Comic Books

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Illustrator and comic artist Andrew Skilleter has just launched an extensive new Facebook page based around the original art he created for the 1990s Gerry Anderson comics. Best known for his professional Doctor Who art, Andrew contributed many covers and pages, to the Gerry Anderson comics, Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90, edited by Alan Fennell in the early 1990s, including the illustration of the long running The Complete Thunderbirds Story. The Facebook page features scores of covers, strip pages and vivid centre spreads to be viewed and all the art is for sale. The page also features a full account of his involvement and links to relating sites, including a full Anderson centered interview with Andrew - plus some of his detailed pencil prelim drawings for the strips. The page will be regularly updated and will be of particular interest to the generation who grew up with the Fleetway Gerry Anderson comics of the early 1990s. "As a professional illustrator, I was busy with a flow of commissions including Doctor Who," Andrew tells us, " when I became aware of the new Thunderbirds comic and subsequently discovered that Alan Fennell, who had done such a superb job editing the legendary TV Century 21 comic, was the editor. I had grown up with a passion for the best of the British comic artists many of whom were featured in stunning full scale and colour in TV21. I loved strips and the world of magazine publishing. "And so began an enjoyable working relationship with Alan, producing covers for the Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 titles and illustrating virtually all of The Complete Thunderbirds Story written by Alan, and covers for a number of the Ravette reprint albums of TV21 strips. I was particularly please to have done the Scarlet cover for Ron Embleton’s strips. "Following the sad passing of Gerry Anderson there are plans by his son Jamie for new Anderson productions, a TV revival of Thunderbirds, Egmont’s plans to reprint material from the 1990s comics and a relaunch of Sylvia Anderson’s website, so this seems the best time to bring the full extent of my Anderson involvement to a wider public." • Facebook page: www.facebook.com/GerryAndersonArt.AndrewSkilleter • Andrew Skilleter's official web site: www.andrewskilleter.com or Facebook: www.facebook.com/artofandrewskilleter

Posted On Today at 02:45:27 am EDT by katefan [Reply] [Quote] [New] But the premise of Bucky's return was so outstandingly stupid that I have never been able to enjoy Brubaker's Captain America stuff.

Posted On Today at 02:43:56 am EDT by katefan [Reply] [Quote] [New]

Brazilian artist and writer Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) continues his Worlds of Aldebaran saga with Antares Episode 3, the (presumably) middle part of the third series of his incredibly alien tales of 22nd century interplanetary settlers and the beasts and plants they find on the worlds that they settle. While the main expedition to Antares 5 sets up a base camp, a second shuttle has crashed. The rescue party finds the survivors but loses its aircraft in the process and so the few survivors of both craft are now attempting to return to the base camp location - a journey of many months that they are ill prepared for. Kim Keller, her daughter Lynn, lover Mark Sorenson, and friend Mai Lan, are all part of this disparate group of survivors who have little food or room in the tracked truck that must be their home. As they skirt the huge forests of the continent that they are trapped on, they must try to avoid the more dangerous of the alien beasts they encounter. Antares is the third in Leo's Worlds Of Aldebaran sagas, the previous two of which, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, were serialised over five French albums each. Antares is currently up to Episode 4 in French (due to be published in English in August 2013) and so I would assume that this story will also be five albums long making this the middle point of the story. Episode 3 is very much a character piece in which we discover more about the group of survivors as they struggle to cope with the planet, the beasts that inhabit it, and the rest of their group as the vehicle slowly makes it way back to a base camp that isn't that keen on finding them. As ever Leo's imagination for alien flora and fauna is the highlight of each individual book and, despite being the 13th album of this overall series, this book is no exception with trees bearing transparent eggs and fast moving crustaceans that appear from nowhere. I enjoyed this one, as I have enjoyed all Leo's previous books, but I'm also very aware that that his sagas are often more than the sum of their parts. Individual books in the series can seem flat as apparently unrelated sequences build toward the bigger story and it can often be the fifth and final book in which everything falls into place and earlier encounters make sense. With Antares each book to date has ended on a puzzling cliffhanger, none of which have so far been explained, and Antares - Episode 3 is no different. It makes for a somewhat frustrating read when you know that the next book is not yet available however, once they are all available, I suspect that the same plot device will make them just as addictive, and as demanding of all being read in one sitting, as the two previous sets in the saga. There are more details of Antares (and Aldebaran and Betelgeuse) on the Cinebook website. Antares - Episode 4 is due to be published in August 2013. The downthetubes review of Antares - Episode 1 is here and Episode 2 here. There are more details of all Leo's books on The Worlds Of Aldebaran website (in French).

