Redartz: This week we're discussing, and looking at, one of the Bronze age's most noted artists (actually, one of the greatest figures in the comics industry): Neal Adams. Phenomenal artist, talented writer, creator's rights activist- Neal has been quite busy over the last several decades. Few comic companies over that time span have missed out on presenting at least a few examples of Neal Adams work. And few comic fans there are who don't admire his fine pencils and inks.
Now most of the discussing is going to be up to you all. Neal is providing the visual inspiration, and I will set the stage. Some of these will be familiar to you, a couple perhaps less so. Enjoy...
Neal Adams inks over John Buscema pencils
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| Conan the Barbarian #44 |
Painted cover by Neal Adams
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| Emergency! #1 |
Neal Adams inks over Gil Kane pencils
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| Savage Tales #4 |
Neal Adams pencils and inks
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| Strange Adventures 215 |
Neal Adams inks over Michael Golden pencils
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| Micronauts #7 |
Neal Adams pencils and inks
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| House of Mystery #190 |
Neal Adams pencils, Dick Giordano inks
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| Detective Comics #404 |
Neal Adams pencils and inks
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| Tower of Shadows Special #1 |
Neal Adams pencils and inks
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| Ms. Mystic #1 |
Neal Adams pencils, Tom Palmer inks
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| Avengers #93 |
And finally, here's something many of you may not have seen . This is an example of Neal's work , early in his career, at Archie comics. This page dates from 1959. I wondered for years what his Archie work looked like, and I recently broke down and picked up this book off ebay, just to satisfy my curiosity.
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| Laugh Comics #107 |
Hope you found these images interesting. Neal has a pretty large body of work, including many classic runs: Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Avengers, X-Men, Batman, and so on. What are your favorite Adams books? Which pencillers do you think he complements best? What inkers are most appealing over Neal's pencils? Time for you to chime in with all your thoughts about one of comicdom's greats.
19 comments:
I had NO idea Neal did so much (first rate) inking!
Boy, he's an interesting fella, he is-- but oh golly. . . the whole Expanding Earth Theory thing. . .
I'll chime in a bit later--- but I DID want to shamelessly let the cat out of the bag and toss out a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our dear colleague Edo, eh? Safe in the sweet embrace of middle-age, yessir!
HB
Neal Adams, hmmm. What can we possibly say about this guy that hasn’t already been said?
Well, let’s start with some of his movie posters. I did some googling just now and OMG how did I never realize that he did that iconic 1973 WESTWORLD movie poster? Looking at it now, it’s so freaking obvious. Also, the wicked cool Richard Corben PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE poster? Based on a sketch by Neal. Never knew that, never even would have guessed. I’m so used to associating him with lower-end movies like HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS and GRIZZLY and SISTER STREET FIGHTER...
Paperback covers — I was never really into Tarzan as a kid. Always thought of him as that dumb “Me Tarzan, you Jane” Weissmuller version. But I got lured into reading Edgar Rice Burroughs around ‘74 because of those awesome Frazetta covers, so I loved Pellucidar and The Moon Maid and the Land That Time Forgot, but still wasn’t interested in the Ape Man. And then Ballantine hired Neal to do a set of all-new covers for the Tarzan books and suddenly I had something new to spend my lunch money on. They’re all great but the TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE cover gets extra points for his absolutely brilliant visualization of the Pellucidarian “sky”.
Cover paintings for Marvel — SAVAGE TALES, MONSTERS UNLEASHED, etc. That Billy Jack cover on DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU blew my mind back in the day.
My first Neal Adams comic: a GL/GA back-up strip in FLASH 219.
My favorite Neal Adams comic : CONAN 37. Nothing else even comes close.
I wish DC hadn’t allowed him to digitally re-color his Batman stuff for those recent collections. I would have bought ‘em all. I flip through them every now and then at my LCS — aaaaannnnd, NOPE.
- b.t.
...how come I always get singled out on my birthday around here?
On to more important things: yeah, Neal Adams is indeed a great inker, as well as penciler, although I think it's been quite some time since he's inked a full story over somebody else's pencils. In that regard, I think some of his best inking work can be found in those Conan stories noted by Red.
On the other side, I don't think I'll be very original when I say that I think Giordano and Palmer have done the best inking of Adams' pencils.
I had long known that Adams did some Archie work early on, but I'd never seen it until now. He did a pretty good job of channeling Harry Lucey.
