Wednesday, March 24, 2010

John Stanley's Horror Comix Remixed by Yikes Creator Steve Weissman

In last Thursday's Inkstuds radio conversation, Robin McConnell asked Jeet Heer and myself what impact we thought John Stanley's work might have on 21st-century cartoonists.

I'm interested in what the future holds for comics. I feel that there is still gold to be mined in Stanley's approach to sequential narrative. To my pleasant surprise, I've found a current example of a cartoonist doing a sort of "remix" of one of John Stanley's horror stories.

HERE is a fascinating remake of the John Stanley Ghost Stories feature "The Black Stallion." Writer/artist Steve Weissman, the creator of Yikes, shares with Stanley a clever, plausible take on the inner and outer life of children.


Weissman's story is a re-think of the Stanley piece, with new dialogue, but it covers the same basic story arc. I find Weissman's stylized, impressionistic artwork highly effective in telling this story. It far outshines the rushed hackwork of the original version, which you can compare/read HITHER.

I would love to see other modern cartoonists attempt "remix" versions of Stanley's work. If anyone knows of other Stanley-inspired contemporary comix, please drop me a line. I'd like to share them here on this blog.

3 comments:

Paul C.Tumey said...

Way cool! ANd I loved your inerview on Inkstuds. I encourage readers of this blog to clik on the link in your article and listen to it.

Phil said...

holy smokes! your jim and frank stuff is brilliant! it like you're channeling bob and ray, minus the pandering!

WEISSMAN said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed this. Thanks -- SW