Recently I got the pleasure of adding the character Oberon to Wayne Cordova’s Justice League International jam piece. Oberon is the fun loving midget from DC Comic’s Mr. Miracle series from Jack Kirby in the 1970’s. He later appeared in the Justice League book sporting cloths similar to Danny Devito in the Taxi TV show. It was a lot of fun to do, and these things always seem to come to me after awesome artists like Mike Norton and Erica Hesse have added their skills to it. Which makes for great added pressure.

Last night I finished the Max Allan Collins book “A Killing In Comics” with illustrations by Terry Beatty. It was a really fun book to read. Basically it’s a murder mystery set during the 1940’s comic scene. The book follows Jack Starr, Vice President of a newspaper syndicate and also a certified private eye. Jack questions people in the comic scene that, if you know your history, may seem familiar. One of the best things about the book was the chapter illustrations by Terry Beatty. Knowing Terry personally, it’s great to see him doing some comic work outside of his regular inking duties on the Batman Strikes book. If you get a chance to pick this book up it’s well worth it. A sequel is coming shortly as well.

This morning I feel like I have a horrible hangover. Though I hardly had anything to drink last night watching the Packers piss away the game to that mouth breather Eli Manning was hard to stomach.

I think I’ll let the guys at Cheese and Packers take today’s post for me since they pretty much covered everything that has been running through my head since last night. Sorry I usually try to keep this blog geared towards my art, I’ll post some more of that this week.

Brent

Ok, so I know it’s been a little less than two weeks, which means it’ll be on DVD in a month but I finally got to see the damn thing. I gotta say it was a pretty awesome movie going experience. The fake trailers were my favorite part.

I thought Death Proof was going to be the best film but I was way wrong, Planet Terror kicked it’s ass easily. Though the car was pretty sweet. I just thought Death Proof was a chance for Quentin Tarantino to show off his record collection.

I’ve heard that it’s tanking pretty bad at the box office but it’s hard to imagine people thinking that intentionally bad movies will be a huge success. Sad but true. I have to say though there was probably less than 25 people in the theatre but it was probably the loudest, most responsive crowd I’ve ever been in for a movie and not in that bad cell phone ringing, nobodies paying attention kind of way.

I think the movie did exactly what it should do and that’s make me wanna go find some of these older films that inspired Grindhouse and watch them, especially this one I found while looking for pics online…..

Well looks like Newsarama beat me to it but I wanted to give notice to a new booked I picked up last week at the comic shop. It’s a book called The Experts written by Ken Minter and art by Clarence Pruitt. Here’s a link to Ken’s site which has a great look at the book and all of his other projects. Here’s a brief description from the article at Newsarama.

With Kenn Minter’s The Experts you get a feeling that this superteam is called The Experts just like you call a big guy ‘Tiny’. But when you put together a team with old pros like Emerald Yeti and Doctor Delta with such nuebs as Ninja Witch, Free Mary, and the very dressed Naked Man one cannot expect to be as great as the Avengers, the JLA, or even the Great Lakes Avengers. Inanity runs rampant in this superb series that highlights what those who think they are great do in incredible situations…even if they aren’t that great.

I missed out on the first issue but I’ll be ordering it and putting the series on my pull list from here on out. Here’s some artwork from the book and also a sketch I did of my favorite character, The NInja Witch!

I think each and every one of us lives in our own private hell. For film makers it’s sitting through a bad movie, or watching a good one go bad. For others it’s seeing their neighbor’s lawn not being cared for as well as theirs. For me it’s seeing an advertisement or a editorial that has chosen photography over illustration, or worse a “manipulated photo” over illustration. Here is a recent cover to TIME magazine that kind of pissed me off in the shear laziness of it.

