GHOST ATTACK!?

loserlist69:

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 22:43:29 -0700

theartofanimation: Loic Locatelli Kournwsky -...

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 22:32:01 -0700

Loic Locatelli Kournwsky - https://www.behance.net/locatellikournwsky - https://www.instagram.com/loiclocatelli - https://loic-locatelli.tumblr.com - https://www.facebook.com/loic.locatelli - https://twitter.com/LoicLocatelli

waitwhatpod: travisellisor: the cover to The Superman Family...

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 11:12:26 -0800

waitwhatpod:

travisellisor:

the cover to The Superman Family (1974) #199 by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano

If not even one of the stories teased on this cover appeals to you, I’m afraid we’ll have to ask you to leave – Graeme

I never really thought too much of him, but based especially on the original repro’d here, I am really starting to warm to Ross Andru!

waitwhatpod: travisellisor: the back cover to DC Spotlight #1...

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 13:13:01 -0800

waitwhatpod:

travisellisor:

the back cover to DC Spotlight #1 by José Luis García-López

Look at the interaction between Blue Devil and Darkseid. It’s perfect – Graeme

sinusproblem:Some drawings I did, with Will Iversen coloring,...

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 12:04:44 -0700

sinusproblem:

Some drawings I did, with Will Iversen coloring, for issue 4 of ALL TIME COMICS: ZEROSIS DEATHSCAPE. Go to your local comic store and give them the lucre lettuce! Published by Floating World Comics!

talesfromweirdland:

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 13:36:09 -0800

talesfromweirdland:

@alexsegura had a fun question on twitter about your...

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 11:00:01 -0800

@alexsegura had a fun question on twitter about your “#ComicsDNA” — “Show me the cover of your first comic book, then the one that got you hooked, and another that’s important to you. Or two.”

Here’s mine: I’m sure I had earlier comics but X-Men 175 was the first where I recognized an explosion in my head, Crisis #1 locked me in for life, and L&R/Yummy Fur exploded my view of what comics could be just a few years later.

earsplittingtrumpet: from Charles Burns’ Hard-Boiled Defective...

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:36:24 -0800

earsplittingtrumpet:

from Charles Burns’ Hard-Boiled Defective Stories

ink-logging: Comics Read, 2/4/19-2/10/19Avengers #66 by Roy Thomas, Barry Smith & Sal RosenI...

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 22:41:58 -0800

ink-logging:

Comics Read, 2/4/19-2/10/19
Avengers #66 by Roy Thomas, Barry Smith & Sal Rosen
I haven’t read a ton of this era of Avengers comics. Barry Smith in his full-on Kirby/Buscema hybrid mode is kind of fun, it turns out. Everyone just sort of monologs during their dialog, Vision is a cold synthezoid, I had forgotten Hawkeye was apparently Goliath for a hot minute, and we get the single best Ultron design until JRJR gets ahold of him 20 years later:
The Green Lantern # 4 by Grant Morrison, Liam Sharpe & Steve Oliffe
Continuing to enjoy this 2000AD-ification of the DC space characters.
Kaijumax season four, #4 by Zander Cannon
G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte #1 by Michel Fiffe
Stig’s Inferno #1 by Ty Templeton
It’s been such a long time since I read these. I forgot how much “chicken fat” there was in this comic. Sort of shocking to see such early ty templeton work in that it doesn’t really look like anything I would associate with him. If I remember correctly, it’s only an issue or so later before his drawing gets that solid/angular aspect that I like so much. The ones where he’s driving Satan’s yacht around, that stuff. Even more shocking is the fact that the indica lists the title and all contents copyright Vortex Comics, and not Ty Templeton. I mean I know Vortex/Bill Marks was supposed to be a sketchy company/dude but I was still surprised. The cover for this issue by Paul Rivoche is a classic.
Deathblow #1-4 by Jim Lee, Brandon Choi & Tim Sale
I guess Jim Lee got really excited about Sin City, because he’s doing a weird, overdrawn version of Miller’s chiaroscuro style from that book, maybe also a dash of the linework style from Elektra Lives Again. At least he is for the two issues he drew. Then Tim Sale takes over, and Lee moves to layouts. These comics are totally unreadable. It seems like maybe there will eventually be some cool vampire action but mostly it’s just buff dudes yelling at each other and standing around in shadows. There’s just nothing interesting here, really, especially once Lee isn’t drawing it. Even if it looked kinda weird and was 400% stupid, it was interesting to see someone who was so wildly popular reinventing their art style years into heir career. I mean, Tim Sale is fine, it just doesn’t have that frisson that seeing Lee go out on a limb brings to the work.
Cybernary #1-4 by Nick Manabat & Steve Gerber
Part of a flip book with Deathblow. Half the book is DB and half is Cybernary. This is also dumb as hell but at least it’s readable. It just doesn’t mean anything. The main attraction is Nick Manabat’s delightfully overdrawn art. It’s like if Bald Eagles did a Battle Angel Alita riff. I guess it’s supposed to take place in the 90s but it feels like a Cyberpunk story, so the mentions of characters that would later be in Warren Ellis Stormwatch comics is weird. Considering the props that Image was getting for its (technically impressive and mostly aesthetically disgusting) advances in digital coloring, etc etc, it’s weird how badly printed this comic is. All the blacks are printed too heavily and the shadowy forms keep filling in. A problem to say the least, when you have this and Deathblow sharing a title! Sadly, I think Nick Manabat had a lot of promise as a creator—I remember reading these at the time and feeling like there was something special in his work, I’m glad to come back 20 years later and see the spark is still there—but he died a couple years after this comic came out.
-zack/ @ghostattack

