The Page that Changed Comics Forever
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- Опубліковано 6 кві 2023
- Comic books changed forever in 1955 when Bernard Krigstein's most famous story appeared in Impact comics #1. But a few years later he'd quit comics for good. Why did one of the most important and influential creators spend most of his life as a high school teacher? Let's find out.
The story goes through Marvel, DC, and EC comics, and features cameos from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Al Feldstein, William Gaines and many other comic legends.
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Buy comics by Bernard Krigstein and other EC greats!
amzn.to/3GmMEZS - Messages in a Bottle, Comic Book Stories by B. Krigstein
amzn.to/3KJz0ma - Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics
amzn.to/406jRzP - The Best of EC Stories Artisan Edition
amzn.to/43sKYYL - The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror Volume 2
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Sources
Messages in a Bottle Comic Book Stories by B. Krigstein, specifically the notes by Greg Sadowski
Master Race & Other Stories by Bernard Krigstein, introduction by Greg Sadowski
Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by By Jordan Raphael, Tom Spurgeon
Choke Gasp! The Best of 75 Years of EC Comics
Ballbuster: Bernard Krigstein’s Life Between the Panels, New Yorker Article by Art Spiegelman
Squa Tront
www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/ar...
www.cbr.com/ec-comics-bernard...
www.cbr.com/bernard-krigstein...
www.vulture.com/2018/04/frank... - Розваги
I remember Mr. Krigstein as one of my instructors at the High School of Art and Design in New York City, way back in 1970. He was one of the best art teachers I ever had. Mr. K never talked down to his students, was incredibly upbeat and assured us that doing art of any kind was both an adventure and an experience. After his bad experiences in comics and illustration, you would think he would tell us differently, but he didn't. It wasn't his way. I wanted to get into the comics business back then (unfortunately, I didn't get any further than working freelance at Warren Comics' production department) and I didn't know about Mr. K's comics career until the late 1980s, when I came across a portion of his Master Race story in Print magazine. Maybe it's just as well I didn't tell him of my aspirations of becoming the next Neal Adams. On the other hand, it would've been one hell of a conversation. I guess I'll never know.
If you want to know more about the life and art of Bernard Krigstein, get a hold of "B. Krigstein", vol. 1 and 2 by Greg Sadowski, published by Fantagraphics. Volume 1 has the complete "Master Race" story. I assure you, it'll add to the legend.
Thank you for the recommendation! I am definitely very interested.
You were lucky to have him as a teacher!
WOW! I'm also an A&D alum. Graduated in 85, so I attended at the tail end of Mr. Krigstein's teaching career. Never had him as an instructor, but I do remember reading this story, probably as a reprint somewhere! Never put 2 & 2 together until this video. Mind blown. 🤯
A&D Alum here also, class of 2001...just had this video recommended, great surprise that he was an instructor at my HS.
Hah! 2001 A&D alum as well. Glad this video was recommended to me.
I admire the fact that he ultimately followed his heart. He dipped when he probably sensed this is not fulfilling in any way
How heartbreaking he didn't get to see that museum event. What a story, thanks for telling it.
I'm of the opposite opinion. This guy really hated comics. If not, he wouldn't have quit and ran away. Since I love the medium, this guy then feels like a traitor, in a way? He was a part of it, but despised it as much as the government and the eventual CCA.
@@thatbluepowder I certainly can't say much about Krigstein without a lot more education, but he apparently didn't despise comics as a medium as much as he was frustrated by people he worked for and the restrictions within the business model. If he wasn't willing to keep working as a comic illustrator no matter what, that doesn't make him a traitor or an enemy. That's like saying Bill Watterson is a traitor to comics, or JD Salinger was a traitor to prose. Every art form needs people who are not satisfied with the way things are being done - some of those people will have to give up for any number of reasons, they can't all be heralded as geniuses in their lifetime.
@@thatbluepowder you love it as it is today. Back then, it was not matured and the guy tried, but kept being leashed
@@jehhuty He wasn't the only comic artist then or before. He wasn't even the only comic artist on the globe. He left. The others did not. This video ignores the impact and style of European and Japanese sequential efforts and assumes this one artist was that important to the medium. Completely ignoring Will Eisner, Neal Adams, et al.
I'm angry, because he left. He shouldn't be celebrated for quitting and running away. At least call him out on it.
@@thatbluepowder stop being a weirdo
Becoming a "high school" teacher is not the same as becoming an art teacher at the High School of Art and Design. I went in there as a sophomore and had to submit a formal portfolio and take an art exam. The standards to get in were high. The teachers were excellent and many of them were experienced professionals in the various art forms before becoming teachers. I went there in the early 1970s. I don't recall Krigstein, but there were other amazing people like Hollingsworth, Glicksman, Ferguson and so on.
What was their job? And were you in highschool
Its a real privilege to attend that school. Especially back in the day.
Hogwarts
@@KeeperOfSecrets-42069thank you. All that exposition for a high school teacher Smh
The rich are the scum of the Earth
In 1984, I was 8 years old. My mother was a schoolteacher and would often receive books for her classroom from donors, book companies, etc. One day, she came home with a large, hard-bound book called "A Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Comics". Since I liked comics, she gave it to me rather than put it in her classroom. This book was INCREDIBLE. Not only did it have both Superman and Batman debuts, it had many other examples of comics from a variety of genres from the '30s to the '50s. "Master Race" was included in this collection. And.., wow. I don't think I've EVER read a comic or graphic novel that packed so much into just 8 pages. It is an absolutely brilliant and terrifying story that is impossible to forget. Thank you for sharing this story with us.
Yeah, I first read "Master Race" in the oversized hardcover collection _Horror Comics of the 1950s_ which was published by Nostalgia Press in 1971. I was in my teens. The ending knocked me out -- never saw it coming. Been fascinated by that story ever since
That book is setting right on my shelf right beside a well worn copy of "The Great Comic Book Super Heroes"
Thanks for sharing yours, too.
