Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

It's been 2 weeks and this blog has been quiet during this nasty economy while we all shuffle our priorities in order to make responsible decisions. Some require sacrifices that hurt, while other sacrifices are forced upon us. These times are so low that the state in which we feel is compounded and compromised by disillusion, smoke and mirrors, and shuffled information that makes mature decisions more difficult to make now more than ever.

I want to make sure that you all, whatever your situations may be, are able to take comfort with family, friends, and the like that these issues may melt away for the holiday.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, and would like to ask for your help; to help those less fortunate than ourselves this season.

For this week's comic submission I propose a cover that features a hero getting a leg up. Hero helping hero, villain helping villain, or mix 'em up!

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween All!

Hello Everyone!

Happy Halloween to you and yours! I wanted to debut the preliminary cover to issue 2 of Clipstick by posting on this day. The cover seemed to fit the mood.

Have a great one and Enjoy!


Ian

Pulse-pounding Covers!

Happy October everyone!

Welcome to this installment of the comic cover discussion forums! This challenge was a "no-brainer". . . You would have to be "up in the night" to not get what the challenge is this time around. So don't "give up the ghost" and let this challenge "bleed you dry".

Make a "sacrifice" and submit your eeriest, creepiest, spookiest cover that fits the forum to us. This should be fun so "don't lose your head" about this entry.

We just expect one foot in the grave. . .

BWahahahaha!

Enjoy!

Two machinas for every deus.

Hello all!

Thank you for the submission Rob. An interesting pick and a creative take on this week's challenge. Windsor Smith's renderings are always distinguishable and his knowledge on anatomy makes most of his images unique. I haven't read this series yet, but I imagine you'll put me on that track soon enough!

Here's my pick. I have to thank Lynn for this one as my appreciation for what Ditko's contributions to this series has grown exponentially with every conversation we share. This classic cover showcases Spidey at his lowest in these early issues. Our hero doubts himself on top of being crushed alive and about to drown. What more for a Deus Ex Machina situation than this piece. Ditko's unique stylization of water flows like molasses and Peter's demeanor, his head's position, elude to a troubled psyche above all in this mess. This is a great read. Even the text seals Pete's doom with the word "Final".

Some days feel like this. Calvin has days like this. Today, fortunately, I don't, but art and stories like this remind me they can. It's how we deal with these situations that people will judge our character.

This is my submission for the Deus Ex Machina competition.

Enjoy!

Machina ex Deus?

A deus ex machina (lat. IPA: [ˈdeːus eks ˈmaːkʰina], literally "god from a/the machine") is an improbable contrivance in a story characterized by a sudden unexpected solution to a seemingly intractable problem.

Considering that 95% of Comic books are primary examples of the "deus ex machina" principle. I have chosen to narrow my field down considerably by taking a more literal translation... "from the god, the machine". With that in mind I submit a excellent example of classic Barry Windsor Smith with the Marvel Limited Series- Machine Man, issue 2. As soon as Ian mentioned this weeks submission this series immediately sprung to mind. I have always enjoyed this series, with it's many plot contrivances, and classic Windsor Smith artwork. I think it illustrates the point beautifully.

Enjoy,

Rob

Deus Ex Machina?

Hello all!

Great suggestions and posts for the last week! This week is in itself possibly it's own Deus Ex Machina, and you guessed it, we've got to find or post our favorite covers that feature this timeless ideal.

Best representation of Deus Ex Machina, pre-solved, done well, and solved in the book!

Enjoy and good luck!

This little villain didn't last that long. . .

Great submissions you guys!

Although I agree that by today's standards of realism, McFarlane's characters do feel a little inflated, but still are strong enough to make you believe in them. The McFarlane Spidey will always hold a place in my heart because it was the first time I realized you don't have to draw everything the same way it's always been drawn. You can draw it your own way. Todd taught me that lesson with my first McFarlane Spidey in Amazing Spider-Man 318 vs. the Scorpion. The flight to Mexico was never shorter!

Great Skrull cover too Mr. Dirt. I need to get caught up on my comic current events sooner than later, but in the history of Skrull covers, from Kirby to Keown, they always seem to get the upper hand when on a cover.

