“Dance Macabre”* by Joe Kubert is another of his early works, this time from
Black Cat #2 (1946). Over the past few years I've posted some of Joe’s work from those days when he was in his teens and early twenties. (See the links down below the story scans.) Even in his earliest artwork Joe showed signs of being a prodigy, but he constantly worked at his craft. Over time he became one of the greatest, and most respected comic book artists of all time. Because he had been mentored by artists like Mort Meskin he did the same with his Joe Kubert School. The history of comic art would be a much different place without Joe, and so I find virtually everything he did to be of interest.
*The name of the musical piece is actually “Danse Macabre,” written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1874.
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More early Joe Kubert. Just click the pics:
That's a nice piece of work -- the plot is tight (everything introduced pays off in some way), the red-herrings are a little lame but it's a fast paced action/mystery story.
ReplyDeleteThis thing is packed to the gills with what kids like in comics: hot women, pin-ups, monsters, beautiful vs the ugly, lots of punching, mobsters, cops, detectives. They needed a spaceship and a cursed sword and it would be complete!
As I've said in the past, I'd like to see someone far more knowledgeable than I pull together an article on the convergences and divergences of Robinson, Meskin, Kubert, and Ditko. (Perhaps other artists some be included in that discussion, but these come immediately to mind.)
ReplyDeleteDaniel, there is a line you can draw from Robinson, Meskin and Kubert to Ditko. Robinson and Meskin worked together in the forties and Meskin mentored Kubert. Unlike early Kubert I don't see Ditko's growing pains, so before being launched into a solo career he obviously learned his lessons well from those who came before him. When he showed up in the early '50s he was already formed as an artist and seems to have sprung from the god of comics' forehead.
ReplyDeleteBrian, maybe if they'd had just a couple more pages they could have thrown in those elements you describe.
ReplyDeleteI thought this story failed in the artwork with the big figures in the background, apparently part of the club's decor. They were confusing and didn't help with the storytelling.