Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Spectre: Legends of the DC Universe 80-page Giant #1

Page 9. I didn't do a very good job of preserving Ditko's pencils here.  I was a little lost.

Posted by Kevin Nowlan at 12:02 AM
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7 comments:

  1. Michael WurlApril 1, 2010 at 12:57 AM

    Great, here's another comic I have to go and buy just to see what the rest of the story looks like!

    I hope my comments don't offend anyone, everyone being mentioned is a fantastic artist...that said, I wonder who made the decision to pair you with Ditko, or for that matter, I see in GCD, in the same issue, there is also a story with layouts by Dave Gibbons, and finishes by Sal Buscema. All respected and wonderful artists, yet that doesn't necessarily mean that the styles will be compatible. Like I say, I don't have this issue and can only comment on what I see here.
    Steve Ditko is a genius, a legend in the field. You are an incredible artist and one of the greatest inkers of modern times (or all time). I feel the choice to pair your highly realistic style with Ditko's wonderful yet highly unrealistic stylizations is not a good match. The finished page is beautiful, of course, but any trace of Ditko's style is lost. Whether that is good or bad, that is subjective. Again, I am only able to judge this by what I see here. I am curious what Mr. Ditko thought of the result.

    If I were the art director/person giving assignments, I would have had Buscema finish Ditko, and you finish Gibbons, at least that seems like a more compatible pairing of styles.

    I have to go out and find this comic now. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my armchair fanboy commentary. If I were you, I wouldn't know how to treat Ditko's pencils (which seem more like layouts) either, as I wouldn't want to tread on such a giant's toes with my own style! The page is beautiful, though, really. I'll shut up now.

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  2. Kevin NowlanApril 1, 2010 at 6:13 AM

    You sure didn't offend me because I agree with everything you wrote. I should also mention that I inked Dave Gibbons' pencils recently on a big double cover that hasn't been solicited yet. I'll post it here when I get the green light.

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  3. jay leistenApril 1, 2010 at 10:55 AM

    Sounded like a solid assessment. Ditkos layout sense is there, but he didn't turn in enough pencil to really get offended from my perspective. I think the end result is awesome, but I would probably assume it was all Kevin just from a glance.

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  4. Hilary BartaApril 1, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    That page would be a tough assignment for anyone, Kevin. Bill Reinhold inked a similarly rough Ditko story. He told me that he looked at Silver Age Ditko comics in an effort to finish it as Ditko might have in his prime.

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  5. Kevin NowlanApril 1, 2010 at 9:26 PM

    I saw Craig Russell do that on an issue of ROM. On one page, he had to completely redraw a panel because Ditko had drawn the wrong character, but Craig dug out some old Ditko comics and drew the new character in Ditko's style. I was really impressed!

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  6. AnonymousApril 2, 2010 at 8:50 AM

    Kevin, I truly love your work, so I would categorize your inking over Ditko an interesting experiment, but not very compatible (I did love your inking over Gil Kane). I agree with Mike that Sal Buscema would have been a good fit. Most of the best inkers over Ditko have been artists who have closely folowed his style, such as Steve Leialoha, Craig Russell Bill Reinghold and Mike Royer (who was closest to his style, on a few DC stories in the 1970s). There are exceptions, such as Wally Wood, who was terrific over everyone, but not many others. Kevin, I notice a strong Neal Adams influence on your inking on the Spectre's face in the last panel. Am I correct?

    Nick Caputo

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  7. AnonymousApril 2, 2010 at 11:57 PM

    I thought this whole story was a beautiful job, and I don't agree that your work is incompatible with Ditko. I wish you and he had done more Spectre stories together. The only area on this page where you go too far, I think, is the inking of the Spectre's face on p. 5, which seems pretty close to a complete redraw. The next panel takes a bit of liberty with the addition of the lower teeth, but it greatly enhances the drawing, at least in my opinion. Certainly the redefining of the dark areas around and above the eyes simply keeps the character on model. --Bob Cosgrove

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