Needed more Attention, Underrated, Worth another look

RENEWED ATTENTION
By Alex Ness
April 3, 2023

This was originally going to be one of my final three posts, as I'd been told I had cancer, and the test results might be both that I had stage 4 lymphoma, and leukemia. I'd have short time before dying.  But it turns out the diagnoses were wrong. The Lymphoma was highly inflamed lymph nodes throughout my body, each side, each location.  The leukemia was new, but there were so many white cells, it appeared to be leukemia rather than what it turned out to be.  It was due to having a massive infection, that caused both. The lymph nodes were trying to fight the infection. My blood was filled with white cells due to the same. It is thought by some that it is due to my kidney have a stone rip out the side of it, and the open wound invited an infection that lingered.  It is currently unknown what has occurred to cause all the problems, except that my kidney is a problem, but not likely the cause.  I am hereby going to list a number of names and projects that deserved to have much more attention/sales/publicity than they've received by this date.

Mike Baron:

Mike Baron is a prolific writer of high quality works. I've chosen to show the ones here those that are being kickstarted, or have been. Due to false claims, his works have received Kickstarter and other platforms remove his work from having campaigns. So, I would invite you to think for yourself and look into the works. I've never found them anything but good. And usually, I find them exceptional.

James Stokoe:

I only know that James Stokoe has done a lot of great work, but is barely known by the typical reader of comics.  His work is definitely different and stunning in how it presents any scene but particularly the weird or Kaiju world.  He is worth whatever his work will cost you, he tells great stories as well as doing fantastic covers.

 

Seth Fisher:

Seth Fisher was an artist and creative talent who did work that was thought bizarre by some, but was simply beyond the normal content of comics on the stands.  It was original, and well worth finding.  Sadly, Seth Fisher died at a young age, falling off a seventh story roof in Osaka Japan in 2006. His works embody fun, and creative wonder. But they aren't all that because he died, we lost more from coming out due to that. But buy his works if you can find them, they are worth the search.

Marshall Rogers:

Just as Jack Kirby is on this list and is a major creative talent, there were few people who read the comics Marshall Rogers drew that could come up with any complaints. But as he became less prolific, the works he did that came out, became less popular. He was caught in the trap of an older creative talent still having all the talent and now more wisdom and skills, but not having as large an audience.  Mister Miracle is a perfect example. It was beautiful to look at and had a great story, but on a second tier character he wasn't enough to make it popular. But it was good. 

Assorted Image Oddities/Erik Larsen:

Not everything that is great is recognized as such. Not everything that is fun, is appreciated and can often be thought to be frivolous. Image Comics' Erik Larsen attempted to capture the feel of the golden age and the non famous publisher published works. The readers seemed confused what they were getting. Was it a reprint, if so, was it meant to start a new series? And his comic Giant Size Kung Fu Bible Stories was ignored, perhaps for sounding irreligious, but it wasn't meant to be that, in whole at least. It harkened back to the Marvel Era of Giant Sized treasury editions, that were hard to fit in a box, but were fun to read, and wonderful comics. I like Erik Larsen and one of the reasons I do, is for his courage to try new things, change when he gets bored, and attempt whatever he feels should be attempted. That to me is part of creative energy, following the fire where it leads you.

Brent Anderson:

Brent Anderson has done some famous work, for his work on Astro City, and his X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, but it has also been reworked with different art in various forms, when of course, the original work was very good. His Strikeforce Morituri was unusual in that it followed a group or team of individuals who were to defend earth, with an expectation of dying in the process.  His other works listed deserve a look as well.

 

Norm Breyfogle:

You might be aware of Norm Breyfogle, as his run on Batman and Detective went on a long period of time. But once he left, or was cast off, he had a harder time finding projects that matched his quality of work. He created new, wonderful products though, and when he had a stroke that ended his career, people began learning how great his work was.  He passed away but is remembered more now than at the time of the stroke. I find most of his Batman/Detective work to be great, but his overall work was striking. His version of Batman in the Elseworlds is added here because even if it had great sales, because it was a piece deserving to be remembered as great, and anything less is a mistake.

Kalman Andrasofsky:

You might not have heard of Andrasofsky, but if you've seen his art, you'd agree, it deserves to be viewed by many more people. It is relatively different, but when viewed long enough, the detail and mood is truly unique.

Jack Kirby?:

It might seen madness to think Jack King Kirby produced works that were ignored, disliked, sold poorly or were thought as failures. But his works in the 70s and early 80s were often looked at without appreciation, rather disappointment. And as that period of time was my golden age of reading comics, I can tell you, I liked them all. However, I have read numerous interviews with creatives who worked in DC and Marvel offices, and Kirby's work did not appeal to many of them, and they didn't mind saying how they would mock his writing or art style. That changed when people growing up reading him began to reappraise his work, and it was remembered well. In the eyes of professionals, the 1st Issue Specials and 2001 were particularly mocked. I enjoyed them however. So what do I know?