[Palooka slim]

Pete Morisi had a very static style almost like snapshots ,perhaps it was him?

[JVJ]

I also still don't get Toth.  I know many think he's great -- I don't see it though I'll admit I don't study it but just go with what I like.  My favorite Tarzans are Manning and Kubert.  Of course Manning's Tarzan always looks like he's Lord Greystoke even when he's swinging through the jungle.  Hogarth I like, but in small doses.  Foster's Tarzan i don't like too much, but I love his Valiant.

I know exactly what you and narfstar mean, Jon,
I was in your shoes for years. Now Toth is magic to me, as much for his storytelling design as his art - though I admit that it's primarily from 1949 to 1959 that is the most appealing. I never liked his early DC stuff (still don't) and his Warren material is good, but not great (IMHO). His Hot Wheels stories are tops, in my book.

I love Manning's first decade or so - 1954 to 1966 (Brothers of the Spear and Dale Evans to Magnus). After that, he gets too mannered for me. His newspaper Tarzan is slick as can be but ultimately unsatisfying somehow.

There are panels in Hogarth that I find beautiful, but his storytelling is spotty - and he sometimes comes off as a caricature of his own style - just too TOO, if you know what I mean.

Buscema before his 1960s Marvel work (with the exception of his run on Roy Rogers) is breathtaking. The man could draw anything - and frequently did. Inking himself, especially on those circa 1960 ACG stories, he's simply one of the best, IMHO. After 1970, he's good, and quite capable, but only occasionally rises to his potential. Perhaps it was just too easy for him.

Must get back to work. Could discuss artists all night and day, but I have to get some work on ImageS done before bedtime.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

ps. Don't know who you mean, Rez, but if you can point to an example, perhaps I have the issue...?

[JVJ]

remind me sometime when I'm not so busy (hah!) to tell you guys what happened to Sanho Kim!

(|:{>

[Palooka slim]

Funny you should mention sanho kim,one of the few comic artist from that era who's art  i still dont like.

[narfstar]

I think Rez might mean Forte. Kim's HOuse of Yang had some great stuff. I did not care for his western stuff. Jim I guess I need to check out some Buscema at ACG. The only thing that comes to mind for me is his Marvel work which you agree is good but not great. Gotta check out his earler stuff.

[Palooka slim]

yeah I love "discovering" artist -when the light bulb goes off and you realize "this guy rocks" and then your chasing down their work and looking for info about them. i do this about 2 ot 3 times a year, someone different will suddenly become my new obsession. im currently winding down on my joe maneely phase and it looks like i might be entering my bill montes phase thanks to a few issues of sarge steel and fightin 5.

[rez]

[John C]

I can appreciate a lot of what Toth does, as Jim says especially in the storytelling, but I'm often turned off by how...well, how "girly" his figures often look in their poses.

What I'll say about Byrne is that he's best paired with a good inker.  On his own, or with a syncophant assisting (which had been the case for a long while), his work looks scattered and unfinished.

And I agree on Sekowsky.  His work is the sort that you'll hate it up until you can force yourself to actually look at it.  Once you see it on the detail level, the entire thing just snaps into a completely different look.  Again, though, that looks to have been an inker issue.  I think I mentioned the "New Wonder Woman" run in this respect--I couldn't figure out who the artist was, and to my surprise, glamorous "Emma Peel" was drawn by the same guy who got the Justice Leaguers to look like chunky senior citizens.

[JVJ]

There's a great Sekowsky story out there somewhere that is actually Alex Toth.

I corresponded for several years with Alex and once sent him a photocopy of a story of his that looked a tad "off". Then I called him and I asked him what the deal was - what was he doing differently on this one? He laughed at me and told me the tale of a bet he had with Mike Sekowsky, to wit: Mike bet that he (Sekowsky) could do a better "Toth" than Toth could do Sekowsky. SO they each submitted their next story in the style of the other.

I guess we can say that I found Sekowsky's tribute to Toth, but to this day, no one has found Toth's tribute to Sekowsky. I guess that makes him the posthumous winner of the No-Prize. And it also means that there is at least ONE more piece of Toth art to be discovered.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Palooka slim]

Byrne was one of my favorite artist when i first started collecting comics .he began to go down hill around the time he started on Namor in my opinion and gradually got worse,his art in next men was terrible imo but in the last couple yrs from what little ive seen  he seems to have improved a little.he always drew funky mouths.I think bryne's personality has hurt his legacy no doubt he was a major creator in the late 70's- 80's.

