I was waiting for the No. 1 bus the other day, and I saw where someone’s keys had been left hanging on the fence. They were gone the next day, so I like to think the rightful owners came back and got them.
You might expect a random set of keys, laying out on Cleveland Avenue, to get stolen or tossed away. But really, there’s no need for that. I like to think that someone just decided to be nice and put the keys where they could be more easily found.
And it give me hope that someday I’ll find my keys, too.
Cleveland & Fifth avenues, 7:37 a.m.
Mercy sakes, you guys have been waiting for five months to hear what I thought of DC’s new Grifter series. Sorry about that.
I got issues 1-2 at Mid-Ohio Con, so I was able to read them both in one sitting. It felt like reading one issue, which is not necessarily a good thing.
The basic story is pretty familiar: Cole Cash is a former special forces operator-turned small-time grifter, who gets abducted by aliens called Daemonites. The abduction goes wrong, and he somehow gains the ability to hear the aliens’ thoughts. They’re chasing him, and apparently inhabiting the bodies of humans, so Grifter does his whole “They Live” bit. For some reason, he puts on a dew-rag mask.
The book is at its best when Grifter is conning someone, or relying on his wits to escape the aliens. In one sequence, he fights off a possessed cop with a frying pan and baking soda, then cons a bunch of cops who show up. In another, he hijacks a plane with an airline booze bottle. That’s a little of the old Grifter that we all know and love.
The biggest problem is the whole series is a little low-key (some might say “realistic”). Like, the payoffs aren’t big enough, or we’re not getting answers fast enough. After five issues, the Daemonites haven’t said anything about their plan other than they want to go home, and it’s not clear that they’re doing any great harm on Earth.
I think I’m just missing the original Grifter series, which gave you a lot more of that four-color spectacle. I got issues 3-5 the other day, so I may have more to say on this.
And now for something completely different…
One of my favorite indie books ever, utterly unique and unparalleled: Tales of the Beanworld, by Larry Marder.
This is the opening page to Tales of the Beanworld #9, published by Eclipse Comics, 1988. I can’t say enough good things about this series, and I’m glad that dark Horse has collected the issues into nice little TPBs.
Check out the top notch quality of Rob Liefeld’s pencils for his creator-owned book The Infinite:
That’s right: pencils. Not thumbnails or roughs, but pencils. For a book that solely exists (and is marketed) based upon Liefeld’s artwork.
Here’s the page once the inker’s done with it:
Although, to be fair, the book is no more. Canceled due to “creative differences” (read: writer Robert Kirkman thought the art wasn’t Lifeld-ey enough, Lifeld disagreed). More details at Bleeding Cool, if you care.
By the way, this is the guy set to write 3 books at DC, and draw one of them.
In a surprise email I got the other day, it looks like Paul Hornschemeier is to receive a Graphic Novel Residency honor. A new venture created by the Thurber House & the Columbus Museum of Art. While Paul stays in here in town, he will be researching and creating new work on site in the boyhood home of James Thurber. Wow. They’re scheduling a series of events through late March and early April including workshops, and a talk at the museum with Paul. Below is a provided list of events from the Thurber House. A sincere congrats to Paul. It’s been a thrill watching his career. Looking forward to the next book.
@ the Thurber House
The Graphic Novel
Adult Writing Workshop
Monday, March 26, 6:00-8:00 pm
Instructor: Paul Hornschemeier.
DEADLINE TO REGISTER: March 16
Young Writers’ Studio
Wednesday, March 28, 6:00-8:00 pm
Led by Paul Hornschemeier
@the Columbus Art Museum
Big Picture Lecture
Saturday, March 31, 2:00 pm
Otterbein professor of philosophy Andrew Mills will speak about Hornschemeier’s work in a philosophical context. Hornschemeier majored in philosophy at The Ohio State University and often addresses philosophical issues in his books, most notably in his 2007 work The Three Paradoxes.
