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Al Plastino |
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Wayne Boring |
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Curt Swan |
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Kurt Schaffenberger |
I was so intrigued by Rick talking about the Superman artists of the
1950s that I had to pursue it on my own. So I looked in my archives and
found that there were basically four Superman artists during that
period: (from top to bottom)
1. Al Plastino - I was not
a big Plastino fan. There didn't seem to be anything particularly
outstanding about his style and his depiction of Superman's physical
appearance was the least appealing to me.
2. Wayne
Boring - Boring's Superman seemed the most "old-fashioned", and was also
the most stiff and awkward at times. But his Superman also seemed very
"solid", like he was really made out of steel. I also thought he had
great style in his depictions of outer space and alien worlds. Like
Ellis I loved how his Superman "ran" through the air. One of my favorite
Superman stories which he drew the interior art for was "Superman's
Return to Krypton".
3. Curt Swan - Curt Swan was the
standard for so many years after Plastino and Boring started to drop
out. I liked his physical depiction of Superman, and with a tight inker
like Murphy Anderson or John Forte (who drew a lot of the early Legion
of Super-Heroes issues) I loved Swan's work. With a more casual inker,
he was just passable, I thought.
4. Kurt Schaffenberger
- Schaffenberger was my personal favorite of the four. His Superman
was the most fluid and graceful with the best proportions. Also, drawn by him, Superman's face was very handsome... almost "pretty-boy", though never effeminate. I loved the way he drew women too. This made him the perfect artist for the Lois
Lane comic which was always half-romance book, and he was the regular artist
on it for many years. I'm guessing he did his own inking, which was
always excellent.
I'm betting that Schaffenberger is
the artist that Rick picked out as being the superior artist. Rick, are
you there? Did I guess rightly?