Fantastic
Same! I knew the thumbnail was familiar and realized it was from that same book. That one comic left quite an impression on me (as did the Superduperman parody 😂)
Stan Lee being against any form of "non-safe" storytelling is so on brand.
On the other has Marvel has published some non-kid friendly stuff over the years, which in many cases was good storytelling and good art.
You mean the Stan Lee that achieved worldwide fame and success? Seems like the guy might have had the right idea in the end. Krigstein seemed to have been insufferable and, let's be honest, rather uppity.
I don't think that's fair. Like Stan Lee famously published 3 issues of the Amazing Spider-man back in the 1970's where Peter Parker's friend Harry gets addicted to drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to let him publish those 3 issues with the CCA symbol on them so he just published those 3 issues without the symbol on them.
Also the idea in the early Fantastic Four comics of the traditional African country of Wakanda actually being way more technologically advanced even then the United States and even the idea of a Black superhero was very progressive for the time.
Also Marvel comics published some important issues like an issue where The Thing goes to a Rhodesia like country to save the Black Panther from the racist government authorities and comments on how racist everything is (i.e. everything's so racially segregated that people of different races are even forced to use different water fountains.)
Also the Luke Cage comics talked a lot about racism.
Also when the Fantastic Four fight the Hate Monger seemed fairly progressive in terms of fighting hate.
Like I think that Stan Lee just thought that unless most of the comic book publishers of the time mostly just publish PG rated adventure stories for kids they were not going to be able to pay the rent each month much less make a respectable profit.
Like it wasn't just the government censorship. People were way less progressive then they were now. Like one time back in the 1950s a Black man created a comic featuring several short stories that had normal comic book stories of the time (a detective short story, a policeman short story, I think a pilot short story, stuff like that) except that they featured Black protagonists. The guy had created a print run of a few thousand copies and was going to ship them to customers except that the distributors simply refused to ship them for no good reason.
Also after Dr. Frederik Wertham published his novel Seduction of the Innocent there was a wide scale witch hunt where even boy scouts and girl scouts took part in comic book burning campaigns where they were instructed by their Guides to go around collecting peoples comics, created piles of them and lit them into bonfires even though the Nazis had just conducted their infamous literature burning campaigns a decade ago.
@@Ares99999 He did on Jack Kirby's back. And then tried to claim the main credits.
@@Ares99999 What he said about Stan Lee has little context though. It's possible he had this opinion of him based on their frequent disagreements.
The difference between SL and BK were their visions for the medium. BK saw it as a something that could be fine art but at the time, that was a very niche concept.
Lee had a business to maintain so he needed things with mass appeal. Marvel was still in it's very early stages as well, he couldn't really afford to take those kind of risks at the time - whether he liked BK's work or not.
Comics were expensive to produce and getting shelf space in stores wasn't an easy task.
So, Lee's position is understandable.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending him but it's important to understand the inner workings and environment at the time before making judgements.
That said, BK was a genius and understood the concept of "less is more" and allowing the imagery to engross the reader. Everything is said in the imagery of some scenes. It makes it more compelling and dramatic - like a good movie scene where there's no dialogue or music - the scenery and ambient sounds are all that is needed.
He had the right idea. It just wasn't quite yet the right time. Had he been patient for a few more years he would've seen his idea bloom in the industry.
It's also a shame he didn't live to see his work be truly appreciated - sadly this has been the fate of many like him.
Underappreciated in their lifetimes, legendary posthumously.
"and that EC supernerd who spent a whole issue talking about Kriegstein? His name was Art Speigleman" That's honestly the kind of twist that is surprising because I should have seen it coming. Almost poetic in it's perfection
Maus truly is as amazing as it is hyped up to be. I've never had a comic move me the way that did
I'm teaching an impromptu comics class, and I swear, I could do the whole class on Maus alone. My semiotics teacher in college was baffled by Maus - "If the writing isn't that great and the art isn't that great, why is it apparently amazing?" - but it's the medium of comics themselves, the panels and balloons and poses, it's basically Mahler at the orchestra platform. Even if it hadn't gotten any recognition, I'd tell everybody even attempting comics to read it and see what can be done.
(In "Metamaus" he even says that he abandoned an earlier attempt at doing it in scratchboard, because the "good art" took away from the immediacy of the storytelling. Almost deliberately lofi.)
Maus is the art of the space between panel and panel, word and picture, father and son, story and the march of image. Sorry to gush.
@@liimlsan3 excitement is infectious and need not be apologized for. Thank you for sharing.
We've had to analyse a Maus comic page once as a preparation for our national final exams in highschool. They are starting to put some major comics at the same level as other litterary works :>. Hope to see a bit of Moebius in the future too.
I legit gasped as I just started reading Maus a couple weeks ago, that reveal felt to me like the plot twist in the Sixth Sense, I got chills
And better still some schools are banning it, making it even more popular.
Those four panels of the man falling in to the path of the passenger train are phenomenal in conveying human emotion. You can practically feel every ounce of pain and desperation in the character with each panel.
We read Maus in English class when I was in 7th grade (1991). It was literally life changing, it made an incredibly challenging topic completely accessible to us while never watering down the content. I started reading the Sandman series a few years later, another feat of visual storytelling
I remember reading it too, so you might be disappointed to hear that Maus has been specifically targeted by conservatives for removal from school libraries...I guess it doesn't portray the Nazis neutral enough or makes somebody feel "bad"
@@post-leftluddite
The people of Palestine that are living under the boot of Jewish supremacy would disagree with you.
@@post-leftludditeConservative here. I’ve never heard of any conservatives complaining about Maus. The only people who I’ve heard about that complained about it were Jews who considered the books disrespectful.
