A Bit About the Fantastic Four

Hello Everybody. It's been away a while. I wish it was because I've been super busy or that I've been lost in some made up Sci-fi Scenario, but, nope just been away. Sorry.
So... what to talk about... what to... there we go! These guys!

Yup The Fantastic Four.

Hero Chick Issue #4 Progress.

Hey Everybody. for as you probably recall I did a progress Journal for Issue 3 of my Comic Series, "The Super Cliche Hero Chick". I've chosen not to do one for Issue Four. Since I haven't I've decided to show you a couple of bits from the upcoming book.

After the big action pieces that where the last two issues I've decided to go more low key with this one. Issue four is comprised of four short stories. Two of which are introduction of other heroes in the Hero Chick world, one is an epilogue written for issue three that just didn't quite fit into an issue that was already ten pages over, and finally the last is the most unique Hero Chick story to date. Well enough of that! on to the purdy pictures.

Purses

Hey everybody it's been a while since I last posted here. Well let me tell you, when you're driving down the highway and encounter a reverse space wedgie of immense proportions, turn around, just turn around. That said I'm alright and I'm already at work on The Super Cliche Hero Chick #4 and I figured I should put something up on the ol' Wonder Blog. So What shall I post about? I'm not doing a production blog for this issue as I spend most of those going "uh.... this week I drew... and stuff" I could write about how DC and Marvel seem allergic to making money... but that's too much work. I know! I'll write one of my self proclaimedly (that's a word... now) witty and insightful comic culture pieces, Hm, uh.

Purses! 

Hey where are you going? this one's gonna be good!

Okay As you may know I write comics. And I've done two series' that have both been led by female main characters. Well  the other day I noticed something, only twice (in the same issue) in my ten years of drawing female led comics have I ever drawn a purse. I thought "well that's an oversight I draw women and I've consistently left out one piece of  kit almost every woman I know carries." After this thought I noticed, while reading comics, nobody draws women with purses, or at least no one who draws the comics I've been reading. And that got me thinking, "is it an oversight or a purposed omission?" And sadly I don't know, I really don't have an answer to that. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't make up some. So here are my thoughts on this huge yet not that big omission in comicdom.

Comic artists are mostly guys and can't get into a feminine mindset. 

Let's face it most comics artists are guys (sadly) and guys just don't think about lady things all that often, unless their married or researching. So let's say married. Since men don't carry purses they don't give them any thought. And sadly many of the men that draw comics think girls have cooties* so it's not likely to change. As for the women who draw comics maybe they're all folks who don't carry purses, or maybe they do carry purses and I'm seriously over thinking this. so onto another reason.

The purse is so ever present that it's invisible. 

There's a psychological concept (sorry I'm not gonna look up what it's called for a silly post about purses) in which we view a persons affects as a part of them. This is best exemplified by the scenario where you see you're uncle Horace in his car driving down the street  and you say "Hey it's uncle Horace!" instead of the more accurate "It's uncle Horace in his bitchin' 57 Chevy". Uncle Horace's car becomes him when he's in it,  perhaps this same effect happens with women and their purses. Leaving the purse as an un-thought about detail. Or it could just be...

Comic artists draw a bajillion things for every comic and who gives a crap about a stupid purse. 

This is probably the heart of the matter. Most comics involve drawing the same thing over and over again, while nowhere on par with animation, a comic artist could easily draw their characters around  a hundred times per issue. And that's on top of places, things, cars, animals, monsters, weaponry, airplanes, explosions, shrapnel, Kirby crackle, power cosmic, dinosaurs, spacecraft, not life as we know it aliens, and cosmic incidents rivaling the big bang. In all of this it's really pretty easy to forget a little thing like a purse.

This is kind of a shame because personal affects can be great tools of visual narrative. Because anything someone keeps on their person can tell us about that person without being told. So maybe we artist should think more about little things like purses. Maybe it'll help us in making our characters people, and thus our comics better.  

Hey this worked out pretty good maybe I should do more of these. Well see you around. 


* sorry I just need to take that potshot again. 
 







 

Hero Chick #3 is Here!

Well you've followed it from the day I started drawing it and now Hero Chick #3 is a real honest to god comic! I just received my copies from the printer and they look good. The comic will be making it's debut at the Long Beach Comic Expo May 11. What's that I hear you say, You can't make it to the Long Beach Comic Expo? Well you can pick it, and issues one and two, up from indyplanet.com.


Speaking of the Long Beach Comic Expo. I will be at table 5000 it's on a corner right inside the door to the exhibit hall look for the red table cloth and the lovely comic pictured to the right. 

