12 April 2011

Comic Art Tuesday: Nowlan, Seth, and Neal Adams!

Ahhh, the book sketch.  Who amongst us wouldn't succumb to the offer of: "Ayeh, I dig yur stuff, wouldyuh drawl uh purty pit-ure innt?" if it meant another sale of that golden publication?

It just so happens that I've been persuaded by three said book deals, and they all happened to be Bat-related.

Kevin Nowlan (Batman)
The world needs more Kevin Nowlan.  What an amazing brush!  He floats into a romantic world of dark realism and then puts in all these goofy people, like his Boy Wonder.  I would love to go for a bigger commission of the Bat family from him.  His faces are so distinctive that it was hard to pass up the opportunity to buy his recent paperback sketchbook collection with the offer of a head sketch.

His inking is wonderful and I see that he's been accompanying Jose Garcia Lopez on recent BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL work and the Metal Men pages of WEDNESDAY COMICS?  Is it overpowering the Don Jose?  Perhaps.  The JGL/ Nowlan work has a unique look- neither JGL nor Nowlan alone create those layouts with those shadows.







Seth (Batman)
The whole wide world needs more Seth.  Seth is the best thing to ever come out of a Canadian time machine, set back some 50 years ago.  I adore his comics, buy every sketchbook or project (or half-completed project.  Hello CLYDE FANS?).  I think you can spot his cartoon work from 100m away.  Luckily, he came to town one day and so I told him just that.

He loves comix and I think he even has a spot in his heart for Super Hero stuff, although I suspect it is the TIMELY and NATIONAL/DC stuff of 70 years ago.  I grabbed two of his book, VERNACULAR DRAWINGS, and had him personalize them for my brother and I.

Bonjour Batman!







Neal Adams (Batman)
Finally, if you grew up in the Seventies reading Batman and you live on the East Coast, there's no one closer to The High Holy Bat than Neal Adams.  There's so much to say about him, his careers, his artwork, and his influence on Batman, that it will take multiple postings.  His insane BATMAN ODYSSEY is worth about three blogs and a dozen clozapine.

Neal's artwork is priced high.  It's lovely stuff.  It's rare, however, that I see something Bat from him that has screamed BUY ME!  This year, Neal started doing profile commissions at cons.  Then, he published a retrospective of his entire career- comics, animation, etc.  THIS is the book I've been waiting for- something that will cover his strip work, the comics, and beyond.

Then I saw a wav movie of him doing a Batman profile in the book.  It was perfect. Exactly the Batman from those BRAVE & BOLD issues.  My brother wrangled a great two-fer deal and lo and behold: I now own a Neal Adams.

Thanks, compadre!
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Unknown12/4/11 22:21

    Ooh! they are all very nice in their own way.

    Is Nowlan the guy who worked on Alan Moores Tomorrow Stories? I like his sharp angular look Shall keep a look out for his work with JGL, both very distinctive styles, that could be interesting.

    I really don't think I have come across Seth before. I like it though!! agreed you could spot his work 100m away... hense me thinking I don't know him??

    Hmmm... that Neil Adams, it is rather sexy! am I jealous of that? you betcha!! for me his Batman from those Brave and the Bolds and his Hal and Oli from Green Lantern and Green Arrow is how I visualise those characters. Perfect! You own a very beautiful book... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Doc12/4/11 22:38

    Yes, that's Kevin Nowlan! Don Jose and Kevin did the KING TUT story in BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL.

    Seth kicks all sorts of ass, Canadian style:

    http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artBio.php?artist=a3dff7dd55a576

    If you see the NEW YORKER, you see him. His esthetic isn't contemporary, but it's not nostalgic or sentimental. I dig.

    Oli and Hal are Denny and Neal. No two ways about it. IF I was to get a Neal Bat-Villain, it would have to be Ra's.

    BRAVE AND BOLD is my most best-est Bat comic and my love of the show is probably going to be the subject of my next posting...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown13/4/11 08:07

    I will keep a look out for him that's for sure.

    Ra's that is an interesting choice.

    I always enjoy the classic Ra's stories but Talia comes into it, Bruce looses his head, Robin feels pushed out etc etc... Selina is where it's at!! or Silver ;)

    I try to catch the show as much as possible but it's a matter of finding it on youtube before it gets pulled down. Rod sent some discs over which are well loved.

    Did you catch the Batmanga episode? what was it like??

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)