Sunday, March 17, 2013

Bill Mantlo stacking the deck


Today I was looking at a back issue review of Avengers 76 vol.3 (2004) at Mr. Morbids House of Fun http://dbsuniverse.blogspot.com/2013/03/back-issue-spotlight-avengersvol376.html It turns out this is the issue where the Jack of Hearts dies. I'd heard a while back that he had been killed off but I always wondered how exactly that happened so this was a cool find. I hopefully I'll come across the issue in a back issue bin some day. I have to say I really like the updated look he had at the time. I really prefer the more streamlined less detailed costume/armor design and I also think he looks cooler with out his head being covered too. I wonder if Bill Mantlo ever saw the new look and if so what he thought of it?
 http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2012/11/grooves-faves-jack-of-hearts-by-mantlo.html


So look what I found from a photo of some of the wall art at Floating Worlds Comics for the Bill Mantlo benefit auctions. Unfortunately this is the best I can do as far as pulling a decent image off the net but as you can see this is one nice piece of art. It really sucks how so much of the good stuff from those auctions is no where to be found except in poor formats like this where as many of the less then stellar pieces seem to be every where.
Speaking of which I finally finished reading Bill Mantlo A Lifetime In Comics. Boy that was good! I especially liked the behind the scenes information about why some of the projects he worked on like The Human Fly didn't last as long as others such as Rom and The Micronuats. I was a bit saddening to find out that it was creative differences with Sal Buscema and Bill that prompted Sal to leave Rom giving way to the Ditko era which displeased me to say the least. And then of course there was the Micronauts and all the artists that came and went during it's 58 issue run because of again creative differences with Bill. In some ways that was the most interesting part of the book. But let's not forget about his rather tenuous relationship with Jim Shooter. It seems Jim Shooter may have been as big of a dick as the rumors suggest.
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12 comments:

  1. zhaanmanMarch 17, 2013 at 12:53 AM

    Sweet I thought I had heard he died too but didn't I didn't know about the new look for him nice find Dave!

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  2. BruceMarch 17, 2013 at 8:37 AM

    I didn't know anything about Jack's death. But I've been just reading his history on Wikipedia and it seems the Marvel writers have been a bit nasty to him. Maybe they did not know what to make of the character, nor did they care.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienMarch 17, 2013 at 10:19 AM

      it's just one more stupid move in recent years we can thank Marvel Comics for. yet another good example why i don't buy new comics these days.

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  3. Dana P.March 17, 2013 at 12:35 PM

    "...it was creative differences with Sal Buscema and Bill that prompted Sal to leave Rom giving way to the Ditko era..."

    I never knew that. That's too bad. Any details about the creative differences that you think are worth sharing?

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienMarch 17, 2013 at 1:51 PM

      think of the writer as being the director and the penciller the actor. some directors allow they're actors to have more creative freedom then others. so in some case the director is ok for that actor to improvise on how to play a scene and other directors want them to stick to the script as far as how they're supposed to play the scene.
      so for example, if the writer on a given issue directs the penciller to draw a panel in a certain way for which that penciller ends up deviating from the writer's directions that could end up being a problem.

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    2. Shlomo Ben HungstienMarch 17, 2013 at 1:53 PM

      that was a good question Dana P. i don't think most people really have ever given that much thought plus it shows me your paying attention to what i'm talking about in my postings which is always nice to.

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    3. Dana P.March 17, 2013 at 7:14 PM

      That's a good analogy, the writer as director and the artist as actor. Unless the work is written and drawn by the same creator (like Walter Simonson's THOR, for example), even the most detailed comic book scripts (something like Alan Moore's WATCHMEN) allow for individual/subjective interpretation. As a result, unless the writer is looking over the shoulder of the artist, even the best collaborations will be a little out of sync.

      And have no fear, I always pay good attention when I read your posts. :)

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  4. RandomnerdMarch 17, 2013 at 2:42 PM

    I think the best relationships are those in which there's a lot of give and take, and neither ego gets too big for the other to handle. Example: the writer envisions the panel a certain way when he's writing the script, which I can understand a bit better now, because I've seen my brother do both with his comics. But, the penciler sees it a different way, draws it, and shows it to said writer. Writer sees what the penciler has done, takes it into consideration, and realises that he is not, in fact, the artist, and hey, it looks better this way. Wait a second! Maybe I can add a bit of dialogue that makes the book better now!
    See, didn't that just make everyone, including the readers', life better?
    Plus, we didn't have a delay because the writer and penciler are the same person. *cough, John Byrne, cough*

    Unfortunately, this is a business full of artists. And even the ones without egos run into the ones with. It's even more disappointing when they're actually talented. Because then we don't get to see their work as often as we'd like.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienMarch 18, 2013 at 12:42 AM

      with all that being said i think the toughest job in the creative process of a comic book issue is the penciler's job. trying to draw a character or scene from your imagination is tough enough but trying to do that from somebody else's is even harder. i dunno how these guys do it especially when they have to crank out 2-4 pages a day on average.

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    2. RandomnerdMarch 18, 2013 at 6:50 AM

      Now imagine you're a talented artist/penciler stuck with a crap writer. And you know it. And you have to make the page visually arresting enough to cover up the fact that the story is, in fact, so much drivel.
      We've run into that quite a bit lately. Lots of great drawings, very little meat.
      I can only imagine how frustrating that must be from their point of view.

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    3. Shlomo Ben HungstienMarch 19, 2013 at 9:33 AM

      absolutely! even as the reader i always think what a damn shame whenever i read an issue that dazzled me with the art but left me totally flat story wise.

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    4. RandomnerdMarch 19, 2013 at 2:24 PM

      That being said, I've been re-reading the new 52 version of teen titans, and as mad as I get over some stuff, there are redeemable factors. There is some humor in the writing, right off the bat, that has that TT characteristic we know and love. Especially with that dude that makes the purple bricks. And I didn't really like him the first time I read it. I still don't care for the way they're writing Cass this time around, but I'm TRYING not to let it stick up my ass too much. (I know about me and that soapbox.) And the art really is super pretty. So maybe it'll get better. There are embers. Someone just has to blow on them.

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