normalman

[ctc]

So;

I was sorting through my comics the other day and came across the old AV series "normalman." I still find it funny, and becasue of this book I kinda giggle every time I see a superhero.

Anyone else ever read this one?

Don C.

[samurainoir]

I had a great fondness for normalman back in the day.



It just seemed wrong that mile high had "NORMALMAN" listed in all caps when I went looking for these covers.

I really appreciated the breadth of parody within the world of comics it managed to touch upon at that time frame of the eighties.

This was supposedly one of the inspirations for Alan Moore to do the 1963 line for Valentino at image. I'm also quite fond of Valentino's autobiographical stuff like A Touch of Silver. It can be a bit precious sometimes, but often hits the right notes.

I try to imagine what kind of books Valentino could have put out if he stuck to the gentle parody and autobio stuff rather than dreck like Guardians of the Galaxy and Shadowhawk.

[ctc]

>I really appreciated the breadth of parody within the world of comics it managed to touch upon at that time frame of the eighties.

I think that's what struck me too. I was never a big superhero fan; even when I was a kid, and I thought ti was funny that he drew from so many OTHER comics for this series. (Not sure if I should be proud, or ashamed that I knew what each issue was parodying...) You don't see that sort of thing these days. "Comics" seems to have become a very narrowly defined term....

Funny thing; THIS series explained a lot of superhero-ness to me. "When two heroes meet for the first time they HAVE to fight..." It's so true....

>I try to imagine what kind of books Valentino could have put out if he stuck to the gentle parody and autobio stuff rather than dreck like Guardians of the Galaxy and Shadowhawk.

Yeah! What the hell happened?!?!? "Shadowhawk" blew my mind when it came out because it was a COMPLETE reversal of the sort of books he USED to do. (That, and the character design seemed REALLY reminiscnet of one of Randy Zimmerman's characters....)

Don C.

[The Toyroom]

I was always intrigued by the covers but never got any further than that....

[samurainoir]

>

Yeah! What the hell happened?!?!? "Shadowhawk" blew my mind when it came out because it was a COMPLETE reversal of the sort of books he USED to do. (That, and the character design seemed REALLY reminiscnet of one of Randy Zimmerman's characters....)

Don C.

$$$ 8)

Coincidentally, this weekend when I was in San Francisco I picked up Drawing from Life out of one of the quarter bins. I read it on the plane ride back and was struck by how the range of stories gave you a sense of Valentino's career from starving underground artist in the seventies to acclaimed indie cartoonist in the eighties and then as a Marvel/Image guy in the nineties. I'm sure it has everything to do with having a family to feed.

I don't doubt that first issue of Shadowhawk made him more money than the entire run of normalman combined.

[samurainoir]

Shadowhawk did have at least one readable story thanks to Alan Moore.


I believe Kurt Busiek worked on the title at one point (Pre Marvels?)

I was always curious how that one read. Figure I'll eventually run across it in a quarter bin somewhere.