Enjoy!

COMIC BOOK IDOL 3 UPDATE

The winner is Jon Reed!!

Reed is a 28-year-old accountant assistant from Alexandria, VA.

Congrats, Jon!

Here, I will share the entries by Jon that I posted in Snark Free Corner over the course of the contest...

ROUND 1

PAGE ONE.

Panel 1.
Establishing shot. A breathtaking vista illuminates a Mexican sunset as we key in on a peninsula rising above the crashing ocean waves below. A lone beach house is on the peninsula, appearing rather inconspicuous. CHANCE CALLOWAY'S '59 Thunderbird convertible is parked right outside.

Panel 2.
Inside the beach house, we see a cloth towel draped over a chair in the foreground. Chance lounges on a beat-up futon in the background; sipping on a beer while watching television. Steam emits from a bathroom door in the background-someone is showering.

Panel 3.
A small inset panel, a bird's eye view of the beach house from high above in the sky. A Comanche attack helicopter blade whirls through our shot as it zeroes in on the house.

Panel 4.
ASPEN MATTHEWS pops ONLY her head and everything above her breast-line out of the bathroom doorway pointing at the towel on the chair. This is our opening shot of her so make it count. NO NUDITY.

Panel 5.
From the POV of the side of the Comanche helicopter (we don't want to fully reveal it just yet), we see a pair of Hellfire missiles shoot out towards the beach house.

ROUND 2

PAGE ONE

Page One, Panel One

We open here with a shot of cheerleaders, which, as we all know, is how every good comic should open! Anyway... we're on the sidelines of a high school football game as these hot young things are doing their best to do their jobs and cheer on the crowd. The main focus of this shot should be one cheerleader in particular and she should be the center of attention; clearly the captain and the hottest of the bunch. Poses and uniforms up to you, but they should look sexy and feature the letters JB as I went to Joel Barlow High School.

Caption: I never dated a cheerleader.

Page One, Panel Two

Cut now to a scene at the prom... just a close-up of the prom queen as she stands on the stage and smiles and holds her flowers and waves at the crowd. She just got her crown and is happy as all hell. She's the prom queen, so she should be hot and decked out here in her gown with her tiara. I can send my prom pic as ref if you want to see what my date wore in 1989, even though she wasn't even nominated as queen. Depending on how you frame it, if we can see any of the background, it should be of balloons and glitter and all that prom shit, with any signs again for Joel Barlow High School Prom or JBHS 1989. Our theme was "Wonderful Tonight" if you wanted to include that. I'm just giving details here, so feel free to use or disregard whatever you want.

Caption: Never got lucky with the prom queen.

Page One, Panel Three

Cut to the outside of the back of a schoolyard near a parking lot. There should be a couple of old wooden benches and on them are seated a bunch of stoner chicks. Back then, Jerry Garcia was alive and the Dead were still touring and there were plenty of Deadhead chicks at my school. So there should be three or four of these chicks seated here, ripped jeans, tie-dyed shirts, flip-flops, rings, bracelets, anklets, dreadlocks, braided hair... however far you feel like going. They're all just sitting around smoking cigs and chatting as an old boom box plays some tunes they're grooving to.

Caption: Those kinds of girls always required too much effort.

Caption: I always found it easier to trade cigarettes with the stoner chicks for a quick hook-up in the parking lot.

Page One, Panel Four

This is a small inset panel in the bottom right corner of panel three. It's a simple shot of a young C.B. here, smiling or winking at the reader, as he enters the story.

C.B.: Just kidding.

Page One, Panel Five

Establishing shot of C.B. here now, dressed much like he is on the cover of Wonderlost #1: jeans, t-shirt, sambas, Rossignol cap, and black and yellow JB soccer jacket. He's on his own, maybe holding a notebook and a text book under one arm, as he walks down a crowded high school hallway lined with lockers.

Caption: I mean, sure, I was your typical, horny high school teen, looking for love in any place I could find it.

Caption: Most often in the pants of any girl who'd let me in.

Page One, Panel Six

C.B. now standing in the same hallway in front of the lockers with a cute little dark-haired hottie, dressed casually in jeans and sweater and Keds or something similar. She has her back up against the lockers as he leans in and over her and they make goo-goo eyes at each other.

Caption: But now that I'm older, reflecting back on all the different girls I dated...

Caption: ...I've come to realize that the ones I slept with are the ones I remember the least.

Page One, Panel Seven

Tighter on just their faces as they stare in each other's eyes.