ink-logging: One Dirty Tree, Noah Van SciverNoah Van Sciver had a childhood around poverty, the...

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 20:38:17 -0800

ink-logging:

One Dirty Tree, Noah Van Sciver
Noah Van Sciver had a childhood around poverty, the Mormon church and complicated parents. Later on he had a girlfriend that maybe “didn’t get it”. Maybe he “didn’t get it”, either. Somebody else could’ve done more of a “psycological novel” with this. I’m glad that’s not what this book was trying to do.
There’s a very warm recreation of those memories. That warmth being there even when acknowledging the cruelty in some of it might be the most precious thing about this book.
The drawing has a perfectly tuned balance between representation and calligraphy, detail and emergency.
@franniferlopez

David’s Reading list (Don Simpson January edition)

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 10:26:03 -0800

ink-logging:

13. Border Worlds 1 1986, Don Simpson, Kitchen Sink
14. Metacops 1 1991, Link Yaco, John Heebink, Monster Comics
15. Yarn Man 1 1989, Don Simpson, Kitchen Sink
16. Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems 1 1989, Don Simpson, Kitchen Sink
17. Bizarre Heroes 11 1995, Don Simpson, Fiasco Comics

I had a real good time reading these Don Simpson mags. After reading these I officially prefer the Bizarre Heroes Mega-verse over Bob Burden’s Mystery Men-iverse. I’ve read most of the first series of Megaton Man and there was something about them that I couldn’t get into but these are later in the cycle – I think his artwork has gotten a little tighter and stylistically formed. The long term story continuity is interesting in that it seems to have progressed very little from the first Megaton Man series (early ‘80s) to Yarn Man #1 in 1989 to Bizarre Heroes #11 in 1995. It’s not a bad thing – I like that Simpson just seems like he’s screwing around and making goofy comic books.

Border Worlds seems like a pretty interesting comic … I’ve only read bits and pieces of it but maybe I’ll get the collected version one of these days.

I also checked out Metacops #1 from Monster Comics (aka Fantagraphics) and there’s pretty decent art by this guy John Heebink who I haven’t seen before but it’s an otherwise unfunny comic. The inside back cover has an ad for Don Simpson’s King Kong adaptation also from Monster Comics (just so I can keep this an all-Dandy post).

From Bizarre Heroes #11:

- David K. - Tumbler: @reliablecomics - Twitter: @reliablecomics

Love me some Dandy Don

ink-logging: House Ad Logging From Comics Interview #11, Superpatriot #2, Sword Of The Atom...

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 10:23:04 -0800

ink-logging:

House Ad Logging

From Comics Interview #11, Superpatriot #2, Sword Of The Atom #2, Avengers #66, & Power Comics #3.

-zack/@ghostattack

theesecretvoice: New Dr. Galapagos commission. 8x10” painting with posca markers and India ink. Get...

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 22:31:54 -0800

theesecretvoice:

New Dr. Galapagos commission. 8x10” painting with posca markers and India ink.

Get a painting of (almost?) anything you want at zacksoto.storenvy.com !

commissions are opennnnn

ink-logging: Flaming Carrot 25 1991 Bob Burden Dark Horse The Last Generation 1 1986 Bill...

