Love it! As far as I know, Kevin got rid of most of the originals from Elektra: Assassin. I was over at Dave Mandel's place in LA a couple years ago and he has a huge stash of them. The only pages missing were some of the ones where Amanda Conner posed as Elektra for reference. Jimmy Palmiotti owns some of those. The originals were on thick illustration board. Seeing them in person was totally mind-bending. The colors are insane, the printed versions don't do it justice, obviously...
I really don’t understand the colors in the Elektra section. The originals can’t be this dark. It honestly looks like they screwed up this whole section.
With respect to New Mutants being revolutionary when it came out, Sam Kieth said that after Sienkiewicz did this, that it was like Picasso and anything was possible, including the freedom to explore a variety of styles. You guys should interview Sam.
Wow that's a cool quote by Sam Keith!!..i Alway's love to hear what inspired other great artist in comic visuals..& now hearing that statment by Keith it makes sense because he's got some of the most original lay outs I've seen a comic artist do!! (That is until this review I'd almost forgotten how innovative B.S. was!! & still is!!)
Looks beautiful! Thanks for giving us a tour. I have to gripe a little about IDW - they’re kind of lazy when it comes to finding art for these books. I had the last chapter splash original (that I recently sold) which doesn’t appear to be in the book (Bill calls it his Geiger splash). Same think happened with the Byrne FF book - my cover is also not in there. And again with the Watchmen book - I knew of several pages that were easily obtainable that never made it in the book. A small gripe - since every edition is pretty amazing. So nice to see high quality reproductions if you can’t see the originals.
At 7:10 isn't that Stan Lee in the third panel and Vince Edwards in Ben Casey mode behind the patented Hitchcock cameo? And thanks to Ed and Jim for introducing me to so many great artists; I never saw any Sienkiewicz art before today 4/22.
It looks like Bill may have used a technique @50:17 (right page) on his background where he uses a type of ink that lightens a bit when he sprays a bleach or bleach water onto the paper with a little spritzer bottle and then drys it naturally or with a hair dryer on top of a lightbox. Gorgeous
At last year's (2019) Dead Dog Party at the shop, Shelton asked Bill to remark a copy of this. He just banged out a double-page Warlock on the first two pages with a marker in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. lol It was pretty freaking cool to watch.
I was introduced to him as a young guy when he took over New Mutants and it changed the game. I stopped chasing writers and bought comics because of art.
Never purchased an artist addition but I have checked this one a few diff times and this is the one I would get. It’s amazing! Also bill needs to get some returns on that kingpin design as i bet the kingpin in “Into the spider verse” is based on his.
These videos are amazing. Thanks very much. I would humbly propose to include some shots of the printed results, when you happen to have them, to include compairing between the versions. By the way, couldn't the whiter pages be the lettering getting done on photocopies? Because the non-photo print looks grayscale in these ones.
It's a photocopy. I could pull that off on a canon back in the nineties. You'd play around with color levels but the black would muddy up the red and contrast out the flesh tone.
i just got the essential marvel collections for bill's moon knight, the epic collection of the new mutants, and the miller/sienkiewicz elektra hardcover, time to bask in their perfection.
The comic crowd was definitely at odds on his emerging style during that evolved in '80-86.i was reading moon knight at the time and when you started seeing the experimentation in the last 10 issues of moon knight and especially on the new mutants,you would hear the guys in the comic shop saying " this shit is terrible ",or "why are they paying this guy!" You were a die hard fan of his work or you hated it,there was no middle ground,You know there were people in the industry that hated working with him,cause he was breaking the norm during a time that had a devoted underground in all media's.Remember there was no Internet ,we had to carry the love via word of mouth.Id love to relive those days !
You asked who he's looking art influence wise, it's not comics. Illustrators like Bob Peak, Bernie Fuchs, Bart Forbes, Fred Otnes, Mark English, Barron Storey and Ralph Steadman. All illustration giants.
That "Badlands" is either Steadman doing him a favor or him "borrowing" Steadman. At the time I didn't know who Ralph Steadman was. Elektra Asassin is straight up High Art.
BS is amazing. I was in middle school when his New Mutants came out. The Xmen were so hot at the time that almost everyone bought New Mutants by association. Then, as BS put his stamp on it it became more of its own thing, like a shadowy cousin to xmen. Maybe some comics fans didn’t like like BS’s work for NM but that’s not how I remember it. I think most people were super into it and the demon bear was mysterious and intriguing plus then Warlock. It’s likely the success of BS at that time helped paved the way for others who were stretching the medium, including Miller.
