Posts Tagged ‘ Art ’

In this week’s Utopia #1, the kick-off of the big X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover, there’s a scene where various parties around the world react to the unrest in San Francisco.

Let’s take a look at that last scene again -

- er, doesn’t Loki look more like this at the moment?

Did anyone mention that to Marc Silvestri, or his assists?

Anyone, anyone, editors, anyone? Bueller?

Posted via web from Rich’s posterous

Posted via web from Rich’s posterous

Found this over on today’s scans daily but I had to just use a couple of panels to illustrate why Lois Lane remains my favorite character in comics.

Setting the scene…Lois is heading for the shower to wake herself up after pulling an all-nighter on a story – when she has an unwelcome interruption!

Does she call for Superman? Cower in the corner? Panic?

No, she’s all business – Lois’ army brat training kicks in!

Still, after all that excitement, better call the police, eh? Or at least shout for Superman to come by?

No…

…the lady’s got a shower to have!

And that’s why Lois is one of my favorite characters – an ordinary, if tough, woman in a world full of superheroes, but she doesn’t let that stop her from (a) kicking ass; (b) standing up for what she believes in; and (c) looking good doing it.

DC: Lois Lane book, please.

You can read the whole story here.

Remember this?

No?

Well you should, because it was a good little two-part prestige mini.

But anyway, the boys are all grown up now in Adventure Comics #3…

Via

Awesome.

Last week I mentioned the Whiteout movie – well, a week after that gets released, the comic’s artist, Steve Lieber, has a new book out from Image in conjunction with Agents of Atlas‘ Jeff Parker : Underground #1

I’m not a detailed reviewer by any means, so let me just say: this is a great comic, and one issue in you can see that there’s a great story here – not to mention movie potential.

The unlikely-named Wesley Fischer is a Park Ranger in Marion, Kentucky trying to prevent the local Stillwater Cave being turned into a tourist trap. Developers and locals alike think it’ll bring income into town, so she and her partner – with whom she has a newly-complicated relationship – look to be the only ones who are interested when the developers start blasting the caves early.
Things quickly escalate, and by the end of the first issue, you can see that things in Marion – and more specifically the Stillwater Caves – are going to get very hairy for Wesley and her partner very quickly.

Parker’s dialogue is spot on as always, and Lieber’s crisp artwork manages to deliver not only on the every day scenes, but also in the claustrophobia of the underground caves.

It’s not out for a few months, but Underground is definitely worth your attention. You can check out Lieber & Parker online here:

http://www.undergroundthecomic.com/
http://www.parkerspace.com/
http://www.stevelieber.com/
http://twitter.com/slieber234
http://twitter.com/parkerspace

This is just an art dump for the weekend – a bunch of Spidey covers coming up that I really, really like.

Just because I can.

I really like the cute factor on this one, with l’il Spidey-Cupid and the hearts with a bunch of characters. Nice (well, surprising anyway) to see White Rabbit in there and I have no idea who the guy with the douche-beard is. Mary Jane’s boyfriend?

J. Scott Campbell is one of my favorite cover artists – yes, the art’s stylized and cartoony and he’s not going to win any anatomy prizes, but his covers are always fun and really well designed, even if the background is simple like this one.

Plus: Black Cat!

I’m a sucker for the old Spidey villains and probably prefer them over any other rogue’s gallery in comics, including Batman’s – which is why the upcoming ‘The Gauntlet‘ storyline sounds so good. Judging from the cover, the young female Kraven we were introduced to recently looks like she’s setting up Electro, Rhino, Sandman, Mysterio and the Lizard to fight it out with Spidey before throwing down herself.

And finally, my favorite of the bunch  - another Campbell cover – with MJ (apparently) pining for Spidey as he swings past (or away from) her window. I tell you, I still think that MJ remembers everything leading up to One More Day, including the marriage and what she gave up for Peter.

Are you shitting me?

What, you get the cape and the Eye of Agamotto and suddenly you’re a doctor?

At least Stephen Strange went to medical school and was actually a doctor!

