Robbins runs into Kirby...
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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Let's start with #164, then leap (after the splash page) to #185 all the way up to #192, which, aside from Annuals #5 & 6 (not show here) are all the non-Jack Kirby Captain America issues in my collection. (Scratch that - I have maybe a couple of earlier ones, as well as a few much later ones I've shown before.)
I don't remember having all these mags when they were published, apart from around 3, possibly 4 of them, but the ones I do recall are etched in my memory - and, in regard to one in particular (#187 if you're interested), I even remember who was with me on the day I bought it from the local Hospital Shop in my home town.
I don't have the original ones I used to own, but I've had their replacements now for around 25-30 years or so - much longer than I had the ones purchased back in the '70s, so they feel like the originals to me. However, that's quite enough of my self-indulgent warblings, it's now time to turn you loose on all these great images.
Got a favourite? Be sure and let us all know, effendi! And if you'd like to see all of Jack's Cap covers from the '70s (plus a few more), click here.
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| We know what he means, but it sounds like he's been waiting for The Falcon to slay Cap |
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| Well, they'll burn through Cap too, won't they? No mystery |
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| H'mm, even allowing for foreshortening, I'd say the baddie's left leg is too long |
13 comments:
Mad Flight was reprinted in a Titans annual- possibly the 1977 one, I'm not at home to check right now- that I bought at a school jumble sale in 1986/87 ish (and still have).
While I'm not a fan of Frank Robbins' art, I read some DC comics a few years ago that he'd written (but not drawn) and thoroughly enjoyed them!
I mentioned that very thing in the comments section of the previous post, DS. They left out 6 pages though - and it was indeed the 1977 Annual, which I bought when it first came out. Bought but never kept, alas, so had to replace it a good few years ago. I've had my second copy for far longer than I've had my first.
Loved Captain America #164 but this was a very strange issue! The artist was Alan Weiss who did very little Marvel work. The story was fantastic but out of sync with the previous issues and the issues immediately following.Was this a fill in issue or was it an issue that was genuinely scheduled? Perhaps you or your esteemed readers might update me. Cap from #154-176,and perhaps a few issues beyond were some of the finest comics from the 1970s even though the artwork by Sal and Vince dipped noticeably over the run.
Not having read the immediate issues either side of #164 (at least not in years, and then only in reprint form perhaps), I'll have to rely on a fellow Crivvie to answer your question, TF. (In fact, I'll have to re-read #164 to remind myself what it's all about.) However, it's always possible that it WAS a scheduled story, but Weiss may have been drafted in to give the regular penciller/inker team a break.
I was not a fan of Frank Robbins on Captain America, or the Batman issues I’d seen that he drew......and his fill-in issues on The Shadow were really jarring after seeing Kaluta’s work. However, I really came to appreciate his work on The Invaders. Not sure how to explain it, but he was a really good fit with that series and I was actually disappointed when he left.
At first, G, I wasn't a great fan of his work when I first saw it (on Batman), but it grew on me. A bit cartoony perhaps, but with the right inker to dilute the more extreme aspects of his pencilling, he was a good visual storyteller. Yeah, he suited The Invaders - I wonder if that was because Colletta inked him on that? (At least I think it was Colletta.)
I think like most folk I wasn't a fan of Robbins art at first but it was his work on the Shadow issue 7 that really made me look again at his work (granted I hadn't seen Kaluta Shadow at that time) but it wasn't until the Invaders that I really started to appreciate his work ( altho I much preferred Springer as his inker on that strip. His art on Man from Atlantis is a hidden gem for Robbins fans and there are a couple of back up strips he did for Detective comics (a detective strip I can't recall then name of) that are great. Then again there the Human Fly!
It actually occurred to me a while back that Robbins was like Kirby, McS, in that they each had 'peculiar' styles when it came to pencilling. With Jack it was squiggles for muscles, and with Frank it was - what exactly? I haven't quite identified it yet. However, both their styles were 'cartoony' when compared to other comicbook artists drawing action strips - and both were great visual storytellers.
Kid, this post brings back some nice memories. The Robbins pages look better than I remember, and Bruce Berry looks like a much better inker for Robbins than he was for Kirby. The Englehart-Robbins run of issues with the Red Skull were terrific, and the Isabella-Robbins ones with Nightshade weren't bad. As for the Englehart-Weiss issue, I don't think it was a fill-in, but probably a take that might have been heavily influenced by Weiss. Weiss did some nice stuff in the 70s, his spash page in Subby#54 being a standout, but I don't recall his Cap issue as being that good.
Spirit of '64
Robbins is probably the most controversial artist apart from Vinnie Colletta. Sometimes he does nice work like that splash page of Steve Rogers with Cap's figure in the background. Other times it's like he has never seen a human being before.
Regarding the Weiss issue, S64, I re-read it after doing this post, and it looked like a couple of faces - particularly the mouths - had been retouched or redrawn by John Romita. I still enjoyed the story though. I'll have to look out for Subby #54.
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Could that perhaps be down to inkers, PS? For example, a lot of Jack Kirby's later work looked terrible because it was inked by D. Bruce Berry and Mike Thibodeaux, but if he got the right inker it was a little better. Maybe it was the same in Robbins' case?
I always felt Robbins with Colette inks was really bland to borderline awful (as was D Bruce Berry's inks on Robbins) But Springer and Robbins himself inking put it into another league. I get that done folk won't like him some of his action posses were surreal but he was a cartoonist / illustrator rather than an artist like Buscema or Adams etc .
I'll have to pay more attention to Robbins' inkers, McS, because it's not something I've studied in any great depth. Colletta's inks looked okay to me on The Invaders, but I'm remembering the tales from their reprintings in The Complete Fantastic Four, when they had grey tones applied that might have added something to the overall look of the art.
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