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War Comics
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Started by CycloneComics,

11,088 posts in this topic

Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Posted
Posted (edited)

Speaking of influences, I took the liberty to ask Kubert about his very brief tenure under Harvey Kurtzman. And although he did express that it was an incredibly restrictive environment, with regard to expressing creative individuality, he was definitive in naming Kurtzman as one of his many artistic influences in the war genre. Obviously I was not surprised, but it was validating in a manner to hear it from his own mouth. Nonetheless, it remains that there were many other influences, not to mention the precedence of Kubert's own singular artistic ingenuity and style.

 

On a related note, he also had very nice things to say about Grandinetti. Yes indeed Mick, what say you?

Edited by Wild Bill Kelso
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Fazybones

Fazybones

Posted
Posted
A Curator Pedigree.

SSWS13885CuratorPed.jpg

 

One of the best war covers of all time. Very cool to own a Curator. How fresh is that book?

 

It's not quite here yet and I probably should have waited to have it in hand

before posting. I can hardly wait to see the pages and inside covers.

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Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Posted
Posted
A Curator Pedigree.

SSWS13885CuratorPed.jpg

 

One of the best war covers of all time. Very cool to own a Curator. How fresh is that book?

 

It's not quite here yet and I probably should have waited to have it in hand

before posting. I can hardly wait to see the pages and inside covers.

 

Wow Fay that book is just beautiful!!

 

I can't wait to hear your assessment on its interior and overall in-hand eye-appeal! Please enlighten us the moment it arrives!!

 

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Fazybones

Fazybones

Posted
Posted (edited)

I will let you guys know as soon as I pay it off along with a few other

books and it was a package deal. I can hardly wait.

 

Two packages arrived today and I'm getting closer to finishing off my

Capt. Storm run. I like this series for some reason and I think the

covers usually have lots of action with a bit of a cartoon feel to it.

 

CaptStorm1190.jpg

 

CaptStorm18VF.jpg

 

A Manitoba Collection copy.

SSWS14790Manitoba.jpg

 

GIC13285.jpg

 

Great story in this book.

USParas155.jpg

Edited by Fazybones
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Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Wild Bill Kelso-migration

Posted
Posted

Well it happened fine sir. And someone has secured themselves a 9.2 copy of a badass war book--which has one of the coolest covers in the Big Five.

 

I need to dig a little deeper to verify, but Mick pointed out that with a little over $11K being put up for the #112, it may be the second highest price paid for a war comic thus far!

 

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

 

Damn. I wish that:

 

A) I sold it ( I would now have stupid money)

 

B) I bought it ( I would have to have stupid money to have bought it)

 

Sadly I am:

 

C) None of the above

 

Me too :sorry:

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comick1

comick1

Posted
Posted
During the discussion with Mr. Kubert I asked if Kanigher was so hard on his staff just out of spite or in a attempt to get the best out of the artists. I specifically mentioned Grandenetti. I've always felt his DC work was worlds better than anything else he had done (I may be wrong and would love some examples). Kubert seemed to agree but said he honestly did not know Kanigher's motives for being so mean.

I would love for Mick to weigh in regarding Grandinetti.

 

From what I can tell he evolved his style very rapidly from being an Eisner clone (he had been a background artist on Eisner's Spirit) to developing his very distinctive DC style that suited him well for about a decade. He then evolved to a much looser approach for his Warren comics and for his advertising art that I usually find less pleasing.

 

t's not that unusual for an artist to get tired of drawing one way and to then want to shift to a different approach. I love Alex Raymond's dry brush art for the Flash Gordon comic strip but just can't get that excited about his work on Rip Kirby even though it's the way he wanted to draw.

 

It's like Adam said: Grandenetti consciously changed his style because he was always interested in evolving. After the Warren stuff, he joined a design and graphics firm and worked with them for 20 years or so. . .mostly attributing his departure from comics (with an occasional foray back in to the fold) to being unenthusiastic about the medium and what he viewed as its limitations. Whenever I talked with him, he was exceedingly gracious with his time and keenly fascinated that there was even a single collector on the planet who actually cared about his comics work. I told him that among my circle of collecting friends, he was most widely appreciated for his incredible covers to the Big-5 for the first 10 or so years. After about 1962, his work ended pretty abruptly. Around 1959-1961, he was developing a looser style. . .more cartoony to be sure. A lot of those late 10¢ and early 12¢ Gunner and Sarge issues are like that on the covers as WELL as the interiors. That happens to be MY favorite period of Grandenetti. When I initially started collecting, I was only interested in Heath and Kubert. After many years of collecting, I'd developed a taste for Grandenetti's amazing works, but I was generally more interested in the covers than his interiors.

It's his interiors from that 1959-1961 period, though, that are every bit as good as his covers. He acknowledged that toward the end of his DC war comics tenure, he was itching to experiment with a more abstract style and he made specific reference to the Warren stuff as being his favorite.

Grandenetti contributed a number of amazing pieces to the DC war collectors' summit auctions over the years. A number of them were even washtone effect. We really made extensive efforts to get him to visit San Diego and accommodate his reluctance to fly (Comic-Con and the Big-5 were prepared to underwrite a couple cross-country train tix: no inexpensive proposition), but ultimately, he had a routine in his NY neighborhood--including a daily chess game at a local park if I have my facts right--that he just couldn't leave behind. Whenever we contacted him, though, he donated artwork in absentia in order to help underwrite other creators. Grandenetti's artwork always drew some of the highest art prices. Some of you guys have those Big-5 souvenir books that featured those Grandenetti pieces. You can read an extensive interview about Grandenetti in one of the books. Whenever I look through those, it just blows me away how awesome he was! There's a lot more to know about Grandenetti.

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comick1

comick1

Posted
Posted

Thanks folks!

I forgot to mention that the Grandenetti interview was conducted by Oklahoma's own tornado survivor, Steve Fears. He's done some amazing interviews over the years and was kind enough to let us reprint the extensive one he did with Jerry Grandenetti. I'll see if I can dig up a couple scans of the stuff Grandenetti donated (and I WISH I'd won) to the auctions.

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