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Some very early Everett work here..

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nov19lincoln1f.jpg

 

153 years ago today, Bill Everett's great grandfather gave a speech in Gettysburg, PA.

 

After he was done, the man standing next to him in the photo above began his own speech with "Four score and seven years ago today..."

 

History doesn't remember Bill's great grandad all that much -- certainly he's overshadowed by the fellow standing next to him at the moment in the photo -- but he left a family legacy that included two state governors, presidents of Harvard, other noteworthy officials. Nephew of his wrote "Man Without A Country". And so on.

 

And then there's great grandson Bill, helping to found the American comic book industry. Something special in that bloodline.

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nov19lincoln1f.jpg

 

153 years ago today, Bill Everett's great grandfather gave a speech in Gettysburg, PA.

 

After he was done, the man standing next to him in the photo above began his own speech with "Four score and seven years ago today..."

 

History doesn't remember Bill's great grandad all that much -- certainly he's overshadowed by the fellow standing next to him at the moment in the photo -- but he left a family legacy that included two state governors, presidents of Harvard, other noteworthy officials. Nephew of his wrote "Man Without A Country". And so on.

 

And then there's great grandson Bill, helping to found the American comic book industry. Something special in that bloodline.

 

Wasn't the speech by Everett's grandfather about 2 hours long, and Lincoln spoke for about 15 minutes or less?

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Wasn't the speech by Everett's grandfather about 2 hours long, and Lincoln spoke for about 15 minutes or less?

 

Yep, Everett went on for two hours -- he was considered one of the great orators of the time.

 

Then Lincoln's short, sharp, memorable moment. Made it all the more powerful in contrast.

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nov19lincoln1f.jpg

 

153 years ago today, Bill Everett's great grandfather gave a speech in Gettysburg, PA.

 

After he was done, the man standing next to him in the photo above began his own speech with "Four score and seven years ago today..."

 

History doesn't remember Bill's great grandad all that much -- certainly he's overshadowed by the fellow standing next to him at the moment in the photo -- but he left a family legacy that included two state governors, presidents of Harvard, other noteworthy officials. Nephew of his wrote "Man Without A Country". And so on.

 

And then there's great grandson Bill, helping to found the American comic book industry. Something special in that bloodline.

 

Wasn't the speech by Everett's grandfather about 2 hours long, and Lincoln spoke for about 15 minutes or less?

 

I think Lincoln's address took less than five minutes. I remember reading somewhere that Everett and nearly everyone else there realized immediately how great Lincoln's remarks were -- it's not just historians looking back on it.

 

Fascinating to learn that Edward Everett was Bill's grandfather. Who had a greater impact on history? My vote is Bill! :D

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Wasn't the speech by Everett's grandfather about 2 hours long, and Lincoln spoke for about 15 minutes or less?

 

Yep, Everett went on for two hours -- he was considered one of the great orators of the time.

 

Then Lincoln's short, sharp, memorable moment. Made it all the more powerful in contrast.

 

I think political oratory was considered entertainment and speakers often went on at great length. But, yeah, Lincoln could hardly have set up a better contrast!

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Who had a greater impact on history? My vote is Bill! :D

 

I actually think that's a pretty interesting question. Another aspect of this is that a couple of the family helped run what was basically America's first widely-read literary review magazine.

 

A super-cool tidbit is that Edward's son William (would have been Bill's great-uncle, I believe) wrote an important article about the spread and rapidly increasing popularity of the cheap newsstand fiction of the day, the dime novel.

 

He's basically being enthusiastic about the dawn of popular cheap newsstand fiction, when many other literary figures were dismissive of it. That article is very widely cited in the history of American popular fiction.

 

Kind of a cool tie-in to the future that Bill's era represented.

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My take on Everett. It think he was one of the all time greats. He struck a nerve in the '40s with Sub-Mariner though he was really, just a kid, maybe not old enough to vote. He peaked in the 1950s but his work was sadly hidden in the myriad of books being published by Martin Goodman. When I pick up the Marvel Masterworks of Strange Tales and Journey into Mystery his stories are always the standouts. By the time he got to Marvel in the 1960s he was interesting with his quirky, scratchy style but was overshadowed by people who drew the figure more powerfully than he did.

 

The page below is preceded by telling the reader he is a judge in an art contest. The next few pages after has him judging the contest. At the end of it he asks one of the winners if he needs an apartment in NYC and if he would like to split rent on one with him. I understand that Roy Thomas found himself in that position, sharing an apartment with one of his idols from the golden age of comics.

 

Everett%20Page.jpg

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