2007 April archive at Comic Art

Archive for April, 2007

Apr

The

By seekerwh 1 Comment

Categories: Image Comics Tags: Goth, Image Comics.

When you search a little the mini series casually released by different publishers you will notice that they include different styles, innovative ideas, revolutionary creations, everything we usually miss by the ongoing ones. A perfect example of the previous statement is the 8-issue series currently published by Image, The Pirates of Coney Island, written by Rick Spears and illustrated by Vasilis Lolos.

Vasilis Lolos, a greek comic creator who published most of his previous work in Athens, moved to America ready not to translate his previous work (which is more than notable) but to begin a whole new chapter in his professional history, and it’s obvious that he made it in a very short period. He made the Pirates of Coney Island, which is overflowed by his unique, personal style, he made a Spider-Man story for Marvel in Spider-Man: Family #02, his Last Call is coming this summer by Oni Press, not bad for a European artist in the mayhem of the United States! Rick Spears, the writer of Teenagers from Mars, Dead West and Filler is also the publisher of the Gigantic Graphic Novels, currently publishing two comics, Rotting in Dirtville and Hellcity.

The Pirates is a love story, or maybe it’s a crime story, well I have no idea how to categorize it and frankly, I don’t care to. Two gangs of rebellious teens, the Pirates and the Cherries, fight for domination in Coney Island, they fight violently, they bleed together, they fall in love with each other and at the same time live outside the law, stealing cars and selling them for their parts. It’s as unconventional as it gets, the only way to get it is to read it by yourselves and not leave any synopsis make you judge it as rude (well, that it might be), sick (mmm, that’s ain’t always bad) or too violent (too violent? Is there such a thing?). Europe and America are united in this goth-post modern-romantic-whatever else story, don’t miss it!

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Apr

Hellboy

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Hellboy Tags: Animation, Hellboy.

Apart from the comic books concerning Hellboy there is a small but growing animation movement trying to evolve out favorite character in a whole new level. After Hellboy – Sword of Storms that was aired in USA in October 28^th and was released on DVD on February 6^th the new chapter in Hellboy’s animated adventures is called Blood and Iron, it was aired on March 17^th and it’s expected to be released on DVD this June. But enough with that, on to the story!

Several characters known by the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comic books appear in this story where Professor Bruttenholm faces a ghost from his past, the vampires Erzsebet Ondrushko who bathed in the blood of innocents to stay young after she sold her soul to the Queen of Witches, the goddess Hecate. Now, years after their first encounter, she is resurrected by two of her servants but the Professor is not alone anymore, he has with him the top BPRD agents, Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien in a battle that escalates to be something more than a simple haunting.

This animation should not be judged using the same criteria as the comic books; those are completely different works of art awaited by millions of fans every time a new release is unannounced, as far as I’m concerned the animations are just a way to have some fan in the time between. The quality of the picture is extremely good, the sound is similarly great, the story stands decently as a Hellboy scenario and if you ignore some childish moments obviously addressing the smaller ages this can be watched by almost anyone who’s looking for a fun story with his loved characters and doesn’t care about being judgemental. Watch it and find out if you like it!

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Apr

World

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Civil War Tags: Civil War.

Most of the heroes in Marvel series have undergone several changes after the significant events of Civil War but none as important as the Hulk! Now, after all those months that the green hot blooded menace spent away from us he’s coming back, and he’s really mad.

In the beginning of Civil War Nick Fury asked Bruce Banner’s help to deactivate a weapon satellite made by Hydra years ago, Banner accepted and Hulk was sent in outer space to destroy a potential threat to human kind. A threat that proved to have been created not by terrorists but by SHIELD and Fury himself, so after his mission was accomplished the situation changed dramatically. SHIELD found it convenient that Hulk would not return on Earth and the other heroes discovered a chance to get rid of him at last in order to protect civilian lives, so instead of bringing him back they threw him in a black hole to be left alone in a world empty of intelligent life forms!

