I'm willing to bet that Alan Moore was pretty stoked to be working with Curt Swan. He was a fan of the classic comics and had to be a fan of Curt Swan's Superman. I love those comics.
Alan Moore grew up reading those weird old Weisinger comics and has expressed his love for them in interviews and in the Supreme series, which is an extension of what he can do with this particular arena. In fact, Swan was lined up to do the flashback sequences in Supreme, but unfortunately passed away. In the interim, though, Swan did illustrate Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" in Penthouse Comix (with some rare Lois Lane and Lana Lang nudity) , so he was maybe a little looser than we think.
It's a pretty lucky thing to be a comics fan in 2020 and get to watch creators talk about these books I loved from my child hood! Also Ed the camera set up is starting to look pretty great!
Julie got Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness published in the pulp magazine Astounding after it was rejected by Lovecraft’s usual market of Weird Tales. I believe Lovecraft was paid all of 200 dollars for the story which was the most he was ever paid for a story in his lifetime.
Lovecraft was happy with the publication of a story he’d clearly work so hard on, but he was less happy that the editor of Astounding made some pretty deep edits to the story. Lovecraft went through a copy of the magazine with a pen and made amendments noting what had been altered.
OK, Swan might've been a bit stiff with figures/action and is "square/old" to sniggering Comic Book Guys, but as you guys say around the 28-min mark, Curt knew how to establish a scene and get straight into 2nd action/activity shot. Is Bendis mainly to blame for this stuff disappearing in favour of boring endless talking heads in identikit (read: lazy) panels? Swan can TELL A STORY. Can most of today's pin-up CGI-colour assisted artists do that? Grumpy old comix fan off his soapbox & out :)
This is my favorite Superman story, especially in how reverent it is to the silver age books. That ending, I think I only caught in my first reread decades ago, was set up in the opening paragraph. It's maybe not a complex thing to do, but it shows a lot more intent than other comics of the time. There's a sequence which brings me to tears every time I read it. I had always wondered why the change in Lana's powers, but I feel like it was justified. The moment when she gains super hearing, just to overhear Superman's conversation with Perry White. She hears him say he hasn't chosen her, but then quietly gets dressed to sacrifice herself. It breaks my heart.
The last panel of part one, where you see the weight of the world landing on Superman, Krypto by his side, and breaking him, has got to be one of the saddest panels in comics. It aways hit me the hardest, in a story filled with emotional gut punches. "He looked as if he'd been crying."
I loved this two part story, Curt Swan is the artist I identify with Superman in the 70s and early 80s. Moore is great for the last silver age Superman story.
Schwartz was definitely a big part of that silver age reboot that Jim Mahfood mentions. I believe it was one of his books that started the trend of ape covers in the Silver Age too.
Ben, I could be wrong but I believe that this was the only time that Kurt Schaffenberger inked Swan. It’s one of those random factoids that’s lodged in my head and I can’t get rid of it!
It's not true. I searched on the Grand Comics Database, and it turns out they did a few random Superman stories together over the years. And after Byrne took over the Superman titles, Swan/Schaffenberger did all nine issues of MASK, a licensed toy tie-in.
I'm willing to bet that Alan Moore was pretty stoked to be working with Curt Swan. He was a fan of the classic comics and had to be a fan of Curt Swan's Superman. I love those comics.
Alan Moore grew up reading those weird old Weisinger comics and has expressed his love for them in interviews and in the Supreme series, which is an extension of what he can do with this particular arena. In fact, Swan was lined up to do the flashback sequences in Supreme, but unfortunately passed away. In the interim, though, Swan did illustrate Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" in Penthouse Comix (with some rare Lois Lane and Lana Lang nudity) , so he was maybe a little looser than we think.
Did I just hear "Kurt Schaffenberger, or whoever that is?" *shakes head in disappointment* :P
It's a pretty lucky thing to be a comics fan in 2020 and get to watch creators talk about these books I loved from my child hood! Also Ed the camera set up is starting to look pretty great!
Julie got Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness published in the pulp magazine Astounding after it was rejected by Lovecraft’s usual market of Weird Tales. I believe Lovecraft was paid all of 200 dollars for the story which was the most he was ever paid for a story in his lifetime.
Lovecraft was happy with the publication of a story he’d clearly work so hard on, but he was less happy that the editor of Astounding made some pretty deep edits to the story. Lovecraft went through a copy of the magazine with a pen and made amendments noting what had been altered.
OK, Swan might've been a bit stiff with figures/action and is "square/old" to sniggering Comic Book Guys, but as you guys say around the 28-min mark, Curt knew how to establish a scene and get straight into 2nd action/activity shot. Is Bendis mainly to blame for this stuff disappearing in favour of boring endless talking heads in identikit (read: lazy) panels? Swan can TELL A STORY. Can most of today's pin-up CGI-colour assisted artists do that? Grumpy old comix fan off his soapbox & out :)
This is my favorite Superman story, especially in how reverent it is to the silver age books.
That ending, I think I only caught in my first reread decades ago, was set up in the opening paragraph. It's maybe not a complex thing to do, but it shows a lot more intent than other comics of the time.
There's a sequence which brings me to tears every time I read it. I had always wondered why the change in Lana's powers, but I feel like it was justified. The moment when she gains super hearing, just to overhear Superman's conversation with Perry White. She hears him say he hasn't chosen her, but then quietly gets dressed to sacrifice herself. It breaks my heart.
The last panel of part one, where you see the weight of the world landing on Superman, Krypto by his side, and breaking him, has got to be one of the saddest panels in comics. It aways hit me the hardest, in a story filled with emotional gut punches. "He looked as if he'd been crying."
I loved this two part story, Curt Swan is the artist I identify with Superman in the 70s and early 80s. Moore is great for the last silver age Superman story.
Swan is the definitive Superman artist in my book. He had his limitations, but there was always a great humanity in his work.
Schwartz was definitely a big part of that silver age reboot that Jim Mahfood mentions. I believe it was one of his books that started the trend of ape covers in the Silver Age too.
You're on the money, Ed. "Mixel-plick" was how they said it in the old Superfriends cartoon, too...
39:02 discussion of the Brainiac-dominated Luthor - I believe this to be an intentional homage to the Basil Wolverton 'Brain Bats of Venus' story
Another great vid. Layout for multiple folks looks real nice, too.
I have nothing insightful to add, I just love this story and really dig the discussion. Good shit fellas.
Somehow kept hearing "American Pie" as the soundtrack to these issues 📻💀💦
Your not a cartoonist unless... You’ve done the interiors of a book and not just cover
dude heck yeah
Ben, I could be wrong but I believe that this was the only time that Kurt Schaffenberger inked Swan. It’s one of those random factoids that’s lodged in my head and I can’t get rid of it!
It's not true. I searched on the Grand Comics Database, and it turns out they did a few random Superman stories together over the years. And after Byrne took over the Superman titles, Swan/Schaffenberger did all nine issues of MASK, a licensed toy tie-in.
Chris Freiberg You have released me from carrying around this useless fact, Chris! How can I ever repay you???
Nice info-facts guys. Sometimes the comments on here are as interesting as the videos.