Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 3, 2009 in Comic Books
Licensed comics never quite get the limelight that their original cousins always grab: There’s a cool factor to working on a Spiderman comic which may inspire a film, but there’s just no love for a comic book that’s based upon a toy or a pre-existing film or TV show. Yet while fandom looks down upon these books, they serve as an important “gateway drug” of sorts — attracting young and new readers into being the next generation of comic books fans. Recently I found myself guilty of this snobby fanboy mindset while looking at the work being produced by Boom! Studios — so I decided to give them a second chance and give them a serious look: And lo and behold I think they’re doing a rather decent job with their Finding Nemo and Muppets books! Read more…
I really like what Madhouse is doing with Iron Man and Wolverine! As you can see with that extra touch of anime love Iron Man features some nice mecha and Wolverine wades more into a goth look: Read more…
The video above is a promotional spot for the 20th anniversary of Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko which is the light novel label for Kadokawa Shoten (who published the Haruhi Suzumiya series). The celebrate the anniversary Kadokawa Shoten has put together a nicely designed website: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 24, 2009 in Comic Books
Weekly Shōnen Sunday (週刊少年サンデ) has been published every week since 1959 (although one should note that it actually comes out on Wednesday during the week, not Sunday). Looking back on their 50 years one of the high points of their history was the year 1983 when their circulation grew by leaps and bounds due to the fresh quality of the manga for that era: So to celebrate this they’ve released the book Shonen Sunday 1983 which gives you taste of the manga from that era. Read more…
When I first laid my eyes on this Batman Ame Comi Statue I have to say that I was impressed! The folks at DC Comics actually did a good job of giving the dark knight that anime touch — even down to the Captain Harlock belt treatment. But then I started thinking: Why no improve this and bring to the next level? So on the photo above I added my own captions to show what accessories a mangaesque Batman might be adorned with. And not to be left out I gave the same treatment to the Robin Ame Comi Robin Vinyl Statue: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 21, 2009 in Comic Books
I really love the work that Skottie Young is doing for Marvel these days: In this case his cover illustration for Marvel Adventures Spider-man #53 does a wonderful job of reinventing Peter Parker. Usually Peter is seen as the archetype of the geek who was playing with his science lab routine too much — here he’s reinvented as a punky juvenile delinquent, yet Young has kept true to the larger theme of superheroes with a secret identity. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 20, 2009 in Comic Books
At first I was struck by the fact that this cover for Runaways #12 had a bit of an anime flavor to it, you can tell right away with the look of the huge reflecting eyes and the high level of attention to the hair. Although the composition gives away that it isn’t Japanese, however I was still surprised to find out that the artist Sara Pichelli is in fact from Italy! So you’ve got a European illustrator influenced by Japanese manga working for a very mainstream American publisher like Marvel. If you step back this is amazing because twenty years ago in a pre-net era you would never have seen this — in fact my thinking is that more and more international borders will mean less and less in the world of comics. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 19, 2009 in Comic Books
The cover art from Gemini #4
In astrology Gemini is the sign of the twins, and in this case the comic Gemini #4 stays true to the symbolism of the sign. Firstly the comic is drawn by the team of Jon Sommariva and Fco Plascencia, and they do a good job of blending their talents in this book. But what really impressed me is that in most comic books you get the “bait-and-switch” routine where the cover art is brilliant and the interiors are average at best. In this case I found the cover to be underplayed, not bad but rather held back — and the interiors of the book were nothing short of amazing (thus my featuring of an interior page above). Sommariva and Plascencia have a fluid cartoony feel to their work with just a small dash of humor. The results make for a very animated comic book even though the layout is confined to traditional block panels: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 27, 2009 in Comic Books
I’m just not sure how I overlooked The Perhapanauts which is published by Image, shown above is issue #6 which just came out. I have no clue why an issue that comes out in June has a Halloween theme, but that doesn’t matter — what does matter is that this book looks great inside and out. Most publishers pull the bait-and-switch cover routine, but I have to say that the draftsmanship and character designs within this book are A+. Read more…
I came across this recent manga themed advert for the Nissan Cube and was blown away — I really love how the design of this spot picks up on the conventions of Japanese comics from the black and white characters to the use of zip-a-tone patterns.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 21, 2009 in Comic Books
This amazing rare video shows illustrator Al Hirschfeld in action drawing a caricature of Paul Newman. Hirschfeld was born on this day in 1903 and lived to be 99 years old (he passed away in 2003). His legacy of drawing Broadway stars was so strong that they named a theater after him, and he honored his only daughter Nina by sneaking her name into each illustration (often doing it several times). What’s amazing to me about this video is that it was shot when Hirschfeld was 99 years old, yet the detail and quality of his draftsmanship looked as good as ever. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 16, 2009 in Comic Books