Production Blog 3

 Hello Again. Last weekend I didn't work on Issue three. Because I was at Stan Lee's Comickaze! The con was a lot of fun and I sold pretty well for me, better yet everyone who bought seemed to really like the book's idea. But it was the biggest con that I've ever done, so I was in survival mode for about half of Sunday. I literally can't remember much of what happened after 1:00 PM.

Anywhoo...

Because No One Asked.... My Opinion of DC's New 52 One Year Later.

Last Wednesday saw the release of the final twelfth issue of DC's line wide relaunch, which was an apparent attempt to gain new or lapsed readers. Since a year is passed I figured I'd  Hop on the Internet machine, and give my thoughts to the first year. And overall it's a resounding.

Meh!

The New 52 as it was so "hiply" called Started out strong, mostly on hype (Everything except the bat books is gonna change!!!) but very soon it devolved into same shit different day. True we had status quo changes except the bat books and hip and not so hip artists and writers on all steam but it really scarcely amounted to anything. I think it comes to two things. 

Ugg!

I wasn't planning on writing anything on the wonder blog until I made my "Year in Review of the new 52" then I saw this over at DC Women Kicking Ass.

According to writer Geoff Johns This is the new Status Quo, not a one off. Sometimes I despair.

(Goes and gets a whisky)

Alright,

This is a pairing that has never worked for me, and I've had to endure it in almost every Elseworlds as well as most of the Millerverse. It is the most fanwankish of fanwankish stories, as it only works in the physical, and usually stems from an over thought carnal fantasy ala Brody Bruce ... and really who wants to be him. really other than he's super, she's super, and she's invulnerable enough, what reason would there be for this pairing? On a character level they have close to nothing in common, they're even too far apart for "opposites attract" Superman's a farm boy She's an Amazon princess who is also a Demigod. True they care about justice but that only makes them co workers*. leaving once again the only point for them being together, sex. So in other words fanwank.

I will concede I may be being unfair to this, it may be a fling that leads Superman to fully realise how much he loves Lois, and Wonder Woman Steve Trevor, but with the way they've been sidelining Lois...  One thing I'll give em at least they did this early in the new DC universe, instead of trying to tack it on later.

Geoff Johns is a capable writer, even great from time to time, but this is why I have never liked him. He writes well in the technical sense, but many of his stories that I've experienced, have been Fanboy pandering, and don't let the talk of daring new ideas fool you, giving a group of vocal fans** exactly what they want is not daring and new it's pandering, but that's for the aforementioned "Year in Review of the new 52". This is not new and daring it's slash fiction.



*Also as a writer I believe that a superhero's best friend and or lover should not be a superhero, there is much more drama and capability for humanization of the superhuman character, that way. This opinion doesn't enter into my argument, but fuels it, so it's presented as an aside. 

**Silver Age fans I'm betting, many Dark Age fans hold a Lois is the love of his life opinion, and modern "new readers" raised on the DC Cartoons would probably prefer a Batman\Wonder Woman pairing ala "Justice League the Animated Series." 

Jamal Igle Talks about Molly Danger.

While at Comic-Con 2012, I got to meet one of my favourite Comics artists Jamal Igle, loved his Supergirl, but that's another post. And we got to talking about his new creator owned series Molly Danger. Then remembering that I had this Flip thingy  I asked  him to say a few words about the series. So enough of my talking here's Mr Igle

Anyone who's been reading my blog knows that I believe Superhero comics are in trouble unless some change, especially in the area of  kid friendliness, occurs. And it warms my heart that great talented professionals like Mr. Igle are stepping up to make a difference.

For more information on Molly Danger check out the production blog

For More info on Mr Igle's work, check out his site

There will also be a Kickstarter Campaign, beginning Aug 1, So if you like what you can contribute at www.MollyDanger.com

The inevitable Comic-con post.

Well I'm back, had my dehydrated sleep deprived first day, and now life is back to normal. I of course went to the Comic-con International in San Diego. And it was a blast. It's funny I've been going to this show since 2001 and with all of the changes and the ever expanding crowds I'm always waiting for the other shoe t to drop, when I'll come home having had a terrible experience but that's still never happened. Maybe if I hadn't grown up with the con that would be different.

So what did I do? well I went to my first TV panel, for the MythBusters on Saturday night, that was quite fun. I really admired how Adam, Kari and Tory actually did their own handouts when people where in line. I'd experienced lines before at Comic-con, sometimes to no avail, but this was the first LINE I ever was in, we had actually given up but after meeting Kari Byron and realising that it was only twenty minutes to panel we figured "what else are we doing" It was a fun panel and we got to learn things like what's the most embarrassing question (who' Kari with) what was their favourite explosion (the water heater) and what myths would they like to do but the insurance won't let them (nuking the fridge).

