The Train is Bang on Time

Art by Eddie Campbell, The Black Diamond Detective Agency. May 2007

Eddie Campbell's train wreck from The Black Detective Agency. It's a stunning piece of art, and while the similarities with the Ditko panel presented last week are clear, Campbell himself has stated his inspiration was something else; a Comics Journal back cover which re-coloured a Wally Wood panel. The rendering of the locomotive engine in the foreground is astonishing, and the energy is brilliantly focused. It's a tour de force from a modern master of the form, and a very rare two page spread from Campbell to boot.

The Doom Patrol Die?

Art by Bruno Premiani, Doom Patrol volume 1 #121. October 1968

After the illusory death of Calvin, we move to the temporary death of the Doom Patrol. This is to date the most realistic scene depicted, it is a scene that could easily have existed in real life and the setting used by Premiani evokes a war comic.  It is also the first image I've used which gives voice to the explosion, the onomatopoeic KAWHOOOOOOOM to my ear missing a B. This panel must have been shocking at the time of publication, given our expectations that good guys survive, and Premiani's art carries the force of that impact in its brightly coloured, debris-full explosion.

Calvin's Head Explodes

Art by Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes. July 7, 1991

From Dan Dare to where?  Well, after Hampson's realism we turn to Bill Watterson'sCalvin and Hobbes.  The cartoon line is ably demonstrated here and the scene bursts with the energy and fun Watterson's talent was able to call upon. The image is a link to all that have gone before, capturing the chaos of Kirby, the similar "in thrall to the explosion" of Ditko, the actuality of the meaning that Shuster conveyed, and the endless directionality and perspective of Hampson.  And yet here, Watterson has used all those ideas in the service of a gag. It's a beautiful actualisation, Calvin's feet and hands show the surprise we imagine him to feel without any sense of sorrow.  Through his line we know Watterson is kidding; that Calvin will return safe and sound in the next comic strip panel. It's art at its most temporary and its most vital.

The spaceship explodes

 

Art by Frank Hampson, assisted by Don Harley, Eagle volume 6 #21. 27 May, 1955

I knew I wanted a British image fairly early. And I knew it had to be something by Hampson from Dan Dare. Dare's place in the British cultural landscape has slipped a long way in recent years, alongside other similar icons such as Action Man and Blue Peter, but in the strip's heyday of the 1950's and 1960's Hampson and Dare were influential in the development of the British landscape, both culturally and literally.

Hampson's art here is probably a little rigid, there's a slight lack of movement in the scene, and the energy is hampered somewhat by the colouring and the stars detailed in the background. On the plus side of the ledger we are treated to Hampson's iron grip on draughtsmanship and perspective. He captures the total directionality of space with thrusts from the blast in every direction and smaller spaceships adding grounding to contrast with the silver cigar fired at the reader. The caption placements are impeccable too, one over the art and one under. A solidly constructed image working hard to draw the reader into the story.

Doctor Octopus is born

Art by Steve Ditko, Amazing Spider-Man Issue #3. Cover dated July 1963

From Kirby to Ditko, looking for something from Doctor Strange but eventually alighting on this scarlet bathed Spider-Man panel that features the birth of Doctor Octopus.  It's such a simple image so beautifully constucted.  Ditko has placed us in the heart of the explosion, the viewer also pushed back by the explosion, the redness searing our sight past anything but rubble and Otto Octavius, chaotically falling. But while the man Octavius is fully in thrall to the force of the explosion, note how the robot arms are not. Instead they are in control of themselves, in their element within this destructive force.

Toxl the World Killer

Art by Jack Kirby, Weird Mystery Tales Issue #2. Cover dated September – October 1972

It's an early Kirby DC piece, but late in Kirby's overall career. And the page bursts with the energy presented. Again I'm thinking cinema, but this time I can't help but wonder what sort of debt Kirby is owed by the modern blockbuster; the cross pollination between the two mediums is perhaps worthy of greater study than I can afford here. The story from which Kirby's piece comes is minor in the totality of his career, but the amount of detail packed into the detailing of a planet's demise is immense. Kirby pulls no punches producing a sumptuous image of chaotic destruction. You can't help but wonder what visions he could so eloquently have expressed utilising today's colouring techniques. Truly a master.

Krypton Explodes

Art by Joe Shuster, Superman Daily Strip. January 26, 1939

Shuster's first representation of Krypton exploding; it's arguably the most important explosion in American comics history. It's also a beautiful image, Shuster's line capturing something of the brittleness a planet must necessarily have, even if we refuse to see it. I can see in the image an influence of cinema, not just science-fiction film serials, but the way an image would be paused over in, say, a Harold Lloyd feature, before or after a caption was seen. There's a brittle stillness to the image, which enables it to capture the sombre moment, not least through the use of blackness in the surrounding space. I can't help but be reminded of this explosion.