My submission is a little less contemporary. I dug into the memory banks for this one because there was a villain that never went anywhere, but most creative artists have contemplated the possibilities. It wasn't until issue 49 they tried it out and history has spoken for itself. Also being the first appearance of Giant Man adds a little weight to this story.

Remember "Dimension Z"? Remember how the were referred to as "pixies"?
Yeah, neither do most comic readers. . . for a reason too. However, this cover, by its own merit gets my vote for a great rendering of the villain getting the upper hand. I bring you "The Eraser"! Yeah, we all thought of it, but Looney Tunes made it plausible.


Enjoy!

I'm going to have to go pretty recent on this one. Recreating the cover for Avengers: The Initiative #1, issue #15 (in the thick of the Secret Invasion) now has all the heroes as skrulls. The villains haven't just won, they've completely taken over. Sweet mama's sassafrass!

Rob's Post of Choice - Villain getting upper hand

Ok, here it is in a nutshell...

When I read about this weeks post the first hero that jumped to my mind was Spidey. Has any other hero (in the history of superhero comics) ever been shown getting the crap kicked out of him more than our dear friend Peter Parker... on the cover of his own comic books no less. As a child I was never a big fan of Amazing Spider-Man because I liked my heroes a bit more, well, heroic. It just seemed that Peter Parker was never going to come out on top... EVER. Everyone beat him up, and even when he would prevail as Spider-Man, then something tragic would happen to his Peter Parker alter ego. This guy could never catch a break. Those sadistic writers could be extremely Machiavellian in their plots to take down our beloved web-slinger. Which is probably the reason why he is one of the most popular characters in comics today.

While I have to give a nod to Amazing Spider-Man #293 (what I believe to be the greatest "Villain Triumphant" storyline of all time... "Fearful Symmetry") I honestly have to pick a classic Spider-Man/Venom confrontation as my favorite cover. Venom has to be one the greatest Spider-Man villains ever conceived, and no one exemplified this classic Spidey/Anti-Spidey confrontation better than Todd McFarlane.

So here it is... Amazing Spider-Man# 316.

Until a later date,

Rob

Life Happens. . . 9/11/08 - 9/20/08

Hello everyone,

Sorry all for the long delay. It has been almost a killer couple of weeks that have hindered any progress on the site. I hope you're all still interested because I have some treats coming up with interviews among working professionals in the comic industry discussing their comic memories, what comic covers they favor, as well as pieces of their work and where it can be seen.

Summation of delay: Anniversary, hit and run (victim), baby 1st birthday, quit job, got new job. Any questions? Let's get this week's cover challenge underway!

This week's challenge is:

Post your favorite cover featuring a villain getting the upper hand!

There are a myriad of choices and genres this bleeds into. If the villain actually gets the upper hand in the book, that would be great too!

I can be contacted at merbou77@yahoo.com if you need to get a hold of me.

Enjoy!

Alright... now your talking my language! - Rob

As someone who grew up on the classic Bantam (pulp reprint) paperbacks of Kenneth Robeson's Doc Savage, I have an especially warm place in my heart for the Man of Bronze. I used to read these books like most kids read the Hardy Boys growing up, and there were more to choose from! Unfortunately in the field of actual comic books there's not much to choose from out there. Gold Key (in the 1960's) was the first to do a Doc Savage comic book and it only lasted one issue. Then Marvel's short lived magazine (followed by the comic book) series in the (70's) with two comic issues crossing over into Marvel Two in One and Giant Size Spiderman. Skylark's one issue in 1979 is hardly worth mentioning (and even harder to find... I'm stilling missing it). DC gave it a go in the 1980's with a futile attempt to update the character into the modern world (Doc's son & Grandson) before bringing back the classic (original) Doc. Millennium Press had the rights through the 90's and unleashed some promising comics that never made it anywhere due to delays between issues and low print runs. Then Dark Horse did an excellent 4 issue series and a crossover with the Shadow (after they had revitalized that franchise as well). Sadly there has been nothing done since then.

The classic Bama covers are the one's that I enjoy the most, unfortunately they are not available on any of the comic books.

