click on pictures to make them bigger and more understandable
Off and on
in the past several days I have been reading a novel, or more correctly: looking at a novel. It is the graphic novel MARLEY'S GHOST (aka A
CHRISTMAS CAROL) by Charles Dickens.
Of course I
know the story, I have heard it countless times with Uncle Scrooge (not
McDuck), Tiny tim, and all the rest of Christmas Carol people. The reason I am going through the story again
is because of the illustrator: Harvey
Kurtzman. Kurtzman did his own
adaptation in 1954 (and the e-version was marked down).
The Kurtzman
adaptation was not known until it was
found fairly recently.
One thing I
found interesting was that it was made in 1954, just when Harvey Kurtzman was
getting recognized as the editor and creator of MAD Comicbook and was the first
and then the pace setter of the Zany satirist-type of comics. He was pouring out great quantities (and quality) of his talent
and went beyond that into another field of comics, graphic novels.
MARLEY'S
GHOST takes a close look of Ebeneezer Scrooge's life and how he became what he
was; grouchy old self-centered sour old
man successful in business.... and did I say penny pincher and self-righteous?
When dealing
with Scrooge normally the colors were dark and gloomy, but when people
were partying and doing Christmas-spirited things the colors became bright and jubilant.
It also
showed that you don't have to be Christian to enjoy the season and show
goodwill towards your fellow man.
However, the
fact that it was discovered unpublished after he had died indicates he did not
make a dime on it, but hopefully his survivors did.
It was good
that Kurtzman did it in the time in his life he was at his creative peak. As he got older he came down with Parkinson
disease which caused his hands to shake.
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