20 | April | 2011 | comicbookjesus

Behind The Scenes Of The Spirit And Teen Titans

DC’s blog, The Source has a couple of good, new posts spotlighting artists. One is on Moritat and his work on Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Some of his stories sound filled with flights of fancy, but what do I know? Maybe he really did line up at a Japanese temple to see a famed ink brush sensei, and maybe he really does meditate and then speed on his motorcycle to prepare himself. Sounds kinda cool actually. On a related note, go to Imprint Magazine’s post on Eisner’s (and those inspired by him) great masthead designs.

The other informative post is a chat with Teen Titans artists Nicola Scott (an Aussie! Yay!) and Doug Hazlewood.

April 20, 2011
Categories: Comic Art . Tags: DC comics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Another X-Men First Class Poster

The previous posters for this June releasing, ’60s set prequel focused solely on Professor X and Magneto. This is the first one showing the main cast and of course, I wasn’t the only person to notice that it’s either a respectful nod, or rip-off of the classic Astonishing X-Men panel from Joss Whedon and John Cassady’s run. It’s such a great pic and has been used a lot, even on the cover of the motion comic. Hopefully the film’s promo people are aware of this.

April 20, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, Movies . Tags: X-Men . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 1 Comment

Starborn #5 Review

BOOM! sure do go after the big names; Disney, Planet of the Apes, Mark Waid, Stan Lee. Lee is of course the architect of the early Marvel Universe and helped birth Spider-Man, X-Men, et al, but the last few decades have seen him do not much writing and more overseeing. That’s kind of what he’s doing here, giving a few story ideas to modern scribes and letting them do their thing. I haven’t read may of the handful of Stan Lee’s …. line of new series, but this issue is geared as a jumping on point, so I thought I’d give it a go, and I’m glad I did.

Written by Chris Roberson (Cinderella; From Fabletown With Love, Superman) with art by Kary Randolp and Mateo Scalera it focuses on wannabe novelist Benjamin Warner. Stuck in a droll job he discovers that his dream girl Tara is actually a shape shifter form another planet and that the aliens coming to get him seem to be ripped from his imagination.

As this ish begins, Benjamin in a fancy space suit, Tara and a sceptical General Cur are inside Demon, living spaceship hurtling through space trying to come to grips with how, or if, Ben’s mind has created what he’s living, before getting attacked. On earth a few cool looking aliens, led by a dreadlocked female surmise that Tara’s group, Crimson Hand hid their advanced technology on earth before fleeing and Demon lands on mining planet to heal. While a disguised Tara haggles for supplies, Ben saves a woman and her child from an angry, whip wielding local and Ben learns that A. His hi-tech suit is full of surprises and B. For some reason he’s known on this world, and isn’t popular at all.

It’s not a perfect jumping on point as there is a fair lot of story to digest, but is an entertaining sci-fi story of the classic ordinary-man-in-extraordinary-circumstances approach. I’m curious to know more about Benjamin and just why his imagination is becoming real, and the place he plays in the universe. The art is amongst the best of these Stan Lee tales too, with a slightly sketchy yet expressive cartoony style that works with unfolding drama and Ben’s frequently overwhelmed expressions.

Also included is an action packed 8 page preview of Insurrection V3.6 #1 which looks like an interesting sci-fi tale too.