Alex Toth links

Alex Toth is not only a giant in Comic Book history, but also one of the most intriguing and hard-to-fathom personalities to ever work in the medium.

He is at par with Jack Kirby and Will Eisner: much like them he accompanied the american "Comic book" format from infancy to adulthood and left a lasting legacy in the field.

Many call Toth "the artist's artist". But his name deserves to known beyond the elitist community of of collectors, reviewers, cartoonists, editors and publishers.

Let"s face it: cartoonists are no movie stars. They do not even approach the level of popularity that, let's say, some big-name novelists sometimes enjoy.

In the past, when newspaper comic strips were flourishing, I guess names like of Alex Raymond, Al Capp, Mort Walker and Charles Schultz would have ringed a bell even to the most casual newspaper reader. (Walt Disney does not count)

But even in today's pop-culture-saturated environment, the average Joe would not recognize cartoonists’ names other than Frank Miller or Milo Manara (not to mention that the popularity is often country-bound).

I too was introcduced to Toth's work only in recent years, but I got immediately hooked: he was exceptionally talented but more importantly, he cared a lot about the medium.

Toth devoted a lot of time studying the craft it and perfecting his style; trying to come up with rules or even "laws" for visual storytelling and such perfectionism made him a very stern individual and hard to be around.
Some trace this ruggedness back to Toth's own teachers, who had been just as demanding.

But I guess it went beyond that. He's views about how comics should be (not only in terms of form, but also in terms of content) were really black-and-white and left no room for dispute.
He abhorred the darker and more mature curve comics took in the late 1980s.
And while that position is perfectly understandable (to a certain extent), I was scratching my head when reading his argumentations (basically comics are for kids and should be about positive values). 

(in a sense it reminds me of Steve Ditko who had also a very manichaeist view of things)
Many of his comments read like the outbursts of a grumpy old man.
But then again, he did not spare criticism on himself either: a lot of his annotated stuff point out weaknesses in his own works.

Some reports about his suicidal thoughts suggest personal demons we do not know of.

I'm very uncertain about how to write about him: I do not want to pass judgement when knowing very little about his life and Art.
YouTube has only a handful videos about him, and no interview whatsoever with the man itself.

(This DVD collection features a nice documentary)



But he remains incredibly fascinating to me, as do his proficiency, productivity and relentlessness.

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Cartoonists remember Alex Toth in this beautiful Special by Twomorrow Publishing (preview available here)

Alex Toth replied to a buddying Steve Rude (who wrote himlooking for advice on a short Jonny Quest story he was drawing) with anexcruciatingly long and harsh 20-page, panel-by-panel critique, where heabsolutely demolished Rude's work.

Toth's points are all valid (again, to a certain extent) and they denote a real passion for the craft, but the tone comes across as overall unbalanced.

A more insightful testimony comes from illustrator Bill Stout:

http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=2483
http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=2488
http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=2494

http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=2501
http://www.williamstout.com/news/journal/?p=2510

An interesting post with a very funny (and revealing) account of a meeting between Jack Kirby and Alex Toth

Must-have for anyone who wants to get to know toth is this trilogy of books.

The Warren Companion

A wonderful "handbook" by TwoMorrows Publishing about one of the finest publishers of all times: James Warren

Warren Publishing was responsable for some of the most revered anthologies in comic book history: Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella, Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as one of Harvey Kurtzaman's most forward-looking projects: Help!

http://books.google.fr/books?id=4Ofd-XudNAcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Vintage Goodwin/Williamson interview

Before we owned our own VCR, back in the 1980s, at the very lowest point of the Star Wars merchandising machine, the Comic book adaptation of "The Empire Strikes Back" (together with three 5-minute reels of scenes from the first Star Wars on Super 8mm) has been my only gateway toLucas' galaxy Far Far Away...

As a kid I thought this adaptation was rather unsatisfactory, because some things were not exactly as in the movie.

As I got more knowledgeable about how incredibly HARD it is to make a good comic book adaptation of a movie (especially when it has to be released together with the movie and the movie has a lot of post production to go through) I must admit that this is one of the finest examples ever produced.

Nowadays I'm no longer a big Star Wars fan, but I will forever love Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin.

