Ma, Simon :: Comic Art

Reckless: Destroy All Monsters – Page 90

Artists: Sean Phillips (Penciller) , Sean Phillips (Inker) , Ed Brubaker (Writer)

6 Comments - 203 Views - 3 Likes

Reckless: Destroy All Monsters – Page 90 Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Reckless: Destroy All Monsters – Page 90
Artist:	Sean Phillips (Penciller)
Artist:	Sean Phillips (Inker)
Artist:	Ed Brubaker (Writer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	203
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	6
Added to Site:	11/17/2023
Comic Art Archive:

Description

[continued from the previous post]

I am definitely not saying that EB’s drawing is no better than stick figures – he can certainly draw better than I can, although that is quite a low bar – but I am sure he would admit that he is not quite as good as many of the comic artists who he’s worked with since Lowlife. Although I did pick up Lowlife from issue 1 because it seemed to display the same sort of do-it-yourself ethic as a lot of the British small press comics I was reading at the time (although it was published by a big-time publisher – Caliber Press) I did not carry on getting it after the first issue. The art was a bit too “basic” for me and seemed too diametrically opposed to what was the prevailing art style at the time which was dominated in the early 1990 by Image’s founding fathers. On reflection if EB was to have had, say, Neal Adams draw Lowlife then it would have been too “top heavy”, skewed too far in favour of the art. It was only after Ed Brubaker had become something of a name writing for the Big Two that I thought I would give Lowlife another go by getting The Complete Lowlife compilation published in the early twenty-noughties. Although it was an improved reading experience having Lowlife altogether in one volume the story that knocked me sideways was the three-page standalone story Secret Hours, which I thought for a long time was a “bonus track” created specially for the collection. It is my favourite piece of work by Ed Brubaker, tying with his Bad Weekend, and I am happy to run it here as three of the additional pictures. I am not sure if I am falling foul of any copyright issues by doing this but it would otherwise be little-seen as The Complete Lowlife is currently out of print and consequently commanding gougers’ prices. I would contend that there is no-one in comics writing who is so good at evoking the bittersweet melancholy of nostalgic reminiscence than EB (okay, no-one except Charles Schulz; see my Ryan Sook upload) and the final page of Secret Hours is the number one example of this. Number two is the page in Joe D’s gallery (the 3rd page of the 3rd issue of the 3rd volume of Criminal), and then there are all the other examples. My instance is taken from the Reckless volume, Destroy All Monsters, but I have only the second half of it (beats me why anyone would buy the first page without getting the second, but I have included that in my additional pics so you can get the full context). I suppose it is because I enjoyed Secret Hours so much that I resolved to pick up an example of Lowlife original art, which I did from eBay ten to fifteen years ago. I am still not sure where this page comes from as it is not reprinted in The Complete Lowlife and neither is it a page from the three issues of Dark Horse Presents (113-115) which featured Lowlife, but I am pleased to have it in my possession and it might be some indication of which comics camp I fall into that I do not own any original pages from any of founders of Image Comics. (I concede that the cost of any of those latter pages also is a major factor in my not having an example.)

Incidentally on the off-chance that you ever feel the need to acquire The Complete Lowlife then make sure to get the second edition as the first edition has a printing error in that one signature is duplicated meaning one signature is omitted; something that was corrected in the reprint.

My thanks to Mark Hay of Splash Page Comic Art for the Sean Phillips page of original art from Reckless: Destroy All Monsters.

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	Simon Ma ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	April 2013
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED KINGDOM
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Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 11/17/2023

Very nice homage to the sophisticated suspense that is Hitchcock's Rear Window, with Brubaker and Phillips creating their own kind of magic within the genre.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

1 - Posted on 12/22/2023

Marcus Wai wrote:

Very nice homage to the sophisticated suspense that is Hitchcock's Rear Window, with Brubaker and Phillips creating their own kind of magic within the genre.

Yes, it is always fun to recognise the films they are showing in the picturehouse and then working out what their relation is to the events that Ethan and Anna are going through.

Shelton Bryant
Member Since 2005

Posted on 11/18/2023

Cool Noir!!

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 12/22/2023

Shelton Bryant wrote:

Cool Noir!!

Thank you.

artless artmore
Member Since 2013

Posted on 11/19/2023

Super page! I love Criminal and Reckless, and DaM is my fave Reckless volume so far.

Simon Ma
Member Since 2013

Posted on 12/22/2023

artless artmore wrote:

Super page! I love Criminal and Reckless, and DaM is my fave Reckless volume so far.

I totally agree. Criminal and Reckless are splendid (although Ethan’s absence in much of The Ghost in You made it slightly less enjoyable). I realise I have given Sean Phillips short shrift but only because my uploads were a celebration of Ed Brubaker on his birthday,but I feel that everything they do is worth reading and if that sounds like “damning with faint praise” I should also add that I think the Brubaker/Phillips writer/artist combo is right up there with the collaborations between Lee and Kirby, O’Neil and Adams, Claremont and Byrne, and I can pay them no higher compliment than that.

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