Superman vs Muhammad Ali

[Maccai3]

its a great book, when you say "peak achievement" do you feel it was his best work on a book as an artist up to that point?

 

Not sure about it being his "best" work (although it is certainly his longest in a single comic); I think it's a very strong contender, but there are of course plenty of deserving alternatives.

 

What it most certainly is, though, is the full-flowering of, and also the swan song for, his signature '70s style (commercial art-bred photo-realism as applied to the exaggerated and fantastical worlds of superhero comics): it's the work of a master comic book artist and storyteller at the absolute top of his game.

 

He went on to produce--and still produces--excellent stuff. But his style changed (somewhat dramatically) over time. In particular, his figure work today isn't quite as lean and lyrical as it used to be. He would also avoid working on the top mainstream comics characters and titles with which he had been most closely associated, ca. 1968 - 1978.

 

This book, on the other hand, amply displays all of Adams' best qualities as an artist and a storyteller; it features THE iconic mainstream super-hero of the GA-BA period; and combines elements of the '70s sci-fi/space opera craze with Rocky just in case it wasn't clear from Adams' spot-on caricatures on the cover that it was a firmly-rooted product of its era. It's also one helluva lot of fun, too!

 

"Best" or not, ya just gotta love it! I still have my OO copy, bought new off the stand at Drug Fair in '78. I'd love to have Neal sign some day (if he'd be willing to do it in ballpoint, and on the bottom margin of the splash page...)

 

 

 

i got a hardcover copy which has been re-coloured, i dislike the re-colouring of any book but the art overall is brilliant as yoou'd expect from Neal Adams

[jools&jim]

 

i got a hardcover copy which has been re-coloured, i dislike the re-colouring of any book but the art overall is brilliant as yoou'd expect from Neal Adams

 

I think Adams does a lot of the modern computer re-coloring of his own work himself, or supervises it. To me, it looks uniformly awful...garish, overly saturated -- it just doesn't work, especially with the bright-white gloss stock that's used for reprints these days.

 

The original coloring of the newsprint version still looks best to me...

 

 

 

[Maccai3]

that was the exact page i was thinking of, the bottom right of page 37. The recolour on Ali's face is horrible, i like the version you posted though

[dgarthwaite-migration]

DC Treasury Edition 56A

 

Actually, All-New Collectors Edition C-56

 

Yes!

http://www.angelfire.com/comics2/treasury/DC/A/C56_All_New_Collectors_Edition.html

 

There is also a Whitman version.

 

DG

[batmiesta]

Any excuse to show this off.

 

 

 

[Bronty]

wow, gorgeous copy!

[sterlingcomics]

I remember when that hit the stands...and Ali was big enough to probably beat Superman back then...good times.

[Maccai3]

I remember when that hit the stands...and Ali was big enough to probably beat Superman back then...good times.

 

 

he did

 

[batmiesta]

wow, gorgeous copy!

 

Thanks.

[Zonker]

While we all know that most of the celebrities on the cover are identified on the inside front, there are several faces Adams drew with no identification-- I'm assuming these are unauthorized likenesses. Only a couple of weeks ago I noticed who I think are John & Yoko, Paul, George, Ringo and Stevie Wonder:

 

[Maccai3]

[DiceX]

Spoiler tags!

 

 

[Maccai3]

Spoiler tags!

 

 

[Mr_Peabody-migration]

I remember when that hit the stands...and Ali was big enough to probably beat Superman back then...good times.

 

Ironically though, the book was so late being published that "By the time the book was published, Ali was no longer World Heavyweight Champion, having been dethroned by Leon Spinks in February 1978".

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_vs._Muhammad_Ali

[dgarthwaite-migration]

#24 - Ms Mystic. Her 1st cameo appearance.

 

DG