Repros - Coda

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Images:

1. a Prince Valiant (by Hal Foster) panel as published in a Portuguese edition (Príncipe Valente, volume 1, Editorial Presença [presence publishing house], 1972); what a mess!... (and, yes, in case you're wondering: the panel was published crooked as shown);

2. when I first saw my good friend Manuel Caldas' Príncipe Valente edition (Livros de Papel [paper books], 2005) I thought: I've been disrespected by publishers who were selling comics in about the same way as they very well could be selling potatoes (and they would sell rotten potatoes if people were dumb enough to buy them: are comics readers somewhat less bright than potato buyers?, I guess so...); if you like Hal Foster's art (or Warren Tufts') do yourself a favor and buy Manuel's editions in Spanish and Portuguese (http://www.manuelcaldas.com/) or in English (http://tinyurl.com/l8qcxr; http://tinyurl.com/l252ck: scroll down a bit, please...); these are labors of love; (only now, after all these years, did I notice that Hal Foster used aerial perspective in this spectacular image!, thanks Manel!);

3. a Winsor McCay self-portrait as published in Winsor McCay Early Works Volume VIII (Checker Books, 2006); nothing excuses such bad resolution and such bad design and production values!;

4. the same drawing as published in John Canemaker's Winsor McCay His life and Art (Abbeville Press, 1987); it's not Manuel Caldas repro quality, but, at least, it's a decent one;

5. this is a messy edition of Héctor Germán Oesterherld's and Alberto Breccia's Mort Cinder (Colihue, 1997); the repro quality is not the only problem: notice how a balloon content mysteriously disappeared in panel four;

6. the same page as in # 5. above as published in the excellent Italian edition: Mort Cinder, Sacrificio alla luna, L. F. Bona Editori, 1977; the repro is so good that it maintains an original art feel;

7. the last panel of an absolute comics masterpiece: "Un tenente tedesco" [A German Lieutenant] by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Hugo Pratt (Mondadori, 1976 - one of two pirate editions; the other one was by Ivaldi); not only was the panel published crooked as shown, it also lost almost all the washes (the lines aren't that greatly reproduced either);

8. the same panel as originally published in Hora Cero (monthly) # 3 (July, 1957); no comments needed... (the original title of the story is "Un teniente alemán..."; as an aside: I can't understand why the Laconia became the Lacinia either?, it's not even a case of laconism...);

9. people blame technology sometimes (or the lack of it) for bad repro, but how can a body explain this superlative color edition of Flash Gordon done back in 1980!?, Flash Gordon, Le peuple de la mer (Slatkine B. D.); the only thing that I know is that the book was printed in Switzerland; if anyone can give me more details I will be much obliged...

Repros

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It's great at my crib, pardon me, at The Crib, when I can get my greedy, fetishist, mitts on some original art mentioned in my canon or thereabouts. Unfortunately these occasions are very few and far between because, either these artists aren't selling their art at all or I can't afford it.

Anyway, last June 23 was a happy day for yours truly indeed because I received from Mauro Barreiro in Argentina (don't forget to visit his CAF - Comic Art Fans - gallery at http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=67500) a Carlos Roume page from Nahuel Barros' last story in Hora Cero Suplemento Semanal (# 92, June, 4, 1959; it's the 28th page of the story) and a stunning Alberto Breccia portrait. Looking at these beautiful drawings I found myself thinking about how bad repros have been and how carelessly publishers have treated comic art. In the next coda I'll post some more good and bad examples...

Images:

1. original drawing by Carlos Roume and...

2. ...published repro: Carlos Roume drew with a thin brush on light weight matte, coated paper; this technique gave his lines a wonderful impressionistic fluidity; the lines' values vary from light grey to deep black; all this is lost in the repro on cheap pulp paper;

3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8. more examples;

9. a wonderful felt-tip pen drawing by the great Alberto Breccia (done 23 days before he died).

