Written and Illustrated
by Barry Windsor-Smith
Published by Fantagraphics Books
I’m on record in various places saying how enjoyable it was to watch artist Barry Windsor-Smith quickly evolve in real time from his first X-Men work (“The Rage of Blastaar!”) to his most masterful Conan work, “Red Nails,” in only five short years.
That X-Men story is reprinted in Marvel Creator Collection No. 1, Back to the Savage Land, Barry Windsor-Smith at Marvel Vol. 1 and it is a hoot.
Fresh from doing Marvel character pin-ups for Marvel tie-in books like Fantastic and Terrific in England, this was his first attempt at storytelling and he comes across like a talented amateur…which is essentially what he was.
The X-Men title had been floundering for some time. Attempts at increasing sales had involved a fight with the Avengers, splitting up the team, killing off Professor X, and even having Jim Steranko draw several issues. When none of those had any major effect, that’s when Barry Smith (pre-Windsor) came in.
Barry’s X-Men art is probably more fun now than it was at the time. Then, it was jarring to see how slavish this newcomer was to Jack Kirby’s style. Kirby Krackle is seen throughout the story, looking like it may have been created by dipping the eraser side of a pencil in black ink and simply dotting it all around. Anatomy is, shall we say, “creative?” Surprisingly, Barry ignores Kirby’s patented square fingertips throughout.
All that said, the issue is filled with a colorful energy the book was lacking even when Steranko was on it. It’s hardly Barry’s best, let alone X-Men’s best, but it’s a fun issue! Outside of another couple of covers (reproduced here, also) it was all the X-Men we would get from him, though.
He moved on to what was my personal favorite of his early Marvel work—Daredevil, only those issues aren’t here, planned instead for a later volume. What we do get here are a couple of Iron Man stories, A Nick Fury S.H.I.E.L.D story, a few Avengers issues, a couple of Dr. Strange adventures, and a handful of stories done for Marvel’s revived “horror” titles.
Those last ones showcase Barry Smith with different inkers and, in one case, actually inking someone else (Jack Katz). Old school inkers Frank Giacoia and Syd Shores work well over Barry’s pencils, as does Dan Adkins, who could always adapt his style to anyone’s as needed. Vince Colletta does not work well at all. The last of these one-off stories, Roy Thomas’s “The Sword and the Sorcerer,” pre-dates Marvel’s Conan but acts as a kind of trial run for same. Barry inks himself and the improvement is already showing.
The centerpiece of this issue, though, has to be the several Ka-Zar stories from Astonishing Tales by Smith. Kirby had done the first two issues, some of his very last before leaving for DC Comics. I remember being stunned back then by the contrast. No longer a pure Kirby imitator, Barry’s figures were sleek and original looking. Sam Grainger inked the first two and his own style shows through at times. Giacoia and Sal Buscema each ink one story and more or less keep it on model for Marvel. (Sal would soon be doing the same in early Conan stories.) The real treat, though, is one Ka-Zar tale inked by Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett, making for an unusually good match!
Nowhere is the contrast between Barry’s still-evolving style and his fully mature style seen better than in two Iron Man stories, one of which was done 16 years after the other and showcases his by-then highly detailed art and streamlined storytelling.
As a first volume, Marvel Creator Collection No. 1 jumps around a bit chronologically but offers a great sampling of Barry Windsor-Smith at Marvel. Jon B. Cooke—my esteemed editor at Comic Book Creator and a big Barry fan from way back—offers a wonderfully detailed history of the artist’s early career up front, acting as the icing on this very tasty cake from Marvel and Fantagraphics. Looking forward to the Daredevil stories in Volume Two!
Booksteve recommends.
