Marvel Comics blabbery

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Well, at least bad enough that Steranko cringed for a while if someone showed it to him

mh, Friday, 6 February 2015 01:08 (nine years ago) link

Poor Steranko. When talking about the new colouring of Red Sonja, Frank Thorne said "They raped my Sonja".

Surely everyone agrees that Alex Toth and Mort Meskin look better in black and white?

I think 50s horror comics lose something when they're just black and white but I won't complain; I think Fantagraphics is doing a great job with their EC reprints. The recent EC Archives really blundered by changing the color to a more literal colouring. The originals had something similar to the impressionistic colourful lighting of Bava and Argento films.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 February 2015 01:11 (nine years ago) link

Some people even get torrents of scans from the original comics to avoid bad recoloring jobs. You hear that, big comic companies? Your recolouring is so bad it's creating piracy.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 February 2015 01:18 (nine years ago) link

I gave away that nick fury tpb. Just unreadable.

Οὖτις, Friday, 6 February 2015 01:25 (nine years ago) link

There's a new trade of all the Steranko SHIELD material that came out sometime last year. I haven't seen it so I can't speak for the coloring.

Brodozer Coke Buffet (Old Lunch), Friday, 6 February 2015 02:30 (nine years ago) link

I'd be surprised if they changed their reproduction methods. Don't know why a lot of the bigger publishers are often reluctant to use the type of cleaned up scans everyone else sensibly uses.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 February 2015 03:02 (nine years ago) link

I had no idea about artists reworking those TPB reprints - that is complete horseshit.
Actually I do feel the same way about the B&W reprint volumes. Yes, sometimes they look better, but it always bothers me that it looks completely different as it did on publication.

Nhex, Friday, 6 February 2015 03:12 (nine years ago) link

again, so do the colour ones

oochie wally (clean version) (sic), Friday, 6 February 2015 04:09 (nine years ago) link

i don't disagree

Nhex, Friday, 6 February 2015 06:36 (nine years ago) link

also

Some Tomb Of Dracula reprints (such as the Essential collections) covered up female nipples that were in the originals.
http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.co.uk/2006/09/censored-essentials.html?zx=b452862fc142c0fb
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nhex, Friday, 6 February 2015 06:41 (nine years ago) link

i am indeed shocked that mainstream comics had *gasp* nipples! in them

Nhex, Friday, 6 February 2015 06:47 (nine years ago) link

The censored material first appeared in the black and white Tomb of Dracula magazine, which bypassed Comics Code Authority prohibitions against vampire nipples.

I agree that modern recolouring and 'restoring' of vintage material is on the whole very unsatisfactory - would much rather see reprints shot directly from clean copies of the original comics, as in The Smithsonian Book of Comic Books, or Spiegelman's children's comics anthology. Those huge original art repro books are very nice too, if you can afford them.

Part of the problem is that at the time, Marvel failed to keep decent film of the original artwork (which is of course now scattered far and wide, if it even still exists). DC, by contrast, have much better negatives of their old comics - the reproduction on their black and white reprint Showcase books is far superior to the repro in the Marvel Esssentials, by and large.

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 6 February 2015 08:00 (nine years ago) link

Robert touched on this but it can't be reiterated enough that the hideous recolouring (and NOT recolouring for white paper!) makes basically every Marvel reprint from the '50s to the '80s read worse to current generations, or other people with eyes

― oochie wally (clean version) (sic), Thursday, February 5, 2015 11:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

except for Essentials I guess, which you must also be opposed to?

― oochie wally (clean version) (sic), Thursday, February 5, 2015 11:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

to be honest i thought we were discussing narrative and dialogue. i'm not so bothered about colouring, and while i'd much rather the Essentials volumes to be in colour, if I have to lose that to gain a phone-book's worth of comics at a small price I'm fine with that.

#Research (stevie), Friday, 6 February 2015 09:32 (nine years ago) link

Anyone know if Marvel's Atlas era anthologies will ever go into public domain if they aren't already? Other publishers have reprinted bits of that work but is there some sort of limit on it?

Because Marvel are probably never going to do good reprints of them.
http://ditkocultist.com/2014/01/30/original-art-tales-to-astonish-13-marvel-1960/

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 6 February 2015 13:04 (nine years ago) link

Don't think there's much here that hasn't be said before - and the text seems to be very verbatim - but still some nuggets of interest in John Romita's deposition to the Marvel/Kirby Family lawsuit:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/09/the-john-romita-deposition-for-the-kirby-family-v-marvel-lawsuit/

Thought this bit was particularly interesting:

Q: So what would Stan do with notes or the dialogue in the margins?

JOHN ROMITA: I used to write notes that I thought were clever. I’d say “maybe he should say ‘what’s up’,” you know, something like that.

They sounded clever to me while I was doing the drawing. 3 in the morning everything sounds clever. He invariably would not use them, and I asked him once “why wouldn’t you use — why wouldn’t you let him” — he said something similar. He said, “because I can’t speak in somebody else’s vernacular.” He says, “when I am writing my characters, I am writing in Peter Parker’s personality and Aunt May’s personality and I write the captions in my personality. If I start putting your personality in there, I am going to confuse the reader.” So he used to -he told me — he invariably did not use anything that was in the margins that was cleverly suggested by the artists, because he said he did not want to stray from his normal approach. He had a dialogue going with the reader. Saying “dear reader, this is your editor speaking right now.” He used to do that. It used to drive me crazy. I used to tell him “you are puncturing the illusion.” It’s like opening a door in the theater and letting the sunlight in and everybody realizes they are watching a movie now. I said “you are ruining” — he said, “it doesn’t matter. I am talking to my readers.”

