Art Attack: August 2013's Coolest Covers

-I dig that take on Brother Blood by Francis Portela. It maintains the classic coloring and basic design of the classic George Perez but streamlines it a bit; plus while I have a soft spot for the original black-accented mask, amping up the skeleton crown instead is ominous and puts the character in line for a book like Animal Man. Portela definitely captured a creepy sense of glee here.

-Can't get enough 8-Bit variant covers. It makes a special amount of sense on Avengers Arena. Darkhawk and Mettle were born to be old school video game characters. Can whoever did that Adobo game look into something with Darkhawk?

-Love Chris Samnee's Silver Surfer! That's the type of smooth, sleek figure Samnee excels at, plus he does the crackling power effect in a neat kind of way. But what I dig more than simply the Surfer is how he contrasts getting dropped into the urban setting against a different figure like Daredevil. I believe Javier Rodriguez did the colors here (apologies if I'm mistaken) and he really sells it with the pale blue background, the stark red DD and the simple silver of the Surfer.

-As inventive as Mike Del Mundo's X-Men Legacy covers have been, that Deadpool Kills Deadpool one makes me chuckle.

-Did Dan Brereton just draw my dream Halloween costume for this year on Dream Thief #4?

-Mark Brooks continues his duel with the aforementioned Mr. Del Mundo for cover artist of the year in my view. Extra points for presumably being able to use recycled material for a new Fearless Defenders piece (although knowing him he may have created all-new design sketches).

-That Indestructible Hulk cover by Mukesh Singh sure does look like a lot of fun, doesn't it? Keep an eye on this guy.

-Just when you think Skottie Young has peaked on his variant covers (not really), he brings a Thanos video game console--which I now want to be real!--into the mix for Infinity.

-KISS Kids by Bruce Timm? Ok!

-I can always use more Jerry Ordway in my life. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is, of course, a perfect property for him, with colorful costumes and timeless designs. I had many great exchanges with the kind and talented Mr. Ordway when I was covering Infinite Crisis for Wizard back in the day and he sent me his full runs on Infinity Inc. and All-Star Squadron, so I'm indebted to the gent.

-The cover to Ultimate Comics Ultimates #29 by Michael Komarck has been my desktop screensaver at work for awhile now. Neat way to depict Quicksilver's powers in action.

-Declan Shalvey's Venom covers are a higher degree of art.

