Comic Books 101

by Chris Ryall

  Carl Barks's Scrooge had his priorities firmly in place.

  UNCLE SCROOGE #13 © 1956 DISNEY ENTERPRISES. PUBLISHED BY DELL COMICS. ART BY CARL BARKS. COLOR BY PETER LEDGER.

  When talking about Disney comic books, there's only one name you really need to know, and that's the man for years known to Disney comics fans only as “The Good Duck Artist” (since all the work in the Disney comics was uncredited): Carl Barks.

  Beginning in the 1930s, Barks labored for years in anonymity working on Dell's line of Walt Disney comics, not only writing and drawing dozens of pages per month for decades but also creating the familiar characters Uncle Scrooge, the Beagle Boys, Gladstone Gander, Gyro Gearloose and many more.

  Barks first found success on the Donald Duck series, where he introduced Scrooge McDuck — Donald's hyper-fantasticatillionaire uncle — an industrialist tycoon who is constantly dragging Donald and his nephews on globe-trotting adventures to either protect his fortune or expand it. The scripts and art in these comics are first-rate and marvelous. Barks excelled at both physical comedy and high adventure, and gave Donald much more of a personality here than he ever had in the cartoons.

  Aside from gorgeous backgrounds and authentic, painstakingly researched details, Barks's true gift as a comic-book artist was his ability to so convincingly wring emotions from his ducks, creating characterizations deeper and more keenly felt than anything found in more “grown-up” comics of the time.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  DISNEY COMICS

  Carl Barks' Greatest DuckTales Stories, Vol. 1 and 2

  The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa

  The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion by Don Rosa

  Walt Disney Treasures, Vol. 1 and 2

  It was only after Barks's retirement in the 1970s that he finally received recognition for his work, as determined fans, now grown, learned his identity and tracked him down. By producing oil paintings of his duck characters that became big hits in galleries nationwide, he earned the well-deserved financial success that had eluded him for most of his life. Barks passed away in 2000 at the age of ninety-nine. Thankfully, his work is once again available to an American audience with Gemstone Publishing's new Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics, which each month offer a steady diet of Barks reprints.

  The modern inheritor of Barks's throne is writer and artist Don Rosa. A lifelong fan of Barks's Uncle Scrooge comics, he painstakingly crafts masterful sequels to many of Barks's classic Scrooge tales, as well as fills in the gaps from Barks's stories of Scrooge's younger days in his critically acclaimed twelve-part series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Rosa's work is sharply written and beautifully drawn with a sparkling wit and a charming tendency to sprinkle the panels with cute little animals peeking out of nooks and crannies.

  Although Rosa is acclaimed throughout Europe as a top talent and masterful storyteller, he remains somewhat unknown here in his home country. For many years, Disney comics were unavailable because of Disney's difficulties with earlier licensees and its own failed attempt to start its own comics imprint. Thankfully, Disney's current comics licensee Gemstone gives Rosa's work the respect it deserves, publishing collected versions of Scrooge McDuck, as well as a series of smaller graphic novels containing a Carl Barks classic and its Don Rosa sequel.

  Disney's duck comics are popular in other parts of the world. In Finland, it's tradition to purchase a subscription to Donald Duck for children when they are born.

  THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK © 2005 DISNEY ENTERPRISES. PUBLISHED BY GEMSTONE PUBLISHING. ART BY DON ROSA. COLOR BY SUSAN DAIGLE-LEACH.