Alberto Breccia's and Carlos Trillo's Un tal Daneri - Coda

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Images:

1. Alberto Breccia began his career in a completely uninteresting way: "Mariquita Terremoto:" Espinaca (spinach) # 14 (July, 1941);

2. Hugo Pratt wasn't the only great visual artist to draw Héctor Germán Oesterheld's Ernie Pike; Alberto Breccia also drew some stories; page from "La ejecucion" (the execution), Hora Cero (zero hour) # 25 (May, 1959), as published in El otro Ernie Pike (the other Ernie Pike; meaning: the Ernie Pike that wasn't drawn by Pratt), Ancares, 2002;

3. Lovecraft by Buscaglia and Breccia: "El horror de Dunwich" (Dunwich's horror) as published in Los mitos de Cthulhu (the Cthulhu myths), Nueva Imagen, 1980 [the series' first appearance: Il Mago (the magician) # 20, 1973; this particular story: Il Mago # 44, 1975]; Breccia faced an old Kantian aesthetic problem: how can we represent the unmeasurable, the sublime?;

4. Poe by Breccia: "El corazón delator" (the tell-tale heart) as published in Breccia Negro (Record, 1978 [Alterlinus # 9, September, 1975]); an obsessive rhythm conveys the fear and madness of both characters: an absolute masterpiece!;

5. Quiroga by Trillo and Breccia: "La gallina degollada" (the beheaded chicken) Breccia Negro, Record, 1978; the red (rojo) in this black and white story is a nice touch;

6. Borges by Sasturain and Breccia: "El fin" (the end), as published in Alberto Breccia, Obras completas, Volumen uno, Doedytores, 1994 [Versiones, Doedytores, 1993] (my translation): "After his righteous chore was done, he was nobody now / Better yet he was the other / He had no destiny on earth, he had killed a man;" a fine example of Breccia's monotype technique;

7. Breccia's and Trillo's "El hombre de azul" (the man in blue), Skorpio # 58, 1979; Breccia's collage technique at its best;

8. "La corte de los milagros, la princesa loca" (the court of the miracles, the mad princess) by Breccia and Trillo, again, Péndulo (November, 1979), as found at this fine site (in Spanish): http://chiquirritipis.blogspot.com/search/label/BRECCIA%20-Alberto;

9. image found at the same site: Breccia drew a self-caricature and caricatured also Trillo in "La bella durmiente" (sleeping beauty): SuperHumor # 4, January / February, 1981.

PS All "El corazón delator" (in Spanish): http://comicsenextincion.blogspot.com/2008/12/el-corazn-delator-de-breccia-y-poe.html

PPS A great essay about "Buscavidas" by Aarnoud Rommens: http://www.camouflagecomics.com/pdf/01_rommens_en.pdf

PPPS Thank you Geraldes Lino and Lin Swimmer!

Alberto Breccia's and Carlos Trillo's Un tal Daneri

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In my last post I mentioned how important one of Edmond Baudoin's conversations with Etienne Robial was in his life as an artist. Our friends aren't those who pamper us, no matter what. Our real friends are those who tell us the truth, even if in a brutal way.

A similar thing happened to Alberto Breccia (Bang! # 10, 1973: 5; my translation): "I was with Hugo Pratt passing in a car at night through Palermo [a park in Buenos Aires] [...] and he told me: "You are a cheap whore, why are you doing crap if you could do something better[?]" I strongly resented his remark, but he was right." If Edmond Baudoin's and Alberto Breccia's objectives in their careers were to become rich doing comics (like Charles Schulz or Hugo Pratt, for that matter - do as I say, etc...) those earth shattering moments were poison (box-office poison); if they wanted to be great comics artists though, those words were a true blessing. Alberto Breccia started drawing comics during the thirties, but the true Breccia appeared (after the above episode occured) when he worked with Héctor Germán Oesterheld at Editorial Frontera doing "Sherlock Time" (first appearance: Hora Cero Extra! # 5, December 1958; all the following titles and dates are first appearances). Breccia changed his drawing style a few times after that fearing the routine of the old timer pro (in later years he was known as "el viejo," the old man, by the way). As he put it (ditto; my translation): "I don't believe in styles, styles are mannerisms."

After "Sherlock Time" another important step occurred with "Mort Cinder" (Supermisterix, August, 1962), in which Breccia used chiaroscuro and halftone dots to achieve dramatic effects. The next one were monotypes and collage: "Richard Long" (Karina, 1966) and the second version of "El Eternauta" (the Eternaut; Gente, 1969), both with Oesterheld. Alberto Breccia's last phase would be a mix of Caricature and Expressionism (grotesque) as can be seen in "Buscavidas" (the rummager; SuperHumor # 11, November, 1981) and "Perramus" (Orient Express # 23, july / August, 1984). Scripts by Carlos Trillo and Juan Sasturain respectively.

