This keeps happening. I think this whole “mortality” thing is just awful.
No preamble. The Bun Toon says it all.
Okay, I did end up with Ringo’s signature, but it was at the insistence of a friend, not me.
Ty the Guy OUT!
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The signatures…
Rather than just looking at the artwork, let’s consider the man we lost this week at 89 years old….
That’s Murphy Anderson, looking dapper in the ever-present suit.
My middle name is “Murphy” by the way, so I had an EXTRA fondness for the only other person I’ve ever met who shares that moniker.
I really do think that these two comic books have more influence on me than any two comics ever published…
This was the first time I saw the “new” Superman of the 70s…Clark and Lois worked for a TV station, and Lois was starting to dress in modern clothes (Jimmy, not so much.) The story (by Denny O’Neil) seemed more “grown-up” than the previous Superman stories I read. This seemed like it was “mine”, and not the old fashioned stuff my older brothers used to read.
I still have my copies of these two issues, though they have long ago lost their covers (and I purchased nice new copies at a convention). This one also introduced me to my life-long fondness of Nick Cardy (quite a cover, no?)…as it had a Teen Titans reprint found within.
These two comics started me down my path of obsessive collecting, which led to me learning to draw them (like Curt and Murphy if I could), which led me to working in the biz…
…Which led to me eventually taking Murphy’s job after he retired.
Yup. I became Curt Swan’s inker about two years after I met them. Did it for a while, and it was like nothing I can describe to wake up every morning working your dream job.
Curt Swan and I even co-created ARM FALL OFF BOY, the greatest comic character of all time.
But enough about me.
Let’s finish off looking at some Swanderson artwork in their prime…from Action Comics #410. One of those first issues I ever bought, back when I was nine years old….
Damn. Look how good that stuff still is! Every drop of ink is in the right place.
Thanks for the fantastic ride, Curt and Murphy. You were both unimaginable treasures of my youth, and you are both unimaginably missed.
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For last week’s nostalgic and yet, futuristic Bun Toon, click here.
For the increasingly un-updated Bun Toon archive, click here!
Ty Templeton's ART LAND!! 
I never had the opportunity to meet Curt Swan, but I did get to meet Murphy Anderson at a few comic book conventions. He struck me as a nice, polite fellow. He was certainly an amazing inker, and his embellishments of Swan’s pencils were beautiful. I also am a fan of his inking of Carmine Infantino, as well as his incredibly solo work on the wonderfully weird Atomic Knights. Thanks for sharing your memories of the Swanderson team.
I remember buying Superman #233. After that gorgeous Adams cover, I remember thinking “whoa, that’s still the guy I love drawing Superman, but its somehow deeper, almost 3 dimensions. WTF?”. That’s when I learned who Murphy Anderson was, and how much he had already done that I loved
I met Murphy and his wife in San Diego at the only Comic Con I’ve been to (At least the BIG one) in 1999. I met Murphy again at a con in Long Island when he was with his grandson. He was always dressed like the gentleman he was. He was a consummate pro and a sweet man. I’ll miss his sort of artist…
I remember bugging my Dad to take me to Joe Fruitman’s Cigar Store in Bathurst Manor the day that Strange Adventures #138 appeared on the stands, with the Anderson dinosaur skeleton cover. Now it seems no more than very competent, but it knocked me out at the time.
There’s something about a Murphy Anderson cover…I know what you mean…no more than very competent, but at the same time, magical. Murphy’s rendering was kind of perfect, even if his drawing was kind of stiff. (A little like Wally Wood in that regard…)