rant

Okay, I'm seriously getting tired of this Civil War stuff. It was bad enough to have Spiderman come out of the closet (or whatever) but seriously - why is he Tony Stark's do-boy? Also, Ive noticed that all the "heroes" are in an incredibly crappy situation for no damn reason. I mean, c'mon, wtf? Why would they try to take out their "friends" so ruthlessly? It soesn't make sense for them to turn against their own so quickly. It's like they've all been replaced by characters I've never seen before (except maybe Captain America... he's closer to character than Iron Man - but I've always hated Iron Man so I may be biased). And then, there's Thor. I thought Thor was supposed to be a God... what's he doing mixed up in all this? Don't tell me they made a NORSE GOD register!!! How does that make any sense whatsoever?

Another thing... I used to love Steve McNiven's art. His work on Meridian was an inspiration for a lot of the design ideas that I contributed to Legacy and his art was radiant and almost ethreal when he drew Sephie and her world. Now it seems so... flat. Grainy and flat. Every once in awhile I catch a glimmer of his previous talent (like one of the drawings of Emma Frost) but there's little to no spirit in his work on Civil War. It may be partially due to the colorist (who's work also reallllly bothers me) but I think anyone who picks up a copy of Meridian can see the drastic change. Then again alot of people are raving about his work... but alot of people disliked the revamp of Batman and Superman (something about it being uncreative and "boring") so I guess I'll just keep on disregarding most of the reviews I read.

Then, there's Batwoman. Ugh. What the HELL is a rich, pedicured and pampered socialite doing running around fighting crime in Gotham?? Were her parents murdered before her eyes inspiring her to spend a lifetime training to aquire the skills she would need to do battle with the evil men of Gotham? No. Was she a young genius daughter of a police comissioner inspired to push herself to her physical and mental limits by training and studying day and night for many years by Batman's crusade? No. As far as I can tell she's Paris Hilton with a closeted attraction to women. Is it just me or does this make no sense? 52 makes me sad...

On the upside I enjoyed JLA... it did of course serve to point out how severely messed up DC continuity has been over the years but I thought it was kind of sweet.

Oh, and we went and saw Superman Returns again - I still really enjoyed it :)

reworks

More art time! This is what I've been spending a lot of my time on during the week I was denied my computer.

This is my rework of "Before the Dawn". La'el's hair looks much better and I managed to mostly fix his eyes. Also, I finally found a good knotwork design for Cshiana's gloves. I am much happier with this picture now. Cshiana still looks better but I've gotten much closer to what I imagine La'el looks like.

As you can see I also fixed La'el's hair here and it was a definate improvement. I also redid the sword a bit and while weapons aren't my strongest point I think it turned out decently.

My leaves are awesome ;) I rock at drawing leaves!

Superman #654

As much as I enjoy Kurt Busiek's work I'll admit I was a little bit worried about this issue of Superman since it was the first issue venturing into 1 year later Superman outside of the Up Up and Away storyline. My fears have been layed to rest - I'm happy to say the I enjoyed Superman #654 :) I love the fact that Busiek is still keeping his focus on Clark over the man of steel as Clark has always been the most interesting part of Superman's story to me. I think too many writers forget that Clark is who Superman chooses to be while Kal'el is the alien he was born as. To me that makes Clark Kent the heart of the Superman character. The art wasn't all that impressive but I can deal.

Also, Busiek has managed to make Lois and Clark's romance shine again like it hasn't for so many years. He makes it seem as if it's just as magical for the couple as it was before they were married. I appreciate that and I love how much importance Busiek gives to the love between Lois and Clark.

Many reviews seem to be protesting about the lack of creativity involved in bring a character back to basics (in reviews for Batman as well as Superman) and I have to say - these must have been the people who enjoyed Supes as a spineless whiny washout and Bats as a total jackass. Personally I am very happy to see a return the the characters I grew up with as opposed to the strangers that were running around post ICrisis. AND I believe it takes quite a bit of skill and creativity to restore a character to glory... which is whi I'm glad Marv Wolfman will be helping Nightwing on that hard journey.

