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Saturday, April 30, 2022

Neal Adams the legend RIP

Sad to report that iconic comic book artist Neal Adams has passed away. Neal was arguably the first true comic book superstar and will forever be remembered for his work on defining Batman for a generation in the 1970's. As a kid\teenager I considered Neal Adams work and status to be as important and relevant to my teenage ( and beyond) life as the work of music superstars like David Bowie, Marc Bolan, John Lennon Lou Reed, authors like Arthur C Clarke, and sports stars like Pele, Kenny Dalgliesh or John MaEnroe. Below are some of my favourite Neal Adams covers , he was simply the best.

8 comments:

  1. Neal Adams was the definitive comic book artist of the last half of the 20the Century. He transformed the way comic book pages were supposed to look. Further he transformed the way the industry treated its creators with his outstanding work on the behalf of the Superman creators Joe Siegel and Joe Shuster.

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  2. He certainly was a massive presence in comics Rip and to an extent films with his interpretation of Batman that has been used in animation and the big screen. For myself Adams was and still is my favourite artist and his work provided me with so much excitement and joy.

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  3. I’m totally with you on the sentiment that Neal Adams loomed as large in my teenage years as all the mainstream musical and sports heroes of the time. With his passing, I think only Roy Thomas remains of the comic industry creators of note who entered comics in the late silver age (as opposed to those who arrived in the early 70s). Both Neal and Denny had written in the past that when they arrived in New York, all the existing staff were 15-20 years older than them.

    It’s feels like the end of an era to me.

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  4. I think youre sadly correct on that one Ian, there doesn't seem to be any of the 1960s class left apart from Roy . From memory I think there are only a handful of the true great artists left that made up my comic book days and laid the foundation for the comics industry including John Romita, Sal Buscema and Jim Steranko ( all who started in the 1950s maybe before that) and Mike Grell and Howie Chaykin from the 1970s.

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  5. I think I'll dig out some of my Neal Adams issues when I've got a bit more energy and re-read them. One of my great favourites is 'The Secret Of The Waiting Graves', which I believe is his first 'Batman' issue. (Yes, I know it was Detective Comics, but you know what I mean.)

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  6. I plan to reread my Adams Avengers Skrull - Kree wars original copies later. "The Secret Of The Waiting Graves" is a classic (I wasn't aware it was Neal's first Batman) - glad you feeling better.

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    1. Not counting covers, he first drew Batman in a team-up with Supes in World's Finest Comics, but I seem to remember reading that his first actual solo Batman issue was that ish of Detective Comics. (Could be mistaken though.)

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    2. Why did I type World's Finest Comics? Actually, I think it was an issue of Brave & The Bold. Now I'll have to check to put my mind at rest.

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