On YouTube is a French documentary, in English, about comic books that’s from a 2002 UK DVD, when the first Spider-Man movie was released. It’s called Once Upon A Time The Superheroes, and I haven’t watched it yet, but from a quick scan it looks pretty good, although not in the league of Jonathan Ross’ In Search of Steve Ditko. I’ve put together a playlist that assembles the ten parts.
(Did you notice what’s strange about the opening moments?)
When I was in the 11th grade, for Christmas I wanted nothing but records, and one of those albums I wanted because of one song in particular…
[audio:/2008/MAY/IronMan.mp3]… later, in 1975, Paul McCartney did this song:
[audio:/2008/MAY/MagnetoAndTitaniumMan.mp3]Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo are Iron Man villains. The comic book stories I read forty years ago were wild and unbelievable, but today what’s even more unbelievable is those same super-hero stories are the basis for major high-budget movies. The Superman movie in 1978 I thought of as an exception to the rule. The Hulk TV show, a re-working of the The Fugitive, was more typical of what was being done with comic book material.
The previews for the new Iron Man movie look good, and it’s getting generally favorable reviews. Hey, it’s better than playing Grand Theft Auto 4. Now that’s trash!
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I’m glad that the comics I loved as a kid are finally socially acceptable, because believe me it was tough remaining a comic book fan past junior high school. It’s beyond my comprehension how we got to this slick, crowd-pleasing, powerhouse movie from these humble, semi-animated beginnings that nobody over twelve dared admit to enjoying…
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Roy Lichtenstein was, in his day, celebrated as one of the darlings of the elite and effete fine art circles for his gigantic “Pop Art” canvases. He was also appreciated by comic book fans for promoting what had been, until then, considered the lowest of the illustrative arts.
But Lichtenstein had a secret, and comic book fans knew it. He was, as is known in the comics biz, a hack, because everything he did was a swipe from actual comic book panels. Some are instantly recognizable characters, but many were taken from romance comic books, with no credit given to the original artist. Quite a few of them were drawn by John Romita, before he went to Marvel Comics and took over The Amazing Spider-Man from Steve Ditko. Go here for more about that. Click the picture of the John Romita comic book cover to enlarge. This weekend, my best buddy D.F. Rogers will be seeing John Romita Sr. at the New York Comic Con. I wish I could go with him, but I have to pick up my number for the Boston Marathon.
Back in late 2006, Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam featured an art gallery show called Deconstructing Lichtenstein, assembled by David Barsalou. One of the first times Barsalou exhibited the products of his research was in 2002, at the Arno Maris Gallery at my alma mater, Westfield State College. I should point out that Arno Maris knew the artwork of John Romita, because I was the one who showed it to him. In 2002 I donated $500 to the college, specifying that it was for the Arno Maris gallery. I hope my money helped make the Deconstructing Lichtenstein exhibit possible. Go to the link in this paragraph and check out the many examples of original source material that were “borrowed” by Lichtenstein. Here’s Alex Beam’s article.
ALEX BEAM
Lichtenstein: creator or copycat?
By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist | October 18, 2006Art teacher David Barsalou has an interesting avocation. He has found and catalog ed almost every comic book panel later blown up and sold for megabucks by 1960s Op Art icon Roy Lichtenstein. So far, Barsalou has about 140. You will see a sample on this page, or go to his website, Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein.
Color me naive, but I never thought Lichtenstein’s work was a direct copy of scenes from comic books. I assumed that he stylized certain scenes suggested by the comic vernacular of the 1950s and 1960s. “He tried to make it seem as though he was making major compositional changes in his work, but he wasn’t,” says Barsalou, who teaches at the High School of Commerce in Springfield. “The critics are of one mind that he made major changes, but if you look at the work , he copied them almost verbatim. Only a few were original.”
Continue reading Swipe-Meister Lichtenstein
Serves me right, for saying a couple of weeks ago that I’m only a so-so Dilbert fan. This panel is from today’s Dilbert.
Oh, that despised word. Prattle. Maybe I should call this blog Pratt’s Prattle.
A little ways back I posted a clip from the first Superman movie, with Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. In that scene his henchman, Otis, played by Ned Beatty, has a black eye. Lex gave it to him earlier in the movie after Otis screwed up a slightly challenging technical assignment.
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Those numbers may as well be an IP address! I love this scene, and I’m fond of quoting it at work, because it perfectly dramatizes the reality of life in high tech, where support people who are earnestly working hard, and trying to do their job right, nevertheless totally screw it up.
I’m a so-so Dilbert fan, partly because there’s no real drawing involved. Occasionally Scott Adams has a sight gag that’s funny, but overall the effect of the strip’s gags and themes leave me feeling chilly, not warm.
A while back, Scott Adams recovered from an affliction that prevented him from speaking. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is his facial resemblance to Charles Schulz.
Anyway, there’s a Dilbert plug-in that is yet another impressive application of Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash animation. I thought I’d embed it and see how it works.
