[fate man]

I have two questions for you guys:
1.Who are your favorite retro comic book characters?
2.What are your favorite retro comic book series?

[paw broon]

 Hi,fate man  Do you mean "old" characters or new characters who look like old characters?  Or perhaps, new heroes who have a "retro" look? 
Original G.A. heroes would have to be The Phantom; Black Terror; - actually most G.A. heroes
Old British heroes would include, Ace Hart; Marvelman (the original); Swift Morgan; Roy Carson.
Have to have a think about the rest.

[fate man]

Hi,fate man  Do you mean "old" characters or new characters who look like old characters?  Or perhaps, new heroes who have a "retro" look? 
Original G.A. heroes would have to be The Phantom; Black Terror; - actually most G.A. heroes
Old British heroes would include, Ace Hart; Marvelman (the original); Swift Morgan; Roy Carson.
Have to have a think about the rest.

Yes,I Mean new heroes who have a retro look!
I'm glad you asked.

[Maru]

Well, somehow, I'm interested in the Black Beetle by Francesco Francavilla published by Dark Horse. Cheers, all.

[paw broon]

What a coincidence, Maru.  I read #0 last night and it was retro, pulpy, intriguing, action filled and what looked like the start of a good mystery.  Apart from that, Francavilla draws good comics.  I have ordered the rest from my lcs.

[mr_goldenage]

My favorite is the first retro characters: The Freedom Brigade.

RB @ Work

[Roygbiv666]

Aw, that's not a Freedom Brigade ... this is a Freedom Brigade:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=976706

;-)

My favorite is the first retro characters: The Freedom Brigade.

RB @ Work

[Roygbiv666]

Ex-cellent, I killed the thread :-(

Aw, that's not a Freedom Brigade ... this is a Freedom Brigade:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=976706

;-)

My favorite is the first retro characters: The Freedom Brigade.

RB @ Work

[narfstar]

I think I have Black Beetle and will give it a read.

[jimmm kelly]

In relation to the Freedom Brigade--I recently completed my run of Inferior Five and then read the whole series. I have to say it's not what I thought it would be (this is neither a negative nor a positive). I'm sure that if I had found the title back in the 60s, when I was a kid reading comics like Batman and Superman, I would have been at a loss to understand it--most of the humour would have been completely beyond me. In fact, it's only now at my age, with my experience and knowledge of comics, that I can really appreciate the work (and all the obscure references). Since I really love E. Nelson Bridwell as a writer, editor, and comic book fan--I love that this comic captures his spirit. The issues that he did with Mike Sekowsky are by far the best of the run.

In terms of published retro "new" characters, my favourite are the Big Bang Comics heroes. I think I like these best, because the people who made them weren't trying to make a million dollars--they were just creating tributes to the comics they love. And in the 90s, they were the only new comics that scratched my itch for fun and entertaining comics like the ones they used to make.

As for favourite unpublished retro characters--those are the ones I've made up over the years for my own entertainment.

[Roygbiv666]

Let's see 'em!

As for favourite unpublished retro characters--those are the ones I've made up over the years for my own entertainment.

[narfstar]

On the opposite note is the modernization of old characters. Dynamite has been as guilty as DC at taking iconic characters and making them name only. They did it with Superpowers, they did it with The Phantom and others. Now they have done it with Green Hornet. I found GH an OK read especially the Year One and Kato Origins books. The recent "upgrade" makes GH just another super powered bozo. It seems that only IDW will allow a character to keep any of its original character.

[jimmm kelly]

There was a time when I thought Dynamite might be a place for me to go, after I abandoned reading new DC comics, but it didn't work out for me.

I was initially intrigued but confused by Dynamite doing Jack Kirby's GENESIS (hadn't John Byrne done exactly that years ago?). And then when I saw the art, I was totally puzzled. Why would they do a Kirby comic with no Kirby art and nothing that looks like Kirby art? I could see maybe Mark Evanier and Steve Rude doing a proper book based on Kirby's ideas--but Dynamite seems to have just used the Kirby name, without respecting his vision, to sell something completely different.

Likewise it puzzles me that Grant Morrison has totally trashed the original Kirby work at DC to replace it with his own stuff. It's like these guys have such big egos that they can't stand to let the original work shine and they have to cover it up with their own idiocy. I'd rather see new writers and artists coming up with new, original concepts--and let the classic stuff alone, if you can't respect it.

What's next? Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis re-imagine PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz???

[narfstar]

Black Beetle is a good old fashioned good read. Not the type of art I usually prefer but fits well with this pulp style character. I think anyone wanting a retro read will enjoy this series.

[fate man]

Black Beetle is a good old fashioned good read. Not the type of art I usually prefer but fits well with this pulp style character. I think anyone wanting a retro read will enjoy this series.

Yeah,right on,man.

[narfstar]

I think this has been successful and will result in other BB minis.

[profh0011]

I'd rather see new writers and artists coming up with new, original concepts--and let the classic stuff alone, if you can't respect it.  What's next? Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis re-imagine PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz??? 

Whenever some fan would ask Jack Kirby how to do comics "the Kirby way", his asnwer was always the same:  CREATE YOUR OWN characters!  Trying to do CAPTAIN AMERICA, for example, "Kirby's way", just isn't getting it.

I suspect, deep down, this is one of the biggest reasons why I never managed to work for "the big two". I wanna write MY characters, not someone else's.

This is what happens when 'gangster" mentality continues to prevail at American publishers.

I shudder at the possibiliities of someone doing PEANUTS or something like it in a completely different style from its creator.

It's crossed my mind a number of times... on TV, certain cartoon shows were unusual in that they obviously showcased the style of ONE man-- JONNY QUEST (Doug Wildey), the 2nd & 3rd seasons of SPIDER-MAN (Gray Morrow), THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN (Jack Kirby). But that also goes for the CHARLIE BROWN specials (Charles Shulz) or the DR. SUESS special ("Dr. Suess"-- heh).

WHY is it when most superhero comics are masde into cartoons, they don't look anything like ANY previously-existing version?  (If I did a LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES cartoon, I'd want it to look like Curt Swan's art!)

[jimmm kelly]

I'm ambivalent about parody characters.

It's obvious that the parodies E. Nelson Bridwell came up with in Inferior Five were sincerely meant as loving homages--and it's not like this title was a runaway best seller in the 60s.

And Mike Friedrich and Roy Thomas probably were just indulging their own fannishness when they made copies of the Avengers and the Justice League in the 70s (what was done with those parodies later, is another issue).

By the time we get to the 80s, publishers are clearly profitting from ripping off the property of other creators in the form of so-called parodies that end up being big selling comics.

How many people realize that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a parody that liberally borrowed from other popular creations and made a huge profit by doing-so? Or what about Deadpool?

It's like the publishers found a loophole in copyright law and realized they could legally steal from other companies and other creators by simply passing off the product as a parody.

It's one thing to do a one-time only send-up, but when you're actually making money off of someone else's creation--that just doesn't feel right to me.

[profh0011]

I once read that the publisher of Fawcett specifically gave his staff orders to create a rip-off of SUPERMAN.  The thing was, the writers & artists had too much creativity and integrity to do "just" a swipe... so they wound up creating something very different, and in some ways, BETTER-- CAPTAIN MARVEL!

What really pissed off DC was that CAPTAIN MARVEL wound up out-selling SUPERMAN.