] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Gutters #300: Aquaman #1 Cover Parody by Nick Cardy

sg
(Editor's Note: Shrine Correspondent Joe Slab wrote this post months ago, and for whatever reason I just kept forgetting to finish it off and schedule it, so now it's even more overdue than it was when Joe wrote it! My apologies--rob!)


We've been meaning to get to this one for awhile! The Gutters ("A series of standalone pages that parody the comic book industry and the heroes and characters that dwell within") recently celebrated their 300th "issue" with a cover parody of epic proportions--a Nick Cardy re-do of Aquaman #1 from 1962! The original cover was done by artist Howard Purcell and we think it was a stroke of pure genius to have Cardy pay homage to it (even in this tongue-in-cheek manner).

Gutters
EiC Jeff Moss kindly took a few minutes to speak with us about how it all came about:


AMS:
Who had the original idea to parody Aquaman #1?

JM: We've always liked to mark our "Milestone" issues by parodying a famous cover. Our 100th issue was Action #1 by Darrick Robertson, #200 was Fantastic Four #1 by Mike Norton and so on. So as we approached #300, the discussion of which cover to parody came up. There were lots of "iconic" covers on the table, Detective #27, Amazing Fantasy #15, all the usual suspects. But Aquaman #1 had so much going on in it, so much fun stuff that we knew would make a great page that it became the obvious choice

AMS:
Are there any Aquaman fans on the Gutters staff?

JM: I have always harbored a secret Aquaman love, LOL. To the point I asked for one of my site avatars to be me as Aquaman. But the "modern" Aquaman stories with hook hands and bushy beards didn't really do it for me. I am absolutely loving what DC is doing with him now though. Finally!

AMS:
How did Nick respond to your request -- was he excited?

JM:
We wanted someone established in the industry to do the page and reached out to several of the top names working at Marvel, DC and Image. While we were working things out with them, it was suggested that we ask Nick Cardy. It was a bit of a shock, as I was sure he had retired! But we got in contact with him and Nick, ever a pro even at 92, got started on it that day. It took him about 4 days to complete the inked page and he went out and scanned and delivered it right on time. Many "pros" a third his age can't do that!

It was an absolutely wonderful experience for us to work with
Nick on this page, and it's become one of my personal favorites of the 300 we've done. It's a special page and I am really proud and excited to have it in our arsenal.

Attached are a few of the stages of the page as it was put together. Our colorist, Ed Ryzowski really nailed the silver age look of the page and Rus Wooton our letterer crafted all the different elements absolutely brilliantly.

AMS:
Thanks for the scoop Jeff! You can see the original page along with Jeff's commentary and buy a print of it as well here!

1 comment:

Wings1295 said...

Great post! Love Gutters, and love this parody/homage!