It's important to run your car periodically to keep the battery alive, which might be what that neighbor was doing. It's good as a character study too, though
I knew one day you gonna get to this issue. A little pearl. FANTASTIC analogy with Mazz being kissed by the angel of indie comics and leaving the big 2, nice insight I never had.
DC published a book called "World's Funnest" in 2000 or 2001 that Mazzuchelli contributed to, so I suppose that's probably his last superhero work- But this is such a good swan song for him to have done as his last full mainstream book.
Then around 2006 he revisited Batman with a few pages of comics for a new edition of Year One. You can never really quit superhero comics if that’s what you grew up on 😄
also worth examining is x-facor 16, which is exactly one evolutionarily step between this and batman year one, you can really observe the transformation, it's incredible
I was looking into the colorist, David Hornung, and it appears he and Mazzucchelli are friends and, maybe, attended RISD together. Hornung contributed to Rubber Blanket and colored quite a few books for the big two. He also taught at RISD for 10 years and published a couple of books on color theory based on those classes, which it appear to be highly regarded. He left comics to pursue fine arts painting.
I hope we get some deluxe collection i.e. Marvel Masterworks of Marvel Fanfare someday. Besides this, some other memorable gems included the BWS Thing story that heralded his return to Marvel, the Mike Mignola's two Namor stories and so many others. And so many gorgeous pin-ups in the back.
Not surprised that you chose this as the best single story. I bought it off the stands decades ago but no longer had it. However, I recently found it rifling through long boxes at a discount store and scooped it up, dog-ears, rips and all
The legend was that when the pencils for this story came in Jim Shooter ran around showing it to everyone in the office as an example of perfect storytelling. Which has always made me wonder what in the world pencils for a story like this would’ve looked like, pre-inks? Especially considering that one of the few things Mazzucchelli never seemed to get comfortable with was pencilling for an inker? I’d be willing to bet good money that his later Rubber Blanket story ‘Big Man’ was originally intended as a follow up to this starring the Hulk but Mazz had a change of heart and decided to exit the mainstream and saved it for later.
I have long wished that a collection of Mazzucchelli’s short stories from Drawn and Quarterly, Rubber Blanket, Zero Zero, Nozone etc existed in one volume. Would be great to see some of those reviewed as well
I’m amazed that you guys are able explained the reason why loved a book. Back then I’d flip through a book like marvel fanfare. Just to to see what / who it featuring. The things you point out are the things that drew my 15 year old self to grab it. I was getting into more and more out of my normal pull books. I was drawn to the illustration ,color andStory. Haven’t look at this issue in years.
I collected Marvel Fanfare as a kid from # 1 but the run stops at # 38 unfortunately & I missed this very unique issue. Appreciate your great review of it though
Whoa?! I didn’t know anything about this comic. The first mention of David Mazachelli in my life was when I went to see his work shown at the Art Director’s Club in NYC around this time or a little after. He might have even been there it was so long ago. Anyhow I know what the inspiration for this story is. It’s Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) which came out in theaters the year before this comic. It made a huge impact in the art world. It’s a German art film and there was an adaptation done in Hollywood called The City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. But the German film stars Bruno Ganz who just died a year or so ago. He played Jonathan Harker in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu (1979). Another awesome film. Wings of Desire is about a fallen angel just like this story. Peter Falk is in the German version. He’s another fallen angel in Berlin. And Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform in the film as well. It’s a must see.
I had a wild synchronicity occur in the Art Student’s League over there by where the Hard Rock used to be on 57th St, concerning this film a few years after it came out. I was sketching in the main hall with like 60 other students and there were two models. Two petite Japanese girls, posing nude. They were breathtaking. Anyhow, I was speaking to a woman next to me about the models’ tattoos, because they each had replicas of Delacroix’s angels on their calves. And I started to ask her if she saw Peter Falk in … I never got to finish. She said, “yes, he’s right over there.” I was asking her if she saw him in the movie Wings of Desire, but he was right there in class with us sketching along with us amidst sixty some odd students. What a weird coincidence that was. I’ll never forget it.
Spot on with the Kurtzman influence. The brush work and three panel rhythms are all telling of the influence he had on Mazzucchelli’s more mature work. I’d love to hear about how he started to absorb that as an influence.
It was so good when released and still is! I after Batman Year One and Daredevil, I needed more Mazz and this was the sh!t. Loved this issue. Good pull on influencing Lapham. Rubber Blankets was incredible, too, but I wasn’t into Asterios Polyp.
This was an important comic for developing my taste in comics. When I went to SCAD I took a short workshop with Mazzucchelli and he talked about moving further away from realism and into cartooning and the Marvel Fanfare story was an important step in that process. The workshop was many years before Asterios Polyp, but after all the Rubber Blanket issues and most of the short stories in Drawn & Quarterly.
Aw sweet, I've been hoping for this one! I read Marvel Fanfare in the late 90s when someone sold their collection to a used book store in my area...discovered some amazing work, & this cartoony masterpiece by Mazzucchelli was by far one of my favorites! 🪶
It's important to run your car periodically to keep the battery alive, which might be what that neighbor was doing. It's good as a character study too, though
What a treat! We need a Mazzuchelli shoot interview.
I knew one day you gonna get to this issue. A little pearl. FANTASTIC analogy with Mazz being kissed by the angel of indie comics and leaving the big 2, nice insight I never had.
I always love when you guys expose me to book I’ve never seen before. Thx!
Mazzucchelli is one of my favorites- outstanding storyteller with amazing illustrations!!!
When I first saw the cover I thought that it reminded me of some Jean-Claude Forest barbarella image. With the brush work and the angel imagery.
