Saturday Leftover Day.
As far as writing your own stuff, solid storytelling and giving it all a sense of fun, Klaus Nordling could hold his own against his contemporaries Will Eisner and Jack Cole. Whenever I see one of hi stories I am amazed he didn't achief ore fame during his life. Of course, none of his heroes struck a cor with the audience as Eisner's many creations (culminating in the Pirit) and Cole manic hero Plastic Man. Instead, Nordling gave us the impressive, but ultimately failing Pen Miller, Bob and Swab, The Barker and Lady Luck. Three of those I have shown as much as I can, but I see I have underrepresented Bob and Swab. With a name that was taken from a sexual quicky favorite with sailors, they were as adult as this sort of strips could become. maybe that explains their lack op appeal? Although Nordling is known to have written his own stories, these two characters have not been originated by hm. Earlier stories wre drawn by someone named Ginger and even in this batch there is one that seems to have been done by someone else. Jack Cole expert Paul Tumey once even found one that seems to have been done by Jack Cole - which you can find if you fllow the link to his excellent blog.
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The problem for Nordling is in his limits as an illustrator. Artists who do a mediocre or even poor job of writing the story are often still hailed as brilliant if the draw remarkably well. Some of the stories written by Eisner or by Cole are banal, childish, or even somewhat incoherent; but their drawing presents these stories in inventive and engaging ways. Nordling's drawing is too often stiff, and he doesn't display a sound instinct for knowing where to exaggerate and where to use realism.
ReplyDeleteYou may be right, but personaly I don't see stiffness. I see a tendency to stylisation, same as with the work of Carmine Infantino. That leads to some very impressive results in design. The design of his charcters (for instance in The Barker) always grabs me and his splash pages rival those of Eisner. But in the end, the stories leave me cold. Maybe it is that lack of emotion more than the lack of artistic flair?
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