination in those two areas!  

Oh, I have an almost limitless creative imagination in the area of WRITING!  This Blog, my many APA and fanzine writings of yore, and my professional comics work bear testament to that.  But, even if I had sufficient skills in the areas of art and coloring, my work would at best rank as pedestrian, as I have scant (all together now) creative imagination to apply to said work. 

Art is, of course, a matter of subjective taste.  Meaning that while I (and, presumably, most of you) really like things like THIS...

 ...Or THIS...

 ...Or THIS...

...I do allow for the possibility, remote as it may be, that there COULD BE some folks who actually like THIS...

...Even if it's only the artist himself, and possibly his editor!  

But, when COLORING fails, it's pretty much universal!  For instance, take the cover of HAWKMAN #6 (DC Comics, Cover Date: February-March, 1965) and its titanic struggle between Hawkman and a great winged-gorilla. 

Hawkman says: "Got to bring my mace UP -- before that massive fist comes crashing DOWN!" 

MASSIVE FIST?!  WHAT MASSIVE FIST?!  Without squint-staring really hard, do you see any massive fist?  

Quick aside: It has nothing to do with the quality of the digital image used above.  I have the actual comic here beside me as I write this, and the "real thing" looks exactly the same!  

It would seem to be a matter of too much dark brown concentrated in what should be a critical area of the illustration!  

Let's assume there was insufficient room for artist [The Great] Murphy Anderson to position the gorilla's arm and fist elsewhere on the cover, as the dramatic focus of the piece is the gorilla about to smash Hawkman into a fine Hawk-puree! (Sorry, but my keyboard doesn't allow for the accent mark, and spell-checker isn't offering it either!) 

But, perhaps just the slightest bit of gradation in the dark brown might have made a difference, or maybe a better-defined outline of the gorilla's arm and fist to separate it in depth relative to the  gorilla's wing! 

Then again, the coloring techniques of the Silver Age were far more limited than they would be beginning in the 1980s, so I don't have a definitive solution to offer.  

But, that's why I’m Not an Artist (...or Colorist), But… I'm still left to ask "Massive fist? WHAT massive fist?!"

Oh, and for a "massive fist" that you actually CAN see clearly, try this on for massive-size!  

Oh, THAT massive fist! Got it!  

No, actually Superman got it... right in the super-breadbasket! 

TIAHBlog at 16 Presents 16 Covers -- Number Two!

Cover Number Two of our Sweet Sixteen is a favorite of mine because there aren't all that many like it... even though there really should be! 

On the subject of "should be's", SUPERMAN should be an very inspiring character... and he most often is, but you might not draw that impression from his COVERS!  

Sure, the covers for any adventure character should depict peril - as most of them do...

...Some offer a bit of oddball fun...

...While others throw in a touch of horror...

But, in my humble opinion, there are far to few that present the (for lack of a better word) "majesty" of Superman!  Offering his special type of grandeur as an inspiration for others!  

I've long viewed the cover of ACTION COMICS #425 (DC Comics, Cover Date: July, 1973) as a perfect crystallization of this idea. 

If NORMAN ROCKWELL ever did a cover illustration for Superman, this is what it would be like! 

Performing the "Rockwellian" duties is Nick Cardy, one of DC's best artists of the Silver Age and the transition period that immediately followed. 

And, "inspired all the way", we leave you with Cover #2 of our Sweet Sixteen.  As for what's next, I have no idea... it'll have to come to me (and you) tomorrow!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Maybe I've Been Reading Comics TOO LONG!

How can you tell if you've been reading comic books far too long?  

If you can remember when SOMETHING LIKE THIS didn't look the least bit strange! 

The STORY TITLE, that is, not the weird alien children! 

And, bonus points if, when reading a title like this, it REALLY DID sound like a far off journey through time! 

It certainly must have sounded like a distant future when this story was originally published in 1959,  because it STILL WAS when I read it as a reprint in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179 (DC Comics, Cover Date: October, 1976)!  

Back then of course, the 24 years it would take to get from 1976 to the year 2000 (much less BEYOND that year) seemed like A LOT MORE TIME than it does now! 

Let alone the 41 years it would have taken originally, for Supergirl to travel from 1959! 

"A hundred years ahead, into the 21st Century", eh? 

That would mean her destination was 2059, in the original...

...And, um, er... 2076 in the reprint? 

Say, now that I think about it, 2076 is STILL really far off!  I know *I* won't live to see it, unless normal lifespans have exceeded 120 by then! 

OKAY, THEN... At least SOMETHING GOOD has come from all this...

...Even if it's just the relief that comes with realizing that I *HAVE NOT* been reading comic books too long! 

...In fact, I think I'll go read some more of them right now!  

But, before I do, I'll leave you with the final panels of the story, showing both Supergirl's return to the good old, overrun-with-Baby-Boomers, 20th Century... and an ad for the long-forgotten - even BEFORE the 21st Century - Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat, featuring Bugs Bunny!

And, readers of the REPRINT in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179...

