Post by Monkey_Feyerabend on Jul 31, 2021 22:30:40 GMT
OMG I have owned the 'Altacraz' story for a life long and I have always read it Alcatraz. I swear, never my eyes have seen the world word in the correct way. What the heck!
OMG I have owned the 'Altacraz' story for a life long and I have always read it Alcatraz. I swear, never my eyes have seen the world in the correct way. What the heck!
I thought it was "Alcatraz" myself until I tried to search up the story a few days ago! Funny how the subconscious apparently 'corrects' what it believes to be typos without us even being aware of it.
With a body of work as large as Tony Strobl’s, there’s so much mediocrity to wade through to find the true “best of Tony Strobl”.
For me, it's difficult. I've seen may of Strobl's stories, and I have read a mostly negative or at least critical appraisal of most of his work. Yet, editors chose to publish his works for decades, and a lot of it! I recognize there is a difference between objective quality, and individual preference! Really, I do! But at the same time, what I have read from Strobl is entertaining plot-wise, and the art is pretty good, in my non-professional estimation. Yeah, I am NOT a professional, I'll admit.
Hence, forgetting the economic factors that prohibit the publication of a "Tony Strobl Library" or perhaps even a Tony Strobl entry in the Disney Masters series, why shouldn't there be such editions? You say there is a lot of mediocrity; as a non-professional, I'll take you on your word, but I do ask that you and others elaborate on what exactly makes it "mediocre"? I've read that Barks's stories from the 1960s are "mediocre" compared to his heyday; what gives?
Please note that I am new to the forum, so none of you know me well; I assure you that my questions are sincere, and while they may come across as combative, are aimed at getting to the point (irse al grano as our Spanish friends might say). I play the Devil's advocate to learn, not to be a jerk or annoying, so please humor me and take my comments as genuine, in case they do not come across as such.
I think the Masters series would be a nice opportunity to compile all the the Jippes/Barks Junior Woodchuck stories at last.
Hmmm. I've read them all, they are ok, but nothing special. I'd recommend another Barks Library Book collecting them. And one collecting Daisy Duck, Grandma Duck und Gyro Gearloose.
They have been mixing the daisy, grandma and gyro stories in recent volumes.
With a body of work as large as Tony Strobl’s, there’s so much mediocrity to wade through to find the true “best of Tony Strobl”.
For me, it's difficult. I've seen may of Strobl's stories, and I have read a mostly negative or at least critical appraisal of most of his work. Yet, editors chose to publish his works for decades, and a lot of it! I recognize there is a difference between objective quality, and individual preference! Really, I do! But at the same time, what I have read from Strobl is entertaining plot-wise, and the art is pretty good, in my non-professional estimation. Yeah, I am NOT a professional, I'll admit.
Hence, forgetting the economic factors that prohibit the publication of a "Tony Strobl Library" or perhaps even a Tony Strobl entry in the Disney Masters series, why shouldn't there be such editions? You say there is a lot of mediocrity; as a non-professional, I'll take you on your word, but I do ask that you and others elaborate on what exactly makes it "mediocre"? I've read that Barks's stories from the 1960s are "mediocre" compared to his heyday; what gives?
Please note that I am new to the forum, so none of you know me well; I assure you that my questions are sincere, and while they may come across as combative, are aimed at getting to the point (irse al grano as our Spanish friends might say). I play the Devil's advocate to learn, not to be a jerk or annoying, so please humor me and take my comments as genuine, in case they do not come across as such.
Regards,
Anastasios
My first point that Strobl's art style is just "stiff". To you it's good, but to me most of the expressions look like they are just copied off a model sheet, over and over again. Some Strobl stories remastered by Daan Jippes really show it (like this). It's nowhere as good as the art of artists that have been featured so far.
My other point is that the stories Strobl draws for (I remember reading somewhere that Strobl does not write his own stories, right? If this is false please correct me) just have low-to-medium quality plots. His 10 pagers just don't hold up a candle to the Freddy Milton & Daan Jippes issue or Mau & Bas Heymans one. And his long adventures are just quite unmemorable. Even though I hold the same opinion for the long adventures made by Italians in the Disney Masters series, but it must be an unpopular opinion for them to still be printed. However I believe that thinking Strobl's are unmemorable would be a popular one.