Caption: My fondest memories are of the girls I didn't hook up with.

Caption: The small moments I shared with them are the ones I've never forgotten.

ROUND 3

Page 1:

Invincible is flying toward us, cool, iconic shot, he's bursting through clouds, smiling, having a grand old time.

His fun is interrupted as he looks down at the ground, casually at first, then sees something distressing and starts to fly down toward us.

ROUND 4

Page 3:

The boy trips hitting the ground face first. As he recovers, a boot steps in front him. He looks up to see whose boot this is. A hand reaches down to help him get up. The reveal: it's Saturn Girl. She helps him to his feet. He's relieved to see her. But wait! He looks behind her and goes bug-eyed...

Page 4:

Splash. The bigger reveal: she is accompanied by various members of the Legion. Put in who you want. I'm leaving it up to you, but I want to see a cool shot of them looking up at the machines and looking ready for a big fight.

ROUND 5

Now is also the time when I give the results of the Comic Book Idol 3 contest I posted on the blog awhile back.

Two contestants correctly picked Jon Reed and Charles Paul Wilson III as the two finalists, Scott (of Legion Clubhouse fame) and Kevin Collazo.

To decide between the two, I virtually flipped a coin, courtesy of random.org's virtual coin flipper function.

Scott was first, so I made him heads, and Kevin tails.

Here are the results!!

You flipped 1 coin of type US 25¢ - Delaware:

Timestamp: 2007-11-20 05:47:37 UTC

You flipped 1 coin of type US 25¢ - Delaware:

Timestamp: 2007-11-20 05:48:33 UTC

You flipped 1 coin of type US 25¢ - Delaware:

Timestamp: 2007-11-20 05:48:48 UTC

The winner, therefore, is Scott!!

Congrats, Scott! Send me an e-mail with your mailing info, and I'll have your prizes sent out promptly!

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

Good luck! A cool point to the first person to figure it out!

1.

2.

3.

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

Who would win in an arm wrestling contest - Hawkeye (Clint Barton) or Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)?

THE COVER GAME

This week's game is as follows...

Find me a cover featuring Green Arrow and Hawkman on it...

Floating heads don't count!

And NEW rule! No using those "Every Justice Leaguer/Avenger/X-Men ever!" covers they do sometimes (mostly for anniversary covers)! That isn't very fun!

Here is an example (which you can't use!)....

Remember, only one cover per commenter!

Good luck!

WHO IS IT?

Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!

1. This character was a member of the Justice League.
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2. This character has had a sidekick.
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3. This character was killed.
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4. The character has returned from the grave.
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5. This character technically debuted in an issue of Fury of Firestorm.

Who is it?

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!

29 Comments

• At November 20, 2007, Rob M wrote:

  Who Is It? Blue Devil, on 5. Specifically, on the word "technically," since there was a special ...

• At November 20, 2007, Rob M wrote:

  Cover Challenge: Justice League of America #57 http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=21417&zoom=4

• At November 20, 2007, TheSeaKing wrote:

  Is the answer to the cover theme game that they all feature flashlights? Granted, the last one's more like headlights ...

• At November 20, 2007, Great Unknown wrote:

  I'm pretty sure that's Blue Devil, although until clue 5 I was thinking Green Arrow.

• At November 20, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  Here, I will share the entries by Jon that I posted in Snark Free Corner over the course of the ...

• At November 20, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  oh, yer killin’ me! Hehe, I will admit that a bit of me was thinking, "Oh man, yo go re ...

• At November 20, 2007, Conor E wrote:

  Let's see... that first cover has the golden age Sandman after he was revamped to be more superhero-ish, and the ...

• At November 20, 2007, acespot wrote:

  I'll go out on a limb and say that all issues feature characters who died in the very next issue?

  Just ...

• At November 20, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  Hawkeye would win, because Green Arrow would underestimate him.

  Because EVERYONE underestimates Hawkeye.

• At November 20, 2007, The Mutt wrote:

  Hawkeye wins because he is a carny. NEVER go against a carny in a one-on-one contest. They rig the game.

  Plus, ...

• At November 20, 2007, MarkBlack wrote:

  Cover Game: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/justice-league-of-america/213-1.jpg

  The first JLA comic I ever read.

  Cover Challenge:

  I thought it might be all characters who were revamped in ...

• At November 20, 2007, garbonzo wrote:

  My first thought on the cover challenge is characters named "Bart." We have Bart Allen as Impulse. My ...

