Flashback Universe Blog

Digital Comics Netbook/Crunchpad Ready Now

2009-07-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we posted about new developments in hardware, such as a netbook and crunchpad, and web based delivery systems that were all ready set and ready to bring digital comics to such devices. This week we'll expand on that theme with "hosted" digital comics, up on the web right now, that will be extremely easy to navigate to with your new netbook or crunchpad.

You won't need software (mac and Linux users rejoice), or anything other than a browser to read them and best of all, with a small, light weight portable device they can now be read anywhere there is an Internet connection (like the john).

I want to point out that there is no order here, they are all great sites with great content listed in the order I found/ or remembered them.

I would also point out, I'm resisting the urge to "review" these books as I've read all of them and find them very well put together comics that I'd purchase at a comic shop if given the chance but I'll leave you to discover them on your own...

THE AMALGAMATED ARTISTS

The Amalgamated Artists is a very clean and easy to use flash based digital comic book displayer/ reader set up by a group of talented comic creators. While the "About Us" page has little in the way of info on the group them selves, there are detailed sections on each creator.

One of their comics...
YULETIDE

UNTRUE TALES

To tell the truth I had never heard of UNTRUE TALES before setting up this blog post. I asked for suggestions in my twitter stream and this came up. It seems well put together and well respected. The site is easy to navigate and fast to load.
One of their comics...

The Trouble With Uzis

THE RETRIEVER

The Retriever introduces a new genre of comic books. It may sound cheesy, but Noir-Fu is the best name I could think of for it. Inspired slightly by the lengend of the Monkey's Paw and my desire to explore irony and the unexpected, The Retriever blends crime noir and the kung-fu genre to explore these themes in a new light.
- Daniel Fu, Creator
CRANKY OCTOPUS

The three creators who make up CRANKY OCTOPUS are die hard comic book lovers. CRANKY OCTOPUS started, if I'm not mistaken, from a very well put together X-Men fan fiction web site with hundreds of readers /contributers each month...

One of their comics..
ROCKET & BOUNCE

The sibling super heroes' first mission as a crime fighting duo: foil a gang of bank robbers. Sounds easy enough, right? Right? Hmmm...
- Cranky Octopus

SUPER SEED

In a world where super powered beings are a feared, yet revered minority, International Andrology & Cryobank CEO Dr. Michael Billings plans to profit by selling the promise of extraordinary gifted children through his Super Seed Program.
- Tyler James, Creator

Each of these are Web Device ready right now. There is more out there as well, many more...

Have a great weekend!

~Caine

How Do You Write?

2009-07-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

If you've come here today for another one of Pierre's awesome articles on animation, then you may be in for an unpleasant surprise, as this post is from me (Jim) not Pierre.

Where is Pierre? Well, he's on a Top Secret animation gig in Canada. I say Top Secret, because I can't remember if he told me what the assignment was or not. I'm hoping he's keeping a detailed journal about his experience so he can tell us all about it in future blog posts.

The animation gig has a rigorous deadline and he's been really busy, so, I've decided to give him a bit of a break on his Wednesday posts today.

Which brings me to the title of today's posts. Twice in the last two weeks, I have been asked How Do You Write?

At first I was going to just throw together a post on the subject, but both people who sent me the question included their regimen for writing which I found very interesting and helpful.

So it occurred to me that perhaps the better thing to do would be to ask everyone who reads this blog, how do you write/create? What is your process?

If you aren't a creator, I'd like to hear what you look for in writing. After all, what your audience wants in a story is just as important, if not moreso, as what the writer wants in a story. :)

Answers to the question can be as long or short as you wish. I'll post any answers I receive either via email or blog posts here on my blog next Wednesday.

Golden Age Spider Man?

2009-07-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

So while reading the adventures of Captain Marvel, Golden Arrow and Ibis yesterday in an issue of Whiz Comics, I came across a story with a character with a rather familiar name...

Now while I don't necessarily think Marvel has anything to worry about, it might explain why Spider-man has a hyphen in his name when so many other superheroes don't.

Anyway, here is the comic where this Spider Man character appears...

[ Whiz Comics 89 ]

And another one from the Fawcett library of comics:

[ Whiz Comics 87 ]

Both comics contain stories with Captain Marvel, Golden Arrow and Ibis, so download and enjoy!

- Jim

Bronze Age Spotlight: Honor Among Thieves

2009-07-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

As a kid in the 70's, there were several things a comic could have on the cover that would guarantee I'd buy it. One was Robots. The other was Gorillas.

So when The Secret Society of Super Villains number 1 showed up in May 1976 with it's cover of Gorilla Grodd shoving a bunch of JLA robots into a trash can, it's a safe bet I was digging into my Toughskin jeans pocket hoping to find .30 in change.

Fortunately for you, I did, so today I can tell you why SSoSV was not only a fun, zany bronze age comic, but also a template for how comic stories would eventually evolve into what we have today.

But let's back up a bit. For those of you not familiar with the series, a brutally quick summation is this: A clone of the Simonson/Goodwin Manhunter rounds up a bunch of DC villains (Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Captain Boomerang, Star Sapphire, Sinestro and Copperhead) to form a Secret Society.

It is soon revealed that Manhunter is actually following the orders of Darkseid who wants to use the society to help cause something he refers to as EarthDeath. However, this Manhunter is just as noble as his predecessor, so he pulls a double cross and convinces the team to try and stop Darkseid. Working together, the rogues defeat the ruler of Apokolips. Afterwards, they agree to remain together as a team.

Now one might ask - what prompted DC, whose bread and butter was superhero comics, to start publishing the exploits of a team of villains? Well, as it turns out, DC was simply riding a wave of antihero interest in popular culture that had most likely started with the Arthur Penn's 1967 Bonnie and Clyde movie and culminated in 1972 with Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. At the time, public fascination with antiheroes/villains was at a level not seen since the James Cagney shouted out to his Ma in White Heat.

In the comics world, Marvel had begun exploring antihero stories with Super-Villain Team Up, a comic which started as a set of two giant sized annuals featuring Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner. Not much of a stretch actually as both characters had been featuring in books before, Dr. Doom in Astonishing Tales and the Sub-Mariner first in Tales of Suspense and then in his own title.

No, it was actually DC who was taking the new surge of antiheroic interest and using it to a better advantage. Their first attempt was the half-hearted Joker comic which could have been a very interesting comic had it not been hamstringed by an editorial mandate to soften the Joker. As a result, the series, which had some fun moments, was generally incongruous with reader expectations of the Joker and ended up getting cancelled after 9 issues.

