Covers part 2
I really enjoyed sharing some of my favorite covers in a post from a while back, so here is a fresh batch of covers I really dig!
I love, love, LOVE pulp style art!
Here is another cover from my youth by Bill Sienkiewicz.
There are literally hundreds of great Brian Bolland covers to choose from but, I think no one drew Dredd better.
Gabriel Ba’s art is so deceptively simple, and goddamned cool.
I’ve long been a Mike Zeck fan. I chose this cover because this particular issue was one of the first I bought with an eye towards it’s future value. BTW, comicspriceguide.com rates a NM copy at $25.00…meh.
Tim Bradstreet draws (or “traces” as Mike calls it) some of the most striking covers I’ve ever seen.
A very unique cover from Frank Miller
I’ve included this cover not really because it is all that great (although Man-Bat, The Creeper, The Demon, and Phantom Stranger on one cover is pretty cool!) but because I always liked Blue Devil, and this is probably my favorite issue.
I never bought this issue. I remember seeing it in the rack and totally falling in love with it’s cover, but I didn’t have enough money to buy it. Hoping to hide it and buy it later, I crammed it all the way behind some issues of Archie (true story). Sadly, by the time I got back it was gone.
Awesome!
Why aren’t there more Iron Man vs Doom stories?
Finally, there were many memorable covers during The Preacher’s run, this is one that really stuck out for me.
Ok, more soon including a FallCon update!
Covers!
So, I was trolling the internets when I happened upon this site. It has a few cool galleries of golden age comic covers. If you go there just click on one of the three circles at the top of the page to see the galleries.
Inspired by viewing the galleries I’ve decided to share some of my personal favorite comic covers, enjoy!
There are tons of great Spiderman covers, but I absolutely love Mysterio
Dave Mckean rules.
The second appearance of GI Joe #21 in this blog. It is safe to say this is one of my all around favorite comics.
One of my favorite Arthur Adams covers, and arguably the best Wolverine.
One of the covers that sent Gaines to court. I think the drool is a nice touch.
Hard to pick just one George Perez cover, but I just love his work on Crisis.
Dead heat between this issue and #3. I went with #4 because i like how Logan still suits up after Kitty skewered him on a sword.
I love this series! I just started reading it (I acquired all the comics legally, you can be sure of that) and it kicks ass. I recommend doing an image search for more of the covers from this comic.
Not much to say here, I just think this cover is cool!
The issue that launched a thousand emo girl outfits. One could pick any of Mckean’s covers for The Sandman, but this is my favorite.
Not much to say about this that hasn’t been said by everyone else, but I love how it acts as the first panel, continues the circle motif, etc etc.
Neal Adams could draw covers like no one else. How cool is Havok here?
And finally, one of the most iconic covers ever.
So, there we have it. I’d like to wrap things up with an image just for fun…Simpsonized Watchmen
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For more cool fan-art Simpsonized characters check out this site here. Make sure to check out the archives!
Associate commentary part 2
May 31st, 2009 Comments; 0
On this page Cain and Dey proceed with some chemically assisted psychic forensics. Cain’s use of government cooked hallucinogens has caused confusion amongst some readers, but more on that later.
So, why the drug trip?
Well, I decided to use this device for a few of reasons.
First off, I thought it broke up the necessary, but often clunky, “catch the reader up on the story” exposition. Cain and Dey have already spent several panels gabbing about “off camera events”, so I thought it would be nice to let the reader view the key events that lead to Cain’s earlier involvement at this hospital.
Also, the dream-like quality of the visions let us dress those events in symbols allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about them. Since these visions set Cain off on a story line that will be very important to the first season, we want to be vague about details while still piquing the readers’ interest.
Finally, my approach to how Cain displays his powers in this sequence has been influenced by the comic series Hellblazer.
(Before I move on: if your only knowledge of John Constantine, the main character in Hellblazer, comes from that awful Keanu Reeves movie… do yourself a favor and read the comicbook. I recommend reading any of the collections that feature the stories written by Warren Ellis or Garth Ennis.)