The notable exceptions being Bama inspired covers on Gold Key and Marvel's Doc Savage magazine from the 70's. Steranko and Kane did some excellent covers on the Marvel series and Kubert did some classics for the DC comics. Stelfreeze did extremely stylized Art Deco stuff on the Millennium runs, and there were some incredible covers that hearkened back to the original pulps of the 1940's on the Dark horse stuff. In terms of composition and style I have to say that I am waxing nostalgic with this one...

Happy 75th Doc!

Rob

Comic Con 2008 - but I was in Mexico

Hello all,

Sorry for the delay in this week's topic / challenge. I just got back from a lengthy trip to Mexico with the family and only saw one computer that was running Windows '98 so I thought, umm. . . I'll wait to get back to catch up.

If any of you have any particular experiences at this year's Comic-con, I invite you to share them, whatever they may be, so we can live vicariously through your eyes.

This week's challenge is based on one of the themes at this years Comic-con.

What is your favorite Doc Savage cover! The man of bronze turned 75 this year and his early painted covers landed an iconic image. These covers really facilitated a different technique in order to capture the feeling of the noir series.

Enjoy!

Adam Hughes!?! No Wonder!

Here's my official submission for the cover of the week - Adam Hughes. Wonder Woman 184. If only Hughes drew the interior. (I understand he's drawing a Wonder Woman book and it won't be released until the run is finished so we'll have to do with this for now.)

This cover not only demonstrates the skills Adam possesses, but it's a testament to his creative take on the story. This actually happens in this book! (Though Hughes took some liberties with the interpretation and art style.) Wonder Woman finds herself trapped in the past after following a portal which led her to an alternate history where her mother is actually Wonder Woman. She, (the original Wonder Woman), disguises herself as Miss America and helps her mother thwart the Nazis.

Hughes' take on this cover is a metaphor of new finding old by re-creating a dilapidated issue of the Golden Age Wonder Woman to resemble the modern day Wonder Woman's mother. The fact he draws it style for style with how she looked in the Golden Age mixed with his take of today's Wonder Woman is an excellent juxtaposition. It also allows us to see just how far she's come. The surrounding Nazis are done in 30s fashion and the very human expressions seals the deal for my favorite Adam Hughes cover.

Enjoy!

UPGRADE!

Hello all!

As an upgrade to the site, I'm beginning to put together a questionnaire / interview for professionals to tell us what they like to see in a cover. They will talk about their favorite covers, and discuss what they believe makes a book jump off the shelf.

Please leave comments as to what questions you think should go in the interview and I'll pool the results putting together them together. Also, please leave comments as to who you would be interested in seeing a cover interview with!

LET'S DO THIS THING!

I'll post these interviews amidst the weekly challenges so we can tie them together with who is being interviewed!

Hughes submissions will carry through to the end of this week.

ENJOY!

Rob's Submission - Hughes Week

Okay, we all knew it was coming with Ian's God like worship of Hughes artwork, but the day has finally arrived.

After gratuitous butt shots and breasts aplenty I finally narrowed it down to 3 covers.... which is difficult to do when your talking Adam Hughes.

I really enjoyed the cover to Legionnaires#13 because I have a deep appreciation for the Adam Hughes's humor. They harken back to the classic Romance comics covers with their overly expressionistic faces and ridiculous "blurbs". There is almost a Lewinski tone to the artwork and subtext. This one had great composition, bright colors and told the story perfectly.

Then I remembered his rampantly sexual covers that caught your eye because you could not believe that there was such an erotic image on a comic book cover... classic example, Voodoo#2. OMG, who cares what was on the inside because the cover sold the book to more horny teens than anything else on the shelves that month.

Surprisingly enough my favorite cover is not from a regular comic book series or even character. It was from an issue of Spoof Comics Presents#5. I love the cover of Daredame, because it has the right amount of humor, sex and the colors and composition are a classic homage to the Daredevil covers of old (all the way down to the Frank Miller style action sequence at the bottom). I find it to be a surprisingly well balanced cover, and just enjoy every aspect of it.