• At November 20, 2007, garbonzo wrote:

  Never mind. No Bart. A Vic, a Mitch, a Luke, and a Tony, but no Bart. There ...

• At November 20, 2007, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Cover Game: Hmm, if the theme is simply "revamps", then recall that Max Mercury was the revamp (new name, ...

• At November 20, 2007, Matthew Lazorwitz wrote:

  Cover game: http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=91065&zoom=2

  That's Green Arrow #12 from the most recent series.

• At November 20, 2007, Great Unknown wrote:

  Also, for the Cover Theme Game:

  I had been thinking revamps too. Although could it also be that all of those ...

• At November 20, 2007, Randy wrote:

  Cover game: Justice League of America #217

  http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=45019795106%20217%20SOMUCHFUN

• At November 20, 2007, BrianC wrote:

  Cover game:

  Hawkman #6, most recent series

  http://www.comicvine.com/comic/hawkman/9402/89264/&i=40439

• At November 20, 2007, buttler wrote:

  For the Cover Theme Game, they all feature DC characters (or DC-owned characters, in the case of Quality Comics' Max) ...

• At November 20, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Who Is It: Blue Devil on four, only because I figured GA would probably be too obvious for this game. ...

• At November 20, 2007, buttler wrote:

  Justice League of America (first series) #105 for Carter & Ollie

• At November 20, 2007, Billy F wrote:

  Identity Crisis # 2

  http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=168944&zoom=4

• At November 20, 2007, buttler wrote:

  My money would be on Hawkeye for the arm-wrestling contest. No question that I'd bet on Ollie over Clint ...

• At November 20, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Also, all three of the Marvel namesakes would join the Avengers at some point or another (in Sandman’s case very ...

• At November 20, 2007, buttler wrote:

  Excellent. And here I thought I was geeking out a bit too much with the Avengers thing.

• At November 20, 2007, Craig wrote:

  Cover Game:

  http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=44007723690%20115

  I think this would have been a lot harder had we not had Infinite Crisis to draw from.

  Also, no ...

• At November 20, 2007, acespot wrote:

  But all the really promising contestants failed to advance past the first round

• At November 21, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  I think only one Cover Theme Game has not been answered correctly yet.

  Sounds like it's time to bump that thread ...

• At November 21, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Dang! You're totally right!! There are a LOT of cover theme games that have yet been unanswered. I guess I ...

Enjoy!

COMIC BOOK IDOL 3 UPDATE

Here are the entries from the two finalists for the fifth and final round of Comic Book Idol 3!

Check out the Comic Book Idol 3 forum if you want to see the rest of their pages!

I am going to post ALL of their pages this time around. The assignment is to draw a cover and four pages for a hypothetical comic book starring Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (Firestar and Iceman).

No script - total freedom!

Charles Paul Wilson III
a 31-year-old security guard from Wharton, NJ.

Jon Reed
a 28-year-old accountant assistant from Alexandria, VA.

Get ready to vote this Wednesday!

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

Good luck! A cool point to the first person to figure it out!

1.

2.

3.

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

If you were given the task of giving Spider-Man two "Amazing Friends" for a TV cartoon series, which two superheroes would you pick?

THE COVER GAME

This week's game is as follows...

Find me a cover featuring Ice (Tora) without Guy Gardner or Fire on it...

Floating heads don't count!

Here is an example (which you can't use!)....

Remember, only one cover per commenter!

Good luck!

WHO IS IT?

Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!

1. This character was a social worker.
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2. This character also taught children with disabilities.
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3. This character played college sports.
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4. The character is from Baltimore.
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5. This character attended the University of Michigan.

Who is it?

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!

35 Comments

• At November 13, 2007, Graeme Burk wrote:

  Guy Gardner by number 3-- the first time I've ever gotten one of these!

• At November 13, 2007, Rob Schamberger wrote:

  Wilson for the win!

• At November 13, 2007, minestrone wrote:

  Justice League America #35

  http://comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=47548&zoom=4

  (Sorry about skipping the html linkage. I haven't had my morning coffee yet.)

• At November 13, 2007, minestrone wrote:

  oh look at that! Linkages are all automatic! Wonders never cease.

• At November 13, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  Beast and the Wasp would make interesting "amazing friends" for Spider-Man; Beast because the two of them would make a ...

• At November 13, 2007, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  "AMAZING FRIENDS", huh?