On the flipside, the SSoSV was not burdened by this same editorial mandate, or if it was, it wasn't as obvious. Originally helmed by writer Gerry Conway and artist Pablo Marcos, the SSoSV had a bit darker tone than the Joker series. The first issue ends with Copperhead getting shot and left stranded in the sea by Gorilla Grodd. This sets the tone for the entire series under Conway's watch as characters come and go very quickly, often dispatched in violent ways. During the course of the first few issues, there are several "deaths" of characters:

Hi-Jack is magically vanished by the Wizard in 04
Manhunter sacrifices himself to kill Darkseid in 05

It would have been interesting to see where Conway took the initial plot line, as he must have had a grand scheme in mind. However, he left the title by issue 2 and he remained off the book until issue 8. During his absence David A. Kraft wrote 2 issues (3 and 4). Then Bob Rozakis would take his turn for issues 5 through 7.

While Kraft did an admirable job picking up the story set forth by Conway, Rozakis' turn on the book was quite different. After finishing up Conway's storyline with Darkseid and Manhunter, his next issue was a rather Silver Agey piece that played off the novelty of having 3 villains with Captain in the names. Issue 7 involves Lex Luthor wanting to defeat Superman on the set of the Superman movie. Both of these stories feel like fill ins and are probably the weakest issues in the series (despite having some fine Rich Buckler art!)

Fortunately, with Conway's return in 8, the book regained more of its original feel. By issue 9 everyone is plotting against each other again and Gorilla Grodd is stomped nearly to death by a Dragon.

Despite the handicap of having writers shuffled on and off the title, there were quite a number of places where the stories excelled. For its time, SSoSV featured more violence, faster pacing, more character intrigue than other comics being published by DC. Most likely this is because SSoSV featured villains as the main characters, which gave the writers more latitude in their storytelling.

There are certain corporate expectations to be met when you write a comic featuring a character licensed out to Underoos. However, the suits don't bat an eye if if Captain Boomerang gets beat to a pulp by Darkseid - or just hangs out by the pool and eats some fast food.

I've mentioned the violence that was abundant in the series, but what was really novel was the non-violent moments. In issue 3 The crew is indeed just sitting poolside enjoying a meal from MacDonald's. It's a rather mundane scene that humanizes the characters in a way that you would never see in the pages of JLA at the time. This presentation of the more human side of the villains is definitely something new the series brought to comics.

Another nice non action scene is in issue 11 when the Wizard finally dispatches Funky Flashman (a tiresome Stan Lee stand in created by Jack Kirby.)

Issue 15 ends the series and it's a shame it ended there as the level of intrigue was definitely growing amongst the team members. There is an interesting scene with Star Sapphire and Professor Ivo and a nice bit with Mirror Master and Copperhead. It's the issue that best captures the feel of Conway's original vibe.

In a way, the SSoSV with its flawed characters and their exaggerated human foibles and higher level of violence could be seen as a template for how comics would progress into the modern age.

When readers get tired of the normal faire of superhero comics, the industry often reacts by devoting a title to some super villain. Eventually this leads them amping up the level of violence and humanity of their A-list heroes.

The SSoSV was the first example of this, but over the years the formula has played out time and time again. In the 80's we got the fantastic Suicide Squad by John Ostrander. In the 90's we saw Venom get his own comic. Currently, one of Marvel's bestselling titles is Dark Avengers - a title that features villains.

In the 90's the success of a bloodthirsty Punisher led to everyone wearing leather jackets. Then there was a backlash against the badass character and the pendulum swung back - but not all the way back. Usually once you've given Aquaman a hook and a beard to make him a badass, it's hard to go back to your 1950's Arthur Curry.

So there you have it - you want someone to blame for all those horrible leather jacketed heroes in the 90's? Look no further than Gerry Conway and the SSoSV! :D

Need further proof?

He's was also responsible for the Punisher as well.

Have a great weekend!

- Jim

Thoughts on Golden Age Characters

2009-07-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

It would seem that Jim and I have a disagreement.

No… no… don’t worry…. It is something very minor, almost nothing….. So small that no one could notice unless we come out and actually mention it.

So don’t worry… it will not lead to something like when Jack Kirby left Marvel because of some disagreement with Stan Lee.

No… nothing like that.

But it is there nonetheless.

And it is about the use of Golden Age characters.

Or more specifically… public domain Golden Age characters.

Jim already mentioned his views on the subject… so I guess now it’s my turn.

The Golden Age of comics first caught my attention when I read “The Great Comic Book Artists” by Ron Goulart.

I was vaguely aware before that that there was this distant era far in ancient comic book history called the Golden Age.

Heck I even knew that some characters like Captain America, Namor, the Human Torch, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc…. came from that era.

I even had some comics showing those characters at the time of the Golden Age like the Invaders comics from Marvel. Or the Superman VS Wonder Woman comic that I had from DC (AWESOME comic masterfully drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez). Or heck… even a reprint of the first Superman tale from action comic #1.

But I did not really know much about that time… until I read the “The Great Comic Book Artists”.

Then I discovered characters like the Green Lama, the Spirit, and the Golden Age Daredevil.

I loved this character right from the start.

Loved how he looked.

But also, I finally saw where the design for Marvel’s 3D-Man came from. I loved the 3D-Man character, although I only had very few comics with him… but when I saw the Golden Age Daredevil … I fell in love again.

Also I was a big fan of the Wallace Wood Daredevil. Although it had little in common with the first Daredevil… I really got a kick to see that it was not the first character to bear that name.

As I got to know more about them old characters, and as I discovered the concept of “public domain”… I could not help but think that something should be done using them…. Some new stories maybe?… especially with that Daredevil fellow.

Some like Alan Moore already had dipped their toes in that “public domain” well. Also Dynamite seemed to have some success with various “old” characters like Zorro or the Lone Ranger. But what I had in mind was a little different.

What I had in mind at some point was to use the “public domain” Golden Age characters to populate the Flashback Universe of the 40s or 50s. To essentially populate OUR Golden Age with them characters.

I had this crazy idea to make a story that would have some repercussion in the Golden Age Flashback Universe.

I dubbed it “Time Crisis” at the time.

Imagine if you will and inter company crossover done in a single issue (I know it has just been done recently…. Yes I AM looking at you Kirkman ;)). A “Crisis on Infinite Earths” type of story told in a single comic if you will.

But to do that…. we needed a lot more characters in the WW2 FBU then what we already had.

We already had the Fearless Five, the Wildcard, the Crimson Cossack, Frostfire, the Purple Puma, the Paladin and his partner the Squire… but that was less the enough. So more were needed.

MORE I SAYS!!

And the solution was simple… either I come up with a truckload of new characters… or I use some of those that already exist that are public domain characters.

Being a lazy bastard… I opted for using them public domain characters. Also it would finally give me the opportunity to use the Golden Age Daredevil.

Not as a parody… or to make fun of… but simply because the more I learned about them characters… and the more I loved them characters.

There is a charm in those characters that I can’t quite properly explain.

Jim even contributed to me wanting to use some of them old characters with is Free Monday comics.

Heck lately it made me discover amongst other characters the Golden Age Catman.