Hello Heroes! In this last Wednesday’s post of my top 5 comic book covers I gave a shout out to the Supergirl... Related posts: JUSTA LOTTA Cool Comic Book Covers – Top 5 Covers For March 6, 2013 JUSTA LOTTA Cool Comic Book Covers – Top 5 Covers For May 15, 2013 JUSTA LOTTA Cool Comic Book Covers – Top 5 Covers For Feb. 20, 2013

Hello Heroes! I have started collecting these Kotobukiya Bishoujo that are simply brilliant. They are sexy versions of various superheroes... Related posts: JUSTA LOTTA NEWS: Kotobukiya Reveals DC Comics Black Canary Bishoujo Statue Illustration JUSTA LOTTA FIGURES: Target’s Exclusive Iron Man 3 Super Hero Squad Set – Justa Lotta Repaints. JUSTA LOTTA VINYL: Pre-Order Conquest Comics Exclusive White Phoenix Funko POP!

Sorry I missed Friday's post, folks. Things have been very busy work-wise. If I can get through this week, I hope to turn a corner and get everything back to normal.But enough of that. Did you know that Spy Smasher was a very popular comic book character once upon a time? "No," you might say, "I don't believe you. You're a dirty liar! Why must you lie!??"But it's true. Spy Smasher was so popular in Captain Marvel's Whiz Comics that he got his own spin-off book. And like the good Captain, who is in every way better than Superham, Spy Smasher got some live-action adaptation. Thusly:So, I'm taking a look at Spy Smasher #1. It's public domain, so you can read it for yourself if you like. I don't particularly recommend it, but there you have it.So, anyway, I'd like to officially announce a new CMNS meme I like to call...And There It Is. (tm!)Okay, he's in his own apartment. Got that?Egad! There's an intruder in your apartment! What do you do?Why, you engage in proper social graces, of course:Really? You're the victim of a home invasion and this is your response?Oh, I see. So if it's a hot chick, we overlook that whole "felony" thing. Probably not too smart, because if she broke into your own home to confront you, she's probably gonna......And There It Is. (tm!)Meanwhile, our hero saves the President of the United States from harm:At least, we think so. I mean, it's just the guy's hand. Anyway, the President poses the inevitable question:Which once again brings me to the whole lackluster disguise issue. I suppose his disguise is better than the Phantom Lady's, but seriously. Look at this:You can see his entire face. I mean, that's Golden Age Starman level of ineffective identity concealment. And unlike Starman, he's got these goggles that might provide some level of disguise, but he's too lazy to pull them down. It's amazing to me how many Golden Age heroes waltzed around without any face coverage whatsoever.But you know what Spy Smasher couldn't do? Fly.What?Okay, first.... it's spelled "grammar." Heal thyself.Secondly, SPY SMASHER CAN'T FLY! WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?Now my head hurts. Anyway, I can't promise the frequency of posts this week, folks. Work is just going to be rough. Please think good thoughts, and I'll update when I can.See you soon!

Posted On Today at 12:24:41 am EDT by Reverend Meteor [Reply] [Quote] [New] Quote: BEN REILLY? I was looking at the upcoming Solicitations for August (I believe.), and it looks like in the Scarlet Spider books, they're going to bring back: BEN REILLY! Why Marvel, why? Are they really that low on ideas? Yeah, I know, Ben Reilly has a fanbase, but still, the Clone Saga almost ruined the Spidey franchise. Why open that can of worms again? To appease a few people? Ben Reilly is seriously better off staying dead. They killed him for a reason. Plus, his death actually CAN be as pivotal to Peter and impact him on a level akin to Captain Stacy, Gwen, etc. If other writers acknowledge it. But why on earth? Why Marvel, why? Can't ANYONE in comics stay dead anymore? Although I do like that Ock and Kaine are meeting up again, and that they're going to touch upon the fact that Kaine killed Ock. THAT should be interesting. I love Ben. I want him back. I like him more than Peter. But I don't really think he is coming back. There's a catch or something. They have teased us repeatedly about him coming back. This will be more of the same.

You've heard about all the best plots and art but here's a look at some other 'best' stuff that happened in comic books that may have been overlooked.