Foto Friday!

It's Foto Friday! The weekend is a'callin', but let's get in our photo-referenced goodness for the week shall we?

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This one was incredibly fun. I did it as a joint Christmas present (yeah, it's late, waddaya want?!?) and Thank you to a pair of incredible friends. The thank you is for introducing me to The Walking Dead. Most of you will know it as the television show currently burning up AMC, but it was a comic first and is still going in that format. It's one of those things I'd been wanting to get into for some time, but just never got around to. I noticed, a recent shindig at said friends' home that they had a near-full run of the series, and I spent the next few weeks devouring the trades.

I'm passing this off to them tomorrow. We'll see how it goes over. (And yep, the cat's theirs. Cutest cat ever. We bonded recently.)

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ZOMBIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Manic Wednesday!

Welcome back! It's Manic Mon-...Wednesday! Well, it's also Christmas recovery time, so it actually doesn't feel that manic around here, the opposite actually. The presents are opened, the family(ies) are hosted and the kid is happy. Life goes on though and 2012 is just round the corner. Time's a'wastin'... let's do this!

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How was everyone's Christmas? Things went pretty smooth around these parts. My wife had the genius idea of avoiding the malls to get all her shopping done. I wish I'd gone the same route. -sigh- Never again, San Diego malls, never again!
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My wife got a me (among other things) a swanky case for a tennis ball that I caught at the 2008 US Open. It was hit into the crowd after Roger Federer won his match, and it's still maybe my favorite sports memory. I never got a proper case for it while in New York, and then we moved out to San Diego and it stayed in a closet until remember by my wife. It's got a purdy, new home now and it makes me smile when I look up at it from my desk.

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Anyone see Hugo? Was it as good as everyone is saying it is?

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Speaking of good stuff, how the hell did I miss Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen doing a cover of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair"?!? How, I ask you, how?!? My god, it's amazing. It's here, go check it out. You're welcome.

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I'm working on Hatchepsut day and night right now, and hacking away at it as best I can. The first page is now penciled and lettered, and , well.. here ya go! Thoughts, comments, the highest of praise... all of it is welcome. Mostly. ;-)

Manic Monday!

Man, the holidays are insane! And we've still got two weeks until Christmas! Time's a'wasting! It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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I've been writing for Giant Fire Breathing Robot for over a half a year now, and the guys and gals there have been great. If you haven't checked it out you should! If not for me, then for the other awesome writing on television, comics, movies, games and all things geek.

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One of the best television shows on the air right now has to be CBS' The Good Wife. It is incredibly nuanced, dynamic, involving television and the entire cast is stellar. They really know how to set up a good narrative for the season, explore it, twist it and then break it to find something else inside. Lots of shows will upset the status quo and shift directions season to season, but none currently do it with the heart and conviction of The Good Wife. Go stream an episode and check it out for yourself.

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Speaking of television, I'm still liking Glee but damn... that show has been all over the map this season. Good great, some horrendous episodes and most dancing in the middle.

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Over at Comics Should Be Good, one of the Internet's best comic sites (after GFBR of course!) I've got a piece in a contest to become a new sketch artist for the site. It'd be very nifty if you would head on over there and vote for me. It's super easy: The link is here, find my name, check it, click okay and you're done! And I'm happy. :-)

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Work continues this week on my Egyptian graphic novel. Here's a taste of the intro I'm working on. I've been able to get incredible feedback from friends and family, comic and non-comic readers, and they've really helped me nail the feel and direction of this project long before I'd even gotten to the boards. This page will probably pop up on this blog again later this week, after it's done and I've got a day to place it in. Till then... Egypt!

Manic Mon-... Thursday!

Welcome back to my artblog. I've slowly but surely gotten this thing back up and running. Drop me a line, leave a comment, all caps and really angry if you want... I love it all!

It's Manic Mon-... er, Thursday now. There's art to get done, comics to be read and a kid to be entertained. Let's get this show on the road!