The Elecktra art is very reminiscent of some of Chaykin's painted works, "Stars My Destination" and "Swords of Heaven Flowers of Hell" etc. About the same time IIRC
Miller would send what he wrote to Bill and when Bill sent his art back to Miller , Miller would re-write. Sorry just answering a few questions asked in this video. Bill is the GOAT in my opinion.
I chuckled when Ed said the "race to 15k subscribers", dawg, you destroyed 15k already and 20k is gonna pass by you guys so fast at this rate! Amazing episode as always, and appreciated! I've always wanted to peer inside this particular Artist Edition. Absolutely amazing.
13:35 X-Men #148, August 1981 “ Cry, Mutant! ” pencils by Dave Cockrum -> x-aspirations.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/xmen132_0125-1024x720.jpg Sienkiewicz start to draw " New Mutants " in 1983, so Cockrum design the lovecraftian citadel. Magneto made the place his home/headquarters for a while, so Claremont gave an accurate reference to the artist for that shot I suppose. 14:10 I see Clouseau/Peter Seller in this page and maybe... 7:07 ain't Kyle MacLachlan next to Hitchcock? 23:50 Many influence: Alex Thot, Hugo Pratt, Neal Adams of course. But, Sergio Toppi? Maybe, here some example -> www.magnetic-press.com/toppi/ 3.bp.blogspot.com/_I6fRquEc_PQ/TMlXh5TGPDI/AAAAAAAASKg/cd2OHiCkfNM/s1600/Sergio_Toppi.jpg intonazioniconseguenti.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/sergio-toppi-da-22finchc3a8-vivrai22_new.jpg media.cam.tv/CID063403/post/images/w1080/y2p35ef0d009.jpg?t=1592840201 www.partecommunity.it/art-magazine/sergio-toppi/
You mentioned that there was mixed fan reaction to Sienkiewicz at the time and I'm a great example of that. I thought his work was absolutely perfect for the Demon Bear and Legion stories, but I was on the verge of dropping the title because the art didn't fit the other stories that were more set in "reality". I liked his drawing of Warlock, but drawings of regular characters visually grated on me at the time. For years afterwards I avoided anything he worked on. I came close to dropping the Spider-Man title that he did colors on in the 90's, but didn't. I've come around to appreciate his work more, but I think he is best suited for stories based in "unreality"
Love it! As far as I know, Kevin got rid of most of the originals from Elektra: Assassin. I was over at Dave Mandel's place in LA a couple years ago and he has a huge stash of them. The only pages missing were some of the ones where Amanda Conner posed as Elektra for reference. Jimmy Palmiotti owns some of those. The originals were on thick illustration board. Seeing them in person was totally mind-bending. The colors are insane, the printed versions don't do it justice, obviously...
You said it Jim ... yer pal Huddleston has him running in his veins .. Long live our comics Maestros . B.S Por Vida !!
I really don’t understand the colors in the Elektra section. The originals can’t be this dark. It honestly looks like they screwed up this whole section.
With respect to New Mutants being revolutionary when it came out, Sam Kieth said that after Sienkiewicz did this, that it was like Picasso and anything was possible, including the freedom to explore a variety of styles. You guys should interview Sam.
@@roymakescomics He did an interview on a SDCC stream two or three years ago, so maybe there is a chance!
Wow that's a cool quote by Sam Keith!!..i Alway's love to hear what inspired other great artist in comic visuals..& now hearing that statment by Keith it makes sense because he's got some of the most original lay outs I've seen a comic artist do!! (That is until this review I'd almost forgotten how innovative B.S. was!! & still is!!)
Looks beautiful! Thanks for giving us a tour. I have to gripe a little about IDW - they’re kind of lazy when it comes to finding art for these books. I had the last chapter splash original (that I recently sold) which doesn’t appear to be in the book (Bill calls it his Geiger splash). Same think happened with the Byrne FF book - my cover is also not in there. And again with the Watchmen book - I knew of several pages that were easily obtainable that never made it in the book. A small gripe - since every edition is pretty amazing. So nice to see high quality reproductions if you can’t see the originals.
At 7:10 isn't that Stan Lee in the third panel and Vince Edwards in Ben Casey mode behind the patented Hitchcock cameo?
And thanks to Ed and Jim for introducing me to so many great artists; I never saw any Sienkiewicz art before today 4/22.
Bill Sienkievetxcheses Stray Toasters is the first comic I saw that unlocked the possibilities of the form within my teenage, walnut-sized brain.
LoL same here..that was a great book!!
