Darwyn Cooke ConVertigo

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deejayway	Darwyn Cooke ConVertigo	Lead	[-]
Posts: 715 (06/15/08 4:43 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Tags : vertigo, doom patrol, ed brubaker, darwyn cooke, new frontier, spirit, pete milligan, duncan fregredo, catwoman, jm dematteis I've read many a glowing review of Cooke's work on these boards but even though I could see what a canny craftsman he is, his animated, Milton Caniff inspired artwork didn't do it for me. Besides that, I took offence at the hubris of someone who thought he could fill Will Eisner's gigantic shoes by giving the Spirit a new lease on life. However, I knew I could no longer resist the siren song of the new Spirit after seeing the likes of Mike Ploog and Paul Smith on the credits so I figured what the heck I might as well buy vol. 1 and dagnabit, I loved it! Cooke's anarchronistic, 50s sensibilities and design sense perfectly fit the whimsical mood Eisner established for the Spirit and its a joy to read some, fully-conceived, self-contained stories in one issue. Cooke does in 20-odd pages what Eisner used to do in 8 but which most modern writers need a 6-part story arc for. Anyways, I was mighty impressed. So much so that I finally pulled out my Absolute New Frontier and started to read it. It's highly enjoyable too, although Cooke's minimalisitc artwork and big panels don't really need the larger dimensions of Absolute pages to be appreciated. I love his nod to Harvey Kurtzmann in the Korean war segments. Long story, short: I am now a Cooke convert and seeming that I am also a big Ed Brubaker fan and I have his and Gulacy's run on Catwoman, I've decided to collect Cooke's Catwoman material. Can someone please tell me how many issues he did and what is available in hardcover and/or tradepaperback. Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks Last Edited By: deejayway 06/16/08 7:22 AM. Edited 6 times.
HighlandRay		#1	[-]
Posts: 3566 (06/15/08 6:02 AM) Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I resisted Cooke for a long time, I still don't like his cartoon-like art. However, I also bowed to the many voices praising his work and bought New Frontier followed by Spirit and I now consider him among the best in the field today (art style aside).
deejayway		#2	[-]
Posts: 716 (06/15/08 6:33 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I'm surprised you were so resistant towards Cooke Ray because his Kirby influences are obvious? Still, I know what it's like, sometimes a certain style doesn't click with you and then all of a sudden it does. It's almost like a synapse in your brain clicks and all of sudden you intuitively "understand" an artist's style. That's the way art works; an artists stylises reality in a certain way, leaving it to our brains to interpret what's on paper or canvas and see what kind of reaction it elicits; attraction, revulsion, recognition, indifference. Good cartooning is like abstract art; it either stimulates your subconscious or it doesn't. That's why it works for some people and not for others. Intellectually you can try to apprehend abstract artwork but I think that is a second-hand response to the work, not as authentic as your first gut reaction. By that I mean you can learn to understand and appreciate the stylisation and the abstraction - the thought processes behind the work - but that is basically intellectualizing what is in my opinion largely and intuitive and visceral experience. For instance, I "appreciate" how Mondriaan and Kandinsky came to their particular form of abstraction, which makes their work interesting to me but not appealing. I still don't like it but I can appreciate on a certain level. Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks Last Edited By: deejayway 06/15/08 6:42 AM. Edited 1 times.
AussieStu		#3	[-]
Posts: 5432 (06/15/08 7:06 AM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	... DJ, there is a Catwoman TPB "The Dark End of the Street" worth getting The Negative Zone
deejayway		#4	[-]
Posts: 717 (06/15/08 7:16 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Is that an original story Stu or a collection of issues from the regular series? One thing I was curious about re. the New Frontier. In an early chapter, one of the characters says; "Now there's something you don't see everyday" when confronted with a towering T-Rex. Perfectly understandable under the circumstances but that phrase has become such a catch phrase nowadays. Was it common parlance back in the 40s? I think not. Not a big thing but I hate (ostensible) anachronisms. There is also a news report (featuring Ed Murrow I believe) in which he describes the Klux Klux Klan as terrorists in the late 50s. Doesn't ring true to me either. I don't doubt the great Murrow would've vilified the KKK but I just doubt he would describe them as "terrorists". Too contemporary. I don't give a toss about DC continuity but I am a stickler for historical accuracy in period pieces, otherwise it ruins the carefully-wrought illusion. Am I the only person this bugs? Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks
yesternow		#5	[-]
Posts: 158 (06/15/08 8:45 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Is Cooke handling the artwork on any current titles?