My favorite Adams books/stories? I'd have to go with his run on X-men with Thomas and Palmer, and his Batman stories written by Denny O'Neil, esp. "Half an Evil" (the Two-Face story from Batman #234) and "Joker's Five-Way Revenge" (Batman #251).
Since b.t. mentioned the Tarzan paperback cover art from the late '70s, I have to say that I consider those the best Tarzan covers ever done.
I just have to push back a bit on one aspect, or rather question the contention that Adams is a 'talented' writer. Pretty much everything I've read that he's written has run the gamut from entirely unremarkable (Ms. Mystic) to not-in-a-good-way bonkers (e.g., Skateman). I've also read some scanned samples from his more recent output, like the infamous Batman Odyssey, which is basically beautifully drawn barely comprehensible gibberish.
Annnd b.t., you beat me to the wire on CONAN 37 yet AGAIN! Ha-- daggone it! Just a flippin' great S&S comic at every level (and I'm not even a hardcore fan of the genre'--).
I'll just come right out and say that, of course, I've always loved his X-Men and (all-too-few) Avengers issues. I know they're obvious choices, but there ya are--- ! I think the X-Men issues highlight what particularly set Adams' "photo-realistic style" apart from even his A-list peers like John Buscema and John Romita--- because in that book we were given foes like The Living Monolith and Sauron at that point. And even in the best of hands, it is hard to imagine them coming off with the air of legitimacy and plausibility that Neal Adams breathes into them on the page. They aren't just good-looking comic pictures, they are very much alive in Neal's hands. When you've got a character as conceptually doofy as a mutated were-pterosaur (basically), who visually reads as an individual with a lot going on inside, your artist is doing his job DAMN well. . .
HBSon, at the Baltimore Comicon a few years ago, got me an autographed, hand-colored, laminated print of a Hulk sketch from Mr. Adams, which I just adore. Def not his A-game work, but a beloved artifact nevertheless. And he said that Neal was surprisingly friendly and engaging at the booth--- which was nice to hear, as I believe he has a mixed reputation along those lines. But-- tough to be a superstar in ANY field, I have no doubt!
HB
Happy birthday Edo, but c'mon... whats not to like about Batman Odyssey?
It has Batman on a pterodactyl! What could be more comics than that? Who needs yet another serious Batbook for mature readers?
Enjoyed the gibberish of Neal's Superman: Coming of the Supermen and recent(ish) Deadman too, although when it comes to his work as a writer I never liked Skateman either (hey, I'm not bonkers).
Ok, Neal's art isn't quite what it was back in the days of his amazing Superman v Muhammed Ali crossover, but I'd rather my fave comic book creators aged crazily (see also: Jack Kirby, Alan Moore and Dave Sim) than became boring old pros going through the motions.
Artist, writer, and then theres Neal's contribution to geological science and our understanding of the Earth... He's a true renaissance man.
-sean
Ohhhhh yer killin' me w/ the last one, there, Sean--- !
(ha!)
HB
Adams magazine covers for Marvel were amazing. And think, Savage Sword of Conan 14 might have been up there with Conan 37 has it not been for Marvel's crime of massacring the art with the rushed Tribe inks.
Spirit of 64
HI Red, Great post!
Adams is truly a talent and set a high standard for comics!
Quick question... why didn't you post a page from his most famous work: the GA-GL series? Do you consider it Silver Age by chance? Just askin... Cheers!
Happy Birthday Edo!!! :)
Ok on now to Mr.Adams - yeah I quite like his 'photo-realistic' style. The best example is his work on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, although I first encountered his work on the X-men, specifically issue #57, where they encounter the Sentinels and Larry Trask. Man, that was a revelation!
Mike 'still trying to figure out what my mutant power is' from Trinidad & Tobago.
OMG-- Mike from T & T-! If you've been popping in lately, I have somehow overlooked it--- how nice to see. . . hear. . . READ you--- ha!
And yes-- that Sentinels arc was reprinted in Giant-Size X-Men #2 (now a teeny collector's item all its own--- for a reprint, yet---). De-LIGHTED that I picked it up off the drug store rack on a whim, 'way back when. Am I remembering correctly that the penciling credit on the splash page of one of those issues said something like, "Introducing" (or Featuring?) "-the penciling wizardry of Neal Adams!"--?
And--- that last pages of the "Jet Crucifix" story in GL/GA #89. Where we can let go of the pencil technique in order to appreciate the brilliant, sequential visual story-telling. The destruction of the Jet as a raging afterthought. . . wow. . .