  Well... Spidey's ALWAYS had some GREAT adventures when he's teamed up with (fellow Ditko creation):

  DOCTOR STRANGE.

  SO DOC ...

• At November 13, 2007, sgt pepper wrote:

  For Spidey's friends I'd go with Human Torch and Kitty Pryde. That should give a nice mix of fun ...

• At November 13, 2007, sgt pepper wrote:

  And those two final entries for Comic Book Idol are ugly, poorly composed, and just bad drawing.

• At November 13, 2007, Paul wrote:

  Have to agree with Sgt. Pepper. No snark, just negativity. Those two final contestants are very disappointing.

• At November 13, 2007, M Bloom wrote:

  It's funny, you think Ice would get a cover appearance at some point during her return storyline in Birds of ...

• At November 13, 2007, Allan Lappin wrote:

  Cover Theme Challenege -- Pointy-eared protagonists!

• At November 13, 2007, Chris wrote:

  I agree that Kitty Pride and the Human Torch would be great for "Amazing Friends". It would allow the show ...

• At November 13, 2007, Cambert wrote:

  When I read "pick Spider-Man amazings friends" I was taken aback. It's a really hard task. Not for the obvious ...

• At November 13, 2007, BrianC wrote:

  THE COVER GAME

  Justice League Quarterly #7

  http://www.comicvine.com/comic/justice-league-quarterly/9634/86446/&i=41046

  I like the idea of Spider-Man teamed up with Black Cat and maybe the Human ...

• At November 13, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  It'd be too horrible to team Spidey with Spider-Woman AND Arachne. It'd be the "gimick rip-off tagalongs".

  Pre-Annihilation Nova might ...

• At November 13, 2007, Matthew E wrote:

  For Spider-Man: How about, oh, Colossus and Zatanna?

  (Nobody ever said "Marvel only".)

• At November 13, 2007, Randy B. wrote:

  The Cover Game:

  Justice League America #35

  http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=45004343634%2035

• At November 13, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Abbey Cable on the second clue (and probably wrong)

• At November 13, 2007, Randy B. wrote:

  Oops. Someone already picked that one.

• At November 13, 2007, Tomer wrote:

  Spidey's Amazing Friends - my candidates:

  Male - Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Booster Gold (If not limited to Marvel), Flash.

  Female - ...

• At November 13, 2007, TheSeaKing wrote:

  Spider-Man's Amazing Friends? I would find this annoying in comics, but I think it could work in a cartoon: Deadpool. ...

• At November 13, 2007, Scott MacIver wrote:

  While I find it hard to think about the Amazing Friends outside of Iceman and Firestar, a team-up which I ...

• At November 13, 2007, Mr. Beefhead wrote:

  Cover Theme Game: the covers feature characters with 'Rider' in their names. Dark Rider from MTU; Rich Rider on ...

• At November 13, 2007, Kyle wrote:

  I like Sue Storm but not the Cannonball pick. How about Sue and someone that Sue wouldn't get along ...

• At November 13, 2007, Great Unknown wrote:

  Provided the "Amazing Friends" don't have to be male and female? Luke Cage and Iron Fist all the way. Think ...

• At November 13, 2007, Alan wrote:

  Eh, the world's a crazy place when the two finalists were the guys who couldn't even get the script right ...

• At November 13, 2007, DanLarkin wrote:

  The Thing and the Human Torch would be great pals for Spidey to hang out with. Luke Cage and ...

• At November 13, 2007, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Spidey's Amazing Friends:

  Namorita was the first character to pop into my head, probably because of the cover challenge. Is she ...

• At November 13, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Cover Theme Game: the covers feature characters with ‘Rider’ in their names. Dark Rider from MTU; Rich Rider on NW ...

• At November 13, 2007, buttler wrote:

  Spider-Man and his amazing friends, Howard the Duck and Galactus.

  I'm not wrong.

• At November 13, 2007, Randy wrote:

  I kinda like Rocky and Bullwinkle as amazing friends...

  But if you want Marvel characters, I'd go with Squirrel Girl and ...

• At November 13, 2007, John Trumbull wrote:

  Weird. I just brought up Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends over on The Absorbascon, and now I see them ...

• At November 13, 2007, acespot wrote:

  Eh, the world’s a crazy place when the two finalists were the guys who couldn’t even get the script right ...

