 |
 The
"Comics, Heroes, and American Visual Culture" exhibit was unique in giving
the oft-maligned comic book art form the same space and recognition awarded
its comic strip predecessor -- virtually unheard-of in the world of gallery
art!
It was incredible to see so much great comic art together in one place, and exciting to see how fine it looked when properly displayed -- framed and matted and hung in the same way mainstream art has been exhibited for centuries! Entering the exhibition room from the east, the first piece displayed was a 1976 portrait of Batman and Robin drawn specially by originator Bob Kane. The piece was likely linked to the "Comic Book Heroes" art conference sponsored by the Mid-American College Art Association and held in Lincoln in 1976 (more on this symposium can be found in the Events section). Kane, an entrepreneur and mediocre cartoonist who quickly abandoned the strip to more-talented assistants, is quickly outshown by the next piece, a recreation of a 1939 Detective Comics splash page drawn by Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff. Still actively doing commission work today, Moldoff ghosted the strip (along with others like Charles Paris and Dick Sprang) for decades, always contractually required to sign Bob Kane's name to his work.
More Batman and more fine painting: a two-page spread from the Batman: War on Crime graphic novel in mixed media by the renowned Alex Ross. His fully-painted comic art on the Marvels limited series and Kingdom Come graphic novel brought Ross acclaim in comics circles, but he's becoming highly regarded in the world of fine art. A Ross painting was used to promote the 2002 Academy Awards, and he's recently been commissioned to paint the official portrait of President George W. Bush. His painted pages were followed by a large pencil preliminary drawing of The Batman. The final piece in this corner of the room was a page from Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. Actually, two pages from Jimmy Corrigan were displayed during the exhibition. The first piece, the one actually owned by the Sheldon Gallery, was requested for exhibition at the 2002 Whitney Biennial. The artist kindly loaned a second piece to the gallery so the Sheldon's page could travel to the world-renowned New York museum. Ware, a Nebraska native currently living in the Chicago area, recently won the Guardian First Book Award in England, eking out a win against very stiff competition with Jimmy Corrigan. It was the first time a graphic novel has won the prestigious award.
Next up, art by two of the artists once known as The Studio: Bernie Wrightson and Barry Windsor-Smith. (Jeff Jones was the third member, and Michael Wm. Kaluta -- not represented -- was fourth.) Wrightson's contribution was the pencil preliminary and the finished art for a Conan trading card, framed together. Both demonstrated the macabre abilities of the artist, known for his tenure on Swamp Thing, his incredible Frankenstein plates, and his illustrations for Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf. Englishman Barry Windsor-Smith was represented by the pen-and-ink cover art for Marvel Team-Up #150. Spider-man and the X-Men are delineated with the characteristic BWS Pre-Raphaelite flair. Another Sheldon Moldoff recreation followed -- this time, a slick recreation of a Captain Midnight cover. In addition to his work on Batman, Moldoff is known as the co-creator of Hawkman for DC Comics. The final piece on the south wall depicted the early-'40s version of DC's Sandman in a stylishly murky painting by Kent Williams. The unique gelatinous look of the photo-image and mixed-media piece was achieved by working on emulsion paper. Moving to the west wall, the first piece was a huge acrylic recreation of the cover of Adventure Comics #73. This presented the "long underwear" Simon & Kirby version of the Sandman towering over a frightened gang of thugs, and was painted by co-creator Joe Simon. (Simon was a special guest at the 1976 comic art conference.) Three pieces by Will Eisner were given special display treatment next. Eisner is a personal friend of benefactor Dan Howard, so the art was truly something special. First was a watercolor done for the 50th anniversary of Eisner's signature strip, The Spirit. This was followed by a very large double-page specialty piece, an SF-themed watercolor of the Spirit with his friends and enemies. The triptych was completed with an inscribed 60th anniversary Spirit giclee print.