-Rob

3 Who Know

When at the Comic-con in San Diego of '07 I had the pleasure of sitting in a room with some of the greatest comic artists in the industry. They were discussing what they believe makes a strong comic cover. On the panel were George Perez, Neal Adams, Adam Hughes, Basil Gogos, among others. Revealing an artist's secret to success, Adam had a creative way of making his covers stand out.

"I would go to the local shop and walk in, and stand back from that week's rack by about 10 feet and look at all the comics on the shelf. Seeing all the colors and which comics stood out at me against the sea that didn't. I would then make note of the similar color schemes the other books were using. If everyone was using a blue theme, I would go home and paint a cover using bright oranges, yellows and pinks. The next month I would walk back in and see them using browns and cremes so I would go home and paint a cover in purples, blacks, and grays."

The audience applauded with laughter. Going against the current is another great technique for making your cover stand out. Which brings us to this week's challenge:

This week's target cover is going to focus on your favorite Adam Hughes.

He has so many!

He's won an Eisner for his covers! Which one to choose!?!

Be prepared to defend why yours is better than the others submitted. It's going to get ugly.

Enjoy!

Rivalrys Go 'round - Feuds are Forever

Rob and I were talking about what the definition of the word "rival" actually meant. So, here for reference are the 3 definitions that are applicable to this week's comic cover submission:

Rival:
1 a: one of two or more striving to reach or obtain something that only one can possess

b: one striving for competitive advantage or

3: one that equals another in desired qualities:

The terms rival and feud almost go hand in hand. A rival, or two trying to obtain one thing and, feud, having it going on for a period of time, are cliches of most comic unverses.

To clarify the definition of a feud according to merriam webster:

Feud:
1: a mutual enmity or quarrel that is often prolonged or inveterate;

We then came to a point where we each asked: "Can one still exist while another has evolved or taken it's place?" Can you still have a rivalry between two or more people when a murder has been committed?

I say yes.

Case in point: Whenever a villain gets the upper hand over our hero and is about to dispatch him, near the end of a battle, the villain always brings up the one or two moments the hero neglected them, got the upper hand in, took something away from them, (like an opportunity), or has some reason to exact their revenge based on some prior circumstance.

Some immediate examples I can think of would be Syndrome from Incredibles, Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom starting from their college years, Professor X and Magneto, to Space Ghost and Zorak on Coast to Coast.

Rivalries can evolve from feuds and vice versa. A rivalry can be two friends fighting alongside for a common goal as well.

I present this cover as a great visualization of rivals:

This cover plays to the viewer beautifully. If you know history of the X-Men or not, this cover entices you to rip it open and find out what's happening to Wolvie.

The Brood, featured in this and subsequent books, are a vicious alien race that are about dominance and control. This book is about a Brood hatchling and Wolverine fighting over the control of his body unbeknown to the rest of the team until. . . well, I suggest picking it up!

The rich purples and cool blues are complementary to his normal costume colors and play an integral roll in depicting a losing Wolverine. This is a book from Mark Silvestri's run on the series and I believe showcases his greatest work.

This scene does take place in the book and is handled very well.

One trick to a good rivalry cover is to keep ALL the art elements in mind and at your disposal to suggest a "teeter totter"-ing of the cover pitch. Utilize hue, shape, negative space, and temperature to create a slightly imbalanced composition until an edgy suspense is achieved.

Do these things and your only rival will be comic shops charging too little for the book!

Comic Cover Rivalry Submission - Rob

This was a tough one because I'd love to be able to use the Mike Zeck's cover of Captain America with Wolverine's claws going "one on one" with Cap's Shield. Although it was an amazing cover it isn't what I would consider a rivalry. On a stretch I could even go for Wolverine vs Hulk, but that is still nowhere near the realm of Hulk vs Thing... now there was a true rivalry. Who is the strongest? A question asked and answered multiple times over the course of Marvel History. I would also have liked to use a classic Daredevil vs Bullseye cover, but again it wasn't a rivalry. It was your classic arch-enemy battle (Batman/Joker, Starman/Mist).

After a tremendous amount of waffling I came across a cover I remembered from my youth (Kudos to you Lynn for the all the classic inspiration).

