Al Wiseman- An Appreciation by Jim Salicrup
Note: This is the second in a series of "appreciations" of Al Wiseman by professionals in the comics/cartooning industry. Jim Salicrup spent 20 years at Marvel Comics eventually editing most of the company's top titles, including Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers. Jim then left to become Editor-in-Chief (and soon, Associate Publisher) of the newly-created Topps Comics, launching such titles as The X-Files and Zorro. After a stint as Writer/Editor at Stan Lee Media, Jim is now Editor-in-Chief of Papercutz (a publisher of comics & graphic novels). Jim Salicrup is also on the board of trustees of the New York Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MOCCA).
Al Wiseman- An Appreciation by Jim Salicrup
This may be the lousiest appreciation yet of the very talented Mr. Al Wiseman.
You see, I wasn’t even aware of Mr. Wiseman’s work until a few years ago, so I’m unable to rhapsodize about how meaningful his comics were to me growing up. Unlike so many of my friends, who enjoyed those wonderful Dennis the Menace comicbooks back when they were originally published, I never picked any up. Of course, I grew up watching the Dennis the Menace TV show and reading the Hank Ketcham newspaper strip, but somehow I missed out on the comicbooks.
Perhaps I foolishly regarded them as nothing more than mindless kiddie comics? That would be a rather cruel karmic joke on me, since I now edit graphic novels for Papercutz that are sometimes similarly underestimated. Just as many intelligent adults can’t possibly imagine a graphic novel featuring Nancy Drew, Girl Detective containing stories and artwork that they’d find appealing, I was unfortunately too quick to dismiss Dennis. And just as Stefan Petrucha is able to craft highly entertaining stories, which are in turn beautifully illustrated by Sho Murase for the teen sleuth’s graphic novels, Al Wiseman was secretly turning out stunning work on the Dennis comicbook.
It reminds me of when I first started working, at age 15, for Marvel Comics in the early 70s. That’s when I first heard of someone the fans called “the Good Duck Artist,” based on his wonderful unsigned work on countless classic Uncle Scrooge comics. Those comics didn’t have creator credits, other than having Walt Disney’s name in the titles. Of course, that well-loved artist was the one and only Carl Barks. Back then I thought people such as Roy Thomas and John Verpoorten were nuts to pay hundreds of dollars for Mr. Barks to paint recreations of his old comicbook covers. Hey, what did I know? I was into more mature fare – stories about scientists turning into big green monsters or masked neurotic college students fighting crime as they swung from skyscrapers on webs. Years later, I was paying the same outrageous price just to get a signed Barks lithograph!
Like Barks, Wiseman’s work on Dennis was not credited, with only Hank Ketcham’s name appearing on the covers. Unlike Barks, Wiseman didn’t live long enough to see how many fans greatly appreciated his work, and that’s sad. But now, thanks to the efforts of such dedicated Dennis-heads as Bill Alger and Fred Hembeck, Wiseman fans are popping up all over the place, and that’s good.
Speaking of Mr. Alger, the man who requested this Al Wiseman appreciation, to run with my lousy Dennis sketch (I started doing my “lousy full-color sketches” at comic conventions a few years ago as a joke, but it turns out there’s actually a demand for lousy sketches!), I must say he’s doing heroic work with this Wiseman website. It’s exciting to find so much fascinating material regarding this cartoonist, and to see so many nice examples of his non-Dennis work as well.
In a way, I’m lucky I didn’t devour all those Wiseman-drawn Dennis comicbooks growing up. While I’ll never again experience the thrill of a new work by such great comicbook artists as Jack Kirby or Will Eisner (because I have multiple copies of almost everything they’ve ever done), thanks to my years of being ignorant of the wonders of Wiseman, I now have all those divine Dennis comics to collect and savor. The world of Dennis ala Wiseman awaits, and I know I’m gonna love it!
-- Jim Salicrup
Papercutz
Jim Salicrup's MySpace Page
Jim Salicrup's Blog
Al Wiseman Appreciations:
Bill Wray
Joe Staton
Terry Austin
Jim Salicrup
Mike Lynch
Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).
