Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 20, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Perphanauts Vol. 00: Dark Days is a collection of First Blood and Second Chances mini-series which has been a bit hard to find up until this release (which comes out this Wednesday). I’ve always liked the flat but bold use of color that illustrators Craig Rousseau and Rico Renzi bring to this book. This collection is nice as it shows the origins of the series which you can get a glimpse of in this preview: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Guest Author on Sep 19, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Adventures in Cartooning: How to Turn Your Doodles Into Comics By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, Alexis Frederick-Frost
In a story similar to Shrek or Rapunzel, the knight needs on an adventure that leads him to a ferocious dragon, so with a faithful yet consistently hungry steed and a wise talking fairy. The knight’s travels changes with each panel, and is eventually confronted with talking vegetables and a dragon that lives to eat nothing but candy, or breathe fire. Read more…
Tags: First Second
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 19, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I just love the ironic pairing of Linus from Peanuts with this very cheesetastic t-shirt slogan! This design is available from Mighty Fine t-shirts which has an entire line of Peanuts t-shirts including this wonderfully self censored Charlie Brown: Read more…
Tags: Peanuts
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 15, 2010 in
Comic Books 
In the 1970s, Martin Goodman sold Marvel Comics, the company he had founded. He then promptly founded Atlas Comics with strong support for creators’ rights, hired comic heavyweights like Steve Ditko, created a stable of original characters, and … disappeared. But, channeling comic book characters, Atlas refuses to stay dead. Deadline reports that Goodman’s grandson Jason is relaunching the Atlas line, starting with two original characters: Phoenix and the Grim Ghost. Of note is the fact that the film and TV rights for all of Atlas’ characters are available — maybe this means we can stop rebooting Spiderman every ten years.
Read more…
Tags: Atlas Comics, Marvel Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 11, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Gangsta is a new manga series that will be put out by Comic Bunch. This artwork is just a preview, but I love the look of the character designs which feels like a cross between samurai and a wild west film: Read more…
Tags: Japan, manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 5, 2010 in
Comic Books 
The Devil is So Cute is a collection of the work of manga artist Takako Shimura. What I really love about this cover is not that it’s just a good manga cover, but that the fact that it’s a beautiful illustration and well designed. Honestly when was the last time you found an American comic book that featured the color combination of chartreuse, pale yellow and mauve with polka dots? And even though I can’t read Japanese the ultra thin typography in gray looks wonderfully elegant.
Tags: Japan, shōjo manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 5, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Could it be that maids are about to go out of style? Shown above is a promotional illustration for Military High School Joshi-Kouhei which will be a new manga series by Matsumoto Zirou in the monthly comic magazine Bunch. The series will harken back to the good old days of manga and anime and prominently feature sci fi themes in the tradition of Leiji Matsumoto (which I think is a good thing).
Tags: Leiji Matsumoto, manga, Science Fiction
Posted by Gia Manry on Sep 3, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Television 
So word on the streets is that Neil Gaiman’s seminal ’90s comic Sandman is going to be adapted into a TV series. In the grand old tradition of nerds being horrified of adaptations of their favorite works, I have a few words to share. Read more…
Tags: neil gaiman, sandman
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Covered is a blog that only covers artists re-creating classic comic book covers. What’s funny is that some of the creations are very literal while others are highly interpreted — and in the end you get a wonderful lesson on what made the original illustration unique and get a glimpse of the personality of the fan artist through their take. Shown above is is the original 1978 cover of Power Man and Iron Fist by Dave Cockrum and on the left is the more humorous tribute by Maurice Fontenot. Below is a Transformers cover from 1984 and a recreation by Lord Mitz on the right: Read more…
Tags: Fan Art
Posted by Gia Manry on Aug 27, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I’m more of a manga girl than an American comics girl- and what U.S. comics I read are rarely superheroes -but the Joker has always been one of my favorite villains. And not only because his presence in the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon usually included the delicious Harley Quinn’s. (Okay, it was mostly that, but still not completely.) And in this comic strip in the style of Calvin & Hobbes, which is credited within the image to Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, who co-created the 2008 The Joker volume, proves why the Joker is so much cooler than Lex Luthor.
And, if you think about it a little more deeply, why Batman is cooler than Superman. Read more…
Tags: Batman, Superman
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Aug 25, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Star Trek 
Have you ever wondered what Kirk would have done if he was stuck with Wesley Crusher? Actually, we already know the answer. All kidding aside though, Pot Luck Comics’ webcomic parody “Ensign Sue Must Die!” shows us just what happens when a seventeen year-old girl joins the crew of the Enterprise. While it has its fair share of cuteness, they’ve tossed in enough fan service to make it worthwhile for anyone who loved the original series, or Abram’s recent reboot. The strip has already finished its run, but you can still view all 32 strips online, or sport $6 for a printed copy via Interrobang.
Read more…
Tags: Star Trek, webcomics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 23, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Many folks think that Miffy is a Japanese bunny, but that simply isn’t the case! The credit for the kawaii creature goes to cartoonist Dick Bruna who was born today in 1927 in the Netherlands. 82 year old Bruna created Miffy in 1955 when his wife and child spotted a rabbit near the holiday house which he then captured on the page. To date he has authored over 120 books including Queen Miffy which came out in 2007. Read more…
Tags: Children's Books, Miffy
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 23, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Videogames 
The minute I looked at this illustration it caught my eye right away as the lead protagonist in the image is surrounded by a sea of screen shots of roll playing videogames and an assortment of brightly colored baubles and baked goods. This artwork is a promotional illustration for a new manga series that’s running in the latest issue of Margaret magazine and from my crude translation the name of the series is Controller Prince. From what I can see the manga focuses of the romantic adventures of a young lady online who plays “a good game of love”. Read more…
Tags: Japan, manga, shōjo manga
Posted by Gia Manry on Aug 21, 2010 in
Comic Books 
If you’re the kind of person who buys groceries somewhere other than 7-11, then you’re already aware, but for the college kids out there: there’s a HUGE egg recall going on right now, which just expanded and now includes some 400 million eggs that may be contaminated with salmonella.
