Restoring Sgt. Kirk

Besides being extremely honored by the presence at my crib of one of the greatest comics artists of all time, José Muñoz, it's obvious that I'm neglecting this blog. This is so because I've been busy restoring the "El Sargento Kirk" series  by Oesterheld and Pratt to its orginal glory. Unfortunately I'm no Manuel Caldas, so, what follows is painfully amateurish, I'm afraid...

The truth is that I shouldn't need to do this. Film libraries and museums spend millions to restore films, paintings and sculptures... Government presses publish, at the tax payers expense, of course, what each country considers to be their best authors' oeuvre. Millions are spent to maintain national orchestras and theatre houses, etc... etc... Only comics are completely neglected by governments. "El Sargento Kirk," as it was published in Misterix, is an important work of art or literature or whatever... It should be preserved before the brittle pages that were published sixty years ago crumble into nothingness. That's what I'm clumsily trying to do pro bono and for my own enjoyment.

Below are some of the pages that cost me several work hours already. Keep also in mind that this is true pulp, with the lowest production values imaginable.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Cerco de muerte" [death siege], Misterix # 310, August 28, 1954.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Cerco de muerte" [death siege], Misterix # 310, August 28, 1954.

 Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Cerco de muerte" [death siege], Misterix # 312, September 10, 1954.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Tierra enemiga" [enemy country], Misterix # 322, November 19, 1954.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Tierra enemiga" [enemy country], Misterix # 340, April 1, 1955.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Tierra enemiga" [enemy country], Misterix # 345, May 6, 1955.

Héctor Germán Oesterheld (w), Hugo Pratt (a), Stefan Strocen (c), "El Sargento Kirk: Tierra enemiga" [enemy country], Misterix # 345, May 6, 1955.

José Muñoz Sobre Julio Schiaffino y Leopoldo Durañona

Eugenio Zappietro (g), Julio Schiaffino (d), "Bull Rockett", Misterix nº 714, 20 de julio de 1962.

Jorge Oesterheld (g), Leopoldo Durañona (d), "Pedro Pereyra, Taxista" [homenaje a Pablo Pereyra] Hora Cero Extra! # 25, 23 de junio de 1960. Lluvias de Buenos Aires.

Julito y Leopoldinsky... muchachos de aquel Buenos Aires... aquì, en tu sitio, me vienen ganas de pensarlos y hablar de ellos, este es buen lugar para repatingarse y llamar sosegadamente a los recuerdos. A Leopoldo me lo encontrè en la Panamericana como alumno de Breccia, conjuntamente a Rubèn Sosa y a Abel Balbi. Yo seguìa visitando esporàdicamente la Escuela a pesar de no poder pagar ya los cursos, Breccia me invitaba -pasate de vez en cuando- me decìa, ademàs de recibirme en su casa y aconsejarme.

A Julio Lo conocì como ayudante de Solano, cuando yo entrè al estudio el ya se estaba yendo, hacìa por su cuenta Joe Zonda y Bull Rockett, anteriormente dibujados por Solano. Julio mascaba toscanos apagados y dibujaba sin cesar, desarrollando su original versiòn solanesca: habìa convergencias paralelas entre los dos, fueron capaces de partir desde las frìas y eficaces manchas y lìneas de Paul Campani hacia nuestros barrios, entibiàndose en el camino de los dìas. Jorge, su hermano, me contaba que la madre, parada al lado de la mesita de trabajo de Julio, le decìa - hacé unos cuadritos màs, nene, que me tengo que comprar zapatos - Solano y el consiguieron ademàs hacernos palpar visualmente la suciedad de la soldadescas cubiertas de barro seco, los ojos llameantes de desesperaciòn bajo la sombra de los cascos, la fatiga de los cueros ajados por el uso, la corrosiòn de los metales, los cielos plùmbeos de aquì y de allà. Luego su camino se internò en zonas de exasperaciòn humorìstica como las de su admirado Will Elder, llenando sus cuadritos con contorsiones y anécdotas desopilantes. Se le iluminaban los ojos cuando hablaba de el.

Leopoldo es vigor, soltura y gracia. De potrillo galopaba cerca de Breccia, a veces irritàndolo. Era verbo colérico, energìa desencadenada, brillantez en acto. Sus Pedro Pereyra, taxista, resueltos en tempestades nocturnas, eran oleadas de tinta palpitante en lluvias y vientos que hacìan entrada en las recònditas sombras de los barrios de Buenos Aires, ejerciendo animismo del mejor. Y sus trabajos en Latinoamérica y el imperialismo son excelentes, concuerdo. Nos juntàbamos en su casa con Balbi y Sosa y ahì dale que te dale, discusiones infinitas, llueve siempre en mis recuerdos. Luego terminabamos echados por su mamà, cansada de la excitaciòn y los gritos, y nos ìbamos al bar de la esquina a festejar con cafè con leche y medialunas.

