I finally checked off a piece of art from my OA “bucket list” with the acquisition of this terrific Russ Manning Star Wars Sunday strip late last year.
I own some great Star Wars original art, but not much focusing on Leia, so I’m especially pleased I won this strip at auction. Coincidentally, I was the underbidder the previous time it had appeared at auction — second time is the charm, apparently.
When we had the opportunity to collect the complete Star Wars strip collection at IDW Publishing, it was yet another box checked off from the publishing bucket list. Dean Mullaney and the Library of American Comics (LOAC) crew produced (as always) an amazing three-volume set.
Welcome to Star Wars “month.” May the force be with you throughout.
Did your newspaper make room for the full strip, or the “abridged” version, featuring Sundays without the top tier?Screenshot
Gold Key was never a publisher of choice for me as a kid. It had to be a really slow day at the comics rack, and I had to be flush with cash (meaning a few extra coins) to pick up the one Gold Key title I liked: Magnus Robot Fighter.
Russ Manning’s vision of the future was so clean and pristine that I didn’t much care about the stories, I just loved the art. Beautiful futuristic cities, and crazy badass robots. Oh, and his men and woman were gorgeous. Natural selection had apparently taken leaps and bounds by 4000 AD.
The future looked really bright — minus that whole totalitarian robot situation, of course.
Magnus Robot fighter turns 60 in 2023. 1963 was apparently a good year for armor.
The late Dave Stevens was among the many talented artists to work on the short-lived Tarzan Weekly (UK) in 1977.
Editor Russ Manning employed friends and current and former assistants alike in the execution of the ERB-themed stories.
Other talented hands included Bill Stout, Mike Royer, Danny Bulandi, an Mike Ploog to name a few.
Sometimes the credits are a little murky, as I confirmed a few months ago With Bill Stout at SDCC. Often, an artist would pick up whatever page was closet to deadline, and pencil, ink, or both and then switch. All depending on schedule, and who was in the studio. But this page has been confirmed as Stevens — and even though its very early professional work, you can see it.
The young Stevens (about 20 at the time) was already working with Manning when Russ started editing the Tarzan series. He had assisted on the Tarzan comic strip and would ultimately pitch in on Star Wars strip as well.
Fun Fact:
2022 is the 40th anniversary of the Rocketeer, Stevens best known work, and (rightly) a legend among comic art enthusiasts.
But you already knew that part.
Dave Stevens later jungle work evolves into a different focus.
“Tarzan In Savage Pellucidar,” Graphic Novel, 1975
This beautiful Russ Manning splash page has never been published in the US, or in English at all, for that matter.
A foreign publisher hired Manning and his team to create a series of graphic albums for the European markets in the mid 70s. Manning, having beautifully illustrated the Tarzan comic strips, as well as some of the Gold Key comics, was a perfect choice.
A few years back, Dark Horse reprinted two of those graphic albums, but I assume sales were not significant to continue. (Unless it simply fell through the cracks. Not a likely scenario, but it does happen occasionally.)
Another original art page from this story appeared in auction last year, and it too is a beauty.
I would really love to see the whole thing. I haven’t been able to find a foreign edition. But I will, eventually. Trust me on this.
Tarzan in Savage Pellucidar appeared in many languages — except, strangely, in English.
From the dept. of nearly naked women and trippy 70s posters: Neal Adams art for Warp precedes Russ Manning’s poster for Tarzan by a few years. Phantasmagorical indeed.
Start with a full-size portion of Russ Manning, then add a very generous helping of Jack Kirby.
Mix in in a cup of Alex Toth, a shot of Doug Wildey, and a pinch of Joe Schuster, and… voila, you have yourself a full Steve Rude gourmet meal.
Unfortunately, it’s a one-of-a-kind meal, near impossible to replicate.
Clean and distinctive, Rude is among my favorites of the “modern” artists working in graphic storytelling. (In other words: Old guys who, like me, are not that old.)
Nexus, created by Rude and writer Mike Baron, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Pages from early issues featuring the titular character rarely become available, and this great one isn’t going anywhere soon.
We continue with our month long celebration of the “Independents” — Independent creators and projects that continue to impact the comic book medium.We’re back on Tuesday (7/27) with… Jim Lee. Have a great weekend.
At first glance, Russ Manning’s clean art style is an
unusual choice for Star Wars. The saga (the original film specifically) is a
bit rough around the edges, with scorch marks, dusty landscapes, dirty
uniforms, and beat-up droids.
Manning, best know for his beautiful art on Tarzan and
Magnus Robot Fighter, is anything but.
His work is crisp and polished. Magnus lives on Earth 4000 AD, a world populated by handsome men and gorgeous woman inhabiting a shiny futuristic city. The battle against the sentient robots? Terminator this is definitely not.
But, Russ’ imagination and enjoyment for Star Wars is obvious on these strips.
Even if the stories themselves, like those in Marvel comics,
were often “B” level because they weren’t permitted to do very much with actual
film-related plots, his storytelling and renderings provided more than enough visual
interest to keep the strips engaging.
This specific example, which features most of the Star Wars main cast, comes at the conclusion of Russ’ penultimate story. He died of cancer too young at 52, a few months after this strip was published.
Had he lived, I’m certain he would have come back to Star
Wars at some point.
After all, he created a city-covered planet, very much like Coruscant, years before George Lucas did. In fact, when Magnus debuted, George Lucas was still a teen who, among other interests, had a passion for comic book art.
Wait a minute… (*)
Dark Horse colored and reprinted the strips as comic books in the Classics series. Marvel has since reprinted those versions as well.
A little bit of Manning’s love for Tarzan appears in a Star Wars Sunday strip.
The entire run of Manning’s Star Wars strips (and AL Williamson’s as well) have been reprinted in the Library of American Comics line, published by IDW.
Russ Manning referred to Magnus Robot Fighter as his Tarzan of the future.
*Ok, Lucas (definitively) and Manning (likely) were influenced by Fritz Lang’s ground-breaking film Metropolis, and this is just a fun coincidence. But still.