I also went to see the thirtieth anniversary panel for Love and Rockets. The Hernandez Bros comic series has been a favourite of mine for some time, and it was great to see a talk by all three brothers. The panel included a belated awarding of the inkpot award to forgotten Hernandez bro Mario.

As well as the few panels I went to, I also took part in the Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog Singalong which is always fun, took in a performance of the nerdcore band Kirby Krackle. And was in the audience for a recording of a Kevin Smith Podcast Fatman on the Batman, in which he interviewed Batman: the Animated series producer and designer Bruce Timm.

Most of my time I spent in the exhibit hall where I met some of my favourite Comics artists (some of them for he manyith time) and admired cosplayers. Amongst the artists I met where Terry Moore whose Rachel Rising is a current favourite, Jaime Hernandez, Jamal Igle (of whom you'll be seeing a video interview soon), Bernard Chiang, Adam Warren, Bruce Timm, Frank Cho, J. Scott Campbell, and some of my favourite guy's Reed Gunther's Shane and Chris Houghton.

Oh and I nearly puked in my mouth when i saw the line for commission pickup for Rob Liefeild.

I can't say I really had any complaints about the con this year. But I do have to praise one thing. Comic-Con got rid of the unfriendly and useless  Elite Event Services. I had grown quite displeased with the staff over the last couple of years and it was good to see them go. In their place was not one but two staffs one for the exhibit hall and one for the rest of the center. I found that plus a staff of friendly volunteers efficient and as pleasant as a group of people looking after a large crowd can be.

Overall I really enjoyed Comic-Con 2012, and if the new pre reg system works out in my favour I hope to keep enjoying the con for the first time in years I don't feel like that shoe will drop any time soon.

In a Perfect World This Would Exist.

This been making the rounds, but this Mangaesque re-imagining of Wonder Woman. That artist Ben Caldwell submitted to DC comics looks great. And I wish I and my niece could be reading it.

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?333339-ww-manga-blah-blah&p=11646885#post11646885 

Art By Ben Caldwell Wonder Woman is the property of DC Comics

The Obligatory Post About Watchmen.

As everyone in the comics world knows.  DC will be launching it's controversial series' Before Watchmen, the prequels to the legendary award winning comics series (sorry hipsters Watchmen is not a graphic novel it is a twelve issue limited series. It is a closed story but there was no authorial intent to be a graphic novel) tomorrow. And there will be no review of it at all on this site because I do not plan to read it. I just don't care, I read Watchmen for the first time last year, don't know why, my dad got it back when it came out, but I digress, and I don't need any more Watchmen.

The comic is a great story about a group of aging superheroes in a world where being a costumed hero is illegal. One is killed and the story is about the unraveling of that mystery. But the story is only really the platform upon which the tale unfolds, the real meat of it is the reflections of the characters from when they where heroes. And on top of that it is a masterpiece of comics formalism, a tale meant to be a comic that only works as a comic (sorry Mr Snyder) but enough of that, there are many who've written about Watchmen that have said everything that I have to say, most likely better, so I'll let you seek them out.

Like any Great book, I was left fulfilled by my Watchmen experience. and so I'm not really interested, DC definitely has the rights (however dubious) to make this series, and they have some great artists and writers on it so it will be of the highest quality. But like I said I'm good on Watchmen.

But one reason that has nothing to do with my deciding to not read Before Watchmen is Alan Moore. Many Many and did I mention Many, comics fans are united in supposed solidarity (bet you half of em buy it) behind the wronged Alan Moore, who naturally is griping about this whole thing. His main complaint is that he's been cheated out of his intellectual property, his second is that it's creatively wrong, to use his characters for the new series'. Now his first point I have sympathies for, Moore's deal with DC basically (as I have heard it) was that if Watchmen ever went out of print, the rights to the series would go back to Moore and artist Dave Gibbons*. This I'm sure was done because DC didn't think that the series would end up being so huge as it was not DC's practice to give up copyrights to anyone. Needless to say it was a big hit and weather, by demand, or a serious dick move Watchmen has never left print. Now this is a fair point, Moore and Gibbons where promised certain concessions that many believe where never delivered, DC has made Many millions off of Watchmen, and they still would make many more even if Alan Moore and Gibbons where to own the rights. And I believe they ethically should have them. It's his Second argument that it is wrong to use his characters in any sequel material, that bugs me.