  2 Image Comics

  Image central castingWhen Image Comics first formed in 1992, it was comprised of six studios run by Image's partners (a seventh creator involved in the company's start-up, Whilce Portacio, never became a full partner or owned his own studio):

  Extreme Studios, run by Rob Liefeld

  Highbrow Entertainment, run by Erik Larsen

  ShadowLine, run by Jim Valentino

  Todd McFarlane Productions, run by Todd McFarlane

  Top Cow Productions, run by Marc Silvestri

  Wildstorm Productions, run by Jim Lee

  Rob Liefeld's Youngblood, Erik Larsen's The Savage Dragon, Todd McFarlane's Spawn and Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s enjoyed record-breaking sales and multimedia attention upon their launches, and toys and animated series spun out of the comics to varying degrees of success. In Spawn's case, the toys were such a huge success that they became a major component of Todd McFarlane Productions. McFarlane's toy line, known for its attention to detail and authentic likenesses, has expanded to include many movie characters, sports company's figures and musicians, among others. In addition, Spawn inspired an HBO animated series and became a major motion picture.

  Youngblood, WildC.A.T.s and The Savage Dragon had short-lived animated series, as well. Of these titles launched in 1992, only Spawn and The Savage Dragon are still published regularly, and only Dragon is still written and illustrated by its creator, Erik Larsen. In the intervening years, Image has published hundreds of new comics from other high-profile creators and expanded far beyond its origins. Sam Kieth's The Maxx was an early favorite. Kieth's distinctive, moody art style first caught fans' attention in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series for DC. With The Maxx, Kieth also tackled writing chores, co-writing with William Messner-Loebs at the start. The series eventually inspired a thirteen-episode animated series that aired on MTV.

  Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross's Astro City was a hugely popular Image series. Astro City, a superhero title set in its titular city, has one distinct difference between it and many other superhero titles: it focuses as much on the regular people in the city and their perceptions of the heroics going on around them as it does on the caped and costumed figures.

  As the different studios expanded their respective lines, there was talk of integrating the different universes into one, which would allow all the different titles and characters to cross over into one another. But by then, the sort of fare Image was offering was so diverse and widespread that doing so didn't make sense.

  Image books have been created by many superstar writers and artists, but none has been bigger than Watchmen writer Alan Moore. Moore released the retro-leaning series 1963 before taking over writing chores on several Image titles, including Rob Liefeld's Youngblood spin-off, Supreme. His work on Supreme used many ideas Moore originally developed for DC's Superman, and functioned as a running commentary on superhero comics even as it celebrated their clichés. Though Supreme was at times dogged by lackluster artwork as other artists aped Liefeld's style to lesser effect, it remains one of the most unique comic-book runs ever released.

  Along the way, the company established smaller imprints under its partner studios, too. Jim Valentino brought on many new creator-owned titles, offering new creators full ownership of their characters in exchange for an upfront administrative fee. Some of the founding partners have moved on, and today Image Comics consists of three partner studios: Image Central, Todd McFarlane Productions and Top Cow Productions.

  While sales of Image titles don't approach the staggering levels of its heyday, newer titles such as Invincible, The Walking Dead, Casanova, Fell, NYC Mech and the Frazetta comics line, along with transplanted titles such as True Story, Swear to God, keep the company's offerings as diverse and interesting as ever.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  IMAGE COMICS

  Astro City: Life In the Big City by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross

  Gen13: Who They Are and How They Came to Be by Jim Lee, Brandon Choi and J. Scott Campbell

  Invincible: Family Matters by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker

  Liberty Meadows: Eden by Frank Cho

  Mage: The Hero Defined by Matt Wagner

  Rising Stars: Born in Fire by J. Michael Straczynski

  The Savage Dragon Archives, Vol. 1 by Erik Larsen

  ShadowHawk: Out of the Shado
ws by Jim Valentino

  Spawn: Beginnings by Todd McFarlane

  Supreme: The Story of the Year by Alan Moore

  The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman

  WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi

  Youngblood #1 by Rob Liefeld

  3 Dark Horse Comics

  Presenting Dark Horse

  Portland, Oregon-based Dark Horse Comics was the brainchild of Mike Richardson, a local comic retailer. Richardson owned and operated a number of stores in the Oregon area before deciding to jump into the publishing game. As a retailer, Richardson recognized the dearth of quality non-superhero titles, and in 1986, he pooled funds from his stores to launch the publishing division with two titles, Dark Horse Presents and Boris the Bear. The first of the two, Dark Horse Presents, was an anthology series that gave birth to such acclaimed series as Paul Chadwick's Concrete and Frank Miller's Sin City.

