Interviews with the Cast of Watchman

Sadly I don’t find these interviews encouraging, although the fanboy in me is keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll do the film well.

Niko Henrichon: Four Reasons He’s Fantastic

Here are four reasons why I’m impressed with Niko Henrichon’s cover illustration for Fantastic Four: True Story #1 which is due to hit comic book shops on Wednesday:

1. Draftsmanship: I always hate how so many comic book covers always feature overly tight artwork, in this case Henrichon does a great job of making the characters cartoony looking enough although while managing at the same time to make them look realistic. He manages to use a nice pencil technique which is very wild around the edges but held within a very tight structure. I love the fact that you can see the pencil line in this illustration.

2. Lighting: This cover has a sort of water color feeling to it which makes it pop out from the usual over saturated moody dark look that’s too common these days. On this cover Henrichon is giving the characters a believable dimension which makes them pop off the page. His light source is also coming off of the upper right of the illustration which is unusual. Also by having the background show a bit of white you get this ambient quality of being under water or in outer space.

3. Coloring: The entire illustration is held together with a cool palette of greens and blues with just a dash of yellow to warm things up. Henrichon is using color to pop each character out of the background. My guess is that Henrichon did the coloring on the computer but the illustration looks like it was done with water colors or even spray markers. With those light white streaks in front of Invisible Woman he cheats a little, but doesn’t over do it.

4. Composition: There is a dynamic triangle of characters which is frames by the rocks — you’ve got the Human Torch at the head of the arrow and Thing and Mister Fantastic anchoring the left and right sides. Invisible stands in the center of the composition with the exploration craft above her head (nice mecha by the way).

San Diego Comic Con 2008: Joel Gomez

Currently working on Deathblow with Jim Lee and Bill Sigkevich. Staff artist at Wildstorm. Mr. Gomez pictured below has just wrapped up a reworking of the Lost Boys!

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San Diego Comic Con 2008: Screamland

Oh no you didn’t! Oh yes we did: Met up with Hector Casanova and Harold Stipe of the now famous Screamland comic. All five issues are sold out so everyone is waiting for October 29 and the launch of the series in a combined book. The publisher is Image Comics – as in McFarlane and Silvestri! This is whopping big!

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San Diego Comic Con 2008: Marvel vs. DC Comics Booth Wars

The buzz at the Marvel booth: Superhero Squad which will be released in January 2009.

On display at the DC Comics booth: It’s rated PG but should be NC-17!

David Foox is a professional artist, painter, and founding member of the Kung Foox Collective. You can see his work at kungfoox.com and his blog at kungfoox.typepad.com. His wife is Jessica Foox and you can find her artwork here.

San Diego Comic Con 2008: Joe Hill

Whoa! Joe Hill signing copies of Locke & Key at the IDW Publishing booth.

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Four Eyes #2: Fine Dragon Draftsmanship

The cover above for Four Eyes #2 made me take a second look: The draftsmanship in this cover illustration by Max Fiumara is nothing short of suburb. Even though the image is in black and white you get an vivid sense of lighting and shadow. And then here’s all of that wonderful texture that breathes life into that dragon. My bet is that Image Comics will ruin this cover by coloring it, but we’ll have to wait to see when it hits the streets in October.

Secret Invasion: We Want More…

For this cover of Marvel’s Secret Invasion: Front Line #4 (Of 5) illustrator Juan Doe has created a wonderful comic tribute to Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want. While I always appreciated Rockwell as a vegetarian the site of the poor turkey in the original painting always turned my stomach — but in this homage Doe turns our feathered friend into a cut looking lizard creature (of sorts):

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The New Watchman Trailer

I have sort of mixed feelings on this one: For starters I feel like the art direction looks too detailed and the lighting is a also a bit too film noir. Although it looks like they have some characters nailed down like the Nite-Owl and Rorschach, other characters like Adrian Veidt don’t feel right. Also for me I associate Watchmen with the music of the late 80s when the comic was produced — I would have loved to hear something like an updated version of Pop Will Eat Itself on the soundtrack rather than the Smashing Pumpkins.

