His output is not that extensive, compared to other well known artists - rather average. In some European countries, several volumes were completely dedicated to Vicar. So there are definitely more than just 6 - 7 fans. Most of his stories are well drawn and I think he deserves at least one volume in the "Disney Masters".
Artist #Pages ------------- Carl Barks 6750 Luciano Bottaro 4617 Daniel Branca 2154 Giovan Battista Carpi 9309 Giorgio Cavazzano 16481 Massimo De Vita 15703 Paul Murry 5930 Don Rosa 1503 Marco Rota 3294 Romano Scarpa 15122 Tony Strobl 16425 William Van Horn 1693 Vicar 11440
(The data comes from Inducks. But it can be that single stories are missing or the other way around drafts/scripts were counted (i.e. in about +- 100 pages for some artists). Of course, I have not checked this in all cases.)
The official decription of the Norwegian Hall of Fame: Vicar Vol 1 book reads as follows: "Vicar, or Victor Arriagada Ríos as his real name is, is considered one of the most productive Donald artists in history. Through more than ten thousand pages of comics he's filled and depicted Duckburg for three generations without many of us having even thought about it. Vicar's favorite character has always been Donald Duck, and he prefers making stories that take place in Duckburg. In his depictions of Donald's day-to-day life in Duckburg the central theme is the ducks' interactions and personalities; And always with huge amounts of comedy, irony and most importantly loving empathy. Even though Vicar developed his own unique art style throughout the years, he's considered the artist that gets closest to the classic Barks style. His art is of so high quality it could pass for being done by Barks himself. He's eventually become the natural artist to carry on Barks' heritage, and today there's no doubt Vicar is modern day Good Artist."
For me, who subscribed to the Swedish weekly 1990-2004, Vicar was (and kinda is) the baseline by which I measure other artists. Not great, but certainly not bad. I would definitely buy a Vicar volume.
His output is not that extensive, compared to other well known artists - rather average. In some European countries, several volumes were completely dedicated to Vicar. So there are definitely more than just 6 - 7 fans. Most of his stories are well drawn and I think he deserves at least one volume in the "Disney Masters".
Artist #Pages ------------- Carl Barks 6750 Luciano Bottaro 4617 Daniel Branca 2154 Giovan Battista Carpi 9309 Giorgio Cavazzano 16481 Massimo De Vita 15703 Paul Murry 5930 Don Rosa 1503 Marco Rota 3294 Romano Scarpa 15122 Tony Strobl 16425 William Van Horn 1693 Vicar 11440
(The data comes from Inducks. But it can be that single stories are missing or the other way around drafts/scripts were counted (i.e. in about +- 100 pages for some artists). Of course, I have not checked this in all cases.)
Although the number of pages is a good measure for productivity, one might take into account that Girogio Cavazzano, Romano Scarpa and Massimo De Vita are all Italians, and made most stories with 3 tiers, compared to Vicar and Strobl, who produced stories (nearly) solely on 4 tiers.
Vicar's 11440 pages would then be roughly 11440*4/3 ≈ 15253 Italian pages (a bit overestimated, as the Italians made not really zero stories with 3 tiers), very much comparable to both Scarpa and De Vita.
Strobl "Italian page count" would then become 16425*4/3 = 21900, quite a lot! I think Strobl is the real winner using this measure.
Post by holgerfischer on Oct 22, 2021 12:56:41 GMT
about the box sets: i read that next year there will be more. is there a chance to catch up with the single books?
is it "that complicated" to create cardboard box sets for books that already exist - or why does it take so long? it would be really cool if the four missing box sets would be released to finally catch up with the eight books from 13 to 20 (in 2022).
about the box sets: i read that next year there will be more. is there a chance to catch up with the single books?
is it "that complicated" to create cardboard box sets for books that already exist - or why does it take so long? it would be really cool if the four missing box sets would be released to finally catch up with the eight books from 13 to 20 (in 2022).
I would love this as well, I've been holding off on buying the individual volumes hoping everything will eventually be released in box sets. But the sooner we catch up the better!
Post by holgerfischer on Oct 22, 2021 13:45:25 GMT
absolutely right, duckburg!!! :-) hopefully other members feel the same! please, fantagraphics do us the favor.
and a little "off topic": but the same problem exists with carl barks. why not catching up witht he box sets, too? they are also four volumes behind. why is that? exactly the same as with the masters - is it not possible to manufacture the cardboard box for already existing books?
one more time: please fantagraphics hurry up for us - your fans!!! :-) with the disney masters (and carl barks, too!)
about the box sets: i read that next year there will be more. is there a chance to catch up with the single books?
is it "that complicated" to create cardboard box sets for books that already exist - or why does it take so long? it would be really cool if the four missing box sets would be released to finally catch up with the eight books from 13 to 20 (in 2022).
I’m quite sure that making boxes is not the issue, but book sales. If something doesn’t sell big numbers, why bother putting it out again in a box?
Vicar is sort of like Tony Strobl in that both of them are known for drawing thousands of pages of Donald Duck, but not very many that are memorable. Vicar was good at imitating Barks’ work, but he was at the mercy of the scripts they gave him to draw.
A lot of it is definitely "you had to be there to understand"-type nostalgia, but the man had such a massive output it's absolutely no difficult task to fill some volumes with high quality stories by him.
Also, I am not trying to criticise Vicar, his art is nice and since 99.9% of "Vicar comics" weren't written by him, it's not his fault they aren't memorable.
Vicar got two books in the Norwegian Hall of Fame series. He wouldn't have gotten a second volume if the first one didn't sell well. He has definitely been popular in the Nordic countries. There is a reason why so many issues of the Scandinavian weekly began with a Donald Duck story illustrated by Vicar, and it's not just his (and his studio's) high productivity. Egmont liked the classic feel of his art and felt it got readers in the right mood. If I recall, an article in the first Hall of Fame book even mentions outright that they liked to use Vicar stories to give issues of the weekly a running start.
I'm not the biggest fan of Vicar myself. I often enjoy his art, but liked it better when I was younger. As of today, I feel it's often nice, but a little standardized; especially after he stopped inking his stuff personally in the mid-80s. But I disagree with your assessment that Vicar was never popular anywhere, or that almost none of the stories he illustrated are worthwhile to read. They may not be the best duck stories of all time, but differing script writers also means some stories can be great while others can be mediocre or lousy.
Egmont liked the classic feel of his art and felt it got readers in the right mood.
Exactly! Egmont liked Vicar a lot, not the readers! And before you tell me that Egmont knows what the readers like, remember that it was Egmont who rejected Rosa's Lo$ chapter 10B, because they believed the readers did not want more Lo$ bonus chapters!