Category: Comics

Wolverine Roar

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Duane Swierczynski posted a link to the full art above. Don’t ya just love how the drawing sets up the story. Logan, all alone, walks into a small town wanting nothing more than a cold beer and a place to rest. Instead he learns that a savage creature is on the loose killing everyone in the town… and now that Logan is in town…
It’s interesting how Duane got the inspiration for the story and cool that several pages of preview art are available. I pre-ordered my copy last month. If it’s something that you think you’d like, be sure to let your local comic shop manager know.

Big Beatty Commissions

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My buddy, John Beatty has opened up his commission list. John is best known for his work on Captain America, Secret Wars, Batman, and my personal favorite, The Punisher. John’s commission prices are very reasonable, there’s something for every budget, and the turnaround time is pretty quick. I’m thinking that it might be time for a new Beatty Stallone piece… although I am partial to his take on Hellboy. 

One Shot the One Shot

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It’s hard to believe it’s been a little over three years since my last post about Jason Pearson’s Body Bags. I guess if Jason did more issues, I’d talk about them more often. At any rate, he’s got a Body Bags one shot aptly titled One Shot coming soon. CBR.com has a preview [not suitable for all ages due to language and comic book violence] that you can see [if this sort of thing is suitable for you].

Remember When There Had Been Only 5 Years of The Walking Dead [2008]

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It’s really hard to believe that The Walking Dead has been around for five years. But it has. And from the very first issue The Walking Dead been one of the best monthly comics published. Longtime ZONErs know that I’ve been singing it’s praises for years.In October, Image is coming out with the Volume 4 hard cover Walking Dead [which collects issues 37 – 48 of the series] as well as The Walking Dead: The Covers hard cover [which collects the first 50 covers, as well as the various collected edition covers plus sketch book material and commentary].

The Walking Dead is one of the few comics that I like enough to purchase monthly and then again when it comes out in the collected hard cover. The stories are so good that I don’t want to wait a year to find out what happens and the price on the hard covers [1, 2, 3] is so inexpensive that trading in my single issues more than pays for the collections!

 

Mignola’s Return to Hellboy [2008]

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Since we have a lot of Hellboy fans here at the ZONE, I thought I should mention that Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, will be back in October with the first Hellboy comic that he’s drawn in three years! Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch is a one shot that finds Hellboy investigatating an ancient chapel where he discovers “an artist compelled by something more sinister than any muse” locked away in order to complete his “life’s work.”You can see the entire cover and read more about the issue here.

Sleeper No More

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It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips work together. I discovered them by way of their award-winning Criminal series. That led me to their first team up, Sleeper. I couldn’t believe how good it was. [Can these two hit nothing but homeruns?]Sean announced on his blog today the following: Sleeper, a new crime series with Ed Brubaker.

Wow! Great news for Sean and Ed and their fans everywhere. Let’s hope that a team comes together to make the movie with the same care and ability that went into “Iron Man,” “The Dark Knight” and “Watchmen”. In the mean time, if you haven’t already, you should check out the four volumes that make up the Sleeper series: Out in the Cold; All False Moves; A Crooked Line; and The Long Way Home.

3 Real Life Heroes

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Comic book legends Neal Adams, Jack Kubert and Stan Lee have teamed in an effort to do what their creations are known for… to right a wrong. The only difference is this is not fiction.

Dina Gottliebova Babbitt is an 85 year old woman who survived Auschwitz due to her artistic talents. Sent to the camp at the age of 19, Ms. Gottliebova [she was not yet married] came to the attention of the infamous Nazi, Josef Mengele, after she painted a mural of Snow White in an effort to raise the spirits of young children being held there. When she was taken to meet Mengele, Ms. Gottliebova believed that he was about to order her execution. Instead he told her he wanted her to paint portraits of the gypsies he used in his experiments. She would also paint portraits of Nazi officers and their families and even Mengele himself. Ms. Gottliebova summoned up her courage and said that if her mother would be spared the gas chamber, she would agree to his demands. Her mother was spared and Ms. Gottliebova created the artwork. Ms. Gottliebova and her mother both survived until the camp was liberated.

After the war, Ms. Gottliebova met Arthur Babbitt, an American, who made his living as a cartoon animator. Coincidentally, he worked on the classic “Snow White!” Ms. Gottliebova became Mrs. Babbitt and moved to the United States where she became employed as a cartoon animator for Warner Bros., MGM and Jay Ward Productions. In 1973, Ms. Babbitt was contacted by officials at the Auschwitz State Museum. They had several of her portraits on display and wanted her to verify that she had created them. At her own expense she traveled to Poland and confirmed that they were hers. Ms. Babbitt believed the museum would give her the originals and keep prints for display… but that wasn’t to be.

To this day the museum continues to refuse to return her paintings to her. Over the years she has been given a number of excuses: the education value of the paintings outweighs her rights to them [despite the fact the high quality prints are usually on display instead of the originals], that returning her paintings might encourage other survivors to take back their objects on display [somehow this logic gives trump to the museum’s rights over the true owners], and even that the paintings were the legal property of Josef Mengele [despite receiving letters from over four dozen lawyers calling the claim “preposterous and offensive” and pointing out “a war criminal does not deserve to enjoy the fruits of his crime.”

The paintings still have not been returned to Ms. Babbitt. So Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Stan Lee teamed up to create a six page summary of her story that was printed in the New York Times. They are attempting to get the word out to the world. You can view all six pages of the strip by following this link to the Times article. The “Multimedia” box in the left hand column of the Times page will take you to the story. After you’ve read it, if you’re so inclined you can send an email to the Museum director personally expressing your feelings.

