Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 4, 2007 in Comic Books
I was looking for a good 4th of July story, so the first thing that popped into my head was Captain America. While browsing all of the early covers of Captain America I found all of the expected foes of the Captain: Hitler, monsters, Tojo, zombies, robots, and the like. But then I came across issue #11 above which features Captain America trying to save Bucky (who seems to be the most useless sidekick in all superhero history) from the “horror of the feuding mountaineers!” And of course these hillbillies don’t wear shoes, can’t shave, reject dental care (in any way shape or form) but are all armed to the teeth!
The mountaineers are of course a reference to the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. Although I think seen in the context of 1940s America the poorly groomed hillbillies are seen to be the enemies of progress, science, modernism and thus America itself. One would think that the leasure suit movement of the 70s made the nation safe for casual fashion statements, but alas the anti-mountian man movement may be back in full swing again…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 1, 2007 in Comic Books
I was rather struck by the cover above for Cats Prowl at Night, a cover from a 1949 Dell Mystery novel, it must have been an early homage to Catwoman who appears in Batman #1 from 1940.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 29, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is a promo for the World of Mister Toast! I discovered the works of Dan Goodsell on Flickr, although you can also follow his adventures on his blog, and of course his book (co-authored with Steve Roden) Krazy Kids Food! is one of my favorites.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is the some team members of Studio Kaiju at MoCCA 2007. Being a long time anime fan, the Kaiju crew caught my eye right away. Kaiju is an interesting group because not only are they doing their own posters, books and t-shirts but they also create these very silly but amazing live action performance videos. The videos looks like an odd mash of a WWF wrestling match and a Godzilla film:
Below is a poster created by Kaiju’s designer-at-large Vinnie Arnone. You can’t quite see all the details in the below image but the poster looked fantastic up close, it featured all of these amazing little charcter designs:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
When I first got to MoCCA I was sort of blown away by everything around me, so I snapped the above photo (because the giant bunny got my attention). A while later I came back to find that the table in question belonged Rabid Rabbit, a collective of artists that met via the School of Visual Arts MFA program. The artist in the above photo is Ben X. Trinh, not shown in the photo to his right was S. Y. Choi who handed me the cute postcard seen below:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Artist Alex Cahill poses with a copy of Posion the Cure #1 at MoCCA 2007, not shown here is writer Jad Ziade the other half of the Rowdy Boiz who run New Radio Comics.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Above is the table of Manual Comics at MoCCA 2007, I’m not sure who the guy is on the left (my journalism skills are pretty lacking these days – sorry!) but the fellow on the right is illustrator Brian Musikoff (aka B Musikoff). Brian was very excited about their series Mauled! which features a special tragedy theme for each issue:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Seen above is the crew behind the Love Bound Train at MoCCA 2007. The first thing that caught my eye at their booth was they had an animation playing that featured the theme of finding love on the L train, I quickly asked asked if they lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (my current hometown) and of course the answer was yes. I just loved looking at all the cool creative stuff that was jammed on their table:
They’re still working on launching their full website, but they do have a shop open were you can buy all sorts of interesting goodies:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above are some of the crew from the House of Twelve Comics at MoCCA 2007. Sadly I didn’t get the name of the guy on the left, but the other crew members seen here are (left to right) Miss Lasko-Gross, Jennifer Gonzalez, and Cheese Hasselberger (El Presidente of the house). Seen below is the cover of issue #3 by Miss Lasko-Gross:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
E. J. Barnes is an illustrator from Amherst, Mass. as she was showing off copies of her noir inspired comics at MoCAA 2007. Below is a sample page from her book Confessions of an American Ling Master (which contains cool stuff like occult references, squalor and bad science):
… I’m impressed with E. J. because not only is she an illustrator/animator, but she also has a full degree in Chemistry!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is the crew from Calavera Comics at MoCCA 2007. I didn’t get a chance to look at their comics, but what blew me away was the wonderful graphic posters and t-shirts that they had on hand. They also have a cool blog worth visiting as well.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is Abby Denson, creator of Tough Love and Dolltopia at MoCCA 2007. I’ve known Abby since, well *cough* I won’t embarrass her here. Check out her website:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 23, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is a quick shot from the first day of MoCCA 2007 in New York City. If you’re in town Sunday and LOVE comics I’d suggest heading down to the Puck Building to check out the show. I only had a few hours to walk through the show today, but it was packed wall-to-wall with some amazing small press comics. But what made the show amazing is that’s it’s low enough enough so you can hang out and chat with the artists and see some upcoming talent.