Of course nothing worked out as planned and Hulk found himself on a planet scourged by war and death, a battlefield between imperial and rebel forces in a war he didn’t understand and didn’t want to be involved, but things change when he proves to be the savior a whole world waited for, the Green Scar, and a whole new chapter in Hulk’s history opened which you can follow in the storyline. But enough with that, Planet Hulk is over and the Hulk is coming back frustrated, betrayed, confused and very, very mad. They have sent him away when he tried to save them but he will never do that mistake again, the puny humans will pay for what they’ve done to him, Hulk smash!

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Apr

Fantastic

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Marvel Comics Tags: Civil War, Marvel Comics.

The Civil War is over and all the Marvel characters that got involved one way or the other (which might include all there are) continue in their separate series through the changes they suffered, well or bad. Spidey is back in black, Cap is hurt somewhere in a S.H.I.E.L.D base, the Iron Man leads the registered heroes, but what about Fantastic 4?

If you followed the events of Civil War you will know how they affected Marvel’s most famous family, Sue and Reed Richards came one step away from separation (Sue was frustrated by the turn things took and the outcomes of her husband’s actions like Hulk being thrown in a black hole and the Thor clone murdering one of their own) and only in the last moment they agreed to give their marriage a second chance, one that would need their entire attention and effort. So Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic took off leaving their team lacking two members, or do they? The second most famous couple in the Marvel Universe takes their place in the quartet in issue #544, Storm and the Black Panther, after their recent wedding in the middle of the war!

I sincerely doubt this will be a long term change in the series, I find it hard to believe they will be able to tie in effectively these characters in the same book, especially the Thing and the Human Torch who are totally connected with the two missing members of their team, but who knows, maybe for 5 issues or so it will be a nice change. What seems even more interesting though is the turn the story takes in issue #545 with the return of Galaktus and the Silver Surfer, can you imagine the Black Panther against the devourer of the worlds? I can’t!

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Apr

God

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Great Creators Tags: Comic art News, Great Creators.

If you liked Books of Magic, The Sandman, Wisdom or any other comic title presenting the Fairy and its odd inhabitants you might have heard of the upcoming release of Vertigo’s new hard-cover title, God Save the Queen. Well I don’t know what you’ve heard but this one’s a bit different than what we’ve encountered before:

The story is set in modern London where a bored, rebellious teenager, Linda, starts hanging out with a group of wild fairies. They introduce her to the ultimate fairy drug, Red Horse, a mixture of heroin and human blood and quite the dangerous high, and she soon finds herself drawn in a civil war from the alleys of London to the fields of Fairy, a fight between Queen Titania and her mad predecessor Queen Mab. A grasping story with cameo appearances of other Vertigo characters, what more would you ask?

The story seems extremely interesting of course but the element that captured mostly my attention was the creator team. Written by Mike Carey (Hellblazer, Crossing Midnight, Lucifer) and illustrated by John Bolton (the person who first designed Tim Hunter’s face in the Books of Magic, he has a strong resemblance to his older brother) this could be nothing less than a masterpiece, both of them carry along a big piece of recent comics history. Especially Carey, a living legend in comic narrating, is a creator whose work I try to follow closely, check out for instance the recent issue 229 of Hellblazer, a beautiful story about why you should never do a friend a favor. Now, if this one’s going to be as good as their previous books, I don’t know but the clues point that way, you can bet I’ll buy it the moment it’s released though (that would be April the 25^th). Punk/fairy is here to stay (cool name for a new gender)!

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Apr

The

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Great Creators Tags: DC Comics, Great Creators.

As a tribute to the greatest comic ever made today’s column will be a presentation of the Endless, the 7 members of the greatest family ever written about (ok, I’ll try to chill out). Less talk and more pictures, these are the Endless:

Destiny: The elder brother of this family Destiny is appeared as an old man dressed in brown robes with a book chained on his hand (or him chained to it). He is walking in his garden, a vast maze in which when you walk forward there are countless different ways but when you look back only one path exists, reading the book where everything that happened, happens or ever will happen is written.

Despair: A short, fat, grey woman who rarely speaks, she wears a hooked ring (her emblem) which she uses to carve herself. She lives in a realm full of rats and windows, each window looking through a mirror where someone watches himself without hope, doomed to end under her influence.