Constantine is more likely to bullshit or scheme his way out of trouble than shoot fireballs from his bat guano covered hands. The most magickal thing you’re likely to see Constantine do is commune with the dead, or disguise something with a glamour. I’ve always liked that, and while Cain will have some more overt displays of his powers, you can look at this sequence as a kind of nod to the Laughing Magician.
So, does Dey turn into a dog a the end of the page? No, the dog is a symbol of Dey’s character and his “transformation” is a byproduct of Cain coming up on the drug.
Next: Page 7 and what’s next for the Associate
The Construction of a comic Page
May 27th, 2009 Comments; 0
I just posted some photos and commentary over on the Dimestore/Small Press Idol site that shows the process I go through when creating a comic book page for The Associate. If you’re interested you can check it out HERE!
Comics that spurred me on.
May 22nd, 2009 Comments; 0
(Just a quick note: this is a column, with some additions and alterations, that I have posted elsewhere.)
When I was a 5th and 6th grader my interest in reading comic books bloomed into an obsession. I read everything the $10 my mom would give me could buy, and in the mid-80s that could be a healthy stack of comics; I even bought a few Archie digests…yeah, that’s right, The Archie Digest.
Amid a flurry of comics that included such titles as: Detective, Legion of Superheroes, X-men, Teen Titans, Mad, Cracked, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and anything Spiderman a few books have always stood out for me.
What follows is a short list (lists…everyone loves lists…) of my favorite individual issues from that period. These are not by any means the best comics I read, but are the ones I read and re-read and read again.
Enjoy.
1) GI Joe #21. (1984)
Stormshadow, Snake Eyes, Scarlette, and Destro! What else do you really need in an issue of GI Joe?
I literally read the cover off this comic. A completely unique issue of the series, written and drawn by Larry Hama, which came from nowhere to blow my little 5th grade mind.
2) New Mutants Special #1/ X-men Annual #9 (1985)
These two issues followed a seperate two issue Alpha Flight/X-Men cross over and feature some of Chris Claremont’s best “X-book” writing as well as (IMHO) Arthur Adams’ very best penciling (no one ever drew Warlock better). I just re-re-re-read these comics on a car trip this weekend and they still kick my ass! These comics, as well as the Alpha Flight/X-men cross over, were collected in a trade paperback titled “X-Men: The Asgardian Wars”. However you do it, find these books and read them!
3) Detective Comics #550 (1985)
In this stand-alone issue the “origin” of a common Gotham thug is told via flashbacks as he is chased across the rooftops by The Batman. I’ve always felt that this story, which allowed us to follow the chain of events that lead to yet another zero level thug’s encounter with Bats, was far more gripping and interesting than most any that featured a marquee hero/villain.
Oh, and there was a back-up Green Arrow/Black Canary story written by some guy named Alan Moore at the end of the issue.
Side note: there was an issue of “The Invisibles” that was very similar to this one (I forget the number), that told the origin of a masked henchman before he is killed by King Mob.
4) Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 (1985)/ Who’s Who in the DC Universe #1(1985)
After reading these two series I began writing lengthy bios for characters I’d dream up when I should have been doing homework. This is a habit I have carried to this very day; and you can be sure all that practice came in handy for Small Press round #2!
Oh, and yes, when the final issue of Marvel Universe came out I layed them all end to end…sad I know.
5) Cerebus #80 (1985?)
My first trip to a comic book store (as opposed to a drug store or grocery store where I’d been getting my comics for years) in Grand Forks, ND yielded this comic. I bought it, despite the price ($2 was alot in ‘85!) because I liked the art, and it became my first glimpse of a comics world outside of the capes and cowls of Marvel and DC. It was also my first step in a direction towards reading the more “adult” comics that were lurking just over the horizon. Without it, I’d probably have missed The Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, The Sandman, Hellblazer, and a slew of my all time favorite books which would come out over the next few years.
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