The comics legend will be at EAST COAST COMICON and we had a chance to talk ahead of time about what’s on his mind.
I’ve written many times over that Neal Adams is one of the reasons I became hard-wired as a comic-book fan. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a number of hours picking his brain and am really honored to host A Conversation With Neal Adams at our Meadowlands show in N.J.
Neal will be set up at the show both days, but on Sunday at 1 p.m., he and I will have a chance to talk about a variety of subjects — with audience members given the opportunity to ask their own questions of the guy I personally consider to be comics’ greatest artist.
Anyway, we spoke the other day, getting ready for the convention. I knew he’d watched the show Arrow but had no idea whether he’d stayed with it — or whether he’d seen the recent episode when Oliver Queen and Ra’s al Ghul have a shirtless sword fight atop a snowy mountain.
“Of course I watch the show Arrow,” he said, adding with a laugh: “Isn’t that The Neal Adams Show?”
I told him watching that scene was like watching Batman #244 — the climax of Batman‘s first battle with Ra’s, written by Denny O’Neil and of course illustrated by Adams.
“Wait a second, you were watching Batman #244,” he said. “Those guys, the writers on the show, went on the Internet and they talked about it and they said, ‘Well, OK, we didn’t have a desert because we’re up here in Vancouver, so we figured we’d do it on top of a mountain.
“It was not just me. You saw the promo for that episode, you’ve got Ra’s al Ghul with his shirt off, Arrow with his shirt off and then two swords at their side. Excuse me — doesn’t Arrow shoot bows and arrows?
“That might as well have been Batman and Ra’s al Ghul. Those guys were clearly looking for the imagery that they’re used to. Y’know, they’re fans. Those guys are fans.”
I asked him what it was like seeing it all on the screen.
“It’s sort of like watching another artist take over what you did,” he said. “They’ve gotta do their take on it. But they’re leaving enough there for the true believers to go, ‘Whoa, that’s Batman and Ra’s al Ghul!’
“And they’re not ruining it for if they do that in a movie, y’know? It’s just like, ‘Oh, there’s another memory here.’ I think they’re tremendously sincere in their aping of the stuff.
“People called me: ‘Neal did you see that? Holy cow!'”
The Batman: The Animated Series version of the same battle.
The Batman Begins version of the fight.
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Neal Adams will be at East Coast Comicon at the Meadowlands Expo Center in N.J. Come meet him! Click here for tickets!