*runs to wiki*

*comes back from wiki*

Ok. So apparently Jericho Drumm IS a psychologist so he probably can rightfully be called a doctor. But still, wouldn’t he be Dr Drumm as opposed to Dr Voodoo?

I’ve criticized Captain Britain and MI:13 a little recently for not being all it could be (even though it’s still good).

So I just wanted to say that this week’s issue totally redeemed it in my eyes and I’m more annoyed than ever that next issue is it’s last.

For one thing, it’s virtually the only place in the MU where Doom is being portrayed as, well, Doom, as opposed to some incompetent whipping boy (yes, FF, I’m looking at you).

It also had some nice Captain Britain moments which, alas, I can’t find online just yet. So in lieu of that, a moment from an earlier issue…

I’ll miss this book.

Via the Source – what looks to be a Black Lantern roll call – looks like I called it and called it (Captain Atom aside as he’s back in the land of the living).

It’s kind of a shame to see some characters so recently dead on here – like Dr Light and Batman (wait, does this mean he’s actually dead, just his corpse or what?) – but the more I see, the more I think this’ll end with the majority of the Power Ring Zombies heading back for a dirt nap.

Probably after some heroic sacrifice as they shake off the bonds of the Black Hand.

Still kind of looking forward to this, though.

After reading Captain America #600 I had a few thoughts.

First, although it was (unsurprisingly, given Ed Brubaker’s run on the book) well written, I was vaguely disappointed that it was more a collection of vignettes than a coherent story.

Second, I’m not sure what to make of the gun that Sharon finds. I’m sure it’s intentional, but is it supposed to look like it injected him with something to simulate death? Transported him in time and zapped a corpse into his place? Covered him in red paint?

I know it’s going to be a plot point for Reborn but the vagueness of it just kind of irked me.

Third, last we saw (which I think was at the end of the first run of Thunderbolts, given that Onslaught Reborn was basically (a) a pocket world, and (b) bollocks) wasn’t Rikki Barnes – the Heroes Reborn Bucky – back on Counter Earth on the other side of the sun? How’d she get over here?
I was also surprised to see the ‘bad’ 1950′s Steve Rogers showed up as he’s been absent for about a year. His reappearance here can’t be coincedental and it occurs to me that if that dessicated corpse buried at the bottom of the ocean is Steve Rogers, then Steve might need a new body to house his consciousness…

Honestly, as much as I trust Bru, I’m still ambivalent about Steve’s inevitable return. I like Bucky as Cap, and I think there are a lot of tales to tell with him in the uniform – especially if he’s looking up to Steve as, I don’t know, head of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. after Osborn gets his ass handed to him?

But you know who I really want to see come back as Cap?

Rojhaz!

“It’s very reminiscent of the opening of Ultimates #1 – enough so that I can hear the angry fan outcry already. But then it goes in a completely different direction.”

- Tom Brevoort

Well, no. Not an outcry, more a sigh. Because ultimately (ho ho) I want to let the story play out. While Steve Rogers may be coming back – presumably thanks to some time travel or suspended animation malarkey – I don’t necessarily think he’ll be coming back as Cap, and I’m okay with that as I think there’s a lot more stories to tell with James Barnes as Captain America right now.

As for the art in the Reborn preview, Bryan Hitch likes his redesigned WWII Cap from Ultimates. I get that. And Cap wearing a helmet during World War II makes sense from a survival point of view. I get that.

But if it was good enough to take down the Ratzis back in the day, it’s good enough now.

But then I guess his helmet was redesigned early on anyway…

…so what do I know?

Preview via

Captain America #600.

Nuff said.

I was one of those who was looking forward to Dan Slott’s take on the Avengers when it was announced that he was taking over Mighty Avengers when Bendis left to take over Thunderbolts create Dark Avengers.

I’m an Avengers fan since the days of Roger Stern’s stint as scribe, and I’ve read/now own a good chunk of what came before that, so I was all up for a return to an old school feel for the book – something that Bendis’ Mighty never achieved, in spite of the initial claims that it would provide that feel.

