And here are a few different versions of my rendition of "Kabuki" with an obvious Bruce Timm influence...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
"Kabuki"
Yeah, I suppose I could've hunted down the singles of David Mack's latest "Kabuki" arc, but this creation is truly something that can't slum it up in bags, boards, and long boxes. "Kabuki" is almost a new medium of storytelling within the framework of comics. Each page is a true masterwork and can stand on its own if need be. The writing is complex and layered, the art is incredible and moving, and their marriage is truly something to behold for both comics fans and anyone who thinks they know the limits of this medium. That's why I was so happy that Marvel/Icon is giving the newest volume of this work hardcover treatment. Too bad we have to wait another couple months for this to drop (September 10th).
And here are a few different versions of my rendition of "Kabuki" with an obvious Bruce Timm influence...
And here are a few different versions of my rendition of "Kabuki" with an obvious Bruce Timm influence...
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Blockbuster Events & (An Idea Of) How To Save DC Comics...
Yeah, I know this is the second post today, but I've been chained to the desk doing page layouts and checking CBR (comicbookresources.com) for any new developments in what is looking like a pivotal week at the offices of DC Comics.
With DC mainstay Chuck Dixon being fired as well as John Nee stepping down as Senior Vice President of Business Development could a major shakeup in editorial and management be far off? I'm probably in the minority on this, but I think these events and all of the rumors that have stemmed from them have very little to do with Marvel Studios' recent successes at the box office. With "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" packing the multiplexes and seamlessly setting up a greater franchise of films, some people seem to think that DC's problems have to do more with their inability to make movies with their more identifiable icons. Yes, it is woefully embarrassing that they can't seem to get The Flash, Green Lantern, or Wonder Woman even into the approved script stage of film making despite being owned by multinational corporate conglomerate AOL / Time Warner, but I don't think that has anything to do with their failures on the publishing front.
And for absolute clarity, when I speak about DC after this sentence let me iterate that I am speaking strictly about DC Central, the other big superhero house of the US. I'm not talking about Vertigo, which I regard as one of the finest publishers in all of American and International comics. Also I'm not referring to Wildstorm, who I do have a few problems with but still regard as the only Image founder studio that has became a quality publisher.
Now, before you read any further, you may want to read the this link to actually understand what I'm talking about... http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12233
Here's the problem with DC. Their universe has become increasingly impenetrable to even those comic readers with a somewhat above average knowledge base of DC lore (like me). Let me explain, Marvel is very good with their monthly serialization program and trade paperback program at guiding and distinguishing which books are essential, which books are enriching, and which books are seminal (And even within this category, they are very clear about which books take place in the same Earth 616 we all know and which ones are completely separate and are only important to themselves like anything from MAX, Marvel Knights, or Icon). So anyway, Marvel is very organized and has their head in the long haul bookstore game more than the monthly direct market (although, they play that game extremely well too). DC, on the other hand has no regard for anyone who doesn't already know what's going on in the world their heroes inhabit. They come at their readers with a real "let's see if you can keep up..." attitude. They do a weekly comic ("52", "Countdown", and now "Trinity") that always has a ton of specials and one-shots attached to it, most of their core books are interdependent in some way (except for the Superman & Batman books for the most part), and all of their "Crisis" event books (I think they're on their 3rd and supposedly final one) ship late. Because of this lag and interdependence, their readers have no breathing room to see how these apparently huge stories even change their characters before it's time for the next ride. Oh, and don't get me started on their trade program or how they apply this exact same publishing model at an even more micro-managerial level with the Superman and Batman family of books. Yes, you heard me right. They do this same exact thing (although they spare you the weekly comic, sorta) with all of the Superman and Batman books...
And to be fair about lateness, Marvel has had this problem, although "Secret Invasion" will probably be the first event book by either publisher to ever ship every issue on time. Thank you, Leinel Yu! The difference with lateness is that at Marvel, when the big ship stalls all of the little ones stall too. Yes, this probably isn't the best business strategy but I know for a fact that fans appreciate this and at least get to enjoy their "Initiative" down time because of it...