The whole affair reminds me of someone. Someone…from Garfield and Friends. Read more…
Tags: Cartoons, Garfield
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 19, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I admit that I’m a manga fanboy at heart, but that doesn’t mean I’ll overlook a great cover illustration just because it’s published by DC Comics. My favorites are always the offbeat titles rather than the superheroes prancing around n their undies. So for your viewing pleasure I’ve gathered the six strongest starting with the above illustration by Simon Bisley for Hellblazer #273 which has a wonderful 80s sensibility to it. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 17, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Yes I know the that the name of this book sounds like Image Comics talked to an SEO expert and took all of the top trends and baked them into a title: However if that was true they would have included the key words Vampires and Zombies as well! This series has impressed me since it came out and issue #8 which comes out this Wednesday is no disappointment as Riley Rossmo’s drawings keep you eye moving from panel to panel in the book. The minimal color palette is also a nice touch as it add just enough to the artwork without becoming too distracting — and the drawings in those panels remind me of Bill Sienkiewicz too: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 16, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I’ve been really enjoying following the comic book King City which is by Brandon Graham and presented by Tokyopop. Issue #11 will be out this Wednesday and is well worth checking out. What I love about Brandon’s work is that his drawings have a highly animated feeling to them and have just a slight sense of surrealism that reminds me of Krazy Kat by George Herriman. The only thing I regret about this series is that they didn’t color it, although the black-and-white pages show off the artwork pretty well: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 15, 2010 in
Cinema,
Comic Books 
Come Monday those in power in Hollywood will be looking at the box office from this weekend and the stakes are high. If Scott Pilgrim vs. The World does badly you can bet that Hollywood will never touch an indie comic book for many years to come — but on the other hand if it does well it may open the door for other indie comic books to be made info feature length films. Right now when Hollywood thinks of comic books they just see action adventure films with superheroes running around into their underwear, however if Scott Pilgrim can score stories that aren’t about “stuff blowing up” might have a fair chance at the screen. In return that would encourage more folks to read indie comics and then the big guys like Marvel and DC might take more chances. And the price for this? Just one movie ticket and a bucket of popcorn to change the world a little bit.
Tags: Scott Pilgrim
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 13, 2010 in
Animation,
Comic Books 
If you’re a Clamp fan and are lucky enough to be in japan this August you may be able to get your hands on this very cute Kobato Hanato figurine from the manga (and anime) series Kobato (こばと。). Also included in the package is the blue stuffed dog Yogisanmo and a handy traveling bag which will set you back 1890 yen: Read more…
Tags: Anime, Japan, manga, shōjo manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 8, 2010 in
Comic Books 
One of my joys is to walk through a Japanese bookstore and to gawk at all of the beautiful cover illustrations — they’re always so inspiring as a designer. Although I should note that with this collection that these these illustrations aren’t all covers for comic books — but sometimes covers for books that are done in a manga style. Shown above is Hoshikawa Ginza 4-Chome which caught my eye due the wonderful use of pastel colors. What follows are ten illustrations from Japan that recently caught my eye: Read more…
Tags: Japan, manga, shōjo manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 8, 2010 in
Comic Books 
The second issue of X-Force: Sex and Violence will be out this Wednesday and I have to say that the artwork by Gabrielle Del’otto is some of the best work that Marvel is producing lately. Gabrielle has broken away from the pen-and-ink outline tradition of comics and every panel of this book is an action packed painting. The added realism also breaks up the absurd look of superheroes prancing around in their tights which makes so many Marvel and DC titles look laughable. In additional to that Gabrielle has taken the Japanese manga layout of pane placement to heart making each page a treat to look at: Read more…
Tags: Marvel
Posted by Gia Manry on Aug 6, 2010 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into comics, or even only writer Neil Gaiman’s brilliant series Sandman, you may be aware that Gaiman just came out of a legal battle with Image Comics and Todd McFarlane over what royalties he’s owed from sales based on characters derived from Spawn, which Gaiman originally co-created. The jury ruled in Gaiman’s favor, and while McFarlane took the classy way out by not saying anything mean about anyone, Larsen has managed to spread some vitriol via Twitter. Read more…
Tags: Image Comics, neil gaiman, spawn
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Hobbies and Collections 
These vintage Peanuts toys come straight from the pages of the 1968 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog. You could get two of the characters for $5.30 or the entire set for $12.90 and as you can see you had your pick of Charlie Brown, Schroeder (sporting a Beethoven sweater), Lucy, Snoopy and Linus clutching his trademark blanket. On the same page there was also a selection of Huckleberry Hound and Pogo toys: Read more…
Tags: 1968, Hanna-Barbera, Peanuts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 1, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Horror 
Being an manga fanboy Daomu caught my attention: It’s a upcoming graphic novel which is based on a series of Chinese novels and will be released by Image Comics. The adaption into English is being done by Concept Art House and the series has already done well in China. Manga has done well in the United States, but this may be a chance or Chinese manhua to gain a foothold. Here’s a preview of the book: Read more…
Tags: China, Image Comics
