Thursday, August 22, 2013

Hugo's Swipe File - Coda

My good friend Manuel Caldas wrote the following comment below: “You really hate the poor Pratt!” I have a few comments to comment the comment:

1) I love his drawing abilities, at least while he was in Argentina (the last highly mannered Pratt leaves me cold);

2) I hate his writing (he couldn’t write to save his life, but that’s what happens to most comics artists); he disguised this with tics borrowed from Oesterheld;

3)  He was a sloppy storyteller at times (I mean his layouts, editing and continuity), but I’ll leave that to Faustino Arbesú, as I wrote on this blog already.

All this is irrelevant if we don’t attack the crucial problem of why is the comics canon such a travesty? There are lots of sociological and other reasons, but one of them is because most comics readers (babymen and fanboys, really) can’t spot good writing even if it hits them on the head… hard… But it gets worse: they can judge a good drawing from the tech point of view, but that’s it… They are completely oblivious to what really matters: relevancy, meaning, the artist’s vision of the world.

Do I hate Hugo Pratt’s work? Not really… there are far worst things on the face of the earth. Do I resent the fact that he’s in the comics canon while the true genius behind him isn’t? You bet your pants I do!

That said don't forget that this still is Hugo's Swipe File, so, here goes another one...



On the left: Hugo Pratt, cover of HoraCero Extra! # 1, April 1958.
On the right: William Eugene Smith, Sgt. Aggelos Klonis, Saipan, August 1944.

2 comments:

André Azevedo said...

Afirmo já à partida que admiro muito a obra do Pratt - mais a fase argentina tal como o Domingos Isabelinho - bem como e a do Oesterheld, que considero um dos mais relevantes argumentistas mundiais.
Não tinha conhecimento sobre estas "confusões" do Pratt mas mais grave do que isso é ver outros que supostamente deveriam repor a verdade - historiadores ou "simples" entusiastas - replicar e assumir como facto essas "confusões".
Fiquei com curiosidade para ler mais sobre o assunto...

Isabelinho said...

O maior problema é o Oceano Atlântico, ou, melhor dizendo, o Atlântico Sul porque o Atlântico Norte não causa problema nenhum à cultura norte-americana para se difundir e multiplicar influências. Até parece que a Argentina fica em Marte, ou, para o efeito, é como se a geografia fosse essa...

Há imensa informação sobre Oesterheld em publicações argentinas: recomendo os livros da Bañadera del Comic e as obras de Juan Sasturain (procurar, por exemplo, a série Continuará no You Tube).