SHAZAM!!! (or something like that ;))

It’s like I was struck with lightning. I loved them Catman comics.

I was familiar with the DC version of Catman. I thought that DC had simply created an EVIL version of Batman to serve as one of his nemeses. That they had created some sort of Reverse-Batman. Not unlike Bizarro… or Professor Zoom; the Reverse-Flash.

But in my ignorance… I had NO idea that what they had done was use an actual character from the Golden Age. One who I am sure is seen as little more then a Batman rip-off, and they turned it into a Reverse-Batman in the DCU.

Already I got a kick out of the DCU Catman… especially lately in the Villains United, and the Secret Six comics.

But that new layer added to the Catman character makes it even more cool to me.

Odds are that you will see more Catman comics in the future. Mouahahhahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

Anyway…

But at some point in time… what had to happen happened…. There was a comic book that was announced called Superpowers… later renamed Project: Superpowers.

I was happy and crushed at the same time.

They were using MY characters. MINE!!

Okay maybe not mine… but I was planning to use at least some of those characters.

Damn!!

But I still got a kick out of reading Project; Superpowers… or even The Twelve (although odds are that we will never see the end of that series…L). But I was a little disappointed too.

I wanted to see tales set in the Golden Age. But to make a long story short… them characters were put on ice and ended up in modern times.

Which made me a little sad… but also very happy.

Happy since they did not use MY idea of telling tales in the past with those characters. ;)

Heck with The Twelve, I naively thought that they would show us good old fashion heroes to show the contrast to the dark and gritty heroes that Marvel seems to have right now.

But I should have known better. JMS seems to want to show us that the heroes from the past are as flawed… heck if not MORE flawed then the current ones that Marvel has.

Oh well.

Even Image… or at least Erik Larson in Savage Dragon… used the “lets put the GA characters on ice to bring them to modern times” device.

So I guess that MY idea of keeping them in the past is safe… for now. ;)

Now all I have to do is convince Jim to make that “Time Crisis” comic. ;)

Although we do have an upcoming tale set in the Golden Age. It should be a first step for us in using them Golden Age characters.

And then… who knows?

Who knows where that tale shall lead us too??

We shall see. ;)

Early Leader Sketch

2009-06-30T03:39:00.000-07:00

We are running a bit behind on new Mister Crimson episodes so to tied you over I present this early sketch of the Leader by Diego Tripodi.

We should have a new episode of Mister Crimson ready to go next week.

Thank you.

Free Comics Monday: Miss Victory vs a Nazi Gorilla

2009-06-29T03:47:00.000-07:00

During the Golden Age, many titles were anthologies featuring one character on the cover, but with multiple characters and stories in the book. In most cases, some of the characters inside the book never got a cover. A perfect example of this is Miss Victory who appeared in the pages of Captain Aero.

From Wikipedia...

The original Miss Victory was created in Captain Fearless #1 (Aug. 1941) by an unknown writer and by artist Charles Quinlan in an untitled, five-page story generally indexed with its opening words, "Introducing Miss Victory". She went on to appear in the second and final issue of Captain Fearless, and subsequently in Holyoke's Captain Aero Comics, beginning with issue #1 (Dec. 1941).

Given no formal origin story, it was left unexplained as to how Miss Victory was able to survive explosions, break free of ropes, or knock down walls. But is clear that in her introduction she had superhuman strength and durability.

She remained as star of a backup feature in the sporadically published Captain Aero Comics through that title's final issue, #26 (Aug. 1946). In 1984, she was revived by writer Bill Black and penciler Mark Heike in AC Comics' Femforce Special #1 (Fall 1984).

In this issue - Miss Victory does indeed fight a Nazi Gorilla

[ Captain Aero 15 ]

Now I usually turn a blind eye to the some of the more rediculous stuff I find in these Golden Age Comics. I consider them to be part of the charm of the comics. However, every once in a while, I uncover something that I can't ignore. This is the case with Captain Aero 17, wherein we find a Japanese Ghost pilot.

How do we know he's Japanese? Well, because his ghostly skull has slanted eyes...

Anyway, in Captain Aero 17, Miss Victory is pursuing a villain who is intent on of Leonardo Da Vinci's secret inventions to win the war. It's an interesting story as it highlights one of the problems with Miss Victory as I see it in that the writers seem to have a hard time pinning down exactly how tough she is.

At one point she is knocked out because she runs into a door. Later, a vase to the skull takes her out. In the end she survives a point blank explosion. Seems like someone wasn't reading the Holyoke Handbook entry on Miss Victory when they were writing that story. ;)

[ Captain Aero 17 ]

- Enjoy!

Staying In Touch with Digital Comics News

2009-06-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

There are posts, articles, and even entire websites popping up all the time regarding digital comics. Some report , some criticize, some generate content , while others provide delivery systems. Something that doesn't get reported on nearly as much, with one exception, is hardware/ software. What will be used to view the digital comics in question.

I think it's largely assumed that the iPhone (and other smart handhelds) will be used to do that. Now, and in the future with a rumored iTablet on the way (which will have a much larger screen to view the comics on).

Recently news has surfaced to shed the light of Digital Comic hardware/software in another direction:

TOUCH BOOK

"Until now, all netbooks were engineered the same way: Power-hungry Intel Atom, ugly case, and outdated 90's OS. Our goal: To achieve a breakthrough in both architecture and design. The result: a revolutionary device that works as both a netbook and a standalone tablet thanks to a detachable keyboard and a 3D touchscreen user interface".~Always Innovating

CRUNCHPAD

"The idea is to get a new type of device into people’s hands for as cheap as possible (we were aiming for $200, it looks like $299 is more realistic). It fits perfectly on your lap while you are sitting in front of the TV, so you can look up stuff on Wikipedia or IMDB as you channel surf.

It plays Flash video flawlessly so you can watch movies and TV shows on Hulu or Joost or wherever. Or listen to music on MySpace Music. Or use TokBox to have a video chat with your parents. Then check email and call it a day. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Hulu, Wikipedia, Google Docs and Gmail are the killer apps for this device." ~TECHCRUNCH

Its unclear at this time whether or not the CRUNCHPAD will allow you to run a few other programs on its hard drive, from an external drive or even a thumb drive (such as a .cbr reader). That fact alone would give the TOUCH BOOK the clear edge for digital comic book fans, particularly with a quick google search turning up little in the way of a web based .cbr or .rar viewer.

Getting back to content for a moment, recently a new iTunes inspired comic book service was announced last weekend, that seems to have generated a huge amount of media coverage in the last few days (judging by my Google Alerts...):

LONGBOX

Rantz Hoseley, the editor behind Image's “Comic Book Tattoo” anthology of comics inspired by Tori Amos, introduced his latest endeavor at Heroes Con this weekend. Longbox, a digital comics platform similar to iTunes, is expected to launch later this year as a free download for Mac, PC, and Linux.

