Showing posts with label DC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC. Show all posts
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Monday, January 15, 2018
What an Anatomically Incorrect Piece of CrapTart!!
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| Stanley Lau (Artgerm)'s Supergirl (2016) #18 |
And the irony is, I actually like a lot of Artgerm's work and follow him on Deviantart. I can put up with the pin-up style (especially as homage to an earlier, less equitable age), but only if one doesn't distort the anatomy of the figure to accentuate the T&A.
Accentuate T&A, if you must, but don't render his/her/their anatomy beyond human capacities (if you are doing representational art of a human figure).
Here's a couple of his better pieces for Supergirl:
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| "Supergirl Next Door" by Artgerm |
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| Artgerm's Cover for Supergirl (2016) #17 |
Saturday, January 13, 2018
George Perez
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| George Perez's art from Legacies (2010) #5 Detailing Events from Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) |
(Gotta love how art floats around the interwebs.)
I grew up at the time of George Perez's run on The New Teen Titans in the '80s and fell in love with the complexity and detail he brings to his art.
This piece functions as the cover to Legacies #5, but it also "wraps around" onto the cover of issue #6, so the full piece looks like this:
The glorious rich imagery in this piece is a prime example of Perez's work in the 1980s, and his splash pages/contiguous covers found in The New Teen Titans and Wonder Woman (1987) are absolutely gorgeous.
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| George Perez's fold out cover from Wonder Woman (1987) #10 |
Because I grew up with Perez's art, I still base my assessment on the effectiveness/beauty of a piece in part by the amount of background detail the artist(s) create(s).
I could gush on and on about Perez's work, but as he is one of the most highly respected artists in the biz, there is plenty of gush already going around the internet about his work.
Just let me say that his art equates to my youth in my nostalgic interior universe the same way boxes of mini-Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Orange Tangy-Taffy do.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Ben Oliver
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| Ororo Munroe "Storm" by Ben Oliver |
Nada on the Bio front, but plenty of uploads of his art everywhere on the web: Facebook, Blogspot, ArtStation, Instagram, Pinterest.
I like the realism of his art. It reminds me of the classical portraits hanging on the walls of Laughner's, a restaurant from my childhood (though, I must confess, most of those paintings were a little creepy).
I think comic books are my art museum. Sometimes I just peruse the covers and internal artwork for the art and not the words of the story (blasphemy for an English major, I realize.)
Below is a small selection of his work for your enjoyment.
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Friday, May 20, 2016
Flash Comics (1939) #1
Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash, first appears in Flash Comics #1 written by Gardner Fox. While I like many of the characters Fox created, I must confess that I am not a fan of his writing. It's like he has really cool concepts for superpowers/superheroes, but then has no idea how to write logically coherent characters to embody those ideas.
I mean, what scientist would smoke in his own laboratory and become so distracted by the smoking that he bumps into his own equipment destroying his experiment?
And what woman refuses to date a man with extraordinary speed until he agrees to employ that speed to win a football game? "I'm a freak of science..." please date me?! Seriously?
Then, many moons later, one random evening, it finally occurs to Garrick to use his speed to fight crime? There seems to be no logical progression from lab accident to hero.
There's also little feeling between the characters as time elapses in strange intervals.
For instance, Joan Williams, the woman Garrick finally got to go on a date with after winning a football game back in college, asks for Garrick's assistance after they run into each other (again, a seemingly random event).
Joan tells Garrick that her father has been kidnapped, but they are suddenly interrupted by an attempt on Joan's life (a drive-by shooting). Garrick saves her (of course) but then suggests he'll drop by "tonight." Neither the shooting nor the father being kidnapped seems to inspire any urgency in these characters.
The evil-doers are again archetypal villains (as in Satan -- literally, his name is Mr. Satan) who die whilst being pursued by the hero. Garrick even gloats over the wreck because he's classy that way.
Final Notions:
I must confess that if other "oldies but goodies" are this painful to read, I may have to skip over a few items in my collection to get to the meaty stuff.
I mean, what scientist would smoke in his own laboratory and become so distracted by the smoking that he bumps into his own equipment destroying his experiment?
And what woman refuses to date a man with extraordinary speed until he agrees to employ that speed to win a football game? "I'm a freak of science..." please date me?! Seriously?
Then, many moons later, one random evening, it finally occurs to Garrick to use his speed to fight crime? There seems to be no logical progression from lab accident to hero.