@@superego8405 Might want to listen more, conservatives say it has too much nudity
Never read maus, but am currently reading sandman
I can't believe this is the first video on this channel, how is that possible? This was incredible
Seriously! He's certainly come out of the gate strong! I'm just happy the algorithm pushed him to us.
Thanks for pointing this out, it made me subscribe!
@@himmelsdemon seriously, for a first video this is some lovely presentation.
Agreed! This is gold! Subscribed and hoping to see more
Dude saw his own channel and came out swinging, nice.
The tragedy of not being allowed to live up to your potential, heartbreaking and all too relatable.
Bullshit. Everyone has choices. Many fail.
@@peril1His parents could be
He wasn't disallowed from doing anything. He had every opportunity to live up to his potential.
He could have drawn his own comics in his free time and try to get them published. He had admirers from across the art industry and there is no doubt that he could have done what McFarlane did with image comics, but he didn't.
So it's not really heartbreaking nor relatable, because he had everything he needed to fulfill his potential, but for some reason he didn't-
@@zyxyx6754 Exactly what kind of publishing companies do you think were out there for independent comic writers at the time? And do you think they were paying enough for a man to support his family and himself? Do you think self publishing would have paid enough if he even had the resources for that? And what kind of stories do you think he would have been able to publish with the comics code authority in place and heavily regulating all output by comics publishers and distributors? Certainly not stories he would have liked.
@@seranibitanta5774 What are you on about?
He already had a stable source of income.
He had working hands and eyes.
He could have written as many comics as he would have liked.
He was a teacher at a respected institute, how about teach a class where you use it as teaching material?
Teach a class about the possibilities inherent in comics?
He could have sent them overseas to europe where american comics code authority had 0 influence.
He was not disallowed from doing anything. You're just saying he couldn't monetize it directly in america, but that in no way stops him from making art.
Unless you argue that he had exactly 0 free time and the inability to make some, He chose not to make art. No one stopped him from doing so except himself.
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed and appreciated this video on so many levels. He was a brilliant storyteller AND painter. He was an instructor of mine at Art and Design and one of the few I remember fondly and vividly. One of my inspirations to become a professional.
1:05 “He signs it B.B Krig after his army nickname, *BALL-BUSTER”*
PLEASE IM DYING 💀
I found that issue of IMPACT laying on the ground en route home from the grocery store maybe 4-ish years after its publication. I was about 10 then. It had a GREAT impact on me, mostly due to this particular story. No idea why/how this issue wound up (face up in perfect condition) in an overgrown empty field near where I lived. Odd. As kids in the 50's we all knew a lot about the holocaust, but this story reminded me/us about haunting memories that would tail the survivors throughout their lives.
(Btw, the rotary phone wasn't truly "old" relative to the time frame in which you referenced it.)
I would watch a short film about a 10 year old, in what, 1956? finding that issue and reading it and the effect it would have on their worldview. We've all been exposed to media that changed the way we see the world.
@@wetterschneider The story would have struck me much harder yet if I hadn't known about the holocaust already.But it still DID impress me. How weird too to find a perfect copy of it just laying there on the ground in middle of nowhere in an area that gets a fair number of rain and thuderstorms. ( have a reprint of that issue and bring people's attention to it now and then. Needless to say, they are rather stunned.
thanks for the comment. hmmmm.
feels like a case of "what did you buy at that shop there gimmy? this thing is bull, I'll throw it out of the car window" kind of deal, which is a thing that happens still (got beamed in the face with one of max bunker more, let's call it, IMPACTFULL comic) as far as the early '00
@@RSEFX Maybe the discarded book had a story to tell to you...
The fact that this is the man who inspired Maus (and, to my mind, parts of Watchmen, given that the Black Flag comic that intersperses it is in the EC style) is just amazing. It's like saying that Glacier (a WCW wrestler who retired after a few years to teach just as Krigstein did, and even ended up having Cody Rhodes as one of his students) is responsible for the current form of professional wrestling.
Frankly speaking never knew about Glacier
But anyways Professional wrestling is a shit hole and will remain the same way
@@therealslimshady6763yea it’s not like one of the highest attended events in all of Pro Wrestling is happening this summer
Could you further explain how Glacier is responsible for the modern style?
@@GodInHumanForm He isn't. That's kind of my point. Dude was only in the game for a few years and most folks haven't even heard of him.
@@GodInHumanForm He didn't say he was, you misunderstood the OP's comment
Matttt, you have hit ONE MILLION views with a Bernard Krigstein video. To me, as a longtime Krigstein fan, this is about as surreal as it gets, and also incredibly heartening. Congratulations, thank you and best wishes for continued success. :)
I remember Scott McCloud in "Understanding Comics" (1993) marked something like this as a feature of Japanese comics that differed from the American Comics he knew, and theorized that American comics had adapted to not waste panels because they were published in shorter forms, while Japanese comics were published in longer forms, but he also suggested some kind of difference in artistic philosophy between "the West" and "the East". That being said, he mainly talked about the much higher frequency in the Japanese comics he considered of "aspect-to-aspect" transitions, where panels show different parts of the same scene without any real temporal relationship between them, whereas your example is "moment-to-moment" transitions (though I think you more generally consider any case where multiple panels are used without words or wit the same words), which he measured as very rare in both American and Japanese comics, with the exception of some he called "experimental comics", like "Skinless Perkins", though slightly more common in Japan and actually in the first example of Japanese comics having different panel-to-panel transitions he showed.
