Apropos Lichtenstein, isn't it weird how in some parts of the world it's usual for the imitator to be more successful than the originator? I don't think any comic book artist ever got as rich as Lichtenstein. And certainly at and before Lichtenstein's prime, they were not considered "artists" by very many, they were treated basically like sweat shop laborers.
7 comments:
You're living in the past, man. Top artists and writers in comics these days made a shitload of money. More than that hack Lichtenstein. Calvin & Hobbes did a strip about what is considered low art and what high art. Comic books=low art. A painting of a comic book panel somehow equals high art, even though Lichtenstein says nothing at all in any of his work.
I agree with what you're saying.
(Right, I remember that Calvin strip now. Great stuff.)
(I did point out that I was talking about the old days, before around 1970. These days, I dunno, don't have the numbers, but it's true that a few comic book artists have decent success.)
That's a damn fine original disguise!
And it's easier to achieve than disguising yourself as a pixellated 8bit videogame character!
I feel that here disguise is a work of art by itself. I'm most impressed.
I doubt many these days are making that much. There are a few names. For some reason Todd McFarlane was very well paid when at Marvel. Despite a total lack of talent. Jim Lee. I doubt anyone these days is making much, as few are buying comics. Certainly kids don't buy them. They are too expensive. Plus they look like they were made by a machine, what with the computer lettering and coloring.
I think computer games is the main reason kids don't buy comics.
For me, DVDs and rental is the reason. I own and rent more DVDs than I can watch, so my comics started languishing in the drawer, so I've all but stopped buying them.
... Too bad, I really like the potential of comics.
Speaking of DVDs and comics, have you READ Persepolis?
The movie was excellent, but the original comic (or rather graphic novel) has an atmosphere of its own. It's got this misleading appearance of great simplicity to it. It's like Tintin (in B&W) meets Tolstoi.
I don't know whether my having grown up in the Lebanon war gives me a specially deep perspective (persepolictive?) on it all. But some things felt disturbingly familiar to me. VERY familiar...
'Suddenly, sirens started to wail... and my aunt did too.'
[Aunt, mouth opened wide like Olive Oyl]: "AAAA ... !"
And to think these Iranian fanatics were amateurs compared to the very actual sunni Talibans...
Note to self: check at the bookstore whether the hilarious satirical french comic "BinLaden unveiled" managed to be allowed in Lebanon. NOT guaranteed.
Live caricatural comic book characters? Why, sure, I know some. They RULE this banana repub... emirate! :-/
(Although to be perfectly fair, we mostly produce apples...)
And that's no fib: a while ago, my little nephew, then aged three or four, saw a couple of our major local figures on the national TV news. Spontaneously, and even though ours is an apolitical home, he pointed at the screen and said: "Look at the cartoons!"
Truth comes from the mouths of children...
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