KOBE27		#6	[-]
Posts: 2118 (06/15/08 1:18 PM) Bronze Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	That DARK END OF THE STREET trade Stu mentions is the best place to start. It not only includes the first four issues of Brubaker & Cooke's Catwoman series, but also the backup stories from Detective Comics #759-762, where the series actually started (the backups deal with Slam Bradley, now a Robert Mitchum-lookalike searching for the missing Catwoman) and those backups were ALSO by Bru & Cooke. There was an OGN written and drawn by Darwin Cooke called SELINA'S BIG SCORE which supposedly occur "simultaneously" as those TEC backups. As for the rest of the pre-Gulacy Catwoman issues by Bru, that was it for Cooke! There are three TPBs collecting them, CROOKED LITTLE TOWN (issues 5-10, but those had art by Cameron Stewart) , RELENTLESS (issues 12-19, with art by Cameron Stewart and Javier Pulido) and WILD RIDE (20-24, by Cameron Stewart) . As you can see there's no art by Cooke in any of them, but they're HIGHLY recommended by yours truly, specially the RELENTLESS trade. Bru's writing at its finest (and Stewart and Pulido are very good, IMO) . See him turn the Black Mask into the scariest villain EVER.
deejayway		#7	[-]
Posts: 727 (06/15/08 2:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Thanks for the recommendations Kobe. I knew I could rely on you. Looks like tpbs are the route to go. Buy the first one and Selina's Big Score and if I like them well enough continue with vols. 2 & 3, which close the gap with where my Gulacy run starts. Speaking of the Gulacy run; what a huge disappointment. The art was great, which was to be expected, but the whole run was disrupted by so many crossovers that the stories barely made any sense. A huge shame, seeming that I hold Ed Brubaker second to nobody in my esteem. While we're talking about Pulido. Didn't he do some of Pete Milligan's Human Target series? I have 3 tpbs so far: Human Target Human Target: Living in Amerika Human Target: Strike Zones I haven't actually read them yet but I've been a huge fan of Milligan's since his work on Enigma, Shade and X-Force What are your views on this particular series? Am I missing anything. I think there was a hc and I suspect they didn't collect the entire series. Which issues were uncollected. Going completely off tangent, Vertigo produced a couple of series in its earliest days that deserve a nice collection. The aforementioned Enigma and one of my favourites The Last One (sic?) which is one of the best things J.M. DeMatteis ever scripted, along with the vastly under-rated Seekers, which was recently announced as tpb from some small-time, independent publisher but which failed to materialise. DeMatties also did another series with that Barr guy for Paradox, which I always wanted to pick up. What was it called again? Vertigo also did Gifts of the Night by John Bolton, which is Bolton at his best IIRC. Duncan Fregredo and Sean Philips both did quite a lot beautiful work for Vertigo. I love Fregredo. Whatever happened to him? Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks
drumore		#8	[-]
Posts: 2654 (06/15/08 2:36 PM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Rather than buying SELINA'S BIG SCORE, you might want to get BATMAN: EGO AND OTHER TAILS. It includes SELINA and the EGO graphic novels, plus stories Cooke did in GOTHAM KNIGHTS #23, 33 and SOLO #1 and 5. Same price for the hardcover and a lot more material. At Wizard World LA, Cooke talked a great deal about what he liked about the JOHNNY DC line, and had something he wanted to talk to Jann about. It was also implied he's on of the artists working on Robinson's upcoming JSA project. Last Edited By: drumore 06/15/08 2:44 PM. Edited 1 times.
deejayway		#9	[-]
Posts: 729 (06/15/08 2:41 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Nice call Drumore. Thanks. Isn't the art on Ego by someone else? Paul Grist? Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks
drumore		#10	[-]
Posts: 2655 (06/15/08 2:47 PM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I don't own it myself, but the credits say he wrote and did the artwork on EGO. GK #23 is written by Grist, art by Cooke. GK #33 is written by Cooke, art by Bill Wray. One of the SOLO stories he wrote for Tim Sale artwork.
