Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
If you’re not following Rafael Kayanan on Twitter, then you’re missing out on cool art like the werewolves drawing above. I say that not because Raf is an old buddy of mine, but because he’s one of the most talented artists [as in martial and art-art] out there!
Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day and my buddy, John Beatty is going to be in Melbourne Florida at Famous Faces and Funnies signing autographs, doing free quickie head sketches, selling prints and more. Big John won’t be the only artist there sketching.
I’m going to show up in the afternoon too. Although I won’t be sketching so consider yourself lucky.
Steranko is one of the living legends of comic art. Marvel in a very wise move brought Steranko back in 2016 to create never-before-seen variant covers, like the art for one above. The variants ran through 2017.
Diversions of the Groovy Kind has posted up Master of Kung Fu #60 The Phoenix Gambit Part II: End Game! by Doug Moench, Mike Zeck, and John Tartaglione.
Click over and check out some vintage Mike Zeck art!
Today we have a Jack Kirby splash inked by Frank Miller! You can see a larger version as well as a Kirby Spider-Man drawing inked by Miller at Brian Michael Bendis’ Tumblr.
Darwyn Cooke was the cover artist for the Batman: Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1.
Over at the Almost Darwyn Cooke Blog they show us some of the prelims Darwyn created before coming up with his finished cover.
Andy Fish created his take on Sly as Stanley from Lords of Flatbush using no reference! If you’d like to see more of Andy’s art you can here!
Mathew Jackson and Mental_Floss present 16 Super Facts About Superman. Here are three of my favorites…
6. EVERY MAJOR STAR OF THE DAY WAS SEEMINGLY CONSIDERED FOR THE TITLE ROLE.
In order to secure the rights to adapt the comic book, the Salkinds had to bow to certain demands from DC Comics, and the publisher ultimately sent along a list of “approved” actors who were allowed to play Superman. The list was far-reaching, and basically included every major star of the time. Among the names on the list: Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Muhammad Ali.
7. RICHARD DONNER WANTED TO CAST AN UNKNOWN AS SUPERMAN.
The Salkinds, hoping to land a major movie star in the title role, offered Superman to Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who both turned it down. The Salkinds also booked a meeting between Donner and Sylvester Stallone, who was hot at the time because of Rocky.
“I tried to be nice and say, ‘This is wrong,’” Donner said.
Believing that a movie star in Superman’s costume wouldn’t be believable, because audiences would only see the movie star and not the character, Donner lobbied hard for an unknown. He eventually found his man in Christopher Reeve, who impressed the director with his theater work.
9. MARGOT KIDDER’S CLUMSINESS WON HER THE LOIS LANE ROLE.
For the role of Lois Lane, several actresses—including Lesley Ann Warren and Anne Archer—were considered, but Margot Kidder ultimately won the role by simply being herself.
“When I met her in the casting office, she tripped coming in and I just fell in love with her,”Donner said. “It was perfect, this clumsy [behavior]. She was one of the few [actresses] we flew to London to test with Chris. Anne Archer [also tested]. But they were magic together.”
To compound Kidder’s clumsy, silly side even further, an eye injury meant that she had to act without contact lenses one day. Donner was so charmed by the way it made Lois bump into things and widen her eyes that he made sure Kidder continued to play the role without her contacts.
“There was a law after that: every morning people had to come to me and make sure she didn’t have her contacts in, and that she would act without her contacts. It just made her wonderful.”
Years ago, I used to own the original art to the page shown above by Mike Zeck and John Tartaglione. But that’s not the reason I posted it today.
You see one of my daily stops on the internet highway is Diversions of the Groovy Kind. DotGK recently posted…
“The Phoenix Gambit Part I: Temples of Time” by Doug Moench, Mike Zeck (his MOKF debut!), and John Tartaglione from Master of Kung Fu #59 (September 1977)…
and there you can see the entire issue. And THAT is the reason for showing the art.
Paul Gulacy recreates a classic scene from Master of Kung Fu when Shang-Chi fought Shen Kuei aka Cat.
Man, that brings back so many great memories! If you’d like to see a larger version you can here.
Source: @GulacyArt.
Say the name “Jordi Bernet” to most comic fans and they’ll respond, “Torpedo.” That’s because Bernet is most famous for the art on the Torpedo crime stories.
Torpedo may come to mind first, but I’ll bet many won’t forget the awesome Bride of Frankenstein piece Bernet created.
Source: Steve Niles Tumblr.
Once a week Joblo.com posts Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net. As you can imagine, they post awesome art that they, well, you get the idea.
I always enjoy seeing what JoBlo has found because with each post they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art. If you check it out you’ll discover amazing artists like Dave Rapoza who did the Lobo piece above.
Howard Chaykin has a new –
I’m in.
But you don’t know what the comic is about. You don’t even know what it’s called.
I’m in.
Listen –
Ok, tell me.
THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA is set in the aftermath of a dirty bomb that wipes New York City off the map, as what will come to be known as the Second American Civil War shatters the domestic landscape in isolated pustules of violence…and a team of five private contractors is charged with stemming this tide of rage and bringing the bombers to justice.
Guess what?
What?
I’m in.
Source: Bleeding Cool.
Spies…
Thieves…
Ballerinas… uh, Excuse me?
Yep. Ballerinas.
Prima by Jen Van Meter, Rick Burchett and Eric Newsom tells a story set in the 50’s of a…
…dance company—comprised entirely of former spies—righting the wrongs of the Cold War.
Save a dance for me.
Source: Bleeding Cool.
Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser have a new crime comic series coming out this summer called Kill or be Killed…
KILL OR BE KILLED is the story of a troubled young man who is compelled to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret, as it slowly begins to ruin his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones.
Deal me in.
Source: Bleeding Cool.