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:22:00 -0800

ink-logging:

Flaming Carrot 25 1991 Bob Burden Dark Horse

The Last Generation 1 1986 Bill Bryer Mitch Foust David Porch Black Tie Studios

The Last Generation 2 1987 Bill Bryer Mitch Foust David Porch Black Tie Studios

Korak 51 1973 Robert Kanigher Frank Thorne DC Comics

The Last Generation 3 1987 Bill Bryer Mitch Foust David Porch Black Tie Studios

Flaming Carrot 26 1991 Bob Burden Dark Horse

Robin Red and the Lutins 1 1986 Pat Boyette ACE Comics

Dark Angels of Darkness 2018 Al Gofa Peow Studio

Dr Strange The Best Defense Special 1 2019 Gerry Duggan Greg Smallwood Marvel

Project X: Thumpin’ Guts 1 1993 Kevin Eastman Simon Bisley Kitchen Sink

Flaming Carrot 27 1991 Bob Burden Dark Horse

Lust for Life 4 1998 Jeff LeVine Slave Labor Graphics

Here’s the first twelve comics I read this year, I’ll continue the numbering through 2019 and see how many I can get. I also read through Amazing Heroes #145 today but it’s not on the list because it’s not a comic book.

From Robin Red and the Lutins:

That Korak issue is the last one in the series by Frank thorne, seems like it’s about Korak being on a search for a girl who wants to hook up with him, he’s willing to get involved in some Thunderdome type shit inside a volcano for her – but it winds up being a dream.

The Flaming Carrot issues are his team-up with the ninja turtles and the battle some evil umpires. Fun but dumb.

Thumpin Guts is completely moronic but with high production values

From an issue of The Last Generation:

-David K. @reliablecomics

The Outsiders

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:15:43 -0800

ink-logging:

I’ve been working on a longer article on Batman: Son of the Demon (by Mike W. Barr & Jerry Bingham) for my Even Horizon TCJ column. As side research I read a few random issues of Adventures of the Outsiders, Mike W. Barr’s other long-running project for DC that involved Batman. Actually in most of the issues I read, Batman has already quit the team. How many teams has Batman quit? I guess he doesn’t work well with others?

The first 2 issue arc I read was Adventures of the Outsiders #33-34 (Jun-Jul 1986), with art by Alan Davis. The story involves yet another invasion of Markovia. Baron Bedlam returns, takes over Markovia, and proceeds to clone… Hitler! Unfortunately for Bedlam, Clone-Hitler is appalled by the actions of his original and takes his own life. An interesting and rare case of nurture-over-nature in comics. Generally speaking genetics are presented as unalterable law, at least in my experience.

This was one of Alan Davis’ earliest regular gigs. His art already has the hallmarks of his later work. There’s a slickness to it. Shadows are smooth blocks of black ink, very little hatching. The faces are almost sculpted by shadows. This gives everyone a bit of statuesque quality.

Davis is definitely ambitious. He knows this is his shot at doing monthly comics. He goes all out and tries a lot of difficult angles and compositions in his fight choreography. I also like his use of white space on this spread. The colors by Adrienne Roy are awesome.

by @transatlantis

ink-logging: Comics Read 1/15/19-1/20/19 Savage Sword of Conan...

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 12:18:46 -0800

ink-logging:

Comics Read 1/15/19-1/20/19

Savage Sword of Conan #162 by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino. (logged)

Stark:Future #10 & 11 by Gordon Derry and Steven Hughes. I have a soft spot for/fascination with these Aircel comics from the 80s. They’re a Canadian comics company that is notable both for being published by sketchy and possibly (?) pedophillic cartoonist Barry Blair, and also for publishing a bunch of talented people before they became anyone. Notably Dale Keown & Dave Cooper. They put out a lot of interesting & wonky genre comics and I read several of them as a kid. I hadn’t ever read any of these Stark: Future comics though… These are not very good. Mostly of interest for being (possibly?) the first published work of Lady Death co-creator Steven Hughes.

Valerian: The Complete Collection Volume 1 by Pierre Christin & Jean-Claude Mézières. I’ve never read any Valerian. I missed the movie, it looked bad. The previous Cinebook reprints were too small (in both trim size and page count) and all over the place for me to catch up with, but they’ve released them in a proper trim size and 4 volumes to a book in anticipation of the movie. Even if the movie sucked, I hope it drove some sales for Cinebook.

