Stay Tuned for a Super-June!

With Superman's 70^th anniversary coming up in June, you can bet there'll be gobs of tributes celebrating the Man of Steel's long run. Adding to the chorus will be my own modest voice here at Comic Coverage, as I devote the entire month of June to All Things Superman. Having been a Superman fan for most of my life, I think I've got a perspective on the character that goes beyond the usual "scan-N-slam" comic blogs out there...so be sure to watch for

June 2008

Comments

[Brian]

I can hear John Williams' epic theme playing in my head as I read your post-- this will be very cool. I like Superman, but would like to know more about him than I do, and trust your super-knowledge will do the trick!

[Mark Engblom]

Thanks, Brian...I'll try my best to make it fun.

[Joe Lewallen]

Happy Birthday to the Big Guy. Looking forward to your Coverage, Mark.

[meng]

i never used to like Superman much growing up... i mean he was ok but the Curt Swan/Frank Chiarmonte interiors were always a letdown from the Neal Adams, Jose Garcia Lopez or Andru/Giordano covers and i was a Batman fan from the reruns of the tv show...

but Batman turned into a psycho and Alan Moore & Curt Swan (with a good inker) proved that there was plenty of life in Superman. i've really come to love the Swan stuff from his heydays- all the Silver Age stuff (when he was the Brian Bolland of his era) and just how rich and wonderful all the Weisinger-created mythos is...

looking forward to your coverage and putting in a request for a Superman vs Shazam entry!

[Mark. Engblom]

"i never used to like Superman much growing up... i mean he was ok but the Curt Swan/Frank Chiarmonte interiors were always a letdown..."

I hear you on that point. I loathed the Chiaramonte inking over Swan's pencils...and it makes me wonder if the whole experience took the wind out of Swan's sails through much of the 80's...until Al Williamson was made his inker shortly before the end of his stint (Al was Swan's favorite inker of his stuff).

"looking forward to your coverage and putting in a request for a Superman vs Shazam entry!"

I'll see what I can do!

[meng]

yes! i think Al Williamson is Swan's best inker too. it's a shame the Swan/Williamson (Swilliamson?) team was only on a handful of issues while Chiaramonte inked both Action and Superman for almost a decade. so much of my initial impression of Swan's work was tainted by his leaden inking...

[SLK]

The late George Klein was my favorite Swan inker, Anderson a close second; but you know who really destroyed Curt's pencils (IMHO)? Jack Abel...at least in some late '60s Legion stories in Adventure (and I think he inked some Supermans during that time too). Abel's inks absolutely flattened Swan's work. Back then, I was a clueless kid and when Abel started inking Swan on a few LSH stories (prior to Mortimer taking over the pencils), I really thought it was another artist altogether, and not Swan--that's how unrecognizable it was to me.

[meng]

i'm with you on both points, SLK.

hard to argue with either Klein or Anderson. i recently been buying a lot of silver age Superman's around 145-190 and i just love that era artwork (which i never appreciated a kid). the Swanderson Superman always reminds me of the 70s due to Superman's (very) slightly shaggier hair and longer sideburns.

and ditto on Abel. he's in my bottom tier of inkers...

here's my breakdown (in order):

tier 1
Al Williamson, George Klein, Murphy Anderson, Swan himself

tier 2
Bob Oksner, Dan Adkins, Dave Hunt

tier 3
Stan Kaye, Shelly Moldoff

tier 4
Jack Abel, George Roussos, Frank Chiarmonte, Tex Blaisdell

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, Abel was a pretty obnoxious inker....he stomped all over pencils. I think the only guy I liked him inking over was Sal Buscema.

Your tier system matches up pretty close to my own, although I would personally elevate Oksner to Tier 1.

Geez...I'd forgotten about Blaisdell.