100 BULLETS: BROTHER LONO #3 by Dave Johnson

ANIMAL MAN #23 by Francis Portela

ASTONISHING X-MEN #65 by Phil Noto

AVENGERS ARENA #14 8-Bit Variant

BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #1 by Dustin Nguyen

BATMAN INCORPORATED SPECIAL #1 by Chris Burnham

BATWOMAN #23 by J.H. Williams III

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9 #24 by Georges Jeanty

BURN THE ORPHANAGE: BORN TO LOSE #1 by Sina Grace

DAREDEVIL #30 by Chris Samnee

DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL #2 by Michael Del Mundo

DREAM THIEF #4 by Dan Brereton

EARTH 2 #15 by Juan Doe

FATALE #17 by Sean Phillips

FEARLESS DEFENDERS #8 by Mark Brooks

HAWKEYE #14 by David Aja

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #12 by Mukesh Singh

INFINITY #1 by Skottie Young

INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #5 by Todd Nauck

KISS KIDS #1 by Bruce Timm

MICE TEMPLAR IV: LEGEND #6 by Skottie Young

SCARLET SPIDER #20 by Ryan Stegman

SKULLKICKERS #24 by Edwin Huang & Jim Zub

SWAMP THING #23 by Guillem March

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #1 by Jerry Ordway

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #29 by Michael Komarck

UNCANNY X-FORCE #10 by Kris Anka

VENOM #39 by Declan Shalvey

WONDER WOMAN #23 by Cliff Chiang

X-MEN #4 by Terry Dodson

Five Comics Worth Reading - November 2011

ANGEL & FAITH
There’s a longer post to be written about this, I’m sure, but while I recognize that pound-for-pound Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a stronger TV series than Angel was, I always had a soft spot for the latter, often over the former, probably in large part because I watched both when I was in college, so supernatural aspects aside the “brooding young man with an old soul striking out in the world” motif resonated more with me at the time than “young girl and her friends finding themselves post-high school” for whatever reason (don’t get me wrong, I loved both). Now, once again, while I dig the Buffy Season Nine comic, I think I’m enjoying Angel & Faith that much more, not just because one has a prominent male protagonist though, it’s just well-done and exploring fresh ground. Aside from his Angelus periods, Angel has always been the stoic mentor, from his earliest appearance on Buffy guiding her into the world she’s embracing to leading his team on his own show, only really losing that control when he goes full evil. Conversely, Faith has always been the protégé in need of redemption, whether from Buffy, Giles or Angel himself. Here, Christos Gage is establishing a new dynamic where a reluctantly responsible Faith must look out not only for a band of neophyte slayers, but a penitent Angel, who is not just heaping his usual self guilt on for recent actions, but getting reckless without turning bad in his desperation to make things right. The plot is tight, but it’s getting to see both leads so out of their comfort zones and the characterization gold Gage is skillfully mining that makes this book tick. Rebekah Isaacs is also doing a slick job on art, walking that line between depicting characters with real life counterparts and finding ways to still own them yourselves.

BATMAN
This is probably the most dense comic I pick up, and I mean that as a total compliment. Some books I breeze through, but not Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman, which I need to really pore over to appreciate every detail and development. The fact is, Batman has been around going on seven or eight decades now, and I don’t have much interest in most stories directly tackling his mindset or stuff of that nature because they’ve all been done to some extent. What does get me going is what Snyder is doing, and that’s focusing on the mythology of Gotham City or the Wayne legacy, making Batman the explorer rather than the discovery and in the process adding layers to the character as he builds the world around him. Snyder’s enthusiasm for the minutiae of detective work, forensics, or even architecture make the stories pop as it really is an almost interactive adventure you can follow rather than just having to be a passive observer of guys in spandex kicking and punching (though there is that too). He’s doing a nice job integrating the various generations of supporting cast as well as adding his own creations, again making Gotham feel like a living and evolving organism. I was a big mark for Capullo’s X-Force as a kid, so it’s cool to see him back with quite a few years experience and refinement under his belt knocking out dark, beautiful work that also has some nice bounce to it.

THE FLASH
I may have to rethink my top five Flash artists, because honestly, few people have ever captured the pure energy of the concept in my mind like Francis Manapul has. Other guys may have conveyed speed better or drawn better figures and fight scenes, but I can’t think of anybody whose work at its essence feels like it is the burst of light, movement and pure joy I think of better than Manapul and Steve Buccalleto’s. The innovation and verve they bring to the visual aspect of The Flash undeniable, but as anybody who has read this blog for a little while knows, the real challenge is getting me to even tolerate Barry Allen; well, I’m still not the guy’s biggest supporter and can argue why he shouldn’t be wearing the red and yellow with the best of them, but I’m slowly coming around to some degree. I believe few characters have benefitted from the DC re-launch quite like Barry, as the removal of his Crisis sacrifice status as well as the Silver Age albatross of moral boredom goes a ways toward giving him a shot at being a likable protagonist. Right now, Manapul and Buccaletto’s art is so strong and their story hooks have enough pop that I’m going to try to like Barry Allen—I can give few higher compliments.

