VideoBlogs & Great Marvel Comic Covers

LazyConversations… I’ve been talking about it for what seems like forever and I’m sure 99% of the folks nice enough to read this blog forgot about it when I mentioned it some months ago. Anyway it’s so on track that I’m about ready to release the first episode. Episode? Yup, they’re live action. VideoBlogs you might say. They’ll be posted on LazyComix.com and/or YouTube. I haven’t gotten that far yet as editing these puppies are way more work than I imagined. Nevertheless it’s a blast for an amateur filmmaker wannabe like myself.

The first few LazyVideoBlogs is going to feature a bunch of folks from the amazing web comic collective: Ac-ti-Vate. Go over there and check it out… great web comics pushing the medium of the web forward instead of jokes about video games.

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I noticed the covers Joe Quesada is doing on his and J. Michael Strazynski’s Spider-Man: One More Day and while it’s cool to see them trying to bring back the old wonderfully designed covers of the Silver and Bronze age, they’re not quite there.

Great covers are a long lost art in today’s comic medium. Never Judge a Book By Its Cover but in the case of early comics it was the covers that sold the books. The covers told a story, they shocked you and made you want to pick up the book. Today it’s just a barrage of pin-ups and posters.

I did a quick Google search for “Great Marvel Comic Covers” and found this awesome site packed full of great examples of what covers once were. I was happy to see my all-time favorite issue; Amazing Spider-Man #26 was among the 4 Color Wonders by the likes of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko & John Romita Sr.

Amazing 26 is that book I always look to as the perfect example of comic storytelling. The “Man in the Crime Master’s Mask” storyline Lee and Ditko packed tons of action, Peter Parker problems including everything from a missing costume, Betty Brant & other assorted gal problems, Flash Thompson being a jerk, Aunt May pampering, J.J. Jameson flip-outs, Green Goblin suspense, underworld crime power shifting, Spidey getting his ass kicked twice and a potential secret identity crisis… all packed into 22 pages of classic Steve Ditko goodness.

Getting back to the cover here’s exactly what I’m talking about. Who the hell is the crime master and how is he able to beat Spider-Man? And what the hell does the Goblin have to do with it? That alone would make any red blooded comic kid tug his mother’s shirtsleeve begging her to pick up the book for him.

Meanwhile check out this site full of Ultimate Spider-Man covers like this one.

Huh. Assorted Spidey sticking to various New York City Landmarks. Riveting. Too bad they tell you nothing about the really great Brian Michael Bendis storylines inside.

I don’t know why this shift has taken place. I’d imagine that cover art is now basically stockpiling art to be used on any future issue they want.

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So hey, stay tuned for the first LazyComixVideoBlog and enjoy those old covers… I defy you not to turn one into your desktop wallpaper! I did… good ol’ Jack Kirby on Captain America #106.

Thanks for reading.
--Randy

Big News and a Plug

Rocky Balboa

If you’re a regular reader of this Blog you might remember a few posts about my favorite Sylvester Stallone movies and especially the Rocky Franchise. While I loved Rocky 2-4 and like most fans, didn’t enjoy the 5th one very much at all, the original Oscar-winning Rocky flick is one of the most enjoyable and inspiring flicks ever made.

I was finally able to get out this past weekend to see the sixth and final film: Rocky Balboa. Naturally, I was a little hesitant after the debacle that was Rocky V, but after reading a few Stallone interviews as well as the subsequent reviews, I was excited to hear that this one was getting back to what made the first 2 films so great.

Rocky Balboa was old-school Rocky. Moving, funny, inspiring and just a well-written love letter to Rocky fans. If you’re one of those guys who watch the old movies every time you pass them on TV, you’ll love the references and throwbacks to old characters and settings. Stallone created one of the greatest characters in the history of film and I can’t recommend this movie enough. If you loved the original Rocky and hated every sequel, you’ll love this flick.

Go check it out!

In other news related to LazyComix I’ve got a few announcements that I think are pretty exciting.

I’m going to do my best to spread the LazyComix word this year and to do that I’m going to have to get the word out in as many different ways as possible.

First up is the aforementioned “LazyComix Conversations”.

I’ve always envisioned LazyComix.com to be a place where comic fans can come by and read not only my webcomix but also get some comix reviews, plugs and just any and all comic jazz I think fans like myself, might enjoy.

“LazyComix Conversations” is the first step in that direction. Plain and simply it’s going to be a monthly (maybe even bi-monthly) Creator Interview segment. The inaugural segment is already set-up and I couldn’t be happier with the first guest. Stay tuned, folks!

Second up is that Randall will now be published on my former online publisher, PixelStrips. The site was once a subscription pay-site but now it’s an all-free service with the #1 strip getting about 8000 hits per month. I’m really excited about it as now I’ll have Randall and NYComix rolling on 2 sites with reader potential much higher than if I only ran the comic on my site. I’m going to kick-off the Pixelstrip run with the “Randall Month” run but with an added page “Special Edition” style. After that, staring with Chapter 2, you’ll be able to catch a new page weekly or, if you’d rather wait for the strip in one complete chunk, (“waiting for the trade”) you can catch that on LazyComix.com.

So stay tuned and thanks for reading… things are about to get a li’l more interesting around here!

Coming Soon!

Details to come!