It looks like Bill may have used a technique @50:17 (right page) on his background where he uses a type of ink that lightens a bit when he sprays a bleach or bleach water onto the paper with a little spritzer bottle and then drys it naturally or with a hair dryer on top of a lightbox. Gorgeous
They need to do a second printing of this one. I missed out and have kicked myself since. I'd buy a new printing of the Wally Wood one too.
Amen to that. T'aint to be had nowhere, for love nor money.
I’m seeing them. If you want to drop $350 or so.
I saw one copy at 750 USD. I hope they print another run too
Always thought that was Plant/Bonham @ 28:45
At last year's (2019) Dead Dog Party at the shop, Shelton asked Bill to remark a copy of this. He just banged out a double-page Warlock on the first two pages with a marker in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. lol It was pretty freaking cool to watch.
The rock musicians in the Moon Knight page is Robert Plant and John Bonham from LED Zeppelin.
Bill S. was the best Post Modern comics artist of the 1980s, bar none. Love Moon Knight and Elektra. Thanks for taking the time to showcase this work.
My ultimate favorite artist of all time, his Shadow series in DC is the stuff of legends.
Thanks for doing this one in particular - I was excited when I saw it announced, but forgot until now. Just tracked down a copy.
I just finished looking through the Elektra mini series, this was amazing. Great video 👍
13:33
Left hand page, panel 6.
Its Peter Sellers: Inspector Clouseau.
Guys, how'd you miss that?
I was introduced to him as a young guy when he took over New Mutants and it changed the game. I stopped chasing writers and bought comics because of art.
When you do an Electra Assassin deep dive, PLEASE get Tom over. Wouldn’t be the same without his wild subtext theories
Peter Sellers @ 13:33
Without a doubt .. brilliant digging and excavation/analysis of one of the greatest comic visionaries ..
“ you’ve done a man’s Job” .Gaff
On page 8- you can see Toppi influence in composition as well as Toth. Excellent video guys! I do want this damn book! Heavy price tag though...
Paste-up!.
I've always heard it as Pay-stub!
I'm thinking, what kind of media is Pay-stub.?
Thanks gentlemen.
Between the concept of Legion and the random celebrity cameos at the hospital, never realized New Mutants shares some similarities with Exorcist 3.
Thanks fellas for this presentation. It's inspiring. 👊🏾
18:30
I always thought Toth' s angles (and the cropping of figures etc) were often pretty tricky.
Never purchased an artist addition but I have checked this one a few diff times and this is the one I would get. It’s amazing! Also bill needs to get some returns on that kingpin design as i bet the kingpin in “Into the spider verse” is based on his.
These videos are amazing. Thanks very much. I would humbly propose to include some shots of the printed results, when you happen to have them, to include compairing between the versions.
By the way, couldn't the whiter pages be the lettering getting done on photocopies? Because the non-photo print looks grayscale in these ones.
Sweet some Sunday night dinner!! Thanks!!
It's a photocopy. I could pull that off on a canon back in the nineties. You'd play around with color levels but the black would muddy up the red and contrast out the flesh tone.
i just got the essential marvel collections for bill's moon knight, the epic collection of the new mutants, and the miller/sienkiewicz elektra hardcover, time to bask in their perfection.
So good! Artist editions are dreamy
Been waiting for a vid like this Bill thank you!
Yes! The slumber party issue! I was hooked back then. And I still love it now.
So much fucking confidence oozing through that Elektra assassin book. Makes me get so intimidated and pumped to make more comics.
Didn't know this was around. Awesome!
Someone else may have pointed this out by now, but that Feral art was on a trading card.
that very last image with the girls face 56:55 reminds me of dark knight strikes again.
As a kid in 1984, his first New Mutants was so different and so amazing to me.
thank you for this. this book is impossible to find these days
my color theory class was the most frustrating, rewarding course I’ve taken. the professor had us cutting up scotch tape and painting with acrylics.
Highly recommend (and would LOVE to see a video covering) Frank Miller's RONIN Gallery Edition.
13:00 The crack in the bottom right corner spells out "Cockrum"
The comic crowd was definitely at odds on his emerging style during that evolved in '80-86.i was reading moon knight at the time and when you started seeing the experimentation in the last 10 issues of moon knight and especially on the new mutants,you would hear the guys in the comic shop saying " this shit is terrible ",or "why are they paying this guy!" You were a die hard fan of his work or you hated it,there was no middle ground,You know there were people in the industry that hated working with him,cause he was breaking the norm during a time that had a devoted underground in all media's.Remember there was no Internet ,we had to carry the love via word of mouth.Id love to relive those days !
Sienkiewicz is a wizard, great review!