There's also little feeling between the characters as time elapses in strange intervals.For instance, Joan Williams, the woman Garrick finally got to go on a date with after winning a football game back in college, asks for Garrick's assistance after they run into each other (again, a seemingly random event).
Joan tells Garrick that her father has been kidnapped, but they are suddenly interrupted by an attempt on Joan's life (a drive-by shooting). Garrick saves her (of course) but then suggests he'll drop by "tonight." Neither the shooting nor the father being kidnapped seems to inspire any urgency in these characters.
We learn -- when Garrick finally stops by -- that Joan's father has actually been missing for three months! THREE MONTHS! She even knows who did the kidnapping ("The Faultless Four"). Are you kidding me?
The evil-doers are again archetypal villains (as in Satan -- literally, his name is Mr. Satan) who die whilst being pursued by the hero. Garrick even gloats over the wreck because he's classy that way.Final Notions:
I must confess that if other "oldies but goodies" are this painful to read, I may have to skip over a few items in my collection to get to the meaty stuff.
Series: Flash Comics (1939)
Issue #: 001
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: January 1940
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 15 pages
Print Release: 16-November-1939
Digital Release: 13-August-2011
Writer:
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Inkers:
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None Listed
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Cover Art:
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Story Title:
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“The Flash”
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Monday, May 16, 2016
Detective Comics #29-33
My collection contains few of the classic comics; those that I have were purchased primarily for the first appearances of the major characters from the Big Two.
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| Weird-Ass Shit #1: "Warm Reception" = Giant Ape |
Many of the iconic elements from these comic book stories have entered into the general lexicon, especially now that superhero movies have come to dominate the summer box office.
The Batmobile, Kryptonite, Cap's Shield, Gamma Radiation, we all have a basic understanding of what began with these early issues, and many of those details can indeed be found in those original mags.
But let me assure you, there is some really weird-ass shit in those early issues as well.
Most Amusing Panel Prize:
When Bruce Wayne visits the doctor to tend to his bullet wound (suffered while pursuing the bad guys as Batman), Bruce explains his injury with: "I do funny things sometimes."
The Batman stories in Detective Comics #29 and #30 both feature Doctor Death such that they effectively function as a two-parter. Batman then battles the Master Monk in issues #31 and #32: "Batman Versus the Vampire" parts 1 & 2. Both sets of stories were written by Gardner Fox.
As the title panel that begins issue #31 admits, Batman is a "weird menace to all crime." (The description that follows -- intended for the Master Monk -- could actually be used to describe this early version of Batman if one merely replaced "cowled like a monk" with "cowled like a bat.")
The weirdness resides on multiple levels. For example, Doctor Death has a pair of henchmen -- a "giant Indian" and a "Cossack" (whose depictions border on the racist with stereotypical dress and a strange skin-coloring choice) -- henchmen whom Batman apparently has no qualms about taking out -- permanently.
The weirdness continues with the strange amalgamation that is the "Master Monk." He seems to be part werewolf, part vampire, and part... psychic?
The Monk has some sort of mind-control power, identified as hypnotism in issue #31, which he has used on Julie to make her kill some random guy for inexplicable reasons (at least no reason is ever offered) -- Julie, who just so happens to be Bruce Wayne's fiancee. That's right, Bruce Wayne's fiancee.
Batman manages to stop Julie before she kills, which snaps her out of The Monk's mind control. So, naturally the doctor to whom Bruce Wayne brings her prescribes an ocean voyage (?) to Paris to cure what ails her.
Mysteriously, the Master Monk just so happens to be on the same ship to Paris. (Mysteriously not because he's there, but because Batman seems to abandon Julie to his clutches after a brief skirmish only to "rescue" her again by issue's end.)
Issue #32 opens with Batman in pursuit of the Master Monk only to find Dala, the Monk's victim/collaborator, in his stead.
Dala, who appears to be a vampire, too, after she bites Julie with whom Batman, in his infinite wisdom, sets her up in his hotel room "deep in the Carlathan Mountains." (Apparently the masked crusader who looks like a bat has no problem getting a motel room in Hungary.)
Last Notions:
The weirdness in these early comics books seems to be pitched high as the creators keep piling on one storybook element after another: a bad guy who is a psychic, AND a werewolf, AND a vampire.
