The gold standard for the rest of the day was: "Is this as rocking as Kirby?"
Kurtzman's war comics are still ALIVE.
Fanboy peeves: credit on a Basil Wolverton Mad cover was misattributed to Kurtzman even tho' Wolverton's signature was on his work. Also, I don't give a shit about so-called "curatorial vision" if the inkers on Kirby aren't credited. Who are these academic assholes? Mike Royer Kirby IS different from Joe Sinnott Kirby and just in case anyone's wondering why Reed Richards' head looks so different from his body, they oughtta know.
Still, I loved being in the same room with so much NEAT STUFF.
OK, next up, Velasquez and co. Admittedly, Picasso was a kickass cartooonist, but the cool part of this show was seeing how traditional Pablo was when stacked up against the masters. Plus, seeing a lame Caravaggio-imitating early Velasquez gives us mere mortals a sliver of hope. (Much like seeing early Joe Kubert imitating Milton Caniff in the 40's at the Comics show, next to his fluid 1960's Hawkman work, where he really has become JOE KUBERT.)
Of course, the still life elements in the foreground are pure fucking genius, better than anything, so we still have to Surrender to Diego.
Seeing Picasso's Sabartes portrait lined up with grand Velasquez portrait and utterly human Goya portrait was exciting.
Velasquez: I still think he's just the classic goods. Passages of his portraits are just so elegantly simple and just sing. And then the one courtier portrait in the show is as direct and human as a Goya.
File under: Big, Fat, Reasons to be Cheerful.
