Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Iron Shadows in the Moon Part Two

Iron Shadows in the Moon
Part Two
By John Buscema and Alfred Alcala (art) and Roy Thomas (story)


The conclusion of 'Iron Shadows in the Moon' from Savage Sword of Conan issue 4 (February 1975).
























Saturday, February 18, 2017

Iron Shadows in the Moon Part One

Iron Shadows in the Moon
Part One
By John Buscema and Alfred Alcala (art) and Roy Thomas (story)


One of the most impressive pieces of artwork in a 70s comic is that created by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala for the February 1975 (issue No. 4) of The Savage Sword of Conan

It's based on 'Shadows in the Moonlight', a Robert E. Howard story that appeared in Weird Tales in April,1934.

Althought the copy of SSoC that I scanned 'Shadows' from is beat up and browning from age, when scanned at 300 dpi, the artwork holds up very well......in my opinion, very little artwork presented in comics since, has approached the level of skill displayed in this one issue of a comic magazine that was printed on cheap-grade paper.



To my eyes, it looks like Buscema supplied the breakdowns, while the majority of the 'real' artwork was done by Alcala, as his distinctive pen-and-ink style is apparent in every panel.

I'm going to post 'Iron Shadows in the Moon' in two parts; part one is below, and part two will be in my next blog post.






















Thursday, February 16, 2017

Battle for the Planet of the Apes Part VI

Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Part VI of VII
by Doug Moench (script) and Virgil Redondo (art) 
from Planet of the Apes (Marvel / Curtis) No. 27, December 1976



The copy of the magazine I scanned these pages from was water-damaged and the pages are warped, something that a scan at 300 dpi makes all too clear.

However, the high quality of the artwork from Virgil Redondo is apparent despite the defects in the pages.


Part One is here
Part Two is here.
Part Three is here.
Part Four is here.
Part Five is here.