I used to be a big fan of Mad Magazine, particularly Mort Drucker’s art in the movie spoofs. By the mid-80s, age was obviously weighing in on Drucker and his once meticulously crafted drawings became ones that seemed to be drawn in haste. Whatever the reason, they lacked the juciy detail and creativity characteristic of his early work. Today I find almost *every* artist to be exuding this “working in haste” quality. I don’t know if that reflects a lack of talent, or doing too many things under the pressure of too many deadlines, or whatever, but I really don’t see a single Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Barry Smith, Jack Kirby, Marshall Rogers, George Perez, or anyone like that on the scene these days. Do these artists lack vision? Are they incapable of drawing with any photorealistic detail (yes, I admit I prefer that sort of style)?

Compare the covers of those great DC and Marvel books from the 1960s and 1970s to those of today. Back in the good old days, the covers seemed much more creative, showing the hero (or villain) in a variety of different situations shown from a variety of vantage points. I think often of Spiderman covers (i.e. Spiderman 96) showing spidey creeping up a building as seen from a distance of 50 feet, as if you’re the observer on the street. Or Spiderman #48 showing spidey and the vulture going at it, with a nice view of the distant street below. Another great cover is Neal Adams’s Batman 244, showing Ras Al Ghul glowering over a battered and defeated Batman with the top of his costume torn off, with the red hot Arabian sun and arabs on camels in the background. Just beautiful, creative work. How about those Jim Steranko covers on Nick Fury? I could rattle off hundreds more.

I just don’t see much of that creativity in the artwork these days. It seems that far, far too often today’s artist is inclined to show overly muscular heroes in some sort of action pose, bursting through the page, devoid of context of their situation. Yawwwwnnnn….boring!

Joe

Yup. Now its hardcore reality.

I’m enjoying 52, a lot of the Justice League books, and pretty much everything Bill Willingham writes for DC.

I’m very psyched for the next return of Manhunter, which not only helps pay half our rent but will be getting more — well, I’m not at liberty to divulge storylines but I definitely think it’ll be more up your alley, Oliver.

And I’m guessing from your Batman comments that you’re either behind or have been reading the fill-in issues, because I honestly believe that the work Morrison’s putting out in Batman and Dini’s putting out in Detective is consistently the best work either book’s seen in twenty years. (I give the edge to Dini because his stuff’s so much easier just to pick up and read; Morrison’s working on arcs with a lot of complicated details to remember, whereas Dini’s focusing on that lost art, the single-issue story.)

Madman’s got a new monthly series too; if you’ve never read it, the new #1 is as good a place to start as any as it’s pretty much just a recap.

And Jeff Smith (of Bone fame) is doing a really excellent Shazam mini.

…As for the big crossovers…yeah, I’m sick of ‘em too, but I think I’m going to have to read Countdown because it’s Dini and it’s New Gods. As for Civil War, I thought the art was really impressive but the story jumped the tracks by issue #2. Which is a pity, because I really am a Mark Millar fan. (I assume you’ve read Red Son as it’s essential Superman reading.) I’m finding myself reading more and more DC and less and less Marvel, though Nextwave was a great silly book and the Ellis/Deodato Thunderbolts run is interesting if a little slow (and while I like Deodato’s art, I’m disappointed by how he drew Phoenix — the city, not the character — in the latest issue; how hard is it to get reference photos of the sixth-largest city in the country? Dude, we don’t have skyscrapers or loft-style apartments.).

Getting off the superhero list, Brian Wood’s putting out a couple good books in Local and DMZ. The former is, to the best of my knowledge, the only comic book in history ever to feature a full-page illustration of my high school.

And Walking Dead was my favorite for awhile, but I think it’s lost something in the last arc or two. Still, I highly recommend the first few trades, even if you’re not a zombie fan (I’m not generally either).

“0″ issue’s out now…for only 25 cents! Better than a poke in the eye.

The best work today seems to be in the smaller titles. Pick up “Fables” if you haven’t found it yet. It’s a DC/Vertigo comic. Find the first tradeback collection and see if you like it. And go back and pick up the “Planetary” tradebacks too. Warren Ellis is a writer worth searching for, most of the time. And the current “Conan” series. Find the hardbacks of the first two collections, they’re worth a look. The Flash and Green Arrow were doing well too, but the Green Arrow book is coming to an end again.

I don’t like paying $3.00 for a 36-page book with 12 pages of ads in it, either. I’ve left a few main-line comics on the shelf for that. Not worth it.

Concentrating comic sales and specialty titles in the direct-sale stores was an experiment in the 80s. Now it’s most of their business. It does seal most of the public away from finding titles unless they are looking specifically for comics, so the audience grows very slowly. The comic shop I go to closed its oldest store (out of eight) three years ago and moved into a brightly-lit and spacious store specifically to combat the “cave” comic store stereotype. It seems to work to an extent, but it’s still a get-out-the-map location. The regulars are the mainstay for the stores’ revenue.

Again – look for the smaller titles. You’ll find some better stories.

CS

In short comics are actually better drawn and better written then nearly any point in their history. They’re just not sold in most comic book shops.

Guys like Superman always had to have some stupid weakness to be interesting. Batman, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Captain America, Green Arrow, Daredevil, and even Wolverine, always got by on being CRAZY enough to wear the uniform and the will to fight the forces of evil.

Or did you not watch Justice League Unlimited.

My favorites were Spawn, Lady Death/Evil Ernie (yes, I have the original LD #1 foil cover), The Demon (before Garth Ennis took over), Lobo, and just about any Punisher series except the “supernatural” one. Batman had some great ones as well, such as “Hush” and “Cataclysm/No Man’s Land”.

But I was looking for any excuse to drop the whole lot of ‘em. I just couldn’t…inertia, I guess. The chance came a few years ago when Geppi’s in Catonsville closed its doors. I quit cold turkey. Got over it pretty quickly.

I think the problem is that comics try too much marketing (“deaths,” movies and other special events) at the expense of good writing. And that $2.95 ain’t worth it.

One thing I do like is the CD/DVD-ROM collections of back issues: decades of continuity for a relatively low price. I have the 2004 Topics CD box of “Amazing Spider-Man”. It’s great, but it DOESN’T INCLUDE THE ANNUALS!! No “Sinister Six” from Annual #1, one of the greatest Marvel stories ever.
(The more recent Digital Comics DVD-ROM has the annuals. They’ve done other Marvel titles – mainly the Ultimates – and even a complete run of DC’s MAD Magazine!!)