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A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson
The marvel Art of Skottie Young
As soon as I saw The marvel Art of Skottie young hardcover solicited, I pre-ordered it immediately, pretty much knowing that it was a lot of likely going to be one of my favorite art books this year. Well, it hit the comics shops this week, and it was the first thing I read. and I’m very delighted to report that it surpassed my expectations… and then some!
Spider-Man: legend of the Spider-Clan #1
Skottie young broke into marvel Comics in 2002 by picking up one-off opportunities (an issue of Iceman and the marvel Mangaverse-set limited series Spider-Man: legend of the Spider-Clan) until something a lot more substantial came around. As pointed out in this book, young knew he wanted to be involved with comic books but initially had no idea how to go about it. From those assignments, he took on other diverse marvel projects (Human Torch, Venom, new Warriors, new X-Men)until getting respect and support on two of Marvel’s odder choices — a series of titles based on The Wizard of Oz and all its oddball characters (which Skottie went ahead and made even odder!), followed by several marvel universe titles that were the lead-in for young to turn pretty-much the entire marvel universe into babies. just because. There are around 80 pages of this cuteness in the collection (much of it first released by marvel as variant covers) — including star Wars and Conan babies.
Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1
(One of my new favorites — having not seen it before — is that of a pint-size Punisher with duel Kirby-esque weapons, both bigger than his head! They’re distracting enough for me to nearly miss the fact that mini-Castle is standing on a mountain of spent shell casings that form a gruesome red skull (but not THE Red Skull…)
There are dozens upon dozens of covers you’ve loved (like baby Thanos in the depths of space holding tight to his skull-head balloon). and there’s also a whole gallery of covers of Marvel’s young Heroes (Squirrel Girl, Shuri, The Champions) followed up by at least one starring marvel Old People, just because. (I won’t give that one away…)
Rocket Raccoon and Groot #3
I think the chapter on Rocket Raccoon (with Groot, of course) shows a incredible range of art styles and designs, including page layouts, as well as Skottie’s favorite cover (something else I won’t spoil). The last chapter of the book looks at Young’s writing for Marvel. There’s even mention of one of Skottie’s non-Marvel projects — I hate Fairyland, published by image Comics from 2015. (This may have needed another publisher because I hate Fairyland is a little less family-friendly than a lot of of his other work.)
Silver Surfer #1
Despite how it often might seem, Skottie young doesn’t produce amazing comics in a vacuum, and the final pages of the book talk about Young’s lots of pals and collaborators including C.B. Cebulski, marvel Comics’ current Editor-in-Chief (and also the person who first hired Skottie back in 2002!) and Jean-Francois Beaulieu — colorist of much of Young’s early work (for a lot more than a decade) for Marvel.
The text itself, based on conversation with Young, was written by Brit journalist Jess Harrold, who usually writes about home law and incredibly heroes, although not normally both at the same time. Kinda the way I typically write about comics somehow being about reality, but not.
Chewbacca #1
The marvel Art of Skottie young is the most fun art book you will read this year.
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KC CARLSON: Huh?
WESTFIELD COMICS is not responsible for the silly things that KC says. especially that thing that really irritated you. absolutely nothing about this book irritated me! You’ll laugh a million times if you read slow enough!