This looks great. Feels both modern and retro at the same time. I like it.

Here's some of the Tales of Asgard re-coloring coming out now.

"Are old artists really old fashioned?"

Yes. Absolutely.

Even with computer coloring, it's obvious that art came from the 60's.

I could see some Marvel or DC art from the 70's or 80's and tell you that it came from that era. It's not about quality, it's about style. From the panel layouts to the rendering to the way they draw faces, very few artists can appear timeless-- as in, it's hard to tell what time period that came from. I like Kirby and Romita SR.'s art as much as anyone's today, but I'm not going to say I couldn't tell what time period it came from.

It's a lot like music; sure, the Beatles are as good as any band, but it's not a mystery as to when that music was recorded, even to a person unfamiliar with the Beatles. I love Dr. No, but I won't say it looks like a film that was made today. For better or worse, art tends to look like it came from the time period it was produced in.

So, if you're asking if I feel that modern artists are better than older artists-- no way. I love that 60's stuff more than 85% of the stuff produced today.

But if you're asking me if they could recolor some Wally Wood or Joe Kubert stuff from the 50's and I'd be fooled into thinking it was made today-- no, they couldn't. Even if it was produced today, I'd think they were going for that 50's look.

And there's nothign from with that. To me, a big reason silver age Marvel is my favorite time period is the clunky old charm that comes with being made by middle aged guys in the 60's. That's part of what makes it awesome.

Exactly.

"Old-fashioned". "Old". "Fashioned". As soon as you acknowledge that there are noticeable stylistic differences between the art of yesteryear and the art of today, you're acknowledging that it's old-fashioned, because that's what the term "old-fashioned" means.

No, I think the question was does "old" necessary entail "old-fashioned," or does some art have such a classic look that, though old, it doesn't look old fashioned.

There's a story by Alex Toth in that 1965 Blazing Combat (called "Survival") that doesn't look old-fashioned at all. It looks like it was drawn today. (Which indicates Toth was influential). I wish I had a scanner.

Perhaps one of the broader points is that when an "old" work looks somewhat similar to the art of today, that's the beginning of a clue that an artist was ahead of his time -- influential. Whereas, some great artists were not all that influential in terms of copycats or followers. Kirby and Ditko were giants, but they didn't affect the way comics look as much as Neal Adams.

Cool! I found a site with "Survival" scans, and handwritten annotations by Toth. They annotations were made years later for an interview. You can see all the pages of the story starting here: http://v1.tothfans.com/showarticles.asp ... ldAuto=208

I think the dark and stylistic rendering is something that reminds me of Frank Miller and many comics that would come later. In any event, I would not have guess 1965 for the year on this, and I would not call it "old fashioned."

Russ Heath's model reference and final art from Blazing Combat #4.

Ooo, that Heath work is great!

After seeing the re-colored Tales of Asgard and how stunning Kirby's work is, I would LOVE to see all of the old classics remastered - as long as the coloring is of the quality of TAS.

(Keep Neal Adams away from re-mastering his own works, please.)

Ahhhh. I didn't even thumb through those Tales of Asgard issues since I had them many times over.
They recolored them?!?!

Are they going to release them as a complete hardback? I'd like that.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785139214/?tag=imwan-20

There's a variant with a Kirby cover, but it is out of stock.

This book is BEAUTIFUL.

Thanks, Jay.

Yow. That is outrageously cheap for over 300 pages.

Ordered.

Did you buy Captain America Reborn also? And Al Williamson's Flash Gordon? Don't forget Tom Strong Deluxe 2.

Nope. I bought Reborn as singles. I own all of the Tom Strong as singles.
And I have enough of my father's Flash Gordon books. Heck, I have the
Tales of Asgard in the original J.I.M. issues, the later 25¢ repeat giants,
and in MasterWorks form. I just wanted to see them recolored.

I did, however, pre-order the 5th volume of the complete Little Orphan Annie.
Harold Gray is probably about as old-fashioned as you can get.

Aren't you afraid that you will wear out your singles by reading them?

I'm more afraid that I just called them "singles."
So wrong.
It's rare that I will read a comic more than once. Some, I read many, many times,
and I like to have those in hard back volumes just because it's nice to have them
with easy access.

I do not like the look nor feel of trades, and they do not hold up well to repeat reading.

Wow. Charlton's Phantoms are being collected and on sale in September with art by...

Jim Aparo!

I don't know how I missed hearing about this! This also means that Don Newton's Phantoms are on the way as well.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613450060/?tag=imwan-20

I've been waiting for that one!

This is truly the Golden Age for collections of Silver Age and Bronze Age comics.