Posted by Michael Pinto on May 1, 2010 in
Comic Books 
In July Image Comics will be publishing Hellcity (The Whole Damn Thing) which is a collection of the three volumes in the series. If you haven’t seen this book it’s well worth checking out: For starters what makes it stand out is the entire comic is drawn in beautiful black and white. This allows Joe Flood’s draftsmanship to really dominate the page in much the same way that you see with a good Japanese manga. What I like about his style is that it sort of has a 1940s look to it with a bit of hip hop and MTV’s Liquid Television thrown in for fun. Also like a good manga Joe really understands layout — so you feel like you’re watching an action film, each panel throws you to the next with a punch. His style is also very fluid and slightly cartoony, so you feel like you’re looking at animation in motion as opposed to overly posed characters: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 30, 2010 in
Comic Books 
Looking at this first issue of Officer Downe I’ve got to say that at first glance I was not blown away with the cover — however once I looked inside the book my sirens were going off. The illustrations by Chris Burnham remind me of a cross between classic EC comic books, Gary Panter’s work for RAW magazine in the 80s with just the right touch of French comic book art. The story by Joe Casey is sort of an American take on Judge Dredd, and it also reminded me a slight bit of the first Mad Max movie (which is a good thing). This comic is a one shot published by Image and is due out in July. Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 26, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I’ll never forgot those magic moments as a child when The Six Million Dollar Man featured an episode with Bigfoot. Up until that point you might get to see a blurry photo of the guy in an In Search Of… episode, but that show managed to weave Bigfoot into the plot without feeling silly. Eons later kids just don’t care about Bigfoot: Add a zombie, a werewolf or a vampire to any media property and you’ve got a hit — but sadly our Sasquatch friend tends to be overlooked. But now that’s changed with the publication of Proof #1 which comes this Wednesday. Now only does this book start Bigfoot, but instead of him being some inarticulate creature in this book he’s got a great deal of personality: Read more…
Tags: Bigfoot, Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I’ve been really enjoying the comic book Chew which is illustrated by Rob Guillory. Issue #9 will be out this Wednesday and Guillory tackles the vampire theme in his very own unique style. What I love about Guillory is that he’ll have investigators picking up dirty baby diapers in one frame and then cut to a morgue scene — yet every page is punctuated with humor every other panel: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics, Rob Guillory
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I really love the draftsmanship in Dead Ahead #3 which comes out this Wednesday — the entire look of the comic book reminds me of a dancing combination of something you might see in a Wally Wood EC Comic mixed with a healthy dose of German Expressionism and just a dash of Goya. The credit for the artwork on this book belongs to Alex Nino and Moose Baumann who have done a wonderful job with the layout, it’s like they’ve taken the typical angular panels you see in Japanese manga and taken it to a new level of complexity. Add to that a plot focused on four thousand flesh hungry zombies and you’ve got a real winner: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 22, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I know it’s a gimmick aimed at collectors, yet I love the concept of variant cover illustrations for comic books. And with three variant covers Turf #2 is a good example of this: Each cover has a very different entertaining take on the theme of aliens and the roaring twenties. The above cover is by David LaFuente reminds me a great deal of a shoujo manga, while the illustration below by Bernard Chang has a nice subtle art deco feel to it: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 21, 2010 in
Comic Books 
I love how this cover for King City #9 by Brandon Graham harkens back to the great tradition of paper cut out dolls: Frankly it’s highly refreshing to see a cover take chances like this for a change. Sadly I’ve overlooked this series in the past, but having unearthed these other covers from the series I have to say that I’m impressed with Graham’s style: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 20, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Tech 
The latest issue of Player vs. Player features the epic quest for the Apple iPhone. Being an Apple fanboy I love it when geeky tech things find their way into comic books, and Scott Kurtz has scored a hit in my nerd zone: Read more…
Tags: Apple, Image Comics, iPhone
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 8, 2010 in
Comic Books,
Tech 
Not so long ago I started to notice a few comics were incorporating either Twitter or IM interface elements into their page layout in an attempt to be hip. Well Forgetless #2 takes this trend a step further by having three pages that are done as a faux YouTube video. Just to make sure they’re hitting the right demographics the story features the exploits of a failed t-shirt maker — now if it had been me, I’d have an Etsy craft nerd in the lead role: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics, YouTube
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 23, 2009 in
Comic Books 
Issue #7 of Chew just came out today and I really love how this book is is evolving over time. What’s great about Rob Guillory’s work is that he does a nice job of having a cartoony look with a fast paced action focused story that keeps you going. The setting of this issue reminds me of Pulp Fiction — down to including a Samuel L. Jackson character: Read more…
Tags: Image Comics, Rob Guillory