MAGNETO: NOT A HERO
There are few characters in comics more interesting and complex than Magneto. His actions make him an ostensible villain, but it’s hard to argue with his justification. At his best, he invokes conflict in readers where you’re torn between rooting against his evil plots but for his gaining vengeance for past atrocities. At his best he is also more charismatic than brutal as far as “bad guys” go; you perhaps want him to reform—and are disappointed when he ultimately can’t—but there’s also that part of you that enjoys his wicked streak. Skottie Young—best known for his exquisite art but rocking his writing muscles here—captures all of this, every last bit, in this series. He gives you Magneto the philosopher, arguing his case for why any means really are necessary, but also throws enough cold inhumanity behind those words that you question your support almost immediately. He plays with the idea of the character’s reformation, both how possible it is and even if it’s necessarily right or needed. He explores all sides of Magneto, from the ruthless and violent crusader who tears through human lives to the eyebrow-raising rogue who mocks Iron Man’s rubber suit of armor. It’s a fascinating character study from start to finish just in issue one, but there’s also great action, an intriguing mystery and skillful use of continuity and the concept of the shared universe; again, for a guy who has made most of his name drawing beautiful pictures, Skottie Young has incredible skill and finesse as a writer. He also doesn’t need to fret over the visuals for this book, as Clay Mann turns in his finest work to date; as my friend and co-worker Ryan noted, the level of detail he puts just into one of Magneto’s boots blows you away to the point where when you get the full figure it’s just something else.

SIX GUNS
Whereas once upon a time young Ben Morse could not stand for any other genres to get mixed in with his super hero comics the same way he freaked out if a mushroom found its way into his soup, I’ve matured and reversed my position on both, allowing me to enjoy my wife’s delicious fried mushrooms as well as a great books like Six Guns. This series isn’t just a Western done in modern times or within a world with guys who can fly, it’s a mash-up of a noir story, a crime procedural, a mystery and straight action with the sensibilities of cowboy lore driving it. It reminds me a little bit of 100 Bullets in some regards—high praise—but with its own distinctive flavor to be sure. Andy Diggle is a master of taking tropes like sci fi or Western and knowing not only where to take a sharp turn in a new direction but also where to not fix what ain’t broke; Six Guns delivers fun stuff you’d expect from a story about cowboys, bikers and other thugs trying to out-tough one another, but it’s also smart in where it diverges. There are only the most tangential ties to the Marvel Universe in the form of the female Tarantula being a player and somebody who would seem to be a modern Two-Gun Kid showing up at the end of issue #2, but it’s enough to give a cool edge for a fan. Davide Gianfelice is in the zone on art and this certainly seems like the stuff he was born to draw. He’s seamless when it comes to bad looking dudes, hot ladies, nice bikes and dirty action—everything a book like this needs.

I Got All The Comics: Kiel's FCBD 2010

Okay. So maybe I didn't get ALL of the comics literally, but on this year's Free Comic Book Day, I went all out and tried to do as much as I possibly could, and as a result I ended up nabbing 17 of the 33 issues published as part of the annual comics holiday. If you couldn't tell from my reminiscing last year or my outright promotion of previous FCBDs, I'm a big supporter of the event from all sorts of angles including the hopeful potential it holds for expanding awareness of both the medium and the Direct Market, the boring businessy way in a journo wank like me can watch publishers leverage their giveaways into awareness amongst comics core readers and the plain old school joy of hanging in a comic shop all day shooting the shit with fellow fans.

I ramped up for Saturday by lining up a mega-roundup of FCBD previews and events for CBR as well as writing a short feature on Arizona retailer Mike Malve's plans for the day and his participation in the "Kick-Ass" movie as a comics promotion tool (and I guess I did some sideline reporting as part of the site's CBR Live! coverage, which you should all scroll through), but I'm not beneath putting it out there that once the day actually came all I really cared about was seeing as many shops as I could and getting as many free comics as possible. Luckily, while Chicago may not be a comics creative community/publisher juggernaut in the way towns like New York, LA or Portland are, the city has got to be one of if not the very best comics retail towns in America, and in hitting five shops I only scratched the surface of what the Chi offers on FCBD or any Wednesday in the calendar.


I started my day off by heading to The Comic Vault, which I chose as my first stop because they were advertising free giveaway bags for the first 50 customers, and I'm a sucker for more free shit than I deserve. Getting there a half hour after opening, I was WAY behind my shot at a goodie bag, but I did happen to bump into my buddy and fellow CBR staffer Shaun Manning who was leaving with a handful of books (see up there?). Shaun said The Vault had a line out the door when he arrived, so bully for them on spreading the word.