With thanks to Pete Doree and his Blog The Bronze Age Of Comics

Alan Moore treats

The World Wide Web is flooded with Alan Moore treats, to a degree that makes it even pointlees to dedicate a post to him.
I'll just post anything interesting I find on the Bard of Northampton here, I suppose.

 

Moore, aged 16 (I guess...)

Considering there are bound paperback copies of WATCHMEN on the right, I suppose this dates around 1987-1988.

This photo comes from the archives of Jackie Estrada, who succesfully funded a Kickstarter to publish a photobook called Comic Book People, with vintage photos of comic book creators back in the 70s and 80s

For some real treats visit the project's Kickstarter page.

-probably insiperd by Neil Gaiman's own comment on this photo about Moore looking like a giant in the picture, some genius on the internet compared it with this:

PLUS: Keep up with Mr. Moore through this frequently updated blog:

http://www.momentofmoore.com/

PLUS: Reviewer Tim Callahan, went through a year-and-a-half re-read of Moore's comics ouvre (he did not manage to read it ALL, but went pretty close).
His thought are to be found at Tor.com

http://www.tor.com/features/series/the-great-alan-moore-reread

(I did not know Moore written Star Wars comics!!)

Eisner, Kurtzman, Lee

Some link about the late and forever missed Harvey Kurtzman, one of the single most important driving forces of american comics.

For someone who invented MAD Magazine and has written some of the most biting satires about politics, war, media and Pop culture, I'm surprised by his soft-spoken and even shy demeanour.

Not being an expert on the man himself, I leave it to the linked content to tell the tale about this amazing cartoonist.

http://youtu.be/TL6cGcPFVzc. 


http://youtu.be/z5OFquX5riA


http://youtu.be/ulG-Jm4wKPE


http://youtu.be/VoyMnZBiOHk


http://youtu.be/rsQa_IHChJY

http://youtu.be/z5OFquX5riA

http://youtu.be/ulG-Jm4wKPE

http://youtu.be/VoyMnZBiOHk

http://youtu.be/rsQa_IHChJY

A couple of audio files of interviews with underground cartoonists/publishers/academics Art Spiegelman and Denis Kitchen, reflecting on the work of Kurtzman:

http://www.inkstuds.org/wp-content/podcast/KRAZY/spiegelman_imjin.mp3

http://www.inkstuds.org/wp-content/podcast/090630%20Denis%20Kitchen%20on%20Harvey%20Kurtzman.mp3

Entry on Lambiek Comic Encyclopedia

Wikipedia's Entry


You can buy the book "The Art Of Harvey Kurtzman- Mad Genius of Comics" here.

Robert Crumb

A conversation between Francoise Mouly    (Art director of The New Yorker and editor of Little Lit and Raw)

http://fora.tv/2009/10/23/R_Crumb_in_Conversation_with_Francoise_Mouly

80's doc

Todd Klein

If you are looking for a quality, frequently updated, one-stop blog about comics, you can easily go to Todd Klein's.

Klein is probabily the most awarded letterer in the comic book industry, and deservedly so.

While lettering has often been seen as a painstaking and inherently rewardless job (not to mention labor-intensive), Klein managed to make it in to an art form.

To be fair, calligraphy is actually always been a respected craft thru history, but in comics it never had the opportunity to shine.

Publishers and editors tried at different times to revert to typographed lettering (I'm not sure that's the way you call it, but forgive me while I look for the correct word to use), but it never stuck. It seems comics can only accept hand-made lettering (or at least a computer lettering that looks like it has been designed by hand)


Thanks to a number of titles that required (or at least allowed) the letterer to be creative, Todd Klein specialized in creating unique fonts and modes for a number of characters and since became the letterer of choice for many prestige books.

But it is unfair to label Kelin simply as a letterer, he is one of the few people in comics who can actually do anything: writing, drawing, logo design, inking, coloring, editing...

The blog is more about his reads, his travels and also his job, but it is but a section of his Website, which includes essays and documents on how he does his stuff.

The article linked here is a very interesting account of how American comics used to get colored.

A very instructive read.

Carlos Trillo

 Great Blog dedicated to the prolific Carlos Trillo.


The blog is full of scans from Trillo & Zaffino stories realized for the Italian Markt, which are a delight.

Here's an example (follow the link)

This is the link to the Spanish language Wikipedia page about Trillo (definetly more satisfying and complete than its counterpart in English)

Galerij Van Blerck

Random snapahots taken while setting up the "Studio Vitalski Exposeert" exhibit.

