Artwork Details
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DescriptionIt is good that nowadays a certain number of comic artists can earn a living by bringing out a mini-series every now and again, or from just covers or commissions. However there is something to be said for the comic artists of yesteryear (it might happen today but I am a bit out of it as far as ongoing mainstream comics go) who produce a book month in, month out. Someone who epitomised this work ethic for me was Jim Aparo. I first came across his work early on in his The Brave and the Bold run which saw him draw practically every major DC character as it was a Batman team-up book, and he not only pencilled and inked each issue but also lettered them as well. It was his 70s work that I consider his peak creative period. After and sometimes alongside his Brave and the Bold issues he had distinguished spans on Detective and Batman. There is a semi-famous quote that says that 80% of success is just showing up and Jim Aparo certainly did that and his profile was greatly raised by working on two of the most famous moments in Batman history, moments which attracted media attention outside of comics – Death in the Family and Knightfall. Seeing that Jim Aparo also drew Batman and the Outsiders, and a number of Bat-related mini-series I would not be surprised if he holds the record for drawing the most comics in which Batman appears. If he does not then he has got to be thereabouts. Is it any wonder that someone on the internet has said that for them Jim Aparo is the definitive Batman artist. I am not sure if I would go as far as that or if he is then he is one of a number of definitive Batman artists (if that is not a contradiction in terms). However, Jim Aparo is for me the definitive The Spectre artist.Back in the early 1980s there was a minor controversy in the world of comics when Harlan Ellison in a The Comics Journal interview called Michael Fleisher, the writer on Adventure Comics when The Spectre appeared in it, a number of names which questioned his sanity. The reason for this was because of a novel that Fleisher had had published but also because of the inventively gruesome ways in which The Spectre dispatched villains in his comics. Fleisher took exception to the epithets that Ellison called him and took out a multi-miilion-dollar lawsuit against him claiming that he had been impugned and that his reputation had been tarnished. The Spectre in the Fleisher/Aparo run was like the Punisher on supernatural steroids who had no hesitation in “getting Old Testament on the ass” of the perps because they were so irredeemably evil that they had no hesitation in offing innocent women and children, as well as their own partners-in-crime (so much for honour amongst thieves), if it meant that they could make off with their ill-gotten gains. Some of the examples often cited in the way The Specte meted out punishment were turning a criminal into wood and then chainsawing him into patties, or transforming another evil-doer into a mannequin and then having him incinerated. This may sound tame or even quaint to today’s audiences brought up on the elaborate death scenarios in the Final Destination movies or the torture-porn in the Saw films, but at the time there was nothing else like it in comics and also what must be taken into consideration was that comics were then under the watchful eye of the notoriously stringent Comics Code Authority. It seems to me that editor Joe Orlando, EC horror comics alumnus, enjoyed working with Fleisher to see just how far he could push the limits of what the Comics Code would approve. It was said that the over-the-top retribution that The Spectre administered was partly inspired by Orlando being a victim of a mugging and he was channeling through The Spectre the punishment Orlando at the time wanted to visit on the thug that assaulted him. Many of us must have felt this way at some time. It was the job of Jim Aparo (and sometimes with Frank Thorne and Ernie Chan) to translate Fleisher’s scripts into sequential comic art, and he was more than up to the task. Anyone who knows Jim Aparo’s work can identify the above drawing, even if it was not dated, as being late-period Jim Aparo but it is Jim Aparo and it is The Spectre and that is good enough for me and I consider myself lucky to have it. Social/Sharing |
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Simon Ma 
Member Since 2013
Posted on 9/2/2024
Danny Kiihnl wrote:
Late Aparo is still great
Yep, the late period of any artist has its own unique appeal and Jim Aparo is no exception. Thank you.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
Posted on 9/2/2024
Robert Binkley wrote:
Very Cool Aparo Page ! Congrats !
Thank you for your comment. Your collection of peak-period Jim Aparo is phenomenal. Congrats to you also!
Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005
Posted on 8/25/2024
So good! That bullet is headed right between the eyes! It's actually pretty impressive that they kept Aparo around that long as he became the veteran of the entire Batman family of artists well into the mid 90's when he obviously went out of style. This is actually a step above his later comics work. Without having to meet a deadline, this shows he got back to his effort level of the late 70's. I would have commissioned him if I could back then.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 9/2/2024
Marcus Wai wrote:
So good! That bullet is headed right between the eyes! It's actually pretty impressive that they kept Aparo around that long as he became the veteran of the entire Batman family of artists well into the mid 90's when he obviously went out of style. This is actually a step above his later comics work. Without having to meet a deadline, this shows he got back to his effort level of the late 70's. I would have commissioned him if I could back then.
That’s a smart observation about the ricochet, which I hadn’t thought about before. And thanks for bigging up the drawing and increasing its estimation even more to me.
F M
Member Since 2005
Posted on 8/25/2024
Great sketch and thanks for giving context for that great series for the young 'uns ;)
(I find that) the series was certainly brutal then but it remains so to this day (and f*/k torture porn btw as it serves no purpose whatsoever).
(Lastly, the Spectre was peak Aparo indeed but Mandrake would also be a strong contender for the best artist for the character imho).
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 9/2/2024
F M wrote:
Great sketch and thanks for giving context for that great series for the young 'uns ;)
(I find that) the series was certainly brutal then but it remains so to this day (and f*/k torture porn btw as it serves no purpose whatsoever).
(Lastly, the Spectre was peak Aparo indeed but Mandrake would also be a strong contender for the best artist for the character imho).
Well I have never seen any of those torture porn films like Hostel or Saw but having watched my fair share of “video nasties” back in the day I know the general tone of that type of film. On reflection the Final Destination films play more like dark comedies and Joe Orlando is quoted as saying that those Spectre comics were more than a little like dark comedies which does tend to change your outlook on how they play out and can be interpreted. I shall have to dig out my copies of the Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre, and give them another go. I did enjoy what I read of them at the time. Thank you for your comment and personal response.
E DLS
Member Since 2005
Posted on 9/3/2024
I love your description! An absolutely wonderful write up for a wonderful Aparo example. Late period or not. As someone who doesn't yet have an example by this legendary artist, I am envious on so many levels. I just hope that if and when I ever do land my own Aparo piece, I'll be able to do it justice with my description, as well as you have.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
Posted on 9/4/2024
E DLS wrote:
I love your description! An absolutely wonderful write up for a wonderful Aparo example. Late period or not. As someone who doesn't yet have an example by this legendary artist, I am envious on so many levels. I just hope that if and when I ever do land my own Aparo piece, I'll be able to do it justice with my description, as well as you have.
Thank you for your too too kind appreciation. You are certainly no slouch in the putting-words-together department, and although I don't always leave a comment I look forward to your uploads and their accompanying comprehensive write-ups. The good thing about Jim Aparo was that he was so prolific there must be a good supply of his artwork available; it is just a case of getting a page that resonates with you. "I hope that you find what you are looking for."
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