Michael Netzer

Michael Netzer
Michael Netzer

Netzer at the Tel-Aviv ICon Festival, Oct, 2011
Born Michael Nasser
October 9, 1955 (1955-10-09) (age 56)
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Nationality United States and Israel
Area(s) Artist
Notable works DC Special Series
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes
World's Finest Comics
Official website

Michael Netzer (born Michael Nasser on 9 October 1955[1]) is an American artist best known for his comic book work for industry leaders DC Comics and Marvel Comics in the 1970s,[2][3] as well as for his online presence.[4][5][6]

Contents

Biography

Michael Nasser (later Netzer) was born in Detroit, Michigan, to parents of Lebanese origin. He contracted polio at the age of eight months which partially paralyzed his left hip and leg. After two years of medical treatment, he was sent with his mother and siblings to his father's Druze hometown, Dayr Qūbil, Lebanon.[7][8] In 1967, at the age of 11, he returned to Detroit. In school, he became interested in comic book illustration and storytelling.[9] After attending Wayne State University in Michigan for two years, Netzer met Neal Adams at a comics convention in Detroit and landed a job with Continuity Studios.

In the summer of 1981, Netzer traveled to Lebanon.[7] When the Lebanon War broke out, he hired a taxi and crossed the Lebanon-Israel border.[7] Upon reaching Israel, he studied Hebrew language at several kibbutzim. He moved to Ofra, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and changed his last name to Netzer. There he met and fell in love with Elana Joseph. They married and have five children.[7]

Art career

Batman comics by Michael Netzer

In 1975, Netzer moved to New York City and gained recognition as an illustrator at DC Comics and Marvel Comics. His characters included Superboy, the Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Black Lightning and Spider-Man. In the fall of 1977, Netzer left his career in New York and hitchhiked across the United States.[10] Arriving in San Francisco, he contacted Star*Reach magazine publisher Mike Friedrich to decline a commitment he had made for the publication's first color installment. Friedrich asked Netzer to produce a story that would tell of his new-found aspirations, resulting in "The Old, New and Final Testaments", an eight-page vignette weaving socio-religious history with humanity's ambitions for the colonization of the solar system.[11] Friedrich published the story in Star*Reach #12 (1977) and wrote about his meeting with Michael in the editorial.

For the next several years, Netzer promoted the idea of a new political hierarchy through the comic book medium. His colleagues described this activity as messianic and expressed concerns about his behavior.[12][13][14]

In 1984-1988, Netzer contributed covers and accompanying illustrations and a comic strip, Milk and Honey, for Counterpoint, an English-language publication of Gush Emunim edited by Rachelle Katsman and Yisrael Medad.[15]

In 1987, he produced Israel's first Super Hero color comic book, with partners Jonathan Duitch and Yossi Halpern, "Uri-On"[16] (אורי-און). This came at a time of a surge in comics activity in the country and was featured in an Israel Museum Comics Exhibit alongside the work of his national peers, Dudu Geva, Michel Kichka, Uri Fink and others. Michael's design of the Menorah symbol for Uri-On was featured in a later Israel Museum exhibit highlighting various Menorah designs through the ages. Netzer's prominence as a former American comic book artist and controversial choice of residence in the occupied West Bank, provided a platform for the artist to appear on local television talk shows, receive varied media coverage and give lectures on the comic book medium as a tool for advancing a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.[8]

From "12 Parts" Hot Stuff #6 1978, depicting the sharp departure from the artist's early career influences.

In 1991, Netzer returned to New York and Continuity Comics. He and Neal Adams fought over intellectual property rights to Ms. Mystic,[17] a character they had worked on jointly in 1977, which Adams had published under the Pacific Comics and Continuity Comics imprints, leading to a lawsuit against Adams in New York Federal Court in 1993.[18] The case was dismissed in 1995, citing the statute of limitations.[19][20]

Netzer produced a series of comic book projects during this period, including Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #2, Detective Comics, The Huntress, and Babylon 5 for DC Comics, and Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice for Tekno Comix. His art in this period demonstrated a notable shift into a darker and moodier art style, such as in The Huntress mini-series, which merged his high-contrast style in the 1978 Hot Stuff[21] with the dark noir art of the popular Frank Miller's Sin City series.[22][23] In 1994 he returned to Israel and slowly gravitated away from comics art.

