The biggest challenge in writing or talking about comics is discussing art. Yet without the art, the stories would just be a rather boring looking script. Even the most writer-fixated fan is depending on the artist to convey the totality of the story. They must combine action and emotion while still maintaining a flow of storytelling. The writers are only as good as the artists whom they work with.
As I have said previously, I can imagine writing a story, I can’t imagine drawing a story. It is the most amazing element of the medium of comics. The changing of a blank page into a piece of sequential art is akin to a magical feat to me. In reality it might seem, like magic on my end, but it is hard work on the artists end. That hard work translates into the most memorable elements of comic books.
When I talk about an old comic book it is always intrinsically wrapped up with my memories of the art from that book. I might be discussing the story but the art is running through my head. The hard part is getting those art feelings out in words. I decided to take my favorite character (Barry Allen – The Flash) and try talk a bit about the art that pops into my head when I discuss the stories. Since I have just recently re-read all the issues the art was fresh in my head and it was blast to dig through the old issues for the nth time. The funny part is that when I sit down to talk about the feelings the art creates, I was stumped. It turned out to be one of the hardest things I have tried to do. It required a lot of sitting, looking, writing, deleting, sitting, taking a shower, thinking of what to say in the shower, forgetting it, and sitting. Below are a few thoughts on the Flash artists I think of when I ponder the character. It isn't comprehensive as I don't talk about Rich Buckler or Alex Saviuk, but I wanted to focus on those that I have strong feelings about.
Carmine Infantino – First Run (Showcase #4 thru The Flash #174. Left Image from Showcase #14 featuring inks by Frank Giaccoia. Right Image from The Flash #137 featuring inks by Joe Giella.)
The granddaddy of them all. He worked on the Golden Age version of the Flash and was right there at the birth of the Silver Age. When I think of Infantino’s art, I think “modern”. His stories had giant urban landscapes that extended from one edge of the page to the other. He was the purveyor of one of my favorite visuals in comics, a big city in the middle of the countryside. No suburbs, once you got to the edge of town you were standing in a field. The countryside was a place for crooks to live. The city is where everyone else was.
Barry Allen as the Flash was a sleek lightning bolt of a character. In comparison to the modern superhero he looks scrawny and undersized. With a tilted gait, Infantino gave the Flash a more realistic bearing then his Golden Age forefather possessed. Infantino’s art was the perfect extension of the storytelling style. The stories were based in science but stretched to the limit of believability (and depending your disposition perhaps beyond). The Flash looked like a real guy, but with extraordinary powers
Ross Andru & Mike Esposito ( The Flash #175 through The Flash #194. I always think of them as a pair. Perhaps a bit unfair to their individual talents. Image on left is from The Flash #182. Image on the right is from The Flash #176.)
The lantern jawed Barry Allen is what I think of when Andru and Esposito are mentioned. Barry and The Flash got a little bit thicker. The city became a little less sleek. The art became a bit more crowded and hectic. Their style was reviled by the fan base at the time because of their roughhewn look, but with the passage of time you can see how their take did fit with the character.
Their style had a stylish touch that fit along with the more absurd elements of the Flash’s adventures. Infantino’s s art was clean and almost clinical while Andru & Esposito had just a touch of the silly absurd. It was that style that gave the Metal Men such personality and vibrancy. It made the scenes of The Flash with a giant head both funny and action packed.
Gil Kane (The Flash #195 through The Flash #199. The image above is from The Flash #195 featuring inks by Murphy Anderson)
Gil Kane only did a couple issues but they have stuck in my mind since I first laid eyes on them. His work on the Flash had an almost animation type feel to it. Kane was always a master of the human form in motion. Whether it was Green Lantern punching someone or the Flash in action, the character’s body was going to twist and move in an elegant matter. He gets flopping hair right in a way that no one else does.
Irv Novick (The Flash #200 through The Flash #270. The image on the left is from The Flash #217 featuring inks by Frank McLaughlin. The image on the right is from The Flash #202 featuring inks by Murphy Anderson.)
He drew many of my favorite Flash stories and I will always think of one element he used. The angled shots of the Flash running are burned into my memory. I think of the Allen’s suburban home and Barry’s sideburns. His style wasn’t flashy (sorry) but he did give the flash a gravity that matched the more melodramatic moments of his run on the book. His action scenes had serious and dynamic feel to them, even if they did involve robotic Abraham Lincoln in the future.
Don Heck ( The Flash 280 through The Flash #295. The image on the left is from The Flash #281 featuring inks by Frank Chiaramonte. The image on the right is from The Flash #280 with inks by Frank Chiaramonte.)
Poor Don just wasn’t a good match for the Flash. He didn’t have the slickness or the kinetic element to his art to pull off the Flash. His Flash didn’t feel fast and his villains fell flat. His art couldn’t quite reach the vibrancy that the Flash universe needed. With a style that maybe was a bit too grounded his issues fell flat with me.
Carmine Infantino – Second Run (The Flash #296 through The Flash #350. The image on the left is from The Flash #318 featuring inks by Dennis Jensen.)
What a difference a decade makes. Infantino comes back to the book he launched but with a wildly different style. The new approach was looser in style, which actually worked with the speed scenes but was less effective in talking head environments. The Flash had buffed up over the years and Infantino had little interest in fighting that tide. The sharp looking city denizens became baggy clothed bums. Bolder in terms of layout then the first run, I do miss the sharpness in design of his first definitive run.
While I certainly don’t have all the technical ideas down I certainly have strong feelings about the art. They aren’t easy to express at times but once I sat down to think about it I definitely look at these old issues in a new way. After reading them numerous times it is always fun to find something else to think about and consider.
Tom Katers has these Flash issues on call whenever they are needed.
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I was just thinking last night about how Marvel or DC has their writers summits but do they invite the artists also? It seems like modern comics are totally dominated by writer power and that we could maybe get more hollistic stories if the artists were brought into the fold earlier instead of just being remote emailed in Brazil or Italiy or Indonesia or North Dakota at a later date with dictation. It’s almost antithetical to The Marvel Method for me.
Infantino was clearly working closely in the formation of the character and books early on and the stories benefitted from everyone pulling in the same direction it seems like.
Great column. Some of the best art from the 70s. Thanks for stirring the memories.
One of the coolest things about the Flash is that he only really works in the comic medium. The TV shows, movies, he’s essentailly invisible, or a blur on the screen for a second… or however they try it he doesn’t work. In comics though the artist’s redition of a snap shot of blurring speed allows the readers imagination to go wild. Flash is like the ultimate comic in that way, and real challenge for the artist.