[Astaldo711]

While technically not a comic book artist, I really like Larry Elmore. He had a series in Dragon magazine called Snarf Quest that I enjoyed.
I have a ton of books downloaded from this site and when I get time I'm going to read them. After time, as always, I'll notice a couple of artists that I really like and try to get more of their work. One I read recently which I believe was Lightning, wasn't too bad but I noticed that when Lightning was running his legs were splayed out like he was doing a split. It looked so funny. So are so bad and others can be absolutely beautiful.

[John C]

I guess we can say that I found Sekowsky's tribute to Toth, but to this day, no one has found Toth's tribute to Sekowsky. I guess that makes him the posthumous winner of the No-Prize. And it also means that there is at least ONE more piece of Toth art to be discovered.

I love it!  And it goes to show how much more versatile a lot of these people were, that they could easily have "gotten away with" ghosting for someone else for decades without anybody noticing.

Do you happen to remember offhand where the Sekowsky-as-Toth story is?

Bryne was one of my favorite artist when i first started collecting comics .he began to go down hill around the time he started on Namor in my opinion and gradually got worse,his art in next men was terrible imo but in the last couple yrs from what little ive seen  he seems to have improved a little.he always drew funky mouths.I think bryne's personality has hurt his legacy no doubt he was a major creator in the late 70's- 80's.

I do really think it's the inker.  A lot of the time you're talking about, I seem to recall that he did a lot of self-inking, and then there was a long run where his only inker was Trish Mulvihill, who seemed to basically darken the pencil lines.  He wasn't served well by either move.  (He's also not served well by drawing his own stories.  He's a decent writer and a good artist, but mediocre at both together, which also figures into that same period.)

On the other hand, I've seen some of his work inked by Garcia-Lopez that completely floored me, to the point that I didn't recognize it as Byrne until I checked the credits.

Incidentally, speaking of Garcia-Lopez, that reminds me of one artist that's ended up in the opposite category for me--someone whose work I loved early on, but ended up seeming bland and repetitive looking back:  George Perez.  I'll grant that it's pretty, but everybody has those round "baby faces" and there's no problem that a little more glittery effect on a costume can't solve, right?

[Palooka slim]

Garcia lopez is an absolute master,i've always wished he would have had a run on the JUSTICE LEAGUE.Perez draws pretty pictures but his storytelling is lacking,but i still like his stuff, Thor suffers the most from his "baby faces".As far as Byrne inking his own pencils ,personally it depends on the era for me,i like his 80's stuff that he inked himself but i agree that later he would have been better served with someone else doing the inking probably a heavy inker since he seemed to start getting lazy with his pencils.His stuff in the next men looked like he drew simple layouts that were then inked .

[rez]

[rez]

In another thread YOC mentioned the sample of Ronin Ro's 'Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American comic book revolution" at this link:  http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Astonish-Kirby-American-Revolution/dp/158234566X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249081380&sr=8-1#reader

When reading I saw the reference on page 3 regarding Kirby's employment at Max Fleischer's animation studio and the six steps used when drawing Popeye. Here's the illustration:

Well, part of it.

[rez]

[Yoc]

Great photo, thanks Rez!

[narfstar]

Where did you happen to sang that pic Rez?

[rez]

Where did you happen to sang that pic Rez?

heh Had me wondering if 'sang' might have been a media word I didn't know of til' I realized you meant 'snag'.

These attachments all come out of the 1971 oversized 'Kirby Unleashed' portfolio I am able to scan bits and pieces of. Four Dollar cover price. Let's see, that makes it 38 years ago.
I can still remember some stuff from '71 like it was just a little ways back.

Man, 'Where does the time go?'.

[Astaldo711]

That was Kirby's work at 14! Wow!

[rez]

What gets me is the thought that maybe at the age of 14 he was trying to sell to the NewYorker!

[rez]

[rez]

[Yoc]

Interesting!
Everything but the face has a Berni Wrightson feel to this one Rez.

[Astaldo711]

I really only know him from his early Marvel work and this stuff doesn't look very Kirby-esque. I'd never guess it was him.