Developed by Quicksilver Software, Longbox comics can be download for a suggested price point of $.99 per issue, with the potential for block and subscription pricing. The first two publishers confirmed for Longbox are Top Cow and BOOM! Studios. CBR News caught up with Hoseley to discuss the details of Longbox and its potential impact.

~CBR

Very similar to other services we've reported on in the past:

CARBONATED COMICS

"Who is Carbonated Comics?

Thank you for stopping by www.carbonatedcomics.com. We are a technology company that is building a way to safely and securely view digital comics and other mixed visual literature. We feature our comic reader (The Carbonator), the Carbonated Comics file format (CCX), and the Carbonated Comics store front for building and selling comics digitally.

We are actively looking for content providers that are interested in exposing their content. We are looking for new, old, and very old content from artists, publishers, and any other providers that wish to reach a broad market".~CARBONATED COMICS @ccomics

COMICS XP

"The comicsXP Reader is a FREE downloadable software, currently available for windows based platforms, with Mac editions forthcoming. The comicsXP Reader will also bundle with the comicsXP Organizer, for organizing and managing your library.

Together this software offers you the ability to organize and read your favorite comicsXP titles. Along with comicsXP titles you'll also be able to read any .cbr, .cbz files that you may have."~COMICS XP @comicsxp

In two weeks we'll discuss digital comics you really should be reading NOW!

Have a great weekend,

Caine

Pierre Speaks: Dynamos Part 3

2009-06-24T04:30:00.001-07:00

Editor's Note: This is Part 3 of Pierre's experience working on a project called Dynamos. You can review the previous installments here:

Dynamos Part 1

Dynamos Part 2

The image on the left is what would have been the second cover for the Dynamos Comic. I mentioned last week that the project fell apart. Here's why...

When you see people who have not released a single project, and they are trying to produce a dozen different comics, a video game, a movie and other stuff…..

RUN!

Run as fast as you can and don’t turn back.

Already, just any one of those things is a pretty big task, and heck a pretty HUGE one when you talk about making a movie or a computer game.

So imagine trying to do all of that at once… with little or no budget… before showing that you can finish at least one single comic.

Having ambition can be a good thing… but stretching yourself too thin by trying to make too many things at once, odds are that you will not be able to finish a single project.

To this day, I don’t even know if the “Dynamos” publisher have even published a single comic, let alone a video game, or any of their other projects.

Too much is often just that… too much.

And since they had many projects in the work at the same time, they had MANY editors. Each and every one of them wanted to have some sort of say in the creative process even of comics/projects they were not editing themselves.

That was a little frustrating to see them all try to add their 2 cents. Especially when some of them did not seem to know what they were doing.

At some point, someone asked for some changes because he once remembered reading somewhere that “comic pages should read in some sort of “S” pattern”. He was just vaguely remembering something he once read without really understanding it, but the change he asked for HAD to be made.

It would have taken me about 15 minutes to make the change he was asking for… but I decided to draw a line in the sand that one time and said “enough”. “It stops here”.

Why says you??

To save a measly 15 minutes?

No.

It was to keep them from always making decisions based on something they vaguely once saw or heard once in the distant past. To keep them from asking for changes based on things they did not even understand. And… more importantly, to keep them from changing their mind as the wind blows.

I was taking the time to scan and send them my sketches/rough pages for approval and said “Why did you not mention this when you saw the sketch/rough pages that I sent you guys?” But I was told by editor 20053 that “he never saw that sketch/rough page”. Which made me reply something like “What was the point of sending stuff for approval then if you guys don’t even look at what I send you?”

Also I wasted some time writing various long e-mails and including various sketches and diagrams explaining the design principles behind what I had done, and heck explaining why what was being asked for did not even work within the “S” pattern theory that was being mentioned.

I have worked in the “deciding by committee” approach on various projects, but even then there is a method to follow to make it work. To make it so that at some point you stop making changes and move on to making the next episodes. Otherwise… it is total chaos and nothing gets done.

You make the rough artwork.

You send the rough artwork to everyone that has a say in the process.

You make the changes that are asked for.

Then you get the changes approved.

Then you make the final work.

Once you are past that… too late to make more changes unless you realized some huge mistake slipped through.

For example in an episode of Arthur, we had to make some last minute changes because we were using something that the legal department did not get the rights to use.

So I tried to explain that people who want to ad their 2 cents must do so at the appropriate time, and that it was a mistake to make a change based on something the editor did not even understand to begin with.

But in the end, it was all a big waste of time.

Needless to say that it was the end of my involvement in the project.

I was still willing to draw the project, but would not make any changes that would be asked for past the “point of no return” unless there was a real good reason to do so.

It may not seem like much, but if you keep on making changes and changes as the wind blows, you end up with no project in the end.

I have seen many examples of people who are reworking their “perfect” project over and over, but 10 years later, their project is still in their desk drawer because they keep on trying to make it “perfect”.

It does not work like that.

At some point, you HAVE to let it go.

You work on it as much as you can within the timeframe that you have… but at some point, you have to say enough and finish your project.

So what we had was a situation where some people gave themselves the title of editors thinking that it was giving them all the qualifications that come with the job without any real experience/qualifications themselves.

Most of them did not really have a clue as to what they were doing.

Heck some did not even know some basic terminology like “worm’s eye view” or “bird’s eye view”. They would use “view from underneath” or “seen from high in the sky”.

When people don’t even know some very basic stuff like that… be worried.

Or even better, RUN!

Okay… maybe not “RUN”. But unless you are prepared to deal with the irritation/aggravation that is sure to follow, as politely as you can, say “thanks…. But no thanks”.

Here are a few rough pages from the first issue:

If you ask nicely, I might put the roughs for the second… or heck even the third story in a future Blog. ;)

Until next time.

Free Comics Monday: Crime Does Not Pay

2009-06-22T03:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, I posted a question to regular visitors of Free Comics Monday asking people how did they feel about Dynamite's stories involving the Golden Age characters. I got the most responses I've ever gotten for a Free Comics Monday post with the majority of people saying they did NOT like the Dynamite stories. Thanks to everyone who posted a response!

Today, stepping away from superhero stories for a bit, I would like to call your attention to a great series of articles on the Pigs of the Industry Blog about the work of Charles Biro. Written by RKB, a name familiar to people who read the comments section of this blog, this has been an interesting and informative series I highly recommend if your a fan of the Golden Age.

One of the comics mentioned in these articles is Crime Does Not Pay 48, so I thought I'd make today's featured title.

[ Crime Does Not Pay 48 ]

[ Crime Does Not Pay 58 ]

- Enjoy!

Whatever Happened to the Age of Bronze?

2009-06-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

The Bronze Age is gone, of that there is no doubt, but how exactly did it pass on? Was it old age? Illness? Or perhaps....Murder? Today we draw your attention your attention to four possible ways the Bronze Age may have met its demise…

Theory 1: A Bit of the Old Ultra-Violence

The Bronze Age died by violence, which some might call fitting, since it had introduced the bloody-handed Conan, and the deaths head emblazoned Punisher to comics. It had it coming, some might say.