First, many don't know this, but there was always meant to be more Watchmen, it was even originally mean to be written by the original authors Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but time, bad blood and the books renown have conspired to make more Watchmen impossible, until now. But the big sticking point to me is the way Moore tries to make an ethical debate out of other people using his characters when his entire career has been built upon the foundation of doing just that. Many of Moore's greatest works are post modern takes on classic literary characters, notably The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls and oh Yes Watchmen. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is about characters from many Victorian novels later on life becoming a super team. And Watchmen (it's most religious fans don't like it when we bring this up) started out as a big series involving the characters DC had just bought from Charlton comics. The story goes that when DC saw that Moore was "playing for keeps" with the characters, DC had him make them into thinly veiled Captain Ersatz'. But the final straw with Moore's complaints for me is the existence of the graphic novel lost Girls.  Lost Girls, is an erotic/pornographic, book that features Alice, Wendy and  Dorthy of Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Oz fame respectively. Now I've got no problem with erotica or porn not my taste but an author can do what he wants. My problem is I'm Pretty sure Carroll, Barrie and Baum would not be amused buy this. But Moore views it as perfectly fine because they're dead, and the characters are public domain. So turning memorable children's characters into porn is fine even though one could tell the original authors most likely would not care for it, is okay, but for the legal copyright holder  making series' based on Moore's work that will mostly likely be in keeping to the tone and character of the original is wrong? I'm sorry Alan Moore, looking at you're body of work, you don't get to have the high ground here.




* Now Moore was no rookie at the time he wrote Watchmen working most if not all his career with publisher owned material. I have a hard time believing that Moore actually trusted DC comics to give the rights to Watchmen to him ever! Screwing the talent has and will always be company policy at the big two.

Are You Reading Rachel Rising?

If not you should be.

Rachel Rising is the new series by indie comic artist Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) it is a story of a woman named Rachel who wakes up one day in her own grave, what follows is her attempt to figure out what's going on, we then find out that her home town has many chilling secrets. I would love to tell more, but to discuss the plot at all is too inviting to spoilers. But lets just say this horror comic "has it" Horror comics have long been problematic because in a comic, as opposed to a film you only have one sense to work with, and as opposed to  a novel you don't have the luxury of Drawn out prose. Moore uses this limitation as the books strength, using mood and atmosphere as his agents of fright. murky shadows and deep texture, give the work an eerie moon lit feel, even in the daytime scenes. And a story about death and what may come after makes for a great read. It is the only comic that I have to get every month. The cartooning in Rachel Rising is everything that we've come to expect from Moore well drawn women, great expressiveness, and a stunning attention to detail. But I find that his work has been evolving in a much more fluid way, the expressiveness of line and texture being a bit of a departure from his style of the past. It's a bit looser and freer allowing the image to be read  quite well, in other words Terry Moore makes it look easy. It amazes me Rachel Rising makes Strangers in Paradise and Echo seem like "warm up" and I found both of those series' remarkable. So do yourself a favour and check out  Rachel Rising.

Image copyright 2011-12 Terry Moore

A Tribute to Jean Giraud.

On March 10 the comic artist Jean Giraud, also known under his pen name Moebius, passed away. He was a true great and a towering talent. Comics are definatley richer to have had him as part of the craft. Giraud initially gained fame doing western comics (a genre that is very popular in his native France) the most famous being that of the Ranger Lt. Blueberry. If that was the only thing Giraud had ever done, I believe he would still be viewed as a legend. But Blueberry was just his "day job". Giraud was extremely passionate about the art and craft of comics, and was famous for being experimental. Eventually to, free his work from his famous style, as well a possibly to protect his reputation from his experiments. He created the pen name, some say alter ego, of Moebius for his experimental work. And it is with this work that he redefined comics for a whole generation. Moebius' bold experimental work was usually in the vein of science fiction, and it never repeated itself, from wordless comics like "Arzach" to pure surrealism like "Le Garage Hermetic" to social satire and commentary, and surreal trance like autobiography. He proved that comics have no limits and he proved it with some of the most beautifully rendered comics. As well as pushing the envelope Giraud also did much to facilitate the works of others that wanted to push the boundaries of the form, with the foundation of Les Humanoids, and their seminal magazine Metal Hurlant, which was made available in the US in a diminished sense by the National Lampoon as Heavy Metal. Due to his influence as a comics artists many film makers approached Giraud, to do design for them including Alejandro Jodrowsky's (whom he collabarated on comics with as well including the amazing "L'Incal) unmade film of "Dune". Ridley Scott on "Alien", and probably most famously of Stephen Linsberger's Tron. Aside from directly designing films his influence pours over other's like Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (Scott has never hidden his love of Moebius) and Luc Besson's the "Fifth Element" Some have even said that "The Fifth Element" is a complete ripoff of Moebius and Jodorowsky's "L' Incal". Giraud was an amazing talent. I have never seen a comic artist read his work and not come away influenced. And there is something magical about his influence, you can tell that the artist has been inspired but, there are not many Moebius wannabes like their are of many other great artists. I believe that the biggest aspect of this is that more than anything Giraud's art expresses to the reader the power of the imagination, and that's what artists take away from him.