By the time he wrote "Making Comics" in 2006, he was saying the American Comics industry suffered a huge decline in the 1990s, around the same time (not that he was suggesting a causal connection) that Japanese Comics were becoming popular in the US, and that now new American comics artists are at least as familiar on average with Japanese comics as American ones, and therefore naturally incorporate Japanese styles that used to be foreign to Americans.
nothing you said here is wrong, but i wanted to elaborate on something - the japanese comics didnt simply had longer form "just because"; it was in fact something the gekiga movement was fighting for, tooth and nail, specifically to allow the visuals to breathe. this format was basically inseparable from the content - and when the parent groups were Big Mad over the graphic, dark and moody content, they went to restrict the format, calling for regulations that would only approve comics with certain text to visuals ratio.
A lot of the style of Japanese comics also comes from Osamu Tezuka, or “the god of anime.” And his inspiration was early Disney animation! He was an animator! So his comics resembled animations in how they have panel-to-panel movement. He pioneered the anime industry as well; the reason it’s so low-frame-rate and uses so many shortcuts is because he was trying to build an industry in post-war Japan, and didn’t have much money to work with, so they found all sorts of money-saving tricks. He was the creator of Astro Boy.
@@LimegreenSnowstorm Scott McCloud's statistics on Tezuka still show "moment-to-moment" transitions like animations as the least common type, accounting for only around 5% of panel-to-panel transitions, less than scene-to-scene transitions, but it isn't non-existent like in all the American and European ones he measured except 2 European ones: "The Long Tomorrow" by "O'Bannon & Moebius" (where it's also ~5%) and "Welcome to Aflolol" by "Cristin & Mezieress", (~1%), and some of Spiegelman's: "Skinless Perkins" (where it dominates at ~85%), "Introduction" (~20%), "Cracking Jokes" (~19%), "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" (ca. 3~4%) and "Ace-Hole, Midget Detective" (ca. 1~2%).
His unspecific graph for just "Osamu Tezuka" looks like:
Moment-to-Moment ~5%
Action-to-Action ~44%
Subject-to-Subject 30%
Scene-to-Scene ~8%
Aspect-to-Aspect ~13%
Non-Sequitur 0%
Total ~100%
His graph for "Pheonix" by Osamu Tezuka specifically is very similar:
Moment-to-Moment ~6%
Action-to-Action ~42%
Subject-to-Subject ~25%
Scene-to-Scene ~9%
Aspect-to-Aspect ~18%
Non-Sequitur 0%
Total ~100%
Their called Maeinga😂😂😂😂
This was great! It is worth noting that Fantagraphics is doing amazing job reprinting those great old comic masters in their EC Artists Library line. There's a volume called Master Race and other stories, reprinting Krigstein's masterpiece.
It's also in the Smithsonian book of comic book comics. 👍🏿
@@nerfytheclown the Smithsonian is the greatest institution...... at least concerning burying history.
I don't know how many stories I've read/heard that have ended with "We called the Smithsonian, nobody ever saw the bones/artifact again."
@@archam777 ... Geez. I didn't give them any money; the book was published forty five years ago and there's a million of them. Sorry to bring you down on the flat, domed, stationary earth.
@@nerfytheclown I wasn't criticizing you in any way.
@@archam777 i didn't think you were. Just don't think there was the slightest bit of correlation between my comment and your refutation of the institution... You look old enough to know that sometimes it's not worth saying something.
This shits good bruh
FLAWLESS VICTORY.
_...duuuuuuude..._
Brilliant storytelling. I had not heard of B. Krigstein until now. The motion of the faces on the train in M.R. reminds me of 'Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash' and other work by Giacomo Balla. Krigstein was a fine artist so he probably knew the work too. It would be interesting to know about the artistic influences that led to his comic style.
Krigstein did an out-and-out swipe of "Dynamism" in one of his illustrations for the children's book, "Rusty's Space Ship."
My dad told me about what a ruin the Comics Code caused to comics. It ruined them for my Dad. I found a set of multi bound volumes of EC Vault of Horror comics and they blew me away! I also grew up listening to CBS Mystery Theater on the radio in bed every night for years and Vault of Horror was exactly like those amazing radio plays. I hope to share them with my own daughter soon as stories she can listen to at night. They recorded around 3000 episodes over the years.
Well his name is literally WAR ROCK, Kriegstein, nicknamed Ball Buster, and dedicated to his view through the end even if art wasn’t involved this man is set for legend.
In 2002 Art Spiegelman wrote an article for The Newyorker titled "Ballbuster", in which he tells his insight about the Krigstein, and at the end, how their meeting came about regarding that supernerd analysis paper. The last parragraph had me teary eyed, thinking of the frustration Krigstein must've felt with what the comic industry did to him:
*"At the end of the paper, I had compared his approach to that of some important contemporaries whom I also admired, including Harvey Kurtzman and Will Eisner. When I read that paragraph, Krigstein darkened. "Eisner!" he shouted. "Eisner is the enemy! When you are with me, I am the only artist!" He yanked me further into his studio and pointed at the walls. "Look!" he roared. "You see these paintings?" I saw several large, molten, and lumpy Post-Impressionist landscapes in acidic colors. "These are my panels now!" His voice betrayed all the anguish of a brokenhearted lover."*
I like it when artists come in from outside of comics and comics from around the world and bring a different vision to add to that midia.
Thank you. That was riveting. I'd never heard of Krigstein -- what a legacy. It's tragic that he never really got his due until after his death.
Being a High School teacher you have a bigger impact on society than one would think.
Not really. Sometimes. But usually not.
@@allendulles2481 Yes really, believe it or not.
