For an artist known for his unfortunate drinking problem, it almost seems strange that Bill Everett's early heroes all seemed water-based. Perhaps it's because he was raised in Watertown, Massachusetts?
While his drinking is certainly a known factor of his overall biography, I'm a bit surprised that the great Steven Thompson writes that this is what Everett is "known for"...! I would make a benign argument that his lush and better-than-his-peers sense of storytelling, inks and washes, and development of the first real anti-hero in comics is what his rep is staked on more than his time in AA! Still grateful for all your posts of course.
The joke about Bill Everett is very clever. Liquid based Submariner, by a liquid type guy who was known to partake in liquid refreshments. It is true too the young Billy Everett worked on his signature, refining it over a multitude of years, into more than a mere signature: rather an design masterpiece, on par with John Hancock. Then there is the sad truth, that after being diagnosed with life threatening chronic tuberculosis at age 12, his fathers death, a failing commercial art for newspapers career, and the lifting of prohibition in 1933, alcohol was an accepted method of coping with a multitude of personal struggles.
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While his drinking is certainly a known factor of his overall biography, I'm a bit surprised that the great Steven Thompson writes that this is what Everett is "known for"...! I would make a benign argument that his lush and better-than-his-peers sense of storytelling, inks and washes, and development of the first real anti-hero in comics is what his rep is staked on more than his time in AA! Still grateful for all your posts of course.
In fact, there is more artistry in his signature than in many of his peers' entire bodies of work.
Let's not get overly sensitive, four color fans...Mr. Everett's name rarely gets mentioned in print w/o a mention of his unfortunate drinking habits.
Personally, I find a little dark humor in the fact that a few of his creations were "liquid" themed.
So that being said let's not make Prince Namor's Daddy a Sacred Cow....
The joke about Bill Everett is very clever. Liquid based Submariner, by a liquid type guy who was known to partake in liquid refreshments.
It is true too the young Billy Everett worked on his signature, refining it over a multitude of years, into more than a mere signature: rather an design masterpiece, on par with John Hancock.
Then there is the sad truth, that after being diagnosed with life threatening chronic tuberculosis at age 12, his fathers death, a failing commercial art for newspapers career, and the lifting of prohibition in 1933, alcohol was an accepted method of coping with a multitude of personal struggles.
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