Bone / Kelly / Barks

Ronald A. Evry (Ronald) revry at tjhsst.vak12ed.edu
Fri Apr 29 22:06:24 CEST 1994


David Gerstein has brought up Jeff Smith's "Bone" as being very
much in the
Disney tradition -- with Barks as his prime influence.

I'll pretty much agree on the Disney tradition, but the obvious
flat on its
face influence is Walt Kelly. Of course, the Disney studio
style is perhaps
much more important in Kelly's work than Barks' (IMHO), but
bothe artists
diverged in different directions as their careers progressed.

Kelly's bold brush work made memorable covers & his infrequent
interior comic
work for Disney showed a more visual slapstick orientation than
Barks (who
could slap a stick with the best of 'em: note the neighbor
Jones stories).
Another more neglected influence on Kelly is the magificent
work of T.S.
Sullivant, which seems to be lacking in Smith's stuff.

Needless to say, Smith's work shows promise, and I suppose that
since it is
currently being serialized in Disney Adventures, it makes him
fair game for
potshots from this list...
:)

I read all of the Bones last night (from my thirteen year old
son's collection)
and found them interesting, with obvious parallels of Kelly
characters (Fone
Bone = Pogo, Smiley = Albert [right down to the cigar], and
Phoney = Howland
Owl). There is a hint of more sexuality in the Smith strip (but
not all that
much) and a little more black & white differentiation between
the "good guys"
and the "bad guys."

Still, if I had my druthers, I'd buy a reprint book of, say,
"Prehysterical
Pogo in Pandemonia" (in fact I really would love to get my paws
on that book --
I have Pogo 1st eds. to trade for it) than a new collection of
Bone. But I
still admire what Smith is doing.

Anyone else have any feelings one way or the other?

Ron
<revry at tjhsst.vak12ed.edu>



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