Ladies and Gentlemen... I give you World's Finest Issue 199... a classic Superman vs Flash race.


Talk about a rivalry that spanned decades, I think this qualifies. Art by the incomparable Neal Adams and as a bonus it also has a subtext theme at the bottom of the page (look at the disappointment and elation on the kids faces). I missed last week's blog cause I was slammed at work, but I thought this would kill 2 birds with one stone.

What do ya think? -Rob

Comic Book Cover for June 30 - Feb 4

Hello all!

This week's comic cover is going to be focused on a staple comic subject. Go through your mental collections, dust off the comic boxes in your basements, and put on a new sleeve and board to show your favorite comic rivalry cover!

The one rule is that it must follow our guidelines for a cover. (For new comers, the cover scene must appear within the interior of the book in some fashion.) With your submission, please describe what in particular about this cover caught your attention, why, and if it changed who you favored as your favorite hero or villain.

Can't wait to see what comes in and let the comic cover submissions begin!

Enjoy!

Comic Cartoon - New Wolverine and X-men!

Looks like they're trying again with the whole animated X-men thing. Judging from the video, it might carry merit as long as the story and animation maintain the status quo set by the Batman animated series quality. Enjoy!

Subtext Posts for the Week

Lynn's comments on the Justice League cover:

This probably isn't the best subtext, but it's the issue I thought of when the topic was mentioned. The reason I say it isn't the best is that the subtext isn't reflected in the story, and so was probably unintentional. Nevertheless, it's definitely there, and somewhat intriguing. I'll say no more until somebody identifies it.

L

What's Lies Beneath Subtext?

It's a fact of communication that you can say one thing and mean something completely different.

For instance saying "What did you say?" to someone who has just threatened to kill you doesn't carry the same subtext as saying the same thing to someone handing you a piece of cake.

With the first example you might be thinking, "I need to buy some time!" while your face contorts and your heart races, your breath shortens, your body language becomes defensive, and you begin to mentally prepare yourself for the next few moments of your life.

In the second example you might slightly bow forward with a smile, think "this looks good!", breathing naturally, hands held out as a receiving gesture, enjoying the moment, maybe making eye contact depending on your personality.

In both instances the phrase didn't change, but the thought changed dramatically. The same form of communication is a powerful tool in illustration, but it requires a mind invested into the character's personality, thoughts, imaginations, desires, etc. . . You ever looked at a painting and related to the image saying, "Yeah! I know exactly what s/he's thinking!"

The trick to creating believable subtext in an illustration is to distinguish what you want to say in subtext first, and then decide what you want to be said verbally. Of coarse the expression should follow the nature of the subtext. Voila! A character that appears to be self motivated!

It's a technique I find too few and far between with any given comic illustration which is why there are the greats. If they can guess what I'm thinking, there's a good chance I'm going to relate to their characters and that's a mouth full!

Planetary #26-Posted by Miles

Seriously one of the best series of all time. Even though it did a lot of 'swiping' friom classic comics literature, it was an insane ride, by the best writer in comics...That would be Warren Ellis. Just my opinion, don't anybody freak out or anything.
It's pretty obvious what the cover itself means, but how does Mr. Snow feel about it?
Not usually a huge John Cassaday fan, I love his stuff on this series.
Thoughts?

Spidey Cover - Posted by Rob

Here it is... finally!
One of my absolute faves. I always had a soft spot for the Hobgoblin (have his first appearance), and nobody made the Hobgoblin (in Demonic form) more menacing and terrifying. I just always loved the action and flow of this cover. I'm sure if I scrutinized I could find a couple dozen to submit to this post (the first Man-Wolf cover in Amazing comes to mind as well), but this one is definitely high up in the top 10.

Enjoy,

Rob

Cover for Week June 23 - 27

CHALLENGE WEEK!

This week we'll be looking for a challenging subject that our covers should feature.

A cover in which, you think, has the strongest form of subtext. More specifically, an image that provokes you to believe the characters are thinking, be it differently or not, from the situation they are in.

Sincere subtext is one of the hardest messages to convey as an illustrator, I believe, because it's a one step difference from creating a stagnant image, to establishing a believable, living character. Subtext haunts actors on stage because not only must they use it regularly when performing, but effective actors have to make it relatable to a wide audience.