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I finally got around to watching "Horrible Bosses" this week. We had a free evening (what with the kid having a sleepover with her meme) and we had a nice meal, and wanted to have a low-key movie to round out the evening (Melancholia, which I do want to see, was naturally discounted). I'd heard good things about "Horrible Bosses" so we decided to give it a try. It was entertaining, and I think the whole cast did a great job. Colin Farrell, Jennfire Aniston and Kevin Spacey all did great jobs as the 'bosses', and Aniston in particular did a hilarious job with the script that was given to her. I'd recommend it if you're looking for an easy, entertaining comedy.

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Rolling Stone has now come out with its annual list of Best Albums and Best Singles for 2011. Predictably, Adele is topping both of those lists. I can't fault "Rolling In The Deep" at all; that song rocked and had some major staying power. The album itself I haven't listened to enough to judge whether its top spot was worthy or not. Thoughts?

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It is cold lately! Well, for San Diego anyways. Just sayin'.

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Second round is up for Comics Should Be Good's The Line Is Drawn Tryout! (Holy Crap in a basket, that's a mouthful) (That's what she said) ....Sorry, too much coffee there.. .Anyways, yeah, go check it out. My contribution to this week's theme of Mash-Ups is The Spirit meets Batman (specifically the old cranky Bats from Dark Knight Returns). The voting is happening here.

Go vote for me! ...Please?

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Speaking of the Spirit, in looking for reference I stumble upon this awesome article discussing the way-ahead-of-its-time title modifications of the book by creator Will Eisner. It's a great article with some phenomenal art. Go get your art on.

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Speaking of art, here's the aforementioned Batman/ Spirit piece. Lots of fun with this one.



See you tomorrow!

Egyptian Thursday!

Welcome back to my artblog. I've slowly but surely gotten this thing back up and running. Drop me a line, leave a comment, all caps and really angry if you want... I love it all!

Anyways, today is Egyptian Thursday and that's when I show you a piece of a bit of a piece that I'm working on that deals with Egypt in some way. Ancient Egypt anyways, no Tahrir Square pieces on Thursday, sadly. I've started work on a graphic novel set in Egypt's pharaonic past and focusing on Hatchepsut, Egypt's first female pharaoh. It's been a blast so far, script to thumbnails and now the pencils.

The section of the story that this page comes from deals not with Hatchepsut directly, but with the Myth of Osiris, Egypt's god of the underworld, which is a fascinating read all by itself. This particular page is the big climax, when Osiris descends to the underworld to rule forever and his wife Osiris gives birth to their son Horus, who will become the new king of Egypt.

First off, here's the thumbnail. It's pretty tiny; the sketch book it's in is no bigger than a moleskin. The size doesn't really matter for me when it comes to thumbnails; more, it needs to effectively tell the story and convey the emotion intended. I had my "Aha!" moment with this page when I drew upon (no pun intended) my Catholic heritage for that central image. The rest just fell into place afterwards.



The penciled page as it stands looks a lot like my thumbnail. Sometimes a page is just right, and this was one of them. So far at least, I'll find something I hate about it tomorrow I'm sure! The next step will be tightening a couple areas and lettering it, and then eventually inking it. I'll keep you posted.



Let me know what you think, or just drop a line to say hi. See you tomorrow!

The Missing Ink

It's the Missing Ink! Yeah, it's been -ahem- missing for a bit (along with the whole blog really). But it's back! I've been working on something that I'm not really supposed to talk about yet, but I just finished a patch panel and I thought I'd share it with you fine folks!

Anyways, here it is. The penciler is Jeff Edwards (his DeviantArt page is here) and as you can see, his pencils are pretty damn tight. Still, he's left a little bit of wiggle room, for one; and also, throughout our working together we reached a point where I'm comfortable pushing some stuff and adding little bits here and there. (The penciled panel looks wider because of the trim line, which I left in)

Hopefully I'll be able to talk more about this project soon. Regardless, glad I could share this little bit with you.

See you tomorrow!

Manic Monday.. er, Tuesday!

