Todd McFarlane Helped Ink Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns 0

[Matches_Malone]

https://www.cbr.com/batman-dark-knight-returns-todd-mcfarlane-ink-frank-miller/

 

Which pages? 

[Carl Elvis]

That’s really interesting, I’d like to know too.

[skrilla1212]

That story has been around for a bit. On McFarlane's blog here he describes the pages:

https://mcfarlane.com/blog/wayback-wednesday-frank-miller/

And discussed on the boards here a bit:

 

[heartened]

sounds like one page?

[Namtak]

2 hours ago, heartened said:

sounds like one page?

Still...big project the dark knight was...anyone would like to have contributed i think.id say see that dot near the corner that was me!!   

[heartened]

2 hours ago, Namtak said:

Still...big project the dark knight was...anyone would like to have contributed i think.id say see that dot near the corner that was me!!   

True, LOL.  I was taking the angle of a collector.  As I would imagine people may not want that particular page.  But, it does beg the question of how much of the books did Jansen ink and how much was outsourced?  I do know that some of the books were heavily edited with lots of white out and some books were really clean.  I wonder if that heavy white out pages were touched up by Jansen after outsourced inking?  

[Namtak]

Bruno is on that page its a good page and inked by mcfarlane add to the appeal dont you think?

[Namtak]

It makes me think of an article in a tpb of ff i have might change your perception of the oa 

[vodou]

38 minutes ago, heartened said:

But, it does beg the question of how much of the books did Jansen ink and how much was outsourced?

Huge* can of worms that applies to all comic art.

Better not to ask, if your value is highly dependent on how the creative credits roll  

 

*Catch any older artist and they will admit that there's always been a ton of outsourcing to "the studio of...". Youngers won't admit...because they're still using sweatshoppers!

[heartened]

1 hour ago, vodou said:

Huge* can of worms that applies to all comic art.

Better not to ask, if your value is highly dependent on how the creative credits roll  

 

*Catch any older artist and they will admit that there's always been a ton of outsourcing to "the studio of...". Youngers won't admit...because they're still using sweatshoppers!

Absolutely, but I think more obvious in some runs than it is in others.  And in some cases I don't believe it matters much.  Try as I may, I don't see a big difference between Miller/Jansen and Miller breakdowns/Jansen on his Daredevil run - in fact, as the storytelling got better and better the primer parts of the run were the breakdown pages.  But, in other examples, such as DKR, there are clearer differences in the quality of the pages IMO.  The outsourcing didn't seem to happen as much on other runs, for example Byrne/Austen, or atleast we haven't heard about it.  And the consistent quality of the work seems to support less outsourcing.  The "studio" seemed to be more of a 60s and early 70s phenomenon (and earlier of course).

[vodou]

1 hour ago, heartened said:

The "studio" seemed to be more of a 60s and early 70s phenomenon (and earlier of course).

And Joe Rubinstein. All decades  

[Will_K]

The Cartoonist Kayfabe video on DKR is a really good review in a non-fanboy way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubqW0qIG_Ck

One of the commenters wrote that had Janson as an instructor at SVA and explains some of the differences between the 1st and 2nd halves of the series.

See below (I added the bolding):

DKR INKS re: CHANGES IN STYLE BETWEEN BOOKS 2 AND 3 Klaus Janson was my Storytelling Instructor at SVA (BFA Cartooning 05-09) and wouldn't mind my sharing the following anecdotal account: The reason Inks in Books 1-2 look so different from those in Books 3-4 is because between 2 and 3 Frank decided he didn't like what Klaus was doing, enough that he complained. Frank asked Klaus to quit DKR, accusing him of being lazy and making his assistant do the work, an allegation which Klaus vehemently denies. Klaus presumed that it was instead the pressure of a high-profile project and the looming deadlines getting to Frank. He decided by Issue 3 that he wanted instead Bill Sienkiewicz to ink the remainder of DKR! Klaus refused to quit the project and DC Editorial backed him, refused to break up the team midway But each issue was sent from Klaus in NYC to Frank in CA for final approval, and when he got the originals Frank patched or whited out and drew directly atop whole sections of his and Klaus' original art. Not cool. That's why there are so many overlays & patches in the Artist Edition. When the project ended the team broke up professionally and didn't speak until SDCC '89-90 when they reunited tensely but squashed the beef. BTW Klaus reckons that if it had ever come to blows the only thing that would be left of Frank in the end would be a pair of "smoking shoes."

Edit: 7/1/2021 - checked out the youtube link today and it seems the comment is no longer there.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Will_K

[heartened]

25 minutes ago, Will_K said:

The Cartoonist Kayfabe video on DKR is a really good review in a non-fanboy way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubqW0qIG_Ck

One of the commenters wrote that had Janson as an instructor at SVA and explains some of the differences between the 1st and 2nd halves of the series.

See below (I added the bolding):

DKR INKS re: CHANGES IN STYLE BETWEEN BOOKS 2 AND 3 Klaus Janson was my Storytelling Instructor at SVA (BFA Cartooning 05-09) and wouldn't mind my sharing the following anecdotal account: The reason Inks in Books 1-2 look so different from those in Books 3-4 is because between 2 and 3 Frank decided he didn't like what Klaus was doing, enough that he complained. Frank asked Klaus to quit DKR, accusing him of being lazy and making his assistant do the work, an allegation which Klaus vehemently denies. Klaus presumed that it was instead the pressure of a high-profile project and the looming deadlines getting to Frank. He decided by Issue 3 that he wanted instead Bill Sienkiewicz to ink the remainder of DKR! Klaus refused to quit the project and DC Editorial backed him, refused to break up the team midway But each issue was sent from Klaus in NYC to Frank in CA for final approval, and when he got the originals Frank patched or whited out and drew directly atop whole sections of his and Klaus' original art. Not cool. That's why there are so many overlays & patches in the Artist Edition. When the project ended the team broke up professionally and didn't speak until SDCC '89-90 when they reunited tensely but squashed the beef. BTW Klaus reckons that if it had ever come to blows the only thing that would be left of Frank in the end would be a pair of "smoking shoes."

Very interesting.  I only have one page, from book 3, and it has not a drop of white out.  Can't see any touchups post inking, but maybe this was a page that was spared his edits and modifications.  

Miller / Sienkiewicz would have been a marked and jolting transition between books 1-2, and books 3-4, if it had happened.

[vodou]

1 hour ago, Will_K said:

BTW Klaus reckons that if it had ever come to blows the only thing that would be left of Frank in the end would be a pair of "smoking shoes."

Or...there's FRANK MILLER and Klaus...somebody...or...other.