Description

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The Legendary Intellectual and Raconteur Talks to Hal Foster, Walt Kelly, Harvey Kurtzman, Howard Chaykin, Robert Crumb, and Other Artists.

Gil Kane drew every major comic book character in his 50-year career — from Spider-Man and the Hulk to Superman and Batman — and conceived and drew independent “graphic novels” long before the term had any meaning to the larger public. He was also a fascinating raconteur and a formidable analyst, critic, and theorist of comics, a medium he loved. Included in this collection are interviews Kane conducted with a wide array of cartoonists: newspaper strip artists such as Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) and Walt Kelly (Pogo); fellow comic book creators such as Harvey Kurtzman; underground cartoonists Robert Crumb and Jack Jackson; and the literary critic Donald Phelps.

About the Author

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Gary Groth is the co-founder of The Comics Journal and Fantagraphics Books. He lives in Seattle.

GIL KANE (1926-2000) was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s. Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and created the independtly published precursors to the graphic novel, His Name Is... Savage! and Blackmark. He is in both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

Praise For…

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Sparring vividly documents an emergent school of criticism founded on a passion for comics—one in which Gil Kane, as gadfly, aesthetician, conversationalist, moderator, and living fund of memory, played an indispensable role. Sparring with Kane is really a matter of learning from him, and this is an essential addition to any library of comics criticism.

— Extra Inks