Mr. Piotr Cywinski, Director
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Oswiecim, Poland
muzeum@auschwitz.org.pl

It’s nice to know that Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Stan Lee don’t just create heroes — they are heroes.

 

 

Greatest Comic Characters

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EmpireOnLine.com posted their choices for The 50 Greatest Comic Characters of All Time. Using just their picks, here are my top ten:

I only really read Iron Man way back when David Micheline and Bob Layton were charting his adventures. That coupled with the fact that I really liked the movie is enough to put Iron Man in the number 10 spot.

Superman was Empire’s #1 character. I can see why: Superman is one of the most popular characters ever created. He’s been the star of comics, radio, tv and movies. For my tastes though, he’s just too dang powerful. Superman has super speed, super strength, super hearing, x-ray vision, he can fly, he’s impervious to pain and he’s really, really nice. Unless he’s up against a chunk of Kryptonite [and isn’t THAT stuff easy to find], where’s the drama? Still, I did love me some Superman when I was about 5 and that’s good enough to get him the number 9 slot.

At number 8 we have Captain America. I’ve enjoyed the good Captain in bursts over the years. When I was a wee lad, I loved Jack Kirby’s Cap. You’d open to the splash and there was Cap having just been thrown out of a plane without a parachute or maybe he was already in battle against Batroc the Leaper! Years later Steranko did a couple of issues and they were beautiful. I still go back and read them from time to time. When I was in college, my buddies Mike Zeck and John Beatty had a nice run on Cap. I went along for the ride and had a blast.

Up until high school my favorite comic character was Spider-Man. It didn’t matter who was drawing him; although John Romita Jr., Gil Kane, and John Byrne were favorites. Spider-Man aka Peter Parker always seemed to be in just a bit over his head. Despite that, he always tried to do the right thing. And that’s why he comes in a number 7.

The Punisher never looked better than when he was being drawn by Zeck and Beatty. Throw Steven Grant into the mix as the writer and you have a winning team. They did the first Punisher mini-series and took him from a second rate villain to one of the most popular characters ever. And that’s where the troubles started. Suddenly the Punisher had his own monthly comic. He was teamed with a partner [Microchip?] and ended up doing things like being a substitute teacher. Ugh! Still there were more bright spots from time to time. Grant, Zeck and Beatty re-teamed for a couple more Punisher graphic novels and John Romita Jr. had a nice little run with the character. The high spots are enough to take the character to the sixth spot on our list.

Mike Mignola’s Hellboy is number 5. I’ve been riding the Hellboy express since his first appearance in Dark Horse Presents scripted by John Byrne. It’s been a fun trip, although I wish Mignola did more of the driving. Guest artists are fun, but Mike’s writing coupled with his art really makes Hellboy soar. And hey, the movies ain’t bad either!

Wolverine’s journey is very similar to the Punisher’s. Once he got his own series things went south. At first Wolverine was the mysterious, violent character in the X-Men. Then when he got his own series he was living on an island and wearing an eyepatch with the name Patch. Huh? Give me the Wolverine from the Claremont, Byrne and Austin run on the X-Men. Give me the Miller and Rubstein Wolverine from their mini-series. Give me the Barry Windsor Smith Weapon X Wolverine. Just keep the eyepatch for yourself. Wolverine comes in fourth.

Third place belongs to Frank Miller’s Marv from Sin City. How can you not dig the big lug? I wish Miller would give us more.

The # 2 spot goes to Daredevil on the strength of Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s run back in the early 80’s. That was comics are their best.

Batman gets my number one slot. It doesn’t really matter who writes or draws the character. Think about it. Batman has been done as comedy, as camp, with the focus on Bruce Wayne, with the focus on Batman, as a vigilante, as a confidant to the police, as a wanted criminal, with a kid partner, as an old man, as a young man finding his way. Batman just works and that’s why he’s my number 1 choice.

When Titans Clash… Indeed

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When titans clash… indeed.

This is going to get worse before it gets better… I just don’t see how.

Toilets are always funny… apparently not.

I just hope that what we are seeing when we watch this clip is some sort of drug induced dream sequence. Even still… this is not making me excited to to see Frank Miller’s movie adaptation of The Spirit.

You know what the best thing about this post is? That Chris Mills may watch the clip and leave more of his thoughts in the comments section.

Kyle Baker Stays Busy

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You’ve heard me rave about Kyle Baker’s work before… and with good reason. He’s one of the most talented writer/artists working today. And he’s one of my favorites.

Currently Mr. Baker is enjoying the success of his Nat Turner graphic novels [1 and 2], his on-going comic series Special Forces, and the recent publication of his How to Draw Stupid and Other Essentials of Cartooning Book. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that his ongoing semi-autobiographical, and hilariously funny, The Bakers, is in development as a potential animated series for FOX.

You can check out this interview with Kyle Baker from the good folks at CBR.com. Kyle talks about his current projects, why he hopes never to have to work at Marvel or DC again, as well as why he gets a kick out of the line, “God seems a little angry.”

Big Crime for a Small Price

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I love well told crime stories. I love well done comics.

How do you think I reacted when I found out about The Mammoth Book of the Best Crime Comics?  Edited by Paul Gravett and designed by Peter Stanbury, this 480 page monster features stories by Dashiell Hammett & Alex Raymond, Will Eisner, Johnny Craig, Mickey Spillane, Bernie Krigstein, Alan Moore, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Neil Gaiman, Alex Toth, Jordi Bernet, Paul Grist, Jack Cole, Charles Burns, Max Allan Collins, and José Muñoz & Carlos Sampayo.

If that’s not enough to get you reaching for your wallet, then maybe the fact that you can get here for less than fifteen smackatoons is.