Back in the Days of Yore (in this case 1956-57), William Russel starred in the British-made TV series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (now available on cheapo DVD).
Meanwhile, John Buscema, nine years before he started churning out superhero stuff for Marvel and sixteen years before he set to work on Conan the Barbarian, was working for Dell, where both pencilled and inked this March 1957 issue of Four Color #775. In my eyes, this is at least the equal of his Conan work, much of which was inked by other hands. This ish was uploaded to the ever-surprising comicbookplus by a user known as BobR.
"At least the equal of his Conan work"?
ReplyDeleteWhile clear and confident, this stuff has training wheels on it compared to Buscema's best work on Conan.
Even under the heavy inks of, say, Ernie Chan, Buscema's later stuff was deeper, more experimental, and much more fluid.
Interviews with Buscema reveal a guy who didn't much like drawing comics (though he did allow that he liked working on Conan) and who had little recollection of much of the iconic material his admirers held in high esteem. It seems he might never have understood just how beloved and influential his work had become.
John Hocking
I admit, John, I was never a fan of his Conan work. The sameness of it made it BORING, and applying inks by others, no matter how good they were, was like putting lipstick on a pig. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't looked at in 30 years that makes this Lancelot stuff refreshing.
ReplyDeleteCrom! Er I mean Hail King Arthur! Still, it was fun to read and good for that era.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this a lot, share more if you come across it, will ya?
ReplyDelete