I'm not 100% on this, but The Comic Vault may be the closest comic shop to my apartment, though I rarely get over to its Montrose and Clark location because traveling from 94 toward the lake on any Chicago street can be kind of a pain in the ass. Still, the few times I've stopped by the store for an event, the thing that's really struck me about the shop is the uncountable legion of teenage workers who man the store asking kindly if I know what the day's specials are. If there was a comic store in my area when I was in high school that would pay me in any way shape or form to hang out with a bunch of other nerds all day explaining the ins and outs of our hobby to strangers, my mother would have to call in a missing persons report because I would never have left. Good to see a such a young, dedicated crowd of readers.


The other really noteworthy thing about this store is how dedicated they seem to be towards single issues for a shop that's relatively new to the scene (they've been open about four years). There's a trade section at The Vault like in any other modern shop, but the wall space around the room is anchored on recent floppies which all come pre-bagged and boarded. You can tell that this place's bread and butter is the Wednesday warrior crowd, for sure. And as you can see above, that mentality extended to FCBD as The Vault was probably the only shop I went to that kept damn near every available book for the event well in stock, allowing me to get my hands on a few offerings I was interested in that I thought I might miss like Mike Raicht's new The Stuff of Legend/Mortal Instruments flipbook, Brandon Jerwa's Storm Lion (which I forgot he'd done until I saw his name on the cover and which you can download for your iPhone here) and Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's superb new Oni series The Sixth Gun.


After stopping by to chat up my FCBD compadre Kegmeister (who couldn't do much shopping with me this year because he had to bartend his way through a brutal Cubs homestand), I made my way downtown to Chicago's Magnificent Mile and the city's longstanding retail anchor Graham Cracker Comics. I chose that stop on the expansive chain of Graham stores because they had Mouse Guard creator (and fellow Flint, Michigan native) David Petersen signing books. Best moment of the stop? While I chatted up Petersen for a minute about C2E2 (which I never got to blog about because my computer melted down during the show), a guy asked him to sign an issue of Iron Man. Rather than merely turn the comics neophyte away because he didn't want to autograph a book he didn't work on, David drew a rad little mustache on Tony Stark's alter ego. It was really pretty cute.

You know, even though I had the pleasure of attending two FCBD events featuring artists who actually had books out as part of the promotion, it really has to be said that having any creator sign at your store (The Vault had a massive lineup of local cartoonists with mini comics) is the basic promotion I'd recommend for any shop that has a local creator who can sit for a few hours with pen in hand and smile on face. Beyond the pull of getting your regulars out to meet someone whose work they admire in the way any signing does, I expect that having a creator on hand for FCBD adds that little extra zing of excitement for first time comic shoppers who beyond getting a free taste of the medium get to marvel at someone drawing something and ask questions like, "So do you make all the little bubble for the words too?"


Speaking of signings, I made it to my third stop – Dark Tower Comics – just in time to see one with Chicago-area artists Tim Seeley and Skottie Young wrap up. Seeley was on his way to another signing in the norther 'burbs, but I got to hang out for a while and talk about comics retail with Young, Jose Capetillo and the store's owner Mark. That's a really nice, old school comic shop, by the way. I'd been there once before when I did a guest spot on the late, great Around Comics podcast, but I'd never had a chance to really look through it until Saturday. A LOT of dollar comics (I got this one and this one), but Mark stocks up strong with as many varieties of trades and OGNs as you can imagine as well as all sorts of comic shoppy ancilary products. While we were standing there, some guy bought one of those hella expensive Marvel Bowen busts (a Green Goblin one), which always shocks me because I can't imagine paying 50 or 75 bucks or whatever for a superhero statue.