On the page where Jim mentíons the Segar stars (12:43) I see some scratching in the lower right hand corner that looks like "Cockrum."
That might just be random but I certainly was looking up Cockrum earlier this morning.
My guess is, because I've done it, you take either a whiteout pen or dip your finger in some white acrylic and paint with your finger.
We need more Artist Edition book reviews from you guys. Hopefully you can do Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant Studio Edition next!!
The time I was blown away.............
You guys gotta do the GIANT Sin City Artist Edition!
Man, that was awesome, I wish I could afford that one!
Any of the EC artist editions would be great to feature. Best of EC 1 and 2, Wood, Ingels, Davis or Crandall volumes. And lastly MAD,
It's watercolor, with pastels and ink on top
7.08 next to Alfred Hithcock, looks to be Kyle McLaughlin
Looks more like Rock Hudson to me
That's Ben Casey, a TV doctor, who appeared in an early newspaper strip by Neal Adams. Kind of an in-joke there.
You asked who he's looking art influence wise, it's not comics. Illustrators like Bob Peak, Bernie Fuchs, Bart Forbes, Fred Otnes, Mark English, Barron Storey and Ralph Steadman. All illustration giants.
Bill's artwork is way ahead of it's time. This was way before computer coloring inking and moderen technology.
That "Badlands" is either Steadman doing him a favor or him "borrowing" Steadman. At the time I didn't know who Ralph Steadman was. Elektra Asassin is straight up High Art.
Bill was in Death Wish 3
32:21 An Apocalypse Now reference.
Incredible.
BS is amazing. I was in middle school when his New Mutants came out. The Xmen were so hot at the time that almost everyone bought New Mutants by association. Then, as BS put his stamp on it it became more of its own thing, like a shadowy cousin to xmen. Maybe some comics fans didn’t like like BS’s work for NM but that’s not how I remember it. I think most people were super into it and the demon bear was mysterious and intriguing plus then Warlock. It’s likely the success of BS at that time helped paved the way for others who were stretching the medium, including Miller.
Do they even make Frisket anymore?
The Elecktra art is very reminiscent of some of Chaykin's painted works, "Stars My Destination" and "Swords of Heaven Flowers of Hell" etc. About the same time IIRC
Miller would send what he wrote to Bill and when Bill sent his art back to Miller , Miller would re-write. Sorry just answering a few questions asked in this video. Bill is the GOAT in my opinion.
48:47 I have the cover Elektra Assassin #1
make an scott hampton video please!
3:10 The head is tiny!
AWSOMENESS 🗿
I chuckled when Ed said the "race to 15k subscribers", dawg, you destroyed 15k already and 20k is gonna pass by you guys so fast at this rate!
Amazing episode as always, and appreciated! I've always wanted to peer inside this particular Artist Edition. Absolutely amazing.
It is to 50K now. How times and subscriber goals pass!
13:35 X-Men #148, August 1981 “ Cry, Mutant! ” pencils by Dave Cockrum ->
x-aspirations.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/xmen132_0125-1024x720.jpg
Sienkiewicz start to draw " New Mutants " in 1983, so Cockrum design the lovecraftian citadel.
Magneto made the place his home/headquarters for a while, so Claremont gave an accurate reference to the artist for that shot I suppose.
14:10 I see Clouseau/Peter Seller in this page and maybe... 7:07 ain't Kyle MacLachlan next to Hitchcock?
23:50 Many influence: Alex Thot, Hugo Pratt, Neal Adams of course. But, Sergio Toppi? Maybe, here some example ->
www.magnetic-press.com/toppi/
3.bp.blogspot.com/_I6fRquEc_PQ/TMlXh5TGPDI/AAAAAAAASKg/cd2OHiCkfNM/s1600/Sergio_Toppi.jpg
intonazioniconseguenti.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/sergio-toppi-da-22finchc3a8-vivrai22_new.jpg
media.cam.tv/CID063403/post/images/w1080/y2p35ef0d009.jpg?t=1592840201
www.partecommunity.it/art-magazine/sergio-toppi/
You mentioned that there was mixed fan reaction to Sienkiewicz at the time and I'm a great example of that. I thought his work was absolutely perfect for the Demon Bear and Legion stories, but I was on the verge of dropping the title because the art didn't fit the other stories that were more set in "reality". I liked his drawing of Warlock, but drawings of regular characters visually grated on me at the time. For years afterwards I avoided anything he worked on. I came close to dropping the Spider-Man title that he did colors on in the 90's, but didn't. I've come around to appreciate his work more, but I think he is best suited for stories based in "unreality"