As with all of my tributes like this, I like to point out, although he is a god of comics art to me and others. He is just a man, and however sad we are at the loss of Giraud. It is more sad and painful to those who knew him as just a man. The people to which he was not Giraud or Moebius, but Father, Brother, husband, Grandfather, and friend. And to these people I offer my condolences. And I urge others to keep in their thoughts and prayers.

David

Image belongs to copyright holder used for scholarly purposes.

Remember These.

Hey remember these, it's a "DC Comics Blue Ribbon Digest" I used to love the crap outta these when I was a kid. I had a number of them, the infamous Superman Red and Blue, a Batman villain collection, and one where Batman supposedly killed some chick (edit note I have since found out it was Tahlia Al Ghul), They where awesome. You used to buy them from the grocery store, y'know by the weekly world news and Cosmo. I'm also pretty sure that people especially kids would love the crap outta them today. But only Archie still makes them. Why they're brilliant, relatively inexpensive to buy, and inexpensive to make. They where the best deal in comics, usually re print material, and priced and placed for the impulse buy, perfect for the mythical "new reader" hell it's where I started. So why on earth aren't DC and Marvel making these!

Just something to think about.


Edit: Changed picture from that old chewed up Warlord to the cool beans Supergirl Blue Ribbon Digest I scored at Wondercon.

How to Make Mainstream Comics Mainstream Again. Part 4. Continuity and Fans.

Another thing that excludes new readers is a slavish devotion to continuity. I've been over this in an earlier post so I won't harp on about it. But Mainstream comics today, spend a devastatingly inordinate amount of time on what has happened in the past. Often at the expense of the current story. And if mainstream comics wish to be relevant this needs to stop. Comics don't need to have re boots like The New 52 to “clean up” continuity. They just need to keep moving forward instead of back. Look at the other major form of serialized storytelling TV. You only ever see a TV show go on and on about what happened before when it's relevant. If even then. Comics should do the same. If you keep the story moving forward every book will be a “jumping on point” I'm not saying comics shouldn't be consistent, you should be able to keep consistency of character and plot without a million call backs to the past. Forget continuity aim for consistency.

The overuse of story continuity has led to an epidemic in the world of mainstream comics. Potential (usually adult) readers fearing that they will need to read a lot of comics before getting on board the current story. These fabled “jumping on points” have been a rallying cry of both large publishers. This used to never be a problem. Part of it I think is that new readers in the past where children, and children don't tend to need explanations of characters and motivations. If Batman punched the badguy it was good. Well as mentioned before new readers aren't kids these days. Another part of this is that back in the day both companies had editorial policies like Marvel's “Every comic is someone's first” policy. That is the reason for the famed expositional “comic book style dialogue” (I'll blast him with my optic blasts for example) but as comics grew more adult and sophisticated, the readers didn't want this “clunky” dialogue. The results are “mainstream” comics that are impenetrable to a reader with no familiarity with character or concept. To go back to my three tier publishing approach. Use expositional dialogue on kids and all ages books, and leave naturalistic dialogue for the sophisticated adult offerings. Believe me adults read comics when they where all written that way they probably will today. True some fans will complain which leads me to.

Comic publishers need to stop caring what fans think. It may be hard to believe, in this day of message boards and twitter feeds that there was once a time when the only thing the comic companies knew about what fans thought was how much a book was selling. They made their books sold them and the readers read them. And we call the comics from this time classics. Today, the creative teams, editors and publishers Are constantly hearing and thinking about what the fans want, and the comics from today are considered mediocre at best. You can see where I'm going with this. Today mainstream writing comes mostly into two camps, writers that pander to fans and writers that try to piss off fans. Neither one is good storytelling, because they are both made for a very specific demanding, to the point of impossible to please, audience. Mainstream comics should be made for a mainstream audience. Write good stories regardless of what the fans may think. Fans respond to pandering but they will always appreciate care, why do you think indie books sell so well to comic fans?

