Comic Book Resources

My top five: American Virgin, 100 Bullets, Batman, uh… Scalped? But best of all, Atom.

It looks like Barbara’s moving her legs on the BoP cover.

I see what you mean about Derenick.

I think the guy on the Checkmate cover is one of the Great Ten from China. No idea which one, as they don’t interest me enough to try remembering their names.

I love the Highwaymen cover by Brian Stelfreeze. Reminds me a lot of some of Stuart Immonen’s stronger work. Is that just me or is anyone else seeing that?

I think you are spot on, Ryan. Totally like Immonen’s Nextwave. Good call.

It’s “August General in Iron” from the Great Ten…

….And it’s one of Mr. Terrific’s T-Spheres, not a crystal ball.

I like that Atom cover even though it is an homage to a classic Sword of the Atom cover I remember getting when I was younger.

How is Jock’s 4th place cover a clever concept? Having something drawn inside the silhouetof a person looks so familiar and cliche to me….I dunno

I knew the T-Sphere one, I just like my crystal ball idea better!

But thanks on the identification of which of the Great Ten it was, Paul! Okay, so I am glad to know that I didn’t miss an issue of Checkmate.

Having something drawn inside the silhouetof a person looks so familiar and cliche to me….I dunno

Not just drawing within the silhouette of a figure, but what the cover is showing us is that the Casino is being completely controlled by the silhouetted figure - and I think that is a really clever way of getting that point across.

I think Ordway inked Jurgens on Superman #75, actually.

What? No love for AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #54? Why not? It is a nice cover, in my opinion.

I like the Citizen Steel cover of “Justice Society of America,” but I am more prone, being a fan of Commander Steel and Steel. Some very nice covers in this batch, including the “All New Atom,” which is very cool in a pulp-y kind of way.

Nope, Superman 75 was Breeding or Rubenstein or whomever Jurgens was regularly using.

But Ordway inked Jurgens on all five issues of Zero Hour. And the Superman Wedding issue

Honestly, nothing jumps out at me as being great this month, so here my Bottom 5

Black Canary 2 - It’s ass-tastic, in a bad way. Truly belongs on the Bottom 5

Superman/Batman Just, no.

Teen Titans - Is her arm up Robin’s whosis?

Wetworks - It’s like they’re waiting around for the script to come in. “Whattya you wanna do?” “I dunno, whattya you wanna do?” “I dunno?”

JSA - Forget about the package Ross’ covers, while nicely done, are just boring.

What’s the big deal about the Alex Ross cover? Virtually every other superhero artist makes the guys as flat as a Ken doll down there, so it’s nice that someone finally draws a man in an anatomically correct manner. Any links to further discussions about this?

Honestly though my perspective is a bit skewed since a) I love Tom of Finland’s art and b) at 12 or 13 I read Rick Veitch’s Bratpack and Maximortal, all of which comically (pun intended) emphasize guys’ junk.

Superman (the Merino Jimmy Olsen cover): This cover smells like an homage to another cover (with Superman in Jimmy’s position?), but I can’t place it. I was thinking Lois’ odd apparel choices might be related to the original cover (maybe a caped hero in Lois’ place, since her coat looks very cape-ish here.)

Birds of Prey: Maybe my favorite, but as a BoP reader probably as much from the “hook” as anything. Great enticement for a showdown readers have been waiting to see!

Brave and Bold: I had a funny “optical illusion” moment briefly (y’know, like that picture that might be either a vase or two faces in profile looking at each other?) For a little while, I thought the round bits at lower-right (including Perez’ signature) were, like, a top-down view of some cosmic entity who happens to have huge bazongas instead of Batman’s cape….

Wow, that Dennis Calero cover depiction of Supergirl is the first time I haven’t rolled my eyes in disgust. Nice!

I’m sorry, was that a knock against Play-Doh?