Okay, since I've probably lost anyone who doesn't have a freakish finger on the pulse of the industry at this point let me get to my solution. They're a mess, they need help, but I don't think it's anything a new editor in chief can't fix. My oversimplified solution is bringing Axel Alonso on board as editor and chief and simply letting him sign anyone who isn't a Marvel exclusive writer to DC. He left DC (Vertigo) for Marvel in the early 00s and I'm sure he'd relish the chance to save an entire comic book universe after being locked in the X-Men dungeon since Dan Buckley took over as Marvel's President and axed anything indie-fied that was getting pushed through Marvel Central under Bill Jemas. After that, get a meeting together with all of the major DC architects. No one is getting fired, but Judd Winick should be no publisher's 3rd option. If you ask me, only Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns need be present, but I've always thought Peter Milligan deserved a higher profile and I'm sure he'd be afforded this under Axel. So anyway, get all of them together with anyone they manage to poach out of Marvel and decide which books are going to be in their own little corner of the DCU and which are going to instrumental in taking DC back to a more reader-friendly but intriguing future. From there, editorial starts calling artists who aren't exclusive to Marvel (and indy artists who have proven their chops in the monthly comics game) and putting together creative teams. All of this, and don't do any "events" for at least a couple years. That's my oversimplified solution to DC's current troubles.
With DC mainstay Chuck Dixon being fired as well as John Nee stepping down as Senior Vice President of Business Development could a major shakeup in editorial and management be far off? I'm probably in the minority on this, but I think these events and all of the rumors that have stemmed from them have very little to do with Marvel Studios' recent successes at the box office. With "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" packing the multiplexes and seamlessly setting up a greater franchise of films, some people seem to think that DC's problems have to do more with their inability to make movies with their more identifiable icons. Yes, it is woefully embarrassing that they can't seem to get The Flash, Green Lantern, or Wonder Woman even into the approved script stage of film making despite being owned by multinational corporate conglomerate AOL / Time Warner, but I don't think that has anything to do with their failures on the publishing front.
And for absolute clarity, when I speak about DC after this sentence let me iterate that I am speaking strictly about DC Central, the other big superhero house of the US. I'm not talking about Vertigo, which I regard as one of the finest publishers in all of American and International comics. Also I'm not referring to Wildstorm, who I do have a few problems with but still regard as the only Image founder studio that has became a quality publisher.
Now, before you read any further, you may want to read the this link to actually understand what I'm talking about... http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12233
Here's the problem with DC. Their universe has become increasingly impenetrable to even those comic readers with a somewhat above average knowledge base of DC lore (like me). Let me explain, Marvel is very good with their monthly serialization program and trade paperback program at guiding and distinguishing which books are essential, which books are enriching, and which books are seminal (And even within this category, they are very clear about which books take place in the same Earth 616 we all know and which ones are completely separate and are only important to themselves like anything from MAX, Marvel Knights, or Icon). So anyway, Marvel is very organized and has their head in the long haul bookstore game more than the monthly direct market (although, they play that game extremely well too). DC, on the other hand has no regard for anyone who doesn't already know what's going on in the world their heroes inhabit. They come at their readers with a real "let's see if you can keep up..." attitude. They do a weekly comic ("52", "Countdown", and now "Trinity") that always has a ton of specials and one-shots attached to it, most of their core books are interdependent in some way (except for the Superman & Batman books for the most part), and all of their "Crisis" event books (I think they're on their 3rd and supposedly final one) ship late. Because of this lag and interdependence, their readers have no breathing room to see how these apparently huge stories even change their characters before it's time for the next ride. Oh, and don't get me started on their trade program or how they apply this exact same publishing model at an even more micro-managerial level with the Superman and Batman family of books. Yes, you heard me right. They do this same exact thing (although they spare you the weekly comic, sorta) with all of the Superman and Batman books...
And to be fair about lateness, Marvel has had this problem, although "Secret Invasion" will probably be the first event book by either publisher to ever ship every issue on time. Thank you, Leinel Yu! The difference with lateness is that at Marvel, when the big ship stalls all of the little ones stall too. Yes, this probably isn't the best business strategy but I know for a fact that fans appreciate this and at least get to enjoy their "Initiative" down time because of it...
Okay, since I've probably lost anyone who doesn't have a freakish finger on the pulse of the industry at this point let me get to my solution. They're a mess, they need help, but I don't think it's anything a new editor in chief can't fix. My oversimplified solution is bringing Axel Alonso on board as editor and chief and simply letting him sign anyone who isn't a Marvel exclusive writer to DC. He left DC (Vertigo) for Marvel in the early 00s and I'm sure he'd relish the chance to save an entire comic book universe after being locked in the X-Men dungeon since Dan Buckley took over as Marvel's President and axed anything indie-fied that was getting pushed through Marvel Central under Bill Jemas. After that, get a meeting together with all of the major DC architects. No one is getting fired, but Judd Winick should be no publisher's 3rd option. If you ask me, only Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns need be present, but I've always thought Peter Milligan deserved a higher profile and I'm sure he'd be afforded this under Axel. So anyway, get all of them together with anyone they manage to poach out of Marvel and decide which books are going to be in their own little corner of the DCU and which are going to instrumental in taking DC back to a more reader-friendly but intriguing future. From there, editorial starts calling artists who aren't exclusive to Marvel (and indy artists who have proven their chops in the monthly comics game) and putting together creative teams. All of this, and don't do any "events" for at least a couple years. That's my oversimplified solution to DC's current troubles.
