Back with some comic updates and talk.
The first page of the Randall Relaunch is inked. Two more pages to go, I’ll be coloring this one, so I want to take my time with that. I’m not a huge fan of coloring comics, I find it a little boring and tedious, but I’m hoping to do something fun with this one, something much different than the spotty job I did with the old Randall.
In the meantime, I’m working on the latest NYComix. I’m trying to add as much texture and detail to this NYComix as I can. So, as with Randall, I’m taking my time with it. Stay tuned and thanks for bearing with this rather long drought of no new comix.
And Ereisa and I will finally finish the mural tonight. We went a shade over 3 weeks. At first we planned on finishing in two and we basically did finish the mural in that time, but another piece in the office added the extra week. Look for pictures of the mural later this week.
I picked up a few comics last week as well.
Tricked by Alex Robinson
I absolutely loved Robinson’s last graphic novel, Box Office Poison. So I was really looking forward to Tricked. Unfortunately, I must say I didn’t dig Tricked as much. I had a hard time connecting to the music storyline, I found a lot of the characters unlikable and the characters I did like weren’t in the book enough. But, being that I loved BOP so much, I’m looking forward to Robinson’s next book.
Savage Dragon #0 “The Origin Issue”
One of the best Origin stories I’ve ever read. If Larsen ever decides to end the Dragon comic, he’s got a potential whopper of a storyline if he chooses to connect it to this origin story. It’s only a $1.95 so go pick it up.
The Goon #16.
I finally found this issue. It was sold out at Midtown comics, luckily I found the lone issue sitting on the shelf at Jim Hanley’s. As always, this comic kicks ass. You’re probably sick of me talking about how great it is, so I’ll stop.
Batman #655
The first issue of the Grant Morrison/Andy Kuburt run. I can’t believe where my mainstream comic tastes have gone. I’ve been a lifetime Marvel zombie, only reading DC comics when I got one for free or the art looked interesting. Now I don’t read any Marvel books and my 2 fave mainstream comics are both by Grant Morrison. A writer whose esoteric work used to annoy the crap out of me. All Star Superman and now Batman. This latest issue of Batman was just a fun issue with a great cliffhanger. Throw in some great art by Kuburt and I’m on board with this book for a while. AS Superman is a little different, but I’m digging what Morrison is doing with telling the story really fast, almost making the reader draw conclusions and put the story together as you go. I’ll take that any day over the decompression jazz we’re seeing so much of lately.
That’s it. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.
--Randy
Monday, July 31, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Howard Chaykin
I’ve never read a Howard Chaykin comic, but I love his art. I just haven’t gotten around to reading any of his stuff. If any of you out there have any suggestions as to where is a good place to start, let me know. I heard American Flagg was great.
Over at Starwars.com they have an original 1977 poster by Chaykin available for download. Cool as hell.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Reviews
I mentioned earlier that Ereisa and I have been working on a mural in Midtown Manhattan. We’ve been working on it for about 6 days now, all this after we work our regular jobs, and we’re about 75% done. I can’t wait to post the pictures of the finished mural. I think it looks pretty damn cool.
On the way to the mural I stopped by the comic shop for the first time in weeks. For those of you who’ve never been to Midtown comics in Times Square, going there on a Wednesday is like entering a total madhouse. You can barely get up to the shelves to grab a book. So as a follow up to my top five all-time comics last Blog, I’ve actually got some comics to review. Here goes…
1. The Goon #18
Far and away my favorite comic on the shelves today. Great writing, amazing art and a hilarious letter’s page. Plus a sweet pin-up by Mike Allred and a fun back-story.
2. The Escapists
A cool comic for a buck. I picked up one issue of the previous Escapist comic, but they were like 6 bucks a pop, so at that price, I dropped it. This relaunch is supposed to be at regular comic price, so with writing by Brian K. Vaughan and cool art by Philip Bond, you can’t go wrong. If you enjoyed by book by Michael Chabon, give this comic a shot.