@@josemejia9349 not on societyas much as on individuals, which isn't less
@ very much so on society and the aggregate of people that make up said society
@T.A you don’t have to, but it’s true
Without a doubt one of the greatest comics ever printed. While praising Krigstein's artistry lets not forget that it was Al Feldstein who wrote all of that incredible dialogue. Krigstein broke it down in an incredibly imaginative way but unless Feldstein hadn't written this incredible prose it wouldn't have had the same impact. This wasn't ancient history when written. Most of the EC artists and writers had been in the service during World War 2 and it was fresh on their minds. Who knows how many other great stories would have been produced without the hysteria of the times leading to the comics code and censorship. On the other hand there are always the great artists who remain true to themselves even when it's not popular to do so. EC lives!!! Howard Schwartz
The most interesting aspect to this story, to me, is that movies back then we're nothing like this. They were mostly narrative with no real effects. They narration is where all the suspense and drama came from, just like a radio show. So, this wasn't just some guy mimicking a modern action or horror movie, because there was nothing like this. His style is where most of the action cut sequences and picture frame movie styles come from. I imagine that this did inspire a lot of people.
Unless I'm misunderstanding what it is about films you're describing, I'm not sure if that's exactly right that there was nothing like this? While there's lots of talking in older movies, I can think of famous films from the 40s and 50s when Krigstein was working that have dramatic action scenes without much dialogue/voiceover. For some reason the first thing that comes to mind are the great chase sequences in The Third Man, but there's everything from Hitchcock's memorable moments hanging from the Statue or Liberty or Mt. Rushmore to Gary Cooper's famous fight scene in Cloak & Dagger. There's no talking in that fight, not at all like a radio drama.
And from much earlier in the silent era, I'll never forget how clips in the staircase massacre scene in Battleship Potemkin gave me the same slow-motion horror feeling as these panels. Not to mention the edge-of-your-seat stunt-comedy films of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton. Am I misunderstanding what you're looking for in older films?
Not to take anything away from Krigstein - those train panels in Master Race seem to be using the printed page to its unique strengths, not even in competition to cinema. I think they're amazing, and I'm sure they influenced artists working in all media.
@@booksinbed . Oh. Well that was a lot. Apparently I'm wrong. Congrats. You have obviously seen way more old movies than me. And you have probably read way more comics than I have.
@@ronniestanley75 No way, I'm only a casual comic fan and just heard about this particular comic and artist in this video. I'm sure you've read more than I! I do watch lots of classic film, though, and there's so much to be amazed by. It's an art-form that seriously hit the ground running. I was lucky to have a great introduction to it, as I see that older cinema often gets portrayed as more backward and underdeveloped than it really was, and that causes people to avoid it on the presumption it's just the boring and basic version of whatever is out today. Would it be rude to ask for an edit to your comment to not contribute to that misunderstanding?
Edit: I really wanted to ask you what films you had in mind when you wrote your original comment just because I love film and love to talk about it, but when I read my question back I was worried it sounded too much like some horrible test, like a "Oh you like so-and-so's music? Name all their albums." type thing.
@@booksinbed . I don't think that old movies are necessarily boring. They just require much more attention and that is something that is lacking in today's world. But, when you look at the vast majority of cinema from then, you see drama based around dialogue and narration. The camera stays in one place throughout the scene. I think Hitchcock was very good at controlling the camera to focus attention where he wanted without talking but, most films were doing more narrating to explain the situation on screen.
And no. I won't edit a comment to suit another person's ego. There is no right or wrong here.
@@ronniestanley75 I'd love to talk about Hitchcock, but your last paragraph bowled me over. There are specific claims in your original comment; it says two times that in movies before this comic "there was nothing like this". To claim that ignores the entire silent era of film, which had minimal narration compared to its action, and even included special effects. There are also plenty of movies from the time Krigstein was working that show multiple camera angles over a wordless action scene. I gave a bunch of examples in my first response to try to show that it was not just a few flukes of films that had comparable sequences, but that I was responding to a general misrepresentation of classic film. (Even though a few flukes would still disprove that "there was nothing like this.")
I was trying to be friendly in the way I asked, but I asked you to put an edit on your original comment because I think it's spreading misinformation. It's not giving opinion; it's making specific claims about what existed in the 50+ years of film prior to the publishing of Master Race. There is right or wrong there. Can you help me understand better where you're coming from?
This guy's work is incredible. One of the most innovative talents I never knew about...until now. I'd call his work " comic art noir".
Windsor McCay's "Little Nemo"; Burne Hogarth's "Tarzan"; Hal Foster's "Prince Valiant" and (especially) Will Eisner's "Spirit" ushered in the "cinematic" sequential art style.
Those are all newspaper strips which was a very different format than comic books.
@@joncarroll2040 Don't be so dismissive. The Sunday strips for all of those were full-page efforts and demonstrated that they were perfectly capable of doing comic book style layouts and storytelling - and doing it better than the vast majority of other artists in either format. If anything, the ability to use sequential art in a meaningful way in the single line of panels allowed for daily strips is more impressive than when you have a whole page or double page spread to work with.
@@richmcgee434 that was a whole lot of words....... for only 2 periods between all of them. 😁
J/k, guess I'm just feeling like a jerk today.
@@archam777 You used four extra periods than needed for an ellipsis (punctuation type). Which only needed 3 periods. 😂
@@richmcgee434 Newspaper strips were designed to tell serialized stories with new chapters every day/week. As such the artists had a lot more space to work with which allowed them to be more cinematic and visually experiment.
Comic books were generally one and done stories that had to be completed in the space of twelve to fifteen pages this led to much more restricted storytelling.
Comparing the two isn't quite apples to oranges but the same rules and developments in one should be treated distinctly from the other in the same way you would consider developments in oil paintings vs water colors.
Great video on a great subject! Krigstein was such an American story of incredible talent and missed opportunity at the hands of misguided self proclaimed do-gooders. His work is incredible and easily recognized. It's amazing on the very rare occasion to see old advertising or an album or magazine cover he did.
