Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 19, 2015 19:09:44 GMT -6
Christina Hennessy talks to Robert Reiner, whose collection of EC Comics is on display right now at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut; the exhibit is titled “KA-POW! When Comics Imperiled America.”
www.ctpost.com/news/article/Work-of-early-comic-book-artists-at-Flinn-Gallery-6142524.php
Well before actor Chris Hemsworth wielded his mystical hammer as Thor on the big screen, this superhero was but a twinkle in the eye of an artist -- a craftsman who could take simple lines, shapes and splashes of color and create a character whose real power was in becoming a pop culture icon.
In recent years, the heroes -- and villains -- of the Marvel Comics' universe, and other franchises, have increasingly made the leap from paper to film, amid ever-bigger CGI spectacles of good vs. evil.
As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Robert Reiner, who lives in Greenwich, didn't need such grandiose special effects to draw him into the world of superhero comics. It was the power of the art teamed with the economy of words that enthralled him, as he read tales of superheroes who mirrored the traits and powers of the gods of Greek and Roman mythology that had already captured his imagination.
Comic books also helped him to read and learn about the world, as well as draw. With a Japanese mother and American father, the stories were as much a literary escape as an enjoyable tutorial about American culture and the English language.
He would become a collector, however, after a foray into a used bookstore as a child, to find back issues of Superman and Batman comics. Instead, he came across some Entertaining Comics, which captured his imagination.
"They had been out of a business for more than a decade when I came upon them," he said.
That initial discovery would lead to the collection that is on loan at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich for the show "KA-POW! When Comics Imperiled America."
Entertaining Comics, commonly known as EC, was a U.S. publisher of comic books that delivered science fiction, crime, military fiction and horror tales from the 1940s to the mid-1950s, with "Tales from the Crypt" and "Weird Science," among its better-known titles. Stories were based on real-life terror and everyday horrors, and tackled subjects such as racism and addiction. Normal people became caught up in ghoulish tales, often told with tongue firmly in cheek.
EC Comics, first owned by Max Gaines and later his son, William, became caught up in the U.S. Senate's 1954 investigation into comic books' effects on young people. The hearings were inspired by the work of Fredric Wertham, whose research linked comic books with juvenile delinquency by saying the former caused the latter. His writings included the 1954 book, "Seduction of the Innocent." Like others in the industry, EC headed off government regulation and public outrage by self-regulation. The Comics Code Authority, imposed by the Comic Magazine Association of America on itself, all but wiped out the more sophisticated stories.
"The artwork was brilliant and the stories complex," said Reiner of the pre-censored tales. "There were not happy endings all the time ... and that really pulled me in."
The exhibition comes more than two months after cartoonists at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris were killed by Islamic extremists over political cartoons. The incident provoked debate over censorship and First Amendment rights.
For Reiner, "there's never an inappropriate time to address censorship in any form."
It is a battle that continues to the present day, said Charles Brownstein, executive director of the New York City-based Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. While the Comics Code Authority has been abandoned in favor of self-regulation, Brownstein said this month alone, the fund fielded three challenges to graphic novels at schools and libraries around the country.
Brownstein said comic books still carry a stigma of low-value entertainment that doesn't merit First Amendment protection, a perception the group attempts to correct through education, including pamphlets such as "Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read!"
"We have developed education tools to help advance the understanding of the best ways to use comics," he said. "Comics are an artistic medium that warrants the freedom of the First Amendment."
At its simplest form, Brownstein offers this: "Comics are for everybody ... not every comic is for every reader."
"In the end, a well-told story is a well-told story," said William Foster III, a comic book historian, researcher, collector and fan. He coordinates the Brass City Comic Convention, which will take place July 26 at Naugatuck Community College in Waterbury, where Foster teaches English.
Foster believes comic books will endure because every generation will work to create the stories and tales that allow them to make sense of their times. New heroes will rise, villains will fall.
Reiner is hopeful that young people, particularly high school students, make a stop at the exhibition, which will feature a rare display of 10 complete stories of sequential art. Each story will include a framed picture of the comic book cover and a biography of the artist. Many of the artists creating EC's distinctive looks were in their early 20s. The artists featured include Harvey Kurtzman, who later created "MAD," Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Bernard Krigstein, Reed Crandall and Al Williamson, who was 19 when he joined EC Comics.
"Most of these artists never got their due, which is such a shame," he said. "What most will find revealing is the beauty of the original artwork. Those who have only seen comic book art in their tabloid size printed on pulp paper and with muddled color will be stunned by the large size of the original work and the meticulous detail."