I’m also a big fan of the BoP cover. The set-up of Oracle being forced into a physical fight, while it’s been done before, still doesn’t feel old to me. And the bullet wound is a bracing but great detail in that image.

Black Canary #2 is dreadful. Just a ridiculous pose. Why do editors continue to approve stupid stuff like that? Sheesh.

On the other hand, to wade back into the Citizen Steel debate … I think I realize now what’s setting some people off. Some of you see a hard-on in his shorts, is that it? Whereas the rest of us simply see a guy’s package, not much different from what we’d see on some guys wearing a speedo. However, I realized just now, looking at the image anew, that because Ross drew all those shiny lines on his underpants (because I guess his costume is shiny reflective steel, like his skin?!), it might appear to be revealing the contours of big Steel wood. Which would be weird. But I honestly don’t think that’s what Ross is going for. That’d be WAY too homoerotic for Ross.

Of course, the design of the costume itself does draw the eye even more down to Steel’s crotch, given those pointy lines near his navel, aiming down his torso. But when it comes to sexualizing a mainstream hero’s look, I doubt costume will ever top P.G.’s outfit.

Wow…Superman/Batman has really hit its lowpoint, hasn’t it?

How could you tell?

Remember when this book was kinda a big deal?

Well, no. I remember it being a huge seller, and the place where big events would happen (Supergirl, the end of President Luthor, the teasers for IC) but I never remember it being any good. It’s only gotten worse, but I don’t see any reason to doubt that it will continue to get worse.

It definitely looks like a boner to me. I thought that was why people were talking about. Because that’s weird.

That American Virgin cover confuses me. Is it supposed to depict a reflection? It sure seems to, given the amount of detail replicated between the left- and right-hand figures. However, (a) the background statue is in no way mirrored - though that’s perhaps acceptable if it’s viewed as a design element rather than part of the scene per se; (b) the tattooist’s arm is missing from the left-hand reflection (perhaps a vampire tattooist?), and (c) even if you excuse the first two, the relationship between the shoulders and the lettering in the center of the picture is completely off. Maybe Calle just flipped the figure in Photoshop and altered the coloring; too bad for her there’s a perspective issue to consider here as well. It surprises me how often comics artists misdraw reflections in mirrors or windowpanes - reflection is not that complicated to understand.

I really like the drawing and design on that Good As Lily cover. (On the other hand, I don’t understand your joke about Hamm, about whom I know nothing.)

I believe Midnighter is saying, “He — he’s dead! Grifter is dead! He sacrificed himself for me on this alien world!”

Woods’s Amazons Attack cover is really excellent: very narrative while at the same time a strong composition.

No Spirit this month?

I had the exact same thing with the Brave & the Bold cover, David! “I get Bats being here, but why is Power Girl also looking down on the Legion?”

I liked both Jock’s Faker and GAY1 (heh-heh) covers better than the one for Scalped. Put me in the cliche’ camp on that one.

Williams III’s Batman is sweet. The hand is creepy & ominous.

I don’t believe that’s Nguyen on Ft13th, but if it is, good for him. There’s an Andi Watson influence to Mama Vorhees that I like.

I’d vote for Simonson on Hawkgirl for #1. Mostly just because I miss him, you know, drawing and stuff. If he had drawn interiors for Hawkgirl, this probably wouldn’t be the final issue. Great comic book cover.

He drew the interiors for a JSA Classified-Hawkgirl crossover and the sales still were crap.

BoP - Unless there’s something I don’t know about Oracle but generally parapalegics (sic) shouldn’t be able to move their legs. Maybe that’s the problem.

Josh Middleton - Unless his actual method has changed from what I recall his style should allow the inker and colourist to have more of the credit.

Surely Sinestro’s ring should be on his left hand?

My only thing about the JSA cover is that I can now picture, during his conversion to an unstoppable cyborg of justice, Steel shouting “Citizen Steel demands a hydraulic penis!!!”