Paul Shiple	A Good Place To Start	#11	[-]
Posts: 8 (06/15/08 5:47 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Why not??? A project that I put together for myself last winter was cataloging (to the best of my knowledge) the art work of some of my favorite artists. Here's what I found for the guy under discussion. Please note: I have not included covers and the page counts are based on the format that I personally own (DC The New Frontier (450 pgs) -That would be the Absolute). THE DARWYN COOKE CHECKLIST: American Splendor Season Two #3: Not released as of this post, contents unknown Astro City -A Visitor's Guide: "Supersonic" (1pg) Batman Ego OGN (64pgs) Batman Gotham Knights #23: "Here Be Monsters" (8pgs) Batman / The Spirit : "Crime Convention" (38pgs) Catwoman v2 #1-4 (96pgs) Catwoman: Selina's Big Score OGN (84pgs) DC Comics Presents Superman: "The Phantom Quarterback" (12pgs) DC The New Frontier (450pgs) Detective Comics #759-762: "The Trial Of Catwoman" (32pgs) Green Lantern Secret Files 2005: "Flight" (22pgs) Jonah Hex v2 #33: Not released as of this post, contents unknown JSA All-Stars #3: "Doctor Fate" (6pgs) Justice League New Frontier Special (48pgs) JISLC Catwoman: "On The Street" (8pgs) Legion Worlds #2: "A Change of Climate" (8pgs) Marvel Double Shot #3: "Who Let The Dad Out?" (11pgs) Solo #5 (48pgs) Spider-Man Tangled Web #11: "Open All Night" (38pgs) Spider-Man Tangled Web #21: "Twas The Fight Before Christmas" (38pgs) The Spirit #1: "Ice Ginger Coffee" (22pgs) The Spirit #2: "The Man Eater" (22pgs) The Spirit #3: "Resurrection" (22pgs) The Spirit #4: "Hard Like Satin" (22pgs) The Spirit #5: "Media Man" (22pgs) The Spirit #6: "Almost Blue" (22pgs) The Spirit #8: "Time Bomb" (22pgs) The Spirit #9: "El Morte" (22pgs) The Spirit #10: "Death by Television" (22pgs) The Spirit #11: "Day of the Dead" (22pgs) The Spirit #12: "Sand" (22pgs) Witchblade #92 (2pgs) Witchblade Animated (22pgs) Wolverine / Doop (46pgs) X-Force #124: "Edie & Guy Finally Do It" (22pgs) X-Statix #1: "Code X" (7pgs) I hope this helps who ever might care and happy hunting!! Last Edited By: Paul Shiple 06/15/08 6:01 PM. Edited 2 times.
KOBE27		#12	[-]
Posts: 2120 (06/15/08 5:56 PM) Bronze Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I liked the first Human Target Milligan wrote. A lot. The ongoing not so much. I just thought Milligan said all that needed to be said about the multiple-personalities/no-personality dilemma Chance was facing in that original mini. That mini had art by the great, late Edvin Biukovic (he was only 30 when he died) and covers by Bradstreet. If I remember correctly, Javier Pulido did the art for the first five issues of the ongoing and nothing else. Those are collected on the STRIKE ZONES trade you already have. However, Pulido ALSO provided the art for an OGN called HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT, which actually occurs before the ongoing begins. That one wasn't half-bad, actually. The LIVING IN AMERIKA trade was by Cliff Chiang (who's also very good, IMO) . Issues 11-21 remain uncollected. Enigma was GREAT, I agree with you. Probably one of the best things Milligan ever wrote. Did you ever read his Skreemer mini? This was before Vertigo, but recently DC collected the whole thing in a TPB. Worth your time. I also liked that Face one-shot (with Fegredo) and The Extremist mini (with McKeever) . On the other hand, I thought the Egypt mini and the Eaters one-shot were abysmally bad. Brendan McCarthy seems to bring out the best in Milligan. Did you ever read Skin? This one-shot was published by Tundra, after Fleetway flat out refused to publish it on Crisis. The two also collaborated on Rogan Gosh, which was serialized in Revolver in 1990. (Vertigo later published it in America) The stuff Milligan did back in the 80s (Johnny Nemo, Paradax, Freakwave) was probably too outre for most people but I loved it. Regarding that mini DeMatteis did with Glenn Barr, I think you're talking about Brooklyn Dreams. The Last One was good, yes, but personally I was starting to get tired of the whole "Meher Baba" teachings DeMatteis was including in EVERY SINGLE comic book he was writing at the time. As for Duncan Fegredo, he did that Hellboy mini just last year. (And he's the new "official" artist for the Hellboy franchise now that Mignola is too busy to bother) It was actually one of the best Hellboy minis in YEARS.
