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Shaun Barry Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 December 2008 Location: United States Posts: 6940
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | 1
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"Frank Robbins is the perfect litmus test to determine if a comics fan's taste ever progressed past the age of 12."
Seems like 2 ways we could read this?
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Dave Kopperman Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 December 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3502
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | 2
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He predates my becoming a comic reader by a few years, so while I knew the name I’m pretty sure I’d never seen any of his work. Not sure if that exactly makes me unbiased, but taking a look at his work now I have a few observations:
Obviously one of the last direct formative influences from the golden age of adventure strips to turn up in mainstream comics - you can see it’s 100% Caniff & co. vibes without any secondary influence (say, Toth) as an intermediary
His splash compositions have that Kirby widescreen chaos but seem to lack that clear narrative flow that Kirby could magically do - not sure where Robbins is trying to lead my eye, so it becomes a bit noisy
I dig his anatomy and action approach quite a bit, particularly with a sympathetic inker like Frank Springer
I admire the simpler, more cartoony faces in the middle of all that
Don’t know that I would have been a fan as a kid, but as an adult I can appreciate the skill and style.
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Matt Reed Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004 Posts: 36132
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | 3
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Shaun Barry wrote:
Scott Gray wrote:
Frank Robbins is the perfect litmus test to determine if a comics fan's taste ever progressed past the age of 12. |
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Seems like 2 ways we could read this? |
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Agreed. Either way, it’s incredibly condescending. I was a kid reading THE INVADERS and Robbins wasn’t my thing. Looking back on his work as an adult, so obviously “past the age of 12”, it’s still not. Different strokes.
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Scott Gray Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 August 2012 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 44
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 6:33pm | IP Logged | 4
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There are plenty of tremendously talented comics artists that leave me cold - I've got no problem with anyone saying that about Robbins. But I aways roll my eyes when I see adults claiming that his work was objectively "bad".
Frank Robbins is one of the most lauded American cartoonists ever; Alex Toth, Milton Caniff, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert etc all lined up to praise him. I despair when I see people dismissing his work just because he didn't look like Sal Buscema. It's just embarrassing.
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Mark Haslett Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 6549
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | 5
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I think of him as the artist who carried “Golden Age” energy farthest into the modern era.
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Steven Myers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 5703
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | 6
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I'd say I didn't much care for his work at first because I wasn't into the old-golden age vibe he had. I didn't hate it though. I eventually appreciated it a lot more. And there are other artists I've never been able to get many years later.
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Dave Phelps Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 4185
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Posted: 13 October 2024 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | 7
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Eric Jansen wrote:
So strange that he was mostly a writer at DC and mostly an artist at Marvel. A MAN-BAT series written AND drawn by him would have been perfect! Did he ever write & draw the same series? |
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Not regularly, but he drew a few of his later Batman stories (Detective #416,420-421,426,429). #416 and 429 had Man-Bat if you want a taste of what might have been. He also wrote and drew the Jason Bard story in Detective #435.
To the original question, his art definitely an acquired taste for me, but now I'm quite fond of his stuff, especially Invaders and the Shadow.
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Jason Czeskleba Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004 Posts: 4649
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Posted: 14 October 2024 at 12:20am | IP Logged | 8
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Eric Jansen wrote:
So strange that he was mostly a writer at DC and mostly an artist at Marvel. A MAN-BAT series written AND drawn by him would have been perfect! Did he ever write & draw the same series? |
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I think he was entirely an artist at Marvel, not "mostly." I don't recall him ever writing anything for them. The differing assignments he received at the two companies appear to stem from differing needs. When Robbins broke in at DC in 1968, the company needed writers since they'd just fired a bunch of them in retaliation for their abortive attempt to unionize and/or get benefits. Whereas when he switched to Marvel in 1974, they were expanding and were really in need of artists who could produce quality work on schedule, but they had an abundance of young new writers.
To my knowledge Robbins never regularly wrote and drew any ongoing comic series. I'm pretty sure the only things he both wrote and drew (in a comic book) were a handful of Batman stories circa 1973-74.
I think Robbins is definitely under-appreciated as a writer. People tend to give all the credit to Denny O'Neil (and Neal Adams) for revitalizing Batman, but Robbins was right there too, writing half the Batman stories during that time period. Robbins' Batman work was just as good as O'Neil's. During Robbins' tenure there was a remarkable period of about three years in which not a single one of Batman's classic rogues' gallery appeared in Batman or Detective. That has never happened before or since. Not relying on costumed villains meant the writers turned to hardboiled detective stories or gothic horror, and the result was pretty great and did a lot to erase the memories of the TV series. Among other things, Robbins co-created Man-Bat with Adams during this time.
Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 14 October 2024 at 1:17am
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Jason Czeskleba Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004 Posts: 4649
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Posted: 14 October 2024 at 12:31am | IP Logged | 9
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Robert Bradley wrote:
I really liked the Frank Robbins/Vince Colletta pairing on THE INVADERS, much more than I had liked the other pairings on CAPTAIN AMERICA or later on in THE INVADERS. |
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You're not alone, apparently. According to Roy Thomas, sales on Invaders went down after Colletta left. Correlation doesn't necessarily prove causation, but Colletta definitely tamed a lot of Robbins' idiosyncracies and that probably made the art more accessible to 70s Marvel readers who were used to a certain look. I myself liked Robbins' style enough that I didn't mind the switch to Frank Springer who was more faithful to the pencils.
Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 14 October 2024 at 6:54am
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Eric Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013 Location: United States Posts: 2386
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Posted: 14 October 2024 at 5:25am | IP Logged | 10
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For the record (and to answer my own question), Robbins wrote and drew his JOHNNY HAZARD comic strip--which was collected in four issues of the JOHNNY HAZARD comic book published by Standard Comics in 1948-9 (and in a few modern reprints).
So, I guess that technically counts as a comic written & illustrated by Robbins. I never really got into daily adventure strips, but the big Sunday strips of his that I can find online look pretty darn good!
Edited by Eric Jansen on 14 October 2024 at 7:38am
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Khusro Iqbal Mumtaz Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 October 2022 Posts: 6
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Posted: 14 October 2024 at 5:43am | IP Logged | 11
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Liked his writing at DC but not his art at either DC or Marvel (Invaders being the most bearable for me) but his Johnny Hazard is brilliant stuff.
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Craig Earl Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1416
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Posted: 14 October 2024 at 6:16am | IP Logged | 12
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Not being a huge INVADERS fan, I think my greatest exposure to his work was on Marvel's THE HUMAN FLY.
I agree about the Johnny Hazard stuff; that was great.
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