Comics

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 21 Apr 2012 03:33

Nice. I've known his girlfriend for a bunch of years. She tried to get me to read his books, but they didn't really jump out at me. I'll check out the interview and see if it changes my mind.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 21 Apr 2012 12:19

Finished the Transmetropolitan series a couple months ago. Spyder Jerusalem reminded me a lot of Hunter S Thompson in Fear and Loathing.

Currently catching up on The Boys. Taking place in a world where superheroes are a normal thing, it's a violent take on a group of skilled pedestrians who have been strengthened by drugs to take on superheroes that are out of control (rapists, murderers, drug addicts).

and slowly building my collection back up on 100 bullets. A look at revenge and morality.

Also just finished unknown soldier and can't wait for TPB #3 of Haunt.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 24 Apr 2012 06:13

Just read "The American Way," by the guy who wrote the movie "3 Kings." It was an interesting concept, but I felt like none of the characters were fleshed out enough for me to care all that much.

Also recently re-read the first 8 TPBs of Walking Dead. Just as good as I remembered them.

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 06 May 2012 06:38

Sporatical_Distractions wrote:Finished the Transmetropolitan series a couple months ago. Spyder Jerusalem reminded me a lot of Hunter S Thompson in Fear and Loathing.

I think that's pretty much the idea.

Been reading a little of this. Has it's moments for sure.

Also finished the awesome HARD BOILED miniseries. Ultraviolence and science fiction shiznit. My kinda style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Boiled_(comics)
There are talk about it being made as a movie. That could be super epic.

Think I gonna read "Orc Stain" next, Walking Dead is on the list aswell.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 06 May 2012 09:37

Orc Stain is great. I might say it rocks my gronch!
I didn't like the story of Hard Boiled, but like Geof Darrow's art. He was one of the concept designers for The Matrix. Have you read The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot? I've been meaning to pick it up for a while.

dp · Post by dp » 06 May 2012 09:46

I've been thinking about checking out Orc Stain.

I've been getting into comics through alternative comics. Charles Burns, Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, Adrien Tomine, Chris Wares, stuff like that.

The only comic book I own is Slow Jams by David Choe.

I just read Batman Year 100 by Paul Pope, and while I found the story kinda meh I thought the art ruled.

Anyone have recommendations for kinda traditional Marvel/DC superhero series that have killer art in them?

Or any recommendations in general for someone just starting to get into comics.

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 06 May 2012 15:23

Erik Chan: Isn't it supposed to be more of a childrens book? I don't think I would like that. Also I think it's badass that you know Marian. Do you still draw alot?

dp: Badass comic to own. I would love to get my hands on that one! Got the big artbook he put out last year? It's super rad.

For "traditional" comics with killer art I would check Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Returns", "Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland and Frank Lee and Moebius' "Silver Surfer: Parable". But Mr. Chan is probably better in this department than me.

Speaking of Moebius, this is one of my favorite blogs atm:
http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/

RIP!

For other suggestions I will just name my two of my other favorites - Enki Bilal and Vaughn Bode.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 06 May 2012 21:58

Yeah, I mostly read comics for the drawings, but our tastes might be very different. Especially since I like Paul Pope's stuff more for the great stories than the art (which has also grown on me). I would recommend his 100% and Heavy Liquid books, but if you didn't like Batman Year 100...

As far as art goes in mainstream Marvel books, I got into art and drawing and comics from seeing Joe Madureira's work on Uncanny X-Men. I'd collected comics before then, but only because my big brother did. He has a collection of some of his Uncanny work: "X-Men Visionaries: Joe Madureira",

and he also did a mini series called, "Ultimates 3: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch" -- stellar art, with a really weak story

He also recently did a Spider-Man arc called, "Avenging Spider-Man" -- the first 5 issues? I'm waiting for the TPB..

I'm also a big fan of Ed McGuiness, who is working on Hulk,

and did a long run on Superman.

I'd say Hellboy is pretty mainstream-y -- any of the issues that are actually drawn by Mignola are gorgeous.

I can't stand any of his fill-ins except for the arcs by Duncan Fegredo -- he imitates Mignola's style really well. I don't follow the mainstream books too much though, I really just follow the artists I like.

Yeah, I'd known Marian for, like, a decade online. We always drew each other's characters and stuff, and then when I finally happened to meet her in person she was, like, "OMG can I get a hug and draw you a free sketch??"

(That was my first convention experience, actually -- I've never been to one before! -- except yesterday when I met some favourites like Gabriel Ba and Adam Warren!) All of these guys are like one big posse: Marian Churchland, Brandon Graham, James Stokoe, Corey Lewis, Becky Cloonan, Bryan O'Malley...

EDIT: I'll also second that Moebius Silver Surfer story. But do you mean Stan Lee, Asmus?

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 07 May 2012 07:04

Muffinman wrote:EDIT: I'll also second that Moebius Silver Surfer story. But do you mean Stan Lee, Asmus?

Yes.

My question if you still draw alot still stands? And if you do I would like to see some new stuff.

The Hellboy suggestion is really good.

Finally got my hands on "Peng" på Corey Lewis. Looking forward to read that, even though I find his writing a little annoying - maybe I am too "european".

