It seems to be a lost art in the modern era of decompressed storytelling, I'm referring to the single issue "done in one" tale that ensured that you received value for money from your comic book. Back in the Bronze Age distribution was patchy and tracking down consecutive issues was a tricky business so reading a well crafted single issue was a welcome treat. One example that sticks in the mind is Justice League of America #109 (January/February 1974).
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| Justice League of America #109 (January/February 1974) Art by Nick Cardy |
This tale, "The Doom of the Divided Man!" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano is perfectly executed. No time is wasted on revealing the mystery from Nick Cardy's excellently crafted cover.
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| Hawkman Justice League of America #109 (January/February 1974) Pencil art by Dick Dillin, inks: Dick Giordano Script by Len Wein |
Len Wein moves the story along very quickly and manages to include some of the characters' personalities such as Green Arrow's irreverence masking his heart of gold, Batman's scheming, Flash's scientific knowledge and Ralph Dibney's inquisitive nature. Dillin and Giordano are master storytellers at the peak of their powers. I am not a big fan of Mike Sekowsky's League so Dillon's run on the title is the definitive one as far as I am concerned.
Eclipso is the villain and the team follow editor Julius Schwartz's favoured routine of splitting up to combat the menace. What would, in today's comics, take a minimum of a six issue arc with crossovers into related titles is achieved in twenty pages. We then say our goodbyes to Hawkman and begin the two month wait to read the next issue. They sure don't make 'em like this anymore!
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| Justice League of America #109 (January/February 1974) Pencil art by Dick Dillin, inks: Dick Giordano Script by Len Wein |
I was more of a DC than Marvel fan in the mid-to-late 1960s, and one reason was that I preferred done-in-one stories to serials. Marvel's long arcs and romantic angst were too much like soap opera for my taste. (Of course, that's an over-simplification, as DC sometimes had continued stories and complications in the characters' personal lives, and Marvel sometimes had complete stories in one issue.) By the Bronze Age, though, DC seemed to be imitating Marvel, and the two publishers' house styles (long arcs, emphasis on personal problems, heroes bickering among themselves) were so similar that you could barely tell them apart. Today, comics are aimed at a niche market (collectors instead of casual readers), and complete-in-one-issue stories are a thing of the past. Every story has to run six issues (the right length for collecting it in a TPB later) and every title has to tie in with everything else by the same publisher. This is what the hard core fans seem to want, but it makes it impossible for the medium to attract new readers.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a reader can hardly ever get a feeling of closure at the end of an issue and far too often after following a story for months at considerable expense the conclusion is usually a disappointment!
DeleteI have to admit that I preferred Sekowsky to Dillin on JLA. My judgment is probably clouded by nostalgia, since Sekowsky was drawing the comic during my main comic book-reading years, when I was about eight or nine. It is not a question of which artist is better; it's just that "my" Justice League, and Inferior Five, were drawn by Sekowsky. And I don't question Dillin's talent. I liked his artwork on Blackhawk. It is not a matter of who is right or wrong, just personal taste.
ReplyDeleteEveryone can have preferences, I used to compare Sekowsky's Flash to Infantino's and his Green Lantern to Kane's and prefer the renditions in their own titles, but I agree that nostalgia is a huge factor in deciding which artist we prefer.
DeleteA lot of Flash (and Batman) fans wanted Carmine Infantino to draw JLA. Green Lantern and Atom fans wanted Gil Kane, Superman fans wanted Curt Swan, and so on. You can't please everybody.
DeleteYou certainly can't please everybody, I simply felt that Dillin was closer in style to Kane and Infantino than Sekowsky was.
DeleteWhat we need is a JLA jam where Irv Novick handles Flash and Batman, Gil Kane handles Atom and GL, Neal Adams handles GA, GL, and BC, etc. Awesome. Then we get Dick Giordano to ink it all so there's a fairly consistent look to it all.
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