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Topic: Marvel Will Change The Comics Industry Locked Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16407
Posted: 03 July 2017 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | 1  

 Stephen Churay wrote:
...This is what I heard...

-"Not bad. But your figures look to have a
Kirby influence. Being the FF, I get it,
but realistically, Kirby wouldn't be able
to find work if he started today....


Kirby wouldn't be able to find work today, according to that editor? Yet the artist that drew that "Ms. Marvel" cover, which ironically is lifting from a Jack Kirby cover, could get work? I'm not familiar with the artist of that "Ms. Marvel" cover, but it doesn't compare favorably to Kirby.

I also don't accept that Kirby wouldn't be able to find work. His style is so unique he'd land a job somewhere. Never mind the fact that such a statement that he wouldn't get work today is one of those absurd things to contemplate, as modern comic book art wouldn't be where it is today without his influence.


Edited by Matt Hawes on 03 July 2017 at 4:25pm
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Anthony J Lombardi
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 12 January 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 9410
Posted: 03 July 2017 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | 2  

If Kirby were alive today he wouldn't need to get work from Marvel or DC.
People would be lining up to support him through Kickstarter.
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2280
Posted: 03 July 2017 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | 3  

I was in line one time at Comic-Con behind a guy showing his portfolio to an editor.  The artist did a perfect Curt Swan with just slightly updated details.  If I had a company, I would have hired the guy on the spot.  The editor told him the work looked great, but there was no way he (a Curt Swan clone) would get work in the business.  (I don't remember if he said that Curt Swan himself, by extension, would not be able to get work.) I never saw this talented guy or his work again.

Cut to a few years later and Mark Waid's IRREDEEMABLE was one of the "hot" comics for about three years, with Peter Krause doing a pretty good "Curt Swan" through all his issues.

It made me think how many projects Curt Swan would be great for, even today in 2017.  Maybe I wouldn't put him on the big super-hero projects that are supposed to action-filled and "cool," but I WOULD put him on something like ROAD TO PERDITION, maybe an ASTRO CITY spin-off, a ROCKETEER story, MR. X, or any of a number of low-key Indie comics where the people are supposed to look like people and buildings are supposed to look like buildings, etc.  (Of course, I really would love to see him do at least one SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, or DOC SAVAGE story!)

Likewise, Kirby would be a welcome sight today!  I can't picture the editors at the Big Two hiring him for any of their "hip" books (that sell 10,000 or less copies), but I would have loved to see him do a two-year writer/artist stint on THE INCREDIBLE HULK or revisit any of his creator-owned or DC creations, especially KAMANDI.

No, it's not the talent or the audience that is lacking, it's the vision of the editors and publishers.
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
Posted: 04 July 2017 at 9:11am | IP Logged | 4  

Eric Jansen - I would cry real tears to see a Busiek-Swan Astro City. I love Brent Anderson's work, but a spin-off or mini-series would be best served by Curt Swan, I think.

I recall an issue of Radioactive Man where he and Gloria are affected by some type of magical transformation that makes them look weird, i.e., not in the Groening style. And this artist hit Curt Swan's style PERFECTLY. I am only a self-proclaimed expert, but I would have got this guy on a Superman book so fast, it would make noses bleed.

I'll say it again... that Ms. Marvel drawing above, besides showing no sense of perspective, looks like a talented thirteen year old's work.

And Jack Kirby's art was only surpassed by his creativity. There's a reason the man is still King. He would be king today, he would be king tomorrow.
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 04 July 2017 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | 5  

Jack Kirby's art was only surpassed by his creativity.

••

As a draughtsman, Kirby was not very strong. His anatomy and perspective were generally sub-standard. But, ironically, this is exactly what made him one of the best the industry has ever produced. His imagination was not held back by a bunch of "rules". He drew whatever he wanted to draw.

This is a point so often missed by the more rabid Kirby boosters. It was not so much that he was a great artist (he wasn't) but he was a great STORYTELLER. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts.

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