Synopses & Reviews
Roy Crane is one of America's greatest cartoonists and Fantagraphics is embarking upon an ambitious reprinting of his best work, beginning with his gorgeous adventure strip-Captain Easy. Crane created the first American adventure strip - before Hal Foster's Tarzan and Prince Valiant, before Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, before Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon-and quickly established himself as a master of the comic strip. Begun in 1924 under the eponymous title Wash Tubbs, within four months it moved from a gag-a-day strip about a girl-crazy young grocery store clerk to an adventure strip when Wash Tubbs embarks on a treasure hunt. Captain Easy was introduced in 1929 and began starring in his own Sunday page in 1933, which begins our first volume of Captain Easy. The first of six volumes contains the earliest Sunday pages from 1933 to 1935. In his first adventure, Captain Easy visits a lost city, battles pirates, dons a deep-sea diving suit to explore a sunken ruin in search of treasure, and everywhere he goes, he finds beautiful women - a lost princess, a pirate queen, a savage woman in need of taming. A romantic adventurer from a less politically correct age, Captain Easy is a Soldier of Fortune whose bravery and daring are exceeded only by his Southern gallantry. Crane created the template for the adventure strip, combining adventure and humor in a Bigfoot cartooning style that perfectly conveyed the tongue-in-check tone and light-hearted thrills that kept readers on the edge of their seats. As comics historian Brian Walker put it, the artist's patented visual storytelling technique blended humor, drama, heroics, and pretty girls. Crane's Captain Easy influenced virtually every cartoonist who followed him-from Chester Gould (Dick Tracy) to Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates)-and even Hollywood's adventure movies starring the likes of Cary Grant or Errol Flynn adopted Crane's tone of two-fisted, good-natured derring-do. Citing Crane's influence on comics, the artist Gil Kane once said, Superman was Captain Easy; Batman was Captain Easy. According to comic strip historian Richard Marschall, Crane was a master not only of storytelling but of the art form, developing expressive techniques and a whole dictionary of conventions and signs for future comic strip artists. The first volume of Captain Easy also features some of the best and rarest art that Roy Crane created for special occasions, as well as illustrations from the sketchbooks he draw when he traveled to exotic locales to gather inspiration for Captain Easy's adventures, as well as biographical and critical introductions to Crane and his work.
Review
"Crane brilliantly exploited the vastly larger canvas of the full newspaper page... His distinctive drawing style, an appealing blend of simplified realism and broad cartooniness, also set apart. ...[T]his volume's oversize pages fully convey the strip's formidable visual impact." Booklist
Review
"Crane's art is stunning, combining simple cartoony figures with richly detailed backgrounds in clever, colorful layouts. It isn't even necessary to read the dialogue or captions to follow the action; just scan Crane's dynamic lines, which make every panel look like a unique work of pop art. [
Review
"At every turn, and every turn of the page, in from Fantagraphics, the reaction is the same: Good Lord, but Roy Crane could draw. ...There are countless pleasures in this first volume of the Sunday pages." Comic Book Daily
Review
"Crane's work is sheer energy. It's somewhere between Crane and E.C. Segar that (Carl Barks' beloved) Donald Duck got forged; the kind of ruddy-cheeked adventurousness that underlies the content is certainly the same work that moves Donald and his nephews through their stories." Steve Duin The Oregonian
Review
"...Crane chose the elements of his strip carefully... Simple character design, bright colours, fictional locations and action with a sense of humour. After finishing the volume I applaud his choices." Scott VanderPloeg
Synopsis
Roy Crane is one of America's greatest cartoonists and Fantagraphics is embarking upon an ambitious reprinting of his best work, beginning with his gorgeous adventure strip--y. Crane created the first American adventure strip -- before Hal Foster's and , before Milton Caniff's , before Alex Raymond's --and quickly established himself as a master of the comic strip. Begun in 1924 under the eponymous title , within four months it moved from a gag-a-day strip about a girl-crazy young grocery store clerk to an adventure strip when Wash Tubbs embarks on a treasure hunt. Captain Easy was introduced in 1929 and began starring in his own Sunday page in 1933, which begins our first volume of . The first of six volumes contains the earliest Sunday pages from 1933 to 1935. In his first adventure, Captain Easy visits a lost city, battles pirates, dons a deep-sea diving suit to explore a sunken ruin in search of treasure, and everywhere he goes, he finds beautiful women -- a lost princess, a pirate queen, a savage woman in need of "taming." A romantic adventurer from a less politically correct age, Captain Easy is a Soldier of Fortune whose bravery and daring are exceeded only by his Southern gallantry. Crane created the template for the adventure strip, combining adventure and humor in a Bigfoot cartooning style that perfectly conveyed the tongue-in-check tone and light-hearted thrills that kept readers on the edge of their seats. As comics historian Brian Walker put it, "the artist's patented visual storytelling technique blended humor, drama, heroics, and pretty girls." Crane's influenced virtually every cartoonist who followed him--from Chester Gould () to Milton Caniff ()--and even Hollywood's adventure movies starring the likes of Cary Grant or Errol Flynn adopted Crane's tone of two-fisted, good-natured derring-do. Citing Crane's influence on comics, the artist Gil Kane once said, "Superman was Captain Easy; Batman was Captain Easy." According to comic strip historian Richard Marschall, Crane was "a master not only of storytelling but of the art form, developing expressive techniques and a whole dictionary of conventions and signs for future comic strip artists." The first volume of also features some of the best and rarest art that Roy Crane created for special occasions, as well as illustrations from the sketchbooks he draw when he traveled to exotic locales to gather inspiration for Captain Easy's adventures, as well as biographical and critical introductions to Crane and his work.
