Alter Ego's look at the life and career of Joe Kubert hit the stands somewhat belatedly yesterday, but it looks fantastic. Since Twomorrows changed up its format and went to full color magazines, they frankly haven't lived up the promise, until now. This appears at first glance to be a lush visual feast for Kubert fans. I'm eager to tear into it this weekend.
Also on tap are the six issues of Joe Kubert Presents from DC. I've been avidly collecting these as they appeared on the stands, a series which began hitting the stands at about the time Kubert passed and quickly became a tiny monthly monument to the great comic book creator. The issues collect up new and old Kubert work from across the decades as well as offering up material by master Sam Glanzman and artist Brian Buniak.
And I don't own a copy of Weird Horrors and Daring Adventures the first volume in what are dubbed The Joe Kubert Archives, but I am sort of eager to get hold of one with Kubert on my mind. These are are early stories by Kubert in many genres. Compelling cover for sure for this Fantagraphics offering.
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TwoMorrows has wasted a lot of the color promise. I remember when they started those 8-page centers in color and wasted the space on...TEXT! Meanwhile a few pages earlier or later in the issue they would have greyscale art! Egad! I'd rather have longer issues in B&W, but if they are going to charge extra so they can be full-color, I sure wish they would accentuate the art more.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. I get Alter Ego regularly, and I still get Jack Kirby Collector when it comes out, but there's no denying the great energy Twomorrows had when they started with magazines crammed with info has dwindled into magazines which often are prettier than they are enlightening. There is diminishing return on the magazines now sadly.
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Alter Ego I still get but wish was the old, longer B&W format. Since they keep pushing articles back and running out of room for letters, shorter was NOT the way to go.
DeleteBack Issue I usually get because there's almost always at least 1 or 2 things I want to read, but they have been publishing too many articles that are merely a synopsis of comics stories with little insight or behind-the-scenes info. Example: the Long Halloween article. Learned nothing except that the article's author thinks it's really great. I skipped the Dark Horse licensed Star Wars issue because I could not care less about the subject.
JKC I used to read but it felt like too much cheerleading for stuff that really wasn't that great, like Captain Glory...really? I enjoyed stuff from guys who worked with/for the King, but don't really care about people taking his unused concept art from the '80s and trying to pretend their new property is Kirby work. So I dropped it a few years back, have I missed much?