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 John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 40,319
Trap Timer
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OP
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 40,319 |
Okay, so other than the occasional Superman story, I'm completely unfamiliar with Forte's art outside the Legion!
Apparently, before drawing the Legion, he did some romance and horror comics, as well as Blackhawk and some obscure stuff with Stan Lee!
Has any of this stuff been reprinted?
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 Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,793
Leader
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Leader
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,793 |
He did the Tales of Bizarro World feature that immediatly preceded the Legion in Adventure Comics. Those stories have been collected in tpb form.
He also did a lot of work in romance comics. Much of his Jimmy Olsen work will probably make it into Vols. 2 and 3 of Showcase Presents the Superman Family, if those are ever released. In addition to his own work, he also inked a goodly number of Curt Swan pages
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,322
Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,322 |
Forte drew Element Lad much younger than the other LSHers & I loved that.
His Jan had the cutest button nose!
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 40,319
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You know, I'd forgotten about the Tales of the Bizarro World TP. I should pick that up sometime.
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,695
Legionnaire!
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Legionnaire!
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,695 |
While idly surfing the net, I happened upon what might be the most in-depth scrutiny of John Forte's Legion work that I've ever come across. It's a fascinating study of the difficulties of dealing with Forte's approach to composition and perspective - with a great sidebar that examines the cognitive processes of children - as the author takes a journey from examining the work's strangeness... to discovering its beauty. It takes a chunk of time to read (and I'd recommend reading the comments section of each entry, as well) but, well worth it: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Interesting stuff. I definitely think the point about the panels being designed more like newspaper strips, with each panel basically being a standalone design rather than in a traditional comic layout, is spot on.
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 33,081
Time Trapper
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Time Trapper
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 33,081 |
I echo how someone pointed out that while you sense something isn't quite right with his art, it still charms your socks off (paraphrased).
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 34,634
Bold Flavors
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Bold Flavors
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 34,634 |
He's my favorite of the Legion Silver Age artists. His work was unique and highly stylized, which is a refreshing and welcome change from the 'house look' of the Superman comics of the era.
As Dean Lee pointed out a few years ago, he was the best at glamorous walk on characters, style & accessories, architecture, monsters and so many other nuanced things.
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Current obsession: finding John Forte romance comic work!
Also, apparently some his work in Journey into Mystery for Atlas has been reprinted, which is tempting to acquire!
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 34,634
Bold Flavors
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Bold Flavors
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 34,634 |
If you do, post scans!
He started in the biz during WWII, so there is like 15 years prior to DC where he worked for other publishers, including Timely / Atlas / Marvel.
He died in 1965--anyone know the story?
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141
Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141 |
Glen Cadigan has a two-page write-up on Forte in The Legion Companion. According to Cadigan, Forte suffered from colon cancer and died on May 2, 1966 (not 1965, as Wikipedia has it) at age 47.
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141
Not much between despair and ecstacy
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Not much between despair and ecstacy
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 24,141 |
I'm still reading Colin Smith's lengthy analysis of Forte's style (thanks for the links, Ex), but I have to pause to comment on this: But this is an effective representation of the worldview of a young, and by nature egocentric, child, where distinct character is of little importance, and where the defining individual details of costume and hair-style assume a disproportionately central importance. It's that silent world again, where individuals recede from our attention just as the space their bodies occupy fill up with colour and capes and insignias rather than anything of emotional meaning. And I've no doubt that this quality of Mr Forte's work made it very appealing to the youngest of comic book readers back in the pre-psychedelic sixties, just as an older audience would've felt, and perhaps still do feel, that the world they're looking at in the art isn't one they recognise, even by imaginative extension, as a reflection of their everyday lives. I think Smith nails what Forte was trying to achieve and, in large measure, succeeded in achieving. My earliest Legion stories (including ADV. 333, "The War Between Krypton and Earth") involved this understanding of characters whose primary differences were that they had different hairstyles, costumes, and powers. The desire for nuanced character development came much later.
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 574
Active
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Active
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 574 |
My first exposure to John Forte's art was Adventure 290 & Adventure 318. I was too young at the time to notice anything unusual about his art. Later on when I started seriously collecting comics in general & LSH in particular I realized his art was rather stiff & had a lessor opinion of it. But I see that other aspects of his art more than make up for that. All the robots, aliens, space monsters etc... makes me want to compare him to Basil Wolverton. I'd really like so see some of his non-DC art
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 Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 655
Active
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Active
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 655 |
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Re: John Forte's Art!
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,811
Independent Scholar
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Independent Scholar
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,811 |
It took a few years, but I've come around to appreciating Forte's art. I think, if anything, there is a natural progression among Legion art styles from Forte to Grell to LaRocque, just as there is from Swan to Cockrum to Sherman to Lightle. The former school of Legion art is less consitent, and less tight, but more energetic and more dynamic than the latter school of Legion art, which is more sedate, and steadier, but has fewer standout flourishes. I can remember specific panels and specific pages from the former school much more easily than the latter school. Also, at his best, Forte did a more-than-adequate emulation of some of the Golden Age greats -- I see hints of Fine, Crandall, and Raboy... though ironically enough, Raboy was a significant influence on Cockrum, which I guess kind of muddies the waters, but that's the way it is -- nothing's ever black & white or cut & dried. It is fun to theorize and discuss these sort of things, though. 
Still "Fickles" to my friends.
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