Saturday, November 17, 2007
Comic Art
What better way to begin a follow-up to a series on the Omnipotents than with the master creations of the master artist - Jack Kirby - The Asgardians at Marvel and the New Gods at DC. we will alternate slots between the two starting this week with Asgard, which came first chronologically.As with all things from the Marvel Silver Age, Stan Lee is credited with the idea, but likewise as with all things from the Silver Age it is the artist that made it happen. Jack Kirby was born to do Asgard, and frankly, the New Gods, despite most people thinking they were his best work, were a poor imitation he did later at DC after he and Lee parted company.
It was, in the end, the art that matters and Kirby's art on New Gods may be superior, but how can you top the tales of Asgard? They are, after all based in ancient Norse mythology - legends that have been with mankind for millenia.It would be fascinating to know how we got here with those legends. Lee claims he wanted to examine the idea of a god as hero and thought greco/roman mythology overdone. Nice idea, but one has to wonder if that was all there was to it.
For me personally, these tales paved the way for Lord of The Rings which springs from the same inspirational well. I must also confess to coming to appreciate these stories only later. I found them unappealing as a child, it was not until my teen years that I went crazy for Thor, et. al. That crazy bad old english just did not cut it for me.
But I did still love those pictures!
More to come...
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