Let's open up this posting with a big happy 78th birthday to Sal Buscema! Can't say enough good things about this guy's work other then that it is timeless it would look as impressive in today's comics as it did 20 or 30 years ago as seen here in this clip art from ROM 24 and his ROM/Mars Attacks bonus pin up page from IDW last year. Blasting away with his neutrilizer while simultaneously bitch slapping skrulls and chocking the shit out of Martians now that's just bad ass all the way.
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When it comes to Steve Dikto's work in the 80s and 90s it's like the Emperor's new clothes. That is to say that no matter how lame the emperor's new clothes are because it's the emperor the people around him will always say he looks great. Now at least I got you all to admit (albeit begrudgingly) that Dikto's run on Rom was far inferior to Buscema's but there's always a bullshit caveat that comes with that admission like "but I'm still glad he worked on the book" or "but I still liked it".
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But hey, why should I have all the fun here? One of my favorite videos from The King of Thessaly (K.o.T) actually has a review of a Speedball issue (at 6:50 into the video) written and drawn by Steve Dikto. May the Gods of Galador smile upon you bro for this one I miss your vids. Aside from that how can you not love a guy who stores his _____ in a tin adorned with anti-drug super heroes like Cloak & Dagger?
I still think 80's and 90's artwork by the greats can stand with the greats of right now, most even better.
ReplyDelete*grins*
ReplyDeleteOkay.
Okay...
-Let me, uhhh, get a rebuttal post together for my blog here. Give me a couple days. Then we shall see what is what!
Man, that video was still in my apartment. Feels like forever ago. -Even though it was just last year.
The irony is the best part of that tin!
the gauntlet has been thrown, i await your rebuttal post sir. all that aside i had fun watching this one again. that shit about "1st issue collectors items" among other things had me laughing again.
DeleteYes- THE INFINITY GAUNTLET!!!
DeleteCool, man- thanks. It might not look like it- but I worked hard on them sumbitches... Always had fun filming them, though. You know- because of alcohol.
Hi all.... I've heard my name mentioned a few times around here from others. So I figured I'd finally jump on board and say a proper "Hello" and glad you all like the ROM art I've produced over the last few months!
ReplyDeletewelcome to the blog Dann. if you go to the word search field up there in the top left corner type in your name you should be able to pull up all the postings I've publish that have your stuff in it.
DeleteWelcome to the blog Dann . Your amazing art is how I found this place. Still enjoying that peice I bought greatly. I dig all your work including all your awesome ROM art. Your style is unique but at the same time you can tell you did it. Keep em comming man! Without question your work made me a fan.
DeleteA Big Happy Birthday to the usually underestimated Sal Buscema!
ReplyDeleteYeah I like Ditko's work, I preferred Sal, but Steve's work especially the splashies were brill. Like that you posted on Sal's birthday to mr - that is a pretty classy move San Francisco.
ReplyDeletethat's ok Dan as you know i'm a very understanding person i'm going to continue working with you on this one. i was about 13 when i bought Rom annual 4 i think i remember actually wincing when i turned to that splash page much in the same way when you feel a sharp sudden pain or when you witness a horrific traffic accident.
Deletebut the spash page at the end of issue 66 is pretty rad. Ditko gets a pass by me.wonky eyes and all.
Deleteone splash page can't make up for all those issues of 1940s/50s style art plaguing the tail end of the Rom series. besides, John Byrne, Michael Golden and of course our man Sal would have done that splash page even better and with out the "wonky eyes". Dikto will never get a pass from me for taking so much of the joy out of reading those final issues of Rom every month back in my early teens.
DeleteResons from childhood/teens are always valid ones with ROM
DeleteSal's work just makes me happy when I see it. I love finding new stuff by him that I haven't seen before. By the same token, I feel differently about Ditko's art. I just read Marvel Spotlight #9 yesterday for the first time, written by Boisterous Bill and penciled by Ditko. It definitely didn't have the same spark as Bill & Sal's team-ups. Ditko never evolved with the times; his work became less intricate and more uninspired, if anything. I almost wanted to open up an issue of Ditko's ROM run just to see something better than his rendering of Captain Universe.
