Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 30, 2007 in Comic Books
If you get a chance check out The Fun Never Stops! which is a wonderful collection of Drew Friedman’s artwork. I first spotted his work back in the 80s when reading Raw magazine and have been following his work in the New York Observer over the last few years. At first glance his very detailed stippled inking technique makes his illustrations stand apart, but once you look further his sarcastic wit and social commentary are just as enjoyable.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 18, 2007 in Comic Books
I was going through the current offerings by DC Comics, and it was one lame cover after another! Pretty much everything had that generic look to it until I stumbled on the above cover art for “Justice Society of America #11” by the talented illustrator Alex Ross. I admit that I’ve seen his work before, but i didn’t put a name with a face and style until I saw a promotional video that was done when Ross did some amazing illustrations for the classic anime series Gatchaman.
Ross blew me away because I had grown up on Star Blazers (Space Cruiser Yamato) and although I know that Japanese version of Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) was cool I just couldn’t get into the very dated 70s look of the show and the lack of cool spacecraft that Yamato was jammed with. But when I discovered what Ross did with the Gatchaman characters I was blown away:
“First two pages of an 8-page movie-trailer-esque preview of the comic– it’s called DEAD IN THE NOW. I’m making the preview for an online comic site, for possible serialization of the whole shabang. I’ll let you all know when the full teaser is up for the world to enjoy.”
…I love the look of what he has so far, I hope he’ll do more with it!
“When Tasha’s mom brings home an annoying hack novelist boyfriend, Jed, and his deadpan daughter, her dysfunctional family is headed for a complete mental meltdown. But Tasha has her blog, BLABBERMOUTH, as the ultimate weapon — and she’s not afraid to use it. Especially when she starts to suspect that the obnoxious Jed has a guilty secret that goes far beyond his bad prose.”
The artwork is by Aaron Alexovich and the story is by Mike Carey and Louise Carey – and cooler yet is that Louise is Mike’s 15-year-old daughter! I also have to admit the idea of having a blog as central plot device is always a good way to get notice in another blog…
“Japanese comic book shops have been the surprise beneficiaries of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s shock exit. Shares in retailers selling the “manga” cartoon strips surged on belief that manga-fan Taro Aso is the leading candidate to replace Mr Abe. Mr Aso, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is a big promoter of manga cartoons abroad.
While the main Tokyo market fell after Mr Abe’s resignation, manga-linked stocks like publisher Broccoli rose. The Nikkei 225 index of the largest Japanese shares fell 0.5% as political uncertainty led investors to drop out of the market until the situation became clearer. But investors pounced on manga publishers and bookshops selling the fantastical cartoon strips.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 11, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above are the cover and some interior panels from Parade with Fireworks by Michael Cavallaro. What I like about the book is that it features a film noir feel to the storytelling, yet the artwork has a very colorful illustrational looking style to it. Cavallaro came up with the story as well, and took a page from his own family history:
“These are tales that I grew up hearing from my relatives. The basis of the comic spans decades of my family’s history on their journeys from an Italian countryside lost between two World Wars, to the coal mines of the American south and the factories of the Northeast. Parade is the beginning of these stories.”
…there’s a good hint above for all of you aspiring writers out there, always write about what you know (special thanks to my Mom for always reminding me of that every now and then).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 10, 2007 in Comic Books
The September issue of Nickelodeon magazine features cartoonists doing their individual take on the Mona Lisa. Shown above are illustrations by Greg Clarke, David Sheldon, James Kochalka, Hal Mayforth, Jef Czekaj, Calef Brown, Gary Clement, and Sam Henderson.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 9, 2007 in Comic Books
Casanova (published by Image) has a more playful look that I’d like to see in more comics these days. Shown above is the cover of from issue #9 illustrated by Gabriel Ba which has a wonderful graphic quality to it, and below that are some interior panels by Fábio Moon which remind me quite a bit of French comics from the 60s. Fábio and Gabriel are from São Paulo. Brazil and you can check out their blog here.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2007 in Comic Books
Fearless Frankie is a EC Comics inspired zombie comic book set in the jungles of the Vietnam War. This well done mini-epic is illustrated by Canadian artist Rob Sacchetto, and the comic is completely free online or as an Adobe Acrobat download.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2007 in Comic Books
Ninty years ago today (August 28, 1917) comic book great Jack Kirby was born. Shown above is a cover for Mister Miracle that Kirby illustrated in the 70s. Kirby himself was a bit of a miracle man himself by the way he revolutionized the comic book industry.