I love Skottie Young’s work, but I’ve been wondering just when Marvel would allow him to take a pass at one of their more well known characters and it looks like for Wolverine First Class #19 they’ve let him run with the ball. The first thing I love about this cover is that it has a sense of humor, too often Marvel covers (or DC) take themselves too seriously. Yet you get right away who Wolverine is despite Young’s cartoony approach. In addition to the usual great draftsmanship and page layout the coloring here is A+: The added zip-a-tone as a texture is nice homage to comics books of the past: Read more…
Posted by John Martone on May 27, 2009 in Comic Books
It strikes me as amusing that Kitty Pryde, the girl who can’t be touched, is being used to touch all of our hearts. I’d complain, but she phased through the soft spot of my soul years ago. In Full of Pryde over 70 artists created new fanart of Kitty Pryde as a part of a fundraiser for the Oregon Hemophilia Treatment Center. Shown above is a purrfect illustration by Aleks Sennwald and below are just a few highlights from the show: Read more…
Posted by John Martone on May 25, 2009 in Comic Books
Happy Memorial Day! While most of us usually commemorate this date with hot dogs and hamburgers, sometimes it’s awe inspiring just to remember what this date is is all about: Those who made sacrifices for the rest of us. One such person was Corporal Weinert, a soldier during World War II. Weinert made a habit of personalizing his envelopes sent home with rich cartoony illustrations that can only be described as pure Americana. This amazing collection has a good number of his envelopes, but unfortunately lacks the letters within. Although they paint an charming picture of the thoughts of a GI sharing his insights with his family and friends on the home front: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 20, 2009 in Comic Books
I was looking through the latest stack of Marvel covers due out in August and one artist leaped off my screen time-and-time again: Skottie Young! Most of the Marvel covers have that flat photoshopped color look to them, but with Skottie I love how the power of his drawing comes out to dominate the page. Also Skottie isn’t afraid to be cartoony, and his illustrations always have a small amount of humor that brings the characters to life without the need to show them in some super stretched position or battling to the death with some super villain. Shown above is a detail from the cover of Iron Man & The Armor Wars #1 (Of 4) — what’s great about this cover is that it’s a homage to every previous Iron Man character design: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 19, 2009 in Comic Books
On the surface this cover illustration of Red Robin #3 may not look like much, but to me that’s why it’s so good. Every month I see tons of covers that are crammed with detail but have little graphic impact, however this artwork by Francis Manapul is a great example of “less is more”. Although his cover looks simple there’s actually a great deal of detail and though going on under the surface. Here’s a breakout of what I love about this cover: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 16, 2009 in Comic Books
Published by Silverline Books The Lava is a Floor is a kids hardcover comic book which is due out in August which looks like a great deal of fun (especially for us fanboys who are still kids at heart). The illustrations by Jeremy R. Scott have a energetic gregarious quality to them which makes you wish you had these devilish creatures as your personal pets to hang out with and to amuse your friends at parties. The story for the book is by Justin Shady and Wayne Chinsang and features the tale of a brother and sister (Blarg and Clarg) who live live in the crater of a volcano: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 16, 2009 in Comic Books
This is a detail of a cover from issue #3 of the comic book Chew which will come out in August. This illustration by Guillory is wonderful because it has a sense of humor which is sadly lacking from most comic book covers these days, I especially love the reference to the the 1958 cult film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Here’s the full cover (click on it to see it at full size): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 13, 2009 in Comic Books
Nathan Lane will be an amazing Gomez Addams!The Addams Family is being turned into a Broadway musical and is slated to open in April 2010. In addition to Lane, Bebe Neuwirth will star as Morticia Addams. The Addams Family first started life as a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine in 1938 and was then turned into a hit TV show in the 60s. There have also been two films made in the 90s and even two animated TV series. Read more…
In this article New York based artists Nick Kent gives us a riveting world tour of all things Rube Goldberg:
I was browsing Japanese DVDs at a bookstore the other day when between the anime and live concert discs I spotted strange wooden contraptions on the covers of a pair of DVDs.
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 3, 2009 in Comic Books
As an art school graduate I admit that I really do judge a book by its cover — and this is even more true with comic books, because if you can’t get the cover right chances are no one cared about what went on the page. But in the case of Mr. Stuffins by I’ve been proved wrong, which is why I put some of the interior artwork at the lead of this article, because my fear is that the cover art might drive away my fellow fanboys (and fangurls) away from a comic book that looks pretty promising. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 29, 2009 in Comic Books
This comedy sketch for Funny or Die is cute, but at the same time it does make me feel bad for Adam West who brought Batman to life in the 60s. West is a real gentleman and you can find him at many conventions, but one would wish that Hollywood would honor him a bit more and give him some roles to show off his talents. Hollywood lives for youth, but one would wish that there would be a closet fanboy casting director somewhere willing to give the man some proper screen time (aside from appearances on the Family Guy): Read more…
While walking to work every so often I’ll pass an antique store which is on the corner of Houston and Elizabeth Street — this week I came across an amazing find: A framed vintage 1933 Popeye the Sailor Shipwreck Game published by Funland Books and Games. I only had my iPhone camera on me so the detail in these shots is limited, but the artwork looked just amazing (click to see at full size): Read more…
This comedy sketch for 