• At November 13, 2007, stephen cade wrote:

  Justice League Quarterly 11 has Ice & no Fire or Guy-

  http://www.comicvine.com/comic/justice-league-quarterly/9634/86449/&i=2051

• At November 14, 2007, BrianC wrote:

  oops, scratch my Cover Game...I didn't see the Fire stipulation.

1 Comments

• At November 7, 2007, Bill Reed wrote:

  I would so write comics for this dude to draw.

  That is all.

3 Comments

• At October 24, 2007, sgt pepper wrote:

  On the round one play at home comment section, lots of commentors were blowing smoke up the artists keisters telling ...

• At October 24, 2007, Apodaca wrote:

  It seems like a lot of comic artists have real difficulty drawgin girls that look like girls, and not women. ...

• At October 24, 2007, Dan (other Dan) wrote:

  Yeah, but hanging around the high school for photo referencing can get complicated. "No, I just want to draw ...

1 Comments

• At October 23, 2007, abconnect » Blog Archive » Chatting with the Eliminated Contestants wrote:

  [...] click here for full story [...]

Enjoy!

COMIC BOOK IDOL 3 UPDATE

Here are the entries from the eight finalists for the second round of Comic Book Idol 3!

Check out the Comic Book Idol 3 forum if you want to see the rest of their pages!

I am going to post all their first pages (of their three page assignment). For reference, here is the script by C.B. Cebulski for that first page...

PAGE ONE

Page One, Panel One

We open here with a shot of cheerleaders, which, as we all know, is how every good comic should open! Anyway... we're on the sidelines of a high school football game as these hot young things are doing their best to do their jobs and cheer on the crowd. The main focus of this shot should be one cheerleader in particular and she should be the center of attention; clearly the captain and the hottest of the bunch. Poses and uniforms up to you, but they should look sexy and feature the letters JB as I went to Joel Barlow High School.

Caption: I never dated a cheerleader.

Page One, Panel Two

Cut now to a scene at the prom... just a close-up of the prom queen as she stands on the stage and smiles and holds her flowers and waves at the crowd. She just got her crown and is happy as all hell. She's the prom queen, so she should be hot and decked out here in her gown with her tiara. I can send my prom pic as ref if you want to see what my date wore in 1989, even though she wasn't even nominated as queen. Depending on how you frame it, if we can see any of the background, it should be of balloons and glitter and all that prom shit, with any signs again for Joel Barlow High School Prom or JBHS 1989. Our theme was "Wonderful Tonight" if you wanted to include that. I'm just giving details here, so feel free to use or disregard whatever you want.

Caption: Never got lucky with the prom queen.

Page One, Panel Three

Cut to the outside of the back of a schoolyard near a parking lot. There should be a couple of old wooden benches and on them are seated a bunch of stoner chicks. Back then, Jerry Garcia was alive and the Dead were still touring and there were plenty of Deadhead chicks at my school. So there should be three or four of these chicks seated here, ripped jeans, tie-dyed shirts, flip-flops, rings, bracelets, anklets, dreadlocks, braided hair... however far you feel like going. They're all just sitting around smoking cigs and chatting as an old boom box plays some tunes they're grooving to.

Caption: Those kinds of girls always required too much effort.

Caption: I always found it easier to trade cigarettes with the stoner chicks for a quick hook-up in the parking lot.

Page One, Panel Four

This is a small inset panel in the bottom right corner of panel three. It's a simple shot of a young C.B. here, smiling or winking at the reader, as he enters the story.

C.B.: Just kidding.

Page One, Panel Five

Establishing shot of C.B. here now, dressed much like he is on the cover of Wonderlost #1: jeans, t-shirt, sambas, Rossignol cap, and black and yellow JB soccer jacket. He's on his own, maybe holding a notebook and a text book under one arm, as he walks down a crowded high school hallway lined with lockers.

Caption: I mean, sure, I was your typical, horny high school teen, looking for love in any place I could find it.

Caption: Most often in the pants of any girl who'd let me in.

Page One, Panel Six

C.B. now standing in the same hallway in front of the lockers with a cute little dark-haired hottie, dressed casually in jeans and sweater and Keds or something similar. She has her back up against the lockers as he leans in and over her and they make goo-goo eyes at each other.

Caption: But now that I'm older, reflecting back on all the different girls I dated...

Caption: ...I've come to realize that the ones I slept with are the ones I remember the least.

Page One, Panel Seven

Tighter on just their faces as they stare in each other's eyes.

Caption: My fondest memories are of the girls I didn't hook up with.