I never thought of Mazzucchelli as following Toth's too closely, but re-examining "Year One", I can begin to see the continuation.
Nothin' like a Kayfabe video on the weekend to help you on your way!
DC published a book called "World's Funnest" in 2000 or 2001 that Mazzuchelli contributed to, so I suppose that's probably his last superhero work- But this is such a good swan song for him to have done as his last full mainstream book.
Then around 2006 he revisited Batman with a few pages of comics for a new edition of Year One. You can never really quit superhero comics if that’s what you grew up on 😄
I literally just found this at my LCS for $2! 🤘🖤
also worth examining is x-facor 16, which is exactly one evolutionarily step between this and batman year one, you can really observe the transformation, it's incredible
I was looking into the colorist, David Hornung, and it appears he and Mazzucchelli are friends and, maybe, attended RISD together. Hornung contributed to Rubber Blanket and colored quite a few books for the big two. He also taught at RISD for 10 years and published a couple of books on color theory based on those classes, which it appear to be highly regarded. He left comics to pursue fine arts painting.
Also took his feather back out of her pocket while giving the kiss. This is an excellent comic
Wow! Love Mazzucchelli, and have never seen this book. Amazing!
I hope we get some deluxe collection i.e. Marvel Masterworks of Marvel Fanfare someday. Besides this, some other memorable gems included the BWS Thing story that heralded his return to Marvel, the Mike Mignola's two Namor stories and so many others. And so many gorgeous pin-ups in the back.
Not surprised that you chose this as the best single story. I bought it off the stands decades ago but no longer had it. However, I recently found it rifling through long boxes at a discount store and scooped it up, dog-ears, rips and all
The legend was that when the pencils for this story came in Jim Shooter ran around showing it to everyone in the office as an example of perfect storytelling. Which has always made me wonder what in the world pencils for a story like this would’ve looked like, pre-inks? Especially considering that one of the few things Mazzucchelli never seemed to get comfortable with was pencilling for an inker? I’d be willing to bet good money that his later Rubber Blanket story ‘Big Man’ was originally intended as a follow up to this starring the Hulk but Mazz had a change of heart and decided to exit the mainstream and saved it for later.
I have long wished that a collection of Mazzucchelli’s short stories from Drawn and Quarterly, Rubber Blanket, Zero Zero, Nozone etc existed in one volume. Would be great to see some of those reviewed as well
This is absolutely gorgeous. I had never heard of this issue.
Wow! I didn't know about this, thanks!
I’m amazed that you guys are able explained the reason why loved a book. Back then I’d flip through a book like marvel fanfare. Just to to see what / who it featuring. The things you point out are the things that drew my 15 year old self to grab it. I was getting into more and more out of my normal pull books. I was drawn to the illustration ,color andStory. Haven’t look at this issue in years.
I wonder if Ann Nocenti had a thing about angels. She put several in her Daredevil run.
I collected Marvel Fanfare as a kid from # 1 but the run stops at # 38 unfortunately & I missed this very unique issue. Appreciate your great review of it though
Whoa?! I didn’t know anything about this comic. The first mention of David Mazachelli in my life was when I went to see his work shown at the Art Director’s Club in NYC around this time or a little after. He might have even been there it was so long ago. Anyhow I know what the inspiration for this story is. It’s Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) which came out in theaters the year before this comic. It made a huge impact in the art world. It’s a German art film and there was an adaptation done in Hollywood called The City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. But the German film stars Bruno Ganz who just died a year or so ago. He played Jonathan Harker in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu (1979). Another awesome film. Wings of Desire is about a fallen angel just like this story. Peter Falk is in the German version. He’s another fallen angel in Berlin. And Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform in the film as well. It’s a must see.
I had a wild synchronicity occur in the Art Student’s League over there by where the Hard Rock used to be on 57th St, concerning this film a few years after it came out. I was sketching in the main hall with like 60 other students and there were two models. Two petite Japanese girls, posing nude. They were breathtaking. Anyhow, I was speaking to a woman next to me about the models’ tattoos, because they each had replicas of Delacroix’s angels on their calves. And I started to ask her if she saw Peter Falk in … I never got to finish. She said, “yes, he’s right over there.” I was asking her if she saw him in the movie Wings of Desire, but he was right there in class with us sketching along with us amidst sixty some odd students. What a weird coincidence that was. I’ll never forget it.
Jon Bogdanove vibes from the art.❤
Spot on with the Kurtzman influence. The brush work and three panel rhythms are all telling of the influence he had on Mazzucchelli’s more mature work. I’d love to hear about how he started to absorb that as an influence.
(slash) city of glass 👍
It was so good when released and still is! I after Batman Year One and Daredevil, I needed more Mazz and this was the sh!t. Loved this issue. Good pull on influencing Lapham. Rubber Blankets was incredible, too, but I wasn’t into Asterios Polyp.
This was an important comic for developing my taste in comics. When I went to SCAD I took a short workshop with Mazzucchelli and he talked about moving further away from realism and into cartooning and the Marvel Fanfare story was an important step in that process. The workshop was many years before Asterios Polyp, but after all the Rubber Blanket issues and most of the short stories in Drawn & Quarterly.
This story was published in 1988 and Rubber Blanket etc comes out in the 90s
@@CartoonistKayfabe Sorry, I was unclear. I fixed the comment. Thanks.
I can’t find that issue on marvel unlimited
Always interesting.
Aw sweet, I've been hoping for this one! I read Marvel Fanfare in the late 90s when someone sold their collection to a used book store in my area...discovered some amazing work, & this cartoony masterpiece by Mazzucchelli was by far one of my favorites! 🪶