With the first Frank Miller scribed issue of Daredevil in 1981, the world was introduced to the doomed Elektra, Matt Murdock's old college flame. She was now an assassin working with the evil ninja cult, the Hand. In less than twenty issues, she'd be dead, felled by another assassin, Bullseye.

Frank Miller's seminal run not only gave us the initial Elektra saga, but also had the Punisher shoot Daredevil, and turned the Kingpin from a pudgy super-villain to a gritty, if larger than life, crime figure.

And during all this, people died. Violently.

This was to set the tone for the age to follow, where grim and gritty would be the order of the day. The difference between heroes and villains would often be the reasons why they killed rather than anything else. Miller brought this outlook to Batman in a dystopian future (or dystopian present, depending on how you read it) in The Dark Knight Returns (1986)--and once you saw Batman using a machine gun against gang-punks, there was no way you could think you were in the Bronze Age.

In many ways, Miller's dark, ninja noir, was just the fulfillment of the dark detective stories Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams were telling with Batman starting in the early seventies. Certainly, the rising "grittiness" of cinema through late sixties into the seventies played a role, with the rise of the Spaghetti and revisionist Westerns, and boundary-pushing, exploitation crime and action fair.

This would only continue as popular culture digested and regurgitated TV news images of street riots, and Vietnam. Comic book heroes born in the eighties and early nineties seemed as much the descendants of Charles Bronson's pacifist turned vigilante in Death Wish, Stallone's tormented vet in First Blood, or Schwarzenegger's emotionless killing-machine in Terminator, than of Silver Age Batman or Superman.

Men with Eastwood-parody snarls pointing oversized guns, and thin-hipped bad girls wielding big swords, sneered at hippy social relevance and let the ink-black blood flow.

Theory 2: Rock ‘n’ Roll is Dead

Oh Age of Bronze, I knew ye well! I watched you grow out of your awkward Silver Age soap opera adolescence into a mature forum for way out hippy fables. Scribes like Gerber, Starlin, Haney, O'Neil and Brunner took up pen and filled your pages with stories of counter culture idealism and psychedelic imagination.

The sweater-vested, buzz-cut Silver Age grew up and went to college and got into political action, racial awareness, longhair, and (shudder) psychedelics. Where before the Thing had fought the Hulk, now Man-Thing fought The Man. Stan and Jack had managed to attract some attention on college campuses by being new and different, and the Bronze Age writers were now taking advantage of this new audience to expand their storytelling horizons.

However, like all summer romances, eventually the bloom falls off the rose, and the romance fades. The times changed and the mind altering themes of the 70's began to look quaint in the era of Reaganomics and Punk Rock. The stories that were daring and socially relevant were now quaint and laughable. What did it matter if Green Lantern raised his awareness by road-tripping with Green Arrow, if we still got Reagan, Iran-Contra, and AIDS? Adam Warlock may have pried open his third eye, but you only needed two to see that promises had been made and not kept. A lot of creators--the Punks of the comics world--weren't gonna take it anymore.

Enter Angry Young Men from across the pond who would grab the reins to expand on the adult themed stories the 70's writers had initiated. People like Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis would bring new storytelling techniques to comics they had honed perhaps in the pages of 2000 AD. The first glimpse of this new wave was in Saga of the Swamp Thing #21.

There in the pages of "Anatomy Lesson," Alan Moore kicks off the Modern Age of comics with a tale that renews the Swamp Thing mythos (and comics in general) by deconstructing Swamp Thing's origin into a darker, more horrific, that nevertheless opened new vistas to explore. From there, the floodgates for innovation were opened as Morrison, Ellis and Moore would bring ultimately combine big action with big ideas and adult stories.

But it wasn't all progress. Sometimes the adult stories were just an excuse for mean-spiritedness; adult situations a gloss on crassness. Punk rock can be just as silly as prog rock when it comes down to it.

How often can you be told "everything you know is wrong, before you begin to think nothing's right? For every "Anatomy Lesson" or Animal Man, there was another comic cynically going through the motions.

And many decided not to move on at all. In fact, they retreated. Those writers who had been the champions of the socio-political stories either moved on for greener pastures or put aside their leftist leanings to tell more conventional/profitable tales. Instead of insidious governments, we now got Infinity Gauntlets.

Theory 3: I Won’t Have You Embarrass Me Like This!

From the wackiness of the post-Wertham era 50's to the Schwartz inspired silliness of the 60's comic continuity had collected a large amount of baggage over the decades. While Rainbow Batmen and Lion Headed Supermen were once all the rage, the late 60's saw the beginning of a move away from such zaniness as writers began to explore more serious stories with less emphasis on continuity. One example of this is the advent of the “New Look” Batman. This era of Batman was meant to be a return to the street crime fighting roots of the character, so it's a little ironic that he ended up inspiring the campy version that became so famous on television. Another move to break away from the old stories was the “Kryptonite No More” storyline in Superman #233.

However, you can't really shake off the dust of twenty some years of random Kryptonian cousins, criminals and critters all arriving via rocketship with just one storyline. No, to do that requires something much bigger.

So, it's probably no surprise that DC's answer to the dissonance inspired by years of careless continuity was to simply wipe the slate clean with the multi-issue crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths. Like we were promised, worlds lived and worlds died. Superman wept on a cover, and it wasn't a hoax or a dream sequence. Wolfman and Perez played for keeps.

With CoIE, DC shut the door leading to a continuity where Batman's mentally-challenged brother and Beppo the Super-Monkey occupied the same world as Walt Simonson's Manhunter and Denny O'Neil's Ras-Al-Ghul.

Or did they? Turns out people like their Legion of Super-Pets, their Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh, and their Ma Hunckle Red Tornado. The door was flung wide again. The old stuff came creeping back, and the new age got just as cluttered as the old.

Theory 4: The Simple Things You See are All Complicated

What happened to the Bronze Age? Well...its complicated.. I mean, it got more complicated.

Maybe I should explain.

In the Silver Age, of course, most comic stories were "done in one" as they say. Two-parters were uncommon, and stories extended beyond that were rarer still. Background storylines were nonexistent. Like Barry Allen on his Cosmic Treadmill, heroes zoomed from one adventure to the next without really ever going anywhere or changing anything in their life. It was usually just a question of what villain would get in their way. In a way, the readers were the ones on a treadmill.

This began to change in the Bronze Age. Characters got more of a civilian life, and more of a supporting cast. And the adventures themselves got bigger--the word "epic" began getting thrown around a lot. Hyperbole perhaps, but The Kree-Skrull War in 1971-1972, and the Korvac Saga (1978), were sure more daring in scope than comic's readers were used to.

