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!