I wasn't there for the opening or any of the followong days due to a nasty flu, so these photos were forgotten for a while on my mobile...

Steve Ditko

I first encountered Steve Ditko's art on the pages of Marvel Comic's Indiana Jones comic books in the late eighties.
Not much later I learned he was the creator, together with Stan Lee, of Spider-Man.

Still I was completely oblivious about his rather interesting career until this documentary aired on BBC.

Enjoy

Moebius

There is very little I can say about Jean Giraud a.k.a. Moebius that hasn't been said already and better.

Just enjoy these wonderful docs.

Alberto Breccia

Alberto Breccia is one of the undisputed masters of Argentinian comics.

I must confess that if it weren’t for writer and friend Alessandro Ferrari, who suggested me to give a better look to the last Mort Cinder story (printed in an anthology collection that I lent to him!) I may have continued to consider him “one of the Argentinians”.

Breccia was a master of lighting and mood. Even if based on a very solid and “classical” drawing stile, his characters and backgrounds have a strong expressionistic look. He must also be remembered for experimenting a lot with mixed media techniques, comprising of photo collages, watercolors and zip-a-tones to create unique textures.

He has probably been a big influence on Frank Miller, both for themes (the final Mort Cinder story is a retelling of the battles of Thermopylae) and for the use of stark black and white contrasts.

An important collaboration in his life was with writer Héctor Oesterheld:  the duo collaborated on a number of series, besides Mort Cinder, and on the comic-book biography of Ernesto Che Guevara (co-illustrated by Breccia’s son, Enrique) which is generally considered the reason of Oesterheld’s disappearance in 1976.

Stephen R. Bissette

Sorry for the long hiatus.

Inkstuds.org is the blog that collects the interviews made by Robin McConnell on his show of the same name, on Vancuover radio station CitR. According to the program’s webpage “Inkstuds explores the underbelly of the comic world, interviewing some of today’s top creators. Inkstuds focuses on underground and indie comix from publishers like Fantagraphics, Top Shelf, Drawn and Quarterly and more. Each week, we interview a different creator to get their unique perspective on comix and discuss thier own interesting and upcoming works. No creator too big or too small to be interviewed. The talent interviewed, ranges from the legends of alternative comix, to some kid who has only put out a couple of mini’s, all with something new and interesting to share to the reading public.”

I’ve subscribed as soon as I discovered the site and these hour-long interviews have become one of the highlights of my web experience.

On the site you can also find an incredible archive of past interviews.

The show’s host Robin McConnell is sometimes a little too softspoken, but his knowledge of comics is pretty widespread (he must have a killer collection of books).

To me, one of the best interviews is the one to STEPHEN R. BISSETTE

Known mostly for his work on the SWAMP THING title during Alan Moore’s tenant, Steve Bissette has also been one of the "frontmen" of independent comics and spokesmen for creators rights in the 90s. He created and edited Taboo, a short-lived but very influential comic anthology where From Hell and Lost Girl made their debut.

A great lover of horror movies, Bissette later retired from both mainstream and independent comics (right after the outburst of the collector bubble)  and ventured in to the home video business , working for a video store he partially owned, right in time to witness the decline of the home video market too.

Bissette teaches now courses in Comic Art History, Drawing, and Film at Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont.

Many many topics are touched upon in this two hour interview: creators rights and livelihood (here and in other interviews Bissette is not afraid to talk about a very mundane but very hard issue: payments), Steve Ditko, the media conglomerates, Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye, John Carter of Mars, self publishing and more.

Part 1

Part 2

Be sure to check Bissette’s own site: it’s a goldmine.

And here’s an interesting compendium the the Inkstuds interview.

New blog! EC comics!

I've decided to completely change the nature of this Blog and make it now exclusively comics-related.

My attempts to keep some sort of journal failed many times, but more thean that, there is the realization that since I'm not even remotely known or famous (nor have I an interesting life), nobody is really interesed in reading about ME.

I've also noticed that the blogs or sites I keep going back to are those that offer CONTENT. In many years of surfing I came accross a number of sites, videos, interviews that really enriched my knowledge and appriciation of the comics medium.

I'll just use this blog to share this stuff. This blog will not become a one-stop site for all things comics, but hopeful it will contribute to promote the artform and inspire fellow cartoonists.

