Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
CBR.com recently polled comic book fans to come up with 2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists. Using just the writers on their list, as difficult as it was, I came up with my top ten..
10. Mike Mignola
09. Robert Kirkman
08. Denny O’Neil
07. Stan Lee
06. Brian Azzarello
05. John Byrne
04. Chris Claremont
03. Alan Moore
02. Ed Brubaker
01. Frank Miller
It is a shame writers like Doug Moench, Steve Niles, Eric Powell and Dan Bereton didn’t make the list.
CBR.com recently polled comic book fans to come up with 2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists. Using just the artists on their list, as difficult as it was, I came up with my top ten..
10. Tim Sale
09. Mike Mignola
08. Neal Adams
07. Bill Sienkiewicz
06. Alex Toth|
05. Barry Windsor-Smith
04. John Byrne
03. Frank Miller
02. Darwyn Cooke|
01. Jim Steranko
The CBR list was created by fans, but I have to wonder how artists like Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck, Eduardo Risso, Sean Phillips, Brian Stelfreeze, Marshall Rogers, Mike Golden, and Howard Chaykin didn’t make the cut.
Adventures in Pulp is a cool site where you can find four free web comics:
Dick Ruby and the Little Green Men: DETECTIVE NOIR MEETS INVASION SCI-FI in “Dick Ruby and the Case of the Little Green Men. It’s New York in the 1940s and private investigator Dick Ruby is on the trail of a missing person. A trail that leads to little green men from outer space.
Hawk and a Handsaw: ENTER A SUPERHERO INSANE ASYLUM in “Hawk and a Handsaw!” You’d have to be a little crazy to put on a brightly colored costume and fight crime, but how exactly would you know who is the real deal and who has simply latched onto the delusion of being a super powered being?
The Four Horsemen: THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING! A power-hungry Prince kills his father to steal the crown and kingdom. The only thing that can stop him, the Good Witch of the Dead Lands. Hiding in her place of power, she summons four warriors from across time and space.
Jigsaw World Daniel Gideon is not a hero. His marriage is on the rocks and he is failing at his job. He is not a happy-go-lucky hero ready to step up to save a patchwork planet. But he might be the world’s only chance. This bizarre world where dinosaurs evolved into a predatory sentient species. A world infested by alien parasites and an invading ecology. A world on the edge of war. A world on the edge of extinction. A Jigsaw World.
Brett Harris [writer] and Matthew Childers [artist] are the creative team behind all four strips.
Check ’em out. My guess is, especially if you’ve read this far, you’ll find something at Adventures in Pulp that you’ll enjoy.
Dead Body Road is a six issue mini-series published by Image.
Writer: Justin Jordan
Penciler / Inker: Matteo Scalera
Colorist: Moreno Dinisio
There’s a man digging a hole in the desert. Let’s see just how many bodies will fit. Orson Gage’s bloody revenge saga ends here.
Dead Body Road #6 Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera continue to create a comic that consistently entertains.
The Good
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Dead Body Road #6 is a comic for mature audiences due to violence and language. If you’re a fan of crime/revenge stories then this is for you.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Dead Body Road is available in a Trade Paperback that collects all six issues.
ComicBook.com posted Eric Powell Talks 15 Years of The Goon, Creator-Owned Comics and Trying to Make a Goon Movie which is really just a long title for a nice Eric Powell interview conducted by Jamie Lovett.
As we get ready to tuck ourselves away for the night and wait for the return visit of Jolly Ole Saint Nick, I want to join Steranko in his wish for each of you: Peace Mister!
Click on the link to see the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrrier-sized full detail of Steranko’s message of Peace.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a really cool fan-made trailer. The drought is over.
I first heard about Ciudad back in March of 2012. At that time Ciudad was being prepped as a movie for Dwayne The Rock Johnson and as a graphic novel co-written by Anthony and Joe Russo and Ande Parks.