Delirium: One of my personal favorites, she is the youngest one of the Endless. Once she was Delight, now a half crazed, eccentric girl that constantly changes appearances, her hair always in a different style and her eyes another color in every picture. Even her text expresses the instability of her character, wavy colorful letters spilling out and dancing in every page. She seems to know things the other Endless don’t, and that knowledge pushes her to insanity.

Desire: Beautiful, merciless and without a specific gender he/she is Despair’s twin sister/brother. She/he seems to have a grudge against Dream and he/she misses no chance to give him a hard time. Her/his emblem is the heart shape and his/her realm a large human body with a gallery in the heart.

Destruction: An extremely large man with red hair and beard this is one of the most mysterious of the Endless, his first appearance in the series comes after many issues. Having a sword as his symbol Destruction creates and destroys things because it is the only way the world can go on, but his artistic talent are not quite developed as he’d like. Centuries ago he abandoned his responsibilities as an Endless and fled causing much conflict in the family.

Death: My favorite, the most charming gothic character ever created in art. She is a beautiful young girl dressed in black with an ankh as her sigil, always present twice in every being’s life, in its birth and death. She is a kind and loving person, optimistic although the grim of her business, she is the one that will settle the table and close the door behind her when the last creature will end.

Dream: The main character of this series, Morpheus, the lord Kai’Ckul, creator of stories and shape shifter. He is a tall, extremely thin man with black hair and eyes with his helm as an emblem (created from the bones of a dead god). He once was cruel and insensitive but during the series he changes and faces the results of his previous harsh decisions.

What, you need more to get excited about this? This is a story you start for fun and end up reading it again and again because you need it, it’s addictive, it’s Sandman!

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Apr

Manhunter

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: DC Comics Tags: DC Comics.

It’s not the most famous comic series this one nor the best out there but it’s coming to an end and that’s something (possibly anyway because DC is reconsidering 5 more issues after an organized fan’s reaction). The title seemed to enjoy great success but it never lasted long, every few months the sales would go down and DC would program its finale, every time postponing it for a little longer. Is this the final goodbye to Kate Spencer? The following months will show.

Kate Spencer is a lawyer, one of the best there are, but frustrated by the inability of the law system to apply justice she becomes a masked vigilante, the Manhunter. Using gadgets other heroes left behind (like Batman) she gains super strength, agility and resistance to injuries in her fight against crime, she hunts them down and finishes them off

before they have the chance to bypass the corrupted system and roam the streets again. In her struggle she has to fight not only the organized crime but also all those traditional heroes that consider her a threat because of her harsh ways and killer instincts.

In issue #30 after the end of Wonder Woman’s trial (where she was responsible for her defense) for murder, Manhunter finds herself in crossroads, having accomplished everything on Earth she looks at the stars to find a new purpose. This might be the end, a short revival for one more story arc or a new beginning if it goes well, can’t say I’m thrilled but I’ll get at least this one issue and I’ll be here to share impressions!

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Apr

The

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Great Creators Tags: DC Comics, Great Creators.

The power of comics as a medium is unique, it the power of something combining some of the greatest advantages and disadvantages of other great art forms like literature and drawing. Every now and then comes a work of genius, an artistic creation so beautiful and poetic it’s hard to realize it’s just a comic, because it’s not. It’s a little bit of everything put together in a mix of something even superior. As far as I’m concerned the best example of this is Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, something so extraordinary and breathtaking people still read it manically.

This is the story of Dream, not the god of dreaming or the spirit of the stories but Morpheus, the manifestation of dreaming itself. He is one of the seven Endless, created long before humanity and destined to end when the last living creature will die, all of them personifications of something different and necessary. They are Destiny, Death, Delirium (who once was Delight), Despair, Desire, Destruction (long ago self-banished) and Dream, the mysterious tall, thin figure that creates the worlds we visit when our subconscious gains the upper hand. Reading every issue of this magnificent tale you will follow him in the present and past as “The king of dreams learns one must change or die and then makes his decision”.