Oh, and just like The Comic Vault had its take on FCBD with its massive wall of everything, I should note that both Dark Tower and Graham Crackers took their own track for what comics to get and how to distribute them. Dark Tower did what I've seen a lot of bigger shops do, setting up a free comics table on your way out the door where a staff member would help you pick out a few choices to get with whatever you got while shopping. And for what it's worth, their selection seemed more focused on the kid-friendliest comics of the bunch while Graham's was a mix of the DM staples from Marvel, DC and the other big publishers while also having a metric ton of Mouse Guard for Petersen to sign. While it's great that there are 33 comics available for distribution, I always find it telling what specific kinds of free comics the stores put in for and how they arrange those titles on day of. Says a lot about who they think the days is for or who they find comes in.


That afternoon, I made my way over to what I thought would be my last stop of the day: my regular Wednesday home of Challenger's Comics. Store owners Pat and Dale looked a little harried, and by the looks of the free comic rack right out front, they'd had a lot of foot traffic coming through. I like the store's general approach to comics retail a lot as Challenger's is a clean, friendly space anchored by book shelves that run DEEP in the variety of material without skimping on the week-in, week-out single issue stuff. This was my second year stopping by the store for Free Comic Book Day, and like last year, their selection seemed heavily focused on stuff that would be good for newer, younger readers...including the DC Comics kids offering featuring a story drawn by neighborhood artist Mike Norton who was signing books and leading a small dance party while I was there.


In addition, Challenger's event served as (I believe) the debut for kid fantasy series Verum Corpus by writer Josh Emmons and artist Katie Cook. The first issue had been printed up just for the day, and both Emmons and Cook were on hand to sign and sketch for the kids along with Norton. I may be totally wrong about this, but I could easily see that kind of "comic created just for one shop on FCBD" launch becoming a regular thing for web cartoonists and other small press folks. Certainly got me to check the book out, and it looks like really fun stuff. I didn't get to chat up at all because she were talking to Petersen (who apparently followed me over), but Emmons seemed super excited about everything.


Two other things of note from Challenger's:

1 - The two-piece nerd rock outfit Wednesday Heroes was on hand and recording personalized songs about any comic of your choice which they'd then burn to disc for you to take home with your free comics. I actually think one of the guys wasn't super into comics as much as he was into rocking, but everyone seemed happy with the tunes they were pumping out.

2 - Challenger's employee Ashley was rocking the same new Scott Pilgrim shirt as me because apparently we're the two raddest people in Chicago, and somewhere on the interwebs there's probably a fun picture of the pair of us showing off the full Bryan Lee O'Malley bass spread, but Lord knows I don't have it.


I swear to God I was more than satisfied with my Free Comic Book Day at that point and after saying goodbye to the gang at Challengers, I took off for home. But after I decided to take a detour on the East side of the city while heading north both to avoid the traffic on 94 and check out some neighborhoods for a possible move, I totally drove by Chicago Comics on accident. As Alex Ross once told me, Chicago Comics is the store worth going to because "they just have everything" and holy shit, it's so hard to walk around that place without spending obscene amounts of money (Rickey, you'd die there, bro). I fought hard and won the battle not to buy that Russell Davies book about writing "Doctor Who" I hear is so good, but I may go back and get it once I finish watching all his episodes of the series. Anyway, the store ended up being the perfect spot to end my day as the staff had taped up copies of the FCBD offerings in front of their checkout counter, and by the day's end I was lucky enough that out of the books they had left were two that I really wanted just to read for fun and not for work: Drawn & Quarterly's John Stanley sampler and the totally sick Jim Woodring Weathercraft book from Fantagraphics. How many totally unsuspecting people do you think nabbed copies of these completely different yet completely brilliant comics this weekend? It blows my mind a little.


Wow. Writing that all out made me almost as tired as living it. After this long, rambly rundown of what I did, I'm not sure there's a real takeaway I can give for Free Comic Book Day except that it's still a great day for the medium and it's main sales outlet and that one of the things I enjoy the most about how the holiday works is how pliable it is in providing readers with experiences unique to comic shop shopping. Ultimately, there are thousands of different ways to celebrate FCBD, and at least in my neighborhood, the retailers seems to be doing their best to give people a reason to come out.

How'd your day go?