Pandering to fans also has a marked affect on new readers as it pushes away diversity. In both it's readership and it's creators. Fandom of mainstream comics is largely white and male. And it doesn’t take a genius to see that pandering to this base will largely exclude women and minorities. The depiction of women and minorities in comics has become a hot button issues that are to big for this post but I recommend the excellent DC Women Kicking Ass blog for much better coverage of women in comics than I can give. Now I'm not saying to make quotas and token characters. What I'm saying is when writing and drawing a comic just think. Would a woman find this depiction of Catwoman offensive and off putting. Would a person of color like to see a hero nobler that Luke Cage. And if a potentially racist or sexist depiction of a character where right for a story. Is it worth the backlash to proceed, I'm sure there are places were it would be. It won't fix all of the problems but it will be a better start than what we have now.

So here we have just a few ways to make mainstream comics strong again, There are other problems that are more far reaching. Lack of a variety of good female and minority characters. The lack of the same females and minorities in the creative teams. Creative teams that are consistent and on time, a broadening of Genre, the list goes on. But the thing is all of the ideas I put forth in this series are things that can be done today, with the system that exists now. None of these ideas are changes of the business, but changes of attitude. Mainstream comics are struggling today but the companies that make them have all the tools at their disposal to make them great. They just need to use them.

How to Make Mainstream Comics Mainstream Again. Part Three: Readership

But the business is just a part of the problem, mainstream comics are also suffering on the creative side.

People are still reading Comics in droves, and the super hero genre has held the movie box office as it's plaything for years now, but for some reason mainstream Comics have been on a decline. Both the medium and the genre are currently winners but the comics are floundering, partially this down to the economics mentioned above. But partially it comes down to content, mainstream comics are no longer made for a mainstream audience. And they totally ignore new, especially young readers.

I like most of my comic reading peers began reading comics when I was young. Super hero comics where for kids, though in the early eighties that was changing. As super hero comics move form the newsstand to the comic shop. More and more emphasis was place on making super hero comics more mature. This I believe was a misstep. Now I'm not saying that there should not be super comics for adults or that they should be made exclusively for children. But I have to note that Comic fans when I was growing up had no problem reading and enjoying kids books, in fact I believe that comics being kid's books was a great deal of their appeal. And times have not changed as far as adults enjoying good kid's books, look at the success of Harry Potter. But in the last decade, mainstream comics have gone from being Kids books that adults could enjoy, to books I have to think long and hard over whether I'd let a kid read. And this I think is bad for business. Engaging comic books for adults mainstream and independent, require a knowledge of a sophisticated visual language, a language that used to be learned at younger age by reading mainstream super hero comics. Sadly the primary titles in mainstream comics today all are engaging comic books for adults. With kids series' being the exception not the rule. It's too late to make comics for kids again. This would also be a stupid move as there are so many adult readers. But I think that the main titles of a line should be for as broad an audience as possible, Make the stories for that lost idea of a family audience. Think PG, super heroes have kid appeal, but they can work on an adult level, and best yet there are many adult elements that could be put into the books that would go completely over kids heads. And the thing is both parent companies of the big two already are doing this to great success, with the same characters, in the form of DC and Marvel animated shows, learn from your own people guys. DC is so good at it that the DC Animated Universe is the definitive version of these characters to many people. With this all ages line in place with full advertising force behind it. Adults only and kids only comics can fill in the gaps and every audience can be pleased, which isn't that what mainstream means?

Next week Continuity and fans

The New 52.

