Tag: Neal Adams

SPIDER-MAN at 50: It’s the 50th anniversary of Marvel’s greatest icon, and all year Hero Complex will talk to notable names about the character’s success and singular appeal. Today: A guest essay by Neal Adams, one of the most influential comic-book artists of the modern era and one of the industry’s leading voices for artists’ rights. Spider-Man is the epitome of the difference between DC Comics and that eruption of creation that became Marvel Comics. It’s a difference that has been clouded by time. Comics historians (of which there are too many – don’t ruin comics, comic historians, remember what happened to jazz and rock ‘n’ roll) will remember Jerry and Joe’s Superman was intended to be a bad guy. At first, that is. Then before he appeared, he became a good guy. That was the beginning of superhero comics; a guy gets super powers and “decides to ...

A comic book store can be a vast and wonderful landscape, but sometimes it’s nice to have a compass to help you as you wander those aisles. With that in mind, the Hero Complex and the mighty G4TV.com have teamed up for a new weekly series of video recommendations — Geoff Boucher of the Hero Complex will select and celebrate a new release  from the vivid world of superheroes and more traditonal -minded fare, while the always insightful Blair Butler of G4′s Fresh Ink blog will recommend a worthy new release from the “non-spandex” side of comics, those graphic novels and alternative press titles that use their comics panels in the name of memoir, literary experimentation or underground voice. RECENT AND RELATED CAPES/NO CAPES: “Earth 1″ & “Acme Library” Charles Burns and “X’ed Out” seeks dark edge Brad Meltzer: Why ‘Superman vs Muhammad Ali’ is still the greatest Darywn Cooke reloads with “The Outfit”

Readers of this blog may remember our obsession with the 1978 comic book “Superman vs. Muhammad Ali” but it turns out we are not alone. Today, a guest essay by bestselling author Brad Meltzer (who is well-known to comics fans for his landmark work on ”Identity Crisis”) who believes that the old champ still holds up as a classic in comic book publishing. You can judge fpor yourself, too — this week DC is releasing a new hardcover reprint of the sublime 1970s artifact. Our subject today: My Heroes…Trying To Kill Each Other (or ‘”Why Superman vs. Muhammad Ali may just be the greatest comic…of all time”) Don’t roll your eyes. This is about Muhammad Ali, and in that man’s honor, I make no apologies for hyperbole. So let’s take a peek at the Polaroid.  I was eight.  I didn’t watch the Thriller In ...

Some sights and sounds from the first few hours of Comic-Con International, Day One…   BEST T-SHIRT: “Team Edward” but with a picture of  Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp old-school version of a brooding, cinematic heartthrob with blood splatter issues. MOST UNEXPECTED REVELATION: John Stevenson, director of “Kung Fu Panda,” stopped a panel discussion on imagination and creativity to launch into a long ode to Mike Mignola, the creator of “Hellboy,” who looked both flattered and then a bit uncomfortable at the lengthy valentine. Stevenson said his office wall was adorned with “Hellboy” images during the making of “Panda,” each of them a reminder of artistic integrity and attention to craft. At the end of it all, the droll Mignola waited a beat and then muttered, “Well I’m glad the movie wasn’t bad then because I’d feel responsible.” MOST DISAPPOINTED GROUP:Paparazzi who spent ...

Guillermo del Toro, Neal Adams and John Milius remember Frank Frazetta in this longer version of the obituary I wrote for Tuesday’s edition of the Los Angeles Times.  Frank Frazetta, the fantasy painter and illustrator whose images of sinewy warriors and lush vixens graced paperback novels, album covers and comic books for decades and became something close to the contemporary visual definition of the sword-and-sorcery genres, died Monday after suffering a stroke the night before. He was 82. Frazetta had gone out to dinner with his daughters Sunday and then had a stroke at his home in Boca Grande, Fla. He died at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla., his manager Rob Pistella told the Associated Press. “He’s going to be remembered as the most renowned fantasy illustrator of the 20th century,” Pistella said. Frazetta’s most famous works were ...

FIRST LOOK I own about 9,000 comic books but ask me to pick my single favorite and I don’t need to think twice. It’s “Superman vs. Muhammad Ali,” which (despite the smirk-inducing title) was a world-class knockout when it arrived in the fall of 1978 and remains an enduring classic all these years later. Above, you can see a new nod to the legacy of the Neal Adams masterpiece,  a statue due this fall from DC Direct and Ali’s licensing team that re-creates the cover clash between the titans of the sports world and comics. This is the first time the images of the statue are being seen anywhere. The first time I met Adams, I had to profess my love for this giant, tabloid-sized book that still looms so large in my fanboy heart. “I always tell people that ‘Superman vs. Muhammad ...

  This Friday night is the premiere of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," the new Cartoon Network animated series that revives a classic brand that always brings a smile to my face. "The Brave and the Bold" comic book was one absolute all-time favorite with its monthly conceit: A team-up between Batman (who, ironically, is the ultimate DC Comics loner) and some other superhero, be it the classic top-tier characters like Green Lantern, Flash or Wonder Woman or more offbeat and obscure types, such as Kamandi, Metamorpho and Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter. Neal Adams, the greatest Batman artist ever, did some memorable work on the series (Especially those covers in the late 1960s and early 1970s! I put a few of them after the jump, so click below to check them out.) and the steady and underrated Jim ...

I’m working on a long article about the author Brad Meltzer, and we had a great steak dinner last night in Hollywood Beach, Fla. I grew up here in Broward County and Meltzer spent a chunk of his childhood here too, and it turns out that we bought our comic books at the same shop, a long-gone little shop called Starship Enterprises. It’s pretty amazing, actually, how much we have in common. When I told him that I’m of the opinion that “Superman vs. Muhammad Ali” from 1978 is the greatest single comic book ever, his jaw dropped. “Maybe we should just get married right now. That is my all-time favorite too.” He then started rattling off the celebrities who appear in the famous wraparound cover that shows the ring-side audience watching the bout. “Lucille Ball, Jimmy Carter, the Sweathogs ...

Who is the greatest living comic book artist? As I’ve said before, my vote is for Neal Adams, so it was a real treat to join him and his family for a big pasta dinner at Buca di Beppo in downtown San Diego last night. Before we even got to the table, I had to ask him if he had seen “The Dark Knight.” “I did and I thought it was great,” Adams told me. But he did have some reservations about the body count in the Christopher Nolan film and the fact that, in his view, the villains seem to triumph in the film. “Batman fails and fails and fails,” said the artist who drew the Batman so definitively in 1970s.  Adams is a champion of artist rights through the decades and we talked a lot about the wear ...

I was wandering the showroom floor at Comic-Con International and I came across some big-time wheeling and dealing that had absolutely nothing to do with film options or Hollywood agents. There was intense buying and selling in the booths where vintage original art from comic books and comic strips was on display in thick, oversized portfolios that were worth far more than their weight in gold. Take dealer Joe Mannarino, whose booth had amazing original pieces by the brilliant Windsor McCay, Jack Kirby and Neal Adams, who is my personal all-time favorite artist. "The marketplace has never gone down, but we’re seeing major interest right now. It’s a very robust market." One reason is there are several generations of fans now of collecting age (i.e., they have enough money to jump into a pricey hobby) and the huge Hollywood afterlife ...