Greetings my blog readers (or is it reader? I've been negligent, I don't expect there's many of you out there right now). It's Monday and the Thanksgiving week is over. I am about forty pounds heavier (thanks to Pre-Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving and various other get-togethers) but a lot more rested. It's Manic Tuesday, let's do this!

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Did you see that Jim Lee and Geoff John's Justice League #1 is going to a fifth printing? Eegads, that's a sizable accomplishment! I cannot for the life of me remember the last issue of any comic that went to five printings. Congrats Jim Lee and Geoff Johns, and to DC Comics. The 52 experiment is looking less experimental and more rock-solid every day.

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I saw the new Muppets film this past week (I told you I was busy!). I went with a few friends and my daughter. I thought the movie was pretty damn good, and my daughter loved it. Seriously, she did not move the entire time, and she's three! At one point I tried to hug her and she shooed me off, saying "Dad, Dad, let's just watch the movie."

Parents, you will always lose to Kermit. Always.

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George W. Bush, I just learned on Rachel Maddow, has been photographed a lot rubbing bald men's heads. I don't really know what to make of that, other than the fact that I never ever want to be bald now, especially in Texas.

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Your art piece for this late start of the week is a funny little take on a classic comic cover. The cover is Thor #337 (you can find it here) and I decided that the world should see what that cover would look like if we subbed in the musical artist Prince instead. So I did. Here we go!




Pretty fun. Might just have to try this again sometime.

See you tomorrow!

Manic Monday!

It's Manic Monday! The sun's out today but it's been raining a lot this month. It must be fall (what can I say, it's San Diego; we measure the seasons like that) and the pile of work on my desk is beckoning. Let's make this return a good but fast one!

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Holy crap, it's been awhile! I've had a LOT going on lately (all of it good, so no complaining there) and the blog kinda slipped through. But I'm back in full effect. (Famous last words right?)

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How's the DC 52 launch been working out for you? Retailers, readers, casual observers? The two comic stores that I frequent have have had most stuff in stock, but it's all been moving briskly. I still don't have a Justice League! Forth printing anyone?

One of the stores is charging pretty inflated prices for scarce issues and I'm not sold on the idea. I understand supply/demand (I'm an artist, but there's some non-art smarts bumping around up there. Somewhere) but for a line of comics designed to be a massive jumping-on point it seems short-sighted to make a quick five extra bucks now but maybe lose a loyal reader of that book who would be spending that extra three a month.

Is it just me?

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Last week was a lot of thumbnailing, which is not that much fun to see, and a studio renovation, which I guess isn't really that much fun to see either... Productive though! I'll start rolling out the pencils for you to see as I get 'em done. Get 'Em Done!

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I just recently saw the 1984 re-release of Fritz Lang's classic silent film Metropolis. Metropolis is generally thought of as the first sci-fi movie. It was released in 1927, but in a heavily-edited version that left out a lot of back story, elaboration and cool stuff. Over the years, snippets are found here and there, in random warehouses and film lots and they're re-added and re-released in theaters. The 1984 edition of Metropolis is WAY more than just that (though it does have footage not in the original release). The '84 release had a musical score, sound effects and limited colorization all overseen by disco impresario Giorgio Moroder. In addition, songs for the film were done by Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, Adam Ant and Freddie Mercury.

Holy. Shit. It was amazing! Your mileage may vary, and vary WILDLY, but I thought it was a brave, exciting, and well-executed modern take on the classic film. Like Picasso riffing on Goya, it's a bold statement of inspiration and indebtedness. Amazing. I saw it at a local art film theater, but it's available now on Netflix Instant Streaming. Check it out.

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One of my more exciting projects recently was a caricature piece unlike any I've done. I was contacted to do a caricature of a guy and his girlfriend where he "hires me" (quotes will make sense very soon) to draw them together in the park as a cool thing to do. I meet with them, draw the two of them, and then turn the drawing around....

...and it's actually a drawing of him down on one knee proposing to her.