Overall it was a very sweet and somewhat amusing Superman story and serves to reaffirm my opinion that with Kurt Busiek at the helm, Superman is in good hands.


On a side note, sorry I was gone for so long! Between storms and internet issues (not to mention the fact that my monitor likes to randomly stop working and I really can't afford a new one) I haven't been on the computer much in the past week. Thanks for you patience ;)

geek time!

Just needed to share this... I wish I was rich and could totally outgeek myself =/

more art!!

I know, I know, you guys would rather me actually post than look at sketch work, but I've been drawing a lot so bear with me.

This first one I'm pretty proud of because it was a live sketch! (As opposed to my normal venue which is drawing while looking at a photograph or picture in order to tell where everyone's limbs go!) This is my co-worked lazing about.

The next one is a new drawing of Kaylee - I especially like her scarf - also, notice the l33t Klingon weaponage ;)
This one is of La'el (at least my interpretation thereof), an NPC (Non-player character) from Corey's D&D game. He's kind of Cshiana's unrequited love, although she's still in denial, and will probably remain there. Of course that's totally her fault for falling for someone who's taken.
I'm fairly proud of this last one. It's supposed to be Cshiana and La'el together (although as previously discussed that will never happen because Cshiana would never actually hook up with a married man, she's just settling in for the painful process of loving someone from afar). I wanted to do a semi "romantic" image and Cshi is my favorite character to draw. Either way despite the fact that I couldn't get La'el's eyes completely right I still really enjoy this drawing.

One day I'll color them and they'll look even better! This ends today's art interlude!

art interlude

Here's the most recent picture I did - it's Cshiana and Anica (Arielle's character). It's my first attempt at more than one person in the picture. I'll post it again when I have time to color it!

updates

As many of you have probably noticed my updates have become sporadic recently. Unfortunately this trend will probably continue - although I'll always update at least three times a week. Between working full time and trying to move ahead on various writing projects I find that my free time is becomeing non-existant. When school starts next month I will have no life at all. So I won't have as much time for posting on a daily basis.

That being said I enjoy writing posts so I will make sure that there's at least three new posts a week. I apologize that I won't have time to update daily.

Reasons to read A Princess of Mars #2

DEJAH THORIS

Dejah Thoris is the ultimate damsel in distress in some ways. She's the most beautiful woman on two planets, she the princess of the great city of Helium and she eventually falls in love with our hero, John Carter. But there's so much more to her character than a two dimensional "catalyst" character.

Dejah Thoris is the princess of a city of Mars, and believe me when I say that pretty much everyone on Mars is expected to be a warrior. In fact one of the green Martians, Sola, is probably the most pacifistic person in this book. Dejah Thoris is a fierce woman used to giving orders and has no qualms about jumping into the fray whenever the opportunity presents itself. She's stubborn and headstrong, passionate and intelligent, kind hearted and bloodthirsty all at the same time.

Many people may intially look at a lot of the artwork done for the Martian covers and think that Dejah Thoris is some weak willed woman there to be the pretty ornament on John Carter's arm - and they'd be wrong. First of all, Dejah Thoris' fighting spirit is one of the reasons John Carter falls in love with the amazing Princess of Mars. Second of all, don't mistake the nakedness... EVERYONE is naked on Mars! (Now that'll be interesting if they're trying to make this a kid's movie ;) ) Unlike many "boys" fantasy novels it's not only the women walking around clothing-less, the men only wear the absolute nessesities as well. In fact, throughout most of the beginning of this book John Carter isn't wearing anything at all.

Actually Burroughs does a fairly good job of explaining the differences between male and female roles throughout the story without ever ONCE seeming to make the women the weaker sex.

Dejah Thoris, the woman willing to face a raging horde of bloodthirsty green men just to die by the side of the man she loves. A woman willing to sacrifice her own happiness for the safety of her people. Dejah Thoris, the woman who holds her head high even when a captive of her enemies.

Read A Princess of Mars. Dejah Thoris wills it!

oh, ew

I guess I'll just have to keep telling myself that the Supergirl in the Legion is a different Supergirl... I miss the insainty that was Matrix/Linda. *sigh*

A Brief Moment with Batman 654

What a mavelous conclusion to the eight part Face the Face.

