tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post7566304336556457483..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: Force in Focus: Star Wars #39Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-65772461825196482282016-07-17T23:30:29.704-05:002016-07-17T23:30:29.704-05:00I hadn't thought about the implications of Car...I hadn't thought about the implications of Carmine Infantino skipping EMPIRE, but then I guess I just kind of figured there was some sort of deadline thing involved, rather than any attempt to snub him (conscious or not).<br /><br />Nonetheless, I love this artwork. Al Williamson was born to draw Star Wars -- though I find I like him on almost everything. I have those old Dark Horse trades of the SW newspaper strip I've mentioned before, and I recently picked up the relatively recent collections of the SECRET AGENT CORRIGAN strip Goodwin mentions in the column you posted. I would love to get hold of his FLASH GORDON material as well. Apparently there was a collection of it a few years back, but it seems to be out of print and expensive.<br /><br />It occurs to me -- I wonder if any of these Marvel comics actually <b>were</b> worth $2,500 to anybody?Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-67745446591701276682016-07-06T01:14:35.872-05:002016-07-06T01:14:35.872-05:00The cover to this issue, somewhat unfortunately, i...<i>The cover to this issue, somewhat unfortunately, is the first of the series to feature one of the infamous yellow banner ads that muddy up the top third of numerous Marvel Comics covers around this time, including the seminal conclusion to the "Dark Phoenix Saga" over in X-Men (which was on sale at the same time as this issue).</i><br /><br />A lot has been said of UXM #137 missing the Comics Code stamp, which has been officially attributed to the yellow banner hogging up the space for it and having nothing to do with Jean Grey committing a suicide in the issue. They point you to CAPTAIN AMERICA #249 of the same cover month also with the banner and also missing the CC stamp. Except, the said CAP issue also has a villain committing willing suicide by Captain, whereas here they seem to have had little problem finding the space for the stamp telling that the contents abide to the Comics Code. The ASM #208 of the same month and banner has the stamp, too. FF #222 has both, so does AVENGERS #199.<br /><br />Shenanigans, I tell you.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79672396840491763702016-07-05T19:32:24.235-05:002016-07-05T19:32:24.235-05:00Shout-out to Glynis Wein/Oliver, by the way. Just ...<br>Shout-out to Glynis Wein/Oliver, by the way. Just look at all that white, those secondary colors and pastels — everything’s blue, orange, purple, green, brown, yellow, pink; there are just one or two spots of red in the whole issue. I have a few quibbles about how a few pages don’t come together as a whole, but overall it’s just masterful stuff, particularly given (but also, in large part, made possible/necessary by) technical limitations of the era, whose flat rendering and moody, as opposed to literal, interpretation is to my eyes vastly preferable to the sort of modern recolored work you wrote about here last year.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-77465309152890380102016-07-05T19:29:14.808-05:002016-07-05T19:29:14.808-05:00// the infamous yellow banner ads that muddy up th...<br><i>// the infamous yellow banner ads that muddy up the top third of numerous Marvel Comics covers around this time //</i><br /><br />I hated them so much. <i>So much.</i><br /><br /><i>// Luke first appears watching a meteorite falling to the ground through his macrobinoculars //</i><br /><br />Or as we 20th- and 21st-century Earth people might know them: “binoculars”!<br /><br /><i>// Infantino is the book's regular artist, with more issues of the series under his belt than anyone else, and … it also would have helped add to that feeling that </i>Empire<i> is just the latest adventure for the characters, the next story in the series //</i><br /><br />I’m really sympathetic towards this, especially when you put that last part the way you did. Yet to both support and refute your point, Williamson & Garzon’s style and heavy usage of photo-reference pretty definitively says to me that <i>this</i> is the real stuff, and I didn’t even realize how glad I’d be to see the change; given how Infantino’s designs for characters new to the series have been so reminiscent of his Silver Age sci-fi work at DC, full of skintight costumes and heroic physiques and bold swatches of single color, one could hardly get a starker contrast within the same genre. I guess the ideal scenario would’ve been to let Infantino adapt the movie’s events for the monthly series while running Williamson & Garzon’s version as a special, separate <i>Empire</i> mini or standalone treasury edition, but although I could see that happening today, in the way there’s an audience for <i>manga</i>-style adaptations of the films, it certainly wasn’t going to happen back then. I find a lot to enjoy in what Infantino’s been doing but it never feels like <i>Star Wars</i> to me, so I’m happy to see Williamson & Garzon’s more illustrative, photo-reference-laden approach. The only problem is that the stories drawn in Infantino’s style are going to seem even less canonical going forward, both for coming on the heels of this switch and because now, with the release of <i>Empire</i> truly making <i>Star Wars</i> an ongoing film series, it can’t help but be more apparent that the monthly comics are merely incidental riffs on the actual saga.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-11063920320376102672016-07-04T17:31:45.199-05:002016-07-04T17:31:45.199-05:00IMO, the most beautiful Star Wars artwork until Ma...IMO, the most beautiful Star Wars artwork until Marvel gets the license back. Along with the monthly adaptation, I've also got a beaten-up Treasury Edition of ESB; IIRC some errors in it are corrected in the floppies (Yoda is originally mis-colored) as the Treasury was probably released concurrent with the movie. Looks great at actual size.Erik J Kreffelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16600501989135593427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-3201220597764276702016-07-04T07:33:56.640-05:002016-07-04T07:33:56.640-05:00The adaptation also adds a scene of Luke receiving...The adaptation also adds a scene of Luke receiving facial surgery.angmc43@hotmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379700547226493861noreply@blogger.com