Cool Shoes: Walking Dead & Breaking Bad
I’m not much into fancy shoes, but these Chuck Taylors are sweet.
Category: Art
Cooke, Stark and Parker
There have been many comic adaptations of novels, movies, and television shows. Few (any?) have been as perfect as Darwyn Cooke’s riffs on the Parker yarns by Richard Stark.
Ryan Cody & a Lord of Flatbush
Ryan Cody is back with Sly from Lords of Flatbush.
Ryan is running an unbelievable sale where you get a free sketch with every purchase. That’s right. Buy Volume 1 of his sketchbook for five bucks and get a free sketch. Same if you buy Volume 2 or the Icarus Convention Issue.
I jumped on board for a sketchbook [accidentally ordered Volume 1 which I already had] and the Icarus convention issue [the sketch that came with it will be posted in the coming weeks]. Now I’m going back for Volume 2 and another Stallone sketch. Until then check out Ryan’s blog and his DA site.
Thanks to Ryan! – Craig
The Punisher in Name Only
Deadline Hollywood announced today that FOX has a commitment for a tv series based on the popular Marvel comic book character The Punisher. According to the article…
- The Punisher is described as an hour-long procedural with a Marvel signature and a new take on one of the comic book giant’s iconic characters, Frank Castle, a rising star detective with the New York Police Department who moonlights as the vigilante Punisher, seeking justice for those the system has failed.
Let me break it to you gently, that ain’t The Punisher. A “rising star detective” who moonlights as The Punisher? Sheesh. Why in the world are they calling the series The Punisher? Why take one of comics’ most “iconic characters” and change what made him iconic?
The [real] Punisher drawing by Mike Zeck.
Fatale by Brubaker and Phillips
I don’t know anything about Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip’s next comic series, Fatale other than it’s by one of my favorite teams working in comics today, that they’ve never let me down and I love the scary face in the gun smoke.
Ryan Cody Faces Jack Carter
This week Ryan Cody is back with Sly from Get Carter.
Ryan is running an unbelievable sale where you get a free sketch with every purchase. That’s right. Buy Volume 1 of his sketchbook for five bucks and get a free sketch. Same if you buy Volume 2 or the Icarus Convention Issue.
I jumped on board for a sketchbook [accidentally ordered Volume 1 which I already had] and the Icarus convention issue [the sketch that came with it will be posted in the coming weeks]. Now I’m going back for Volume 2 and another Stallone sketch. Until then check out Ryan’s blog and his DA site.
Thanks to Ryan! – Craig
Traveling the World w/ Rocky
I recently heard from Cynthia Shomberg…
+++
Hi Craig,
Hope all is well with you and that you had a great summer.
This link is about a story of a couple who sold everything to travel the world in one year. The fun thing about all this is that they are taking their ROCKY sculpture with them to be photographed with them at their various destinations. It’s a great story! Hope you will be able to post it on your website.
Also, there is going to be a “ROCKY Event” at the Philadelphia Museum Steps this Saturday and Sunday. The main event will be a race up the famous steps at 11:00AM on Sunday the 16th, as well as a “Rocky” Look Alike Contest following the run to celebrate “Rocky” movie 35th Anniversary. Hopefully, your website can spread the word.
Thank you once again,
Cynthia
+++
It’s always nice to hear from Cynthia. That is a cool story about the couple who sold everything they owned to travel the world with their Rocky statue. We’ll have a report in the coming weeks about the Rocky events going on in Philly this weekend. – Craig
New Night of the Living Dead Poster
I know that many of the folks who swing by here are fans of The Night of the Living Dead, so I thought it’d be a good idea for me to post a link to Grzegorz Domaradzki’s new NOTLD poster. Click over and you can buy a limited edition silk-screen of it or simply admire a larger version.
Dave Wachter Takes a Shot @ Jack Carter
Dave Wachter returns this week with his take on Sly from Get Carter. I met Dave a couple of years ago and became an instant fan. Dave is a tremendous artist, but more importantly an all-around decent guy. You can see more of Dave’s art at his site. – Craig
Halloween Silhouettes
Halloween is nearly here. If you’re into scary/fun decorations then you might want to make Halloween silhouettes for your windows. Trick or Treaters will love to see what appear to be witches, zombies, the Grim Reaper and other scary folks in your windows!
J. Edgar is Looking Retro-Cool
I love the retro feel to this poster for J. Edgar starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Clint Eastwood. My guess is the movie will be even better.