  Concrete tells the tale of a congressional speechwriter who finds himself transformed into a bulky stone giant. Rather than turning into the standard superhero action smash-'em-up, Concrete develops into a thoughtful, wistful examination of the human condition, as the title character looks for ways to give his life meaning while longing for his lost humanity. As for Sin City, after breaking from DC, artist Frank Miller was finally free to tell the kind of hard-boiled crime stories he'd been longing to create. Both Sin City the comic and the movie co-directed by Miller became smash hits.

  Following Dark Horse's success with creator-owned titles, the company began publishing licensed comics based on successful science-fiction movies, starting with Aliens in 1988, followed by Predator in 1989. It soon signed on as the comic publisher for Star Wars, a license Dark Horse has held for close to two decades, publishing hundreds of comics based on the property and expanding George Lucas's universe into exciting new areas.

  Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson's creation The Mask was next worn by Jim Carrey in the 1994 film.

  DARK HORSE COMICS ® & THE DARK HORSE LOGO ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF DARK HORSE COMICS, INC.

  THE MASK OMNIBUS™ VOL. 1 © 2008 DARK HORSE COMICS, INC. PUBLISHED BY DARK HORSE COMICS, INC.

  The classic comic-book staple — the crossover — was used to great effect by Dark Horse. The company paired up two of its film licenses in one title, leading to the successful Aliens vs. Predator comic in 1989. The comic book was so well-received that it kick-started a fan push for a movie of the same name, which culminated in two big-screen efforts. The Mask, a title created by Richardson in 1982, became a Jim Carrey vehicle in 1994. Meanwhile, Dark Horse carried on with other new titles, licensed comics such as Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Robert E. Howard's Conan, and creator-owned titles such as Stan Sakai's long-running Usagi Yojimbo.

  Does this look like an image that could launch a big-screen film franchise? Thankfully, yes.

  HELLBOY™ © 2008 MIKE MIGNOLA.

  The company helped strike a blow for creators' rights in the early 1990s, offering enough creative freedom and ownership to high-profile creators that some of the industry's top talent left Marvel and DC to create all-new titles for Dark Horse, including Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons's Give Me Liberty, John Byrne's Next Men and Mike Mignola's Hellboy. Hellboy has proven especially successful, leading to numerous spin-offs and two major motion picture adaptations. Similarly, two properties Frank Miller created for the company, Sin City and 300, have also been turned into successful and acclaimed movies.

  CHRIS SAYS

  When Dark Horse took on the Star Wars license, it brought a new level of gravitas to the material that the Marvel Comics of the late 1970s never had. And at the same time, licensed books seemed to enter a more serious, less playful phase, too. Don't get me wrong: the comics were great — they needed to get serious for the long-term viability of the license. But while this new material was more faithful to the movies and novels, the Marvel comics, well, they featured, among other things, a giant green gun-totin' rabbit palling around with Han Solo. You just don't get that same level of whimsy and playfulness nowadays. Although maybe that's a good thing.

  Further adding to the company's portfolio is Dark Horse's early championing of Japanese manga in the American comic market. Manga is big business here now, but at the time the company first signed on to bring translated versions of these black-and-white comics to our shores, it was anything but a safe bet. Early editions of acclaimed, long-running series such as Lone Wolf and Cub have sold huge numbers in America.

