Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Review This?!?

I'd meant to do reviews for Final Crisis #5 and Final Crisis: Resist, but the later was such a piece of crap, I'm calling it a morning. I'll try again tomorrow, and see if the Christmas Spirit can't carry me through.

sigh... Comics will break your heart...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Draw Like An Egyptian



Egyptian Goodness. This one's by Jim Aparo, with colors by Lynn Varley (of Dark Knight Returns fame)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Top Five Wolverine Artists

Time for another Top Five! Last time, we looked at the artists that have defined the Fantasic Four since their creation in 1961. This time we're looking at the five artists that have defined and redefined Wolverine, that rascally mutant with the adamantium claws, since 1974 when he made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk. This is a bit trickier, despite Wolverine being a full thirteen years younger than the FF; Wolverine's had appearances in the X-men books, various mini-series and his own series. There's a greater multitude of artists to look at and choose from. But, choose we shall, as we decide which Wolverine artists are "the best they are at what they do".

Sorry, couldn't resist.

(As always, these images come from the Grand Comic Book Database)

Honorable Mention
Art Adams



Art Adams draws a mean Wolverine, and his would influence artists for years to come. If there's any knock against his Wolverine it's that he can be a bit too big or 'cool' at times, possibly abstracting the character from the ferociousness you want from Wolverine.


John Romita, Jr.



John Ronita Jr., one of comics consummate storytellers, has drawn Wolverine off and on for over twenty years now, if that can be believed, first in Uncanny X-men after Paul Smith, and most recently in Wolverine's own title, with current inker/collaborator Klaus Janson.


Paul Smith



Speaking of Paul Smith (who himself has the ineviable task of following in the massive footsteps of John Byrne and Dave Cockrum), this is an artist who really clicked with his clean, delineated work on the X-Men in the early eighties. His Wolverine could at times be perhaps too graceful, too effortless, but despite these criticisms his Wolverine was one which spoke of inner intensity and rebel 'coolness'.


Top Five
5. Marc Silvestri



Marc Silvestri built on the grittier Wolverine which was established by Frank Miller in his and Chris Claremont's mini-series. The litheness of Smith's Wolverine but with an added brutality and darkness that was a more natural fit for the character.


4. John Byrne



John Byrne came in just as the new X-Men, Wolverine included, were taking off. His Wolverine was cocky and super-heroic, with some grit, and would become a touchstone for the character.


3. Barry Windsor-Smith



For an artist who started off so average, it is amazing that he ended up so good. Two seminal works, "Wounded Wolf" (from Uncanny X-Men #205) and Weapon X, which was serialized in Marvel Comics Presents and later collected, helped cement Wolverine's image, which Marc Silvestri had already started to visually define, as the brutal, savage loner who is almost as much animal as he is man.


2. Dave Cockrum



Dave Cockrum's art has been going in and out of style for over three decades now. One thing which will never be in doubt however is the palpable, decided non-heroic 'toughness' which he brought to Wolverine in the mid-seventies, when he helped to relaunch the X-men. Wolverine was first defined as loner, agressive, dynamic and savage by this one man. Cockrum died in 2006 and is still missed.


1. Jim Lee



Jim Lee is knocked for his storytelling abilities, which can be stilted and by-the-book, but equally lauded (and especially loved by fans) for his ability to visually define, redefine, and make character fifteen years old seem fresh and new. Such was the case with Wolverine. Jim Lee was able to capture the original sleek coolness of Cockrum and Byrne, toss in a bit of the grit from Romita, Jr. and Silvestri, and top it off with some modern illustrative polish from Michael Golden and Art Adams. This is the Wolverine that will be remembered when people think of the Wolverine.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Random Batman Post

Just clearing my head...

*There's a (fairly substantiated, by the looks of it) rumor that Grant Morrison will be returning to Batman (didn't even know he was gone, did you?). This is pretty exciting for me, but what really kicks this up into a frenzy is the fact that his collaborator is going to be Frank Quitely, easily his most sucessful artistic pairing. I'm very psyched to see this.

* For those of you that don't know, Frank actually already has one bat-book under his belt, 1996's Batman: The Scottish Connection. Written by Steven Grant it's a nice book, and really worth it for any Quitely fan. It's got a terribly low print run and is tough to find, but maybe DC will give it a reprint to coincide with this Batman launch. Have a pretty picture:



(That's the cover to Scottish Connection. Mmmm... Quitely...)

* In other Bat-news, a new Previews is out and the second cover for Garcia-Lopez and Nowlan's Batman Confidential run is up. It's a beaut:



On previous work of Garcia-Lopez that Kevin Nowlan has inked he's used a combination of brush and pen (his norm, more or less). This work seems pretty light though and quite possibly all pen (excepting for the spotting of blacks of course). I'd be curious to know his thinking for this. One possibility is that he's going for something a little more along the lines of the crisp inking that Dick Giordano used for Garcia-Lopez in the 80's. It's Nowlan, so it works of course.

Just wondering...