I will still post stuff I make every now and then, of course. 

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 The first thing I share here is this little docu about EC horror comics. I was not born yet when these books were being published and this stuff never made it to Italy, but they are oftern referred to in interviews to cartoonists or writers as some of the best comics ever produced. The docu is put together in Hollywood's classic celebrative fashion, but it's still very enjoyable.

http://youtu.be/nRUAf5KmcwE

Coming up: STROKE.

Stroke is one of the two upcoming digital publications by the Flemish Indipendent Cartoonists Guild (De Vlaamse Onafhankelijk Stripgilde).
the magazine is edited by Peter Moernhout, who was kind enough to ask me to contribute to the first issue.

I'm proud to announce that my short story A Robin's Dream will be featured in this new (and hopefully succesful) editorial enterprise.

I conceived this 7-page-long-homage-slash-satyre to Batman and Robin (hence the title) almost 8 years ago, working on a suggestion sparked by an Alan Moore interview.
I cannot remember how I went from the initial concept to the final script. I believe it came all out pretty quickly, with every idea leading to the next and fitting nicely into the narrative (except for the ending, which I still find weak), but I probably simply just forget many of the problems I encountered while making it.

The Superdickery website (an hilarious collection of oddities from the pages of superhero comics, especially Superman and Batman titles between the 50's and the 70's) came in handy, providing many of the jokes and references and allowing me to be, in a nasty way, very faithful to the original material.

A Robin's Dream stayed an "unproduced script" and collected bytes of dust on my hard drive for a couple of years, when I pulled it from my files and decided to go further. Still, it did not make it very far until I decided to submit it to the Guild's Plastieken Plunk contest, where it came to Peter's attention.
My story did not make it to the podium, so I've "parked" it on the internet (it's still visible through my Facebook and Google+ profiles) waiting for a way to promote it.
Finally Peter gave me tha chance to publish it. I had to give some final touches and I was indecided whether to put the Alan Moore quote at the begginig of the story or leave it out. I've decided for the latter, beacuse it felt a little pretentious. Besides, the point of the story was to carry out the spirit of Moore's statement by means of a comic book story. Having the quote as well was a little redundant as if I didn't trust my storytelling skills.
So here we are. The magazine should be available on the App Store and other digital platforms in September.
Peter asked me to provide a note about the author (myself) and a link. Faced again witht he fact I have no website of my own, I've decided to put this blog's address as "the link".

Now I'm kind of obliged to update this as frequently as I can, and in English.


I leave you with an unused sketch for the story.

PS: before you ask me, here's Alan Moore's quote, taken from
"Comic Book Artist" issue 25 , published in 2003

“In a way, I beleive that the majority of super-heroes, if you boil them down, are nothing more than a name and a chest emblem. Let's take Batman, for exapmle. There is no resemlance between the avenging Batman created in the Thirties, the smiling avuncular Batman of the Fifties, the grim/tense/taut Batman of Neal Adams in the Seventies and Frank Miller's dark knight of the Eighties. These are not the same person. The only constant is the name and the chest emblem.
I mean, who cares about continuity, really?”

next time: Alan Moore's kikckstarter campaign or "How I wish I had more money".

Aggiornamenti

Assente da un sacco di tempo.

Non me ne sono stato però con le mani in mano.

Ho terminato le matite (parola grossa), allora correggiamo.
Ho terminato i disegni preliminari per la storia (ancora senza titolo) del Professor Lasson contro il Lupo mannaro.

Per una serie di motivi (che trovate spiegati qui sotto), ho chiesto a Vitalski di farmi avere il resto della sceneggiatura in una volta sola, anziché affidarmi una pagina alla volta man mano che procedevo.
E così è venuto a galla quello che ho sempre sospettato: Vitalski non aveva un piano.
Forse a grandi linee, ma nessuna idea su come strutturare la storia o su come concluderla.
Tanto che mi ha chiesto idee per il finale
Chissà, forse apprezza il mio contributo creativo, o forse ha perso ogni fiducia nell'idea di partenza e non ha il timore di sfancularla con un finale poco adeguato.

Ha comunque raccolto i miei suggerimenti e la conclusione è accettabile e dentro i parametri dell'intero fumetto.
Per me è un gran divertimento e lavoro con grande entusiasmo alle chine delle ultime pagine.