Anyway.. The first story in here (Bad Dreams, 1967) is dumb. It’s too goofy, the art feels half-assed, and the plotting is super forgettable. I was thinking that getting this book from the library was at best a failed experiment. But happily, the quality picks up almost immediately after the first story. The next bit is a two parter, (The City of Shifting Waters & Earth In Flames, 1970) which is about the end of the world as we know it–in 1984. It’s a rocllicking good cataclysm, and of course.. it feels really relevant here on the edge of history as we are. There’s also a Sun Ra character (Sun Rae) and a mad scientist that looks like Jerry Lewis’ Nutty Professor. The flooded wasteland NYC predates Escape From New York and generally feels like a direct precursor to actual 1980′s post-apocalyptic fiction. This story was the highlight of the book. The 4th comic in here (The Empire of a Thousand Planets, 1971) is I guess one of the main inspirations for the movie? It was pretty good.

I like Valerian and Laureline as characters, I mostly enjoy the world building (though it sometimes feels a bit too try hard), and I generally enjoy the shifting tone of these comics. They’re funny, charming, adventurous, and occasionally dark. I’m going to keep reading these.

Invaders #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, & Butch Guice. This was mostly fine, there’s some weird edges that might kick it up into GOOD territory in future issues. The art is nice. I like seeing Butch Guice.

Superman #7 by Brian Bendis, Ivan Reis, & Brandon Peterson.

Martian Manhunter #2 by Steve Orlando & Riley Rossmo. These guys are both really swinging for the fences here. I am not like in love with it, but I appreciate the effort. This is also the first time I’ve really gelled with Rossmo’s work, it looks really good here. There aren’t many mainstream comics these days that look this weird.

Grips #1 & #4 by Kris Silver & Tim Vigil. Blood. Yeah. Look at the blood. The very first Tim Vigil comics. I got the first issue of Faust right after it came out and I remember seeing these earlier comics at the time, never got them–but here we are now, 30+ years later. Vigil’s attention to sexualized violence and volumetric shading are here already, but the drawings are very raw, often loosey-goosey.

-zack/@ghostattack

Having fun logging/writing very basic thoughts on comics I am reading, as I read them—with other cool kids too, at @ink-logging.

ink-logging: Savage Sword of Conan #162 “The Horned God” by Chuck Dixon & Jorge Zaffino I’d read...

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:04:17 -0800

ink-logging:

Savage Sword of Conan #162 “The Horned God” by Chuck Dixon & Jorge Zaffino

I’d read this story online before, while looking for images by Jorge Zaffino, but it’s nice to finally own a copy. From the dollar bin, no less.

Anyway, it’s a kind of shaggy dog thing about finding a unicorn to grind up its horn to use as an aphrodisiac for a prince that is basically coded here as asexual or queer without coming out to say it. Typically subtle 80s writing by Chuck Dixon-someone who I’ve enjoyed many of his comics, but it’s safe to say we don’t agree on politics. The two collaborated on Winter World, worth a read as well.

This comic is funny, though: it’s a hunt for the unicorn and hits all the beats you’d expect with something like this (the aggro warrior woman who is also a virgin (!) warms up to Conan very quickly after he saves her and she asks him to be the one to deflower her, there’s craven idiot lords, treachery, etc) but the hook of it all is that the unicorn in question is actually fucking evil as hell and eats everyone with its scraggly sharp teeth. The comic alternates between goofy funny and grim seriousness in a way that I enjoy.

But really, it’s the art. Zaffino is one of my favorite artists, and this is now maybe one of my favorite things I’ve seen him draw. The way he alternates between chunky and feathery lines, the way he pulls your eyes across the page.. there’s a couple panels where I’m not sure what I’m looking at because of the level of abstraction, but that’s ok. The dude could fucking draw.

The Horned God is 33 pages long and the rest of the magazine doesn’t really matter at all (it’s some Solomon Kane bullshit). Makes me wish Dixon & Zaffino had a solid run on Conan.

This is it, though! Soak it up.

- zack / @ghostattack

ink-logging: Comics read 1/7/19-1/13/19 Future Quest Presents:...

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 09:50:41 -0800

ink-logging:

Comics read 1/7/19-1/13/19

Future Quest Presents: BIRDMAN #7 by Phil Hester & Steve Rude

PRIME # 1 by Len Strazewski, Gerard Jones, & Norm Breyfogle

Predator: Bloody Sands Of Time #1&2 by Dan Barry & Chris Warner (we need more comics drawn by Chris Warner in this world)

DC Comics Presents #85 by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, & Al Williamson (I’ve read this a million times already)

