Thursday, September 6, 2007

Granch, 2007, graphite.

Any Amethyst fans out there?

This summer I've enjoyed the original Amethyst maxi-series. The story's fun fairy-tale fare and the art's by one of my long-time favorites, Ernie Colón (with letters by John Costanza, also a fave). All the fun's bound to rub off on me (and from me onto a couple of things sitting in my sketchbook).

Wait, maybe that's ink from the newsprint.

It's interesting—although Colón had significant comics experience prior to this series, I think I see marked improvement from issue to issue of Amethyst. I admire Colón's ability to draw engaging adventure mags like this and humor mags like Richie Rich.

Excerpt from Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Vol. 1, No. 5. Credits: Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn (writers), Ernie Colón (artist), John Costanza (letterer), Tom Ziuko (colorist), and Karen Berger (editor). Copyright © 1983 DC Comics Inc. Used here only for review and discussion purposes.

Amethyst created by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn. Amethyst, Granch, the distinctive likeness thereof, and related elements are trademarks of DC Comics.

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6 comments:

  1. S. John RossSeptember 6, 2007 at 7:47 AM

    I wouldn't call myself an Amethyst fan, per se, but I read the 12-issue series when it ran (I think I may have missed two issues somewhere in the middle), and recall enjoying it. It came along just as I was really getting into comics as a kid.

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  2. Joel CarrollSeptember 6, 2007 at 8:29 AM

    Haha...wow....hadn't thought of Amethyst in AGES!
    I remember being mocked for picking the book up, since it was OBVIOUSLY meant for girls...at least by ten year old boy standards.
    Man, I was blown away by Colon's artwork!
    And that book was cut-throat!
    Shockingly violent for what you would have "thought" was a fantasy book...

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  3. Jon McNallySeptember 6, 2007 at 5:44 PM

    Kudos to you boys for picking up the book upon its original release! I remember seeing the Amethyst teaser in LSH but it's taken me 24 years to retrieve and read the series. I was lucky to recently find (at a very reasonable price) the entire run at my favorite comic store ever, Cosmic Monkey.

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  4. The MonkeykingSeptember 6, 2007 at 9:45 PM

    Lookin' good, Good lookin'.

    Lookin' good. ;)

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  5. Paul ConradSeptember 7, 2007 at 6:32 AM

    Okay...I admit I never picked up Amethyst when I passed it on the stands. Much more of a marvel boy in those days... But I did really like Ernie Colon's work... I think I saw him in some of the Warren books, and maybe marvel's "EPIC" title.
    Honestly though, as I look at this, I'd love to see your take on a story like this... it could be a match made in heaven.

    ;)

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  6. Jon McNallySeptember 12, 2007 at 6:16 AM

    monkeyking: Hey, Ed! How are you? Thanks for visiting.

    Paul: I guess I was kind of a "Marvel Boy" in my youth, too. However, it wasn't because I preferred Marvel's heroes over DC's heroes. I was a sucker for Marvel’s licensed titles—like Star Wars, Micronauts, Shogun Warriors, and Battlestar Galactica (which, incidentally, was my first conscious exposure to Ernie Colón).

    As for my take on an Amethyst-like story, I do think you're right—it's the kind of material to which my drawings'd be well-suited.

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