The Top 10 Characters from Marvel & DC
Recently CBR.com posted the results of a poll of comic book readers to determine the top 100 Marvel and DC characters. Using just their list of the top 50 for each company, I present my top 10…
10. Namor – 539 points (7 first place votes): There was a summer when I was a kid in elementary school that I thought that Namor was the coolest cat walking swimming. He looked like Spock, was a Prince, could breathe on land and sea. Yeah, Namor was the man.
09. Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)- 452 points (3 first place votes): I’ve read fewer stories with the Black Widow than any of the other characters in my top ten, but I like this character. The first time I really noticed her potential was in a black and white magazine that featured her in a story drawn by Paul Gulacy. Around the same time, Frank Miller put her to good use in Daredevil.
08. Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) – 1495 (17 first place votes). Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Trevor Von Eden and Jock all have worked their riffs on the Green Arrow. I’ve enjoyed all versions… especially those without the trick arrows.
07. Luke Cage – 633 points (3 first place votes): I can still remember picking the first issue of Luke Cage: Hero for Hire off the newsstands, reading it and thinking, yeah, this is how it would in real life if someone got super-powers. When I was in junior high I had a “shop” class and one of the things we had to create were business cards. It had to be for a business that wasn’t real and we couldn’t use our own names. My card read “Blackjack Joey – Hero for Hire.” So you can see the influence that Luke Cage had on me. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out where Blackjack Joey came from.
06. Question (Vic Sage) – 382 points (6 first place votes) Although I never read the original Question stories, I really dug the Denny O’Neil / Denys Cowan / Rick Magyar stories. Add in the covers by Bill Sienkiewicz and you have a top ten character.
05. The Punisher (Frank Castle) – 995 (17 first place votes) I’m talking about the real Punisher. You know the one who appeared in the mini-series and graphic novels by Steven Grant, Mike Zeck and John Beatty. You can throw in a bit of Miller and Romita Jr’s riffs, but count me out when the Punisher becomes a substitute teacher or starts hanging out with Microchip or any other sidekick.
04. Daredevil – 2280 points (71 first place votes): If Frank Miller wrote Daredevil and either he or David Mazzucchelli drew the series, I’d be a lifetime subscriber.
03. Wolverine – 2728 points (54 first place votes) Wolverine during Claremont, Byrne and Austin’s run was the coolest character ever. His biggest fault was he became too popular and was everywhere. Miller’s mini-series was cool. Chaykin has done some neat stuff with Wolverine as well. Unfortunately, too many people tried to work their magic on Logan and I lost interest. I’d still return to read stories about the runt if the right creator took the reins.
02. Nick Fury – 619 points (7 first place votes): I remember buying an issue of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield off the stands when I was elementary school. I’d never seen a comic that looked so cool. Steranko was is amazing. When I attended my first comic convention, the first items I purchased were a complete run of Steranko’s Nick Fury comics [and an issue of his publication, MediaScene]. Someone find a way to get Steranko to do covers for a Gulacy drawn, Doug Moench written Nick Fury series set in the 1960’s. The time is right.
01. Batman (Bruce Wayne) – 6585 points (313 first place votes) It doesn’t matter who draws Batman [Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Jim Aparo, Frank Miller, etc.], what kind of stories [funny, serious, set in any time period or genre], Batman works. That has to make him the #1 character… at least in my book.
Evan Bryce Knows the Cure
Today we have the return of Evan Bryce and his riff on Sly as Cobra. I’ve been a fan of Evan’s art for a few years now and we’ve become friends via the internet. We’d met just once at Heroes Con in 2009 and I got a cool Sly from The Expendables sketch.
Evan didn’t make it back to Heroes in 2010 and he wasn’t supposed to be there this year. However he surprised everyone and made the trip. I asked for a Stallone character sketch of his choice and he went with Cobra and threw in the car and cityscape background as a bonus.
Evan is an exciting artist and one to keep an eye on. You can see more of his work at his blog or his Deviant Art site. Plan to spend a while.
Robin Holstein’s Sly Art
I met Robin Holstein for the first time at this year’s Heroes Con. I’d see a bit of Robin’s art online and so I made sure to swing by his table and meet him. After talking to Robin a bit, I decided to commission a Stallone sketch from him. Robin came up with the sketch above. Upon seeing it, I immediately asked if he had room on his list for another piece — my buddy, LittleJohn312 was with me and he also asked to get on Robin’s list. Lucky for us, Robin was able to fit us both in.
You’ll see my second piece by Robin soon. If you can’t wait and want to see more of Robin’s art now, you can at his site.
