|
George Perez penciling the Avengers. Chris Claremont writing
the X-Men. Gil Kane doing a Green Lantern story. If it wasn't for
the calendar on the wall screaming 2000 at me or all the false
millennium merchandise everywhere I look, I would swear it were
the 70's all over again.
With the surge of the "old guard" emerging once more to become
household names, a lot of young fans are beginning to discover some
major talent for the first time. It's hard not to smile and shake
one's head while standing in a comic shop and hearing today's teens
"ooh" and "ahh" over the latest Avengers, wondering who this "new guy"
Perez is and "what did he do before this?" And while they may not have
the same reaction to the upcoming storyline in Legends where Gil Kane
will be penciling two characters that forever shall be linked to him,
I can assure you there will be just as many "adults" who will be
grinning ear to ear as suddenly they become teenagers again.
(A side note here: As I was writing this I learned that Mr. Kane
had just passed away. His death saddens me the most of all the recent
passings in the comic industry and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's
because his was the first style I was able to recognize on sight as a
kid, or maybe it's because I actually got to meet and talk to him when
I was that same star-struck youth, or perhaps it's because he wouldn't
let me have the GL sketch I paid for till it was "just right", or most
likely, it's all of the above. Goodbye Mr. Kane, you and your great
talent will be missed.)
It makes one wonder why it took so long for someone to realize these
people still have what it takes and to get them back into the public's
eye? Hopefully now that they have seen what kind of response they have
received they can hop back on the ol' Way Back Machine and bring some
more of that talent back to the present. I don't know about you but I
would love to see Neal Adams on the new Green Lantern series or Marshall
Rogers doing one of the Batman books.
This just in: Jim Starlin to do a big space-opera comic this year. Could an
art stint on Captain Marvel be far behind? Man, it feels like déjà vu
all over again.
|