Hey! Actual Comics Content!
I know it's been a long time since I've actually written about anything comics-related...sorry about that.
Anyway, this is just something I've had kicking around in my head for a while, but I'm only just now getting around to putting it down in words.
Ever since the 1970s, when a new generation of comics writers began dealing with more cerebral and politically aware ideas than had previously been seen in comics, couching their commentary in spacefaring sagas or mystical realms, there's been a tendency to lump all the "cosmic" writers together, as if they were interchangeable. ("Oh, he's a cosmic writer, let's put him on this title.") But it's just not so. Steve Englehart Cosmic is different from Don McGregor Cosmic, Doug Moench Cosmic is different from Jim Starlin Cosmic, and Steve Gerber Cosmic is different from everybody else. (Indeed, Gerber's "Space Turnip" story from Howard the Duck #2 is a pretty scathing attack on McGregor and Starlin.)
And, as Death of the New Gods has demonstrated, Starlin Cosmic is diametrically opposed to Kirby Kosmic.
Labels: comics
posted by Erich @ 11:08 PM
2 Comments:
Well said and exactly right.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the intent of the Space Turnip story. Yes, it nails both McGregor and Starlin effectively...but Don McGregor was a good friend to Gerber, and Starlin at the very least collaborated with Gerber (for example when Starlin's Captain Marvel crossed over with Gerber's Daredevil) so I don't think there was ill will there. It was more like good natured (if pointed) ribbing than an attack.
Much like when Gerber brilliantly skewered the Vertigo characters in the Howard the Duck MAX series including letter-perfect parodies of the Sandman and Spider Jerusalem, each of them characters created by writers who were unashamed Gerber fans.
Yeah, "attack" was a poor choice of words..."satire" is more on the mark.
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