Martinex1: Today we have two questions based on a poll I posted recently on twitter. Here is the poll and the results.
Because twitter had limitations regarding the number of choices and options, let me pose the question to you a little differently:
QUESTION 1: Who is on your comic book artist Mount Rushmore? Name four artists that you think should be on the monument. It is open to any artists from any genre of comics. Tell us why you chose your selections. Here are some options (this list is definitely not all inclusive):
Jack Kirby, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, John Byrne, Wally Wood, John Buscema, Frank Miller, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr., Joe Kubert, Neal Adams, Will Eisner, Jim Steranko, Gil Kane, George Perez, Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Bill Sienkiewicz, Marie Severin, Mort Drucker, Joe Shuster, Carmine Infantino, Todd McFarlane, Bill Everett, Sal Buscema, Paul Smith, Don Heck, George Tuska, Michael Golden, Carl Barks, Mike Ploog, Jim Aparo, Amanda Connor, Bill Finger, Frank Frazetta, Moebius, Fiona Staples, Walt Simonson, Bob Bolling, Stan Goldberg, Harry Lucey, Ramona Fradon, Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo, Frank Robbins, Nick Cardy, Bernie Wrightson, etc.
QUESTION 2: Who is on your comic book writer Mount Rushmore? Name four writers that you would honor in this way. Again, it can be a writer from any genre of comic book, and again tell us why you made the choice you did. Consider anybody that has written comics including but not limited to:
Stan Lee, Bob Haney, Chris Claremont, Al Feldstein, Grant Morrison, Jim Shooter, Edmond Hamilton, Art Spiegelman, Doug Moench, Roger Stern, Mark Waid, Otto Binder, Jack Kirby, Bill Mantlo, Roy Thomas, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Ann Nocenti, Bill Mantlo, Alan Moore, Gardner Fox, Joe Gill, J,M, DeMatteis, Gail Simone, Gaiman, Peter David, Denny O'Neil, Jim Starlin, Mark Gruenwald, Kurt Busiek, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Jeph Loeb, Don McGregor, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, etc.
Cheers all!
c
12 comments:
Alongside the late great "King" Kirby on the artistic Rushmore, I'd add Will Eisner, Steve Ditko and Neal Adams! (John Buscema and Joe Kubert just missed the cut.)
My four writers are Archie Goodwin, Paul S. Newman, Gardner Fox, and Joe Gill. (I went for writers who were extremely durable and in the case of Goodwin never wrote a bad story I've ever come across.)
A timely topic. So many preeminent comics creators have passed on in recent years (let alone in recent days), it reinforces to me the importance of letting those we admire know how they have influenced us. That's one of the big reasons I try to hit a convention each year: to meet, and thank, a few of those creators.
As for the question: man, it's excruciating to limit it to four choices each. There are soooo many I'd add, but to fit four, I'll go with historical influence and personal preference.
Artist: Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Wally Wood, John Byrne
Writer: Stan Lee, Gardner Fox, Jim Shooter and Carl Barks (I sort of cheated , but didn't, on Barks- I wanted to put him with artists, but figured as he wrote those brilliant Duck tales too, he could qualify as a writer).
My personal Rushmores:
Artist:
Byrne, Starlin, Perez, J. Buscema
Writer:
Shooter, Claremont, Miller, Moore
These are based on my own personal favourite stories, certainly a more historically-minded list would include Lee, Kirby et al. But these guys made my childhood great.
-david p.
Great exercise here, Marti--!
Hmm-- I wonder if it's even possible to keep the choices loosely in the framework of the Mt Rushmore model? A couple of Founding Fathers, one later remarkable leader, and a charismatic "of the moment" individual. . . whose legacy might not be as immortal as assumed at the time (although I'm still a big fan, there, Teddy R-- make no mistake!).
With that in mind, Writers first:
Jerry Siegel-- creator of Superman! Doesn't get more "Founding" than that, I daresay!