3. Savage Dragon #127
Constantly one of the best superhero comics on the shelves. Erik Larsen now does all the art chores from writing to hand lettering. The Mr. Glum story has been a blast. If you’re tired of boring, drawn out stories about 2 heroes sipping coffee in a diner for 3 issues, pick up an issue of Dragon, it’s good ol’ superhero fun.
4. Eternals
I gave this a shot because of Romita Jr.’s art and because it’s a story created by Jack Kirby. I’ve never read a Neil Gaiman book… no Sandman, I tried the 1602 (I think that was the name) book he did a while back and I couldn’t get though it… just too darn slow for me. Unfortunately, this one is going the same way for me. The art is fantastic, I loved it, but I just don’t have the patience for a long story-setup. Sounds bad and I know Gaiman is a god among many comic fans, but it’s just not for me.
I’ve come to realize that I’m just into the recent trend in comics. I don’t know if it’s people writing for Trades or the influx of movie/television creators writing comics or whatever, but I grew up on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Two seconds into Star Wars and we had a space battle and Three minutes later Darth Vader was kicking ass and we didn’t even know his name. Indiana Jones was in a cave after some gold statue and was running away from a giant rock before you settled into your seat. These are the kind of stories I like… give me action and let me put the pieces together as we go. “Hook ‘em early and often” I say. You’re probably reading this, Jared, I’d love to hear what you think of this stuff.
I’ll finish up with a picture I snapped in Soho last Saturday…
Thanks for Readin’.
--Gent
On the way to the mural I stopped by the comic shop for the first time in weeks. For those of you who’ve never been to Midtown comics in Times Square, going there on a Wednesday is like entering a total madhouse. You can barely get up to the shelves to grab a book. So as a follow up to my top five all-time comics last Blog, I’ve actually got some comics to review. Here goes…
1. The Goon #18
Far and away my favorite comic on the shelves today. Great writing, amazing art and a hilarious letter’s page. Plus a sweet pin-up by Mike Allred and a fun back-story.
2. The Escapists
A cool comic for a buck. I picked up one issue of the previous Escapist comic, but they were like 6 bucks a pop, so at that price, I dropped it. This relaunch is supposed to be at regular comic price, so with writing by Brian K. Vaughan and cool art by Philip Bond, you can’t go wrong. If you enjoyed by book by Michael Chabon, give this comic a shot.
3. Savage Dragon #127
Constantly one of the best superhero comics on the shelves. Erik Larsen now does all the art chores from writing to hand lettering. The Mr. Glum story has been a blast. If you’re tired of boring, drawn out stories about 2 heroes sipping coffee in a diner for 3 issues, pick up an issue of Dragon, it’s good ol’ superhero fun.
4. Eternals
I gave this a shot because of Romita Jr.’s art and because it’s a story created by Jack Kirby. I’ve never read a Neil Gaiman book… no Sandman, I tried the 1602 (I think that was the name) book he did a while back and I couldn’t get though it… just too darn slow for me. Unfortunately, this one is going the same way for me. The art is fantastic, I loved it, but I just don’t have the patience for a long story-setup. Sounds bad and I know Gaiman is a god among many comic fans, but it’s just not for me.
I’ve come to realize that I’m just into the recent trend in comics. I don’t know if it’s people writing for Trades or the influx of movie/television creators writing comics or whatever, but I grew up on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Two seconds into Star Wars and we had a space battle and Three minutes later Darth Vader was kicking ass and we didn’t even know his name. Indiana Jones was in a cave after some gold statue and was running away from a giant rock before you settled into your seat. These are the kind of stories I like… give me action and let me put the pieces together as we go. “Hook ‘em early and often” I say. You’re probably reading this, Jared, I’d love to hear what you think of this stuff.
I’ll finish up with a picture I snapped in Soho last Saturday…
Thanks for Readin’.