It was an awesome idea (why didn't I think of that?!? Haha) and I had a blast doing it. The day was beautiful, she was genuinely surprised and everything went as planned.

And yes, she said yes!

Here's my initial sketches for it



He liked 'B' a bit more (I'd agree) and I drew that up with their features roughed in.



I then did a finished drawing of them, and left the background for the day of, so I'd have something to do while I pretended to draw them! I gotta say, it's not easy pretending to draw. "I'm an artist, not an actor Jim!" Anyways, enough yapping. Here's the finished piece! (And congrats again to the happy couple!)

See you tomorrow everybody!

Egyptian Thursday!

Welcom back! It's Thursday and that means it's time to get in some Egyptian Art! A little while back I did a pretty well done drawing of Heket; I thought it was about time I went back and did another anthropomorphic female deity.

Cuz you know, there's just so many of them.

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Taweret is the Ancient Egyptian goddess of birth and fertility. She's a pretty fearsome looking god, with the head and body of a hippopotamus, the back of a crocodile and the paws of a lion. Taweret basically combines fierce, protective animals into one being. She also sometimes is shown with seven stars running the length of her back, in connection with her identification with the constellation the Big Dipper.

There's a lot there for an artist to play with. Let's see what we can come up with.

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Not a lot to go on...yet. Gonna work on this a bit more on the weekend. See what I can get it to. Pretty fun, this hippo-woman-lion thing...

The Missing Ink

It's the Missing Ink! Yeah, it's been -ahem- missing for a bit. But it's back! For the last few weeks I've been posting updates abut a small comic I was doing for the ACLU. Fun stuff. Much different than what I usually do, but that's the fun of something like this.

Anyways, it's all done now and I thought I'd go ahead and post it in its 'raw' state; raw of course meaning that the logos aren't in place nor a band of graphics runnning along the background of the upper right quadrant.

I really enjoyed the inking. Knowing it needed to be easily read meant I needed to not get to fussy with it. Kept me honest.

Anyways, here it is.

See you tomorrow!
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Manic Monday! (Okay, Tuesday)

Hope everybody out there had a good Fourth of July. It was rockin' around the Nunez house: neighborhood parade early in the morning, small group of friends over for BBQ and beer in the afternoon and then a night of Trivia, hosted by my team. (We rocked it, I gotta say)

Now? Back to the grindstone and all that.

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A couple new posts are up at Giant Fire Breathing Robot by yours truly. One is an opinion piece about comics and movies and the funny dance they do with each other. The other is the first in a continuing series I'm doing about Uncollected Classics; comic book gems that haven't been re-released since their publication. There's a lot of great stuff out there that still goes unrecognized. I'm hoping to spotlight as many of them as I can. First up, a Gene Colan drawn issue of Secret Origins.

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I love a handful of pizza places here in San Diego, but I always end up missing New York City pies. Damn you NYC and your impossibly high standards.

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The same can be said of bagels, but multiplied by... a bajillion, we'll say.

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I can't think of a more "fun" series in the 1980's than DC's "DC Comics Presents", a team-up book that paired Superman with various other heroes. It generally had a high level of talent, on average. Totally worth looking for in a quarter bin at your local store or comic convention. I'm writing about one of my favorite issues of the run for my next installment of "Uncollected Classics". I'll keep you posted.

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Here's a sample of a caricature I'm working on at the moment. This is a rough, but at this point it's important to start getting the likenesses down and to make sure the composition is suited to the project.

See ya tomorrow!

Manic Monday!

Things have been piling up, but this week we get this train back on track.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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Lady Gaga's album has been out for over a month now and there's definitely some high spots and definitely some low spots for me. One of those high spots right now is "The Edge of Glory", which is also the third official single from the album. It's been receiving attention too because it was sadly one of the last recordings made by saxophone legend Clarence Clemons before he passed away. The video's out for the song here.

It's very stripped down, by Gaga standards, but I like it and the juxtaposition of the intimacy of the video (featuring just her and Clemons and a New York City soundstage row of brownstones) with the bombast of the song.