Presented in collaboration with The OSU Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities.
Admission to the lecture is free.
Artist’s Talk and Interview
Thursday, April 5, 7:00 pm
Paul Hornschemeier speaks about his creative process with interviewer, comics writer, and blogger Jared Gardner, a professor of English and Film Studies at OSU. In conjunction with his talk, CMA will display a selection of Hornschemeier’s scripts, storyboards, and sketches highlighting his creative process.
Free with museum admission.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Garth Ennis, apparently.
Via Comics Alliance (by way of Caleb Mozzocco) comes news that Garth Ennis, writer of Preacher, Hitman, Constantine and Punisher, is taking on the Shadow. It’s coming in April from Dynamite Comics, and it’s supposedly ongoing.
Ennis can certainly do the two-gun action bit, as befits the Master of Men. I don’t know how he’s going to work in blasphemy and anal rape, though. Put me down as optimistic.
As you may remember, the Shadow is my all-time favorite character, and the 90s Shadow Strikes (Gerard Jones & Eduardo Barretto) was one of the series that got me into comics. Also, it taught me how to do the scary laugh.
We did a gallery of The Shadow as part of Character Wednesday a few years ago.
I was in Packrat Comics last week and the shop owner pointed out the new website. I was pretty impressed by it. Very clean wordpress layout with that not only gives you the usual info (hours, upcoming events, etc.), they produce and post up video blogs and other content. (The video clips were well edited for what they were). They recently started to do video spotlights featuring local creators.
The Laughing Ogre’s improved their site as well from the last time I visited it. Also featuring regular blog posts and content.
So a few weeks ago I posted some artwork from Vincent Giarrano as part of our regular Splash Wednesday feature. In the comments section of that post, letterer Clem Robbins posted that these days Vincent’s busy making fantastic paintings. Mr. Giarrano himself then dropped me a line and thanked me for featuring his art. He also pointed me to his new website, featuring his fine art:
It’s always cool to see what talented writers and artists are doing after they’ve left the comics arena. Vincent wrote that these days, the only person he works for on comic books is his daughter, and attached the following sketch he did for her:
Best of luck on all your endeavors, Mr. Giarrano.
OK, let’s move away from the Superhero Stamp Album pages and check out some real comic books. Here’s this week’s page, for your guessing pleasure:
As always, if you happen to own the comic this page is from, kindly recuse yourself from the fun. Use the comments section to share your guess, and good luck.
Cross-posting a link here:
Creating comic books – the process
I’m a big process junkie. I love the behind-the-scenes looks at how different creators work, the process they follow to produce their script or art or whatever. So here are a few links worth perusing, if you’re equally interested in what it takes to put together a comic.
Well, in the case of Wizard World’s Mid-Ohio-Con, their SEC filing reveals that:
“The production cost of the 2011 Mid-Ohio Comic Con was approximately $160,000, which we funded out of existing cash and cash flow from our Company’s operations and proceeds from ticket sales and exhibitor sales prior to the event.”
Granted, this isn’t quite a splash page, but what the heck…as long as I’m posting the pages for this feature, I figure I can bend the rules a bit:
From the incomparable J.H. Williams III. Does he sometimes sacrifice storytelling in service of a gorgeous page design? Yes, absolutely. Is it technically not “good” comic book art? Maybe. Is the end result, the sum of the parts, an enjoyable comic book experience? Hell yes.
The above double-page splash is from Batwoman #4, published by DC Comics, December 2011.
OK, last week’s page was apparently way too easy, but let’s try another page from the stamp collector book:
And before you go on thinking it may be another easy one, let me just come out and say that Sienkiewicz inked this, he didn’t pencil it.
Continuing with our spotlight on the talented Mr. Aja. You can find part 1 here.
He’s got great graphic design sensibilities, and the covers featured above are from a couple of different mini-series, where the repeating motif works well to tie them all together.