* It's true: Tony Daniel is writing the next Bat-arc. Yes, Tony Daniel is writing the next Bat-arc...
...-sigh-... Think happy thoughts...happy thoughts...

* Norm Bregfoyle might be the most underrated artist that's worked on Batman. He did some of the best work Batman's seen. Ever. I have to think it's a matter of time before he gets his due.

* I leave you now with one more Quitely Bat-image. This one is a variant cover for All-Star Batman and Robin. Holy Bat Crap, I'm about to mention All-Star Bat without delving into snark... My God, I did...



Man's a genius...

Friday, December 12, 2008

Speaking Of Egypt...





In a bit of synchronicity, as I was posting my thesis pages today I came across this story over at Comic Book Resources. It's a Batman story starting this February in Batman Confidential and it features an obscure Batman villain (from the TV series and one other comic story) King Tut. This alone would get me excited to read it, but then I saw who the artists responsible would be, and the team is none other than Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Kevin Nowlan.

Holy Bat-Tut, I'm there.

For those of you unfamiliar with either Garcia-Lopez or Nowlan, they are two of the most respected artist working in the medium right now, and their previous work together (on DC and Marvel's Amalgam issue Dr. Strangefate) was absolute magic. The combination of Garcia-Lopez' attention to setting and body language and the dynamic, graceful in which he constructs a page, coupled with Nowlan's nearly-unparalled ability to ink anyone into perfection is going to be worth picking up.

I recommend picking this up, without reservation.

(Until then go scrounge up Strangefate. It's in a dollar bin somewhere.)

Thesis Pages

Thought I'd post some of my thesis pages from last year. My thesis subject was Hatchepsut, the first female Pharaoh of Egypt. There are sixteen pages in total, but these are my favorite six. Ancient Egypt has become a subject close to my heart, and I'm working on another Pharaoh for my Senior Project this year.

Page One is my favorite, both for the relation of vision to execution and for the fact that it was my first page penciled and my first inked and lettered. Everyone else's favorite seems to be Page Eight (or, "that cow woman page").




Page 1




Page 13


Page 4



Page 5


Page 6




Page 8

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Not To Knock Joe Sinnott...



....but Wally Wood is the best inker that Jack Kirby ever had. The above is from Sky Masters, a book they did together in the late fifities. It can be hard to get ahold of (though an amazing new version just came out in Spain, so if you're there pick it up) They also worked on Challengers of the Unknown, which was recently reprinted in the Showcase format by DC Comics. Here, have some Sky Masters goodness!


Friday, November 14, 2008

Batman Sues DC!

Yep, that's right. Batman has sued DC Comics. But no, before you get all 'Grant Morrison was right, comics are gaining sentience' on me, it's not quite how it sounds. Unfortunately.

The real story is almost as bizarre though. Apparently, in a story found in greater detail here, the oweners of the Batman character, that would be DC Comics, are being sued by the mayor of the Turkish city of Batman. Yeah, there's a city of Batman in Turkey. Who knew?

Even better, according to Wikipedia, the city of Batman is situated on the Batman river, and is the capital of the Batman Province.

Holy geography Batman!

Seriously, does this have any (legal) legs whatsoever?

Monday, November 10, 2008

Know This Site: Atlas Comics

Atlas Comics is apparently a comic book store in Chicago. Apparently. I don't really know.

...So, you're wondering "Why is this website one that I would want to go to if that's the best endorsement he can muster?" Well, I'll tell you! Atlas' website, found here, is a rather unremarkable website. Very Web 1.0, if you will. What Atlas does have however, and is reason to recommend to anyone with a passing interest in comics, is three 'All Time Greatest' lists.

The last of the bunch is the 25 Best Covers, which is decent; but that one doesn't hold a flame to their fascinating lists on the 50 Greatest Inkers and the 100 Greatest Artists [Pencilers]. These are serious lists, the best that I've ever seen, and a very solid place to start when talking about any kind of Comic Canon. These lists are Wizard fluff. These are insightful, engaging and reasoned lists, full of artists you might not know but will come to love. I guarantee it. I'll not spoil their picks for the greatest in each respectable category, you should just go check out the site for yourself.

One thing to note: As I can tell from various references on the Atlas website, the lists were made at the beginning of the decade, or possibly at the end of the last. A bit of time has now elapsed since then. I ask you, intrepid readers (Readers? Reader? Anyone out there yet?): What are your 'crucial' additions to the lists as they stand? I don't mean what don't you agree with, or even which veteran artists do you believe were wrongly left off the list. I mean, which artist do you think have made the jump in the last seven or eight years to qualify for inclusion on the list?

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Wonder Woman Zeitgeist?





Two bits of interesting Wonder Woman news today. The first, and less interesting to me, is the Wonder Woman hoax that was started by a site calling itself Wonder-Who.com. Basically, the site was a fake viral marketing campaign, which seems like a bit of post-modern cannibalism, where actress Megan Fox was 'revealed' to be the new Wonder Woman. Ho hum on the choice, but it'll be interesting to see where this goes: questions like who was responsible for the site, and what's to be gained, if anything, other than a bit of notoriety. (There's more info on this story here if you're interested) I'm a bit bored with Wonder Woman speculation, especially since it seems less about who would play a good Diana of Themyscira (that's right, I'm going full nerd on this one bitches! I didn't even need the wiki for that...) and more about who looks like this generation's Linda Carter. Like I said, ho hum.