My favorite moment's got to be at 4:01; it's in the middle eight and Gaga bends down and kisses the sidewalk like a lover or a loved one. It completely and emotionally encapsulates the relationship between an artist and the city-as-muse, especially and personally New York City.

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The line-up for the DCnU Justice League seems to have been released; randomly it was first spotted on a cup on Facebook. I'm not sold on the character redesigns, at least in this image. I don't imagine that the intricacy of...well, everything... is going to last. It can't really. The extra lines on the Superman and Batman uniforms, the needlessly complicated boots for Superman, Batman and Flash, Cyborg (all of him!)... none of that is feasible for a wide range of artistic styles to try to keep straight.

It's a start, I guess.

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I know have more bourbon than I know what to do with. Seriously. I got a lot of bourbon for my birthday. A lot. I'm not complaining of course! I just never thought I'd have a bourbon collection going. New favorite? Maker's Mark 46. Shit's good.

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Comic legend Gene Colan recently passed. He was a true legend, and an artistic that could tackle anything. I've got a post up at Giant Fire Breathing Robot if you want to read some more.

R.I.P Mr. Colan.

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My ACLU comic is just wrapping up. Here's a finished panel from the thing. I'll see if I can post up the whole thing when it's done; I've gotta check with them on that. Till tomorrow!

Manic Monday!

It's cloudy here in Sunny San Diego. It's gotta happen at least once a year, right? There's work, work, work on the desk for today, but this weekend was fun, fun, fun. The batteries are charged and ready to go.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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I downloaded the original cast recording for "The Book of Mormon" this past week. (Legally of course; thank you Amazon!) It is...amazing. I generally enjoy listening to scores and soundtracks while I'm working, but this one might not be such a good idea. I was stopping every minute or so to laugh. F'ing brilliant work.

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Grant Morrison will not be leaving Batman with the reboot of the DC universe in August. Huzzah! It wasn't ever really in doubt but-...why does this sound so familiar. Oh yeah! I wrote about this in my newest article over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot. (Go!Go!Go!)

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The Graphic Novel Project at High Tech High Chula Vista has launched their newest venture. May I present... "Dino In Dino"! Check it out, more to come soon.

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I'm still in the midst of various assignments. Good thing. My ACLU comic is going smoothly. There's been a correction needed on part of it, but nothing big. Shifting and moving of various pieces. Here's a sample of where I'm starting today. I'll try to get a finished version of this live for tomorrow.

Manic Monday!

Whew! This past weekend was the Rock N'Roll Marathon here in Sunny San Diego. Yours truly took part in it (for the second year running, no pun intended). It was a lot of fun, and it's always an awesome atmosphere. There was an Elvis Impersonator running, and well; he almost beat me to the finish line. I'd passed him up around mile eight, but as I started to hit the wall he passed me around mile twenty four. "Fuck you Elvis!" became my ralying cry for that last couple miles.

And yes, I beat him.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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The most awesome book of all awesome books is quite possibly "Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.". Really, it's amazing. I'd read the book in its monthly installments back in 2006-7, and I'd always look back fondly on the zaniness. I decided to get the softcover "Ultimate Edition" of the book, which collects all twelve issues, along with all the Q-and-A's and letterpages. It was impossible to put down.

It's on loan to a friend, and then to another friend after that. So...get in line. Or, get your own. Now....Read the Book!

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My new article's up over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot. It's about Grant Morrison taking over the reins of Superman, and what questions and ponderings that's inspired. Morrison's got a long and varied history with Superman, having written the most critically acclaimed Superman story of the last thirty years (All-Star Superman) as well as the most exciting pitch that never happened (the Superman 2000 Proposal, alongside Peyer, Waid and Millar).

Check out my article here.

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I am still sore. Still so very sore...

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What's everyone's favorite tracks from the Born This Way album? Lately I've been rocking the country/rock ending trifecta of "You & I", "Edge of Glory" and "Born This Way (Country Road)". Lot of punch in those eleven minutes.

