2003 Comic Book News Archives

Curt Swan Book Cover

April 11, 2003: Curt Swan: A Life in Comics

Newsarama writer Cliff Biggers has published an article on the fantastic new book all about the life and works of Curt Swan, the definitive Superman comic book artist. Here's an excerpt from the article...

Talk about the great comic book artists, and names like Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, and Neal Adams are often invoked - but few artists ever managed to define a hero for more than three decades the way Curt Swan did.

From the beginnings of the Silver Age (and, in fact, prior to that era's dawn) through the mid 1980s, Curt Swan was the Superman artist. And even though Swan's tenure on Superman ended more than a decade and a half ago, his contribution to the field is almost immeasurable. Even today, Swan's Superman is the quintessential visual rendition of the Man of Steel.

In Curt Swan: A Life In Comics, Eddy Zeno has demonstrated the incredible artistic acumen Swan displayed throughout his career while encouraging many of his fellow professionals to discuss his talents and his contributions. As Zeno displays in his book, however, Swan's Superman wasn't a static figure; instead, he changed with the times, maturing into the figure that many of us recall so fondly. "Superman's evolving appearance and storylines over sixty-plus years have mirrored the times in which he's appeared," Zeno explained. "Initially a tough-guy vigilante as portrayed by his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, he became a barrel-chested hero powerful enough to run through outer space under artist Wayne Boring's tutelage beginning in the late 1940s. But it was Curt Swan's version of Superman that defined him as a friend, someone with whom kids could identify as a role model - not because he had those amazing powers, but because he seemed like a good man who always attempted to do the right thing. As you said, Swan's influence lasted for approximately thirty years, beginning in the mid-1950s until he handed the regular monthly books to his successors in 1986. The book demonstrates through both art and interviews how Swan's work influenced generations of fans."

Read the complete article at the Newsarama website.



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