HB
b.t.- As you stated, Adams was phenomenal at providing great covers for the b/w magazines. He did many for Charlton as well. Wonder if he ever did a cover for TV Guide?
And yes, Conan 37 was a gem.
Edo- hope you enjoyed your birthday! As for why it's noted here- it's only natural that such a momentous event be noted amongst the cognoscenti (sorry, channeling a bit of ol' Stan there).
Regarding the Adams "Archie" example, your Harry Lucey comparison seems apt. Lucey was great with vividly expressive faces, and in our page Neal does great on Archie's Dad (looking with consternation at his shaving brush)...
HB- Great point about Neal's ability to make the most far-out concepts and subjects appear convincing on the four color page. And your signed print sounds great, I can't think of that many instances when Adams rendered the Jolly Green Giant. Incidentally, I bought an signed Avengers print from Neal at a con a couple years ago, and he seemed quite pleasant to me as well...
Charlie- glad you like the post! As for my choices, I generally tried to pick some less familiar pages and covers, but obviously some of the above are quite famed. His
GL/GA run was deseverdly legendary.
Mike from TnT- great to hear from you! You mention how you first encountered Neal's work on Green Lantern. Made me consider where I first saw his work: on the covers of several Superman issues , around 202-210. Nothing against Curt Swan, but those Adams covers really stood out from the pack.
The Great Neal Adams! Such eye candy anytime I see his work.
Unfortunately my buying off the rack years of '75-'80 didn't have many samples from me to choose from, so most of my enjoyment from him was after the fact.
I remember an Epic Illustrated story he did, and a couple of years ago got the Showcase Presents Green Lantern #5 in which I am constantly referencing for art advice!
Speaking of X-Men #57, about 25 years ago I got that issue as a Birthday gift. The cover is pretty beat up but the innards are luscious. How tough was the competition that a Neal Adams X-Men can get canceled?!
And anyone that inspires John Byrne, well...
Killraven, re: X-men drawn by Adams (and Palmer) getting cancelled. Yeah, from our later perspective, this seems unthinkable, but apparently sales on X-men had been flagging even before Adams came on to do the art and his, and Roy's, best efforts weren't enough to save it from the axe.
There's also the fact that not everyone was on board with Adams' art back in the late 1960s, strange as that may seem to us now. I recall reading a letters page from X-men not long after Adams came on (it was posted on some comics blog many years ago), in which one fan complained about how awful and weird the art is, and demanding the return of Werner Roth or Don Heck or someone like that. Go figure.
As for Byrne, I think I've read an interview with him somewhere in which he stated that he was mainly inspired by Kirby and Ditko, although Adams' influence can definitely be seen. Personally, I think of Byrne's style as sort of an amalgamation of Adams, Ditko and Kirby.
I tend to have mixed feelings about Neal Adams. I love his work on The Avengers and the very first Killraven story. He also did some great covers. But I could never get into his work on the X-Men. For some reason, everyone looked oddly stretched and rubbery in it. Having said that, he's clearly a master of his art.
And happy birthday, Edo.
Steve:
I have mixed feelings as well. Oddly, my view of his Marvel work is almost diametrically opposed to yours! I like his X-Men just fine but never really cared for his Avengers. For me, that long, lean anatomy looked great on Batman and GL but feels really weird on Thor, Cap and especially Iron Man.
Part of my discomfort may be that I never saw his Avengers comics in my Early Fan days. GIANT-SIZE X-MEN 2 came along when I was still in my Impressionable stage. By the time the Kree/Skrull War stuff was reprinted in those Baxter books, I’d had a full fifteen years or so of strongly associating Adams mostly with DC. Plus, people had been raving about his Avengers run for so long, that when I finally saw it, I think I was a little under-whelmed. If I’d seen them when I was 12 or 13, probably would have been a whole ‘nother story.
- b.t.
Sad news today, Denny O'Neil has passed on. Dennis worked famously with Neal Adams on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, and had a long and productive career. Rest well, Dennis.
Damn. I knew he’d been ill for awhile, so his passing isn’t entirely a shock, but still very sad. R.I.P., sir.
b.t.
Yep, saw the news earlier today. Very sad to hear this. He was a titan of the Bronze Age in particular, collaborating with Neal Adams on some of the most iconic stories from that period.
Another comicbook titan has passed.
RIP Denny O'Neil.
- Mike from Trinidad & Tobago.
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