Kapow – The Art of Making Comics and Film, an exhibition featuring a wide range of comic art, is running at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, featuring work by Frank Bellamy, Ben Oliver, Frank Quitely and many others. James Bacon investigates…
Rugby Art Gallery and Museum are a modern, inviting building, quite imposing actually, as you come around from the town centre, and impressive. This sets a tone for the KAPOW; as I went up two flights, I was unsure what to expect, but my expectations were easily exceeded as I walked into what is a terrific space for a Comic and Film art exhibition.
Considerable thought has gone into this presentation. It is well laid out, and there is a lot of work to see, exploring the development of what has been interpreted as early versions of the comics form. For example, the exhibition opens with a display of fragments from the ancient past – pottery from ancient Greece dated to 475 years BC, presented with footage of animations by the Panopoly Vase Project.
This is followed by a work by Salvador Dali, a print of “Metamorphosis of Narcissisus”, which is presented with five pieces by Richard C Allen, related to Prometheus. You can see the essence of story coming through his images, as well as a piece which, to me, was, wonderfully, following a comic book format.
The exhibit then has five pieces from the Rugby Museum, all modern art: “Ends (Sprayed Sound)” by Elizabeth McAlpine, “Apollo Pythian” by Joe Tilson, “Republic of the Southern Cross”, a silkscreen by RB Ritaj, and two screen prints by Sir Edwardo Paolozzi. This is a dynamic way of thinking. While one might be tempted to link Modern Art, such as Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein to comics, here we have their own selection, and that was nice, and it is complemented, as are all images and walls, by thoughtful commentary. These are presented with a speech bubble of “Fine art Vs Comic art”, and notes that comics have often been unfairly looked upon, and how their significance and enduring appeal and appreciation are now important.
As one then comes around the KAPOW wall, one finds original art, a Ben Oliver Catwoman, and an original Peter Parker #4 cover by Brendan McCarthy, and then one is led to a long curved wall, which is fabulous. We treated to sight of a script of Batman #867 by David Hine, as well as scripts by Jock. I love this, scripts are really important, and show the cohesion that occurs, and initiative used between writer and artist, they are important, and seeing them was nice.
Then we have this amazing wall, featuring four character sketches and five layout sketches by Jock, then 11 layouts by Ian Churchill – Red Hood, Green Lantern, Red Hulk and others, and then the vastness of 38 pages of One Dark Knight by Jock.
It is incredible to see comic art like this. This is the way to show a comic, all of it, or as much as one can. This is similar to how I saw Maus 2 at the Art Spiegelman retrospective in New York at the Jewish Museum, and it is the way to show comics.
Adjacent to this wall we have three very nice Golden Age comics, sealed and slabbed, and in incredible condition.
Comics offer variety, and so we then are shown original cover art for War Picture Library No. 197 by Pino Dell’orco and War Picture Library No. 472 cover by Jordi Penalva; I was so pleased to see some classic war comic art. As if to demonstrate the international nature of comics art, these are placed next to images of Iron Man and Captain America by Colin MacNeil, from a 1995 Tales of Suspense, a Marvel UK Thor cover, from 1983, by Bob Wakelin; a Green Lantern cover by Greg Staples, Wonder Woman by Fernando Dagnino, and a cover for Revenge, by Ian Churchill.
We are then presented with a wall of nine inked pages: a Steve Dillon Captain America immediately catches the eye, as does a Wolverine with pencils by Laurence Campbell and inks by Kris Justice, but the mixing of comics is great, as we also have a “Roy of the Rovers” page with a 2000AD cover, Prog 81, featuring Dan Dare by Dave Gibbons.
Opposite this we have a selection of eight pages by Ian Churchill which includes Wonder Woman and Teen Titans, and one gets to see the really lovely and delicate light pencils and a very nice line about them, too.
The superheroes are grouped at times, so we have two stunning Flash covers by
Carl Critchlow and two Flash pages by Jackson Guice and Larry Mahlstedt. Spider-Man, of course, cannot be left out, such a popular character, and we have
Mark Bagley pages featuring the superhero, as well as another Spider-Man cover. It was really nice to see the cover for Detective Comics issue #768 by John McCrea, too.
I am standing a long time, very close to the art, studying it, looking at the blue lines, or initial pencils, the detailed information around pages, the technical side, the media used, that very act stirring questions about its creation. Seeing if one can make out the texture of the paint on pieces, noting brush strokes; or is it some other tool that is deftly utilised? Was it ink in a nib pen, or a good marker that created a piece of darkness, shadow or contrast? Observing the lines, all so fine, or strong, contemplating the ability of an artist, able to imagine an image and then conjure it onto the page, portraying action, speed, a fight, and then, also, in the faces, emotions, and feelings.