"Dennis the Menace" & related characters are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.
Al Wiseman- An Appreciation by Jim Salicrup
This may be the lousiest appreciation yet of the very talented Mr. Al Wiseman.
You see, I wasn’t even aware of Mr. Wiseman’s work until a few years ago, so I’m unable to rhapsodize about how meaningful his comics were to me growing up. Unlike so many of my friends, who enjoyed those wonderful Dennis the Menace comicbooks back when they were originally published, I never picked any up. Of course, I grew up watching the Dennis the Menace TV show and reading the Hank Ketcham newspaper strip, but somehow I missed out on the comicbooks.
Perhaps I foolishly regarded them as nothing more than mindless kiddie comics? That would be a rather cruel karmic joke on me, since I now edit graphic novels for Papercutz that are sometimes similarly underestimated. Just as many intelligent adults can’t possibly imagine a graphic novel featuring Nancy Drew, Girl Detective containing stories and artwork that they’d find appealing, I was unfortunately too quick to dismiss Dennis. And just as Stefan Petrucha is able to craft highly entertaining stories, which are in turn beautifully illustrated by Sho Murase for the teen sleuth’s graphic novels, Al Wiseman was secretly turning out stunning work on the Dennis comicbook.
It reminds me of when I first started working, at age 15, for Marvel Comics in the early 70s. That’s when I first heard of someone the fans called “the Good Duck Artist,” based on his wonderful unsigned work on countless classic Uncle Scrooge comics. Those comics didn’t have creator credits, other than having Walt Disney’s name in the titles. Of course, that well-loved artist was the one and only Carl Barks. Back then I thought people such as Roy Thomas and John Verpoorten were nuts to pay hundreds of dollars for Mr. Barks to paint recreations of his old comicbook covers. Hey, what did I know? I was into more mature fare – stories about scientists turning into big green monsters or masked neurotic college students fighting crime as they swung from skyscrapers on webs. Years later, I was paying the same outrageous price just to get a signed Barks lithograph!
Like Barks, Wiseman’s work on Dennis was not credited, with only Hank Ketcham’s name appearing on the covers. Unlike Barks, Wiseman didn’t live long enough to see how many fans greatly appreciated his work, and that’s sad. But now, thanks to the efforts of such dedicated Dennis-heads as Bill Alger and Fred Hembeck, Wiseman fans are popping up all over the place, and that’s good.
Speaking of Mr. Alger, the man who requested this Al Wiseman appreciation, to run with my lousy Dennis sketch (I started doing my “lousy full-color sketches” at comic conventions a few years ago as a joke, but it turns out there’s actually a demand for lousy sketches!), I must say he’s doing heroic work with this Wiseman website. It’s exciting to find so much fascinating material regarding this cartoonist, and to see so many nice examples of his non-Dennis work as well.
In a way, I’m lucky I didn’t devour all those Wiseman-drawn Dennis comicbooks growing up. While I’ll never again experience the thrill of a new work by such great comicbook artists as Jack Kirby or Will Eisner (because I have multiple copies of almost everything they’ve ever done), thanks to my years of being ignorant of the wonders of Wiseman, I now have all those divine Dennis comics to collect and savor. The world of Dennis ala Wiseman awaits, and I know I’m gonna love it!
-- Jim Salicrup
Papercutz
Jim Salicrup's MySpace Page
Jim Salicrup's Blog
Al Wiseman Appreciations:
Bill Wray
Joe Staton
Terry Austin
Jim Salicrup
Mike Lynch
Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).
"Dennis the Menace" & related characters are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.
2 Comments:
Jim Salicrup said,
"This may be the lousiest appreciation yet of the very talented Mr. Al Wiseman".
Not so Jim, I am sure my father would enjoy your thoughts.
To be fair, Hank did give some credit to my father and writer Fred Toole in at least 3 issues.
As to who was able to convince HK to share some of the thunder, I don't know.
Good drawing of DTM by the way.
Jim Wiseman
I also like Jim Salicrup's Dennis drawing!
I had never before stopped to ponder where that floating Dennis head in the logo came from...
Now we know!
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