Here's an interesting piece. It's from a done-in-one indie from 1977, Faerie Star, and though obviously heavily influenced by Barry Smith's time on Conan, there's enough skill here to make you want to see more. Plus Marta Ravenhair is a great name for a heroine. It looks like he went into painting, but did Ken Raney ever do anything else in comics, anyone know?
Dunno about this one Pete - much as I hate to be down on work done by anyone out of (presumably) enthusiasm, I don't see whatever it is that you do here.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with drawing in that Barry Smith influenced style is that it begs the comparison.
Theres no point in holding small press/independent-type comics to the same standard as professional work of course, they offer something else.
Like, say, Lee Marrs in Star*Reach - her artwork wasn't exactly polished (!) but Stark's Quest was really enjoyable, more so than most Marvel or DC comics from that time.
The point of this just seems to be that style though. Its a bit like an excerpt from a very early issue of Cerebus, without an aardvark or the humour.
-sean
Oh, I don't know... I see the BWS influence just fine. It's also a better attempt at doing so than early Dave Sim.
ReplyDeleteDespite the near non-existent story, this is a nice little piece of work which serves to remind me how much I miss little indie publications and the often nice surprises you'd find within.
I see the BWS influence Kiyote, its the skill to make me want to see more that I'm missing.
DeleteIt didn't matter that Dave Sim's impression was even worse early on because the artwork wasn't the only thing Cerebus was about at the start (and its not like the first few issues were hilarious, so I don't think I'm being particularly critical).
-sean
That's exactly why I put this one up, k, Star*Reach ws the gold standard for me in this area, but I always like the smaller lost books too.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lee Marrs ( and Stark's Quest especially ) was great!
In recent years Ken Raney has worked for Kingstone Comics, a Christian publisher in Florida.
ReplyDeleteGene Poole
I tried to like it, but it's very dull. I mean, other BWS pastiches like Elric Prisoner of Pang Tang or Conan the adventurer (and Red Nails sequel) bring for my tastes much more solid results, even if they pale in comparison with The Prerafaelist Master.
ReplyDeleteManuel Ruiz