I would like our covers for this week to be submitted without telling us what you think the character's thinking, at first, so we can ascertain our own subtext messages. Then we can compare our thoughts after all the posts have been submitted.

Please submit no later than Thursday so I can have time to post, and we can have a week to discuss.

I'm looking forward to your posts.

Enjoy!

At Death's Door - posted by Lynn Walker

Browsing Spider-Man covers, I noticed that even after Ian's stalker, John Romita Sr. left Amazing Spider-Man, the covers still looked like they were done by him for a long time.

One of the first artists to start really breaking that mold was Ed Hannigan over on Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man. Al Milgrom, not normally one of my favorite artists, inked those covers and then ended up doing some entirely by himself.

This cover from the March 1983 issue of Peter Parker (#76) isn't drawn all that well, but the design and subject matter are so strong and dynamic that it doesn't matter. Spider-Man holding a bloody Black Cat was a shocking cover at the time, and Milgrom did this image a couple of years before Perez put it on a cover of Crisis On Infinite Earths when Superman was holding a dead Supergirl.

member comic submission by Lynn Walker

Spidey Cover of the Week

Here's my favorite Spidey cover of all time. This book nailed my eyes open the day I saw it and I absolutely had to own it and the subsequent comics that finished this great chapter in Kraven's life.

With this cover you get suspense, mystery, tension, and the black costume all wrapped up in a dubious setting that is unconventional for Spidey. It's also darker than your typical Spidey book, but for the time, it was a refreshing perspective.

I had a hard time picking from a few McFarlane covers to some classics, but all in all, Zeck has achieved something more so early on in the series. If you haven't ever read this story about Kraven, this story will blow your mind. (Pun intended.)

Clipstick issue 1

Hello all! I just wanted to upload the latest rendition of Clipstick #1 with a mock UPC and the official Ape Logo! This cover features Janet of the bunch in a bit of peril and ties directly with the story.
How do I know?! Pick up the book and you'll see for yourself!

Enjoy!

Cover for Week of June 16 - 20

Welcome back!

Well, here we go with a new weeks comic submissions! Since we missed out the first time he came around and hit the silver screen, this week's cover is going to feature everyone's favorite web head.

No, not Spider-Ham!

Spidey himself!

Please keep in mind the cover guidelines and I'll post everyone's entries by Thursday with their comments!

Why Isolation Works

Being alone in a life threatening situation is, safe to say, one of our major universal fears. The feeling that there is no one coming to save you. Where silence and estrangement are married with your senses while your thoughts turn against you.

In a desert with no food or water. In a dark alley where shadows play leap frog and street lamps are shattered. In the middle of the ocean on a piece of drift wood. These are text book cases that imbue a "fight or flight" syndrome in each of us.

So how do we put a character on a cover, with any myriad of formulaic situations to stimulate "fight or flight", and have the viewer empathize in a way to evoke fear?

I think the answer lies in the character depicted.

Can you relate to the character? So much that you feel they are an extension of your same thoughts? Brilliant writers do this on a daily basis to empathize with millions of people at a time. Some with a first person tone, while others from a 3rd person perspective.

Out of all the comics I've read, there are literally a handful that I can relate to when comparing the day to day situations they are placed in, out of costume. If a writer can achieve that, then when they are IN costume, their situations are emotionally more dire for us, the reader. When they get bruised, we feel the punches, when they get dropped of a cliff, we get the rush of the freefall. If they bleed, we feel the cut.

Speaking of blood, if that's what you're afraid of, then I suggest this frightening reality. I present Marvel's Kiss Super Special which features actual blood from the band members mixed with the ink. Now THAT's something
to be afraid of.

Beware of What You Fear

After much deliberation and thinking, there really wasn't any cover monster that I could think of that has scared me. At least enough to prevent me from buying the book, or if I did, to warrant nightmares thereafter. Comic monsters are a little hokey by today's cinema standards. Hands raising through floorboards of a decrepit house to an alligator headed man monster were a couple that came to mind, but pale in comparison to "The Grudge" ghost or a certain child in "The Exorcist". (The latter which I'll never own a copy of nor bring 'cross my threshold.)


