Comic Book Creator #27 Winter 2022 (magazine review).
Before we get into the main event, there’s the first part of an interview with Bud Plant, a name you should recognise in the American comicbook adverts for many years. You might even have bought off him. Something I’ve done myself in recent years. It’s obvious from the start that he knows his comicbooks and selling them came from that obsession.
It’s also interesting to note that he’s not keen on ‘slabbing’, that is the grading and encasing of comicbooks as he likes to read them. I had to look the ‘slabbing’ term up, mostly because although I know what a graded comicbook looks like, I’ve never bought into it. I mean, if all you can look at is the cover, what good is the contents? Selected comicbooks in my collection are mylared but that’s mostly to prevent them being damaged. Learning the origin of why he’s called ‘Bud Plant’, he just never liked his real first name but didn’t get the botany connection when it stuck.
Never think ‘Comic Book Creator’ devotes itself purely to American comicbooks. Michael Aushenker interviews Dutch creator Peter van Heirseele about ‘Cowboy Henk’ a mostly dialogue free character and the samples here are amusing.
The first part of an appreciation to inker/finisher Joe Sinnott shows how much he was appreciated by the comic artists community and who inked with a brush rather than a pen. I certainly regard him as being the best inker Kirby ever had on the Fantastic Four. It’s also interesting to note how Terry Austin kept an eye on him in his final years and ensured he had plenty of company.
As I said from the off-set, the major part of this issue if devoted to the career of Paul Gulacy and how he, Val Mayerick and P. Craig Russell got the leg up into the comicbook industry by Dan Atkins who recognised their talent. It was Gulacy and writer Doug Moench who took over ‘Master Of Kung Fu’ after three issues at Marvel that truly put him on the map and I doubt you would have had the recent film otherwise because the initial editorial reaction to doing the book wasn’t very good.
I knew much of Gulacy’s work up to the 1990s and this article also covers the last 30 years and I’ve ticked off a couple series as entire volumes to have a look at. It does look like there are some absences but you should be able to pick up some choice items. Gulacy is as good at page design as he is at drawing and doing characters based off actors that I’m amazed that he only had one telling off. You’ll have to buy this issue to see who I’m also amused that he uses marker pen for colour work and uses soft paper that caused on inker problems with ink absorption.
As you might notice, I am a fan and its interesting that the new artists study his work. This issue is likely to sell well, so make sure you grab a copy.
GF Willmetts
March 2022
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page illustrated magazine. Price: $10.95 (US). ISSN: 2330-2437. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_132&products_id=1623
