The Beatles

by Wayne Markley

There are a large number of music fans, myself included, who would argue that the Beatles were the greatest band in pop music history, even if they were only together for less than seven years (1963-1970). In those seven years the four lads changed music as we knew it as well as fashion, drug usage, pop culture, and probably far more than I could ever list in this column. I would guess most anyone who reads my writings are aware of the Beatles music and how quickly it changed and grew in a short time. If not, stop reading this and go to iTunes and buy some of the best music ever written in the rock age. Now, I am sure you are asking yourself by this point, what the hell is talking about? Something struck me the other day while listening to the Beatles. I started thinking about comics and if there is a creative force that changed the face of comics in a short span of time, say a decade. I came to the conclusion that there have been a few similar instances, but not in the way the Beatles changed music and culture.

Fantastic Four #1

The first example I thought of was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Lee and Kirby were not a powerhouse duo that came up with brand new genres and styles of comic books of storytelling (even though it could be argued Jack Kirby did, with the popularity of crime and romance genre which he had an early hand in creating), but Lee and Kirby did go on a tear in the mid 1960’s creating characters, both heroes and villains, that revolutionized comics. Their early work on Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, were all the basic stories they had been telling in the monthly monsters books (Tales of Suspense, Strange Tales, Etc), but with superheroes fighting the monster/alien/super villain instead of the common man. But as the books went on, Lee and Kirby broke out of the villain of the month and created both stories and characters that transcended the genre. They came up with such great villains as Dr. Doom, Galactus, the Frightful Four, Magneto, and many more and revived classic villains like the Red Skull. And there were the heroes; the Inhumans, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and many more. Coincidentally, these were all done in the mid to late 60s. To be fair, some of these villains/heroes were created in the early days of the books, but by the mid 60’s Kirby’s art had become a powerful force that leaped off the page and hit you in the face, and Lee’s storytelling had grown beyond the single issue villain of the month and the hero with a problem. And in addition to Lee and Kirby, you had Roy Thomas, Jim Steranko (some amazing work), Gene Colan, Barry Windsor-Smith, and the impeccable Steve Ditko also helping change the face of comics. Meanwhile, DC Comics was still doing the two stories with six panel grids and nice clean art. And there is nothing wrong with this as I am a big fan of Curt Swan, Kurt Scharffenberger, Gil Kane, etc., but they were not very different from the comics they were doing in the 50s. Marvel at the time expanded the art form and changed what the comic fans thought that comics could be.

Love and Rockets #1

Another example that comes to mind is not a creator or a creative team, but a publisher. Fantagraghics has been publishing for almost 30 years now. Over those thirty years they have published everything under the sun from superheroes to adult comics to Zippy the Pinhead to classic newspaper strips. While Lee and Kirby were similar to the Beatles in they changed the way we thought of the way a comic book story was told (as the Beatles did with music), Fantagraphics has shown us who diverse and complex that comics can be. Comics do not have to be 22 page stories of about the hero beating up the bad guy in tights and a cape. Comics can tell the stories of dysfunctional families (Love and Rockets), of a wandering samurai rabbit (Usagi Yojimbo, which is now published by Dark Horse Comics, and is one of the best books month in and month out), to sex comics, both American and from Japan. Fantagraphics has also shown us the rich history of comics as they publish histories of the greats of the industry as well as beautiful collections of the great comic strips such as Peanuts, Buzz Sawyer, Captain Easy, Prince Valiant, Pogo and many others. As the Beatles showed the world there was more to pop music than the three minute love song as they explored and formed all sorts of new types of music (both from the early roots of rock n roll to world music), Fantagraphics has shown the comic collector that there is a rich history and many, many genres of comics out there that we easily forget about.

WildC.A.T.S #1

As the Beatles popularity grew and they were at the top of their game, they created Apple Records to be able to control their music and to be able to release records of other artists they thought deserved the attention and exposure. Here I would point to a similarity with Image Comics, which originally was a group of artists wanting to form their own company so they could do business the way they wanted to. Over time, Image expanded and started publishing books by creators other than the original seven. While the specifics as to how Apple worked and how Image works are very far apart, the base idea that the creator should have some control on how their product is marketed and sold is comparable. And both companies have had a number of successes and each has their share of failures.

I think that a large part of the success of the Beatles and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were being in the right place at the right time. And in both cases I would argue the artists were driven by a creative passion you do not often see. The 60s were a time for change in the Western World, and I think the Beatles led that charge; largely out their own desire to create something different than the standard pop song. And I think Stan and Jack wanted to do something more the standard comic story. While the Beatles diversified their music by exploring other genres other than the rhythm and blues and pop that preceded them, they did so because they felt the need to. Fantagraphics expanded into other genres, because they needed to as they did not want to be another superhero publisher. Because of this we have seen great European creators (such as Tardi), lost underground classics (such as Robert Crumb), fantasy comics (Castle Waiting), the previously mentioned Usagi Yojimbo and much more. And as the Beatles created Apple Records, seven comic creators created Image Comics.

I would suggest you go out and pick up a collection of the classic Lee/Kirby material, or a Fantagraphics collection, or an Image title; throw on the Beatles on your CD Player (or iPod), sit back and have a very nice afternoon.

Black Jack

This week in closing I would like to recommend Black Jack from Vertical Books. The latest volume of this manga classic was just recently released. This is the tale of an underground doctor who was driven away from modern medicine and has chosen to work in the shadows of society helping the poor and unfortunate. He does not do it for money, but for the pleasure of helping people. It is a great book. As always, everything written here is my opinion and not that of Westfield or its staff. Any comments of hate mail can be sent to MFBWAY@AOL.COM. Thank you.

PS No matter how many times I am told that band “X” is the next Beatles, they are all wrong. There will never be another Beatles.

Classic comic covers from the Grand Comics Database.

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