The Not So Grim Consequences of a 2nd Edition Cover

Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 17, 2010 in Comic Books

The Goon Volume 4: Virtue and the Grim Consequences Thereof 2nd Edition

Dark Horse is reprinting The Goon Volume 4: Virtue and the Grim Consequences Thereof which would normally be a non-event for yours truly. However they’ve gone the extra stretch and had Eric Powell do a new cover (shown above) which just looks brilliant. What makes Powell so unique is that he’s able to combine pull off a combination of an pulp magazine cover that you might have seen back in the day with just the right touch of cartoonishness.

Tags:

 

Mighty Samson: Mauling the Many Mutants of N’Yark

Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 22, 2010 in Comic Books

Mighty Samson Archives Volume 1

So many of the post-apocalyptic films from Mad Max to Escape from New York all owe a little something to Mighty Samson which was a comic book series published by Gold Key Comics back in 1964. The team of Otto Binder (writing) and Frank Thorne (illustration) created their vision of N’Yark which was one corner of planet Earth devastated by a nuclear war. The series lasted until 1982 and the faded into obscurity so I’m glad to see that starting in June Dark Horse will be releasing Mighty Samson Archives Volume 1. The first volume features the first seven comics from the series — here are some covers and interior pages from that era to give you a taste the mutants that roam the former streets of the big apple: Read more…

Tags: ,

 

The Well Deserved Buzz on Buzzard

Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 16, 2010 in Comic Books

Buzzard #1 (of 3) cover by Eric Powell

Thanks to the goodness of Goon there is no wrong that Eric Powell can do in my mind — which is why I’m looking ahead to Buzzard which is a comic book miniseries that goes on sale on June 9th. Shown above is a cover by Powell and below is an alternative cover by Richard Corben: Read more…

Tags:

 

Stop Taking Groo for Granted

Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 14, 2010 in Comic Books

Groo: Hogs of Horder #4 - Cover

GrooI came across Groo: Hogs of Horder #4 and it then hit me: I’m guilty of having spent my entire life looking at the amazing artwork of Sergio Aragonés and I’ve selfishly have always assumed that I’d be seeing more. It’s high time for us fans to stop taking Sergio for granted (he’s 72 years old!) and starting to treat him like the comic book god that he is. I grew up with Aragonés in the pages of mad magazine, but sadly those issues were so packed with high quality work that Sergio got lost in the crowd. However as of 2002 he’s drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad and that deserves some real respect. And then we have his creation Groo the Wanderer which has been running since the 80s — to me this running series ranks up there with Asterix and Tin Tin, and what’s wonderful about is that it has both an American and Spanish point of view. Read more…

Tags: , ,

 

Jet Scott: The High Powered Draftsmanship of Jerry Robinson

Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 8, 2010 in Comic Books

Jet Scott vol. 1 Cover

Jerry Robinson is best known as the comic book artist who helped to put Batman on the map along with Bob Kane — and credit for creating the Joker belongs to him. However sadly his other work is overlooked and that’s why I’m glad that Dark Horse is doing a proper reprint of Jet Scott. This wonderful science fiction themed newspaper strip debuted on September 28, 1953 in The New York Herald-Tribune. Read more…

Tags: ,

 

Mesmo Delivery: The Gift of Comic Book Goodness from Rafael Grampá

Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 3, 2010 in Comic Books

Mesmo Delivery — Cover

Thanks to the CB Radio craze of the 70s I have to admit that I had a cultural snottiness when it comes to any form of entertainment featuring truckers: So I have to admit that I was blown away by the sheer charm of the comic book Mesmo Delivery by Rafael Grampá and Marcus Penna. What I like about the look of this book is that the inking style has quite a bit of grit and texture, yet the character designs and poses almost have a charming if not slightly cute feeling to them. The result is that each page has the sort of warmth that you would see in folk art except that the draftsmanship is both exquisite and exhilarating to look at: Read more…

Tags:

 

Devil #1: It’s Evil to Americanize a Perfectly Good Manga

Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 2, 2010 in Comic Books

Devil #1 - Cover

Being a manga fanboy the release of Devil #1 immediately caught my eye: “Manga artist Torajiro Kishi (Maka-Maka) and blockbuster anime studio Madhouse (Trigun, Paprika, Ninja Scroll) love comics. So much so that they’ve decided to publish an original, Western-style comic exclusively with Dark Horse! Enter Devil, a thrilling, sci-fi take on the vampire genre.” Read more…

Tags: , ,

 

Sean Cooke Cooks Up a Seaworthy Star Wars Cover

Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2010 in Comic Books, Star Wars

Star Wars Legacy #47 cover illustration by Sean Cooke

Back in the day science fiction book covers always looked realistic while comic book covers looked like — well comic books! However the last few years that has faded away and comic book covers remind me more and more of the good old days of paperbacks: Except unlike paperbacks the format is even larger. So I was blown away with the quality of this cover by art by Sean Cooke for Star Wars Legacy #47. Read more…

Tags: ,

 

When You’re Strange: Emily Comes Out for Fame

Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Comic Books

Art of Emily the Strange - Cover

A while ago that when I read they were gearing up for an Emily the Strange I have to admit that I feared for the worse in terms of quality — as part of a push for the film Dark Horse would be publishing an art book and a comic book. But I have to admit that while I’m still unsure about a film that Dark Horse seems to be off to a good start with our old creepy friend Emily. Shown above is the cover for The Art of Emily the Strange which doesn’t look too bad form the previews — it’s not brilliant, but it’s respectable as you can see: Read more…

Tags: ,

 

Dr. Grordbort: An Elixir to Entertain You

Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2009 in Comic Books

Dr. Grordbort Presents: Victory cover

Greg Broadmore is a conceptual designer at the Weta Workshop the New Zealand effects studio that did some amazing work on Lord of the Rings. In his book Dr. Grordbort Presents: Victory Broadmore goes steampunk and has an Edwardian military officer giving a lush tour of a world filled with enemy robots and space aliens. The result reminds me of a cross between old pulp fiction covers and old patent medicine adverts: Read more…

Tags: ,

 

Copyright © 2010 Fanboy.com All rights reserved. Theme by Laptop Geek.