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The Li’l Depressed Boy Looks Uplifting
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 30, 2010 in Comic Books
I’m really excited about The Li’l Depressed Boy #1 for two reasons: First it’s just nice to see a book that looks different and secondly this comic is yet another example of how a web comic can become “discovered” and make its way to print. Featuring a story by S. Steven Struble and art by Sina Grace this book will be coming out in February 9th, 2011. Read more… On The Line: A Strong Cover Design
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 5, 2010 in Comic Books
Rian Hughes is a very talented illustrator, typographer and designer which is why I’m looking ahead to seeing On The Line which will be published in December by Image Comics. This book will be a complete collection of his newspaper strips drawn for The Guardian newspaper in England. In the strip Hughes draws a great deal of inspiration from the old modernist UPA cartoons that Gene Deitch did in the 50s. The Long Cold Fire Cover is Hot
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 4, 2010 in Comic Books
Shown above is a preview of the cover for Viking, Vol. 1: The Long Cold Fire which will be published in December 8th by Image Comics. What drew me to this illustration by Nic Klein is the wonderful level of detail in his model combined with a feeling of motion that reminds me a great deal of Japanese manga panels. But the two things that make this cover stand out are the nice use of negative space in the upper left where you eye first reads the artwork — that an the bold use of yellow is a real wiining combination. As this is a preview the artwork may change, but like what I see here. Cowboy Ninja Viking Still Riding High
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 20, 2010 in Comic Books
Cowboy Ninja Viking #9 will be hitting your local comic book shop this Wednesday, and if you haven’t been following this series it’s well worth checking out. While the title is gimmicky (the only two words missing are zombie and vampire) this book has a nice stripped down art style with a limited color palette that shows off the draftsmanship of Riley Rossmo: Read more… Previous Perphanauts Unearthed
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 20, 2010 in Comic Books
Perphanauts Vol. 00: Dark Days is a collection of First Blood and Second Chances mini-series which has been a bit hard to find up until this release (which comes out this Wednesday). I’ve always liked the flat but bold use of color that illustrators Craig Rousseau and Rico Renzi bring to this book. This collection is nice as it shows the origins of the series which you can get a glimpse of in this preview: Read more… Cowboy Ninja Viking Still Riding High
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 17, 2010 in Comic Books
Yes I know the that the name of this book sounds like Image Comics talked to an SEO expert and took all of the top trends and baked them into a title: However if that was true they would have included the key words Vampires and Zombies as well! This series has impressed me since it came out and issue #8 which comes out this Wednesday is no disappointment as Riley Rossmo’s drawings keep you eye moving from panel to panel in the book. The minimal color palette is also a nice touch as it add just enough to the artwork without becoming too distracting — and the drawings in those panels remind me of Bill Sienkiewicz too: Read more… King City Still Reigns Supreme
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 16, 2010 in Comic Books
I’ve been really enjoying following the comic book King City which is by Brandon Graham and presented by Tokyopop. Issue #11 will be out this Wednesday and is well worth checking out. What I love about Brandon’s work is that his drawings have a highly animated feeling to them and have just a slight sense of surrealism that reminds me of Krazy Kat by George Herriman. The only thing I regret about this series is that they didn’t color it, although the black-and-white pages show off the artwork pretty well: Read more… Gaiman/Larsen Post-Lawsuit Tweets Get Nasty
Posted by Gia Manry on Aug 6, 2010 in Comic Books
If you’re into comics, or even only writer Neil Gaiman’s brilliant series Sandman, you may be aware that Gaiman just came out of a legal battle with Image Comics and Todd McFarlane over what royalties he’s owed from sales based on characters derived from Spawn, which Gaiman originally co-created. The jury ruled in Gaiman’s favor, and while McFarlane took the classy way out by not saying anything mean about anyone, Larsen has managed to spread some vitriol via Twitter. Read more… Will Daomu Help Open America to Manhua?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 1, 2010 in Comic Books, Horror
Being an manga fanboy Daomu caught my attention: It’s a upcoming graphic novel which is based on a series of Chinese novels and will be released by Image Comics. The adaption into English is being done by Concept Art House and the series has already done well in China. Manga has done well in the United States, but this may be a chance or Chinese manhua to gain a foothold. Here’s a preview of the book: Read more… Liquid City Returns: A Great Destination for Manga Fans
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 21, 2010 in Comic Books
Liquid City, Volume 2 looks like a must read item if you call yourself any kind of manga fanboy (or fangurl). This second volume in the series is due out at the end of September and features the work of a collection of artists from Southeast Asia. The beautiful cover shown above is by Shelly Wan and the book features work by Lat, Sonny Liew, Miel and Charlene Chua: Read more… Hellcity: A Heavenly Action Packed Trip
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… Officer Downe: An Worthy American Take on Judge Dredd
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… Proof That Bigfoot Can Be a Leading Character
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… Chew Bites into Vampires
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… Dead Ahead is Dead On Delicious
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… Variant Cover Turf Wars
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… King City: Brandon Graham’s Royal Style
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… The Elusive Quest for an iPhone
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… The First YouTube Comic Book
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… Chew Gets Tastier With Every Issue
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… Phonogram: A Very Dark Singles Club
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 18, 2009 in Comic Books
The subject matter of Phonogram reminds me a great deal of the romance genre of comics from the 50s and 60s — except that it has a much harder realistic edge to it. Written by Kieron Gillen this plot of Phonogram 2: Singles Club #5 reminds me a great deal of The Smiths song How Soon is Now? as it opens with our hero visiting a night club and watching everyone else have a great time. And then when you add the Jamie McKelvie’s somber visual style of storytelling you get a very dark vision that you don’t see in most comic books: Read more… G-Man: Giarrusso Generates Giggles
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 18, 2009 in Comic Books
There’s a warm quality to both the writing a visual style of Chris Giarrusso’s work that reminds me of a humerous fanzine strip shared between good friends. Part of what makes G-Man: Cape Crisis #4 work so well is that while most comic books split the writing and art responsibilities, in the great tradition of New Yorker cartoons Giarrusso is wearing both hats — so the drawing acts as a natural extention to the writing. Also because the drawing style is rough and scratchy you get a silly look which reminds me of an American version of a chan-styled manga: Read more… Superheroes vs. Dinosaurs: An Invincible Combination
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 17, 2009 in Comic Books
I never took superheroes seriously — there’s just something so silly to me about a grown man running around town in his pajamas fighting evil. But I think that’s why I like Invincible #68 so much. The entire issue is silly, and better yet you’ve got the superhero engaged some very highly animated combat with a dinosaur. Featuring a story by Robert Kirkman and some entertaining artwork by Ryan Ottley and Fco Plascencia this issue will be out on November 18th, 2009: Read more… Fall Out Toy Works: A Playful Read
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 16, 2009 in Comic Books
I admit that I overlooked the first issue of Fall Out Toy Works because it’s based on the lyrics of Fall Out Boy. And why do I hate Fall Out Boy? Because in my humble opinion the only band in the universe that should have the name Fall in is THE Fall — the amazing post-punk project of Mark E. Smith. Well now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I hate to admit it but this looks like a great book! I’m not an emo fan but Sami Basri, Sunny Gho and Imaginary Friends Studios have done a great job with the artwork which is a treat to the eyes: Read more… |
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