Presumably, he didn’t have enough blackmail material to also get chainsaw hands. RZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

Re: BoP

Actually, Babs can move her legs. She’s not “healed” by any stretch of the imagination, still can’t walk or stand on her own, but she can do stuff like toe wiggling and probably some leg shifting.

Brian, I’m surprised you didn’t recognize August General in Iron. He came from Grant Morrison’s brain!

Plus I’m pretty sure he appeared in an early Checkmate issue.

What’s the big deal about the Alex Ross cover?

There’s no big deal. We’re just making fun of it? Does it offend you to see strangers make fun of other strangers’ drawings?

Jurgens and Ordway are friends, and Jerry is one of the most regular inkers on Dan’s work. I’ve never thought that the two complimented each other all that well, though–Jurgens’s pencils are kind of “sketchy” if you’ve ever seen them un-inked, and I think that the finisher has a lot of influence over certain aspects of the final image. Art Thibert, Rubenstein and Brett Breeding (who inked Superman #75, by the way) have all been great over Jurgens. I feel like Ordway tends to do the Jerry Ordway/cartoonish thing and leave Jurgens’s stuff feeling less realistic and more two-dimensional than it usually is. When Jerry inks Dan’s Superman, he comes out feeling more like Shazam to me.

I’d have to call the Brave And The Bold cover a failure, as it took me 2mins to figure out what the tits in the right hand corner were actually meant to be…
Maybe if the cape the edge of the cape had been on the page, and not off it it would have worked better, but it threw me.

As for the Jock ones, I would’ve given Faker an honorable mention at least - it’s simple yet disturbing, and it keeps being subtly disturbing when you keep looking at it - not gross out disturbing, it just has an edge to it.
As for his GAY1 cover… not really a good cover, but could you imagine if you opened the comic and that was the opening splash page… it’d be awesome.
(it’d be super awesome if it was written by Ostrander and was entirely set in the jungle with Green Arrow taking down an evil mining corporation or something, and it was all done and told in one issue).

Hey Brian, any chance you could name the comics when you do this?
I don’t know which book half the covers are for!

Remember when this book was kinda a big deal? Now it’s like those 80s World Finest issues. Is it really that hard to get a good creative team for this title?

Uhh…what? It never ever HAD a good creative team, how can this be a low point. At worst, it’s just continuing a tradition of crappiness.

Middleton does do good superhero work. Superman/Shazam: First Thunder was very nice to look at, but also late. I remember talking to him at Wizard World Boston after the first issue had come out, and he talked about how he was already behind, but that it didn’t bother him because he had no love for deadlines and the book would be finished when he wanted it to be finished.

So I think if he’s going to be working on mainline DCU stuff, covers and special projects should really be it.

That is Dustin Nguyen on the Friday the 13th cover. If you look closely (and I mean, REAL closely) you can see his signature (DUSTIN) in the grass on the right side of the cover, just below the suitcase.

I remember talking to him at Wizard World Boston after the first issue had come out, and he talked about how he was already behind, but that it didn’t bother him because he had no love for deadlines and the book would be finished when he wanted it to be finished.

Well considering the reasons he got fired from Crossgen, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that professionalism isn’t his strong suit.

Re: Superman/Batman.

Yeah, folks, I did a poor job of getting my point across there. By “good” creative team, I just meant “big enough that they could follow Loeb’s run and not lose any of the book’s hotness.”

As I have said here before, I am not a fan of Loeb’s Superman/Batman.

Some of you see a hard-on in his shorts, is that it? Whereas the rest of us simply see a guy’s package, not much different from what we’d see on some guys wearing a speedo. However, I realized just now, looking at the image anew, that because Ross drew all those shiny lines on his underpants (because I guess his costume is shiny reflective steel, like his skin?!), it might appear to be revealing the contours of big Steel wood. Which would be weird. But I honestly don’t think that’s what Ross is going for.

Correct-a-mundo.

If you don’t think there is an erection there, then yeah, not creepy.