Don't get me wrong; I am a fan of comic books (and fantasy and SciFi), but I look for the fantastical to have some sort of internal coherence. I'm not talking about grounding these characters in a modern realism such as Christopher Nolan does with Batman and the Joker in The Dark Knight. (I loved that film, by the way.)
Rather, what I need is some basic character development to provide a logical basis for the impossible to happen. Like the classic SciFi novels that are strong on the "big idea," but lack a clear plot and interesting characters to make that big idea resonate, these early comic books present characters (both the bad and the good) with the psychological complexity of stick figures.
CODA:
Luckily, Batman begins to gain some moral and psychological dimensions in the very next issue, #33, when Bruce Wayne's tragic back story is finally provided.
(The bad guy in this issue, on the other hand, remains one-dimensional as ever; he has a literal Napoleon complex and is, of course, bent on world domination.)
The weirdness resides on multiple levels. For example, Doctor Death has a pair of henchmen -- a "giant Indian" and a "Cossack" (whose depictions border on the racist with stereotypical dress and a strange skin-coloring choice) -- henchmen whom Batman apparently has no qualms about taking out -- permanently.
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| Weird-Ass Shit #4: Hypnotic Powers in a Vampire-Wolfman |
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| Weird-Ass Shit #5: Bruce Wayne has a fiancee |
Batman manages to stop Julie before she kills, which snaps her out of The Monk's mind control. So, naturally the doctor to whom Bruce Wayne brings her prescribes an ocean voyage (?) to Paris to cure what ails her.
Mysteriously, the Master Monk just so happens to be on the same ship to Paris. (Mysteriously not because he's there, but because Batman seems to abandon Julie to his clutches after a brief skirmish only to "rescue" her again by issue's end.)
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| Weird-Ass Shit #6: Batman rents hotel rooms as Batman |
Dala, who appears to be a vampire, too, after she bites Julie with whom Batman, in his infinite wisdom, sets her up in his hotel room "deep in the Carlathan Mountains." (Apparently the masked crusader who looks like a bat has no problem getting a motel room in Hungary.)
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| Weird-Ass Shit #7:Batman Versus The Were |
The weirdness in these early comics books seems to be pitched high as the creators keep piling on one storybook element after another: a bad guy who is a psychic, AND a werewolf, AND a vampire.
Don't get me wrong; I am a fan of comic books (and fantasy and SciFi), but I look for the fantastical to have some sort of internal coherence. I'm not talking about grounding these characters in a modern realism such as Christopher Nolan does with Batman and the Joker in The Dark Knight. (I loved that film, by the way.)
Rather, what I need is some basic character development to provide a logical basis for the impossible to happen. Like the classic SciFi novels that are strong on the "big idea," but lack a clear plot and interesting characters to make that big idea resonate, these early comic books present characters (both the bad and the good) with the psychological complexity of stick figures.
CODA:
Luckily, Batman begins to gain some moral and psychological dimensions in the very next issue, #33, when Bruce Wayne's tragic back story is finally provided.
Series: Detective Comics (1937)
Issue #: 029
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: July 1939
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 11 pages
Print Release: 17-May-1939
Digital Release: 10-September-2011
Writer:
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Penciler:
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Inker:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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“The Bat-Man
Meets Doctor Death”
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Series: Detective Comics (1937)
Issue #: 030
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: August 1939
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 11 pages
Print Release: 14-June-1939
Digital Release: 10-September-2011
Writer:
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Pencilers:
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Inker:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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The Batman: “The
Return of Doctor Death”
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Series: Detective Comics (1937)
Issue #: 031
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: September 1939
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 11 pages
Print Release: 19-July-1939
Digital Release: 10-September-2011
Writer:
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Pencilers:
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Inkers:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Cover Art:
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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“Batman Versus
the Vampire Part 1”
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Series: Detective Comics (1937)
Issue #: 032
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: October 1939
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 11 pages
Print Release: 16-August-1939
Digital Release: 10-September-2011
Writer:
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Pencilers:
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Inkers:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Cover Art:
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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“Batman Versus
the Vampire Part 2”
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Series: Detective Comics (1937)
Issue #: 033
Copyright: DC Comics
Cover Date: November 1939
Cover Price: 10¢
Page Count: 13 pages
Print Release: 13-September-1939
Digital Release: 10-September-2011
Writers:
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Pencilers:
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Inker:
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Colorist:
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None Listed
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Cover Art:
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Source Links:
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Story Title:
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“The Batman Wars
Against the Dirigible of Doom”
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