In 1998, Netzer teamed up with Sofia Fedorov to establish a visual media production studio called Netzart Fedorov Media which allowed Netzer to develop his skills in computer-generated illustration, advertising and web design.

In 2010, Netzer returned to mainstream comics, producing art for Kevin Smith's Green Hornet from Dynamite Entertainment,[24][25] along with illustrating a chapter of Erich Origen and Gan Golan's The Adventures of Unemployed Man from Little, Brown, publishers of the satire Goodnight Bush by the same writers.[26][27] Netzer has also returned to producing collector art commissions, including a series of classic cover recreations with artist Gene Colan, represented by writer/agent Clifford Meth.[28][29]

Web activism

A 40-day retreat to the Dead Sea resort of Ein Gedi in February 2003 inspired Netzer to go back to his early spiritual themes and activism.[8]

In January 2004, Netzer launched his first web site, "The New Comic Book of Life", outlining his theories on superhero mythology and the role it plays in cultural evolution. On the site, Netzer revealed unpublished material espousing this manifesto from 1977–1981, which had never seen publication. He also apologized to colleague Neal Adams for his law suit against him in the previous decade.[30] In November 2004, he launched a second web site, "The Comic Book Creator's Party", calling on comics creators to form a political union for participating in the 2008 U.S. Presidential elections, and quoting notable comics creators' references to the socio-political climate in America and abroad.[31] Netzer has since launched several other web sites, including "The Comic Book Creators' Guild", "Growing Earth Consortium" and "Michael Netzer Online", the site-complex portal.

While producing no mainstream comics art from the mid-1990s until 2010, Netzer maintained a web presence,[32] speaking on comics community issues,[33] including a campaign to bolster comic fandom's support for J'onn J'onzz The Martian Manhunter,[34] facing a rumored demise in DC Comics Final Crisis crossover series.[35][36][37] In early 2009, Netzer founded and launched Facebook Comic Con,[38] an ongoing virtual convention for the comics community registered at the social network.[39]

Following his conviction that art should contribute towards the betterment of society, Netzer joined Comics For All in May 2010, a collective of Israeli comics artists that aims to promote the comics medium as a cultural and educational tool for aiding underprivileged children. Netzer participates in various activities voluntarily.[40]

Save the Comics campaign

In early 2011 Netzer launched a campaign, Save the Comics, to bring public attention to the undercurrents of a decades-long sales slump for printed comic books.[41][42] The initiative came on the heels of his participation in an industry-wide debate on a revolution in creator owned properties.[43][44][45]

On 10 February, 2011, Netzer lodged an online complaint at the Federal Trade Commission web site against DC Comics and Marvel Comics calling for industry leaders to turn their attention back to the business of comic book publishing.[46][47]

Published works

DC

Marvel

Other publishers

Note: From 1987 (Uri-On #1), he is credited as Michael Netzer; previously, he was credited with birth name, Michael Nasser.

Covers

Netzer has also provided the art for these covers:

