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Showing posts with label Neal Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neal Adams. Show all posts

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Neal Adams / The Sketch Book


Recently I purchased   "Neal Adams/The Sketchbook" on line.  I received my copy just a few days ago by mail. I was very much impressed as a whole and greatly enjoyed it! The book's editor and designer Arlan Shumer asked me to write a review of his book to post at his " Neal Adams Almanac" page on Facebook after finding out I had written one for Amazon.  Here’s that brief review:


"Neal Adams/The Sketchbook"

Previously unpublished originals by the great Neal Adams are seen here publicly, many for the first time. Adam’s powerful, emotional and heroic works are vivid reminders of his phenomenal talents. The untouched works by the artist's hand, heart and mind are enhanced by the distinctive editing of historian Arlen Schumer. Schumer uses Neal’s words from private interviews they shared while leaving out his questions. This makes for a most unique, insightful and flowing literary experience. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, while always informative. The text often has the feel of an informal, relaxed seminar of sorts on Neal’s favorite subjects; comic books and creativity.



Neal Adams for most considered himself a story teller rather than an artist. That being the case; story telling is a grand tradition and he is among the most “artful” of the form. While at the same time; this volume exists and can also be enjoyed as a look at the portfolio of the master draftsman he was, one of the best of the creative geniuses of our times.















You might be interested in viewing and possibly joining "Neal Adams Almanac." 

Visit @ Facebook.com 


Sunday, May 29, 2022

NEAL ADAMS...The Best There Ever Was...The Best There Will Ever Be.


From Archie to the Avengers, from Ben Casey to “The Brave & The Bold. ”He was to say; The Natural. The Best there ever was…The Best there will ever be.”

Neal Adams  1941 - 2022



He was a creative force of tireless energy. That along with his mastery of drawing and artistic innovation would cement his place in the history of the American Comic Book as a true genius. The dialogue of what the form described and known by various names including comic book / graphic novelization / sequential story-telling is (while in fact dating back to the dawn of humankind and civilization) has been altered from Adam's time forward into the future by his countless contributions and collaborations (chiefly with writer Denny O’Neil.) 




Neal Adams was actually much more than a prominent  voice of the social and racial injustices, changes  and turmoil of the Nineteen 60’s and 70’s within his chosen field; in his eminent way he was too a real life advocated for contemporary creator’s rights, a lobbyist and a bare knuckles fighter of sorts for the community of human kind. This was evident in along with a number of his creations and his reaching out along with Harland Ellison, Gary Trudeau and others over his lifetime to congress and world organizations and institutions. He fought for the teenagers that birthed “Superman,” Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, for the compensation and recognition they had been denied yet so richly deserved for decades.
 He won. 




Holocaust survivor, Dina Babbitt would become the beneficiary of Adam’s fight for the return of her artwork that she used in bartering for the life and survival of her mother and herself during the Nazi reign of terror. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland has recently returned said works to Ms. Babbitt. These are only a small portion of the Adam’s body of resolutions and the righting of selected cultural and historic failings.


                                           More on Neal Adams @ Why Not: A Blog                                          

            
                                 







Sadly; Neal Adams passed on April 28th from complications of Sepsis, a type of blood poisoning. Adams was a man as legendary as the characters he created, developed and voiced within his visual stories. He was one with no legitimate rivals while possessing legions of admirers, supporters and friends.  



Vintage News Footage
Neal, Denny O'Neil & Julie Schwartz 
  


"How to be Great as an Artist"
Neal Adams
     

Adams Sketches 
Deadman
from
"STRANGE ADVENTURES"
        

Adams 1987 Interview
Harlan Ellison Intro.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Mayan God Camazotz: The First Batman




























There is a link between religion, faith and the fantastic; the heroic. Among my first bedtime stories both read and told to me were the mythologies of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.  These were no less equal to the biblical tales and exploits of Samson, David and Noah among others I was introduced to early on. Each in their own way amazing and all miraculous. Would Jesus be as effective had he not walked on water, cured and fed multitudes and eventually raised from the grave himself? Questions…                                 

 There are abundant similarities in ancient mythologies, texts and carvings and associations with our modern mass communications.  One deity and theme that seems to be timeless and multi-cultural is the man-bat or in our popular culture “Batman.” The Mayan’s worshiped what seemed the first bat demi-god in their own Camazotz.  He was half man, half bat, full of mystery and vengeance. He dates back culturally as far as 200 yrs. B. C. and he is still being researched today. The Mesoamericans viewed their bat deity as terrifying and like ever good bat lusting for blood. There were thousands of sacrifices made to him. He would; as to legend emerge from his bat cave nightly and was even connected to the creation of mankind. His visage, persona and legend were equally terrifying. His totems were used for protection and to ward off evils.  This principle element was again not unlike our own, much beloved and lauded Batman.
              
The Mayan Man-Bat creature aroused from his cave in a chronicled tale of a once vengeful murder of the Mayan hero Hunahpu. The blood lust associated with Camazotz was tremendous and legend says he killed his victim by decapitation. The similarities here are much closer to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” Camazotz is linked to both nocturnal characters (Batman and Dracula.) This attests to the richness of the ancient culture’s imagination in multiplicitous forms including writings, stone and stories.

There is no shortage of interpretations; but the idea of the “Batman” abounds, especially for our southern Mesoamerican neighbors and ourselves.  In the end it is all about the idea. The myths live on across space and time, across cultures. They are as envisioned in and through “The Batman” whether intended or unintended and in their magnificence; eternal.




“I shall become a Bat!”

“…and thus is born this weird figure of the dark…this avenger of evil...The BATMAN
 
                              

The art featured on this page range from the minds and hands of Bob Kane, Neal Adams and original Mayan drawings to the spectacular “Camazotz Armour”
 from the phenomenal designer Kimbal.

 Camazotz Bat Armour





Friday, August 5, 2016

Neal Adams:The Art of Comic Book Art


This might be something of interest. There are those individuals historically and culturally ranking at the top of every human endeavor. Artists, politicians, scientists…those worthy of note. I recently joined the Neal Adams Appreciation Page on Facebook and have blogged about him here before. In the field of comic book art and graphic story-telling serving both as writer and illustrator Neal Adams remains consistently at the top. He is without doubt my personal favorite and probably among any list of the top three “All Time” favorites imaginable in this remarkably crowded field. Neal Adams: The Best-Ever-All Time!

The first illustration (top of page) from Batman Comics shows off his depth of cover illustration. The sense of urgency, the lighting and minimalist composition is shocking and intriguing to the viewer. It is a must read. What is the meaning of this unsolvable conundrum? How and why would Batman kill himself Bruce Wayne?


This next drawing is from Adam’s run on The Spectre Comics. It is a work that I am convinced belongs in the collection of MoMA or The Whitney. It should hang alongside Warhol, Lichtenstein and Johns. The composition is “perfection” the drama, shock, word placement and draftsmanship are all notable. This is among the finest that “Pop Art” has to offer. 



This is exactly what Adam’s does best; like no other (below). This page is original in design, layout and is cinematic in form. The dramatic lighting and attention to detail in the close-up portrait is amazing. His command of tool is masterful.



The Art of Neal Adams literally sings like no other. His is a treasure that to those who love and cherish his works is unsurpassed in an abundant field of brilliance.