In Anticipation Of "The Dark Knight"...
There's still almost a month of waiting, but most sophisticated bat-fans are chomping at the bit for Chris Nolan's much hyped sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins" and I am no exception. To celebrate this waiting game I've decided to display all of my bat-related images, bad and good...
Back when I was drawing myself like so, here's me as Batman...
The Dark Knight (although not as grizzled as his Frank Miller incarnation) with my favorite Robin, Carrie Kelly...
And the Black & White version...
An Abstraction of the bat clearly borrowing a bit from Dustin Nguyen...
And redesign of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl outfit (based in part on Michael Allred's Catwoman redesign)...
Back when I was drawing myself like so, here's me as Batman...
The Dark Knight (although not as grizzled as his Frank Miller incarnation) with my favorite Robin, Carrie Kelly...
And the Black & White version...
An Abstraction of the bat clearly borrowing a bit from Dustin Nguyen...
And redesign of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl outfit (based in part on Michael Allred's Catwoman redesign)...
Monday, June 16, 2008
I'm A Finisher!
Yeah, sometimes I'll start a drawing and get stuck. This inevitably leads to me finding said drawing months later in the heat of wanting to justify my existence. this usually ends with some abstract gusto like you see above...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Vegas Bar Drawings!
I went to a bachelor party in Vegas a few weeks back and let me tell you that place is Sleazeville USA. Not a recommended fun spot by the J-nel Travel Guide. I had fun hanging with my old Minneapolis crew, but doing this in Minneapolis would have increased the fun-factor significantly. Call me nostalgic... Well anyway, I got into town way earlier than my midwestern buddies and had some time to sketch a few things.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Jessica Drew & The AJ Classic 87s
So, now that third installment of "Secret Invasion" has hit the shops should I feel weird about being so proud of this drawing? I'm not sure, but I'm definitely relieved that there was an actual reason behind Bendis & Maleev denying us the "Spider-Woman" book we all were craving after their "Daredevil" run concluded...
Computer Coloring
The Framed Original
And The Finest Footwear Known To Man...
Computer Coloring
The Framed Original
And The Finest Footwear Known To Man...
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Shade : The Changing Man
A couple years ago I came to the realization that DC was never going to collect Peter Milligan's run on "Shade : The Changing Man". This prompted me to search out each and every single issue of the aforementioned title via quarter bins, used book stores, and ebay. This book is really a forgotten treasure and the best of the founding Vertigo books in my opinion. Seriously, if “Shade” were as readily available in trade format for as long as “Sandman” has been we WOULD be seeing it get the "Absolute" treatment it so rightly deserves. As far as the title losing steam after Kathy’s death and Chris leaving (to create "Generation X" at Marvel), I don’t agree with most fans. Milligan just wanted to “change” Shade yet again, but lost his way a bit. He got it back together and really finished in style. Richard Case, Sean Phillips, and Mark Buckingham (whose work honestly looks pretty close to Bachalo when it’s inked by Mark Pennington) were fantastic in picking up the art chores and along with a refocused Milligan they delivered one of the most satisfying endings of any long term run I’ve ever read. This one's a gem and beloved by those who have read it.
Here's the work that followed my reading of this jewel in color true to the early 90s, sepia-tone, and all zipped out (the matted original awaiting a frame)...
Here's the work that followed my reading of this jewel in color true to the early 90s, sepia-tone, and all zipped out (the matted original awaiting a frame)...
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Obama Triumphant!
With Hillary Clinton suspending her campaign today, Barack Obama has now become the Democratic Party's Official Presidential Candidate! See if your views match up with Barack's vision for America at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_barack_obama and to be fair, check out the distinguished competition and his postions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_john_mccain. So yeah, let's forget all of the hurt feelings, bring this party together, and get this country back on the right track before it's too late!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
No Zip For Jack...
A few years back I was absolutely captivated by Joe Casey & Dustin Nguyen's run on "Wildcats 3.0". And even after retroactively reading Casey's earlier run with Sean Phillips (Volume 2 once Lobdell left) I still must say that "3.0" stands as the crown jewel of the Wildstorm library (well, unless "The Maxx" counts, and I say it doesn't). So here's a cleaned up Jack Marlowe with unfortunately no zip-a-tone and a sample of what I was doing about 3-4 years back...
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