I’ve spent half my life over pages and this might be my favourite work in literature, comics and drawing altogether, and before you hurry to object that it is literature you should know that it is the only comic book to ever have won the World Fantasy Award for its issue #19 (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), the next day the rules were changed so that it would never happened again. This is really not just a comic book, it’s the creating of a new world that affected story tellers, music artists, WWF wrestlers (it’s true, there’s a guy that fights wearing Sandman T-Shirts), people of all ages, you read it and it changes you in every page. To conclude I am not able to describe the phenomenon called The Sandman, get your asses of your chairs and go buy the issues (hard), the trade paperback albums (easy) or the Ultimate Sandman edition (expensive), don’t just sit here, go!

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Apr

Civil

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Civil War Tags: Civil War.

A common policy in the comics industry is that when sales go down events goes up! Especially if you are a Marvel fan you might have noticed something wrong with their main Universe, those old-fashioned issues where the good guy fought the evil one in a big battle, well no more of those, nowadays we have to read about cosmic, historical events every month. But is this the actual point or are they really afraid to drastically change something out there?

The Civil War is over, the super hero registration act has passed and as hard as I try to find what changed in the Marvel titles the only difference I see is Spider-Man being unmasked, his family in danger and him back in the black suite (for 4 months before he finds a new one I guess). Captain America dies in issue #25 of his own series and in Civil War – The Initiative we find out that nooo, Rogers is not really dead but hidden in a secret SHIELD facility, the X-Men are again on the run (big difference), Iron-Man is assembling a new team of Avengers (wow, innovative), only poor Hulk had to be thrown into a black hole (what, you thought he wouldn’t return? Check World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker #1)! So is anything ever going to change, and do we want to?

This whole thing reminds me of similar events and how they too changed nothing, like the House of M and Infinite Crisis. It’s the perfect way to attract attention to your main titles by killing a couple of the secondary characters nobody would ever read about, present them like decent people and pretend it made a difference to the first class heroes. So DC killed the Blue Beetle, who gives a damn (except from those guys I met on line the other day creating a poll to make them bring him back)? Marvel killed Goliath and some other nobodies who might return anytime from another dimension or a gate Dr Strange will make or a black hole or something. Nothing’s ever going to change because deep inside we don’t want to; these heroes are our favorites for reasons that don’t allow them to change. You think otherwise? Well give Spider-Man 6 more months with his identity revealed and you’ll see!

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Apr

Transmetropolitan

By seekerwh 0 Comments

Categories: Transmetropolitan Tags: Great Creators, Transmetropolitan.

I usually despise those “my 10 favorite” (or relevant) lists where you have to choose between completely different creations the ones you prefer, but if someone asked me to mention my 10 favorite comics, Transmetropolitan would be very close to the top of the list (although not it the first place, that spot is long ago taken by Sandman). It’s a work of genius, a masterpiece so funny, visionary, perceptive and utterly delightful you don’t ever want it to end! Well, the bad news are its already ended some years ago but fear not, it’s always available in bookstores all over the world in trade paperbacks albums.

Spider Jerusalem is a troubled man, a journalist once famous for his two best selling books and currently self-banished in a little house in the mountains, alone and almost crazy. But Spider is also a big city man, he needs the crowd, the confrontations, he needs the news, so he returns to the City, a futuristic amalgam of technology, corrupted politics, high tech drugs and religious manipulation. Along with his two filthy assistants he will look for the truth in places no one else dares to go, he will enrage presidents, degrade public figures, beat the crap out of those pulling the strings and if everything else fails use his bowel disruptor! He’s Spider Jerusalem and he hates it here but no matter what you do you won’t make him go away, the live consciousness of the future America watches, witnesses and then reports the darkness and ugliness of what we’d call a modern society.

Transmetropolitan, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Darick Robertson, is a work as beautiful and enjoyable as it is harsh, cruel and prophetic. The beliefs expressed in it by Ellis might seem extravagant and distant but take a moment to wonder how far our society is to this dark vision, and how possible is for us to find hope if even Spider and the other characters of this superb comic managed to. Stories like this make us better people…