Apodaca: “There’s no big deal. We’re just making fun of it? Does it offend you to see strangers make fun of other strangers’ drawings?”

If the reason is due to latent homophobia and/or complete misunderstanding of the appearance of male anatomy, then making fun of a drawing doesn’t “offend” me, it just makes you look stupid. Sorry.

Brian: “If you don’t think there is an erection there, then yeah, not creepy.”

You find an erection “creepy”? Dear lord.

More than any cover, I’m impressed with Cronin’s comedy writing chops. Seriously, I laughed out loud at more than a few comments this time.

“10-inch pole”? “Hypnotic breasts”? A bit puerile, but nicely done. I’ve had my cheap laugh for the day.

As for the best cover of the lot, it’s 100 BULLETS. It’s ALWAYS 100 BULLETS. Dave Johnson is in the running for best cover artist of all time. I completely agree with your absinthe comment. In fact, I would love to put that to a test. You could call it the Dave Johnson Challenge.

Apodaca: “There’s no big deal. We’re just making fun of it? Does it offend you to see strangers make fun of other strangers’ drawings?”

If the reason is due to latent homophobia and/or complete misunderstanding of the appearance of male anatomy, then making fun of a drawing doesn’t “offend” me, it just makes you look stupid. Sorry.

Why would you assume homophobia/not knowing what junk looks like? Couldn’t it be that some see a problem with emphasizing a guy’s package on the cover of a mainstream comic book? I’ve seen people making fun of covers with overdone hooters {see the recent to-do over Power Girl) too; does that make them (us) woman haters? Maybe we just don’t know what hooters look like…

Brian: “If you don’t think there is an erection there, then yeah, not creepy.”

You find an erection “creepy”? Dear lord.

The problem isn’t with erections, it’s with the painting of an erection on the cover of JSA. But you knew that already.

What? No love for AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #54? Why not? It is a nice cover, in my opinion.

I feature the covers when they’re solicited. The Aquaman cover was in the solicits last week as a poster, so I commented on it then.

But Ordway inked Jurgens on all five issues of Zero Hour. And the Superman Wedding issue

Thanks, Graeme! The Wedding issue I barely remember, but it’s amusing, I just re-read Zero Hour recently, and I totally forgot that Ordway inked it (or, in the alternative, it didn’t look like his normal inks to me).

That American Virgin cover confuses me.

Agreed, O. It was a weird cover. I liked it well enough, in that I think it’s strangeness worked for it, but yeah, it didn’t make sense as a cover.

I really like the drawing and design on that Good As Lily cover. (On the other hand, I don’t understand your joke about Hamm, about whom I know nothing.)

Recently, on his website/blog, Jesse Hamm made some comments about comic book writers. At the time, a good deal of people took issue with the statement under the whole, “Who is this guy to be telling us anything?” argument.

No Spirit this month?

It was solicited last month, so I featured it then (it made my top five!).

I don’t believe that’s Nguyen on Ft13th, but if it is, good for him. There’s an Andi Watson influence to Mama Vorhees that I like.

If it wasn’t for the signature, I wouldn’t believe it was him either!

Surely Sinestro’s ring should be on his left hand?

I seem to recall someone (it may have been a fan suggestion) claiming that that is how Sinestro got his name - the ring translated his name into English, and it was basically “left-handed.”

Okay, I just found it - it WAS, indeed, a fan suggestion, by the awesome RAB (of the blog Estoreal) who came up with the following, to a question I asked on Snark Free Waters.

“EDITOR’S NOTE: Sinestro’s real name translates as ‘left-handed’ in the language of his home planet Korugar — just as the word ’sinister’ means ‘left-handed’ in English! Hal’s ring automatically translates the name into the nearest English equivalent, just as it does for all alien languages he encounters!”

Clever, Richard! Clever!!!

Oh, and Funky, I almost always try to put the names of the covers with the books. Which ones did I miss that confused you? I’ll fill them in.

No Judging Marvel covers this month?