Sparring With Gil Kane: Debating The History and Aesthetics of Comics

by Gary Groth, Gil Kane

Overview

The Legendary Intellectual and Raconteur Talks to Hal Foster, Walt Kelly, Harvey Kurtzman, Howard Chaykin, Robert Crumb, and Other Artists.

Gil Kane drew every major comic book character in his 50-year career — from Spider-Man and the Hulk to Superman and Batman — and conceived and drew independent “graphic novels” long before the term had any meaning to the larger public. He was also a fascinating raconteur and a formidable analyst, critic, and theorist of comics, a medium he loved. Included in this collection are interviews Kane conducted with a wide array of cartoonists: newspaper strip artists such as Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) and Walt Kelly (Pogo); fellow comic book creators such as Harvey Kurtzman; underground cartoonists Robert Crumb and Jack Jackson; and the literary critic Donald Phelps.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683960713
Publisher:	Fantagraphics Books
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	944,903
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Gary Groth is the co-founder of The Comics Journal and Fantagraphics Books. He lives in Seattle.

GIL KANE (1926-2000) was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s. Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and created the independtly published precursors to the graphic novel, His Name Is... Savage! and Blackmark. He is in both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

Table of Contents

Preface 4

Introduction 9

What Was Right and Wrong (Mostly Wrong) About Comics? 23

Comics: All Style, No Content 54

The Virtues and Limitations of Craft 68

Poetry of Motion 74

Opposites Attract 88

The Beginning of Comic Boolks and the Genesis of the Sub-Mariner 106

The Majesty of Prince Valiant 116

Tradition and Experimentation 130

The Importance of Being Irreverent 160

The Comics School of Hard Knocks 176

Is Peronsal Expression and Commerical Comics at Odds? 188

The French Vs. the American Comics Scenes 206

The Aesthetic Varieties and Immersive Worlds of Comic Strips 250

The State of the Comics Industry, 1971 282

Skipping the Ideal for the Reak 301

Editorial Reviews

"Sparring vividly documents an emergent school of criticism founded on a passion for comics—one in which Gil Kane, as gadfly, aesthetician, conversationalist, moderator, and living fund of memory, played an indispensable role. Sparring with Kane is really a matter of learning from him, and this is an essential addition to any library of comics criticism."

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