Comics are usually associated with notebooks, books or the occasional newspaper page, but record covers have also been using the "ninth art" for years. The exhibition "Vinyl" The Comic Covers" now shows the creative connection that comics and music makers have forged over the last few decades.
© 1987 Milo Manara, Virgin (Riccardo Cocciante: La grande avventura)/ © 1998 Frans Stummer, Egmont (Die Ärzte: Im Angesicht des Schattenreichs) / © 2018 Dave McKean, Artoffact Rec. (Frontline Assembly: Warmech)
Film posters, book covers, record sleeves - it is always exciting when and how one medium uses a completely different one to attract attention. It stands to reason that in their day, unconventional, even revolutionary music styles used corresponding forms of illustration to visualize themselves on record sleeves. Since the 1950s, this symbiosis has led to graphic masterpieces that have become collector items and are widely documented. However, examples using the comic genre are surprisingly underrepresented.
© 1971 Hergé, CBS (Gasolin': Gasolin')
A small exhibition in Oberhausen is now making an attempt at visual enlightenment. Dr. Eckart Sackmann, collector, publisher and curator of the exhibition, has selected around 200 of these comic covers, including exhibits by top artists from both media. Among the illustrators, Moebius, Jacques Tardi, Philipp Druillet and Asterix father Albert Uderzo stand out, as well as Robert Corben, known for his horror comics, Milo Manara and Hugo Pratt, and last but not least Seyfried and Scharwel ... The selection concludes with the 1980s, the end of the vinyl record and the first heyday of the new comic culture. A continuation is desirable, because even today such comic covers can be discovered.
Vinyl! The comic covers. Ludwiggalerie, Schloss Oberhausen, until May 8, 2022. Richly illustrated catalog for the exhibition published by comicplus+ (112 pages, 29 euros).
Text: Herbert Lechner
© 1985 Gerhard Seyfried, Pläne (Die 3 Tornados: Totalschaden) / © 1975 Philippe Druillet, Barclay (The Jimi HendrixExperience: Electric Ladyland) / © 1997 Peter Puck, Entenschädel Prod. (Kraut Gringo Blitzkrieg: Korrupt, greedy, bribable)
