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"MY" version of _______________.
Torchsong
Posts: 2,794
Got to thinking as I was writing in another thread. We've all grown up in different eras of comics, and may have different iterations of characters that we consider "our" version. Maybe not your favorite. Maybe not the "best" (whatever that is) version of the character...but the version of the character that got you on board and made you a fan of the character, perhaps for life.
Example: For all the different version of Batman there have been, Jim Aparo's version of Batman will always be "my" Batman. He was as much the detective as the crimefighter, and lordy those pointy ears! :)
Example: While I think the Peter David run on Supergirl was one of the best takes on her story, and I've been reading her exploits as long as I've been able to read, the 70s hot-pants (I'll give the nod to Carmine Infantino here as he started her look in Daring with it) version of Supergirl is "my" version of the character.
Example: Mike Grell's take on Green Arrow. I'll say no more. Shouldn't have to. :)
So howzabout you guys? I'll put more in here as I'm thinking about it.
Example: For all the different version of Batman there have been, Jim Aparo's version of Batman will always be "my" Batman. He was as much the detective as the crimefighter, and lordy those pointy ears! :)
Example: While I think the Peter David run on Supergirl was one of the best takes on her story, and I've been reading her exploits as long as I've been able to read, the 70s hot-pants (I'll give the nod to Carmine Infantino here as he started her look in Daring with it) version of Supergirl is "my" version of the character.
Example: Mike Grell's take on Green Arrow. I'll say no more. Shouldn't have to. :)
So howzabout you guys? I'll put more in here as I'm thinking about it.
Comments
And even with characters like Supergirl, where there is only one version I would say I “love,” I still don’t think of Bob Oksner’s Supergirl as “mine.” In that particular case, I was only really into the character because of the art and the wackiness of the stories. (And I will also say that Carmine’s hot pants Supergirl was only a very slightly altered version of Oksner’s—who inked Carmine on Daring—most prominent design. The blouse was all Oksner, and the Oksner-designed go-go shorts were simply given an updated hemline.)
With Green Arrow, Mike Grell’s original take on the character (in Green Lantern/Green Arrow) was simply Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams’ take on the character. His later Longbow Hunter version was really only O’Neil/Adams’ take minus the trick arrows and with more graphic violence.
I just think of comic book characters as being more flexible, I guess, and I always have, probably because I grew up reading different takes on the characters silmultaneously thanks to the many reprint comics that were around in the early to mid-’70s. While I was enjoying Haney/Aparo’s Batman in B&B, I was also enjoying the reprints of Dick Sprang’s Batman stories and also the syndicated reruns of the Adam West Batman on TV. I saw certain traits that were carried through in all the different versions, and those defined the characters for me, not one particular creative team’s take.
So when I see something like the Man of Steel movie and say, “That’s not Superman,” it’s not because I'm comparing this version to “my Superman”—that is to say, a specific version I love—it’s because I don’t see enough of the core traits that have been essential to the character over the decades he’s been in existence.
And I realize that I just sucked all the fun out of your premise. Sorry about that. Carry on.
OK. FINE.
Doctor Strange is Ditko, pure and simple, but the Modern Doctor Strange is Steve Englehart /Gene Colon. Englehart’s Sorcerer Supreme wrapped in Colon’s shadows is what I think of.
Black Panther, oddly enough, I rarely think of Kirby, but instead key in on Don McGregor and Rich Buckler because of their run in the 70s.
For Batman, I think of the Grant Morrison take on the character. I was never a HUGE fan of the “Batman as psychotic obsessed engine of vengeance” that was the take on the character after Dark Knight, and Morrison’s “Badada BOO, Smartest Guy In The Room” always worked for me, and the stories were just the kind of thing I was looking for.
Superman? The Superman team from the 890’s after Byrne left. Byrne’s Superman was a good START, but there were too many missteps (Superman in a porno film? NO!) but the team Mike Carlin had in place kept the series hot, and a great mix of the Big Blue Boy Scout and a interesting person worked for me.
:-)
My version of the incredible Hulk is Greg Pak, but I will always love Peter David's Hulk drawn by Dale Keown. Greg Pak's multi-year run on the Hulk is one of the top runs in the franchise history.
I'm just going to put this here:
Weird.
M
My Flash is the Mark Waid-penned version (preferably drawn by Wiern... Wally West as backed up by Jay Garrick, Max Mercury, Impulse, Johnny & Jesse Quick, and Linda Park.
As for the FF, I'm always torn. The Lee/Kirby FF is obviously THE Fantastic Four, but it's the Byrne run that made me a fan, and an issue of Marvel's Greatest Comics reprinting a John Buscema-drawn story that was my introduction to the characters, so that's the version I always see in my mind's eye first when I think of the characters!
Spoiler alert: it's Ditko's version.
Anyway. Others I hope to get to at some point.
Batman by Norm Breyfogle
Superman by Jon Bogdanove
Flash by Carmine Infantino
Incredible Hulk by Todd McFarlane
Daredevil by Mazzucchelli
Captain America by Kieron Dwyer
Looking forward to seeing what others add to this discussion.
chris
My version? Jose Luis Garcia Lopez....praise be his name.
To say something is "mine" doesn't negate other versions of the character. I'm mainly curious - with all these variations out there - which particular one (or ones) made you a bona-fide fan and got you on board with them?
A good example is the Flash. There have been a ton of different takes, but when someone says "The Flash" to me, I automatically picture Carmine Infantino's version with all the squishy head and speed-lined goodness that entails.
You could even toss out artists entirely and bring on the writer. Grell's take on Green Arrow, for example, does hearken back to earlier days, but I like that Grell aged the character, and yes, brought in the fact that he's using a very deadly weapon in his crimefighting, and treated it as such.
And I think CageNarleigh nailed it - JLG Lopez pretty much set the tone for a lot of us 70s/80s kids as far as DC was concerned...even if other artists worked off the template he set up.
Dr Fate - Kent Nelson - full face mask.
Legion of Superheroes - I was going to say anything other than the Jugheads, but that would allow for the most recent incarnation. Let's go with pre-Zero Hour plus Lightning Saga instead.
Iron Man - Armor Wars
Captain America - Hail Hydra ;D Actually, pre-Cap-Wolf Gruenwald + Stern + Byrne.
As for Dr Fate - Steve Gerber's version was my favorite because it was Steve Gerber.
RE: Dr Fate: Are you referring to Immortal Dr Fate or the more recent Countdown to Mystery. I'm with you on Immortal, but iffy on Countdown.
I'll take classic Lee-Kirby FF and Lee-Romita Spider-Man any day.
My Justice League is Dick Dillin illustrating Conway, Wein, Pasko, Englehart and lots of others.
I like my Avengers drawn by a young George Perez and my Legion of SuperHeroes by a young Mike Grell. Superman by Curt Swann still seems definitive.
My favorite Daredevil is relatively recent (Bendis and Maleev), as is Captain America (Brubaker). Also love Greg Pak's Hulk.
warrior27.net/2016/06/this-is-my-superman-art-edition.html
Had many opportunities to meet Bogdanove when he was drawing Superman: Man of Steel - both of us living in Maine at the time - and his version just stuck for me.
-chris