Tomi Ungerer: A Treasury Of 8 Books by Tomi Ungerer (a revelation)
Negativeland by Michel Fiffe
The Case Of The Missing Men: A Hobtown Mystery by Kris Bertin & Alexander Forbes
Oblivion Song #11 by Robert Kirkman & Lorenzo DeFelici (I keep reading this for the art, and I probably will continue to do so for now. The concept is solid but the plot stuff is getting harder and harder to buy)
Murder Falcon #4 by Daniel Warren Johnson
Green Lantern #3 by Grant Morrison & Liam Sharp (Probably the best superhero comic going. Really refreshing, since I have been pretty down on the last several years of GM projects)

WonderWorld Express: Champions #1 written & pencilled by Mr. Moses, inks by Ken Landgraf, Pat Gabriel, & Rudy Nebres (cover inks), “Spyder” back up by Erik Larsen (1984)

Young Justice #1 by Brian Bendis & Patrick Gleason
Criminal #1 by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips Another relief. The last couple things they did bummed me out. This was really good.
Cool Science Fiction Comics by Madeline McGrane. Light but good mini of short tone-poem type sci-fi ideas. Got it at CALA.

Proxima Centauri by Farel Dalrymple

ink-logging: Aquaman: The Search For Mera Deluxe Edition by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo I’ve been...

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 09:50:11 -0800

ink-logging:

Aquaman: The Search For Mera Deluxe Edition by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo

I’ve been wanting to collect this Aparo run on Aquaman for a while but the back issues are pretty spendy. DC put out this first hardcover collection last month and I hope they keep it going. I think it would just be another volume or two to finish the run.

The setting of the first few issues is barbarian fantasy. Like Robert E Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs fantastic weird worlds, nothing particularly aquatic about them. Aquaman is searching for a kidnapped Mera which leads him to conflicts with different underwater tribes and villages.

I get the sense that none of the underwater world is mapped at all? Every encounter is a Terra Incognita, he just runs blindly into kingdoms of giants, sorcerers, and beasts. The plots follow more of a sci-fi template, not unlike episodes of Star Trek that were on TV at this time (1968-1969). Each culture has some quirk or monster to be dealt with.

Aquaman is fairly powerful as shown in this prison break scene. He summons a giant whale to destroy the building where he and Aqualad are being held!

My favorite chapters actually take place on land. Aquaman crosses paths with underworld gangsters and there’s some pretty convincing noir style action going on. Aparo also breaks free of the grid and goes nuts with the dutch angles.

These pages are so good!

This is a cool trait - Aquaman doesn’t talk much when throwing punches. The fight might start with a few words but then it’s just brutal, wordless efficiency.

These triangular panels create a kinetic flow and when it moves back underwater it creates a swirling motion and fluid multidirectional action. Are the trapezoids supposed to look like the letter ‘A’ on his belt?

I hope to learn more about Aquaman as a character in future issues. In this story he is simply fueled by rage. He’s a pretty crappy detective, but is relentless in his pursuits. He’s good at punching.

Atlantis could also benefit from some diplomatic exploration. Get out there and draw some maps, do some anthropology, take some notes on your neighbors.

- Jason / @floatingworldcomics

ink-logging: WonderWorld Express: Champions #1, written &...

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 08:40:35 -0800

ink-logging:

WonderWorld Express: Champions #1, written & pencilled by Mr. Moses, inks by Ken Landgraf, Pat Gabriel, & Rudy Nebres (cover inks), “Spyder” back up by Erik Larsen (1984)

This comic is a trip. I got it from Jason T Miles/Profanity Hill at Short Run. He recommended it and he wasn’t wrong. Took me a minute to find (not much) info on it. It’s not listed on comics.org. The Power Comics blog never covered it. But it’s got inks by Ken Landgraf & Rudy Nebres (!) and a back up by a young Erik Larsen, so Mr. Moses had some connections from the fanzine community or something.

The whole thing reads like you’re mainlining a binder full of rip off Marvel/DC character ideas and scenarios written up and obsessed over by a big two fanatic with too much time on their hands. Like it all spilled on the floor and you’re reading the pages out of order. That sounds like a complaint but it’s as invigorating as it is bewildering.

The comic starts off with a cosmic being called Man-Jack The Deadman (he looks like Deadman wearing the Eye of Agamotto) coming to Earth to find his estranged dad, Marsduke the Magus (Dr. Strange but clean shaven and maybe evil? Or not. But definitely a deadbeat dad) After a few pages of that, it just jumps around every page or two to new/off-brand heroes & villains, there’s not much of a thread between any of it—other than that Mr. Moses has clearly been thinking about it all for a while before he made this comic.

Recommended, if you can find it! I’m going to try and find the rest of this series, or any other published by “That Other Comix Co”.

- zack/@ghostattack