This trend probably reached its zenith with not one but two interconnected sagas in the X-Men. The Phoenix Saga (X-Men vol 1. 101-108) in 1976-77 gave Jean Grey cosmic power and lead to cosmic drama with The Dark Phoenix Saga (#129-138) in 1980. When it was over, an X-man was dead--and maybe so was the Bronze Age. Or at least, it was on life support. In any case angst and tragedy had been made a core ingredient of the X-men storytelling style, and would remain so for over a decade (and perhaps forever).

X-Men would emerge from near cancellation in the Bronze Age to being a hot property in the age to follow. Its storytelling style of long storylines, convoluted back-stories, and soap-operatic overtones would be copied by numerous titles and creators either entranced by its style--or trying to recapture its popularity.

So there you have it. The Bronze Age wrote "to be continued" one time too many, until one day....it wasn't.

Pierre Speaks: Dynamos - Part 2

2009-06-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of Pierre's experience working on a project called Dynamo's. If you missed last weeks installment, you can Click here to read Dynamos Part 1.

Last week I mentioned that after all the design work I did on the Dynamo characters, that the first issue ended up featuring none of them. Instead, it featured this lion-like dude which I kept on referring to as lion-dude, so much so that I completely forgot his name. I am sure that I still have the script somewhere on a CD, but I have hundreds of CDs and just not the strength, and time, to look through all my disks for his name.

So let’s settle with calling him “Lion-dude”.

I kind of liked the story with Lion-dude and could almost imagine him as Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown”. Love that movie. So I was trying to channel Jack’s character in “Chinatown” as I was drawing Lion-dude.

No he did not look anything like Jack. Heck I did not want him to look like Jack. But I was hoping to make him “feel” like Jack does in “Chinatown”… if that makes any sense.

Here are the character sketches for Lion Dude.

One thing that often happened in my career, when I was starting in animation, or heck when I was trying to break into animation, I was often told that my work was too “comic-book” looking.

Ironically enough, when doing comics, I often hear that my work “looks too much like animation”, or in some specific example like Lion-dude when he is in his lion persona, looked too “Disney-like”.

Oh well.

So we ended up using a different design for the lion persona which I think suxxor, so sorry, you guys will not see it. ;)

As I read an early draft of the script, I made this rough sketch of a page to try to capture the “Chinatown” feeling I was aiming for.

Followed by various pages from the first story. I opted for showing a mixture of rough sketches and finished pencils.

But sadly, this project went down the drain.

This was a case of people trying to do too many things, and too many cooks in the kitchen.

They hadn’t published a single comic yet, but already they were developing multiple comic lines (super-heroes, fantasy, etc), video games, and other stuff I can’t recall.

I have seen it many times before.

Next week I will show you some more actual pages from the comic and explain why the project feel apart.

Mister Crimson Episode 35

2009-06-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

Mister Crimson Episode 35
In which our hero formulates a plan...
Read it here .:

Old Black Terror Vs New Black Terror

2009-06-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

What to do with Public Domain characters? That's the big debate over here at Flashback Universe. I suspect if Pierre had his way, we'd be cranking out new issues of Catman or the GA Daredevil.

And while I really dig those characters as well, I think you have to bring more to the table than just more stories with old characters. Dynamite seems to be giving it a go with their Project Superpowers spinoffs (The Death-Defying 'Devil and The Black Terror)

I'd be curious to know if any fans of the current Project Superpowers series are Golden Age comics fans as well? Do people who like to read the adventures of the new versions seek out the Golden Age stories? If you are a regular here on Monday, let me know what you think of the new stories Dynamite is putting out.

Today, I present two issues of the original Black Terror series:

[ Black Terror 11 ]

[ Black Terror 12 ]

Hope you enjoy them!

- Jim

The Digital Comic Creator's Toolbox

2009-06-12T03:22:00.000-07:00

Today were going to go over some of the tools that every Digital Comic Book Publisher/Creator/Provider should think about keeping handy, like in an on line tool box ready to open up and go to work when they are ready to release their next comic.

WATERMARKER

Not everyone has/uses Adobe Photoshop or other advanced image editing software. Some comics are still done with pen & ink and then scanned in when everything is just right. This tool will allow you to watermark those images you put online that can be downloaded for free rather than purchased through your web sites store. Your web site does have a store...right?

WaterMark.ws is a modern tool that allows you to watermark your photos online. The power of this tool outperforms every other downloadable watermark software on the market. It offers features like batch processing, resizing, image compression, text and image watermarking with transparency and organizing your photos just to name a few. No download. No installation!

COMIC BOOK TRAILER

You'll want one, you know you will. They're just so damn cool.

Part 1 ANIMATION

Glicker will set you up with the first half of your trailer: the animation.
Gickr.com lets you instantly create Animated GIF online, free, right now! Just upload pictures or grab them from your Flickr.

Part 2 SOUND

Looplabs will set you up with the second half of your trailer: sound.

Looplabs is the web’s premiere online music mixing application and platform. Since 2000 we have connected millions of web users from around the world to the art of music mixing through our extremely intuitive and easy-to use software interfaces. We have developed successful online music campaigns for Bacardi DJ, Lebron James/Sprite, ESPN, Microsoft, Sony/PSP, Calvin Klein, Miller Brewing, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Dodge, Toyota, Maverick Records and many more.

The HYPE MACHINE

Putting your digital comic online just isn't enough. You've got to let the world know all about it as well. That means icons, tags, banners, email signatures and more. Why not let HYPLET.com take care of it all.

Hyplets are FREE Personal IDs and Online Flyers
Create Hyplets using the online Hyplet Editor
Set Hyplet as your email signature
Post Hyplets on the Web
Promote your content with Hyplet Flyers
Save your friends' IDs and Flyers
Add avatars, icons and emoticons

The MOBILE WEB

MOBIFY makes desktop sites appear on mobile as if they were designed
for a small screen. In just minutes, create a mobile view of your website, improving its compatibility with thousands of devices. MOBIFY provides a high quality, effective mobile strategy while maintaining your brand, domain and site structure.

Have a great weekend!

~ Caine

Pierre Speaks: Dynamos - Part 1

2009-06-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

Editor's note: Today is the first of three blogs from Pierre concerning a rather unfortunate experience he had working on a comic project called Dynamos. - Jim

When the First Ladies project went down the drain, I was asked to work on another project called “Dynamos”

Although I was not really told why the “First Ladies” writer left with his project, I agreed to work on something else. Once again, in the hope of getting my name out there.
I did not expect any promises of a share in future profits to pay off. But I figured that if I can get at least some exposure out of this… why not?

So I got started to design the various characters.

With First Ladies, there were 12 “First Ladies” to design, plus various other characters.

Although there weren’t as many “Dynamos” to design, what was needed was a young version of the characters that would be set in the past in various flashbacks or other stuff like an old photograph for example, and an older version for the present time.

There already was a design for one of the characters, and I tried to make the other members of the Dynamos team to match a little with the already existing design, but still keep each design distinctive.