However, it is possible to create a visual tie-in with our innate fears and exploit those fears. If your greatest fear is an unknown threat, then covers that feature bystanders about to become eviscerated by a monstrous creature may be your forte. House of Secrets, House of Mystery, and The Witching Hour were able to capitalize on great suspense covers in this particular fear.


If your fear is necrotic driven, then Zombies, being buried alive, and being eaten alive may be closer to what sends you running.

My personal fears of drowning or dying of some unknown disease have also been exploited in some fashion, but don't keep me up at night.

What, then, can we put on a good cover, that affects us personally? How are our personal fears being exploited and did it merit buying the book in hopes of our own personal salvation?

I guess some fears are more universal than others and thus get more ink time.

Though a cover of someone breathing their last minutes, dying of cancer, with no loved ones around is horrifying, give me space zombies about to devour lovers in the park, at night, anytime.

Covers that make you go EW.

I want to encompass this weeks competition with an updated rule or two. The monster on the book cover no longer has to threaten the viewer or have threatened you, but rather is a cool monster idea that you appreciate. I also think we should open up this week's cover to also include humans portrayed as being monstrosities themselves. Be it an image that affected you with an ew feeling.

After pondering the possibilities, I realized that most of the covers that terrified me belonged to Fangoria and magazines of the like, but not being a comic per se, wouldn't qualify.

I hope this helps some as this weeks competition has a wider spectrum now.


That being said here's my pick of the week. Ew, fff--fff-f-f-ffreakin' EW! You know there is something wrong when someone can render fairly realistically what being shot in the face with a shotgun might look like. My cover for this week's monstrosity is the Preacher cover featuring Arseface. Here's a character that would be allowed to eat at Clive Barker's dinner table.

A troubled youth with a neglectful family, his mundane life tries to make a turn for suicide, a la Cobain, but he survives. He's not a villain by the traditional sense of the word, but does seek vengeance for a portion of his story.

The abonimation that remains on this cover gave me a while to get over the first time I saw it. Glenn Fabry makes skin feel thick and bulbous with his rendering technique. You almost don't want to know about this character from his visage, but there lies a hint of curiosity in his back story. Not really a protagonist, Arseface gave me a new appreciation to Fabry and of disgust.

I've read rumors this character was based on a factual event.

Twisted? Yes. Own the issue? No.

Cover for June 9th - 13th

Welcome to the new week!

I noticed a trend in the media dealing with Vampiric activity. From new game trailers, to hot books, to new movies to be released. This week's cover is going to focus on your favorite monster rendering. One that struck terror into you as a child, or one that galvanized you into collecting a certain artist.

You can go with any movie monster to comic cult favorite. Wrightson's Swamp Thing to Frazetta's cover trolls that graced the covers of Creepy. Neal Adams Dracula to Arthur Adams Mojo. If it's a monster in any way, it's legal.

Please make sure it follows the guidelines for our code of what dictates a strong cover.
I know there may have been many so just pick one of your favorites.

Until I figure out how to work this blog, please send me your entries and I'll post them here for all to see!

Variations on a Green Theme

I went online to try and find some of the other originals to Rob's and Lynn's covers to compare and contrast, but the best I could do was find some great renderings of the HULK from both artists. I even found an interpretation by Alex Ross of Hulk 1.

What separates exemplary from mediocrity when drawing an image based on realistic principles? Knowledge of the subject of coarse!

What Keown can create just proves you can never stop learning about anatomy, how it works together, and the myriad of contortions you can create with it. You can smell his studies in his works. I believe this is the same reason Frazetta cornered his market too. While other artists "faked" what anatomy they understood, Frazetta was laying it down as it actually existed. Where Hulk is concerned, having this plithora of muscular knowledge is what allowed Keown to take Hulk to a new level. He helped to develop an iconic form of a character that's been around longer than 40 years.

For 3ds sake, here is a great video of an ideal Hulk. (Sometimes I prefer him stupid and strong but I still appreciate the intelligent one Peter David ushered in.)

Above are a few more pieces by Keown, Ross, and Kirby.




