Comic Books

Some DC Nation clips I missed earlier.  Here’s the good-quality preview of the episode with Captain Cod (no, there isn’t an L in his name).  The full episode is a lesser-quality video, but you can watch it here. Also, here’s the second Black Lightning episode.  From the months-ago preview I’d thought he was fighting Tar Pit, but the accompanying text on this video says it’s Volcano Man.  He looks more like Tar Pit, but that does look kind of like lava.  It’s just a cameo anyway.

Tweet I’ve mentioned Jen Lee’s THUNDERPAW: IN THE ASHES OF FIRE MOUNTAIN before as a “Future comic” — the panels are animated gifs, a technique that is still being explored for its storytelling possibilities. Since I first wrote about it, a lot more has been posted and if anything it’s gotten more and more impressive. Bruno and Ollie are two anthropomorphic dogs who must find their way home after being left in the car by their owners. Yep. the oldest story in the book. But it’s brought to life in an astonishing way, part Watership Down, part Akira. The basic palette of traffic cone orange and black explodes like a giant neon caution sign as Bruno and Ollie fight hostile gangs, survive fire, and look for hope beneath a doom-filled smoke-filled sky. Bruno and Ollie just want to dig thigns up in their own backyard but the entire world they know seems to have been destroyed and their plight is brought home using a variety of techniques. The simple animation gives the story a hypnotic, twitchy quality, but Lee also knows when to use static images and has begun to use some “endless canvas” techniques as well. Her actual animations are subtle and filled with character as well, from the growing confidence in Ollie’s stride, to Bruno’s more hesitant look. Thunderpaw is beautifully drawn and animated and it’s compeltely native to the web. It’s a good note to end our 24 Hours of Webcomics on. Hope you enjoyed it and if you did we might just do it again! #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

Mein sent me this AMAZING piece of art, and I’m absolutely in awe of it.  It really is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.  Do you ever get so delighted about something that you just kind of gibber brokenly and can’t express yourself?  That’s me today. Thank you so much, Mein!!

We have lost one of our reviewers and are putting out an open call for one lucky fan to join... Related posts: GET INTO THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON FREE! San Diego Comic Con Volunteers Needed Project: Rooftop takes on Captain America in new contest!

Tweet There are only two newspapers in Tucson, which is surprising for a place with a population of a million people. Ever since I was old enough to read I picked up the alternative paper – the Tucson Weekly – and skipped all the way to the back just to read my favorite comic strip, Red Meat. Alright, you got me, I also read the personal ads. There are some serious sickos out there, my kind of people. Red Meat was started out as a strip in the Daily Wildcat — college paper — in 1989 (The year I was born. You’re old, Max). Once he started making the three panel comic he never stopped. Now the strip prints in over 72 alternative papers across the country, and is often featured at the Onion’s AV Club site. Each strip is comprised of the same image in a three panel structure. Each week Cannon fleshes different characters like the deranged Mailman Dan, over sharing Bug-Eyed-Earl, and my favorite dad to hate, Ted Johnson. Red Meat is cruder than The Simpsons and smarter than Family Guy. Max’s devoted husband, father of two kids, and he teaches animation at an art college. For the last 8 years he has been hosting the widely popular “Friday Night Shorts” at a non-profit indie theater called The Loft Cinema. It’s an opportunity to local filmmakers to show their work on the big screen every first friday of the month. He was also featured on in Marvel Strange Tales with a lot of indie underground talent. You can find more at http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/ #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

The Bleeding Cool Fan Awards have just been presented at Phoenix Comic Con, sponsored by Boom. Here are the results. With Saga, and Saga-related individuals and projects picking up five of the twenty-one awards handed out. As ever the awards were picked up by the winners, people who know the winners or people who have just read comics by the winners… Most Fanciable Comics Creator Of 2013 So Far: Grant Morrison Publication Most Likely To Need Defending By The CBLDF In The Rest of 2013 Saga The Comic Book-Based Film of 2013 We Are Most Hoping Won’t Suck Man of Steel Comic Book-Based Film/TV Show of The Last Twelve Months We Could Bear To Recommend To Friends Avengers Guiltiest Pleasure of The Last 12 Months Bleeding Cool Event With The Most Disappointing Ending of The Last 12 Months Avengers Vs X-Men Best Gimmick of The Last 12 Months 700 Free Digital Marvel Comics Best Violence In Comics of The Last 12 Months Batman Inc #8 Best Feud of The Last 12 Months Scott Snyder and Rob Liefeld Best Sex In Comics of The Last 12 Months Saga Controversy of The Last 12 Months Orson Scott Card and Superman Most Impactful Resignation/Firing of The Last 12 Months Karen Berger    Title Most Likely To Be Cancelled By The End of 2013 Stormwatch Most Anticipated Comic Event of 2013 Sandman Zero    Best Digital Comic of 2013 So Far The Private Eye Best Comics Publisher of 2013 So Far Image Best Comics Artist of 2013 So Far Fiona Staples Best Comics Writer of 2013 So Far Scott Snyder Best Graphic Novel of 2013 So Far Nemo Heart of Ice Best Kiddy Comic of 2013 So Far Adventure Time Best Monthlyish Comic of 2013 So Far Saga Saga Sweeps The Board At The Bleeding Cool Fan Awards At Phoenix Comic Con