Dynamo (young)

Dynamo (old)

I did not want to give them a “team uniform”, but I still wanted to create some sort of unity between each members.

Defender

In most cases, all I was given was the name of the characters to come up with the designs.

So I included some of my own ideas into the mix.

At some point, I started wondering why someone like Captain America did not have Iron-Man’s armor. It seemed that the “super-soldier” would be even more “super” with a high tech suit of armor.

So at some point I started to wonder about how the “super-soldier” program could have evolved into the “Iron-Man” program at some point.

Since I don’t waste anything, I always am prepared to re-use some older stuff that I made, or ideas that I had.

So once I was given a bunch of names to come up with a bunch of characters, I was quick to use my “Super-soldier/Iron-Man” fantasy as a starting point for designing the look of one of them characters. ;)

Then I just tried to make the rest of the team match with what I had in mind.

Bionic version 1

Bionic version 2

Shapeling

Shapeling (Old)

Pyrotech

Ironically enough, the first story did not feature the “Dynamos”…. At all.

I will explain what happened next week! :)

Mister Crimson: Episode 34

2009-06-09T03:12:00.001-07:00

Mister Crimson Episode 34
In which we learn the origin of his amazing pills!

Read it here .:

Free Comics Monday: Monster Plus Monster

2009-06-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

After last Friday's League of Monster's preview, I thought it only fitting that I have a Monster themed Free Comics Monday today. And I can think of no better way to start it than to direct you attention to the a new free comic created by the Action Age crew - Monster Plus!

[ Check out Monster + ]

Written by Flashback Universe writer Chad Bowers and illustrated by Nathan Kroll, this is a fast, fun comic available in pdf, cbr and web comic format at the Action Age site.

Reaching back into the Golden Age vault, I find the perfect companion to Monster Plus in this comic from the Fiction House publishing company..Monster

!

[ Download Monster 1 ]

~ Enjoy!

More League of Monsters

2009-06-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

On the production side of things here at Flashback Universe, we've sort of hit a weird downtime. Gina is currently working on an iPod comic project, so she's tied up there and Pierre may be getting an animation job, so he might be sort of busy for the next few months. (Never sure how long those animation jobs last...)

However, Pierre is working hard on what he wants to be our next Zuda pitch - a League of Monsters story featuring the LoM vs The U-Bolts. Here is a scene from that proposal.

You can click it for a high rez version.

Pierre is also still working on our Kharon, Scourge of Atlantis comic, and we are about half way done with that comic.

Speaking of Kharon, check out this pinup image drawn by the awesome Chaz Truog and colored by Ray Chipp

Finally, if your a donator on the site, then you know we like to put Homages to old comic covers in our extras section. Here is one Pierre is working on now...

Have a great weekend!

Pierre Speaks: Making Comics - First Ladies

2009-06-03T04:23:00.000-07:00

I mentioned how I had some time to make some comics between my animated projects.

At first I figured that it could be a nice opportunity to get my name into print while I was waiting for my next animated project.

Through various sites like Digital Webbing, I applied or was contacted to work on various projects.

One of those was a project called “First Ladies”.

Sadly it does not take much for a project to go down the drain.

At some point after making various designs and rough sketches for the first 11 pages, I was told that the writer left the publisher with his project.

So no project, no name into print, and no share on future profits. One of the reasons why working for a share of future profits = working for free. But that will be the subject of a future Blog.

But I was asked to work on another project instead which will be the subject of my next Blog.

But here are some of the designs, a rough idea for the cover and a mock-up cover, and some rough sketches for some pages.

"Colony"

Cyborg

Lady Danger

Sanctuary

First Cover idea...

Final Cover

Pages 1 - 5

One of the things that I have learned through the years is that most people cannot “read”/understand a rough sketch. So I made some fairly “clean” drawings for the designs just in case.

Although after a while, once you make sure that the people you are collaborating with understand what you are doing… then you can try to show them some rougher sketches.

For example, when I started collaborating with Jim, not knowing what he was expecting, I was sending him some pretty finished drawings/designs at first. But once I was sure that Jim understood what I was doing and that he knew how the finished artwork could look like, then I could send him some rough sketches instead.

Why is it important??

Time is precious.

Making a rough sketch can save you some time as opposed to making a finished drawing.

If you spend 3 hours making a finished/fully rendered drawing, and that drawing gets rejected, you have wasted 3 hours of your time making that drawing.

But if you send a rough sketch where the intent that you have for the design is clear, and that sketch took you 15 minutes to do, if it gets rejected, you only lost 15 minutes.

So the less time you spend on a design that might end up being rejected, the more time you have to work on other designs, or work on making the comic pages themselves

And as we all know…. “Time is money”. ;)

Until next time.

Mister Crimson: Episode 33

2009-06-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

Mister Crimson Episode 33
In which we get our first look at the pills that give Mr. C his powers.
Check it out here .:

Free Comics Monday: Captain Marvel is Ready to Work!

2009-06-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

Running totally late today, so I'm going to skip the small talk and just present today's comics...

[ America's Greatest Comics 03 ]

[ America's Greatest Comics 04 ]

- Jim

An Interview the Creator of ComicZeal

2009-05-29T04:03:00.000-07:00

Today on Caine's Digital Comic Watch, we are happy to present to you an interview with one of the leaders of iPhone Comics Revolution, Emiliano Molina, creator of ComicZeal and ComicZeal Sync!

For people not familiar with ComicZeal, how would you describe it?

Hi Jim, thanks for the opportunity to talk to you and your readers. ComicZeal is a comic book reader for the iPhone. It allows users to take their digital comics with them and use the iPhone's fantastic interface to read comics in a very natural way.

What are some of the advantages of ComicZeal over some of your competitors?

ComicZeal is the most mature comic reader on the app store and we treat customer feedback very seriously. For our customers this means that ComicZeal is simply the most feature rich and easy to use comic reader on the App Store.

For example, we've spent a lot of time working on the behavior of the zoom and are quite comfortable in saying it's the best available. What makes a difference are little details like a double-tap switching between zoom out and the last zoom that the user selected, or maintaining the zoom level between pages.

A lot of users requested customizations for reading manga so we've implemented a feature where CZ detects if you're reading manga or a western-style comic and adjusts accordingly.

Recently we added the ability to take a screenshot so you can use an image in a comic as your iPhone wallpaper. A feature that only one customer ever requested, but it was so fantastic we just had to implement it.

What is ComicZeal Sync?

ComicZeal Sync is a companion program to ComicZeal that allows users to move their own digital comics into ComicZeal.

The iPhone is such a great device that it's sometimes easy to forget its limits. Early in the development of ComicZeal we experimented with moving full-size unprocessed comics to the device but found that it could just not handle the compression and size of those files without becoming unacceptably slow.

