Look at that cover - doesn't it look like SUPERMAN is actually hovering in mid-air outside CLARK KENT'S apartment? You really DO believe a man can fly! Doesn't Clark look as if he's really hanging on for dear life in order to avoid falling to his doom? (To get the full effect, click on the image - when it pops up larger, click on it again.) Nowadays, with artists like ALEX ROSS on the scene, people have become accustomed to realistic portrayals of superheroes - but, way back in the '60s - Curt Swan had been there, done that, and bought the celebration mug - at a time when most people thought that comicbooks were for kids and as far removed from realistic illustration as one could get.The cover has an almost 3D quality to it, and when I look at it, I wonder why, back in the early '80s, many then-current "new kids on the block" artists described Curt Swan's work as "boring". I don't think it WAS boring - it's just that he had an uncanny knack for making fantastic occurences look as if he'd glanced out of his window and recorded them on artboard as they happened. The word I'm looking for is - REAL!
I remember this cover from my childhood, and the effect it had on me then. It still has that effect today. That takes a special kind of talent - and talent was what Curt Swan had in spades!
No comments:
Post a Comment