ComicLink November 2012 Auction - McFarlane Strikes Again

[Bronty]

Well if nothing else once everybody processed those enormous mcspidey prices, they may feel a little more aggressive in going after one themselves. People point to other results within the same auction and that's relevant but let's not forget that the post auction holy mess factor may have some impact

[tth2]

The ASM run blows the Spidey run out of the water, I know not news but yes Todd breathed new life into ASM, revitalized the character a la Miller before him. But that is where the similarities end, because he also issued in the beginning of the end with Spidey 1. There is a discernible difference in feel, now it could be that hindsight is 20-20, but there is a manufactured vibe to Spider-man, the art feels contrived the flow feels wrong and every other page is this over the top splash that desensitizes that reader and diminishes the art.

 

The funny thing is Liefeld did the same thing. I know people bash him now, but there was a definite buzz to his end run on New Mutants (as an aside does anyone remember the Levis jeans add???), but again with X-Force it felt forced and his art went down hill as he started to increase the exaggerations, but he was not alone, just seemed to suffer more for it.

Not really surprising at all, Jason. With both guys, their initial fame-building runs came when they were still wage slaves working on tight schedules, with no power or authority and being supervised by editors, plus they were young and hungry. So while they had developed, or in the case of Liefeld's New Mutants, were still developing, their particular style, they were forced to be relatively disciplined, which was a good thing.

 

Then fast forward a few years to fame, fortune and power as they moved on to their individual flagship books, and they became allowed to indulge themselves with no one to rein them in from excesses. Plus, I think they felt a lot of pressure to live up to their hype, which in their minds meant bigger and prettier pictures, at the expense of good storytelling and restraint (often times, less is more).

 

And then it only got worse once they jumped to Image, when there really was no one to tell them "no" anymore.

[jbud73]

The ASM run blows the Spidey run out of the water, I know not news but yes Todd breathed new life into ASM, revitalized the character a la Miller before him. But that is where the similarities end, because he also issued in the beginning of the end with Spidey 1. There is a discernible difference in feel, now it could be that hindsight is 20-20, but there is a manufactured vibe to Spider-man, the art feels contrived the flow feels wrong and every other page is this over the top splash that desensitizes that reader and diminishes the art.

 

The funny thing is Liefeld did the same thing. I know people bash him now, but there was a definite buzz to his end run on New Mutants (as an aside does anyone remember the Levis jeans add???), but again with X-Force it felt forced and his art went down hill as he started to increase the exaggerations, but he was not alone, just seemed to suffer more for it.

Not really surprising at all, Jason. With both guys, their initial fame-building runs came when they were still wage slaves working on tight schedules, with no power or authority and being supervised by editors, plus they were young and hungry. So while they had developed, or in the case of Liefeld's New Mutants, were still developing, their particular style, they were forced to be relatively disciplined, which was a good thing.

 

Then fast forward a few years to fame, fortune and power as they moved on to their individual flagship books, and they became allowed to indulge themselves with no one to rein them in from excesses. Plus, I think they felt a lot of pressure to live up to their hype, which in their minds meant bigger and prettier pictures, at the expense of good storytelling and restraint (often times, less is more).

 

And then it only got worse once they jumped to Image, when there really was no one to tell them "no" anymore.

 

Tim, you know I couldn't agree more. I often think that my love of comics has a very direct correlation to the fact that Jim Shooter was editor and Chief at Marvel Comics through most of the 1980s. I know people say he was a tyrannical on the talent, but man the end product was always top notch.

[Koa]

While we are all talking McFarlane, people also should consider "character based" collecting. In this instance, Spider-Man. People are not clamoring for McFarlane's work on "Infinite Inc".

 

 

 

 

His work on Infinity was much more traditional (in large part because of a heavy handed inker) and is not the Mcfarlane style that his fans love. I wonder how an early spawn cover would do at auction.

[Kevin76]

 

 

While we are all talking McFarlane, people also should consider "character based" collecting. In this instance, Spider-Man. People are not clamoring for McFarlane's work on "Infinite Inc".

 

 

 

 

His work on Infinity was much more traditional (in large part because of a heavy handed inker) and is not the Mcfarlane style that his fans love. I wonder how an early spawn cover would do at auction.

 

They would do well but not Spider-Man well...I'd say Spawn #2 had the best cover. Spawn #9 is a great cover with Angela. Spawn #14 is one of my favorites he did from 1-24 before he left.