My faith in Batman is renewed. It gives me hope that we won't be seeing "asshole Batman" around anymore. Not only do we have a fantastic conclusion of the actual storyline (as if Harvey Dent taking over the Gotham zoo wasn't good enough by itself) but we also have a return to the core of the Batman universe.

The confrontation between Batman and the Great White Shark was wonderful. Not to mention it was pretty cool that the whole escapde was being controlled from behind Arkham walls. One of the best parts:

Batman: Oh, and when I catch Harvey Dent - of course he isn't Harvey anymore, he's Two-Face. But when I catch him - and I will catch him - I'll tell him what you did. And then I'll being him here.

The end of this issue nearly made me cry. Seriously. When Bruce asks to adopt Tim as his son I was so happy. I thought, wow, this is the Batman I remember growing up, a Batman who fought crime because he didn't want to witness any more broken families, a Batman who took in Dick Grayson because he didn't want Dick to grow up alone the way he had. A Batman who wants Tim to still have a family.

Thanks DC, even though you've seriously screwed up at times (and Dan Didio is still on my explosive runes list) at least you've given back Batman to us. For that, I am grateful.

Next... more reasons to read A Princess of Mars!

Reasons to read A Princess of Mars #1

Adventure

John Carter is quite possibly the greatest adventure hero of all time. This book has everything. Epic battles, revenge, betrayal, true love, true friendship, self-sacrifice, exploration, aliens, wierd science, super powers, just, strong and handsome men, strong, fierce and beautiful women, dark secrets, evil rulers, frightning monsters, espionage, space travel, codes of honor, exotic cultures and even a loyal pet.



If that's not all the adventure you could want and more, well, there must be no pleasing you.

The only adventure story that even comes close to A Princess of Mars is The Princess Bride - and even then, it only comes close.

Damn you Frank Miller!

Haha...

So I was doing a search to find the art from A Princess of Mars (having recently made Arielle a convert) and I found a link to info on the movie they were having made.

At first I was excited to see that Paramount had decided to make my favorite story EVER into a motion picture - I thought, damn, about time.

Then I saw that they had hired Robert Rodriguez to direct it. Hey! Even better! He even made the brilliant move of hiring Frank Frazetta as production designer.

Then I saw that the movie no longer had a director. Why you may ask? Because of Frank Miller. *sigh* As much as I thought it was pretty damn cool of Robert Rodriguez to resign from the DGA in order to have Frank Miller listed as his co-director for Sin City I cannot help but mourn the loss of his talents from Paramount as a result. Now the retitled "John Carter of Mars" (why the hell they retitled it I don't know) is on it's third director... whose last project was a kids movie. I have a feeling this movie, if it's ever completed, will make me cry myself to sleep.

Legos

I had Legos when I was a kid, and sure, they could be fun. But damn, we went to Toys R Us the other day and until then I hadn't realized how awesome Legos had become! We got two pirate ships (similar to the one in the picture but a bit smaller) for André to use as props for the D&D game he runs. The little skeleton pirates are pretty awesome. Also, at the Mega Blocks website they have this little flash video of the lego-pirates... and it's hilarious. I don't think it's intended to be, but it is. You should go watch it!Marvel has quite a few mini legos heroes running around. Wolverine is pretty funny looking. They actually had Spidey and the Green Goblin in their own little package with a city building scene that you could make into their battle ground.

Batman has a couple of different sets - this is the one with Two Face, but there's also a Joker, Killer Croc, and Catwoman one. Actually they had one really elaborate scene in the Lego-Batcave set up in the display case and they even had Lego-Alfred!

I wish Legos were this cool when I was a kid. Now I want to get all the Legion pocket heroes and a bunch of yellow legos and build the old style clubhouse - you know, the one that looked as if it was way to smalll to actually house their meetings.

Either way at least I have pirate ships to play with :) It helps me get in the mood for Pirates of the Carribean this weekend. I'm very excited!!!

Happy 4th

For some reason I find the idea of Wonder Woman pledging alligence to the American flag amusing. Maybe it's because she's not American. Oh well, happy Independence Day anyway :)

Battle Royale!