exredleg		#13	[-]
Posts: 96 (06/15/08 6:06 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Paul Shiple wrote: THE DARWYN COOKE CHECKLIST: American Splendor Season Two #3: Not released as of this post, contents unknown Astro City -A Visitor's Guide: "Supersonic" (1pg) Batman Ego OGN (64pgs) Batman Gotham Knights #23: "Here Be Monsters" (8pgs) Batman / The Spirit : "Crime Convention" (38pgs) Catwoman v2 #1-4 (96pgs) Catwoman: Selina's Big Score OGN (84pgs) DC Comics Presents Superman: "The Phantom Quarterback" (12pgs) DC The New Frontier (450pgs) DC The New Frontier Special (48pgs) Detective Comics #759-762: "The Trial Of Catwoman" (32pgs) Green Lantern Secret Files 2005: "Flight" (22pgs) Jonah Hex v2 #33: Not released as of this post, contents unknown JSA All-Stars #3: "Doctor Fate" (6pgs) Justice League New Frontier Special (48pgs) JISLC Catwoman: "On The Street" (8pgs) Legion Worlds #2: "A Change of Climate" (8pgs) Marvel Double Shot #3: "Who Let The Dad Out?" (11pgs) Solo #5 (48pgs) Spider-Man Tangled Web #11: "Open All Night" (38pgs) Spider-Man Tangled Web #21: "Twas The Fight Before Christmas" (38pgs) The Spirit #1: "Ice Ginger Coffee" (22pgs) The Spirit #2: "The Man Eater" (22pgs) The Spirit #3: "Resurrection" (22pgs) The Spirit #4: "Hard Like Satin" (22pgs) The Spirit #5: "Media Man" (22pgs) The Spirit #6: "Almost Blue" (22pgs) The Spirit #8: "Time Bomb" (22pgs) The Spirit #9: "El Morte" (22pgs) The Spirit #10: "Death by Television" (22pgs) The Spirit #11: "Day of the Dead" (22pgs) The Spirit #12: "Sand" (22pgs) Witchblade #92 (2pgs) Witchblade Animated (22pgs) Wolverine / Doop (46pgs) X-Force #124: "Edie & Guy Finally Do It" (22pgs) X-Statix #1: "Code X" (7pgs) I consider myself a pretty big Darwyn Cooke fan, especially after reading his feature/interview in Comic Book Artist (at least I think it was in CBA). I love all the work he did on Batman and Catwoman. I loved The New Frontier, although I thought it started stroner than it finished. I'll have to say, however, even after a pretty strong first few issues, that I thought his work on The Spirit was awful! The artwork seemed to decline towards the end of his run, and most fo the latter scripts were terrible, IMHO. That being said, I still look forward to any new Darwyn Cooke work ... and will even hunt down those Marvel comics listed above.
drumore		#14	[-]
Posts: 2656 (06/15/08 8:11 PM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Nice list of stories Paul. One little forgotten gem: NEW TALENT SHOWCASE #19... waaaaay back in 1985. His first and only comic work for years as he decided to become a magazine art director.
