Gear Live Comic Book News: Articles Tagged Roy Crane

Leslie Turner, Roy Crane, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

I think it’s hard to take over a comic book or comic strip from a creator whose work is so ingrained in the original. Like Fantastic Four after Jack Kirby or Amazing Spider-Man post-Ditko, or American Flagg! after Howard Chaykin. It can be done, of course, and it’s done all the time since, with few exceptions (Calvin And Hobbes and Peanuts to name just two), keeping the property alive is advantageous to the rightsholder.

Leslie Turner was one of those takeover guys. With Roy Crane’s blessing to his former assistant, Turner took over Captain Easy (formerly known as Wash Tubbs) when Crane left to create Buz Sawyer in 1943. Turner did a pretty good imitation Crane, and even stuck with the Craftint technique that Crane pioneered on the good Captain.

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Comic Con International 2010: Rob Hanes Adventures

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Reviews, Independent,

I know I’m not supposed to find comics at San Diego – it’s all movies and TV and video games and Twilight fans and cosplayers and it’s all pre-packaged for easy enjoyment. And it’s pushed comics out of the hall. Except that it really hasn’t, and I can find comic books easier than I can get a seat to see Harrison Ford.

Some of you might remember that one of the comics I was looking forward to getting this year was Randy Reynaldo’s first color issue of Rob Hanes. And that’s exactly what I did on my first day. With Dave Olbrich on hand to help me we wound our way back to the relatively large small press area where I found Randy’s booth. A few bucks later, a few minutes chatting with Randy (whom I’ve known for years) and a copy was all mine.

Randy’s one of the earliest of the self-publishers that popped up in the 1990s and his WCG Comics is still at it, publishing Rob Hanes Adventures, a comic that Randy writes and draws. It’s a thing of beauty: a full on modern day adventure comic.

Rob Hanes Adventures Special Edition #1 is the new thing Randy created for the conventions: the first ever full-color Rob Hanes comic. It’s technically a reprint from Adventure Strip Digest #2 – “The EC Express” - that’s been colored and re-lettered by Barry Gregory.

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Comic Con International: Rob Hanes & Randy Reynaldo

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Independent,

So I’m surfing through the postings online about the San Diego con as I’m packing to get ready and I discover some great news courtesy of Heidi at Comics Beat.

Creator/writer/artist Randy Reynaldo is releasing the first full color Rob Hanes comic called Rob Hanes Adventures Special Edition #1 in time for purchase at the con. While he’s there, he’ll also be promoting the upcoming September collection, “The first volume of a projected series of trade paperbacks collecting the entire Rob Hanes Adventures series,” according to his press release.

This is great news for fans of the strip (one of them is me, in case you haven’t guessed) – and if you can’t make it to the con to pick up the color special, you can order it from Randy’s website, along with a ton of other cool stuff. If you’ve never seen a Rob Hanes adventure, you’re in for a treat. Randy is an adventure cartoonist in the very best sense, working in a style that recalls Terry And The Pirates and, especially, Roy Crane’s work on Captain Easy (plus a nod or three to Jonny Quest).

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Roy Crane, Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Independent,

It’s easy to toss around the word “genius,” especially when it comes to comics. We all have our favorites and we all like to think ours are the great ones. But one look at Roy Crane’s work and anyone can see that he definitely was worthy of the “genius” tag.

Crane created two great adventure classics, Wash Tubbs (which later became Captain Easy) and Buz Sawyer, with Wash being called the first true newspaper adventure strip. He’s been dead for 30 plus years, but looking through his strip work, you can see his influence in comics from Milton Caniff to Alex Toth to Howard Chaykin. Even the modern strip, Rip Haywire by Dan Thompson shows a Crane influence as does Randy Reynaldo’s Rob Hanes.

And in a classic Comics Journal interview, Art Spiegelman calls Crane an influence on Jack Kirby.

Continuing my series on cartooning and cartoonists, Roy Crane wrote about himself and his work back in 1964. This is pulled from an oversized saddle-stitched magazine from Allied Publications with the creatively-challenged title These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. It featured an introduction by Beetle Bailey’s Mort Walker and was compiled by Allen Willette.

Here’s Crane on Crane:

Click to continue reading Roy Crane, Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer

Q&A: Dan Thompson and RIP HAYWIRE

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews,

It’s been a long time since a good adventure strip debuted in the newspaper, and it’s great to see one come along. Even better when the creator, Dan Thompson, has a fresh take on the genre and a style that pops off the page. “RIP HAYWIRE” debuted on January 12, 2009 and from the moment you see it, you know it’s not your grandfather’s comic strip. Thompson has crafted a wonderful and funny homage to the era of Steve Canyon and livened it up with a sense of humor, great draftsmanship and a lot guys and gals getting popped in the head and blown up real good. I can’t wait for the pirates to show up!

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