--Gent
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Random Randomness
One problem I’ve always had with my work is my inability to stick with the same thing for too long. I’ll always come back to it, but I need another project to keep my interest up.
Right now I have 3 scripts written for 3 different comics. Randall, NYComix and a graphic novel. Three panels of the 1st page of Randall are penciled. NYComix is written but needs to be tweaked and ran by my “editor”. I’m writing the graphic novel in script format. I don’t want to worry about panel layouts; they just slow me down, so I’m around 50 pages into the story… with probably another 50 to go. On top of all this, I’m working on my first mural with Ereisa. The mural is in an office in Manhattan and we’re probably halfway done with it. It’s a blast; I’m enjoying it so much.
On top of all this I still have my usually lettering workload. Needless to say, I’m exhausted. My schedule has basically been working from 8-5, then heading into Manhattan to work on the mural from 6 to 9. It’s been that way for a week and it’ll stay that way for at least a week more.
I wish I had some comic reviews to do, but I haven’t bought a new comic in weeks. I’ve been re-reading Sin City on the way into Manhattan and that comic is so insanely good. So if you haven’t read Sin City, go pick some up. They released them in neat little Trade Paperbacks and they’re easily in my Top 5 favorite comics of all-time. Maybe even my in my Top 3… Drumroll...
1. Amazing Spider-Man #26-27
The Man in the Crime-Master's Mask
From July of 1965 this is the comic that got me into comics. At 2 issues long and about 40 pages long Stan Lee and Steve Ditko crammed more fun, action, drama and teen angst into this storyline than damn near every comic writer today could thinly spread into a 12 issue run. It’s got classic Peter Parker drama, Spidey Action, a faulty costume, the Green Goblin, mystery, crime noir, and everything you’d expect from a Stan Lee written comic. My brother had a reprint of this storyline and I couldn’t get enough of it.
2. The Goon
The only “mainstream” comic made today that you’ll see on my list. Eric Powell is the best writer/artist working in comics today. The Goon, like the early Spidey stuff, is full of action, fun, great storyline, and laugh out loud humor. Powell is doing comics his own way with his own characters. Great stuff that I read over and over again.
3. Sin City
As I mentioned earlier, this is another comic that I can read again and again and enjoy if more every time. Frank Miller is probably my favorite superhero comic creator ever. For some reason, the fanboys on various message boards like to give him crap, but they seem to forget that he’s responsible for the best Batman comics ever as well as the best Daredevil comics ever. Throw in his own stuff like Sin City and you’ve got a creator with a laundry list of the greatest comics ever. You’d think he’d get a pass for a few splash pages in All-Star Batman and Robin… but that would be asking message board Fanboys to be rational. How they bash Miller while at the same time going on and on about some decompressed story full of bad photo reference is beyond me. Anyway, go pick up any comic by Frank Miller.
4. American Splendor
I’ve mentioned Harvey Pekar many times in the Blog, he’s the biggest influence on my work and anything he writes, I’ll buy. He’s been doing different, autobiographical comics for years and they’re amazing reads. From going to the grocery store to peeling an orange, Pekar makes amazing comics out of the most mundane daily tasks. Look for new Splendor comics out of DC/Vertigo this September.
5. R. Crumb Comix
This isn’t a specific comic, but rather anything done by R. Crumb. There are dozens of Crumb comics out there and they’re all worth picking up. Like Pekar, Crumb makes comics about anything and everything. Shocking to funny. On top of that, he’s such an amazing artist.
So there ya go, my impromptu Top Five Comics of All Time List. That could change tomorrow, though. Some other stuff that almost made the cut were Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen, anything by Jim Mahfood, and the Daredevil run by Miller as well as Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.
I’ll leave you with a couple movie trailers.
Spider-Man 3
And
Rocky Balboa.
Yup. Rocky 6. I’m an unabashed Rocky Movie and Stallone flick aficionado. I’ve even seen and enjoyed Rocky 5 more than once. Yeah, I said it. This trailer actually looks really good.