leveret1		#15	[-]
Posts: 343 (06/15/08 8:17 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	KOBE27 wrote: I liked the first Human Target Milligan wrote. A lot. The ongoing not so much. I just thought Milligan said all that needed to be said about the multiple-personalities/no-personality dilemma Chance was facing in that original mini. That mini had art by the great, late Edvin Biukovic (he was only 30 when he died) and covers by Bradstreet. If I remember correctly, Javier Pulido did the art for the first five issues of the ongoing and nothing else. Those are collected on the STRIKE ZONES trade you already have. However, Pulido ALSO provided the art for an OGN called HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT, which actually occurs before the ongoing begins. That one wasn't half-bad, actually. I really liked the Human Target. Shame it was cut short. I still think the premise -- a guy who can take on any guise and the contracts he undertakes -- has a lot of story potential. Plus the artwork by everyone involved-- Bukiovic, Pulido and Chiang -- was great. Enigma was GREAT, I agree with you. Probably one of the best things Milligan ever wrote. Did you ever read his Skreemer mini? This was before Vertigo, but recently DC collected the whole thing in a TPB. Worth your time. I also liked that Face one-shot (with Fegredo) and The Extremist mini (with McKeever) . On the other hand, I thought the Egypt mini and the Eaters one-shot were abysmally bad. Brendan McCarthy seems to bring out the best in Milligan. Did you ever read Skin? This one-shot was published by Tundra, after Fleetway flat out refused to publish it on Crisis. The two also collaborated on Rogan Gosh, which was serialized in Revolver in 1990. (Vertigo later published it in America) The stuff Milligan did back in the 80s (Johnny Nemo, Paradax, Freakwave) was probably too outre for most people but I loved it. And of course, there's Shade the Changing Man. Another great series by Milligan and Bachalo. Oddly enough, while a lot mainstream superhero 90s stuff was crap, Vertigo was really putting out great stuff, especially a lot of the minis and one-shots. Considering their track record with ongoings nowadays, I think they should try to return to doing more self-contained stuff. Of course, the problem nowadays is that people are waiting for the trades especially for minis which is why I guess they're trying to put out more OGNs. Last Edited By: leveret1 06/15/08 8:23 PM. Edited 1 times.
leveret1		#16	[-]
Posts: 344 (06/15/08 8:22 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	exredleg wrote: That being said, I still look forward to any new Darwyn Cooke work ... and will even hunt down those Marvel comics listed above. Get the Tangled Web stories. They're funny, done-in-one holiday stories. This is what a Spidey animated series should be like.
dc newton		#17	[-]
Posts: 1372 (06/15/08 8:33 PM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	The art was great, which was to be expected, but the whole run was disrupted by so many crossovers that the stories barely made any sense. Besides War Games (which occcured near the end of Brubaker's run), what other crossovers were there?
deejayway		#18	[-]
Posts: 733 (06/16/08 4:42 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	KOBE27 wrote: I liked the first Human Target Milligan wrote. A lot. That mini had art by the great, late Edvin Biukovic (he was only 30 when he died) and covers by Bradstreet. Enigma was GREAT, I agree with you. Probably one of the best things Milligan ever wrote. Did you ever read his Skreemer mini? I also liked that Face one-shot (with Fegredo) and The Extremist mini (with McKeever) . On the other hand, I thought the Egypt mini and the Eaters one-shot were abysmally bad. Brendan McCarthy seems to bring out the best in Milligan. Did you ever read Skin? This one-shot was published by Tundra, after Fleetway flat out refused to publish it on Crisis. The two also collaborated on Rogan Gosh, which was serialized in Revolver in 1990. Biukovic's death was tragic. I liked his style a lot. He collaborated a lot with a fellow Croatian writer whose name escapes me now. Their stuff was dark and violent; not too surprising considering the historical backdrop they were working against. This duo reminds me of the two Danes or Swedes who worked a lot for DC and Vertigo in the same timeframe; Snejbjerg and Kristiansen. I loved their stuff but they seem to have disappeared. Pity. I did read Milligan's Skreemer and quite liked it but I don't care for McCarthy's angular style. I agree Egypt stank but I seem to remember quite liking Eaters. Who did the art on that? D'sreali? Never read Skin. Obviously a mistake I need to rectify. I found Rogan Gosh absolutely impenetrable. Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks Last Edited By: deejayway 06/16/08 4:49 AM. Edited 1 times.
deejayway		#19	[-]
Posts: 734 (06/16/08 4:47 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	dc newton wrote: Besides War Games (which occcured near the end of Brubaker's run), what other crossovers were there? I may be wrong but according to my recollection, the series stumbled from one crossover to another. There seemed to be one pointless and confusing crossover every 3rd issue or so, which ostensibly disrupted the overarching tale Brubaker was trying to tell. I could be wrong though.... Speaking of MIAs; what ever happened to Tan Eng Huat, the guy who relaunched The Doom Patrol with John Arcudi? I thought he showed a lot of promise. Read between the lines or you'll fall through the cracks
dc newton		#20	[-]
Posts: 1373 (06/16/08 6:28 AM) Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Are you sure you're not getting this series mixed up with V2?

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