Thanks for sharing the link with the comparisons. This is quite helpful for me to begin to understand what constitutes good art and how to understand the differences.
One of Strobl's biggest problems was the lack of expressiveness in his art, which is illustrated pretty well in that comparison. His characters very rarely go beyond looking "satisfied", "mildly annoyed" or "mildly frightened". Look at the front nephew in the splash panel, ferinstance - he looks like he's having a slight headache, not running for his life from a pack of bloodthirsty wolves.
Tony Strobl filled a specific niche for a certain period of time, as Western's second Duck artist during its heyday. His work was printed all over Europe in those early decades of the magazines, his artwork is recognizable. He's no Jippes, no, but few artists were in those days. Strobl illustrated stories such as This is Your Life, Donald Duck and Donald in Mathmagicland, as well as the Ludwig von Drake stories.
Strobl is one of those artists whose attention has waned as fans have become less focused on America and writers have gained more of a spotlight. To my knowledge, Strobl never wrote any stories himself. His artwork, while fine for its day, doesn't hold up as well as others. Certainly now I would say that less prolific contemporaries at Western, like Al Hubbard and Harvey Eisenberg, hold up better in their own regard.
Here's a possibly controversial question for you all, then: what do you prefer: Stobl's stilted art, or the over-the-top Italian art featured in the IDW comics (!)?
Here's a possibly controversial question for you all, then: what do you prefer: Stobl's stilted art, or the over-the-top Italian art featured in the IDW comics (!)?
I'm rather fond of Italian comics, as you may have guessed from my avatar.
Strobl is one of those artists whose attention has waned as fans have become less focused on America and writers have gained more of a spotlight. To my knowledge, Strobl never wrote any stories himself. His artwork, while fine for its day, doesn't hold up as well as others. Certainly now I would say that less prolific contemporaries at Western, like Al Hubbard and Harvey Eisenberg, hold up better in their own regard.
Actually I have a DuckTales story he wrote (but didn't draw).
I don't mind Strobl, really, but I also wouldn't single him out as a particularly great artist.
The comparison with Italian artists is pretty hard because most of them operate in the 3-tiered pocketbook format and not the larger magazine layout, so I'd think it would be better to pit Strobl against, say, the Dutch artists.
Strobl is one of those artists whose attention has waned as fans have become less focused on America and writers have gained more of a spotlight. To my knowledge, Strobl never wrote any stories himself. His artwork, while fine for its day, doesn't hold up as well as others. Certainly now I would say that less prolific contemporaries at Western, like Al Hubbard and Harvey Eisenberg, hold up better in their own regard.
Actually I have a DuckTales story he wrote (but didn't draw).
I stand corrected. According to INDUCKS, Strobl drew 2342 stories. He wrote 16 of them, as well as 12 stories illustrated by others.
Here's a possibly controversial question for you all, then: what do you prefer: Stobl's stilted art, or the over-the-top Italian art featured in the IDW comics (!)?
Oh, over-the-top Italian art for sure. It's eye candy to me.
I don't know that the worst of the Italian over-the-top art has been included in IDW comics...and there's always the issue Spectrus raises, that it was drawn to be printed in three-tier pocketbooks. But I have to say I prefer Strobl to the most florid Italian style, which is off-putting to my American-trained eyes. I can love Cavazzano or Casty or Ziche, but overall the common art style of Italian pocketbooks is unattractive and alien to me. The Ducks don't look like the Ducks I love, and the backgrounds are fussy, stuffed with curvy profusion. The page has no room to breathe. The Dutch and Egmont art looks more "right" to me.
There are stories where I really like Strobl's art. For instance, in the 1965 Lockman/Strobl story Birthday Blues, Strobl has some delightful panels of the anthropomorphic-cats-coded "Arab", especially one memorable panel of the acrobats performing. Say what you will about 1960's Strobl, in that story it is clear that he was not just "phoning it in."
Joe Torcivia is someone who will defend Strobl's art, I believe--you could check out his blog for references to Strobl. That will give you some images for his non-Disney comics art, as well.
I was reluctant to respond to this question because I don't feel it really belongs on the Fantagraphics thread--perhaps you should have started a new thread on Strobl's art. Perhaps these posts could still be moved to such a new thread.