But maybe the main thing is that perhaps DC Comics should have thought of doing the movie as traditional animation rather than live action? If this was a Japanese film based on a manga there would be no question that we’d expect to see something akin to an Akira. But in Hollywood animation is always thought of as something for kids, it would have been nice to see them take a chance instead of produce yet another film that looks like Batman.

Blood Bowl: Looks Like Bloody Fun

It was my lack of athletic ability that drew me to science fiction and comic books, after all you didn’t have to hit or kick a silly ball when it came to zapping space aliens or commanding a starship. So with rare exception I tend to look down my nose at anything associated with sports — however with Blood Bowl Killer Contract #2 I’ll have to make an exception.

Published by Boom! Studios this book looks pretty funny as by putting together two negatives (football and silly fantasy escapist fantasy that I hate as a hardcore science fiction fanboy) you get a real plus. There’s something that just seems to work well by putting together the false bravado of jocks with the over the top world of elves, dwarves, orcs, and ogres. I think part of what makes this story by Matt Forbeck is that the artwork by Lads Helloven just pushes the concept further over the top. In short you should think of getting a copy of this when it comes out on July 16th, 2008.

Not only will I recommend this comic book, but I’ll go out on a limb here: If Boom! Studios ever manages to get this concept made into a film I’d be the first on line to get tickets…

Below: The cover and an interior page from Blood Bowl Killer Contract #2:

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Soleil: Sky Doll la Troisième

I’m so happy that Marvel is taking a chance and trying something different by bringing over Soleil: Sky Doll from France. Issue #3 of the book is set to hit comic book shops on July 16th and this issue looks just great. Shown above is the cover illustration which is by the team of Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa. The interior of the book measures up to the cover by the way…

Dave Stewart: Grinding Out Great Goons

Yeah I already know what you’re thinking! And yes I’m sorry that I sound like a broken record, but Dave Stewart (the comic book artist not the dude from the Eurythmics) keeps pumping out great covers for The Goon. They never take themselves too seriously, yet their technique has an amazing level of detail when you look at it up close — and the characters always seem animated, yet not too over the top. Shown above is the cover for The Goon #29 which Dark Horse will release this October.

Devil’s Due Ruins Voltron

I read with excitement that Devil’s Due was putting out a Voltron comic book — but oh boy was I sorry when I looked at the previews: The inside of the comic book looks nothing like the series, in fact it doesn’t even look like anime! Now I’ll grant you that Voltron didn’t have the best character designs in the world, but any kid could tell that it was Japanese:

For some odd reason it looks like the team behind this Voltron comic book was looking at the wrong YouTube video because I swear these character designs look like they were lifted from the Crest Gel Toothpaste Cavity Creeps commercial:

Although those cavity creeps seem better drawn! Devil’s Due would have been better off licensing some unknown 70s manga, then cutting-and-pasting a robot every few frames and then colorizing the entire thing in Photoshop. And now that I’m thinking about it even the robot looks bad on the cover — it looks like instead they wanted to do a Lord of the Rings comic instead or were just too busy playing D&D.

Everything about this comic looks wrong — it’s one thing to Americanize something, but these illustrations look like a bad copy of Marvel. The characters are too buff, the coloring is all wrong, and even the princess character doesn’t look cute enough:

So if you see your childhood defaced Voltron: A Legend Forged #1 will be hitting cmic book shops on Thursday, July 10th.

Marvel Mummies Attack Manhattan!

The above cover for Marvel Adventures Hulk #13 caught my eye for a number of reasons: First there’s the pre-aged look of a pulp fiction magazine, but then as you look further you see that the mummies are the good guys — oh no! This illustration is by Sean Murphy and his characters have a nice cartoony quality to them as seen in the detailed image below. This most mummified issue will be out on July 9th.

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Batman Alert: Cool New Dark Knight Poster

I love the design of this new poster for The Dark Knight, it’s great to see a major Hollywood studio take an illustrational approach for a change instead of the same old pretty photos. Click on the image to see it at full size.