La storia, se così sî può chiamare, è incerta: non c'è plot. L'umorismo stralunato e non c'è alcun investimento emotivo.
È pura dinamica, pura azione.

Per me è stato un gran divertimento lavorare senza riflettere troppo, gettarmi sulla tavola nel modo più veloce possibile: lavorare sul retro di fotocopie, cercando di non abbellire troppo i disegni, decidere la composizione delle ginette d'istinto e cercare di conservare il massimo dell'energia al momento del ripasso a china.

Vediamo come sarà il risultato finale, ormai mancano poche pagine (matite e lettering sono già finiti)
Sembra che sarò in grado di rispettare il deadline auto-imposto di maggio.

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Nel frattempo ho provato anche ad avviare una collaborazione con Lander, un ragazzo di Ghent, che ha ideato un imponente progetto fantascientifico durante un corso di sceneggiatura. Dopo alcuni primi timidi contatti abbiamo potuto incontrarci e parlare della sua idea.
È stata un po' una delusione.
Lander è un aspirante sceneggiatore cinematografico che ha "ripiegato" sui fumetti, riscoperti solo alcuni anni fa grazie a SIN CITY di Miller (opera che ho ridimensionato molto col tempo, anche se comprendo l'importanza di Miller nel panorama fumettistico mondiale e gli sarò eternamente grato per il suo libro-conversazione con Will Eisner) e la sua sceneggiatura mi è parsa troppo piena di difetti per credere nel progetto.

Come critico sono sicuramente troppo esigente e non posso escludere che le mie sceneggiature siano altrettanto difettose come quella di Lander
Ma almeno io credo nelle mie idee e sono disposto a lavorare ad un fumetto in cui credo anche sapendo di fare più errori che decisioni giuste.

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Si è poi fatto vivo Antonio Augugliaro, conoscenza dei lontani tempi (dieci annifa!) in cui lavoravo al Teatro Libero. Antonio è un filmmaker di base a Milano. Ho scoperto il suo canale Youtube temo fa, dove a volte carica alcuni dei suoi corti. Probabilmente stimolato da un "like" fatto ad uno dei suoi recenti video, mi ha contattato per sapere se volevo aiutarlo per un progetto.
Mi ha proposto di adattare a fumetti dei racconti al fine di realizzare unas erie di "motion comics" (una specie di evluzione degli antichi "fumetti in TV" di Supergulp).

Per ora si tratta di realizzare un test di 90 secondi, nella speranza che uno dei canali televisivi per cui lavora gli commissioni un pilota completo.

Anotnio mi ha lasciato carta bianca per l'adattamento, così nelle ultime due settimane ho scritto la mia prima sceneggiatura a fumetti "su commissione".

È stato un esercizio molto utile e persino divertente.
Per ora non posso dire altro.

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Infine, le mie scorribande sul Web mi hanno fatto scoprire tre ottimi siti sui Fumetti

Il sito di Steven Bissette, storico disegnatore di Swamp Thing durante il periodo Moore (o meglio ancora, il periodo Moore/Bissette/Totleben/Veitch), nonché creatore di Taboo, rivista seminale per l'evoluzione dei fumetti dnegli ultimi  trent'anni. Ricco di Spunti, links e saggi sul fumetto americano in genere

Conversazioni sul fumetto, forse l'unico sito serio sui fumetti in Italiano, che raccoglie l'eredità critica lasciata dalle (tante) defunte riviste antologiche come Eureka, Star Magazine, all American Comics, Comic Art.

Inkstuds
essenzialmente un podcast (ma con regolari post testuali o di immagini) dove Robin McConnell ha collezionato (e spero continuerà a collezionare) una serie incredibile di interviste con Autori di fumetti di primo e di secondo piano.

Passatempi cretini

Scrivete la barzelletta più stupida che ricordate (quelle di Pierino vanno benissimo) o, se non avete voglia di scriverla da voi, cercatela su Google.
Una volta in possesso del testo della barzelletta, copiatelo nella clipboard (Ctrl+c o Mela+c) e andate su Google Translate.
Ricopiate la barzlletta nel riquadro (facendo attenzione che lalingua selezionata sia l'Italiano)
Poi cliccate sul tasto per ascotlare il testo.

Fate altrettanto con la traduzione simultanea nella lingua che preferite.