I got to take a comics class in college and we read Master Race. This was a really great deep dive into the creator of the comic, I really appreciate it. If love to see more content like this, I miss that class 😅
(0:00) Intro
(0:32) Bernard Krigstein's Background and Career as an Artist
(2:05) Krigstein's Masterpiece: "Master Race" and Its Impact on Comics
(6:03) The Train Scene and Masterpiece Panel
(6:29) The Comics Code Authority and EC Canceling Their Line
(8:00) Bernie Krigstein's Career and Legacy
Thanks for providing time stamps
Attention span?
(2:34) - a young jew takes over, hires a bunch more jews... They stop writing about hope, honor, light, and life.... And start pushing death, decay, destruction and darkness on the masses.
It's literally 9 minutes
I love videos about obscure and unappreciated creatives. Being one of the first to implement such a fundamental storytelling idea is a rare thing that should be honored and remembered.
What a great video about comics history. Its very interesting to see how there were attempts to let the medium mature in the 50s, but were ultimately shut down by the CCA
The tragic thing about it was the person that caused the comics code authority, wasn't found out until the 70s to be a complete and total fraud, that made up his entire thesis because he just didn't like comic books. He nearly destroyed an entire industry based off of weird and strange accusations from a very obviously closeted person.
It was voluntary, so what possible consequences could there have been for ignoring the CCA?
@@valdotorg most retailers back then wouldn't sell comics that didn't have the Comics Code seal
It's like hearing "The Match that Changed Women's sports Forever"
Because "comics", which is barely even recognized with a real word (that's just UK English for "comedian" because CARTOONS were seen as trifling BS) are next to Franco-belgian comics and Manga something like a SPECIAL category of special needs sports.
This US-centric Iron Curtain where you only ever learn anything in DOMESTIC history is some Islam level disturbing stuff.
@@annabaker8137 Well Comic books are dead now because the Woke have ruined and stained the sellability of comics now. And telling fans are racist isn't helping.
I just finished watching all 4 of your videos, I hope you never change style. Your small personal comments on things are so good and engaging. youre not only spitting facts, but making it enjoyable to learn. youre amazing.
im going to leave this exact comment on all 4 of your videos that are out right now, and come back to this in 10 years and see how you've been doing. I cant wait to join you on this journey
Some artists find the right brush strokes, some UA-cam channels find the right information to share. Congrats on such an amazing first video
The moment you showed panels from this story, I recognised it from when I was a kid. I'd seen a copy of the story - either in Impact, maybe reprinted decades later, I don't remember - in a secondhand bookshop, where the comic was for sale. The story has a hell of a punch and the artwork was absolutely haunting, especially the reveal at the end and the eerie way the story ends. 'Master Race' was one of the comics I still remember near 40 years later.
A truly great short documentary. In the past, I've had a difficult time explaining the difference between illustration and storytelling in comics. If people still don't get it after watching this video, they'll NEVER get it.
With respect to the people you explained this to, I don't understand how anyone could ever possibly confuse illustration with storytelling.
Thanks for this. Krigstein's work for EC is right up there for me. Not just the stories, but also some of his cover work. The cover of Piracy #6 is one of my all-time favourites.
That's some amazing history. I've seen Master Race before at various points, pointed out by various people as a key turning point in comics storytelling. I grew up in Miller's Dark Knight Returns, and love how he took Krigstein's small body of work and ran with it, especially in that first issue/chapter. But what's so wonderful about the original art of Master Race isn't just the way he innovated what Scott McCloud later referred to as "moment to moment" panels. Krigstein's lyrical linework is also, from what I can see, absolutely unique. It's very specific to its 50s time period, yet I've never seen anyone else use those kinds of looping lines against big, monumental blacks and blocks of tone.
What a heartbreaking end though. It's sad to think how many of the world's most audacious innovators are never appreciated in their time.
Thank you for posting this. I'd honestly never heard of Kriegstein but it's undeniable that his work was very influential, impactful and ahead of its time.
Bravo! This was very, very well done! I'm 51 and have been a comic book reader since I was 6 years old. The fact that I just learned about this artist demonstrates how much of cultural history remains opaque to even the diehards. When you showed those early panels of the man stumbling onto the subway tracks, I had assumed I was looking at a comic from the early 70s at the earliest. But the 1950s? The era of Archie and Harvey's kiddie comics? Now I have a name I can place alongside Kirby, Ditko, Wally Wood, and the other midcentury masters. Thank you! You have my subscription!
The faces going by = all the unnamed people he killed; their spirits as passengers.
This was such an amazing video, my only complaint is that it’s your only one😭😭 I need more content like this to binge
Its the most bitter sweet story I've heard. My partner likes taking me to art museums, while I'm excited to see the art and to learn from them and enjoy. I can't help but feel like I'm walking through a cemetery of lives and their dreams. I'm so happy these artists got recognition just like Krigstein but this man deserved recognition while he lived. It's sad they only want our work when we're gone. Thankyou for sharing this story I love the concept a lot.
I’ve read comics for over 30 years. Thanks to this channel I am learning about all the history and gems I never knew existed. You are a gift! 🙏
This story is simply fascinating, the thing BB Krig done is amazing. Not only Frank Miller but modern comic people such as Tom King highly uses his style as well. I never knew about BB Krig till now but I'm so happy to be informed with his work.
....I try to learn something everyday...and Here It Is. I had never heard about Krigstein or The Master Race before. You gave us a complete story about this man, his art, the comic book art code and EC comics. Very well done.
Thank you. I look forward to more of your interesting and informative editions.
Absolutely mind blowing and informative. I had never heard of this artist or his work, let alone the insanely powerful and important Legacy. I can't thank you enough.
Kriegstein probably saved comics as a medium, damn those old comics are a drag with all the words describing exactly what the drawing is already telling us.
Krigsteins story is the story of a man who was absolutely an artistic mastermind and due to corporations’ demand to limit people’s art for 💰 he was never able to be appreciated in his time. he’s the Van Gogh of comic books in some sorts.