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I'm in the middle of an ACLU project of the moment. Here's how it's coming along. Enjoy the week!

Wednesday Update

No 'Missing Ink' piece for today. I'm in the middle of a comic for the local branch of the ACLU and that's where my energy's going. Fun stuff. Well, I don't know that fun is the word, but it's reallky interesting to work on something, as an artist where the majority of what I'm doing is conveying information. Stuff's supposed to look "cool" of course, but that's a distant second to the necessity of the instructions, information and contacts being provided.

Here's a peak:



See you tomorrow! We'll see if I don't have something a little more 'kewl'. Haha...

Turnaround Tuesday!

(Intro if you're new: Turnarounds are a great way to get a feel for a character and to see if you can get a handle on their look and personality, even more than a pin-up. The fact that you're drawing them in three fairly static poses means that the defining elements of the character have to be displayed in small, subtle ways. And they're fun!)

This week's turnaround, as I mentioned yesterday, is from the Green Lantern section of the DC universe. His name is Saint Walker, and he is more or less the diametric opposite of the last character I did one of these for, Larfleeze.

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I wanted Walker's turnaround to work in a juxtaposition with Larfleeze. Open arms holding nothing instead of a closed grasp of a power battery. A slight smile instead of a sneer. That kind of thing. I think that my version looks pretty 'on model'; the original design (I think by Ethan Van Sciver) was a little complicated, but was then streamlined by either Doug Mahnke or Ivan Reis. It's a good costume, though I wish there was a greater concentration of the blacks of the costume on his lower half instead of upper. Just a personal preference, but I feel like the blacks on bottom would help the character look a little more weightless.

Maybe. I could be wrong. Hope you like it. See you next week!

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Manic Monday!

It's the middle of the French Open, it's Memorial Day (formerly Decoration Day; who knew?) and I've got a lot on my plate (most of it art related, which is great). Let's do this!

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Speaking of the French Open, I was watching Novak Djokovic the other day and I started thinking about comics. (Know me long enough and it's bizarre combination I'll often find myself making) Novak Djokovic, for those of you that don't know (and why don't you?) has been on a tear in tennis lately. 'Tear' actually doesn't do it justice (it's been five months now) and that's not the part of it that's intriguing to me.

It's always interesting to me when athletes, musicians or artists make what seems a leap in their progression. Steps are so often incremental and invisible, much like trying to notice a child growing. Sometimes though there's a point where you go, "Man! That guy's different from last week!" Just interesting.

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Summer in San Diego is like the museums, events and art in New York. You pay for the culture in New York City (and do you!) and in San Diego you pay for the weather (sweet, glorious sunshine!) Having a kid makes me value the later in a way I haven't, ever.

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Have you been over to Giant Fire Breathing Robot yet? Awesome-ness.

What? Why yes, I am writing for them. And yes, I'm still totally impartial about their awesome-ness. Completely.

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Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is an amazing albums. Not without its faults, of course, but a great work of art. I think I'm even going to do a full length post on it. Kinda rambling, kinda fun, kinda Jesus, kinda Madonna.

Later this week.

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I'm working on some pages with Supergirl and Batgirl right now, which I've loosely adapted from an old 70's story where they fight Cleopatra. Yeah, pretty awesome. Anyways, here's a couple pages of roughs till I get something more substantial going.

Egyptian Thursday! (Hetek)

Here's a piece that I've finally finished inking! (It wasn't that long ago that I penciled it, but it slipped down the list of priorities a bit when it came time to finish the damn thing!)

The lady's name is Heket (Ms. She Who Hastens The Birth if you're nasty) and she was the head midwife of Ancient Egypt. Interestingly, one of her titles was 'I Am The Resurrection' and this led to her being at least respected by early Christians; they often used amulets depicting that phrase and her image.

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This piece started off pretty clear in my mind. I did a little, and very rough, thumbnail in my sketchbook but I more or less knew exactly how it was going to look. I don't know if any of it's clear but heres it is.

