by John | Jun 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
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“Let me say up front that Dick Giordano is my hero. A consummate (I think that means he enjoys soup) professional, over the years he has proven to be a generous boss, a sagacious mentor, a loyal friend, and even a bit of a role model (except sartorially; I’d never be able to pull off wearing those wild shirts he favors…).”
–Terry Austin, February 2003
from Michael Eury’s Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? To read “Widow Miss Muffet” and other Last Kiss comics in German click here.
↓ TranscriptCut to Mitzi and Al white water rafting. Al's smiling and paddling. Mitzi gets splashed in the face.
CAPTION: "I found that Harold had some peculiar ideas about matrimony!"
AL: …do this on all my honeymoons! Next we’ll go sky diving! Then scuba diving! Nothing like a little adventure to spice up a marriage…
MITZI: Glub!
by John | Jun 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
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More about “Widow” artist Dick Giordano:
“The First week I was there (DC Comics) I went to Dick’s office, one of the messiest, most comforting places I’ve ever had the pleasure to spend time in, to ask him for guidance. I explained I had been given no specific set of responsibilities…I asked him what my job was exactly. He just sat back, gave me one of those wonderful Dick smiles and just said: ‘You’ll figure it out.’
“And, of course, he was right. With his wind at my back and all the support I could have ever asked for, I got to do everything: learn, create, innovate, play, change.
“Few people know how to lead creative people to do their best work…Thank you, sir, for being the best boss and teacher I ever had.”
–Richard Bruning, VP-Creative Director, DC Comics, January 2003
from Michael Eury’s Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time
Art by Giordano. ©2010 DC Comics
“When Dick left DC the second time, I told friends the company was losing its heart. That’s not to say no one who remained there or came…after Dick…acted on their generous impulses or…strove to be fair to…freelancers. But that kind of behavior never again seemed to me to be a core value of the company.
“He was a good guy because he was a good guy. He wasn’t a good guy because it was a smart way to do business, although it surely was…He wasn’t a good guy because the company mandated that persona. He loved comics and he loved comics people. He was a good guy…”
–Tony Isabella from Tony’s Online Tips, March 29, 2010
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? To read “Widow Miss Muffet” and other Last Kiss comics in German click here.
↓ TranscriptPANEL 1, SCENE: Mitzi and Al kiss as a minister marries them.
CAPTION: "Three miles down the road, I became Mrs. Albert Pillbody III...the world’s richest teenage widow-to-be!"
MINISTER: You may kiss the bride!
PANEL 2, SCENE: Cut to Al and Mitzi on their honeymoon. Mitzi is desperately trying to crawl away as Al drags her back towards the bed.
CAPTION: “Alas! Al survived our honeymoon...easily!
AL: Stop kidding! Come back to bed! I'm just getting warmed up!
MITZI: Haven't you heard? Eight is enough!
by John | May 31, 2010 | Uncategorized
Click on image above to see spectacularly larger view of today’s comic.”
I knew that “Widow” artist Dick Giordano drew and edited zillions of romance comics. But it wasn’t until I read Michael Eury’s biography Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time that I realized how intimately comics and romance were intertwined in Dick’s life:
“In 1954 artist Sal Trapani [a Charlton Comics staffer] announced his marriage to an old classmate of Giordano’s and asked Dick to be in the wedding. At the ceremony, usher Dick Gordano was paired with bridesmaid Marie Trapani, the sister of the groom, and was instantly enchanted by her striking beauty. In a scene that played out of a romance comic story (minus the heartache), Marie caught the bride’s bouquet and Dick, her garter. The two began dating and very quickly fell in love, becoming engaged shortly thereafter…[Dick and Marie] were married April 17, 1955.”
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? To read “Widow Miss Muffet” and other Last Kiss comics in German click here.
↓ TranscriptSCENE: Mitzi Muffet looks up and smiles at a handsome, older man who has crouched down and is smiling at her as he touches her chin. The man's chauffeur is in the background looking on with disapproval.
CAPTION (Mitzi completing her thought from previous panel): ...in love!
MAN (also completing his thought from previous panel): ...in love!
CHAUFFEUR: Not again, sir!
by John | May 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
The “Widow Miss Muffet” storyline resumes tomorrow and wraps up Friday. In the meantime, here’s another mini-tribute to the artist of that saga and today’s comic, the late Dick Giordano.
“…Detective #457…showed me how much Dick Giordano was responsible for the greatness of those Neal Adams comics that I thought Dick had been ‘just inking’. This was a comic drawn with beautiful realism, perfect line work, dramatic lighting, phenomenally beautiful women, and all the things that made those Neal comics wonderful, only Neal wasn’t around for this issue. It turned out DICK WAS THE GUY who had been doing much of that all along. And there was a subtle difference in the storytelling. It was somehow more accessible, more “readable”, more directly told, than I was used to from this familiar style, and in many ways I LIKED IT BETTER!”
–Ty Templeton at http://tytempletonart.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/sad-to-hear-about-dick-giordano-passing-away/
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? To read Last Kiss comics in German click here.
↓ TranscriptWOMAN: Being happy is easy! Just love yourself…preferably several times a day…with rechargeable batteries!
by John | May 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
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“Dick [Giordano] holds the record of having inked more pages than any other artist in DC’s history. And this was from a man who had a full-time job, for most of his working years.
“For those of us who had the honor of working with Dick, you knew there was a unique quality about his leadership that made you feel like you could achieve anything…If he called you into his office for doing something stupid, you’d walk in shaking but walk out feeling like you were a million bucks.”
–Karen Berger, Executive Editor of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint
from Berger’s March 29, 2010 memorium for Dick Giordano
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? To read “Widow Miss Muffet” and other Last Kiss comics in German click here.
↓ TranscriptPANEL 1, SCENE: Mitzi is stretched out on the ground unconscious in front of a luxury car. A chauffeur and a passenger are getting out of the car.
CAPTION: "Another inch and I'd have been the world's best dressed roadkill!"
PANEL 2, SCENE: A man (in silhouette) bends down to look at Mitzi. She's opened her eyes and she's smiling.
CAPTION: "It was a miracle! As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew I was...
MAN: Drop dead gorgeous! Good Lord! I think I'm...