“Think how you could enjoy life if you earned a hundred or more dollars every week! Our long list of successful students that are now earning big money proves that we can teach you no matter how you draw now! OUR NEW MASTER CARTOON DRAWING COURSES cover COMIC STRIPS, ANIMATED CARTOONS, BIG FULL PAGE SUNDAY COMICS IN COLORS, SPORT CARTOONS, COMIC ILLUSTRATIONS, POLITICAL CARTOONS AND ALL OTHER KINDS. If you have never studied drawing before we have courses especially for you! We also have advanced instruction on Animated or Newspaper Cartooning for anyone who draws well. Courses on easy monthly payments.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 22, 2007 in Comic Books
I admit it: I’m so burned out on Batman that at this point, and as a knee joint reaction I often quickly look the other way. However I spotted the above cover and was quite impressed with the free flowing style that you don’t often associate with the dark knight. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the cover art for Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious is illustrated by none other than Sam Kieth, who was the chief creative talent behind the Maxx, which was one of my 90s favorites on MTV (back when MTV showed animation once upon a time).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 21, 2007 in Comic Books
I love the graphic style of the above cover for Hellblazer #238 which is titled “The Smoke” by illustrator Lee Bermejo. Here’s a description of the book which is coming out in November:
“London becomes a veritable Hell on Earth for John Constantine when smoking is outlawed in pubs! But nicotine withdrawal is the least of his problems when he finds himself hunting a group of “urban explorers” who have disappeared into a shadowy parallel London where every urban myth is true. And they’d better pray he finds them before the Chelsea Smilers do… ”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 20, 2007 in Comic Books
The more I see examples of Skott Young’s artwork the more I’m impressed with his style. For the last few weeks I’ve been looking for covers to feature here at fanboy.com and frankly I haven’t seen much that impresses me, but the minute I saw this cover I knew it was a winner. What also impresses me is that Skott (or Skottie) doesn’t stick to any single style, but his work always has a very animated and fluid feeling to it.
“Back in 1976, Fireside published the above book under an agreement with Marvel and featured 128 pages of exercises and workouts. The program was designed by Ann Picardo and showed various Marvel characters demonstrating the techniques through the illustrative talents of Joe Geilla. (Stan Lee also added some character dialogue, which is why his name’s on the book too).”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2007 in Comic Books
The folks at filmick.co.uk have come up with a very well done chart showing previous and current efforts to cast Watchman as a film. It’s sad that we’ll never know what the Terry Gilliam version of the film would have looked like.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 31, 2007 in Comic Books
Immortal Iron Fist is comic book focused on sword wielding ladies, but what impresses with this cover art (for Immortal Iron Fist #7 which is in stores this week) is how it blends the colors and style of an Alphonse Mucha with an inner samurai spirit. The credit for this lush cover goes to Travel Foreman.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 24, 2007 in Comic Books
What I love about this cover for Goon #19 by Eric Powell is that it combines a very cartoony feel with a painterly technique that you might see in a classic pulp fuction magazine cover. It’s so rare to see a cover with so much humor that also features a great lighting technique at the same time. Although I have to admit that when I viewed the final cover Dark Horse had ruined it by putting a purple banner over the top of the artwork and used second rate typography to boot. But anyway the description of the book sounds interesting as well:
“The long winter of our discontent is over-feast your eyes on the return of Eric Powell and The Goon! That’s right, Powell has finally escaped Albatross’s basement and returned to the sweet, nurturing bosom of funny books. The regular ongoing series picks up right where it left off as the Zombie Priest’s sanity cracks up. His endless swarms of beastly little minions attack the Goon and Franky en masse, and there’s no telling how long the brand-new Norton’s Pub will last this time around!”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 6, 2007 in Comic Books
Strange things happen around Glister Butterworth! Shown above is a sketch of the first panel from the upcoming comic book Glister by Andi Watson. Watson’s work always seems to offer a nice taste of whinsy and adventure framed within a well designed (and detailed) layout. And also not to mention his color choices tend to feature a nice sophisticated palette, which is unusual for comic books.
