Figurines for Manga Reading Fangurls
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2010 in Comic Books, Hobbies and Collections
Natsume's Book of Friends
Chew Bites into Vampires
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in Comic Books
I’ve been really enjoying the comic book Chew which is illustrated by Rob Guillory. Issue #9 will be out this Wednesday and Guillory tackles the vampire theme in his very own unique style. What I love about Guillory is that he’ll have investigators picking up dirty baby diapers in one frame and then cut to a morgue scene — yet every page is punctuated with humor every other panel: Read more…
Dead Ahead is Dead On Delicious
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in Comic Books
I really love the draftsmanship in Dead Ahead #3 which comes out this Wednesday — the entire look of the comic book reminds me of a dancing combination of something you might see in a Wally Wood EC Comic mixed with a healthy dose of German Expressionism and just a dash of Goya. The credit for the artwork on this book belongs to Alex Nino and Moose Baumann who have done a wonderful job with the layout, it’s like they’ve taken the typical angular panels you see in Japanese manga and taken it to a new level of complexity. Add to that a plot focused on four thousand flesh hungry zombies and you’ve got a real winner: Read more…
Of Schadenfreude and Nick Simmons
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 28, 2010 in Comic Books
Above: Tite Kubo on the left and Nick Simmons on the right.
We all live with the cultural myth that if you’ve got talent and work hard that at some point you’ll be discovered. But the sad reality is that there are some very talented people out there who kill themselves their entire lives and still go absolutely nowhere. And even for these of us who do manage to make a living with our creative skills know that it’s not an easy path. So whenever you see nepotism it’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Read more…
Variant Cover Turf Wars
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 22, 2010 in Comic Books
I know it’s a gimmick aimed at collectors, yet I love the concept of variant cover illustrations for comic books. And with three variant covers Turf #2 is a good example of this: Each cover has a very different entertaining take on the theme of aliens and the roaring twenties. The above cover is by David LaFuente reminds me a great deal of a shoujo manga, while the illustration below by Bernard Chang has a nice subtle art deco feel to it: Read more…
Sky Doll Space Ship is Ready for an American Lift Off
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 19, 2010 in Comic Books
Sky Doll Space Ship isn’t actually a new series — it was first published in France. And it looks like Marvel is set to release this three part series by Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa starting in May. I’d encourage everyone who loves comics to spread the word about this series for two reasons: Firstly I’d love to see more international comics imported into America, and secondly it’s refreshing to see comics escape from the typical superhero clichés that dominate the market. I’m glad that Marvel is getting behind this — it’s also nice to see that they got Pierre-Mony Chan to do a variant cover: Read more…
A Swinging Sixties Zombie Cover
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 18, 2010 in Comic Books
This variant zombie cover illustration by Darwyn Cooke captured my eyes pretty quickly. The artwork is for the comic book I, Zombie #1 which will come out on May 5th and features the exploits of a gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery who is also a zombie detective on the side. It seems that DC Comics is working hard to push this Vertigo title, so the book will be priced at only $1 which makes it more than worthwhile to check out. I, Zombie is a “mature title” and features the writing of Chris Roberson along with the artwork of Michael Allred who won an Eisner Award. Here’s the standard cover which is also fun: Read more…
Sense & Sensibility: Without Zombies?!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 17, 2010 in Comic Books
Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)
Mezco Goes Moe With the Family Guy, Hellboy, Beetle Juice and Rorschach: Toy Fair 2010
Mezco showed off an ultra cute line of toys called Mez-itzs which are mini eformed action figures. Shown above is a full line of Family Guy figures — below are Hellboy, Beetle Juice and Rorschach: Read more…
Poyopoyo Manga Includes a Life-sized Plush Puss
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 14, 2010 in Comic Books, Hobbies and Collections
If you’re a neko loving manga fan you may want to get your hands on volume 8 of PoyoPoyo Observation Diary which includes a life-sized plush doll of the comic book cat hero Poyo Sato (who looks a bit hamster like to me). Here are some other images of the kitty in action (or maybe that’s inaction): Read more…
Good Olde Charlie Brown is a Chip Off the Old Block
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 11, 2010 in Comic Books
I just love the character designs in those old school Peanuts comic strips, while they’re much more primitive than that later work of Charles Schulz there’s a powerful charm to them. On June 2nd Dark Horse will be releasing this 60th Anniversary Classic Peanuts: Charlie Brown in a limited edition (only 950!) which will feature a matching tin box, a button and a cute character booklet. Of course I noticed that the man behind this sculpture is none other than Craig Yoe who in addition to being a talented artist is an obsessive fanboy when it comes to the history of comic books.
