Robserecaps Thirty Four – Barry Windsor Smith vs. the World!
The Rob’s schedule is two episodes a week and as long as he keeps talking Comic Book Feuds, I’m back, baby!
- The new format with the new intro song has a little show preview by the Rob. He talks about the subject, never referring to him by his full name, just “Barry.” This is gonna be a two parter and the Rob is gonna give his thoughts on the James Gunn DCCU
- This podcast is gonna be about the past and the present, no speculation about the future of comics, movies, TV or sports
- A follow up from last episode, while still a fan, the Rob feels John Byrne fell off in quality in 1987, his design, layouts, etc. all changed and became consumed with his own lack of popularity
- first sniff at 8:10
- When Barry (not yet Windsor) Smith started, he was seen as a Jack Kirby clone in the mid-70’s
- Barry got the gig on Conan at Marvel since Stan Lee didn’t want to put “Big” John Buscema or any other A level artist on a sword and sorcery book
- It was on Conan that Barry started to change his style, adding ‘stipiling’ to his inking style
- Barry, along with Howard Chaykin, Bernie Wrightson and others, left comics for higher paying less stress gigs but came back to comics
- At the 1982 San Diego Comic Con, Marvel editors showed off pages of the new Machine Man book, having people guess who the artist was. It was Barry’s new style, inking over Herb Trimpe, adding ‘Windsor’ to his name
- Barry did the art for X-Men 186, which the Rob calls one of the best drawn comics of all time, which led to Barry getting to craft Wolverine’s origin outside of Chris Claremont’s world in Marvel Comics Presents
- Barry did some seminal 90’s work at Valiant (Archer and Armstrong) and Image (Wildstorm Rising)
- In a 1996 Comics Journal interview with Gary Groth, Barry went scorched earth on the industry with some “super gripey shit”
- While reading the interview, the Rob is saying each comma
- Specifically about the Rob, Barry said “Liefeld has nothing to offer. It’s as plain as bacon on your plate. He has absolutely nothing to offer! He simple cannot draw. He simply cannot write. He’s a young boy (the Rob was 29 at the time) who’s entire culture is bubble gum wrappers. Somebody was at his house and came back to me with a report. There is not a single BOOK in his house, only comic books! They (Liefeld and Jim Lee) don’t know comics can be a medium of personal expression!”
- Barry then decides to drag Don Heck through the mud, calling him a middling hack replaced by the Image types
- Jack Kirby gets a turn in the barrel, Barry saying Jack’s anatomy made no sense
- Recalling his time on Wildstorm Rising, Barry says he mucked with the plot much to the writer’s chagrin, trying to find some sort of characterization with the book. Barry did the book at the behest of his lawyer.
- The Rob gets stuck on saying ‘homages’ and starts saying random words like oranges and tangerines
- There is gonna be a part two on Barry Windsor Smith, but the Rob mentions these guys had no problem taking pay checks from the Image guys, who idolized them breaking in, only to bash them afterwards
- The Rob is upset Henry Cavill is no longer Superman, he loved the Snyderverse, but is just gonna report on what’s going on so he doesn’t get into “whiny mode”
- Nothing James Gunn can say or do or tweet will mean a thing until there is a finished product, so why bother
- The Rob is now off on how set photos are staged photos and tells stories of people trying to prevent leaks of unfinished designs
- The era of the Fan Letdown is here and we are all looking for the next thing to ‘wow’ us
- the Rob’s kids tell him he has a bad Instagram game
- Finally, the Rob’s relaxation suggestion for this week are the Fantastic Voyage of Sinbad and a cupcake
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