Another Kirby work began the display on the north wall. This was a late-period double-page splash from The Demon, inked to perfection by Mike Royer. Next up was the first of two works by Bill Sienkiewicz, one of the guests scheduled to attend the symposium. This one was an image of Conan, originally used as a 1985 calendar illustration. It shows Sienkiewicz (pronounced "sin-KEV-itch") moving from his early Neal Adams-influenced style into his own unique vision. The artist best known for Conan was represented next. Frank Frazetta began his career drawing EC comics in the 1950s, and had an outstanding run of work in the Warren magazines of the 1960s, but he became the god of fantasy art with an incredible series of paperback covers illustrating the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. He was represented in the exhibition with a small but admirable pencil-and-watercolor preliminary sketch for his painting "The Norseman." A superb recreation of the cover of Whiz Comics #3 followed, a flawlessly-executed image of Captain Marvel in action by the chief artist of the Big Red Cheese, C.C. Beck. In his salad days in the 1940s, Captain Marvel's adventures sold over a million copies per issue! Later version of the character have never been able to recapture the whimsical style and spirit of good fun evident in Beck's original. Next was the centerpiece of the comic book art exhibition: a specially-commissioned full-length portrait of Superman nearly 4 feet high, painted by Bill Sienkiewicz (seen at the top of this page). This totemic image of the Man of Steel breaking chains with his chest hearkens back to the earliest images of Superman by Joe Shuster, and also to the image by Neal Adams that ushered in a more-realistic treatment of the character in the 1970s. A tiny jewel in contrast to the large Sienkiewicz painting, a small pencil headshot of Superman came next. It was drawn by Superman's co-creator, Joe Shuster, in 1974. Troubled by vision problems most of his adult life, Shuster must have been nearly blind when he executed this piece; yet it is more confident and masterful than much of his early work. This is one of the absolute treasures of the collection. The Superman theme continued in the next three items. Glen Orbik's Legends of the DC Universe cover painting (shown on the Index page) came first, followed by a print of the splash page of Siegel and Shuster's unsold pre-superhero version of "The Superman," signed by Shuster. A 1974 Action Comics page by Silver Age great Curt Swan completed the theme. Who could follow the Last Son of Kypton better than the Caped Crusader? The final run of pieces along the walls all featured The Batman. Neal Adams was represented with a story page from Brave & Bold #79 featuring Batman and Deadman. Adams had already garned acclaim for his work on Deadman in Strange Adventures, but this was his first-ever Batman story. He would go on to become quite possibly the most influential artist ever to draw the character. Next came a large full-color recreation of the cover of Batman #43 by Jim Mooney, probably best know for his definitive work on Supergirl in Adventure Comics and Man-Thing at Marvel Comics. Batman/Joker trading card art by painter Scott Hampton completed the north wall. Three Man-Bat pieces by British artist John Bolton on the east were the last wall-hung works on exhibit.
A glass enclosure at the west end of the room held seven original Spirit pages by Will Eisner. They comprised the entire "Li'l Adam" story from the Spirit newspaper section dated July 20, 1947. (The Spirit was originally distributed as a comic book-sized insert in Sunday newspapers.) In this classic Eisner farce satirizing his fellow newspaper cartoonists, artist "Al Slapp" has been found murdered. The Spirit is sent to find which of Slapp's peers did the deed. Was it Elmer Hay, creator of Little Homeless Brenda? No, but the Spirit is forced to subdue Hay's enormous manservant by blacking in his empty oval eyes with India ink! Was it Hector Ghoul, creator of ultra-violent detective Nick Stacy? No. It turns out that a corrupt comic strip syndicate executive was the culprit, and Slapp is alive after all. But he receives his just desserts on Page 7 nonetheless. This wonderful example of postwar Spirit storytelling is not part of the Howard collection, but was on loan to the Gallery from Will Eisner especially for the exhibition. It deserved to be in a glass display, as the crown jewel of this amazing display of comic book art! |
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The
Batman theme continued with a spectacular Jeff Jones oil painting, used as
the cover image for the 1997 hardcover edition of Batman: Black and
White. Jones' moody closeup view of a descending Dark Knight was a favorite
among visitors to the exhibit, impressive in its scale, color and
execution.
Crossing
the doorway, the first piece was a watercolor by George Pratt from his Enemy
Ace graphic novel. Pratt was followed by a small painting by Jean "Moebius"
Giraud, the French maestro of comic art.
The
final piece on the west was an enormous pencil commission by Joe Simon's
one-time partner, the King of Comics, Jack Kirby. A 1979 drawing of the S&K
character Stuntman, it demonstrated admirably all the depth and dynamism
that marks Kirby at his finest.
But
there were seven more pieces of art on display!