I won’t say it offends me cause seriously that term is only for soccer moms anymore. I guess I’m just disappointed in the complete lack or originality the cover has. The idea of old Ronnie shedding a single tear over his parties current actions is a little too thick of Americana if you ask me. I didn’t read the article or pick up the magazine I simply examined the cover on the shelf and wondered why this wasn’t handed off to someone to create something a little more interesting. I see it far too often these days where art directors chose a manipulated photo to convey a story. I know that all photos for advertising these days are changed through photoshop but there is a line between what is a photograph and what is illustration. Sadly the two are blurring more and more these days. I personally don’t care for the end result. It comes off as not human, but not fake. The idea of taking an old photo of a deceased president and adding a magical glowing tear running down his face I’m sure was a real test for whomever did it. I guess I just don’t understand the point. I feel like most people in the general public who may not understand these methods really will think that somehow Ronald Reagan really did weep one out for the Gipper. I think what is happening is that people are seeing the way you can enhance photos with new technology for all photographers. The way you clean up a photograph in photoshop is pretty much the same method for any photographer. While creating a character is still completley different from one illustrator to another. So in effect we haven’t broken that barrier of understanding for people in the industry.
Don’t get me wrong. I will be the first to admit that photography makes sense most of the time. Hell I live with a photographer and she works for one. I understand universally the reasonings why photography in the advertising world is where it is and illustration is where it is. They get sexy models and fancy cloths, we get the editorials on knitting and Family Circus in color on Sundays. That’s fine, I just wish Time Magazine would have given this more thought and went a different direction. Like that sweet Will Ferrell article up in the right hand corner.

Brent

In December I got IT’S SUPERMAN, by Tom De Haven as a gift. I started reading it in late January. Sadly it’s taken me this long to get through it. Thats why I need my books in audio form. I can blow through them in a day or two.

This was a fantastic book. I hate to compare it to Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay but it’s hard not to do as I’ve found I love this book just as much. Here’s the editorial review from Publisher’s Weekly:

A focus on Clark Kent’s high school years only makes comparison to the popular WB show Smallville all the more inevitable—and intentional. De Haven, whose Derby Dugan trilogy beautifully reimagined 20th-century American history through a pleasant sheen of media-tized irony, presents the man of steel as a sullen Depression-era teen, a bad WII-era reporter and as ambivalent about his super powers throughout, all with a kind of knowing that reflects a deep immersion in pulp. De Haven drives his coming-of-age tale toward Superman’s first showdown with Lex Luthor and his robot “Lexbots” in the middle of (the real!) New York City—prompted, of course, by the need to save Lois Lane. He gets knocked off his feet by the Lexbots and temporarily dazed. He doesn’t want to continue, doesn’t think he can win. Suddenly, in an echo of recent Batman and Spiderman film adaptations, a disembodied voice rings out: “Now get off that silly chair and go do something. Doesn’t matter what. Just do something, Clark.” (It’s his mother.) If that’s not over-the-top enough, plenty of short chapters begin with lines like “Despite Lex Luthor’s savvy and sensitive draft report on the Harlem race riot….” De Haven gives readers X-ray vision for determining when his tongue is in his cheek here; using it is great fun.

If only they had made the newest movie based off this book. I wish the movie studios would get the balls to make one of these comic book based movies set in the time that the character actually was created. I think the Fantastic Four or Superman could have benefited greatly from this.
Anyway if you get a chance to pick this book up, please do. I know I’m reading something I love when I find myself drawing the characters of the book. During the day just doing little head sketches. I love drawing Superman, but he’s hard to nail for me. I have such a specific idea of how he should look and the colors his costume should be. I found I was drawing Superman but not the one of today with ripping muscles. More of the young adult who sort fit into this costume that wasn’t made for him. He doesn’t have his flying pose down yet nor the confidence to stick out the rugged chin. Wearing that steel gray suit with a red and black  emblem on his chest. Something familiar but not what we see today. It’s a kid, it’s Superman.

A friend of mine let me borrow his audio book of World War Z by Max Brooks (son of famous father Mel). It’s written as a chronicle of a future zombie war that is bound to hit earth and what humanity does to stop it. It contains interviews from the basic army grunt, top government officials, and even a common adult who reflects back at her childhood growing up during the zombie plague. It’s incredible how much Brook’s takes this seriously. I’ve heard it’s going to be a movie but I think it’d be great as a mini series on HBO or something.

I will say I think the audio book is probably the best bet for this as oppose to the actual book. You can’t go wrong listening to the unique cast of actors such as Alan Alda, Rob Reiner, John Turtorro, Mark Hamill, and Henry Rollins, go on and on about fighting the evil dead. They give allot of life to what can often times be somewhat long winded conversation, even if it is about a zombie war.

Speaking of the dead, Captain America died last Wednesday. He was 76 years old. Thankfully we’ll probably see him again within the year. Or whenever the movie comes out. I’m hooked in though. Writer Ed Brubaker is kicking ass on that book. I’ll be reading it as long as he’s on it for sure. Here’s a nice little mish mash of todays topics for ya….

Brent