In just a few hours, the world ends. Well not really, but the DC universe, which has stood as "cannon" (I hate that term) since 1986 is coming to an end and in it's place shall rise the so called new 52. And I have to say I have not been more excited about DC comics in a long time. It is a great opportunity to throw off the shackles of extremely convoluted continuity, and start new and fresh and allow new ideas of these Iconic characters flow. That said I also have misgivings. I as a reader don't give two shits about continuity, true I know a lot of it as a comic reader for at least 26 years, but I really don't care if my continuity is gone, or as some fans (melodramatically) put it none of it counts. I am a little miffed that my beloved Supergirl has ended just as I believed it was getting good. My worries are one, they won't go far enough and two they'll get just as convoluted just as fast. As for one, they only seem to be going bold with Superman and by extension Supergirl and boy. And a lot of he differences seem to be in the "darker and grittier realm" which I don't go for in super hero books. But I promised myself I won't prejudge any more than I would with any new comic. As for two, it seems that they are picking and choosing which character's are getting new origins, for instance Superman is all new, Wonder Woman seems to have newish bits, but Batman isn't changing at all except a condensed timeline, oh and Barbra Gordon can walk again and is going to be bat girl pissing off handicapped people the world over. This bothers me because I've seen it all before.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was this comic company that told stories about guys and girls in tights that saved the world. this company was of course DC and they didn't really care about. how these stories fit together. Then one day they found out their readers did. And to preserve the old stories people liked without getting in the way of the new stories they wanted to tell, they had an easy answer. "it happened one Earth 2" for years after DC had what came to be known as the Multiverse. And in retrospect I thought it was a good way of handling continuity the writers got to tell cool engaging tales and the continuity nerds got to keep track of their well ordered "Cannons". But later, I don't know DC history well enough to know if it was editors or Fans, but the Multiverse was deemed too complicated. I don't get why people are so scared of continuity a comic is just like any other book you read it if you like it keep reading it if you don't try something different, but I digress. It was determined that something had to be done to simplify it. So they destroyed the Multiverse in the epic "Crisis on Infinite Earths". leaving only one continuity, made of elements of all of the "earths" tailored to fit together. Sound familiar? Well it worked quite well at first, Most notably in the updating of the characters it's never a bad idea to do that in fact I believe that the big characters need a shake up every ten years. But after a while the continuity got just as convoluted if not more than it was before "Crisis" leading to a number of events in the last decade that where completely about continuity. It was a mess, and it didn't even last half as long as the Multiverse. So here DC is again re starting their line and streamlining the continuity.

Like I said I think this is a good idea, but I'm hoping this new continuity stays cleaner and easier for the easily daunted new reader than the "Post Crisis" era was. Look at Ultimate Marvel that's what this could easily become. I have high hopes and a lot of excitement.

So here's the books I'm looking forward to.

Batgirl: Even though I'm not fond of oracle not being around anymore, Gail Simone was the best writer ever on Birds of Prey and it's worth the $2.99 just for her writing Barbara Gordon again. Plus it looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Action Comics: It's always neat to see new takes on Superman, and Grant Morrison is just batshite crazy enough that even if it sucks it'll be worth the look.

Supergirl: though I hate her new costume and the aggro "all his powers and none of his compassion" stuff in the press releases. Supergirl is my favourite DC superhero if not favourite superhero so y'know hopeless fanboy.

All Star Western: I'm interested in what a 21st century western comic will be like.

Swamp Thing: He's been gone for a while it's time.

Wonder Woman: though it still seems that the people at DC still don't have a handle on what Wonder Woman is, they are at least giving her a niche having her fight the paranormal/ macabre. It looks like it'll be fun. As long as they don't portray her as a "man hatin' bitch"

Though not interested in "Grifter" "Stormwatch" or "Voodoo" I am really stoked that the Wildstorm stuff is being brought into the DCnU.

well happy Wednesday and welcome to the new world.

Boobs.

Probably the most talked about attribute of comic art is the "most common super power", I'm of course talking about boobs and how they are drawn. Of course unless you live under a rock you know how they are drawn. Big or Huge.

There is a lot of talk as to why the most common answer is most comics are drawn by men and men are pigs. While true, I don't like generalizations, even if they hit the mark pretty well. I'll give in to the fact that some artists, Frank Cho and Jim Balent come to mind, just love drawing girls with big boobies. But I think it's deeper. In our culture, I won't bore people with sexual anthropology, big breasts equal beautiful. they are after all one of the most visible secondary sexual characteristics and one of the only ones that a person can't hide. I'm not saying this view is right or wrong it's just a fact. But as an artist myself, I know a third reason, one that I've worked against for most of my career. Big boobs are easier to draw. Large breasts mean that the artist doesn't have to get the upper torso, shoulders, or underarms right in many views... the boobs cover it up (the same goes for long hair). Also the artist doesn't have to worry as much about placement on the chest when the breasts are big they fit where they have to. I discovered this when I was designing Darcy Anderson in "Neuropsychosis" for those of you who don't know my comic (shame on you) Darcy is a small flat chested character. I had to really work much harder on my upper torso and Shoulder joints so she didn't look like a man. You are probably thinking geez how lazy. But bear in mind a typical cartoonist draws their character's many many times, quickness is of the essence.

Now large breasts in comics are not a problem in and of themselves, and if you look into it you will seldom see a feminist writing about comics that complains of large boobs. The application of the boobs is the problem. It's a matter of the "girl with the boobs" and "the boobs on that girl" dichotomy. On the surface both sound like a less than polite observation about a girls looks, but the difference is in the subtleties. The former sees the girl, the latter only sees the breasts. The goal of the artist that cares about their work should be the "girl with the boobs" because that is the one that actually is a character. If you make a good rounded defined character it shouldn't matter how they look, like a real person they will be more than their appearance.