This was super interesting! I'm so sad that he never got to see the day comics made it into a museum, but it's fantastic he was able to contribute in this way. Some of those panels were just gorgeous.
I'd certainly love to see more videos like this in the future!
Wow that's cool, there really is a struggle for artists in the modern age, my Dad has a failed art career.
I've never been interested in comic books but I was motionless watching this tribute. You have given me a new perspective and appreciation towards this genre.
for some reason, when matt shows up on the camera, I cant help but thing he's a super realistic render of a human, that's how good his camera is.
Nice work, I always enjoy analysis of any Krigstein work.
Here's an observation for you regarding the 6:15 mark, where we see the panel with Reissman just about to be run over, and then the panel with the repeated images of the subway riders' faces, indicating motion --
Take note of the fact that the riders' faces appear in a perfectly horizontal line relative to each other. In other words, there's no indication that the subway train was displaced upward when it ran over Reissman, the way a passenger automobile would be if it ran over a person.
While subtle, this effect suggests the idea "that subway train squashed Reissman like a bug, the passengers didn't even feel a bump."
Great observation! There are so many things both big and small that Krigstein does across those 8 pages, I wish I had the time to break down every single panel.
was super shocked to see that you have 181 subscribers, i thought were a million subs video essayist! honestly crazy good video for your first, i’ll be sticking around
I'd never heard of the Krigstein before, but when you said that the superfan who hyperanalyzed Master Race was Art Spiegelman, I got chills and realized how important Krigstein's work really was.
I just found this channel and I’m blown away by how well told these stories are. These are exceptional videos, jaw-droppingly exceptional. Bravo!
I don’t know enough about his time as a teacher, but imagine if, instead of dismissing his past, he’d used his time as a teacher to show students what he’d meant about elevating the medium, and pushed the envelope himself. Instead of being embarrassed of his work in comics he could have had a direct hand in shaping the minds of upcoming artists and creative minds who already saw the value of what he was doing. Maybe we’d have a few more Spiegelmans, today, all taught directly by the master, himself.
Exactly. It was one hell of a missed opportunity. You know how many people go to art class while they are in K12 and are told “No comic book or manga art, THATS NOT REAL ART!”… imagine if he would’ve did the opposite. He probably would’ve been able to speed up the process and/or see works and proper praise that suited his tastes before he died
If he felt burned by the business, he probably wouldn't encourage others to try.
I'm sure Van Gogh wasn't recommending painting as a career post DIY ear op....
Read the top comment written by a previous student of his, the you will know that he did care about good art teaching.
Fear isn't the mindkiller, it's shame.
@@kommissar.murphy Oh he was, he hadn't given up even then. It's even been found that there's evidence he framed himself for suicide to prevent some kids who accidentally shot him playing with a gun from getting in trouble. Van Gogh was _wild_ and amazing. One thing people don't talk about? His style was an attempt to replicate the feel of Japanese art. He was obsessed with Japanese art and culture. Van Gogh was the first weeb.
I can also see how Krigstein influenced Klaus Janson, particularly the "Gothic" series from Legends of the Dark Knight.
I read a lot of comics, I studied illustration in school, and while I've seen that set of panels in the subway, I've never heard of Krigstein. You have made a subscriber out of me. Thank you so much (and BB Krig was 100% about Stan)
That ending gave me chills. Amazing video, thank you for sharing Krigstein’s story and his incredible art!
What an unsung hero... Thank you sir for bringing him to our attention.
I can't read that classic story enough - truly deserves the recognition of a masterpiece.
Appreciate this video - subscribed.
PS: His comments about Stan Lee mirror every artist of caliber that worked with that credit-stealing "editor." The list starts with Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Steve Ditko,,,,(His theft was well-known as early as 1966 and when I attended the NY Comic Con in 1970, the mention of his name got a loud round of booing in the convention hall). He's a creation of his own corporate mythmaking that Disney continues to this day.
matttt congratulations on the amazing content you're creating.
I've been away from UA-cam for almost two years now and since I (by accident) started watching one of your videos I couldn't stop and watched them all in one go.
I love comics, animation, action figures, syfy, etc and I also love your videos.
Thank you for sharing this, I had always assumed Frank Miller was the one who was so creative with the multi panel art, but now I definitely see the influence. Especially the subway scenes where in Daredevil #169 he battles Bullseye. Now I have the name of the man who started it all.
Excellent! I stumbled onto this vid through the UA-cam algorithm. I taught a 3-lesson course on American superhero comics and the accompanying U.S. history of the times to Japanese university students. I didn't have time to slip in Maus, but I read a little about it. I also didn't have much time to introduce graphic novels, but I did display different styles. Thanks for helping me learn the foundation.
How is it possible that this channel only has 37k subs??? Every video is just expertly done, and riveting from start to finish, and I'm not even a huge comic book guy! Love the channel - very much subbed!
70 k now
120k subs now
We should also give props to Jack Davis's cover. By the looks of it, Jack spent some time with Krigstein's piece.
I can also see the direct line between the pioneer Will Eisner, Krigstein's brilliance and the fantastic work of Jim Steranko... ALL groundbreaking in their design and execution of comic graphic story telling. I agree, 'Maus' 'The Dark Knight Returns' & 'Watchmen' would probably not exist without the influence of these incredible artists
Informative, insightful & inspiring! Kiegstein deserves more attention & recognition. He definitely inspired Miller's layout, sadly his influence is waning as very few of the new American comic artists are actually good (visual) storytellers! Loved BBK's Lee quote. What story was the one that Lee & him argued about?
The story was "The Phantom of the Farm!" and was published in issue 9 of the Atlas title _World of Fantasy_ (cover-dated December 1957).