ReplyDeleteYES! by the gods of Galador Rick you get it!
DeleteI can help explain a little about Ditko's later work....especially for ROM. Y'see, Ditko didn't do full pencils on Rom...in fact, he mainly did loose breakdowns...sometimes just putting a circle where a head should be or something along those lines. The inkers had to embellish as much as they could. Marvel wanted them to capture his style as much as they could. That's why his stuff never looked as "fresh" or even good for a lot of those comics. Simply put...Steve Ditko basically just placed the figures on the paper and let the inkers do all the work.
ReplyDeletefirst i'd like to say Dann as a fellow artist and Rom fan i'm delighted to see you get in on this conversation. aside from being able to feature cool new Rom related art, news and other happenings both past and present this sort of discussion was certainly the secondary purpose of this blog.
Deleteaside from his work on Rom, i've also come across Dikto's work in The Micronauts as seen in this posting and in recent months i saw a lot of his work in Machine Man while i was doing some research for the blog on Brock Jones (The Torpedo) at Delmar Insurance. and then of course there was Dikto's more recent work on Speedball as described in the video.
i feel like i'm seeing the same problem with his art in all those titles and i gotta tell ya i think Rick Hansen nailed it. unfortunately it seems Dikto's work just didn't evolve much over the decades and what looked good back in the 50s and 60s certainly did not by the time the late 70s came around not to mention the 80s and 90s.
Pretty much from the 80's up , I think Ditko stopped caring. It may have something to do with his obsession over Ayn Rands philosophies. But..for some of his BEST art, check out his Mister A comic. Crappy dialoge, but great art.
DeleteHappy Birthday Sal ! The greatest of the ROM artists in its run.
ReplyDeletewell at least on that we can agree when it comes to the art for Rom spaceknight. speaking of good art from both Sal and Dann you'll like my Feb. 1st posting too stay tuned.
DeleteSal is one of my favorite artists. I'm actually looking to see if I can get him to do a pin up for my latest comic.
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DeleteWow. ...sal and I have the same birthday. ...and my daughter has the same birthday as bill!
ReplyDelete-I just scheduled my rebuttal to post on Thursday morning. So TAKE THAT! Mwa-ha-ha! -Mine is an evil laugh...
ReplyDeleteDann, we'll get your web site into the blog roll here but also keep us posted on how that's working out for you in regards to Sal and that pin up you want him to do.
ReplyDeleteRT, i think i remember you saying something like that before that's pretty damn cool. i would dare say it's an out right honor.
K.oT. it is so on : ) by the way check your friggin email already.
I always knew my daughter had bills birthday. ..but with THIS post I found out I had sals....:-)
ReplyDeleteJust throwing my two cents in, Ditko will always be a legend and innovator. That being said, he really didn't evolve all that well after Leaving DC to go back to Marvel. His Speedball sucked, as did his ROM issues. And then it seems like he was phoning it in by just apply breakdown? Fuck that. Sorry, but that sounds like he was just coming to get paid, and that sounds very unlike a proud man like Steve Ditko. For worse Ditko art, I'd say go track down a 2-parter he did in Marvel Comics Presents#'s 81-83. Damn does that art-style look incredibly dated. The same think with an old IM story that was published in the old '97 Marvel Spotlight series they were doing to copy Batman: Black and White. Just...bad. But yeah Sir Sal is the man, and timeless in the sense that his work shines just as brightly as it did back then.
ReplyDeletedated work done by a legendary artist who was at a point in his career where he was pretty much just showing up to collect a check. sounds just about right to me Dale.
DeleteI know I am a little off topic here but in comparing Ditko's and Byrne's art to me it really reckoned back to my favorite artist Jim Steranko check out some Nick Fury Agent of Shield issues you will see (in my opinion!) his influence
ReplyDeleteI pulled out my rom collection recently after a good 25 years and, ewww, all that disappointment came rushing in from Ditko’s Rom art. It had that same quality I hated with the Star Wars cartoons. They have that 90s exagerated cartoony look with hanna barbera inflections. If drawings can evoke bathos, that’s what Ditko’s Rom did. It took a sci fi story and made it into cartoon network crap.
ReplyDelete