And The Winner Is...
Well, the results are in and the winner of The Great Batman Cover Artist Competition and worthy reciepent of Action Comics Annual #10 is...
anniemareerose with the following scintillating entry that hovers on the brink of decision several times and then finally arrives at Detective Comics #355 (Sept 1966) by Carmine Infantino and Mike Giella. Those stingy tightwads at Marvel send out No Prizes but we send the real thing and it's winging it's way to our winner as I speak. Here is Annie's winning entry. To see the cover images she discusses click here.
"I must agree with Ross, both the Wagner covers do great representations of batman, the monster men (06) cover, batman atop the building/roof etc, wing like cape cropped so the ends are just cut out, perfect, particularly the way it folds over...
The 2nd wagner in the post, the colors are brilliant, they meld perfectly, the gold in the buildings and the belt, just a few colors, but striking nonetheless, excellent use of color. its tough to choose between this and the other standout red and black cover done by Kubert, however his portrayal is too sinister for my liking, I prefer him composed, with the air of being able to snap into those 'sinister' moments but this wagner has him staunch, so stoic - great, great framing...
however, a strange one, initially dismissed, however, over the last few days, it has lingered in my mind, this time i differ with ross, lets look at the 1966 cover (#355 [pictured left] Now the graphics aren't particularly detailed, as in, demanding attention, they are a bit 'thin' even, yet, theres something special about the manner in which batman dangles there, hes almost 'faking', as if at the crucial moment he will surprise us all and give the hooded hangman all his worth, there's life in his eyes, i like it. I think thats my no.1 tough with the wagner 2 and the 07 cover, but something, just wins me over.
annie's top 4.
#1 (355)
#2 (627)
#3 (665)
#4 (825)"
So there it is , the much maligned (by the readers of this blog anyway) Silver Age work of Infantino and Giella is deemed the best depiction of the Caped Crusader on display here. Old school wins the day.
15 comments:
Congratulations Annie.
I saw this on monday and attempted to post "holy Gallows!" but all the silly, page error, bad connection gibberish came up on me, lets blame optus, because finger pointing is good fun.... .... .
Last night annie was enlightened of various superman related 'mysteries' ;D
oops that was my comment, i was in mums user account =D
winging? i think you mean 'winding'.
No, "winging" as in flying through the postal service (although in fact I put it in her pigeon hole at college instead).
speaking of The Postal Service... do you like them Glen, as the indie'ish band?
and i believe i shall see you on friday for wesley clases, are u taking that subject?
I don't really know the Postal Service but I've heard good things about them. Saw Dylan last night. Incredible stuff. Supported by the Frames whom I can only describe as a kind of Irish Wilco. Yep, Wesley class, that's me. Welcome aboard.
hmm ive never heard of dylan neither frame.. The Postal Service is good, its a side project featuring the lyricist of Death Cab for Cutie, it sounds a fair bit like them.. oddly enough since ben gibbard is also the vocalist!
I just found The frames on myspace... couldnt find dylan on myspace, found a drum and bass dylan on last.fm?? that them? Sounded trippy.. then some rap dylan on purevolume which i assumed was not whom you saw spec' coz he they didnt even have a picture! :O thats a clear sign of how well known a group is haha.
Are you pulling my leg? Try "Bob Dylan."
Bob Dylan. well obviously ive heard of him... see i thought it was some little alternative group.. so no! i was not tugging on your leg =[
either way, the drum and bass dylan still sounds trippy! (as do most drum and bass combos.. fav being "Lamb")
http://www.last.fm/music/Dylan
Aha! there, if i had have done my research thouroughly the first time...
according to last fm Bob Dylan played with The frames at rod laver on the 17th and 19th of August.. i didnt search the frame for event with last.fm, only "dylan", thus not finding any events listed with the frames, coz hes a wierd drum and bass fellow... anywho... there it is. evidence of the event before my eyes!
Andrew Hordewr emailed the following:
"Was interested to read that you like 60's comics, especially Batman. As someone who was born in 1964, I like 70's comics, especially Batman. (Superman was allright, but what chance does a crook have against his super powers?) There was one Batman team I used to like, Neal Adams and Danny O'Neill. Neal Adams is a wonderful artist. I used to read the Australian reprints of DC comics. Later on I read the Australian reprints of Marvel comics.
I also used to like Jack Kirby and his mind blowing illustrations. Was interested to read lately, that in later life Kirby got out of control and began to parody himself - putting big muscles on even normal people, and creating his own gods and weird characters such as the 'tomorrow people', which were a dismal failure.
There was an Australian western comic called Ringo, that I used to like, but have not seen one since I was a kid, - until I saw a few on ebay recently.
There was a good book written by a christian on comics a couple of years ago, I forget the name. No doubt, you have read it. I bought it in koorong. It explained the social context of the development of DC, and when society became more complex in the 70's marvel came along.
If only I had kept the hundreds of comics I threw away.
Good to hear from you Andrew. Sorry I mis-spelled Horder in the last comment. Yes, I confess I am a comic geek. I only started collecting about 2 years ago, though, like you, I read comics when I was younger and threw a lot away or sold them off for next to nothing when I thought I needed the money (oh the follies of youth!) The Adams and O'Neill run remains a classic era for Batman fans.
I haven't read the book you referred to about Christian reflections on superheroes. Sounds great. I've seen one that teaches basic philosophy called "The Philosophy of the Superheroes" and would love to tackle "The Theology of the Superheroes" someday. I started in on The Incredible Hulk on my blog but didn't get beyond that). You can check it out here: http://glenobrien.blogspot.com/2006/05/theology-of-superheroes-i-incredible.html#links
You said you met Ross McPhee our librarian. Here's an interesting entry on Superman from his blog in which I make the following comment: http://roscoeland.blogspot.com/2007/07/destiny.html
"For a fascinating read on the guys who created Superman and the American comic book art form in general you can't go past the Eisner Award-winning, 'Men of Tomorrow' by Gerard Jones. Neither Seigel nor Shuster were religious so the messianic themes in their creation were latent and unconscious. It was probably Richard Donner who is responsible for the more overtly Christological themes of the later incarnation of the Man of Steel followed through on even more explicitly in Singer's film. There are a quite a few Christians in the comics field (and in comic book movies - Ralph Winter producer of X-Men and Fantastic Four is a committed Christian) and even those who aren't believers often use religious themes probably because they have exactly the right mythic qualities needed to tell a good story.
As for the Batman, he is a kind of avenging angel, with an inner stoic untouchable goodness, an angel of the Lord taking vengeance on all those who do evil, the guardian and protector of Gotham. The death of his parents could have driven him insane, leaving him bitter, twisted and self pitying. Instead it placed within him a desire to right the wrongs of this world and protect the innocent so that no one else would have to suffer as he has. Such a "use" of tragedy is possible only by forces beyond ourselves, only by the transforming power of grace. Also, when he punches bad guys it makes sounds like "Bop!" "Bam!" and "Pow!" which is pretty cool."
Hey, awesome blog! Really like the style...very cool.
As to the Batman covers, I'm gonna have to go with Ross on the 627 point...the grim determination look suits him. Still, I do agree that he looks like he's "faking" in 355. It's very hard to judge artwork such as this because Batman is such a multi-faceted character. Different artists capture different aspects of his personality. He certainly tends to go through phases. Well, that's my take, anyway.
Once again, great blog. I look forward to reading more. :)
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