The entire 1987 documentary MASTERS OF COMIC BOOK ART is now on YouTube with Harlan Ellison interviewing Eisner, Kurtzman, Kirby, Ditko (!), Neal Adams, Wrightson, Moebius, Frank Miller, Sim, and Spiegelman. It’s a little kludgy and old hairdos always are embarrassing but, whoa, Kirby and Ditko!

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1 COMMENT

  1. Masters of Comic Book Art was a wonderful little documentary. And it still is. Old pros talking about their craft.

    The biggest disappointment, however, is the segment with Steve Ditko. He doesn’t appear on camera, of course, and he doesn’t even speak to the viewer or discuss his work. He reads a statement, which originally appeared in an issue of “Mr. A”.

  2. If you didn’t understand anything Syeve Ditko said, you’ve got an idea of what the stories are like in MR. A.

    The comics feature a vigilante who dresses similar to The Question, but he adheres to the Ayn Rand philosophies. The comic is really is a lecture on those principles, with a few panels of gunfights and fistfights to midlead someone into thinking that they’ve just purchased an interesting comic.

    MR. A is proof that Stan Lee was Steve Ditko’s collaborator on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, because those comics were interesting and well-written. Gotta give Stevarino his due … I’ve always admired his artwork, but he’s got other things on his mind when it comes to writing.

  3. Aaaand the video is down.

    Who has the rights to this thing nowadays? I wonder if it’d be possible to see a DVD release of this, perhaps cleaned up from the original source?

    Also: is it just me, or does it look like Kirby’s hair in his segment could very possibly have served as Rob Liefeld’s inspiration for Cable’s hair in the character’s first appearance (when he had two black stripes just like that)?

  4. Damn! Removed by user before I could finish watching it!

    Wow, I tell myself I live without regrets but this one…

    I must find this doc somewhere.