That said there is a boob problem in comics. It's not that they are big. It's that they all are big! A great part of beauty in the real world is the variety of looks that men and women have. Artists should be mixing it up! make large breasted women sure, but fill the cast out with small and mid sized women, or women whose appearance defining features are hips or legs, or even that seemingly out of fashion concept of the face. How I "behave myself" when it comes to this is I allow myself one really large breasted character. And then everyone else has to have more humble bosoms. I also like to think about how the character's lifestyle affects their breasts. To bring up Darcy again, she is a gymnast (in earlier drafts a dancer) so large breasts where not appropriate to her. Jessy from the same comic is tall and thin so again large was not right. If you decide on a design before a character is finished think about how boobs will affect their life. If you have a character with a DD bra she has no business being an acrobat (I'm looking at you Jim Balent). That is why my large breasted character Stef leads a more sedentary life.

Another thing, as an artist, use the power of boobs. Breasts tend to be "read" with two meanings. "sexy'" and "Maternal" and you can use this, the sexy is obvious that's how breasts are used 90% of the time. But if you really wanted to do something fun you can subvert it. Make an attractive character with large breasts who isn't a sexual character. Make a character whose breasts actually make them unattractive Beto Hernandez is a master at this. Then there's Large breast angst. You can also use large breasts to give a character a more maternal feel. For instance with my character Stef, I decided to use her breasts (and the figure that goes with them) as well as her long hair and homespun like clothing to make her a visually comforting figure. As her place in the story is a sort of big sister to the cast. Likewise don't be afraid of the power of smaller breasts. If you want an energetic character you cannot go wrong with a small to flat chest. Not only will i make your drawing of the character more believable a small chest also reads in our culture as "youthful" (again not saying it's right or wrong it's just the way it is).

Of course the bottom line is that bra size like all other aspects of the comic needs to be done for a reason, other than titillation, and it all comes back to character, and story. There needs to be a reason or a result for a character's boobs, or for that matter any aspect of her appearance. The real world may be random but fiction is not, every little detail is done for a reason and as long as the who and why of the comic read true. The how and what will follow.

Art by Adam Hughes Power Girl (C) & TM DC Comics

Happy Birthday Fantastic Four.

Fifty years ago today the Marvel Universe was born. On August 8 1961, Fantastic Four number one, Marvel's first superhero title of the silver age, hit the newsstands. At the time the company that would become marvel comics was foundering a bit, making excellent if not overly impressive "monster books" and editor Stan Lee was (as the legend goes this is Stan so g.o.s.) was getting fed up with being a comic writer. He and artist extraordinaire Jack Kirby had been wanting to get superheroes going again. Since Stan was going to leave, he decided to go for it. Fantastic Four was a big hit pretty early on and led to the creation of many more comics by "Stan and Jack". And these comics later would come to comprise the Marvel Universe, arguably the most famous lineup of superhero characters ever created.
If you have never read Fantastic Four number one, the most shocking thing about it is how unlike a superhero comic it is. The story goes that the publisher didn't want any costumes and there had to be a monster on the cover. And the story with the exception of Superpowers has more in common with the Sci-fi and monster books. With renegade, astronauts getting powers, and a Mole Man and his subterranean creatures. With a hit on their hands Fantastic Four would continue and gain more of the characteristics of a Superhero book. But the Sci-fi Angle would remain to this day.
The Fantastic Four is also attributed as the forerunner of the "Marvel Method". Since Marvel had such talented artists. It was decided to merely give them an outline of the story and let (usually) Jack Kirby get on with drawing it. After the art was done Stan Lee (or a staff writer) would put in the dialogue. This arrangement gave marvel it's distinct edge, for the first time the art was allowed to be the star as much as the writing. This arrangement would last for the rest of the decade for 102 plus one unfinished issues, one of the longest runs for one creative team in mainstream comics.
So if your a fan of Marvel comics know that this is the 50th birthday of your beloved universe and that it all started with "The worlds Greatest Comics Magazine"

Art by Jack Kirby Fantastic Four (c) & TM Marvel Comics

SUPER DINOSAUR.

Hello, I just read an awesome new comic by Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard. And although there is only one issue so far it's already awesome, because it is about a boy genius and his freindly super intelligent Tyranosaurus Rex... with mech armour. Do I need to say any more?

Art by Jason Howard Super Dinosaur (C) Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard