Comic Book Stars
When you mention comics most people think of Superman and Batman, or the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-man. Perhaps some people think first of Amazing Tales and Weird Tales. These are all classic titles from the Golden Age of Comics, but the modern version, usually given the more up-market name of ‘graphic novel’, is far different. Modern graphic novels are usually aimed at adults, not at kids, and can be dark and gloomy, even tragic: think Art Spiegelman’s Maus, about Jewish people trapped in Poland as the Nazis march in; or 30 Days of Night, about vampires massacring all the inhabitants of an isolated town.
Usually the writer of the graphic novel is the king of the format (most writers, for whatever reason, are men). Some of the really big names are Neil Gaiman, who wrote Stardust, the book and graphic novel from which the recent film was adapted, and Alan Moore, author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, which were also made into films.
The illustrators usually get given second fiddle: their names appear after the author’s in the credits, and are often completely ignored by some readers. On the other hand, lovers of great cartoon art soon begin to recognise the names of good artists, along with their individual styles. They can build up their own reputations and in some cases, it is their names, not that of the writers, that sell the books.
When great art accompanies great writing you have a best-selling format. Alan Moore’s work has benefited from excellent artists. His magical, fantastical series Promethea, about a muse of the imagination, is a classic example. J.H. Williams, Mick Gray, Jeromy Cox and Todd Klein have illustrated the story perfectly, and incidentally, I loved this jewellery of Promethea’s!
Similar Posts:
Byzantine Art : For anyone seeking London teaching jobs in art…
Dancing to be free : Interpretive dance is a form of dance…
The Museum of Childhood : After school at the Museum of…
Vincent and the myth of the artist : I was at a wedding the…
Comments are closed!