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At this point there's kind of two options I give myself in dealing with photo reference for something like this. I can either find something close and adjust the picture and composition accordingly, or I can allow for a greater amount of time looking for a photo that looks 'just right'. I decided to go with the second option here. I'll lean towards the former in cases where I feel like my idea isn't all the way there; the improvisation of a change in my layout can be exciting. This time though the image was so solid in my mind that I decided to stick with it.

First I found a couple images and cobbled them together to get the body. The lighting in the photo on the left particularly appealed to me.



Next I needed a frog model. Haha. It did feel a bit like casting. Normal when you're using people, but a little...weird... when you're dealing with a frog.



And then of course, frogs. Lots. Of. Frogs.

Then some more.

(I'll leave those off, there's too damn many of 'em)

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I penciled, and then inked the piece. Here's what she looks like.

I'm officially over frogs! lol No, I'll end up using them (and her) again.

I'll need to to justify all the reference I dug up!

Manic (Not) Monday!

It's Monday! Er... okay it's not, it's Friday. But I'm trying to get my blog something like on schedule. It's beautiful outside, Go, Diego, Go!'s on in the background, the peoples are running around for Memorial Day and the coffee's brewing. Let's do this!

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I've got a new computer! It arrived a couple weeks ago now. It's one of the new iMacs. I'm incredibly excited. I'm going to start dipping my toe into the digital production end of comics. I'll let you know how the experiement goes. In the meanwhile, here's a book recommendation: The DC Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics. I know, not the most catchy title. But everything else is great about this book. It's a huge resource of how to create comics digitally, and also on how to adapt a traditional (pen and paper) workflow to something somewhere in between traditional and digital. Written by Freddie Williams II and priced at a little over twenty bucks, it's a great investment.

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I'd seen such a wide range of opinions on the new Thor movie that I had absolutely NO idea how the movie will actually be. After seeing it I'm very in the middle. Many things were done really well, some were done not so well, but there was plenty that was closer to the former and that makes me happy. Oh, and this.

I think I'll have something more of a review soon. Maybe.

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What's that? I haven't talked about "Genius, Isolated", the new book about Alex Toth, yet? That's because I already have, suckers. Go read my review over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot, where I'm a regular contributor (at least until they kick me out).

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Speaking of which, Alex Toth inked by Vince Colletta is the most bizarre idea anyone ever had. But it happened! In Hot Wheels #3 (1969). I don't know what's more amusing, picturing Dick Giordano (who was editor) when he realizes what's about to go down, or Toth, when he (I'm positive) stormed into Dick's office, demanding Vinny never touch his pencils again.

Man. Comics, everybody.

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I'm busy at work on my next turnaround. It's a recent character, and another one from the Green Lantern universe.

A preview:

Turnaround Tuesday!

(Intro if you're new: Turnarounds are a great way to get a feel for a character and to see if you can get a handle on their look and personality, even more than a pin-up. The fact that you're drawing them in three fairly static poses means that the defining elements of the character have to be displayed in small, subtle ways. And they're fun!)

This week's is definitely fun. A little while ago I drew Lucia as an Orange Lantern. I had so much fun with that one that Lantern I figured I might as well continue the trend! This week's turnaround is Larfleeze, the original Orange Lantern. Man, he's fun. He's basically an id gone wild, gluttony and appetite and greed and obsession... really, pick any two of those things and you've got a fun-to-draw character. He's only been around for a few years now, but there's been a few artists who have drawn him already. My favorite, by a margin, is Doug Mahnke.

Doug Mahnke is the artist on Green Lantern right now, and the man is a stand-up example of consistent quality art. He's done the vast majority of the last two year's worth of issues on the book, all while keeping a (more or less) monthly schedule. His work has a slightly grotesque or macabre feel to it, which really works with the strange creatures he's called on to draw. His Larfleeze is bizarre, comical, scheming and melodramatic. Milton's Satan with a power battery, basically. (Here's some Mahnke goodness)

I wanted to keep that energy going in this piece. I got pretty close IMO. Check it.

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