Stan Lee-- Yep, even with the detractors that have become more strident in recent years. It's an obvious choice. Stan's on it, or NO ONE's on it, y'know?
Roy Thomas-- both as a writer of multiple titles AND for keeping Marvel's 2nd wave vibrant and alive and forward-moving. I did wrestle with both Chris Claremont (X-Men dominance of EVERYTHING), and Gerry Conway (Death of Gwen, etc) as candidates for this slot.
Alan Moore-- A writer that (personal tastes aside) really changed the direction of the comics industry almost single-handedly. Man, he's not gonna look good on the side of a mountain, though.
Artists--hmm:
Joe Shuster-- Superman again!
Jack Kirby
Nnnnnneal Adams-- Gnrgh! This was a tough call (putting him over John Buscema basically), but I think Adams' style- often referred to as "photo-realistic" at the time- had the edge in being influential across the industry, in spite of the fact that Adams was considerably less prolific, and didn't stay in the mainstream nearly as long as Big John.
John Byrne-- Again, there's plenty of criticism to be found-- but the man was EVERYTHING in comics for a couple of decades-- his name was as big a draw as could be found, regardless of what the material was.
Predictable choices? Sure-- but I figure that's exactly what's appropriate for a mountain-sized monument, yeah? Not really a spot for over-looked geniuses or under-appreciated talent-- but an exercise where likely consensus would carry the day. . . yeah? Maybe?
HB
Gosh... this is harder than asking me my favorite fruit or color!!!
Pre-1960s artists: Lou Fine, Bill Everett, Reed Crandall, Will Eisner, and Jack Cole. This is absurdly tough. I mean, I can change the names right now and still be discontented!
1960 - 1970 artists: John Romita, Steranko, Colan, Ditko, John Buscema.
Writers: Eisner, Jack Cole, Stan Lee and...?
Cheers!
Mount Rushmore of Artists:
1. Jack Kirby
2. Gil Kane
3. John Byrne
4. George Perez
Mount Rushmore of Writers:
1. Stan Lee
2. Roy Thomas
3. Steve Gerber
4. Peter David
Oh man, this is tough. So tough, that I have to cheat!
For an artist/cartoonist Mt. Rushmore, sticking with comic books but not strips (which might be Windsor McCay, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, Milton Caniff) I'll say: Jack Kirby, Carl Barks, Will Eisner, & Robert Crumb. That covers the breadth of the medium and its biggest innovators, I think.
For MY Mt. Rushmore, however, I end up with Jack Kirby (the King, bar none), Bill Sienkiewicz (my single favorite comic book artist), Gene Colan (my other single favorite comic book artist - I can have two single faves because I am on my third Mt. Rushmore, and blatantly cheating), and... um...
either Neal Adams, Joe Kubert, JH Williams III, Walt Simonson's, or Gerorge Perez... oy... I keep coming back to Joe Kubert for the final spot, but Adams was close.
My writers' Mt. Rushmore is surpisingly easy: Steve Gerber, Alan Moore, Peter David, and Grant Morrison. David's writing got me into comics over in Hulk, Moore's a juggernaut whose contributions are profound, Morrison is a writer who is almost always interesting, and Steve Gerber is like Moore and Morrison crossed with Lee and Thomas. If I were going by historical importance, I'd have include Stan the Man, but I'm a bit removed from his heyday. That's not to say I don't like his writing (or Siegel's, O'Neil's, Haney's, etc.), it's just not my favorite. Chris Claremont, Steve Enhlehart, Roger Stern, and Christopher Priest are my back-up Mt. Rushmore in case the first one crumbles.
- Mike Loughlin
. . . The cover for THE OWL, up there, btw, is just KILLIN' me--! Less credibility than a Hostess Ad, for heaven's sake!