...Will probably be wondering until 2076 (should they live so long) why Supergirl left 1976 for a hundred-year time-trek, AND IS RETURNING TO 1959! 

I mean sure... she'll miss Disco, Watergate, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, an' all-kinds-o'-stuff-like-that-there...

...But she'll also miss the opening of Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat! 

I wonder if COOL CAT was there? 

Eeeh... COULD BE!  

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Supergirl Takes the Bus!

But, alas, she doesn't take it... seriously!  

From SUPERGIRL (1972 Series) #5 (DC Comics, Cover Date; June, 1973)...

Aw, c'mon... It's not the worst thing you've ever done!  ...Spoiled by too many years of FLYING, perhaps? 

Busses are good for the environment, reducing both your carbon footprint and the number of cars jamming up the roads!  

(My own local bus line... NICE Bus N49!)

And even your cousin Superman catches a bus now and then!  

...And, back when he was SUPERBOY, he even caught the SUBWAY! 

Coincidently, the Number 4 New York Subway Line DOES transition from underground to elevated... just not like this!   

R.I.P. Keith Giffen.

In recent times, I’ve shied away from “R.I.P. posts”, for no more a reason than to reduce the sadness at this humble Blog… but this week was just too much to ignore for such a flimsy reason!

Keith Giffen, one of the most unique writer/artists ever to work in comics passed away on October 09, 2023, at the age of 70.

To say that Keith Giffen was a huge part of my comics-reading life would be an understatement... and, if anything, that would be the ONLY "understatement" applicable to the work of Mr. Giffen.  

One could easily say that he helped define DC Comics of the '80s! 

He had a long and very popular run on THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES... but that was a title I mostly didn't read, so I'll take general fandom's word on that. 

But, oh the characters and concepts he created - or co-created - was a wondrous mix of (Overused Word Alert) "legendary", beloved, and some just a little ahead of their time! 

Perhaps his most revolutionary concept was his completely unique take on the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, which (hard to believe) was then sputtering and petering-out with the infamous and ill-advised "Justice League Detroit".

Out with the old, in with the new... Detroit? 

Keith Giffen then swooped-in to save us (the readers) by "giving Detroit de boot" and unleashing a then-unheard-of spin on the superhero team!

Out with Detroit, in with ... ? 

Writer David Barnett, online for theguardian.com describes the series thusly:

"[Justice League (1987)] with co-creators JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, perhaps best showcased Giffen’s gift for comedic writing and injecting an almost soap opera mentality into superhero books.

"Justice League, later Justice League International, had an almost prescient, real-world tone, with a maverick millionaire capitalist, Maxwell Lord, essentially staging an Elon Musk-style takeover of the superhero team, getting them United Nations funding and government approval.

"The personal interactions of the characters were just as important, and the series came across more like Friends than the usual superhero fare."

Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Black Canary... and Guy Gardner became the new focus as laughs and dangers mixed in ways rarely seen before! 

Even further out-there than JUSTICE LEAGUE (which became JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL with issue #7, 1987 - and JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA  [no "of"] with issue #26, 1989), was the "still (Overused Word Alert - again) legendary after all these years" AMBUSH BUG!

First appearing in DC COMICS PRESENTS #52 (1982) Ambush Bug "became legend" as a result of some truly zany appearances in various issues of ACTION COMICS (1984-1985) and one issue of SUPERGIRL.

Ambush Bug heckles Superman! 

With this character, TRULY anything goes! As did The Bug himself, with scattered mini-series from 1985-2009!

Then, there were a few short-lived series that were (as mentioned above) "just a little ahead of their time" such as THE HECKLER (1992-1993), an outrageous series that had me laughing out loud! 

And VEXT (1999), both lasting only SIX ISSUES EACH! 

But, for me, Keith Giffen's Crown Jewel is none other than The Main Man himself... that fragger of bastiches on a planetary scale... everyone's favorite comic book character (...and if he's not yours and you value your life, PLEASE  don't tell him!)... LOBO!  

 

Below: An early Lobo with Guy Gardner in Keith Giffen's Justice League International.

Is it any wonder that Lobo and Guy Gardner were two of my most favorite DC characters of the '90s? 

...With THIS GUY to guide them, how could they miss?! 

Lobo transcended comic books with his appearance in SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES (1996), and another in the subsequent JUSTICE LEAGUE animated series. 

I met Keith Giffen at one of the many New York cons in the '90s, and he autographed this LOBO issue for me!

 

My last encounter with a Keith Giffen comic was an unlikely one... yet somehow fitting for Mr. Giffen.  He reunited with his JUSTICE LEAGUE / JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL / JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA co-conspirator J.M. DeMatteis for SCOOBY APOCALYPSE which, unlike some of his tragically cut-short titles, ran for 36 issues (2016-2019)! 

Aw, c'mon folks, Scooby had a lot worse done to him (cough!) "VELMA" (cough!) 

Rest In Peace, Mr. Keith Giffen, and THANK YOU for all the great comics you've delighted me with!

 

...Especially the ones with LOBO!