Reconozco que estoy un poco fijado con esa ciudad, la mìa, la de ellos. Que se yo, debe ser el carìnio. Ahì nacieron, ahì volvieron, desde ahì se fueron al otro barrio, y a ese ahì lo dibujaron desde sì mismos, reanimàndolo.

Hasta lueguito y 'chas gracias.

Joe Sacco and Chris Ware at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Joe Sacco and Chris Ware at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Hosted by Teddy Jamieson, 2013.

Chris Ware is a great comics critic. And I say this knowing too well that we don't exactly share the same taste.

 

Another Ridiculous Comics Canon - The Unicómic Canon - Coda

I forgot to say what's more serious in this sorry state of affairs. This stupid canon comes from a university. Imagine if some faculty, constructing a music canon, put I’ve Been Working on the Railroad in it instead of Beethoven's string quartets. Ridiculous, right? Well, now you understand better, I hope, my use of the word in the title above.

A Lei da Selva de Raul Correia e Eduardo Teixeira Coelho - Errata!

No meu texto / prefácio à edição de Manuel Caldas de A Lei da Selva (ainda não compraram?, de que estão à espera?!) existe uma errata. Na verdade, chamar-lhe errata é ser caridoso. Trata-se, na verdade, de um erro crasso, tanto mais grave porque não foi resultado de ignorância, mas de distracção indesculpável. Mesmo que fosse resultado de ignorância uma simples busca na Internet resolvia o caso com a maior das facilidades pelo que, mais uma vez, não há desculpa, embora elas, as desculpas aos leitores, aqui fiquem registadas.

Enfim... onde se lê "discurso directo livre", deve ler-se "discurso indirecto livre".

Os meus agradecimentos a quem detectou o erro.

Felizmente que a "errata" vai ser corrigida na segunda e edições seguintes...

Randall by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Arturo del Castillo

If you can read Spanish and want to own one of the best westerns ever produced in comics (do you want proof?, it's not in any comics canon, that's proof enough...), now is your chance. Grab it.

Another Ridiculous Comics Canon - The Unicómic Canon

The ridiculous comics canon I'm talking about in this post's title comes from Alicante, Spain, this time. Sincerely, I can't understand this... Put a similar canon in a literary or film context and you are laughed out of the room. What can be the reason that explains these ridiculous comics canons all over the place? I stopped trying to fully understand this many moons ago, but I have at least one explanation. To put it bluntly: comics as an art form failed to attract people with good taste. I can't imagine those who put Shakespeare, Marcel Proust, Rembrandt, Francis Bacon, Mizoguchi, Rossellini, etc... etc...in their respective canons constructing such an inane canon as the following one:

1.º - Maus (Art Spiegelman)
2.º - Blueberry series (Jean-Michel Charlier & Jean Giraud 'Moebius')
3.º - Astérix series (René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo)
3.º - Tintin series (Hergé)
5.º - Paracuellos (Carlos Giménez)
6.º - A Contract With God (Will Eisner)
6.º - Corto Maltese series (Hugo Pratt)
6.º - The Sandman series (Neil Gaiman and others)
6.º - Watchmen (Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons)
10º - Adolf (Ozamu Tezuka)
10.º - Black Hole (Charles Burns)
10.º - Calvin & Hobbes comic strip (Bill Watterson)
13.º - The Eternaut (Héctor Germán Oesterheld & Francisco Solano López)
13.º - Little Nemo In Slumberland comic strip (Winsor McCay)
13.º - Mort Cinder series (Héctor Germán Oesterheld & Alberto Breccia)
13.º - Prince Valiant comic strip (Harold Foster)
13.º - The Spirit series (Will Eisner)
13.º - V for Vendetta (Alan Moore & David Lloyd & Tony Weare - I have added the last name and they forgot it; most great artists are always forgotten in these ridiculous canons)
19.º - Akira series (Katsuhiro Otomo)
19.º - Animal Man series [# 1 - 26] (Grant Morrison & Chas Truog)
19.º - Arrugas (Paco Roca)
19.º - Batman Year One (Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli)
19.º - My Father's Journal (Jiro Taniguchi)
19.º - Flash Gordon comic strip (Alex Raymond)
19.º - From Hell (Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell)
19.º - Jimmy Corrigan (Chris Ware)
19.º - Spirou and Fantasio series (André Franquin)
19.º - Mafalda comic strip (Quino)
19.º - Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)
19.º - Superlópez series (Jan)

Well... to tell you the truth, I'm speechless... How is such a monster even possible? It's simple existence (along with others like the one published in The Comics Journal) proves that there's no future. This art form definitely deserves to die!