Comics and Fashion

Kevin Ward is a designer who mixes fashion with characters, his blog incorporates fun comic book style with a high fashion sensibility. I've fallen partially in love with him just based on his art work, but he seems like a nice guy as well. This San Francisco based designer has turned some of the biggest names in comic book characters (some that even a complete moron when it comes to comics will recognize), into fashion icons by creating fashion paintings based on those characters.

On the Cover - Jonathan Luna

This week in On the Cover we look at the amazingly talented Jonathan Luna. The Luna Brothers are first and foremost storytellers, and Jonathan's interior art reflects that. He is not flashy, just a good, solid story teller - an amazing sequential image artist. Jonathan Luna’s covers reflect that talent for storytelling, and he embodies the old adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’. Hit Read More... for some examples!

Cover Art 101 with Dave Johnson

I

came across this over at Comics Alliance: The celebrated cover artist of 100 Bullets, PunisherMAX, Detective Comics and many, many more great series, Dave Johnson knows what he's talking about when it comes to creating great comic book cover illustrations. Followers of Johnson's Twitter feed have been treated recently to the artist's variously provocative and fascinating insights into what he thinks makes or breaks a fine piece of cover art, showcasing with visual aids some "wins" and "fails" of the week's new comics. Response has been such that Johnson's actually created a new blog where he intends to go more in-depth, and in some cases has already edited some covers to demonstrate his points. The blog has only a couple of posts so far, but you can check out a helpful compilation of Johnson's previous Twitter activity after the cut. Read the rest at Comics Alliance.

Comic to Movie - Batman Redux

Paul Dini? David Goyer? No more Nolans.

Who will helm the franchise when Nolan ends it with Bane? This reality shtick was nice while it lasted. Nolan didn't target teens, else he'd make the suit with twilight nipples...he went after adults...it's dark and dreary.

Halloween Unmasking – The Influence of Classic Horror on the Superhero

Mysteriomaximus over at the International House of Geek writes about the influence horror has on superhero comics. “Horror is likely not what immediately jumps to mind when you think of superheroes. It may when you think of spandex, but not so much when the impossibly fit featured roles are wearing it. Yet when you really ponder the topic, it’s hard not to see the outcome that classic horror film characters like the Invisible Man had on megalomaniacal madmen like Dr. Doom and super villain clichés at large. Check out the spitting image of Pumpkinhead in the Timely Captain America #2, titled so politically correctly as “Ageless Orientals That Wouldn’t Die!” Horror is more tightly wrapped up in superheroes than the Living Mummy; it just takes an archaeologist to unearth it!”

All of These Things That Have Made Us

I came across this article over at The Comics Reporter and it was one of the best reads I’ve had in a long time. Awesome stuff. here’s an excerpt:
“You could do far worse than to build a lifetime of friendships with the people you meet in comics. Far, far worse. I'm not sure you could do much better. As much as I'm made uncomfortable by a vision of comics that lacks the comics themselves, a way of approaching the professional and artistic communities that could without blinking substitute designer baskets or arcade games or action figures for the comics medium, I understand the appeal of wanting to stay around smart, curious, kind and mostly forgiving people for as long as possible, even if one's passion for the art form fades.” Click here for the full article.

The Literary Worth of Comics

The debate about whether or not comics are a form of literature has raged on since the early 80’s, and a key component in the debate is trying to build criteria for literary worth. This is, in my opinion, a fruitless endeavour. Literary worth is purely subjective and determined not by criteria, but by personal importance. The academic perception of literary worth is very different, and it’s this academic perception that I wish to discuss. It generally takes three elements into account when attempting to determine worth in storytelling mediums.

Batman Reboot - Post Nolan by Renaldo Matadeen

Nolan has begun weaving the final threads of his trilogy. It was a reboot that took a lot by surprise and had us wondering if this usually secretive lad could pull it off. After films such as ‘The Prestige and Memento’ he had my vote…more because of his brother’s rep as a clean-cut, imaginative, high concept writer.