Below is the cover from the MoCCA guidebook, on Sunday we’ll follow up with further coverage…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 21, 2007 in Comic Books
You’ve got chocolate in my peanut butter, so who not mix westerns with sci fi? I’m not crazy from what I’ve seen from this comic (I’ll admit it, the artwork looks soooo lame) but maybe this concept might not be so bad as a live action flick:
“DreamWorks and Universal Pictures will join to turn the graphic novel “Cowboys & Aliens” into a live action feature. Imagine partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will produce along with Platinum Studios chairman-CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Ervin Rustemagic and Rich Marincic co-produce. Script will be written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.
The graphic novel mixes Western and science fiction genres. Set in 1800s Arizona, a skirmish between cowboys and Apaches is interrupted by the crash landing of a space ship. The alien commander plans to tame the Old West and enslave everyone, but the cowboys and Native Americans turn their six-guns against the alien invaders. Rosenberg, who ran Malibu Comics when “Men in Black” transferred from graphic novel to hit film, created the concept for “Cowboys & Aliens” and published the graphic novel in 2006.”
…take note Hollywood hopefuls, it’s looking like the best way to get your script made is to do a comic book first!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 20, 2007 in Comic Books
If you’re in Manhattan this weekend you should go to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s Sixth Annual Arts Festival. $10 buys you a weekend pass for an event that’s features everything from Bill Sienkiewicz signing autographs to Nordic animation. No this isn’t some oversized overhyped event like you’d find in say San Diego, but this low key event is a real chance to hang out with professionals in a relaxed atmosphere. Well as relaxed as one can get in NYC anyway…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 18, 2007 in Comic Books
Ted Naifeh illustrated the above cover for Death Jr. Volume Two published by Image Comics and I just love it because it has a candy-coated goth feeling to it without the usual dark colors that one associates with a Bauhaus t-shirt.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 17, 2007 in Comic Books
I was somewhat surprised to see that the above cover for Cable & Deadpool #41 was by Skott Young. I had noticed his work before on a cover for the New X-Men, however the above illustration almost looks like it was done by an another artist, it’s much more goth and uses a powerful painterly technique. I have to say that I’m impressed by any illustrator who can be at home in multiple styles so I’ll be keeping an eye out for more Skott Young covers.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 7, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown Above: Manga series like Lupin III glamourize international jewel thieves, but a poor bunch of deodorant-free otaku upload some manga scans and it’s a major criminal matter…
This is amazing, these otaku were so dedicated that they got their hands on the manga magazine before it went on sale:
“KYOTO: Two men who distributed comics from a magazine through the file-sharing software Winny before the magazine officially went on sale have been charged with copyright law violations, public prosecutors said. The Kyoto District Public Prosecutors office indicted the men, Mitsukazu Tamashiro, 29, and Kenji Kodama, 26, for violating the Copyright Law by distributing comics from the magazine “Shukan Shonen Sunday,” published by Shogakukan.
