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Ken Aldred

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Everything posted by Ken Aldred

  1. I've seen a 9.8 with a spine that looked rougher than the one on my 9.0 Far from being perfectly flat and aligned.
  2. Couple of years ago it might’ve been the first million dollar Bronze comic. Let’s hope there’s no SSS.
  3. Just watched it in 4K. An incredible range of inspired choices of animation styles. Virtuoso level. Grateful that a fantastic super-hero film has finally come along again.
  4. The main motivation for Gwenpool not being Gwen Stacy and instead made into a different character altogether by Marvel, so that Sony could be deprived of usage rights.
  5. Daredevil 158 to 191, What If? 28 and 35 All read in Masterworks format. One of my favourite runs from when I was a teen. I followed it from 158 onwards, as I’ve always enjoyed seeing how up-and-coming artists evolve, and even from the first issue Miller’s clearly very talented. The first full volume, 159 to 172, is quite readable, though, of course, gets elevated with Miller gradually improving artistically and taking over writing from Roger McKenzie, reaching the peak of his storytelling ability and use of his Kane / Eisner / Krigstein influences; brilliant page / panel layout, design and pacing, impressive choice of camera angles and close-up or remote distancing, fluid figure work, amazing fight choreography, and more and more engaging stories. The second volume, 173 to 181, is the rock-solid classic period. Once the title goes monthly, perhaps there’s a slightly noticeable, heavier reliance on Janson’s inking, but it’s still peak Bronze Age material. It’s really the third volume, 182 up, where I start to lose interest a little. The stories are still readable, though for me the extended Hand / ninja arc is the weakest and drags a bit. Miller’s visual storytelling ability and page / panel layout is still exceptional and evident in his breakdowns, but it’s really more and more Klaus Janson’s art and Miller’s input becomes minimal, and the overall effect suffers considerably. Of course, the run finishes strongly with Miller’s return on the classic “Roulette” issue. 36 issues in total 2024 total = 202
  6. Judging from the corner, it was a hot comic at one time or another.
  7. Sandman 8 error / editorial variant, Spider-Man 1 McFarlane Blue Lizard variant. There’s been an appeal of these for a long time. Just as scarce price variants attract one sub-group of collectors; completists, obsessives, someone who simply likes a book that’s different in some way, any way, even if it’s minor to a larger audience. It’s an established way that some collect comics, not really that absurd.
  8. The scene where she picks a copy of the Bhagavad Gita off his bookshelf and just happens to turn to the exact location in it of the Sanskrit version of ‘Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds’, as desperate foreshadowing of his use of the saying at Trinity’, along with the gratuitous nudity in the scene, was a bit ridiculous. Hardly great writing.
  9. It’s a kind thought. We all know that comics can invoke adrenaline-fuelled episodes of intense excitement, and maybe, on occasion, it’s a good idea to have a short break and to calm things down a little by inducing a few moments of crushing boredom. A valuable service.
  10. Very good as a cartoonist on kid’s orientated material such as Wizard of Oz, but a style which needs partnering with care, perhaps. As a variant cover artist he’s fine. Completely mismatched for regular interior art on a mainstream Spider title, though. IMO, of course.
  11. I always like mixing it up.
  12. That was a good one by Geoff Johns, with the Crime Syndicate trapping the Justice League in the Firestorm Matrix. Far better than Trinity War, which preceded it.
  13. Just a lot easier to reference that rather than go back through it and pick out the ones that were completely new to me. Sure it’s the same for many of the other participants.
  14. After my comments in the Ross / Kirby thread I can’t categorise Byrne as my GOAT, but for me he’s Hall of Fame or Mount Olympus level, certainly. Growing up as a kid in the late 70s, early 80s, he was one of my favourites from then on, I looked forward eagerly to his comics, and did so constantly through X-Men, Alpha Flight, Fantastic Four, Superman, Namor, OMAC and Next Men. A very consistent, reliable writer / artist, and for me, one of the most significant. After X-Men, without Austin’s inking, his art could seem more undetailed or simplified at times, but the pacing and storytelling was still top-notch. Perhaps his figures and layouts became more repetitive and formulaic later in his career, as I started to lose interest a bit after Next Men, but some work after that was still quite readable, such as Generations and his Angel mini-series set in World War 1. Yup. I’ll always look back on that initial two decades, in particular, with a lot of fondness. I suppose that’s a strategy I’m pursuing a great deal at present, a 60-year-old reading and revisiting the works of my childhood idols; Kirby, Miller, Byrne, and still finding some magic there, even from a more mature and jaded perspective.
  15. Posted about this before on the topic of Ronin, that at the time of its publication I was reading European material such as in Heavy Metal and not just mainstream American comics, and I felt Ronin had more in common with the former, and I didn’t mind it being so very different to Daredevil. Alternatively, later on I started reading manga, and it also (obviously) fit in well there too.
  16. I have quite a few Richard Corben underground slabs from 9.4 to 9.8's; Weirdom Illustrated, Fantagor, Up From The Deep, Grim Wit, Anomaly, Slow Death. One of my all-time favourite artists, but just something very different and interesting and, at the time I was building the collection up, quite reasonably priced.