The Legion of Super Pets

(Proty 2 not appearing in this episode)

vs

The Legion of Substitute Heroes!

Now, one thing I love is the old introductions to comic books. It's something I miss every time I open up a modern comic story. Seriously, no matter how silly the old intros were they were certaintly eye-catching. Take, for example, the intro to our story today:

If that doesn't make you want to know what happens I don't know what will. I mean the fact that Supergirl is ordering the super pets to "knock 'em for a loop" is intriguing enough. Perhaps the Subs are so far beneath her notice that she feels the need to humiliate them (taking a page out of Aquaman's book) by sending a flying monkey, cat, dog and horse - all wearing capes nonetheless - to beat the poor kids senseless. Then let's take in the rest of the picture. We have an astonished Night Girl, a cowering Polar Boy (this is already bad if the team leaders are stunned) and C-kids 1 and 2 are standing on the sides watching in awe as Stone Boy uses his power only to be knocked over by Krypto and Fire Lad makes to run in fear from Streaky's claws of steel! Now that's what I call a eye-catching senario!

Now as the intro clearly establishs S-girl and boy have had their memories of the future erased and have been replaced by some masked characters (Sir Prize and Miss Terious) due to a kryptonite cloud surrounding 30th century Earth. So we know that Supergirl doesn't recognize the Subs as allies from the future. But what could possibly cause her to sic the pet squad on the poor bastards? Lets take a closer look and perhaps we'll discover why S-girl felt so provoked by our hapless heroes...

Well so far everything looks okay... except Cosmic Boy obviously forgot to mention that whole mind erasing thing... (Saturn Girl: Cos, why didn't you tell the Subs about Kara's memories of the Legion being erased? Cosmic Boy: *smacks himself on the forehead* Damn, I knew I forgot something! Oh well, what's the worse that can happen?)

Wow! Where did that come from? Now lets review, we've got some nighttime super strength on our side, a guy who can grow plants, ice powers, fire-sneezes, statue, I mean stone, boy, and a kid who can change things colors. What can they possibly do against the all powerful super pets you may ask? Well, let's find out!

Luckily for the Subs the Superpets are easily fooled. As you can see Green Boy (another Legion rejectee) would have been just as useful as Color Kid here. Yet, somehow, against all odds, Color Kid has managed to eliminate TWO of the Super pets right off the bat with minimal effort. And here my bets were on Polar Boy throwing the first "punch".

Alas, my favorite Super pet taken out by his drug addiction. See, Denny O'Neil thought that Roy's drug problems would help people to see that you should stay away from drugs but I think Streaky's problem illustrates the issue just as well. I mean look at him! In a matter of seconds he goes from a super-powered whirlwind of claws and teeth to a froliking kitten thinking nothing more than "yippee!". And C-kid must be some sort of kitty drug dealer on the side to be carrying aroung catnip seeds... because really, what use would catnip seeds be againt anything except a poor drug addicted cat? Three down and only Comet left. And despite this mind blowing defeat Supergirl is on the sidelines laughing at the subs... I begining to wonder what kind of superhero she really is... maybe Aquaman really is a bad influence!

Now, with only Comet left standing, it must be down to Polar Boy doing something, right? I mean out of all of them he has the most useful powers (not to mention he's the leader of the team...).

Sadly, this is not the case... after barreling through the other Subs with incredible ease Super horse is only stopped by Night Girl's impromptu shield... also getting the imprint of the "enchanted horseshoe" mentioned earlier. Against all odds (and logic) our heroes have won the day, er, night. Now, back to the future!

What, you may ask, happens to restore SG and SB to the Legion of Superheroes? Is it Brainiac 5 with his superior intellect? Element Lad showing up at the Legion's doorstep? No my friends, even better. It's *drum roll* Color Kid!!!

Which really makes no sense at all.

I love the old Legion stories. I think this even tops Composite Superman! I really hope that DC puts out a Legion of Superheroes Showcase... I mean really, who cares about old Superman stories when you can have old LoSH stories instead?

teaser

This post is taking way too long and I have to get up early tomorrow for work. So in the meantime check out this sneak preview!

Stone Boy vs Krypto