Synopsis
Crane created the first American adventure strip before Hal Foster sTarzan and Prince Valiant, before Milton Caniff s Terry and the Pirates, before Alex Raymond s Flash Gordon and quickly established himself as a master of the comic strip. Begun in 1924 under the eponymous title Wash Tubbs, within four months it moved from a gag-a-day strip about a girl-crazy young grocery store clerk to an adventure strip when Wash Tubbs embarks on a treasure hunt. Captain Easy was introduced in 1929 and began starring in his own Sunday page in 1933, which begins our first volume of Captain Easy. The first of six volumes contains the earliest Sunday pages from 1933 to 1935. In his first adventure, Captain Easy visits a lost city, battles pirates, dons a deep-sea diving suit to explore a sunken ruin in search of treasure, and everywhere he goes, he finds beautiful women a lost princess, a pirate queen, a savage woman in need of taming. A romantic adventurer from a less politically correct age, Captain Easy is a Soldier of Fortune whose bravery and daring are exceeded only by his Southern gallantry Crane created the template for the adventure strip, combining adventure and humor in a Bigfoot cartooning style that perfectly conveyed the tongue-in-check tone and light-hearted thrills that kept readers on the edge of their seats. As comics historian Brian Walker put it, the artist s patented visual storytelling technique blended humor, drama, heroics, and pretty girls. Crane sCaptain Easy influenced virtually every cartoonist who followed him from Chester Gould (Dick Tracy) to Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates) and even Hollywood s adventure movies starring the likes of Cary Grant or Errol Flynn adopted Crane s tone of two-fisted, good-natured derring-do. Citing Crane s influence on comics, the artist Gil Kane once said, Superman was Captain Easy; Batman was Captain Easy. According to comic strip historian Richard Marschall, Crane was a master not only of storytelling but of the art form, developing expressive techniques and a whole dictionary of conventions and signs for future comic strip artists. The first volume ofCaptain Easy also features some of the best and rarest art that Roy Crane created for special occasions, as well as illustrations from the sketchbooks he draw when he traveled to exotic locales to gather inspiration for Captain Easy s adventures, as well as biographical and critical introductions to Crane and his work. "
Synopsis
The grandest adventure strip of all time gets the deluxe treatment!
Synopsis
Roy Crane created the first American adventure strip: Wash Tubbs. The character Captain Easy spun off into his own Sunday page in 1933, and Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips Vol. 1collects these full-color strips from that point until 1935. In Volume One, Captain Easy visits a lost city, battles pirates, dons a diving suit in search of treasure; everywhere he goes, he finds beautiful women. Captain Easy not only influenced roles for the likes of Hollywood actors such as Cary Grant or Errol Flynn, he influenced virtually every comics hero who followed him '" Gil Kane once said 'Superman was Captain Easy; Batman was Captain Easy.' Crane combined adventure and humor in a Bigfoot cartooning style: according to comic-strip historian Richard Marschall, Crane 'develop[ed] expressive techniques and a whole dictionary of conventions and signs for future comic strip artists.
About the Author
Royston Campbell Crane (1901-1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, created the comic-strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy, and Buz Sawyer. His work continues to inspire cartoonists today.