Flinn Gallery at the Greenwich Library, 101 W. Putnam Ave. Through Wednesday, April 29. Sunday 1-5 p.m.; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Related events: Friends Family Film: "Tales From the Crypt," Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m. at Cole Auditorium; artists' talks Sunday, April 12, 19 at 2 p.m. Free. First-edition comic books will be available for purchase, however, to raise funds for the gallery. flinngallery.com, 203-622-7947.
www.ctpost.com/news/article/Work-of-early-comic-book-artists-at-Flinn-Gallery-6142524.php
Well before actor Chris Hemsworth wielded his mystical hammer as Thor on the big screen, this superhero was but a twinkle in the eye of an artist -- a craftsman who could take simple lines, shapes and splashes of color and create a character whose real power was in becoming a pop culture icon.
In recent years, the heroes -- and villains -- of the Marvel Comics' universe, and other franchises, have increasingly made the leap from paper to film, amid ever-bigger CGI spectacles of good vs. evil.
As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Robert Reiner, who lives in Greenwich, didn't need such grandiose special effects to draw him into the world of superhero comics. It was the power of the art teamed with the economy of words that enthralled him, as he read tales of superheroes who mirrored the traits and powers of the gods of Greek and Roman mythology that had already captured his imagination.
Comic books also helped him to read and learn about the world, as well as draw. With a Japanese mother and American father, the stories were as much a literary escape as an enjoyable tutorial about American culture and the English language.
He would become a collector, however, after a foray into a used bookstore as a child, to find back issues of Superman and Batman comics. Instead, he came across some Entertaining Comics, which captured his imagination.
"They had been out of a business for more than a decade when I came upon them," he said.
That initial discovery would lead to the collection that is on loan at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich for the show "KA-POW! When Comics Imperiled America."
Entertaining Comics, commonly known as EC, was a U.S. publisher of comic books that delivered science fiction, crime, military fiction and horror tales from the 1940s to the mid-1950s, with "Tales from the Crypt" and "Weird Science," among its better-known titles. Stories were based on real-life terror and everyday horrors, and tackled subjects such as racism and addiction. Normal people became caught up in ghoulish tales, often told with tongue firmly in cheek.
EC Comics, first owned by Max Gaines and later his son, William, became caught up in the U.S. Senate's 1954 investigation into comic books' effects on young people. The hearings were inspired by the work of Fredric Wertham, whose research linked comic books with juvenile delinquency by saying the former caused the latter. His writings included the 1954 book, "Seduction of the Innocent." Like others in the industry, EC headed off government regulation and public outrage by self-regulation. The Comics Code Authority, imposed by the Comic Magazine Association of America on itself, all but wiped out the more sophisticated stories.
"The artwork was brilliant and the stories complex," said Reiner of the pre-censored tales. "There were not happy endings all the time ... and that really pulled me in."
The exhibition comes more than two months after cartoonists at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris were killed by Islamic extremists over political cartoons. The incident provoked debate over censorship and First Amendment rights.
For Reiner, "there's never an inappropriate time to address censorship in any form."
It is a battle that continues to the present day, said Charles Brownstein, executive director of the New York City-based Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. While the Comics Code Authority has been abandoned in favor of self-regulation, Brownstein said this month alone, the fund fielded three challenges to graphic novels at schools and libraries around the country.
Brownstein said comic books still carry a stigma of low-value entertainment that doesn't merit First Amendment protection, a perception the group attempts to correct through education, including pamphlets such as "Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read!"
"We have developed education tools to help advance the understanding of the best ways to use comics," he said. "Comics are an artistic medium that warrants the freedom of the First Amendment."
At its simplest form, Brownstein offers this: "Comics are for everybody ... not every comic is for every reader."
"In the end, a well-told story is a well-told story," said William Foster III, a comic book historian, researcher, collector and fan. He coordinates the Brass City Comic Convention, which will take place July 26 at Naugatuck Community College in Waterbury, where Foster teaches English.
Foster believes comic books will endure because every generation will work to create the stories and tales that allow them to make sense of their times. New heroes will rise, villains will fall.
Reiner is hopeful that young people, particularly high school students, make a stop at the exhibition, which will feature a rare display of 10 complete stories of sequential art. Each story will include a framed picture of the comic book cover and a biography of the artist. Many of the artists creating EC's distinctive looks were in their early 20s. The artists featured include Harvey Kurtzman, who later created "MAD," Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Bernard Krigstein, Reed Crandall and Al Williamson, who was 19 when he joined EC Comics.
"Most of these artists never got their due, which is such a shame," he said. "What most will find revealing is the beauty of the original artwork. Those who have only seen comic book art in their tabloid size printed on pulp paper and with muddled color will be stunned by the large size of the original work and the meticulous detail."
Flinn Gallery at the Greenwich Library, 101 W. Putnam Ave. Through Wednesday, April 29. Sunday 1-5 p.m.; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Related events: Friends Family Film: "Tales From the Crypt," Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m. at Cole Auditorium; artists' talks Sunday, April 12, 19 at 2 p.m. Free. First-edition comic books will be available for purchase, however, to raise funds for the gallery. flinngallery.com, 203-622-7947.