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!