Sunday, May 19, 2013

Alan Kupperberg: Rejected and Censored

You would be forgiven for thinking that, after a long career in the comic book industry, including stints in advertising, magazine work and general illustration that this wouldn't be the first time Alan Kupperberg has had a strip censored.  After all, this is the man who drew Frenchy The Evil Clown, which contained some of the more offensive material that you're likely to see, and he's done other questionable work along the way.  But no, this time his material was rejected for it's 'tone' - not content, not quality - but that nebulous word, 'tone', for the second time by the same publisher.  And before anyone accuses him, Alan Kupperberg has had no involvement with this posting.


TwoMorrows Publishing has made much of the launch of a new magazine, helmed by former Comic Book Artist editor, Jon B Cooke, called Comic Book Creator.  In doing so they approached a lot of people, writers, editors, artists, commentators, and assembled somewhat of an impressive team indeed.  One of those people was Alan Kupperberg.  Alan was approached, along with colourist Tom Zukio, and asked to submit his Profusely Illustrated strips on a regular basis.  People who have seen these strips are taken by them, both by their humour but also their accuracy.  Alan remembers things, and everyone I've spoken to about the strips say he's remembered things dead on.  With that in mind, and knowing that the magazine was launching with yet another Jack Kirby tribute issue, Alan was asked to submit a strip, titled "Sol & Jack", which he duly did.

If you buy the magazine then don't bother looking for it - it wasn't published.  Publisher John Morrow rejected the strip on the basis of its 'tone'.  Cooke didn't argue and quietly paid Kupperberg a kill fee and that was it.  I have the strip here and am publishing it so people can read it and decide for themselves exactly what is offensive about them.  What makes the decision even more puzzling is that both Morrow and Cooke have published Profusely Illustrated strips in the past, and have both published Profusely Illustrated strips featuring all the characters on display here.  So why is it now rejected


Have a guess at the answer.  I'm very sure I know what it is and the clue is right there in the strip...


UPDATE: Newton Comics - The Amazing Rise & Spectacular Fall Book

Here's the first in a weekly series of updates relating to the Newton Comics book.  I'm almost one fifth of the way towards achiving full funding via Pozible, but there's still a long way to go yet. If you can't donate then that's fine, just spread the word as far and as wide as possible.   The URL for the book funding is here: http://www.pozible.com/project/23150/120085

Melbourne and Australian based folk might want to see if you can get your PR people interested - this was a Melbourne based company after all and has all the right ingredients for a juicy story - sex, drugs, rock and roll, comic books, crime, brothels, politics - you name, Newton did more than dabble in it. Americans with an interest in comic book history? Well this is the FIRST full length book about an Australian publisher and, don't forget, they managed to take Marvel Comics for over $30,000 in 1975. That wasn't chump change.   Comic books were never like this before, or since.

Get in there and share the love.

In the meantime, here's a look at the revised cover...feel free to share your thoughts.

 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

This Is Why John Buscema Was A Better Artist Than You

Years, and I mean years, ago I remember having an argument in a comic book store in Melbourne with some idiot who spent the better part of the afternoon trying to convince me that John Buscema wasn’t as good an artist as, say, Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld, or anyone from Image for that matter.  As is the way with such people nothing I said would sway his opinion, so I simply gave up and allowed him to ramble on and on, much to the growing amusement of people around him.  Not to denigrate Liefeld, or Lee for that matter, but I’m sure that Rob would agree that he’s nowhere near as good an artist as the late John Buscema.  And here’s why.

What follows are prime examples of what Big John would do to warm up before he began drawing proper.  Most artists will go entire careers and not get near this level of expertise, and this is John in his downtime.  This is John just fooling about, getting his poses and anatomy right before he commits the pencil to the page for publication.  This is why John Buscema was always a better artist than the majority of his peers when he was alive, and, if alive, would still a better artist than the bulk of those working today.  Look upon these warm-up sketches and learn something – practice makes perfect.  There wasn’t a day when John wouldn’t draw something, even if it was just this kind of sketching.  Good art isn’t about splashy pages with lots of smoke and explosions; it’s about being able to convey emotion into your work.   Plus John Buscema could tell you more about his art in one sketch than anyone can in a thousand words, and if you don’t believe me, then you just don’t know great art when you see it.