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Friday, 6 February 2015 18:08 (nine years ago) link

I'd buy the Miller Daredevils as b&w Essentials if they existed, as the recolouring in the collected versions is atrocious.

Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 7 February 2015 00:43 (nine years ago) link

agreed; i'm perfectly happy with the floppies

the plight of y0landa (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 7 February 2015 01:55 (nine years ago) link

Something that often looks really brilliant: black and white with newly added grey tones.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 7 February 2015 15:14 (nine years ago) link

i wonder how the coloring in those TPBs is compared to the stuff on Marvel Unlimited. Do they put the redone stuff up on there?

Nhex, Sunday, 8 February 2015 04:15 (nine years ago) link

Just got to Neal Adams on X-Men. One of the best draftsmen thus far but also one of the absolute worst storytellers. A series of pin-ups do not a coherent story make bud, bud.

Brodozer Coke Buffet (Old Lunch), Sunday, 8 February 2015 08:01 (nine years ago) link

Oh, phone. Please suck a fuck.

Brodozer Coke Buffet (Old Lunch), Sunday, 8 February 2015 08:02 (nine years ago) link

i wonder how the coloring in those TPBs is compared to the stuff on Marvel Unlimited. Do they put the redone stuff up on there?

Yeah, the covers are the same, but the contents are recoloured (for Daredevil at least). It's annoying.

Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 8 February 2015 19:20 (nine years ago) link

I can't remember, are there any members of the Council of Reeds left from Hickman's FF run, or did they all get killed or merged into a giant green head

mh, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:09 (nine years ago) link

am I the only one who is inordinately excited about the idea behind A-Force

"Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:17 (nine years ago) link

looks cool!

I'm wondering how Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers will flush out

mh, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:28 (nine years ago) link

am I the only one who is inordinately excited about the idea behind A-Force

plz tell me this is a reboot of Atari Force

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:32 (nine years ago) link

oh wait that was a DC property wasn't it :(

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:32 (nine years ago) link

"She's actually a cosmological event -- a pocket universe that gained self-consciousness during the radical upheaval of 'Secret Wars.'" Inspired by Q from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Singularity is "learning about the human race as an outsider," according to Wilson.

lol rmde

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 20:34 (nine years ago) link

"that pocket universe has breasts!"

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 20:34 (nine years ago) link

this is like the fourth "universe personified" Marvel has had!

mh, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 20:35 (nine years ago) link

how is that (adjectiveless) all-female X-Men book doing?

Nhex, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 20:46 (nine years ago) link

this is like the fourth "universe personified" Marvel has had!

Yeah I mean Captain Universe is currently an Avenger, this is nothing new.

how is that (adjectiveless) all-female X-Men book doing?

It's a top 100 book but afaict sales have been in a steady decline over the past year.

"Go pet your dog" is the name of my dog (DJP), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 21:53 (nine years ago) link

not to mention the Beyonder, who... something something secret wars

mh, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 21:54 (nine years ago) link

ftr I'm not as eye-rolly at things like Eternity or Captain Universe as I am at the idea that a universe has a gender

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 21:56 (nine years ago) link

lady pocket universe's drive like THIS

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 21:57 (nine years ago) link

gods having genders is stupid, sure

mh, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 22:00 (nine years ago) link

um, today's Spider-Man comic has Peter Porker saying "Face it pal, you just got hamboozled!"

lol

mh, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 15:25 (nine years ago) link

am I the only one who is inordinately excited about the idea behind A-Force

plz tell me this is a reboot of Atari Force

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:32 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh wait that was a DC property wasn't it :(

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 19:32 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Think Atari Force was actually owned by Atari, and that's why those comics have never been reprinted (which is a shame - beautiful Garcia Lopez a/work on those early issues).

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 15:28 (nine years ago) link

well, funny thing: https://archive.org/details/atariforcecomics#collection-title

the plight of y0landa (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 15:30 (nine years ago) link

shame about the marvel micronauts series for the same reason, and that's a series that was very dear to my heart. It had its longeurs but there were several stretches where mantlo caught fire (not just the initial run with M Golden).

a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 15:54 (nine years ago) link

Yeah, it's unfortunate that, between that and ROM, Mantlo cornered the market on popular late-'70s/early-'80s Marvel titles that will likely never be reprinted.

Brodozer Coke Buffet (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 16:08 (nine years ago) link

Well, him and Moench, I guess.

Brodozer Coke Buffet (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 16:10 (nine years ago) link

re: Moench are you referring to Kung Fu...? I follow Diversions of the Groovy Kind religiously and he's always putting up issues of that, and given that he p much sticks to stuff that's never reprinted I was wondering what the deal was there.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 16:38 (nine years ago) link

It's because Fu Manchu is still somehow under copyright.

a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 16:55 (nine years ago) link

jeez, is that why they never reprinted Master of Kung Fu? Damn.

Nhex, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 17:07 (nine years ago) link

you'd think the copyright holder would be falling all over themselves to shed that most racist invention of the pulp era. But yeah. (I'm an HPL and REH fan despite their noxious facets, but I don't ever expect to reread Sax Rohmer).

a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 17:18 (nine years ago) link

Rohmer's Fu Manchu supporting characters Nayland Smith and Petrie also turn up in MOKF, tho I imagine their value as 'properties' are negligible.

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 11 February 2015 18:50 (nine years ago) link

There's another 60s Marvel repeated annoyance!

"Hey, look at Harry Osborn's Fu Manchu moustache" "You like my Fu Manchu moustache Peter?"

Don't forget Mary Jane's outtasight "ginchy" new haircut.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 19:05 (nine years ago) link

bring back "ginchy"

mh, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 19:06 (nine years ago) link


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