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DC new 52 reviews

Hey there! been a few months since I posted anything here or did any comic art, working on getting back into things. To warm up, here's what I've been reading. I tried out a bunch of DC comics' new 52 releases last year, which are now being collected into hardcover formats. DC's new 52 initiative was a complete re-launching and welcome re-imagining of aspects of their well-known characters.

I confess, this is the 1st Aquaman book I've ever willfully bought in 30 years of comics. With good reason. Let's face it, Aquaman is no one's favorite super-hero. His status as a joke in the real world is well-played upon throughout this story. Just after the 1st issue, I have a respect for this character. An outsider who's easily in the same class as Superman (at least this new 52 version), finding his place in the surface world. Stunning art by Ivan Reis, and always down-to-earth characterization by Geoff Johns.

As a cover quote says, the 1st issue of Action Comics #1 is the best Superman story I've ever read. True. I did lose interest the further I got through this book, though. I think the story would have been better suited to keeping it simple for a while, rather than throwing a bunch of the Superman mythos at us right away. Steel, Luthor, Brainiac, Mettalo, Kandor, The Legion, and Krypton all within 6 issues made things feel too busy for me. The good was all in the 1st issue, and the short back-up stories at the end were nice. This is not the Superman we've come to know over the past 50+ years. He's young, bold, and not quite as boy-scout like as he dishes out social justice (for example, throwing a wife-beater across town into the river). More accurate with the non-flying early appearances of the character, this is a grounded Superman we could use today.

Never been a regular WW reader, but this has all the best elements I always liked about her world. A more harder-edged warrior princess lassoed in tightly with Greek mythology. I like the simpler, but attractive art by Cliff Chaing. Good stuff.

Stephen King's the Stand

Just finished The Stand, published by Marvel over 31 issues and about 4 years. I've always been a fan, I think I've read the book twice (no small feat), and seen the TV movie many times.

I really enjoyed seeing many parts played out that weren't in the movie (I kept having to ask my wife if this was really in the book, since she's read it more often than me), many pieces of the characters that there was no room for in the movie. Even parts of the ending I don't remember, but I trust were in the original novel, were satisfying. Great adaptation by Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa, and stunningly realistic art by Mike Perkins.

Enjoy a few of my favorite covers from the series:

Timmy

Here's a peek behind the scenes of a project I've had in the works for a few years. Art before & after by the amazing Mike Auban!

Paul from Children of Light will be guest-starring in his 1st crossover. Mel Todd is working on an ambitious new comic starring characters from various Christian comics. I bet he'll get farther than Image United! Go Mel Todd!

comic review: Holy Terror

When I first flipped through it last year on the shelf, I was pretty impressed, thinking "Frank still got it", due to pages like this:

I didn't know a lot going into it, only that Frank Miller is a legendary comic book creator, known for having re-defined Batman and Daredevil for a generation, and creating Sin City. Apparently this book was originally supposed to be a Batman story about fighting al-queda. Turned into generic Batman & Catwoman archetypes fighting generic Muslim extremist archetypes.

I might have sounded like a fool to the comic shop owner when I remarked how awesome the book looked. In hindsight, I was only right about the first half of the book. For the first part, the art was gritty, but dynamic, with a great white ink effect of a rainstorm throughout. About halfway through...I don't know what to say. I would never normally have the arrogance to say I could do better than an artist of Frank's reputation, but...

I don't like to say negative things about a creator's work. It was just too much difference in quality, I've never seen anything like this before. I feel confused. The story even started off strong with a fun (and maybe a little disturbing) Cat and Bat...I mean Fixer chase across the city rooftops. They quickly discover suicide bombings all over the city, and it gets pretty cliche' from there. I can only compare the story to a loved one who loses their mind in old age. Choose to remember the good times when they were young, forget the bad.

Going to go read the Dark Knight Returns and pretend this didn't happen.

New pages!

Been a long time! Got a lettering gig for upcoming Revelators comics, so I'll be busy with that for a while. I managed to finish this page a few weeks ago (12), and following are 2 guest pages by Mike Auban!

I'm only showing the pages here in order, but unlettered. I'd like to do all the lettering all at once to keep it consistent.

Enjoy!