ComicZeal Sync processes images, cbr cbz and pdf files and converts them into a format that ComicZeal can easily handle. ComicZeal couldn't be as responsive or pleasant to use without it.

Does ComicZeal come with free content? How much?

Yes, thanks for asking! There are a couple of hundred comics that can be downloaded from within ComicZeal. One collection that I'm sure your readers will be familiar with is your very own 'Flashback Universe', the rest are a variety of Golden Age Comics.

How long have you been developing on the Apple/iPhone platform?

I'd been toying with the idea of developing for the Mac for a couple of years but never got past the initial learning curve. Then I got an iPod touch and was absolutely hooked on the possibilities of the device. So all up it's been about a year now.

How would you describe your experience selling apps via iTunes? Is there anything you would change?

I think that all developers for the iPhone will agree that the application approval process needs improvement. What we need most of all is consistent reviewers. It's very frustrating to submit an application and have it bounced for a feature of graphical item that's been there for months.

What features would you like to see Apple add to the iPod/iPhone devices?

The software update that's due sometime in the next few months is going to address a lot of items on my wish list. From a development point of view I'm very excited about the in-app purchase option which will open up new markets.

The truth is that the developers are still working out everything these devices can do. I'm not as excited about what new features Apple will add as I'm excited about what developers will come up with.

The huge user base of the devices and the obvious willingness of users to buy software for them means that even if the devices don't change, there will continue to be exciting developments for years and years to come.

What do you predict for the future of Apple devices? (An iTablet perhaps?)

Tablet? definitely. Apple clearly has all the components and technologies in place to make the form factor work. I've been predicting a tablet from them for years. I look sillier every year that passes, but it's getting close, my Apple sense is tingling.

The real enabler for that device is the operating system software that they've created for iPhone. The hardware for a tablet has been around for a long time, what has been lacking so far has been the software. With the iPhone Apple has shown that a tablet (even a tiny one) can work, and they've patented the heck out of it so that now it almost HAS to be Apple that delivers a successful device.

Obviously from the point of view of the comics industry, a popular and cheap tablet has the ability to bring millions of people to the format.

How long have you been reading comics?

As an adult, I've only been reading comics for a couple of years. I just didn't realize how many mature and intelligent stories were available only in that format. More importantly, I hadn't realized how many stories could ONLY be told through comics.

A co-worker bought me back into the fold when he brought into work the his 'Strikeforce: Morituri' collection. It took a while for me to get started but once I did I was hooked again.

So much fun, so many great stories.

What are some of your favorite comics recently?

I'v e tried and tried to get into the mainstream Marvel/DC comics but just haven't been able to. Superheroes haven't appealed to me very much.

As a huge science fiction fan I've been very impressed by 'Y: The last man' and 'Ministry of Space'.

All time favorite storyline/comic?

My most enjoyed series is definitely 'Y - The Last Man'. I'm often tempted to pick up the first TPB again but am reserving it for a special occasion. I also thoroughly enjoyed the first issue of 'Ministry of Space' but that's very much to do with the artwork, specifically the design of the ships.

Thank you Emil!

Have a great weekend!

Pierre Speaks: Jim Aparo

2009-05-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

Having just bought the volume 3 of the Brave and the Bold Showcase with some AWESOME artwork by the legendary Jim Aparo… of course I have to write a Blog about whom I think was the definitive Batman artist.

I know that many will argue against that.

To some, the definitive Batman artist is Neal Adams, although others may root for Marshall Rogers, or Tim Sale, or Jim Lee.

To me, it is Jim Aparo.

I loved his work and his interpretation of the Batman.

Ironically enough, for the longest time, I had only a handful of comics with his work in it.

Why that is?

Batman was translated in French in Belgium if I am not mistaken, but sometimes it would be available in Quebec. That is how I discovered Jim’s work in the Batman and Robin comic issue #44.

It was featuring amongst other tales “Death has the last laugh” which was originally featured in the Brave and the Bold #111.

Then the next issue I saw by Jim Aparo was Batman #84 (by then they had dropped the “and Robin” part of the title) with Mr. Miracle in “The Impossible Escape”, which was originally featured in the Brave and the Bold issue #112.

Huh???

How can this be??

Well it is something that sadly often happens when you read foreign translations of American comics.

The Batman and Robin comic was an odd mixture of stories from the Batman, Detective Comics, and The Brave and the Bold comic.

So thanks to that… for too long those were the only 2 comics I had drawn by Jim Aparo.

Heck for the longest time I had no idea who the artist behind such masterpieces was since too often in those comics, the credits were missing.

Until I started buying the American version of Batman which was, as fate would have it, Jim Aparo’s first issue. That was a good day. Loved that issue.

Then I got more Aparo goodness in “The greatest Batman stories ever told”. Although just one issue is by Aparo… I loved it.

Then I got “The greatest Joker stories ever told”. With my luck, it had “Death has the last laugh”, one of the few Jim Aparo stories I already had. Oh well.

Then I got “The greatest team-up stories ever told” with another tale by Aparo.

Then DC reprinted the “Wrath of the Specter”. Damn that was good. It was hard to believe that these tales were originally done more then 10 years before I read them.

Then in the early 2000s, the assistant director on a project I was working on was getting rid of a truckload of comics he had.

So I got the entire run of Jon Sable, Dreadstar, a truckload of Nexus comics, some The Maze Agency…

… and a pile of Brave and the Bold by Jim Aparo.

Now that was some great stuff. No longer did I have just a few Jim Aparo comics.

Life was good.

Then I managed to find a few Phantom comics he drew.

I even got my hands on a rare treat, “The Untold Legend of the Batman”. The first issue is penciled by none other then John Byrne inked by Jim Aparo.

And lately, I got the Phantom Stranger Showcase… and now…

The Brave and the Bold Showcases.

I would be tempted to say that Volume 3 features Jim Aparo’s best work. But then again I am still missing the work he did in Detective Comics (although I do have one issue) and surely a truckload of other comics.

For some reason, I seem to be one of the few Jim Aparo fans. I did not see many who were fans of his work.

Sadly to some, he seem to be little more then a lesser copy of Neal Adams, which might be why Jim Aparo does not get his own page in the book “The Great Comic Book Artists” by Ron Goulart. L Or that he barely gets mentioned in “Batman; The Complete History”.

I was heartbroken when I saw that book and that there was so little mention of the greatest Batman artist out there. : (

I can’t help but feel that his work has been greatly underappreciated. His work has been a great inspiration to me. His use of black, crosshatching and shadows to convey mood and atmosphere to a page is nothing short of breathtaking. And his work is even better in black and white.

Hopefully, others will be able to discover his work in the various black and white showcases in the years to come.

We shall see.

Here is a small homage to such a great artist.

Hope you guys will like it. ;)

Mr Crimsom Episode 32

2009-05-26T03:15:00.001-07:00

Mister Crimson Episode 32
In which our hero makes a plea for his pills

Read it here .: