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Jump to navigationJump to searchJames Donald Talks To Bookbag About The Death Of Norman Breyfogle (view source)
Revision as of 07:26, 2 October 2018
, 07:26, 2 October 2018no edit summary
|summary=One of the finest story tellers you've never heard of, who died in September 2018 at the age of 58.
|date=1 October 2018
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>06063400841401285120</amazonuk>|amazonus=<amazonus>0606340084</amazonus>|website=
}}
Breyfogle could do that. Some of his covers can leave you slack-jawed and breathless but this wasn't his only skill. What set Norm apart from his peers was his sense of dynamism. His art moved smoothly from photo-realistic (or as much as was possible with the constraints of the printing at the time) to utterly surreal. Batman could be a man, broken, torn and bleeding or he could be a mythical shadow. One moment we had a solid object with weight and presence, the next we simply had a slash of lines, an absence of detail that sucked you in like a black hole... Batman could be Bruce Wayne, an orphan seeking to make things right, or he could be PTSD embodied, seeking to spread his own suffering to others... or he was just an idea, a myth, a concept. None of these things were in Grant's script. When others drew for him the tales were good but lacked the magnificence and depth that Breyfogle brought.
[[image:darknightkingdomcome.jpg|left]] Comics are not supposed to be realistic, they are fantasy. Many creators realise this and push the boundaries through wild stories of fantasy, deities and cosmic opera. This can be great but it is often difficult to follow and can turn some off. Grant and Breyfogle didn't do this (unless forced to by company-wide crossover). Decades before Nolan's {{amazonurl|isbn=1401285120|title=Dark Knight trilogy}} they produced a grounded and realistic Batman. This character inhabited a relatable Gotham and fought against street level punks as often as he did against supervillains, yet it remained engaging and fanciful due to the synergy of script and art. A giant Batman could hover over his city like a hologram seen only to the reader to express a simple feeling. The cape and the shadow it cast could take on a life of its own. A monstrous block of metal became a Batmobile as impressive as any seen on screen. Realism could be thrown aside in favour of caricature or cartoonism if it advanced the story...
I started my journey into American comics with UK reprints of Detective comics from this era. I went on to collect the whole run from Grant and Breyfogle and I have, as yet, to find a series of comics, anywhere, that matches this consistency and excellence.
The Hero Initiative seeks to help comic book professionals who have been abandoned without support. You can help them to ensure that creators who have brought so much joy to so many can maintain their dignity during times of need. If you want to know more, please visit [https://www.heroinitiative.org/be-the-hero/ www.heroinitiative.org/be-the-hero/]
Norm Breyfogle turned the scripts of an outstanding writer into the greatest comic book run I have ever experienced. He is the greatest storyteller you've never heard of and he died this week aged only 58. [[image:ezquerra.jpg|left]] Just after the above was published I received some shocking news. The news came first from a retweet of a Spanish language news site by comic book legend, Mike Collins. Soon after the news was confirmed by Pat Mills and others; Carlos Ezquerra, co-creator of Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha (amongst a long list of other key characters for 2000AD) had died at the age of 70. Carlos had just announced that he had beaten lung cancer so his death hit the industry like a punch in the gut. In a career lasting over 40 years Ezquerra became known as one of the friendliest and talented men you could ever meet. The UK comic book industry are in shock. The friendly Spaniard was an inspiration and role model to generations of writers and artists. I spoke above about the role of the artist as a storyteller and Carlos was one of the best. His long professional relationships with the previously mentioned Alan Grant and their mutual friend John Wagner (both of whom are well known for delivering bare bones scripts and trusting their artists) produced the most consistently excellent work that the UK industry will ever see. It is hard to imagine the stunning blighted post apocalyptic landscapes without Carlos' grim and gritty art. Carlos was a storyteller beyond compare and we are all the poorer for his loss.
[[Category:Norman Breyfogle]]
[[Category:Reviewed by James Donald]]