"Un tal Daneri" (a guy named Daneri; Mengano # 5, 1974) is a very dark comic set in Mataderos, Alberto Breccia's childhood neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina (he's Uruguayan though). Alberto Breccia explained (SuperHumor # 1, July / August, 1980; my translation): "I think that in 'Un tal Daneri' I conveyed something of what I saw during my youthful years. Those brick walls, those clay streets, those low clouds which seemed to be at hand's reach. In Mataderos I saw creole duels in which the Pampa Julio was involved[...]"

Daneri is an ex-cop with a tired and suffering expression on his face. He lives alone with his memories in a decaying and poor part of the city. The other characters he deals with aren't much different from him: nothing is easy for them and they accept life as it comes. This is also a comic under heavy Jorge Luis Borges' influence. As Fernando Garcia explained in his intro to Doedytores' reprint of these eight short stories (2003, my translation): "the main character's name is an homage to Carlos Argentino Daneri, the owner of the house in which the Aleph is in Borges' short story with said title. [...] Carlos Argentino Daneri is nothing else than Dante Alighieri's anagram." The difference between Daneri and Dante (the character) is that the latter is only visiting. The former can't escape, but Trillo and Breccia also show a great deal of tenderness for their characters. Even in hell we can find the beauty of a noble gesture or the sad beauty (is there any other kind?) of a tragic ending.

Images:

1. Advertisement for "Sherlock Time" by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia: Hora Cero Extra! # 5 (December, 1958): "nace un personage:" a character is born;

2. the cover of Breccia Negro (Breccia noir): Record, 1978, in which four "Un tal Daneri" stories were published for the first time;

3. the beginning of the story "El monstruo" (the monster) with Carlos Trillo's sparse, but beautiful prose (my translation): "There's a moment in which the night exhausts its euphoria and its gloominess and prepares itself to die."

Vincent Fortemps' Cimes - Coda

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Images:

1. someone falling into the abyss in a Vincent Fortemps' comic before Cimes: Frigobox # 1 (November, 1994); an allegory of the risks we take to attain what we desire?;

2., 3. vulture and carrion; plus: a drunkard vomiting in Cimes (Fréon: 1997; as someone put it in the Frémok site: one of the heights of the art form; the two panel page is used by many artists to dissociate themselves from a children's comics' look);

4. seagulls in La digue (Amok: November 2001);

5. "Cale sèche" (dry dock): Liplezen / Lieux sans frontières / Distant Voices; Vincent Fortemps in color: artists from three groups (Bill, Pelure Amère, Frigoproduction) draw Molenbeek (February, 1995);

6., 7., 8.: three artists who published in Frigobox:

6. Alberto Breccia's page in Frigobox # 4 (September, 1995);

7. Frigorevue's publisher Alain Corbel's page for "La fosse" (the pit; Récits de villes: Frigobox série II vol. 2 - Fréon: February 2000);

8. Martin tom Dieck's page in "Territiroirs: (ciré)" (an untranslatable word play between "territoire" - territory - and "tiroir" - drawer -; "ciré" means "waxed"): Récits de villes: Frigobox série II vol. 3 (Fréon: October 2000).

What's a Comics Fake? - Coda

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1. a "Mort Cinder" page (by two South American greats: Argentinian writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Uruguaian artist Alberto Breccia) as it was published in Misterix magazine # 749 (March 22, 1963); verdict: genuine;

2. the same page as it was reprinted in Mort Cinder (Colihue edition, 1997): the logo disappeared and, in order to fill the blank, a "brilliant" editor decided to blow up a detail from the page's first panel; verdict: fake;

3. said page as reprinted in Mort Cinder's Planeta DeAgostini's edition (2002): the logo remained, but it's a different one; the hand lettering was substituted by computer fonts (god knows why); verdict: fake;

4. another "Mort Cinder" page as printed in Misterix # 719 (August 24, 1962): verdict: genuine;

5. the same page as it was reprinted in the aforementioned Colihue edition: many reprints disrespect page layouts (don't let me start on colors), this is just one example among thousands; notice also how the editor butchered panel two (editors also used to pay hacks in order for them to add details in drawings if the panel was too small to fit the new hyperframe); the last "panel" is another blow up; verdict: fake.