Second, more intriguing bit of Wonder news is that it appears that Beyonce Knowles (she of Destiny Child and "... and Jay-Z" fame) is interested in playing the role. I came across the story over at Newsarama this afternoon. It's an interesting thought, and I have to say that I think Beyonce could pull it off. Beyonce's a moderately talented actress (I'm much more impressed by her singing and dancing skills, of which she has plenty) and I think that she would work as long as she had a very strong director to both help push her and keep a unified vision for the film. It's funny, but (stealing this thought from my wife) I've always thought that tennis player Serena Williams would make an amazing Wonder Woman, at least physically. Williams is not a terribly talented actresss, and I don't think that she's right for the role. Except physically. I mean, look at the woman! She's got the build, as few women do, to be Wonder Woman. Being specific, not many women are that muscular and athletic while still retaining, to be blunt and to the point, the "tits and ass" of a typically sexy woman.




That said, Beyonce is not a bad choice either, again, physically. There's a bit more that I find interesting about this story of Beyonce possibly playing the Amazonian princess and of contemplating the idea of Serena Williams being "Wonder"ful, but I'll leave that for another day. It's worth watching to see if either of these news item pans out in any meaningful way in the coming weeks...

Friday, November 7, 2008

Top Five Fantastic Four Artists

This is a feature that I did intermittedly in my last blog. Thought I'd make my first actual blog post about the same subject. The comic medium is talked about often, but the establishment of an actual canon for the art form is really young and underdeveloped. Here's my take on the top artists on a singular title, character or story (in this case the Fantastic Four). Funny how something that seems like a given as a choice now, a year and a half later, seems crazy. (All these photos come from the amazing Grand Comic Book Database)

Honorable Mention
Art Adams




What a short run, but what a beauitful run! Few artists would be able to make this where they did work on a book barely featuring the main team, but Adams 'gets' the FF in a way that few people do. Amazing monsters and detail work. Has also done sporadic covers and posters.


Steve McNiven



Coming from CrossGen in the early aughts, McNiven made his name at Marvel with his lush, Art Nouveau inspired approach to the Fantastic Four. Brought an illustrative softness to the book, which is not an easy feat.


John Buscema



In the 'wasteland' between the historic peaks of the Fantastic Four (more on that later) there was the swipe-tastic run of Rich Buckler and... not much else. Except of course for Jolly John Buscema, who had a good run on the book in the early seventies. This run is not one of John's absolute best, but this is John Buscema, meaning it's still better than most everything out there.

Top Five

5. Alan Davis



Alan had two great runs on Fantastic Four, the first coming in the latre nineties, revamping the book after Marvel got the books back from Jim Lee, and the second was a mini-series a few years back which took place in the hypothetical future of the FF. Both runs showed off Davis' lush figure work and dynamic storytelling.


4. Mike Wieringo



Mike Wieringo has a cartoony, loose style not at once evident as being compatible with a book like the Fantastic Four. But with writer John Byrne he helmed one of the more memorable runs on the book, including possibly one of the best Dr. Doom stories ever, "Unthinkable". Mike died a couple years ago and is sadly missed.



3. Walt Simonson



When fans and critics site artists capable of returning a book back to its 'glory days' one name pops up more than most, and that name is Walt Simonson. Simonson is an artist who understand how the Fantastic Four works, what makes them tick, and what stories work best with them. His run in the late eighties reignited a passion for the book unseen since, well... since our next guy!


2. John Byrne



I said before, and I'll say again: There are our next two guys, and then there is everyone else, at least when it comes in regards to the Fantastic Four. John Byrne took over the book (as writer, penciler and inker!) in the eighties, fresh off his star-making run on X-Men. He revitalized the book, told exciting imaginative stories, and also added now-classic elements of his own. Terrax, Nova, "The Trial of Galactus", Invisible Woman... all of this is Byrne's legacy.


1. Jack Kirby



Really, can there be any other choice? A run that helped jump-start the Silver Age and solidfy Marvel Comics at the forefront? A run that is in contention of the greatest comic run of all time? A run responsible for the existence of Galactus, the Silver Surfer, Annihilus, the Black Panther, the Inhumans...and oh, the Fantastic Four themselves and Dr. Doom. A special mention goes to Joe Sinnott, who's inks helped make this arguably the best work of Kirby's career.


That's my list. Thoughts? Comments?

My New Blog

I've been meaning to get around to this for a while now. This is my new blog, replacing my more informal one which I had as part of my MySpace account. This blog will serve as my commentary and criticism on popular culture, specifically comic books, art history and music; and in addition I'll be using this space to show everyone the exciting stuff I'm working on. Please leave comments as you feel the desire, for the blog posts or for the art.