Also I am happy that you followed my example with images. Makes the thread much more interesting.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 07 May 2012 10:18

I brought my copy of Peng to a footbag tournament, like, 6 years ago to show to Pengpeng Du, who's also into comics! (just because... It's her name) Yeah, his stuff is kind of weird. He's really simplified his style over the years, and I think I still mostly follow him because of how he used to draw. I discovered all of those others I mentioned through him though.

Yeah, the pictures was a great idea!
I still draw, but I only just started again after a year of school just ended -- I think I lost everything like I did in footbag..

EDIT: Let me add Jim Lee for stellar mainstream comics art. His work on X-Men was pretty revolutionary and is now collected in "X-Men: Mutant Genesis".

I've seen some "Chris Claremont and Jim Lee omnibus" books, but too much of the art appears to be by various other pencillers, which really turns me off from buying them. He also did "Batman: Hush".

"X-Men: Mutant Genesis" is a must read (from 20 years ago?), but I didn't like the story of Hush at all. That, and in my opinion no inkers or especially colourists do his work justice, so while his pencils are amazing, the finished product looks tacky (see above example...). To this end, they released a "Batman: Hush" pencils-only edition, which is probably really pretty. Actually, Joe Mad is so hot that almost every book he's done has had this treatment, despite his usually being teamed with great colourists (his latest Spider-Man work didn't even use an inker).

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 07 May 2012 13:28

I still wanna see what you are cooking up Erik.

I am excited about how well it worked out reliving this thread.

Here is a great memorial post on Moebius:
http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2012/05/07 ... arch-2012/

dp · Post by dp » 07 May 2012 13:47

Alright, I just reserved that X-Men series by Jim Lee from my library. I've always heard good things about Jim Lee. I definitely want to check out Silver Surfer Parables. I was reading a lot about Moebius after his death, and I didn't know he'd done some superhero work, the impression I got was he did mostly space and western stuff (still cool, for some reason not as interested, but maybe I will become more interested).

Like footbag, getting knowledgable about comics is hard! There's all sorts of jargon, and numbers, and other things to learn about.

Looking at that penciling of Batman and then the colored version kinda illustrates my problems with a lot of comics I've seen. That penciled version is so badass, but the inked and colored version looks so damn generic. I sometimes feel like that process takes away from the beauty of the drawing. The biggest thing I'm into in comic book art is seeing the hand of the artist. That's part of why I liked Batman Year 100, was because I thought it had a pretty interesting unique style that wasn't quite so derivative.

Although these are all thoughts from someone with very little exposure, so they are liable to change.

I'm so glad someone knows Slow Jams! I'm so proud of owning it, and this is the first time someone's known what it is! I dropped $115 on it, but it was totally worth it. I have the art book too, what a crazy dude David Choe is...

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 07 May 2012 15:17

That's the thing with indy comics, is that the artists often do everything themselves, even writing. Paul Pope did everything but colours on Batman: Year 100, but in his other books he does everything (granted they're in monotone). Another of my favourite mainstream artists, Chris Bachalo (from just outside of my home town, Winnipeg), is one of few who works for Marvel and DC who does his own pencils, inks, and colours!

He did his own creator-owned 2-book story for Wildstorm called Steampunk, which is one of my favourite books of all time. Glorious.

Paul Pope's style is really complex! He has an artbook in which he wrote a ton of essays about his experience in not only North American, but European, and mostly Japanese comics (like, 5 years or something??) so his style is sort of an amalgamation, or an internationalization, of regionally generalized comic art styles.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 09 May 2012 13:53

Speaking of failed inks on Jim Lee's pencils, here's an amazing ink job that Travis Charest did over a pinup for a convention auction. He just posted this in his blog.

If you don't know Travis Charest, I kind of think of him as a comics superstar, but, like fellow comics superstar Adam Hughes,

he, sadly, mostly only does cover work and not interior pencils

He works on his own pseudo-web-comic, Space Girl,

that's been collected in a French paperback, and he did, 4-ish issues on a revamped WildCATs. His work is gorgeous.

Also, Asmus, all I've been drawing is stick figures. I'm not even joking. I forgot how

I have to relearn my pixie and stepping sets...

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 10 May 2012 00:59

The Adam Hughes stuff looks super good. Diggin the Moebius influence.

Looking forward to you getting those sets down again.

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 14 May 2012 11:13

Reread The Killing Joke. So fucking good.

Started reading Metabarons. Loving the artwork.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 16 May 2012 15:47

After watching the Avengers last night, I read planet hulk and world war hulk today. Hulk basically starts killing superheroes because they murder his wife after banishing him to another planet.

Also read The Punisher Kills Marvel Universe. Similar story line. Punisher kills every marvel character and then commits suicide. Pretty enjoyable

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 16 May 2012 21:25

Metabarons looks awesome. I'll have to check it out! Pretty pictures!
I think Travis Charest did some work on it? Covers at least?

Asmus · Post by **Asmus** » 17 May 2012 12:46

Done with the Metabarons. It's like Star Wars meets european folklore and the Matrix. Pretty epic stuff.

Read a Enki Bilal collection of some of his older Sci-Fi stuff. Poetic and philosophical and so damn good at drawing.

Next Orc Stain and then I am open for suggestions.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 21 May 2012 08:18

wow, look at that linework!