References

  1. ^ DC Comics biography, Challengers of the Unknown. #82 (1977)
  2. ^ Michael Netzer at the Lambiek Comiclopedia
  3. ^ Continuity Studios
  4. ^ Thom Young, Being and Time: An Interview with Michael Netzer, Comics Bulletin, 5 October 2005
  5. ^ Graeme McMillan, Netzer: He don’t want to ball around like everybody else., Newsarama, 21 June 2006.
  6. ^ Clifford Meth, Michael Netzer: Party Animal, Comics Bulletin. 08,2004
  7. ^ a b c d Shuki Dagan, Rooted Settler: Family Visit in Beirut, Shofar News, 21 March 2005.
  8. ^ a b c Yoni Shedmi, Hero on the Edge, NRG Maariv, 26 August 2005.
  9. ^ Ken Thomas and Ed Mantles-Seeker interview in Whizzard Magazine #12, Dec. 1978.
  10. ^ Mike Friedrich, editorial in Star Reach #12, Dec. 1977.
  11. ^ MichaelNetzer.com
  12. ^ Neal Adams interview in The Comics Journal #72, May 1982.
  13. ^ Josef Rubinstein interview at Adelaide Comics & Books, 2004.
  14. ^ Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Loudpoet, Link: Defending Ronee, 06/2006.
  15. ^ Yisrael Medad, Michael Netzer's Early Israel Art, My Right Word, 10 October 2011.
  16. ^ Uri-On: The Israeli-Jewish Superman, Haggadahs R Us
  17. ^ Controversy over Ms. Mystic credits
  18. ^ Newswatch: "Adams Sued for $20 Million in Libel/Trademark Suit", The Comics Journal #162 (Oct. 1993), pp. 7-11
  19. ^ Netzer v. Continuity Graphic Associates, Inc., 963 F.Supp. 1308, 1323 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)
  20. ^ Stump, Greg. "News Watch: Mike Netzer's Lawsuit against Neal Adams Dismissed", The Comics Journal #201 (January 1998), p. 18.
  21. ^ Sal Quartucio's Hot Stuff comics anthology, 1978.
  22. ^ Francis Silver, The Huntress: The critical conscience of Bat-verse, uBC Monitor, 24 March 2002.
  23. ^ Comicon.com discussion on Netzer's art style 6-7/2003.
  24. ^ Newsarama, Who Dies in Kevin Smith's Green Hornet?, 06 April, 2010.
  25. ^ Dynamite Entertainment, Kevin Smith's Green Hornet Annual, August 2010.
  26. ^ The Adventures of Unemployed Man: Artists
  27. ^ Little, Brown, The Adventures of Unemployed Man
  28. ^ Comicon Pulse Commission Collaborations with Gene Colan, 17 January, 2011.
  29. ^ Clifford Meth Michael Netzer: Art of Responsibility, 04 January, 2011.
  30. ^ Lying in the Gutters by Rich Johnston, Comic Book Resources, 13 January 2004
  31. ^ Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters, Where's Michael, 22 November 2004.
  32. ^ Netzer appearance at Imwan Forums. 6 January 2007.
  33. ^ Graeme McMillan, I'm Digging for Gold..., Blog@Newsarama, 9 January 2007.
  34. ^ JK Parkin, Netzer Unites Fandom..., Blog@Newsarama, 21 January 2008.
  35. ^ Heidi MacDonald, Michael Netzer has a Cause, The Beat, Publishers Weekly, 21 January 2008.
  36. ^ Rick Marshall, J'Onn J'Onzz Marked for Death?, ComicMix, 23 January 2008.
  37. ^ George Gustines, The Flash Resurrection, The Lede, New York Times blog, 30 April 2008.
  38. ^ Info page, Facebook Comic Con
  39. ^ Glenn Hauman, Facebook Comic Con Opens, ComicMix, 12 March 2009.
  40. ^ Comics For All
  41. ^ Rik Offenberger interviews Netzer on his Save The Comics Campaign at First Comics News, 15 January, 2011.
  42. ^ Comicon Pulse, Sam Agro takes the lead, Netzer interview. 08 March, 2011.
  43. ^ Steve Niles article on creator owned properties. 25 January, 2011.
  44. ^ Heidi MacDonald's The Beat article and comment discussion, Grassroots creators support campaign begins, 31 January, 2011.
  45. ^ Heidi MacDonald's The Beat article and comment discussion, A little more on the creators revolution, 4 February, 2011.
  46. ^ Comicon Pulse Complaint Lodged with the FTC Against DC and Marvel, 10 February, 2011.
  47. ^ The Comics Reporter All for filing complaints, 10 February, 2011.

Bibliography

External links


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