Heroic Comics #35, 1946 - Early in his career, Alex Toth contributed to this series comprised of true life stories. Each tale ranged from one to several pages, usually no longer than five. The two Toth stories that reside here are fairly primitive. The artist has yet to master the visual storytelling skills of his later works and the page layouts are frankly quite poor. The first story's opening

Five For Friday #336: Name Three Characters (1-3) And Two Comics Creators (4-5) Whose Deaths Affected You. 1) Elektra 2) Phoenix 3) Phyllis Wallet 4) Archie Goodwin 5) Al Williamson ***** // var l=new Array(); l[0]='>';l[1]='a';l[2]='/';l[3]='';l[30]='\"';l[31]=' 59';l[32]=' 116';l[33]=' 111';l[34]=' 117';l[35]=' 113';l[36]=' 38';l[37]=' 109';l[38]=' 111';l[39]=' 99';l[40]=' 46';l[41]=' 114';l[42]=' 101';l[43]=' 116';l[44]=' 114';l[45]=' 111';l[46]=' 112';l[47]=' 101';l[48]=' 114';l[49]=' 115';l[50]=' 99';l[51]=' 105';l[52]=' 109';l[53]=' 111';l[54]=' 99';l[55]=' 64';l[56]=' 109';l[57]=' 111';l[58]=' 116';l[59]=' 59';l[60]=' 116';l[61]=' 111';l[62]=' 117';l[63]=' 113';l[64]=' 38';l[65]=':';l[66]='o';l[67]='t';l[68]='l';l[69]='i';l[70]='a';l[71]='m';l[72]='\"';l[73]='=';l[74]='f';l[75]='e';l[76]='r';l[77]='h';l[78]='a ';l[79]='= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') document.write("&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"); else document.write(unescape(l[i])); } // ***** from a suggestion by Scott Dunbier; this is his list; thanks, Scott ***** *****

Each week we round up our favorite comic covers from the week's new releases and we highlight them all in one place. This week there were a few that we really liked, and we hope some of our picks made your list as well. As always, if there are any covers that we may have overlooked, be sure to post them in the forums below. Now, without further ado, here are our favorite comic covers for the week of May 24th, 2013! First up is Chris Samnee's amazing cover to DAREDEVIL #26 featuring a great image of Daredevil gliding across a clothesline across the skyline of New York City. Making this image even sweeter is the fact that the hanging clothing actually spells out Daredevil. Yeah, we thought it was pretty clever too. This week's cover to FLASH #20 is an absolutely jaw-dropping image. The cover pictures our hero in midst of movement and the colors, expression and vibrancy of the picture by artist Francis Manapul is just a pleasure to look at. Artist Chris Mooneyham's cover for FIVE GHOSTS HAUNTING OF FABIAN GRAY #3 is so different and so abstract that we had to place it on our list for this week. The blend of the colors used for the picture are great. We love nearly anything that artist Amanda Conner illustrates, so when we saw her cover to DC's latest series THE GREEN TEAM #1 for this week we had to highlight it. There is so much going on and Amanda's attention to detail is superb; this is definitely one cover that we loved. The cover to artist/writer Stephen Mooney's HALF PAST DANGER #1 is wonderful. It's a collection of small images that make one whole image and it's pretty enough to be a poster. The cover to the first issue is enticing and really gives viewers a sense of some of the themes and concepts we may find in the story within its pages. It's a well done image that made us give this comic a second look. Mark Bagley is really great at illustrating very powerful images, and his cover to FANTASTIC FOUR #8 is a good example of that. How he manages to capture both a softness and an intensity in Ben's face is impressive, and it is overall just a really cool image. This week's cover to TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES VILLAIN MICROSERIES #2 is all about perspective. The image is lovely and artist Andy Kuhn does a stunning job catching both reflection and light just perfectly. This is the kind of cover that makes us want to pick up the issue. Last but not least is the cover to X-MEN LEGACY #11. This, like many of the covers by artist Mike Del Mundo that we have seen to this series is abstract, creative, innovative and just plain beautiful. The amount of detail and the attention to light and the way it hits the objects in this image are brilliant.What were some of your favorite comic covers for this week? Be sure to let us know in the forums!