Judge Dredd and Hulk share a wall, but it was nice to see the Mega City lawman by so many artists. One can consider at great length here work by some favourite artists, and their styles through the years. Presented here are covers by John Higgins, David Milgate and Frank Quitely, as well as two comic pages of Dredd art by Colin MacNeil, offering an interesting juxtaposition to the Hulk, by artists such as Ben Oliver.
I was not anticipating six pages of art by Bernie Wrightson from Eerie #68, published by Warren Publishing, in 1975 and yet, here we had “The Muck Monster”, which was really lovely to see up close and appreciate the skill and detail of Wrightson’s work.
Again, clever placement saw this classic work next to “Garth” strips from the Daily Mirror in 1972 by Frank Bellamy and a Dan Dare page from the story “Reign of the Robots”, drawn principally by Frank Hampson, with some work by Don Harley, from Eagle Vol. 8, No.14 page 2, March 29th 1957. There are now so many interesting iterations of Dan Dare, with very differing approaches both to story and art worth considering, but again here, we have two in the same exhibition, and that is just nice.
As the exhibition goes from comics to film and TV, we see where comics have been based on TV and Film. “Thunderbirds” pages by Frank Bellamy from TV Century 21, No. 125, cover dated 10th June 1967 sit next to some beautiful work by Mike Perkins, a Dark Horse Presents cover by Ramon Bachs and Kris Justice, and a great selection of work by Nick Brokenshire, perhaps best known for his work on theDark Horse and IDW Star Wars titles.
We are then are presented with concept art by Bob Cheshire, and one can see the process develop, as we see costume, latex prosthetic and a comparison between the concept roughs and stills, taking the story from the page and into physical things and then onto screen. We then have some superb Aardman models, and drawings, as well as Morph, which is fun.
I was pleased to see a wall dedicated to Manga, with eight pieces on display, including art from Queen of the Night, England, The Realm of Foxes and Tsunami Girl by Chie Kutsuwada, who also writes their own stories, as well as illustrating for others.
Soon after this the exhibition draws to an end, but this was a lovely finale with a brilliant selection of Alison Sampson art, including a Hit Girl cover, a cover of Golden Rage #2, aka Queen of Biscuits, and two pages from Department of Truth #16, as well as the cover of that issue, neat grouping here. So colourful and detailed and really well drawn, and a delightful end.
The venue shouts comics, and indeed there is a wall full of comics, but also, then, some classic Marvel Comics, such as Amazing Fantasy 15, Avengers 1 and X-men #1 both signed by Stan Lee, Fantastic Four #52 and Spider-Man #1. These “grails” were on display, protected of course, in a glass case.
With over 150 pieces of original work to consider, this is a really good exhibition. It works on many levels; there were dedicated spaces for younger readers, dedicated information and activities, as well as an incredible paper and card space, again where younger readers could just read, as well as comics available to take away.
Those of us here, reading downthetubes, know that comics, and comic art are without doubt or fail, art, and indeed, and feel no need to justify that stance, and while art is fabulously subjective, that question is not even worthy of consideration. Here, though, is an exhibition that works to provide a nice time to all ages, and all levels of interest, and achieves that, brilliantly. Younger readers should be encouraged, and are, and also asked, is it art?
I noted quite a number of artists were in the list of those being thanked by the exhibition, including lan Churchill, Bob Cheshire, Alison Sampson and Nick Brokenshire, while Panel Gallery curator Jeff Chahal was also thanked, and quite rightly, with all who contributed to this exhibition. The friendly staff and warm welcome was notable.
Overall, it was really quite an excellent visit, right down to the comfortable seat to study the exhibition from, with great comics around it. There were comics in the gallery shop, too, and signage throughout the town, all complementing an ingeniously hung, carefully curated comic art exhibition that is comprehensive and thoughtfully arranged; engaging for all types of readers and brilliantly set out in a lovely space, all giving good reason to get to Rugby and enjoy KAPOW, the exhibition.
James Bacon
KAPOW – the exhibition – The Art of Making Comics and Films runs until 9th September 2023 | Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Little Elborow Street, Rugby, CV21 3BZ | Telephone 01788 533201 | Web: ragm.co.uk/kapow
Thanks to Katie Boyce and the Rugby team for facilitating James’ visit
James Bacon (he/him) is an Irish fan, a train driver living in London. A Hugo Award-winning editor of the fanzine “Journey Planet”, he is a comic fan and enjoys comic art, war Comics, Star Wars, Irish aspects to comics and railways in comics or otherwise. He has been writing about comics for over thirty years.
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