Eye on Comics :: Distinguished Champions - Around the DC Universe

Chase #1, Page 7

Artists: J.H. Williams III (Penciller) , Mick Gray (Inker)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Chase #1, Page 7
Artist:	J.H. Williams III (Penciller)
Artist:	Mick Gray (Inker)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	814
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	2/19/2019
Comic Art Archive:	Chase Issue: 1 Page: 7 View

Description

Though he's far better known for his more inventive work on such titles as Promethea, Batwoman and Sandman Overture, it was with his turn as the regular series artist on the short-lived but beloved series Chase in the late 1990s that I became a fan of the art of J.H. Williams III. While the prices being asked for pages from the afore-mentioned titles are out of reach for me, Williams' work from Chase is more affordable, and I decided to pick up a couple of boards from a dealer through an online transaction recently.

The dealer had several pages available, and I chose this one because it's from the first issue of Chase (featuring a federal agent's forays into the superhuman insanity of the DC Universe). Of note is the panel layout on the bottom tier of the board. We see early hints of Williams' willingness to experiment with layouts, using a bold, thick, circular, off-center border (conveying a fish-eye lens view) to add to the hectic and semi-surreal nature of Cameron Chase's introduction to her weird new job. It was quite clear in Chase that DC tapped Williams for the project to capture the same sort of vibe that Tony Harris had brought to Starman a few years before, and that opened the door for Williams to distinguish himself more, especially when it came to non-traditional, multimedia comic art.

This board from two decades ago also boasts a lot of great vintage elements, such as pasted-on lettering, the taped-on alignment registers at the top and bottom, a 1997 DC copyright stamp on the reverse and the faint remnants of Williams' blueline pencils. A large piece of tape has been applied to keep the second word balloon in the second panel affixed to the page. I also love that inker Mick Gray has used Zip-a-Tone for shadowing effects in the first and second panels.

I loved Dan Curtis Johnson's writing on this book, and I was disappointed it saw such a limited run (only 10 issues). This scene is quite relatable; many of us have experienced that sort of whirlwind introduction to a new job. But Johnson and Williams also made sure to include a touch of the extraordinary as well, as evident from the Martian Manhunter's presence at the far left of the fourth panel, grumbling about bureaucracy.

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About the Owner

	Don MacPherson
Joined:	September 2012
Last Login:	April 2021
Ebay Id:	comicbooksource
Website:	http://www.eyeoncomics.com
Country:	CANADA
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