Enjoy!

Your Line Work is Showing!

If anything shows us how a technique is used, an approach to how an effect was created, or how even the artist team thinks, we can look at their pre-finished work-in-progress. I found this posted by an anonymous owner of the HULK 340 original pencils and inks.
(Click for larger image.)


Notice the feathering of the HULK's hair in the original inks to allow the light blue color to show through in the final rendering so not to oversaturate the blacks in the reflection. You can tell the inker worked mostly with technical pens when rendering McFarlane's pencils. The constant line width and even in the feathering. Maybe he used a sharpee for the solids. I also enjoy the small nuances such as the over rendering of the black that crosses over the cover border line on the left. Wycek's small ruler smudge on the lower right corner also adds a tangible proof of human error whereas today's pieces are perfected so much in Photoshop you can never tell anymore.

Circular composition so your eye wanders from Wolvie, up his claws to Hulk's face, to the title of the book and back down to Wolvie. Nicely done. One last choice I enjoyed about this piece was McFarlane's choice to have Wolvie's left hand cross in front almost giving him that running toward feeling.

There's something revealing about just the black and white image. My college professor often said that if the piece doesn't work in black and white, then it won't work in color. This piece clearly works in black and white defining that statement.

Feel free to comment on what you see and ENJOY!

HULK NO LIKE COMIC COVERS

Rob and I were discussing about the HULK covers on the way into work this morning. Turns out I found out a couple personal preferences about HULK covers in general as far as handling the character goes.

Not very many people have handled the hulk on his covers very well especially when the entire character of the HULK is portrayed. He's usually seen with various other heroes and villains, that end up dwarfing the HULK making him look squatted, shrunk, and in ill proportion. He's as inconsistent in size as Megatron is in gun mode.

Why haven't very many talented artists, beside a couple, been able to maintain a well drawn HULK on their covers without him looking almost insignificant? The only artists we found out that can handle a HULK cover well were a couple of art moguls that were solid from the get go.

Dale Keown, Neal Adams, and Jim Sterenko to name a few 3.

Personally, I think HULK is too big to fit on a cover. The less focus the HULK gets, the stronger the cover for some reason. He needs that touch of enigma, mystery, all the while making the HULK feel HULK-ish without giving us the farm every time we see another book. Look at any HULK comic post-Sterenko and pre-Keown.

Dale's HULK is HULK as far as I'm concerned. The status quo he set for that character, his anatomy / proportion, in the quantities he did it in can't even begin to be rivaled by another HULK artist in my opinion. From the sinew to the density, he made the HULK incredible to look at and a bit frightening.

McFarlane's HULK is the ugliest and that wins it's own special reward.

Cover for June 2 - 6 HULK

Monday Monday,

Welcome back everyone!

Ahhhhh, yes the early Kirby rendition Lynn. I almost picked cover 1 myself because of its history alone and it says everything the Hulk storyline is about in one drawing. Although I have to say the second cover you submitted, safe to say and though redone, doesn’t lend itself to the interior story and doesn’t fit the original scope of a solid cover via this group. (As far as I know.) Shouldn’t stop you from being a fan though!

If you can’t guess, this week’s cover was suggested by Rob to be a Hulk week in lieu of it’s, well, redone attempt at movie masterpiece. After the Ang Lee debacle, which is debatable as being good or bad, the new film almost could be attached to the end of the first attempt. Forget what the characters looked like and BAM! Continuation. I do however have to agree with my friend Brent in that Hollywood has already made a big no no for the marketing of the new Hulk film.

They already showed the Abomination in the trailer and now everyone knows what to expect. If the Hulk villain was shrouded in media mystery, it might have helped sales. The Cloverfield tactic.

That being said, here is my choice for this week’s cover. My favorite Hulk cover.

I can’t deny McFarlane’s ability
to capture my attention and a sense of tension is this GRRRRREAT cover. I almost went for Hulk 181, the first Wolvie appearance, but this one has Wolverine established as a feral creature. Even the reflection is subdued suggesting the claws aren’t chrome which I always liked as well. This battle does ensue in the book and is quite visceral.

Enjoy!