Alright, let's try this again.
In hindsight, I think, the first Neal Adams comic I read was a German edition of the Ra's al Ghul story when a friend of my mom presented my brothers and me with a box of his old comics.
I was too young to remember the names (I'm not even sure Ehapa included those at that point), but I was still impressed by the art, even though I had read maybe a dozen 90s superhero comics at that point in time. I mean, just look at that cover, the details, the perspective, and that awesome Ra's in the background. I certainly knew it looked way better than most of the other comics in that box.
So, fast forward a few years, at age thirteen I had grown into quite a regular comics reader, and from editorials and letter pages I started to learn a few things about comic history, and that's when I learned and remembered the name Neal Adams as this guy who revolutionized superhero comics art. I eventually started to find his name credited in a few of those old comics from the 70s, and that's when I started being an admirer. One with limited access, though, here in Germany back in the 1990s. Reprints of his stuff were rare at the time, and most often too expensive for me to buy from my meager allowance.
But when I became an adult with a job (one that paid fairly well at the time), luck struck for me, and the German publisher for DC at the time released an over-sized hardcover with black & white reprints of his Batman stories. It wasn't cheap, but at that point, I could afford it. The cover was a simple blue faux-leather with an engraved Batman logo, the title "Batman" and the name "Neal Adams".
I still have it. And treasure it. Where else can you find oversized b&w representations of some of the best Batman artwork out there?
I later got a collection of his GL/GA-run with Denny O'Neil, a copy of his "Monsters" graphic novel, and even a "Neal Adams Sketchbook", and I don't get a lot of artbooks, mind you.
I maybe read an interview in Wizard, and of course, his own editorials for "Monsters" and the commentary in the Sketchbook. And with the coming of DVDs, there were suddenly bonus features on the superhero movie releases, including something on the comics, and suddenly, I had a face and a voice I could associate to the artist. I learned that, aside from comics, he had worked on production design for movies, like From Beyond.
And then came my man, Kevin Smith, and put up a six hour interview with Neal as part of his "Fatman on Batman" (now Fatman Beyond) podcast, and I learned to know about the man behind the art. He was such an amazing and fascinating man, a fantastic storyteller in conversation just as on the comics page. I learned how he got publishers to return the art to the artists, and how he fought for Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster to be recognized and, at least in some form, recompensated for the creation of Superman.
Kev has just put up a
Supercut of the whole six hour interview session to stream or download. I'll listen to it again, this weekend.
In recent years, when reading his new comics for DC, I noticed that he maybe wasn't as good a writer as he was an artist. "Superman: The Coming of the Supermen" and "Batman vs. Ra's al Ghul" looked fantastic, but I think he had too many ideas he couldn't quite make them comprehensible. He also lacked talent in the matter of characerization. Which is why I was very happy to find out he'd do one more project, a Fantastic Four mini-series, with another writer, Mark Waid (who happens to be one of the best in his field, as well).
In recent years, collecting and reading Marvel's reprints of the old Conan comics, I've been quite happy to see that Neal worked on those from time to time, as well. Finding his art, especially on one of your favorite characters, is always a treat.
And ever since the ComicCon in Stuttgart started in 2016, I was hoping that, at some point, they'd get around to invite him, because I so much wanted to meet the man, and thank him, for his wonderful art that impressed me from a very young age, for his work building up new talents through his Crusty Bunker, talents like Howard Chaykin, Denys Cowan, Jim Starlin, Klaus Janson and so many others, and for his inspiring work for creators' rights.
Now, I'll never get to thank him in person. But I will always remain thankful.
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