HB
It's hard to pick just four (and if you ask me next week, my answer might be different); for artists I'll go with guys I've consistently loved over the years: John Buscema, George Perez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Mike Grell (who could also qualify as a writer). Just missing the cut ... Jazzy Johnny, Miller, Byrne, Adams, Colan, and some "newer" artists, Ron Frenz, Ron Randall and Alex Saviuk.
For writers it's even harder, since I tend to gravitate more to writing than art, but I'll go with Doug Moench (for MOKF alone he'd probably make the list, plus all his other stuff); Roger Stern (classic Spidey and Avengers runs); Peter David (I've liked pretty much everything of his that I've read); and Wolfman, who turned out a lot of top quality stories over the years. Just missing the cut: Conway, Nocenti, DeMatteis, Claremont, Thomas, Busiek, Fleisher, Dixon, Levitz, and writer/artists like Byrne and Miller. All of them did great work at some point, but for me their stuff wasn't consistently brilliant so I can't quite put them in the top tier.
Artists
Jack Kirby - no explanation required
Joe Kubert - His work on Tarzan was a big part of my early reading. I usually bought anything that he was drawing.
Will Eisner - really no explanation required for him, but I came to admire his work much later when I saw how many later artists imitated his work
George Perez - Same with Kubert. Everything he did was so good. I hardly missed an issue. He could draw every character.
Writers
Stan Lee - d'uh
Bill Finger - because he was responsible for so much that I love about my favorite character, The Batman
Frank Miller - I probably read comics a little bit longer because of his work with DD and Batman
Gardner Fox - I grew up on reprints of his stories from the 60's and many from the 40's that I had no idea that he scripted.
Artists historic;
Washington- Richard Outcult (started it all)
Jefferson- Windsor McCay (founding father)
Lincoln- Will Eisner (great cartoonist and comic book artist)
Roosevelt- Jack Kirby (small in stature but carried a big stick)
Artists personal;
John Byrne
George Perez
Neal Adams
John Buscema
Writers
Stan Lee- His captions in the silver age are a joy to read.
John Byrne- Those FF stories are incredible.
Roger Stern- It just seems everything I read of his I like.
Steve Englehart- So many great runs. Very diverse.
I've thought about this for most of the weekend and I think I have my choices... finally.
For the artists:
Jack Kirby - his groundbreaking work in creating the Marvel Universe
Gil Kane - the artist on the first Spider-Man comics I bought and we're looking up noses
John Byrne - he made the 80s the 80s, at Marvel and DC
Todd McFarlane - the 90s artist. The first "Superstar", if you will
For the writers:
Stan Lee - Stan's the Man, I know, because he told me.
Roy Thomas - he took all those great Lee/Kirby characters and made them live
Chris Claremont - based on sheer volume, he's on
Frank Miller - he made comics "unfun" again!!!
(Every night I have the same old dream
'bout you and me and what's in between
So many changes, so many lies
Try to run, try to hide
From everything that I feel inside
But I can't escape you, or your frozen eyes...
Searching in the darkness
Fading out of sight
Love was here and gone like a thief in the night...
Stone Cold
And I thought knew you so well
Stone Cold
Can't break away from your spell
Another dark and empty night
It was wrong I wanna make it right
But you are so distant, so far away
Your words like ice fall on the ground
Breaking the silence without a sound
Oh familiar strangers, with nothing to say
Searching in the darkness
Fading out of sight
Love was here and gone like a thief in the night
Stone Cold...
And I thought I knew you so well...
Stone Cold...
I can't break away from your spell...
You leave me Stone Cold
Searching in the darkness
Fading out of sight
Love was here and like a thief in the night
Stone Cold...
And I thought I knew you so well
You Stone Cold... yeah
I can't break away from your spell
You Stone Cold... baby
I thought I knew you so well
You're Stone cold... Ice cold...
Can't break away from your spell
(You put me in the deep freeze)
(Oh baby don't you leave me)
(Stone... Cold, your leavin' me cold)
Stone Cold... I thought I knew you so well
Stone Cold... Can't break away from your spell).
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