On Friday last week, public prosecutors also sent a 17-year-old technical college student from Tokyo’s Adachi-ku to a family court in connection with the case, recommending that he face criminal charges as an adult. Public prosecutors said that Tamashiro distributed three works from “Shukan Shonen Sunday” on three occasions between January and April, illegally allowing an unspecified number of people to view the comics through the file-sharing software Winny. Kodama allegedly distributed six works from the same comic magazine between February and April.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 7, 2007 in Comic Books
I love the above cover artwork for the graphic novel Catwoman: When in Rome for it’s bold graphic quality. However sadly I looked at the final design and they ruined it by putting too muh type on it. This cover was illustrated by Tim Sale, who has a nice flair for cheesecake and cartoony illustrations with a sense of wit and humor.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 5, 2007 in Comic Books
PX! stands for PandaXpress has been a webcomic that’s been around since January 2005, and is set to come out in print this August. Except for Inuyasha it’s pretty rare to see a Panda in a starring role in a comic book which gives PX! a pretty unique sensibility. Manny Trembley who’s the artist behind the PX! features a rich and wonderful candy colored palette on his panels. The story (which is by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson) is about a young girl named Dahlia who – with the help of her giant and trusty Panda sidekick – sets off on an epic journey around the globe to save her missing father.
If you like what you see more work by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson you’d be well advised to also check out Sam Noir: Samurai Detective which is a bit darker but also features a off-kilter sense of humor.
PX!A Girl and Her Panda will be out in August and published by Image Comics.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 3, 2007 in Comic Books
Stray Toasters will be back in print! What’s great about Bill Sienkiewicz is that his artwork moves between comics, illustration with just the right added dash of abstract fine art thrown in for fun. The above cover for Stray Toasters reminds me of the illustrator Marshall Arisman with it’s underlying sense of violence and chaos. I’m surprised that with all of the attention that Frank Miller is getting in Hollywood that Sienkiewicz (who was the visual force behind Elektra: Assassin with Miller as the writer) hasn’t been exploited by the suits at this point. In fact Stray Toasters was suppose to come out as a film in 2005, so perhaps this re-release of Toasters which is due out at the end of August will give the film a push in the right direction.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 2, 2007 in Comic Books
Seen above is the cover for the second volume of 24seven by Austrailian illustrator Ashley Wood. I love Wood’s sketchy quality on the cover which features a decaying Blade Runner looking architecture as a backdrop. Also his use of bold black strokes with little touches of pink and cyan make for a striking contrast.
For those of you who missed the first volume (which will be re-issued) the comic is a group effort of artists telling multiple stories with the common theme of robots. Here’s an insightful quote from 24seven editor from an interview telling how the project got started:
“’24seven’ came about in a bunch of random conversations at conventions and so on with like-minded creators who showed me there was the potential there for a hell of a book,” explained Brandon. “’24seven’ is, for me, somewhat like a smaller record imprint at a major studio. A lot of the creation of work for hire comics is the equivalent of playing session guitars on someone else’s album, whereas in the path to creating ’24seven,’ this quickly became an opportunity to let some of the best minds in comics finally cut loose on their own songs, unfettered by continuity or any of the other bits of the business that hinder free creativity. The result will be obvious, the fans will get to see their favorite creators doing some of their most amazing and creative work.”
24seven Volume Two is published by Image Comics and will be out on August 1st.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 1, 2007 in Comic Books
Ah yes there’s nothing better than looking at good old Edgar Allan Poe sitting at the pub and enjoying a tasty brew with an oversized anthropomorphized rodent creature (I would say a rat but I don’t want to make a negative judgement).
What I love about what I’ve seen of this graphic novel is that while the cover art by David Hartman is great (I just love those monsters!), the interior pages by Thomas Boatwright have nice sense of humor to them. In fact Boatwright’s work sort of reminds me a bit of the early comics by Phil Foglio. There’s a several page preview of the book is here which is well worth checking out. Credit for the story inside of Edgar Allan Poo goes to Dwight L. Macpherson who you can tell has a clear love of comic books and tales of horror. Edgar Allan Poo will be haunting your local comic book shop’s shelves on August 15th (published by Image Comics).