Thanks for reading,
Gent
Right now I have 3 scripts written for 3 different comics. Randall, NYComix and a graphic novel. Three panels of the 1st page of Randall are penciled. NYComix is written but needs to be tweaked and ran by my “editor”. I’m writing the graphic novel in script format. I don’t want to worry about panel layouts; they just slow me down, so I’m around 50 pages into the story… with probably another 50 to go. On top of all this, I’m working on my first mural with Ereisa. The mural is in an office in Manhattan and we’re probably halfway done with it. It’s a blast; I’m enjoying it so much.
On top of all this I still have my usually lettering workload. Needless to say, I’m exhausted. My schedule has basically been working from 8-5, then heading into Manhattan to work on the mural from 6 to 9. It’s been that way for a week and it’ll stay that way for at least a week more.
I wish I had some comic reviews to do, but I haven’t bought a new comic in weeks. I’ve been re-reading Sin City on the way into Manhattan and that comic is so insanely good. So if you haven’t read Sin City, go pick some up. They released them in neat little Trade Paperbacks and they’re easily in my Top 5 favorite comics of all-time. Maybe even my in my Top 3… Drumroll...
LazyComix Top 5 Comics of All-Time.
1. Amazing Spider-Man #26-27
The Man in the Crime-Master's Mask
From July of 1965 this is the comic that got me into comics. At 2 issues long and about 40 pages long Stan Lee and Steve Ditko crammed more fun, action, drama and teen angst into this storyline than damn near every comic writer today could thinly spread into a 12 issue run. It’s got classic Peter Parker drama, Spidey Action, a faulty costume, the Green Goblin, mystery, crime noir, and everything you’d expect from a Stan Lee written comic. My brother had a reprint of this storyline and I couldn’t get enough of it.
2. The Goon
The only “mainstream” comic made today that you’ll see on my list. Eric Powell is the best writer/artist working in comics today. The Goon, like the early Spidey stuff, is full of action, fun, great storyline, and laugh out loud humor. Powell is doing comics his own way with his own characters. Great stuff that I read over and over again.
3. Sin City
As I mentioned earlier, this is another comic that I can read again and again and enjoy if more every time. Frank Miller is probably my favorite superhero comic creator ever. For some reason, the fanboys on various message boards like to give him crap, but they seem to forget that he’s responsible for the best Batman comics ever as well as the best Daredevil comics ever. Throw in his own stuff like Sin City and you’ve got a creator with a laundry list of the greatest comics ever. You’d think he’d get a pass for a few splash pages in All-Star Batman and Robin… but that would be asking message board Fanboys to be rational. How they bash Miller while at the same time going on and on about some decompressed story full of bad photo reference is beyond me. Anyway, go pick up any comic by Frank Miller.
4. American Splendor
I’ve mentioned Harvey Pekar many times in the Blog, he’s the biggest influence on my work and anything he writes, I’ll buy. He’s been doing different, autobiographical comics for years and they’re amazing reads. From going to the grocery store to peeling an orange, Pekar makes amazing comics out of the most mundane daily tasks. Look for new Splendor comics out of DC/Vertigo this September.
5. R. Crumb Comix
This isn’t a specific comic, but rather anything done by R. Crumb. There are dozens of Crumb comics out there and they’re all worth picking up. Like Pekar, Crumb makes comics about anything and everything. Shocking to funny. On top of that, he’s such an amazing artist.
So there ya go, my impromptu Top Five Comics of All Time List. That could change tomorrow, though. Some other stuff that almost made the cut were Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen, anything by Jim Mahfood, and the Daredevil run by Miller as well as Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One.
I’ll leave you with a couple movie trailers.
Spider-Man 3
And
Rocky Balboa.
Yup. Rocky 6. I’m an unabashed Rocky Movie and Stallone flick aficionado. I’ve even seen and enjoyed Rocky 5 more than once. Yeah, I said it. This trailer actually looks really good.
Thanks for reading,
Gent
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