Instead, we got a weak and muddled three-issue opening arc which dealt with magic, Wundagore Mountain and Modred the flamin’ Mystic, perhaps the least useful magical character in the MU. As someone who doesn’t like much magic outside of Dr Strange, this wasn’t an ideal arc for me – but more than that, something felt off about Pym’s portrayal.

It wasn’t the new codename or outfit – in spite of Hercules’ concerns. It wasn’t even in the way that Iron Man reacted to him leading the team; it was in Pym’s reactions to everyone else.

Let’s see…he’s lost Jan and is hanging out with the robot whose brainwaves are based on hers. He’s desperate to prove himself as a hero, apparently to partly honor Jan’s memory but also apparently for himself.

He’s also overbearing and more than a little condescending to the younger members of the team, including but not limited to Cassie, who’s been quite successfully proving herself a hero for a while now.

He grossly over reacts to Jocasta shutting off their lab to protect it – to the point where you have to wonder if Slott’s really on board the Pym redemption train as he’s claimed to be.

Oh, and not only is he displaying some very erratic behavior, building a robot called Salvation Two (presumably because Salvation One went so well), but he’s also picking a fight with Reed Richards.

I mean, granted Richards was being uncharacteristically dickish, but still…

And, oh yeah, his team’s being led round by the nose by Loki.

What really bugs me is that Reed and Stark, prior to the Skrull invasion would never have treated Pym this way. They both respected his scientific prowess, regarded him as a friend and treated him as an equal. But now they’re both acting like heels and Pym’s disintegrating.

It’s not an Avengers that appeals to me; it’s not what I thought Slott would deliver, it’s making me actively dislike one of my favorite characters and to be honest, it’s not a lot of fun.

I’m disappointed, and if things don’t turn around in this FF arc, then I think I’m actually going to do something I’ve never done: drop an Avengers book.

As predicted, there’s another promo image out in the ‘I am Batgirl’ line (okay, I think I’m the only one calling them that but whatever).

At this point I seriously doubt that Barbara will be back in the outfit (thankfully), but I don’t think Cassandra will be either.

My money’s on Stephanie Brown – and if I’m right, I’ll be pretty damn happy, actually.

Of course, I suppose Squire’s also knocking about…

One other thing – love Phil Noto’s work on these covers. If you haven’t seen his stuff before, take a look here and here (I’m a big fan of both Beautiful Killer and The New West).

…only this time Dick is Batman! See what I did there?

I enjoyed Battle for the Cowl in a Jerry Bruckheimer-type way; I won’t spend too much time thinking about it but I’ll probably look at it again to look at the pretty pictures.

I’m a little disappointed that absolutely nothing in the series was unexpected, but at this point I’m keen to move forward with the new status quo. I’m not entirely sure I like Damien as Robin as he’s never been portrayed as anything but a snot-nosed brat (and last time we had one of those as Robin, it didn’t work out so well).

Still, at least Tim’s keeping his own book as Red Robin (well, presumably) and I’m holding out hope that Steph’s going to be Batgirl - which does make me wonder what’ll happen to Cass.

So to summarize: there’s a new Robin.

There’s a new Azrael series starting up.

There’s a new Batgirl.

There’s a new ‘bad girl’ book.

The old Robin is moving off on his own to a new identity.

And Dick’s Batman.

It’s like the 90s all over again!*

*Yes, I know Tim debuted in 1989. Give me a break! It’s not like I compared Streets of Gotham to Gotham Central!

I found these recruitment posters -designed by Feng Zhu – over on io9, having missed them when they first popped up.

I tell you, I don’t recall there being any Stormtroopers dressed like this (more at the links above)…

…or whatever your name is…

…I think you’re barking up the wrong tree there!

Just wanted to share these two images from J Scott Cambell’s deviantart page, purely because I love them and they showcase a different side to his art.

That’s all.

After I posted about The Trouble With Katie Rogers the other day I received a nice little email from creator Des Taylor, complete with another Katie pic to post.

If only everyone was as nice (and talented!)