You can read "Phantom," plus 40 other Krig stories representing an overview of his comic-art career in the trade paperback book _Messages in a Bottle_ -- which is one of two affordable Krigstein collections. The other one is the hardcover _Master Race and Other Stories_ which presents only Krig's work for EC Comics. _Messages_ is full-color and magazine-size, whereas _Master Race_ is black-and-white and has slightly smaller page dimensions.
Sometimes art can tell a story more than words ever will.
Few things can bypass translation.
Dude I love all your videos I can’t wait to see more. As someone who has loved
Comics since a child in the past couple years I been fascinated with the background of the authors and artists behind comics and the stories behind how they were made and the struggles a lot of people went through to get there art out there or the suffering they went through from getting there art out there. Thanks for your content 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
It's so cool that comic books have transitioned from being considered fun, digestible stories to genuine art. There were so many fascinating people responsible for the these iconic creations.
I'm a fan of your videos -- they're engaging throughout and presented wonderfully.
What utterly gorgeous work. I can't even imagine what it would have been like seeing this stuff at the time. Would have been absolutely mindblowing at the time.
Well done video! EC had a number of wonderful and under appreciated artists. Looking forward to seeing more from this channel.
Wow, first off great video. I’m just a casual comic book reader, but these videos are jam packed with so much history and so well done, you can tell a lot of care went into these and it is great that they give awareness and due credit to otherwise unknown (at least in the general public knowledge) artists.
But man, how crazy is it! I just came from seeing the Todd McFarlane video and it’s crazy to see the difference between these two great artists. On one hand you have Bernard Krigstein and on the other you have Todd McFarlane. Both innovators that drastically changed changed the landscape in comics by continually pushing the envelope and both getting pushing back from their higher ups because of it. But where Krigstien kind of accepted the “NO” and quit comics, McFarlane went and forged his own path or moved looked for another path to get his way.
Maybe them being from two generations had a hand in this; Krigstein coming from a time where moving up within the company and working within the structure of their field was the only way to get ahead. On the other hand you have McFarlane who played by the rules at first to get his foot in the door but, then went his own way and when getting a “NO”, built his own structures (companies) to facilitate and bring to life his visions. Very counterculture and antiestablishment of him, like the gen x generation he was so close to being born in.
Great stuff!
I can't believe this channel only has one video on it. This feels professional and experienced right from the off. Subscribed.
I loved his art for EC. Such beautiful comics.
I watched comic trope and Kayfabe do an episode on krigstein but this was the best one! You talks about the art along with summarizing Krigsteins life. Must have taken a lot of research. Amazing job. Learned A Lot!
Im a 39 yr old,Trans,Jewish, professional comic writer/artist myself and i can honestly say that Bernies work has had a massive massive influence on me and my comics as did Berie wrightson who was also a jewish comic,writer,artist and inker. Liked and subbed. Love your channel Matt!
I don't know how your channel popped up, but glad it did! Took a class on the Graphic Novel at university and somehow, we didn't talk about Krigstein. You have piqued my curiosity and have done so in an elegant fashion. Well done!
I just watched your 5 videos and I'm mind blown by how good they are! I almost never write comments here, but oh man! you deserve all the praise!!! looking forward to watch the next one! Also I wish you had a podcast and went on more detail on the stories.
Excellent video! I've had the Artisan Edition of EC Stories on my shelf for a while now, but haven't got around to reading most of it, so I immediately checked when you said he worked for EC and was glad to find this story in the book.
Interesting video man, the format and editing was so on point i thought you were just another comic channel I might not have seen yet
Is this the first video on the channel? Half a million view in 11 days on a video dedicated to comics artist? You, sir, accomplished something special here. And thanks for this video, I didn't knew about Mr. Krigstein, but as a comics artist I must thank him for improving the artform of comics.
Thank you for this. I know I'm about to go on a binge on this page. I have a tough day of paperwork ahead and need some fun background knowledge to pull me out. I just wanted to note this was where I started my binge for when I come back years from now!
Wow this is your first video? I can’t wait for more! I truly appreciate this type of content
I've really been getting into the old EC comics over the past couple of years and remember Master Race really hitting me hard! EC was already known for telling hard hitting and often controversial stories about race and social justice, but Krigstein's art really raised the bar for what could be done in comics and helped push the medium! I definitely remember noticing the Frank Miller connection with the panel layout when I first read it and I'm sure Alan Moore was probably quite influenced by it as well! Anyway, great video! You've clearly put a lot of work into this video and I can't wait to see what you make next!
This was absolutely fascinating. That's for making it!
Wow. I collected DC and Marvel comics when I was a kid in the Philippines and up to now love comics. Jack Kirby was one of my favorite comic book artists. I never knew about Bernard Krigstein. Thank you for this.
Keep it coming! This channel is great! This video was awesome! Great pacing and storytelling on your part!
So great to see more videos about B.B. Krig! Between this one and the ones by JerkComic (Uncle Jerk), the mythological aspects of comics are becoming more accessible and known than ever!
Hopefully, you can do a good rundown on Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg, an underrated and groundbreaking series in the time before TDKR, Rick Veitch, Watchmen, and Squadron Supreme 👍🏽
The algorithm suggested your videos and i and thankful. I love the way you deliver these stories and educated us on their histories. Please keep making videos.
Thanks for sharing Matt, watching this made my day!
Love this break down and history lesson! Good luck with all of your future videos!
This is really good. I found myself thinking what comic analysis videos like this will be like 100 years from now. ⏳
Your essays about comics and graphic novels are outstanding. Thanks!
I have no idea why but your Todd Macfarlane video appeared on my feed and I decided to watch as I was a fan of the toys growing up. I cannot believe the quality of your videos. You should definitely have more subs. I’m not a comic book guy because I wouldn’t even know where to begin but I’ve learned so much from the few videos I’ve watched of yours. Great production and you’re highly educated on the subject which is great to see. I’m going to watch all of your videos; they’re really put together extremely well. I’m so glad I discovered your channel 🤝