Jet Scott: The High Powered Draftsmanship of Jerry Robinson
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 8, 2010 in Comic Books
Jerry Robinson is best known as the comic book artist who helped to put Batman on the map along with Bob Kane — and credit for creating the Joker belongs to him. However sadly his other work is overlooked and that’s why I’m glad that Dark Horse is doing a proper reprint of Jet Scott. This wonderful science fiction themed newspaper strip debuted on September 28, 1953 in The New York Herald-Tribune. Read more…
Mesmo Delivery: The Gift of Comic Book Goodness from Rafael Grampá
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 3, 2010 in Comic Books
Thanks to the CB Radio craze of the 70s I have to admit that I had a cultural snottiness when it comes to any form of entertainment featuring truckers: So I have to admit that I was blown away by the sheer charm of the comic book Mesmo Delivery by Rafael Grampá and Marcus Penna. What I like about the look of this book is that the inking style has quite a bit of grit and texture, yet the character designs and poses almost have a charming if not slightly cute feeling to them. The result is that each page has the sort of warmth that you would see in folk art except that the draftsmanship is both exquisite and exhilarating to look at: Read more…
Devil #1: It’s Evil to Americanize a Perfectly Good Manga
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 2, 2010 in Comic Books
Being a manga fanboy the release of Devil #1 immediately caught my eye: “Manga artist Torajiro Kishi (Maka-Maka) and blockbuster anime studio Madhouse (Trigun, Paprika, Ninja Scroll) love comics. So much so that they’ve decided to publish an original, Western-style comic exclusively with Dark Horse! Enter Devil, a thrilling, sci-fi take on the vampire genre.” Read more…
Kill Audio is Music to My Eyes
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 1, 2010 in Comic Books
Up until this point I’ve been mostly looking at the licensed comic books that Boom! Studios has been producing and while for the most part they’re good, they’re always in the shadow of the television show or book that they’re based on. So I’ve been quite impressed looking at Kill Audio which is an original book that they’ve put out: Issue #5 comes out this week and the artwork of Sheldon Vella is quite entertaining! What I love about his book is that it has its own style and the limited pallet of red and black is quite charming: Read more…
Fraggle Rock: The Comic Book!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 1, 2010 in Comic Books
The Jim Henson Company is starting to push Fraggle Rock a great deal — the first thing I spotted a while ago was an amazing remix of the music from the series and next they were releasing the entire original series on DVD. And now it seems that they’re also planning a limited edition comic book series which will come out in April (and available for pre-orders in February).
Proof That Marvel Can’t Do Shōjo
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 30, 2010 in Comic Books
Shōjo manga fans may feel jilted but here’s a sad preview of Marvel Heartbreakers. The lack of quality in this book kills me because once upon a time there was an American tradition of romantic comic books which could appeal to the ladies which lasted until about the 60s, but as the industry retreated to the boys treehouse of comic book shops in the 80s the genre had all but faded. While I’ve been impressed with Marvel’s ability to do great work in the kids market, this book shows that Marvel doesn’t see the potential of the audience. And while the ladies are reading comics these days they’re more likely to be Japanese manga than anything that Marvel might put out as seen below: Read more…
Sunday is Not a God: A New Light Novel with Moe and Ammo
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 26, 2010 in Comic Books
I’m always intrigued when I see commercials for light novels from Japan — because you can be looking at the next big thing, or a title that will never go anywhere. However this spot for Sunday is Not a God caught my eye due to the production value, it almost looks like pitch for an anime series. Apparently this light novel won the top prize at Fantasia 21 and was praised by Shoji Gatoh, the author behind Full Metal Panic!. Here is some interesting promotional artwork I found from the publishers which combines a shared theme of moe and ammo: Read more…
Kick Ass is Quite Kawaii
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 26, 2010 in Comic Books
If you’re a manga fan looking for an American comic book to check out I’d highly recommend Kick Ass #8 which will be available this Wednesday. At first glance one might confuse the moe character designs in this book as a Marvel title aimed at kids — but there’s too much splatter going on which is one of the fun things that anime fans would instantly love: Read more…
How George Lucas Ruined Science Fiction Comic Books
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Comic Books
For me the joy of science fiction is that it’s somewhat believable — and once upon a time before the comic book code there were some amazing comics that had science fiction themes. However with the code and the dawn of the silver age of comics superheroes dominated the medium. Superhero comics may have some elements of science fiction, but they’re always used as window dressing using dull plot devices like superpowers being caused by genetic mutations. However from time to time you’ll see a book that tries to reintroduce the genre, and Guardians of the Galaxy tries hard but doesn’t quite succeed at this task: Read more…
Skottie is Drawing Up a Storm at Marvel
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 23, 2010 in Comic Books
I was reviewing all of the Marvel titles that are set to be released next week and as usual the the one cover artist who always seems to be standing out is Skottie Young. Usually marvel takes itself so seriously so it’s nice to see Skottie injecting his humor and cartoony style into the stiff world of superheroes. At first I would say that Marvel is limiting him to comic books aimed at kids, but frankly these are turning into the best publications that Marvel is producing. Shown above is the cover for X-Babies #4, and below are the covers for The Marvelous Land of Oz #3 and Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #59: Read more…
King City: Brandon Graham’s Royal Style
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 21, 2010 in Comic Books
I love how this cover for King City #9 by Brandon Graham harkens back to the great tradition of paper cut out dolls: Frankly it’s highly refreshing to see a cover take chances like this for a change. Sadly I’ve overlooked this series in the past, but having unearthed these other covers from the series I have to say that I’m impressed with Graham’s style: Read more…
The Elusive Quest for an iPhone
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 20, 2010 in Comic Books, Tech
The latest issue of Player vs. Player features the epic quest for the Apple iPhone. Being an Apple fanboy I love it when geeky tech things find their way into comic books, and Scott Kurtz has scored a hit in my nerd zone: Read more…
A Rare Film Shows Newspaper Cartoonists of 1931 in Action
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 18, 2010 in Comic Books
This amazing video is from a 1931 silent promotional film which featured the cartoonists from the Tribune chain of newspapers. Shown at work are John T. McCutcheon, Gaar Williams, Carey Orr, Sidney Smith of The Gumps, Frank King of Gasoline Alley, Frank Willard of Moon Mullins, Carl Ed of Harold Teen, Martin Branner of Winnie Winkle, Walter Berndt of Smitty and Harold Gray of Little Orphan Annie. Here’s a quick gallery of these artists to give you an appreciation: Read more…