Ciudad sounded like something action fans would love…
Johnson will play a “black market mercenary” hired by a drug lord to rescue his kidnapped daughter in one of the most “dangerous and corrupt cities in the world.”
Since then Fernando León González came on to draw Ciudad and The Rock is no longer attached to the movie. [What about Thomas Jane or Vin Diesel or… ]
Cuidad the graphic novel is now available. I’ve ordered my copy. If you’re interested you can too. If you’re still on the fence CBR.com has an interview with the Russo Brothers and Andre Parks as well as an extensive preview!
Bleeding Cool offers up Ciudad’s High-Octane Action Blows Readers Away, Just In Time For The Holidays.
Fans of revenge stories and crime fiction will want to check out Big Man Plans coming from Eric Powell, Tim Wiesch and Image Comics.
BIG MAN PLANS—A REVENGE STORY THAT WILL SHOCK YOU… An all-new crime series with retribution at its heart…
In BIG MAN PLANS, even the most marginalized in society can exact revenge if they don’t care how they do it.
The two have discussed the project since late 2012, going back and forth over texts, emails, and phone calls. “This project was born out of drunken conversations Tim Wiesch and I had while I was a vagabond living in his basement for a month,” admitted Powell. “This is what happens when kids of construction workers get really drunk for a long period of time and are given a creative outlet. This book is nothing but brutality and in a weird way the most noble project I’ve done…
Wiesch added: “This is going to be dark. Very, very dark. What’s been amazing is working with someone who doesn’t flinch when you offer up an incredibly visceral or painful part of the story but instead wants to help push it even further.
“When we were coming up with the story, we were looking for a way to embody a truly marginalized version of a man without just playing with worn-out tropes and comic clichés. Someone that would never be even remotely considered tough, let alone as the violent specter of revenge and death that we were looking for. No super powers, no crazy martial arts. Just a man driven beyond his own limitations by rage.”
Source: Image Comics.
Hellboy fans won’t want to miss Vaneta Rogers interview with Mike Mignola since Mignola talks about a new, on-going Hellboy series that starts with Hellboy’s first adventure.
Source: Newsarama.
If you live within driving distance, you may want to come out to the Deland Comic and Collectibles Show on January 11, 2015 from 10am to 5pm.
My buddy, John Beatty will be there sketching, selling prints and signing autographs.
Other artists include: Tommy Castillo, Todd Allen Smith, Greg Frei, Austin Janowsky, Jeff Balke, C. Bradford Gorby, Jeff Fauvel, Graven and Monica Ravenwolf. [What? No Alex Saviuk?]
There will also be a ton of comic book dealers, costumers, and more. It should be a fun day. Hope to see you there!
If you’re a Neal Adams or Superman fan, then you’ll want to check out the Neal Adams Superman Cover Gallery presented by Diversions of the Groovy Kind.
If you’re a Gabriel Hardman fan [and if you’ve seen his art, how could you not be?], you’ll want to check out Fanboy Nation’s interview with him.
Scott Neumeyer and Mental_Floss present A Visual Guide to All 37 Villains in the Batman TV Series.
My favorite Batman TV series villains were…
If The Green Hornet and Kato had been listed as villains, then Kato would have shot to #1. Bruce Lee rules.
In the early 70’s, Atlas, a small comic company attempted to make it’s mark. Although it folded after a few years Atlas did have a couple of comics that many fans [or at least this fan] fondly remember.
The Scorpion was Howard Chaykin‘s swashbuckling, never-aging hero. After Chaykin left Atlas he reinvented The Scorpion as Dominic Fortune for Marvel Comics. I’d like to see Chaykin return to Scorpion. Who wouldn’t?
The second Atlas title that I loved as a kid was Planet of the Vampires. Think of Beneath the Planet of the Apes and substitute vampires for monkeys. Pat Broderick was the interior artist and Neal Adams inked Broderick‘s covers.
Man, those were the days.
