If you’ve got a few minutes, rocket on over to Newsarama for an in-depth interview with Mark Schultz about what we can expect from the new Al Williamson compilation from Flesk Publications entitled Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon: A Lifetime Vision.
Schultz has long since cited Williamson as one of his chief inspirations and when asked what it is that makes Williamson’s art so enduring, Mark Schultz offered the following:
I think the thing that makes Williamson’s artwork unique and special, that keeps you coming back to it – and I talk about this a little bit in the essay – was that Al more than any other comic artist I know, he went beyond the traditional illustrative roots of adventure comic art. Even though he incorporates traditional illustration, as his inspiration Raymond did, Al was a big fan of motion pictures, especially the old movie serials from the 1940s. He would endlessly watch these films and their choreographed fight scenes, and he just has a genius for taking the choreography from these movies and interpreting it on the page. He creates the illusion of movement on the page, and he’s better than anyone I know at creating a sense of elegance and movement. That I think sets his work apart from just about anybody else I can think of, he does it better than anyone.
Beyond that sense of movement and action, there’s a feeling of elegance to his work, his figures and his compositions. Though he mostly works in fantasy and science fiction, there’s a wonderful feeling of elegance and dignity and mystery to everything that he does. That’s just part of it.
Look for Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon: A Lifetime Vision this August.