Madame Mirage is Femme Fatale Collection

The above cover for the Madame Mirage collection immediately evoked the essence of a 70s movie poster for me, although I have to admit that the featured characters are sporting film noir and goth attire. But the sultry spirit reminds me a bit of a James Bond girl which might be giving me that early disco vibe. The cover artwork is by Kenneth Rocafort, and this trade paperback will be published by Image Comics. Here’s the description:

Madame Mirage (Oversized First Issue!, # 1)

“From the magical mind of Paul Dini (Countdown, Detective Comics) comes a new, original femme fatale story that combines elements of film noir, tech, and superhero comics. Superbly drawn by rising star Kenneth Rocafort (Hunter-Killer), this volume collects Season 1 of this amazing story, a cover gallery, and insightful behind-the-scenes material, plus an all-new cover by Rocafort!”

Mahfood Rocks: Kick Drum Comix

I get a real kick out of seeing the work of Jim Mahfood — above is a detail from the cover of Kick Drum Comix #1 which will be published by Image Comics this September. It’s part one of a two part series:

“Kick Drum Comix is an over the top full color two-issue miniseries from fan-favorite Jim Mahfood! All-new material here, including the exciting stories “Coltrane’s Reed” and “Death of the Popmaster.” Great stories, beautiful artwork, all in a full color package! ”

Below is the full cover:

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Anthony Lister: Expressionistic Superheroes

Anthony Lister is Brooklyn based painter who was born in Australia — many of his subjects are superheroes. The above painting is wonderwoman1 and below is fat bat man. His work reminds me of a deconstructed Richard Linder who became well known for his pop art during the 60s.

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Happy Birthday Tite Kubo

Tite Kubo will celebrate his 31st birthday today, and I have to say that I’m very happy to admit to being a Bleach fanboy: I first heard about Bleach when the Anime Pulse Podcast first started out: They were hardcore fanboys when it came to the show. But the first thing that struck me was that it seemed like too much of a soap opera to invest the time in. Man was I wrong!

I managed to hold out held out until they started showing translated episodes on Adult Swim and I was hooked right away. At first it seemed that the show had pretty much everything I’m not crazy about in anime: I’m a science fiction fan at heart so fantasy driven stories with Samurai outfits just aren’t my thing.

But I got hooked into the clever world that Tite Kubo had constructed. At its heart Bleach is one of the most elaborately constructed soap operas that I’ve ever been hooked on. My friends will yammer on about Battlestar Galactica, but Bleach seems to be keeping me si fi free these days. As crazy as work becomes to me I always manage to DVR the show and find that golden half hour during the week to escape the world of the living and hangout with the soul reapers. Thank you Tite Kubo…

Nod Young’s Paper Cutouts

Nod Young is a designer and illustrator based out of Beijing, China. Above is a sample of one of the amazing graphic illustrations that he’s created with a paper cutout technique. I was blown away by his wonderful attention to detail and slight sense of humor with his subjects.

Alice in Wonderland with a Touch of Anime

I love how the cover for Avengers Fairy Tales #3 combines both that classic Victorian look with just a little dab of anime thrown in for good measure. This cover illustration is by French comic book artist Claire Wendling and will be appearing in comic book shops this week (kudos to Marvel Comics for their good taste).

Parody Preview: Wolverine: First Class #4

Paging Dr. Freud! Yes I know that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but this cover art is still quite silly: Although it’s so over the top that there’s a sort of lovable quality to it. The above illustration is by Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, and Paul Mounts and will storm into comic book stores today thanks to Marvel Comics.

The Spirit: Femmes Fatale

I think one of the nice side effects of The Spirit movie hitting theaters in Christmas will be that it might just introduce an entire new generation of fanboys and fangurls the genius of Will Eisner. This upcoming book from DC Comics which is due in out in October looks promising:

The Spirit: Femmes Fatales (The Spirit)

“With Frank Miller’s movie version of Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT set to hit theatres in December, DC Comics collects some of the most memorable stories pitting The Spirit against his most sultry opponents! Featuring 23 selected tales of mystery originally published between 1940 and 1949, these stories star P’Gell, Sand Saref, Saree, Silk Satin, Thorne Strand, Autumn Mews and many others. ”

Fables #76: Cover by James Jean

Shown above is a detail of the cover of Fables #76 by James Jean. I love his use of candy colored hues, and if you look closely you’ll see quite a bit of nice detail in his illustration as well like the stickers on base of the streetlight. Below is the full cover which is due out in September from DC Comics:

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