  Dark Horse continues to expand upon its wide array of titles through recent offerings — a line of novels based on licensed characters and their own creations, independent films, and new comics such as Buffy creator Joss Whedon's Sugar Shock, singer Gerard Way's The Umbrella Academy and Robert E. Howard's Pigeons From Hell.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  DARK HORSE COMICS

  Akira, Vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo

  Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka

  Blade of the Immortal: Blood of a Thousand by Hiroaki Samura

  Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty

  Conan: The Frost Giant's Daughter and Other Stories by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord

  Concrete: Depths by Paul Chadwick

  Give Me Liberty by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons

  The Goon: Nothin' But Misery by Eric Powell

  Grendel Archives by Matt Wagner

  Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola and John Byrne

  John Byrne's Next Men by John Byrne

  Lone Wolf and Cub: The Assassin's Road by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

  The Mask Omnibus, Vol. 1 by Mike Richardson and various

  Sin City: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller

  Star Wars: Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy

  The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá

  Usagi Yojimbo: Glimpses of Death by Stan Sakai

  Stan Sakai's beloved Usagi Yojimbo has surpassed the 100 issue mark in its tenure at Dark Horse, hallowed ground for any title produced by a single creator.

  USAGI YOJIMBO™ © 2008 STAN SAKAI.

  With The Umbrella Academy, My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way is one of the few rock stars to aspire to be a comic book writer.

  THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY™ © 2008 GERARD WAY.

  4 Bone

  Tickling your phoney boneEvery now and then a book comes along and completely takes you by surprise, a perfect blend of influences that coalesce to create something entirely new, yet so distinctive, you can't imagine it being any different. In the early 1990s, that book would have been Bone, the series self-published by writer/artist Jeff Smith.

  A rat creature sneaks up on our hero Fone Bone in Jeff Smith's Bone.

  BONE: THE ONE-VOLUME EDITION: ® AND © 2004 JEFF SMITH. USED WITH PERMISSION. PUBLISHED BY CARTOON BOOKS. WRITING, ART AND COLOR BY JEFF SMITH.

  Smith, a self-taught cartoonist, first conceived the characters that would populate Bone in a daily comic strip entitled Thorn for the student newspaper The Lantern at Ohio State University. A polished version made its debut in 1991 with the release of Bone #1, the first issue of Smith's self-published comic book. Almost immediately, Bone became a cult sensation. Smith's confident cartoony style and sharp wit immediately won over readers as they got to know Smith's trio of protagonists, three rounded, cartoony creatures known as the Bone cousins — Fone Bone (the friendly, even-tempered everyman), Phoney Bone (the scheming, greedy instigator) and Smiley Bone (the dopey, happy-go-lucky doofus).

  Exiled from their hometown of Boneville thanks to one of Phoney's get-rich-quick schemes gone awry, the Bone cousins find themselves in a mysterious forested valley populated by foul rat creatures, talking bugs and humans. One human in particular, the beautiful blonde Thorn, immediately becomes the unrequited love of Fone Bone's life.

  Equal parts Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge, Walt Kelly's Pogo and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Bone manages
to achieve a precarious mix of farce, sweet romance, slapstick and high adventure, as the Bone cousins adjust to life in the valley among the humans, and eventually become drawn into a battle against evil most foul — all while avoiding stupid, stupid rat creatures and occasionally enjoying some breakfast cakes. The influence of Walt Kelly's Pogo is particularly apparent with Smith's three main characters, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, who bear more than a slight resemblance in personality and appearance to Kelly's Pogo Possum, Porky Pine and Albert Alligator.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  BONE

  Bone One Volume Edition

  Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville

  Bone Volume 2: The Great Cow Race

  Bone Volume 3: Eyes of the Storm

  Bone Volume 4: The Dragonslayer

  Bone Volume 5: Rock Jaw

  Bone Volume 6: Old Man's Cave

  Bone Volume 7: Ghost Circles

  Bone Volume 8: Treasure Hunters

  Early on, the series is primarily played to comedic effect, with the storylines often revolving around Phoney's attempt to take financial advantage of their new human neighbors — in one, he attempts to “fix” the village's annual Great Cow Race. Later on, the storylines get much darker and more serious, with the introduction of some creepy villains like King-dok, the leader of the rat creatures, and the Hooded One, servant of the Lord of the Locusts. The shift in tone from comedy to dark fantasy is a little unexpected, but Smith handles the transition so adroitly, the reader never misses a beat.