Page 6 - New York Waste Hot & Sweaty Summer 2015

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Hot Summer Issue
NY WaSte 2015
Silver Age of Comics continued from page
a job, like on David Letterman NBC, part of what I would show them is the book idea about the Twilight Zone, just to show them me as a graphic designer, not as an illustrator - photographs with type.
I was trying to get the graphic art world to appreciate comics. I had convinced Print Magazine, the trade magazine of the design world, to commit to a special on comics,
because in the late 80s the Dark Knight
came out, the Watchmen came out, there
was a sort of revolution and I made a pitch
to Print Magazine, and not only did they
accept it, but I got to design the cover and I wrote, now this is my first published article
as a kind of critic historian. I got to write
the main article. This was a very big thing
for me. So I got a meeting with the art
director with the NY Times Book Review,
Steve Heller, (who actually got his start as
the art director of Screw Magazine!) so I go
to meet Steve Heller, and he’s into comics,
now here is what happens, I pull out my
Twilight Zone proposal, he looks at it and
he goes “I love the Twilight Zone. Arlen, I
teach at the SVA, we have a lecture series
coming up called Modernism and
Eclecticism, how would you like to lecture
on them.” I was like OK, what I was going
to say no? So my first real lecture was 1988
at SVA about the Twilight Zone and about how it was surrealism on television and to this day, I still lecture about the TZ.
My first Comic book lecture came 4 yrs later for the Art Director’s Club in Manhattan, they had a luncheon series, I think that was through Steve Heller... my first lecture needed a subject and remember, these were art director’s now, so I wanted to show them comics –
So my 1990 lecture I called it “Super Hero to Anti Hero” with a subtitle “Comic Book Art in the 1960s” that lecture in 1992 - 11 years later became, the first edition of my book The Silver Age of Comic Book Art.”
I’m thinking we didn’t have stretch clothing like spandex when it was designed in the comics for our heroes to wear! Do you think Man invented spandex to mimic comic books, maybe not even realizing it, just thinking gosh that looks comfortable, you can move in that... probably a huge influence on glam rock too...
“I have a picture of Paul McCartney backstage in 1974 with Jack Kirby. He was a Kirby fan... I guarantee all those rockers read comics... And Gene Simons, he was very active comic book fan and creating fanzines in the 60’s before he became Gene Simons.”
Yes, Kiss was the ultimate comic book band! And there was the Brits like Slade, Mott the Hoople, and even Ziggy Stardust, they all must have been influenced by comic book fashion... Sking tight jumpsuits and the thigh high electric colored boots with hair and make up to match, a total influence.
“I guarantee, David Bowie, Elton John, they all read comic books!
Go to www.ArlenSchumer.com and click on the Twilight Zone icon, you have all the lectures there, go enjoy a wonderful look & learn experience with the incomparable
Arlen Schumer.
Arlen plans to publish an update to his Visions from the Twilight Zone soon. www.arlenschumer.com
Arlen will be ecturing on Silver Age at the Garden State Comic Fest (in Morristown, NJ) July 25:
www.gardenstatecomicfest.com/special-guests.html
Doing 3 lectures the 3 days of the Connecticut ComiCONN: Silver Age, Schnapp, & the Spirit’s 75th Anniversary CT Comicon Aug. 14-16 at Mohegan Sun!: www.ctcomicon.com/events-and- panels.html
You can also read Arlen’s 5 part series on Schnapp at www.13thdimension.com
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