Ieri, sabato 27 marzo, ci ha lasciato uno dei nomi più importanti del grande libro della DC Comics: quello di Richard Joseph “Dick” Giordano.
Classe 1932, Giordano è stato Vice Presidente ed Editore Esecutivo della publishing house di Superman e Batman dal 1983 al 1991, negli anni di “Crisi sulle Terre Infinite”, “Il Ritorno del Cavaliere Oscuro” e “Watchmen”; ma è forse ricordato maggiormente dai lettori per la sua carriera di disegnatore e, soprattutto, di inchiostratore dal pennello corposo e pulito.
La carriera dell’artista newyorkese si è incrociata spesso con i personaggi della Legione (un elenco ragionato di tali incontri è a questo link), come dimostra ad esempio la storica copertina riportata sulla destra (1980), prima di una lunga sequenza di immagini con la quale Giordano inaugurò i frontespizi dello storico “volume II”. In quel periodo, le avventure di Mon-El e soci erano realizzate da Gerry Conway e Joe Staton.
Il sito Newsarama ha raccolto le parole di alcuni colleghi che hanno voluto ricordare l’amico scomparso. Tra tutti i messaggi pubblicati, mi accontento di citare quello di Marv Wolfman, che mi pare fornisca un ritratto particolarmente sentito e personale del compianto Giordano:
For those of us who came into the business circa 67-69 Dick was vitally important. He and Joe Orlando were the only two editors at DC who would even look at young talent and that includes almost everyone who today is close to social security age. There was a pervading suspicion about us young ‘uns back then, what with our long hair, jeans and tee-shirts and no jackets and ties, and although we didn’t fully get it, Dick was only 15 years older than us and didn’t have that problem. Even when there was some blacklisting, Dick continued to quietly feed us work. Dick’s strength as an editor was giving you freedom to try things and encouraging you to do what you thought best, and then focus you if you went too far off. He seemed to have a hand’s off approach, unlike anyone else up there, and the quality came out in the books. But his real strength was he was on your side and guided you when we needed it. That isn’t hyperbole; it’s just the facts. On top of that, Dick was a good guy to be around. As with everyone you can find downsides, too, but most of us who started out back then, when there hadn’t been a newcomer to DC since the 40s, would not have made it if it weren’t for him and Joe.
If you think about the legion of creators who started at DC back then, and look at their list of accomplishments and creations, know that they could have only happened because Dick, and Joe, were willing to look outside the box when nobody else would. His legacy is not only his art, but the tens of thousands of comics done by his creative children.
So long, Dick!