Caption: The small moments I shared with them are the ones I've never forgotten.

Andrew Huerta
a 23-year-old freelance artist from Santa Ana, CA.

Caio Oliveira
a 28-year-old who is currently unemployed, from Teresina, Piauí, Brazil.

Charles Paul Wilson III
a 31-year-old security guard from Wharton, NJ.

Dan McDaid
a 30-year-old writer and illustrator from London.

Jon Reed
a 28-year-old accountant assistant from Alexandria, VA.

Jose "Joh James" Holder
a 36-year-old storyboard artist from Montreal.

Nicholas Pitarra
a 25-year-old college student and part-time waiter from Houston.

Wilfredo Torres
a 35-year-old information technology professional from Lawrencville, GA.

Get ready to vote this Wednesday!

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

Good luck! A cool point to the first person to figure it out!

1.

2.

3.

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

What is the most original superpower introduced in the last decade?

THE COVER GAME

This week's game is as follows...

Find me a cover featuring Agatha Harkness on it...

Floating heads don't count!

Here is an example (which you can't use!)....

Remember, only one cover per commenter!

Good luck!

WHO IS IT?

Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!

1. This character was not born in America.
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2. This character is a superhero.
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3. This character has sort of like shapeshifting powers.
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4. This creator was an Avenger.
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5. This character was born in Costa Verde.

Who is it?

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!

46 Comments

• At October 22, 2007, Michael wrote:

  Silverclaw!

  And my guess is that the characters on all three covers team up after fighting.

• At October 22, 2007, Rob M wrote:

  Who is it: Silverclaw, on 5

  Cover game: Fantastic Four #185, by Perez http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=31325&zoom=4

• At October 22, 2007, Vig wrote:

  Silverclaw on 4. Whatever happened to her. Jarvis?

• At October 22, 2007, Jason wrote:

  Agatha pops up on the cover of F4 #110. Is it okay to look these things up, as opposed to ...

• At October 22, 2007, Eric TF Bat wrote:

  It's a shame Jack Hawksmoor from The Authority, "The God of Cities", has been around for more than a decade ...

• At October 22, 2007, mrjayberry wrote:

  Is the cover challenge they all feature evil versions of heros,

  Avengers Black Knight/Proctor

  X-Factor 1 Cable/Stryfe

  X-Factor 2 Multiple Man/Multiple Man

• At October 22, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, Eric, my pal Tadhg (who technically is still a blogger here) helped me come up with the question, and ...

• At October 22, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Is the cover challenge they all feature evil versions of heros,

  Avengers Black Knight/Proctor

  X-Factor 1 Cable/Stryfe

  X-Factor 2 Multiple Man/Multiple Man ...

• At October 22, 2007, mrjayberry wrote:

  Okay I was stretching but I rarely own any of the comics featured so I thought I would guess.

• At October 22, 2007, The Mutt wrote:

  Bueno Excelente had the power of perversion, and Jean de Baton Baton defeated his enemies with the power of his ...

• At October 22, 2007, chris wrote:

  Though I'm fairly sure he's been around a bit longer than a decade, I always thought Chamber (from Generation X) ...

• At October 22, 2007, J.C. wrote:

  All 3 covers feature armor?

• At October 22, 2007, Bill Reed wrote:

  "Strange Bedfellows"?

  Awesome.

• At October 22, 2007, Grant wrote:

  Mother Mayhem from Savage Dragon.

• At October 22, 2007, Grant wrote:

  ^^^^^^^

  Nomination for original superpower. Or grossest at least.

• At October 22, 2007, M Bloom wrote:

  Cover theme game: I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the link between all three ...

• At October 22, 2007, JD wrote:

  Does the new take on Madrox's powers count ? Very original and quite fascinating, it started in 2004...

• At October 22, 2007, Cove West wrote:

  Cover theme - All three issues feature characters with psionic rapports:

  Black Knight/Sersei

  Cyclops/Jean Grey

  Havok/Wolfsbane

• At October 22, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  All 3 comics in the comics cover challenge were worked on by Bob Harras?

  He wrote Avengers, and Edited the other ...

• At October 22, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Or looking again, all three feature characters mind-controlled by a villain.

  (my taste of getting it last week has made me ...

• At October 22, 2007, Colossus 2000 wrote:

  Did Agatha appear on an Infinity War / Crusade / Thingy cover? I rememeber her being part of the magic ...

• At October 22, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Cyclops/Jean Grey Neither of those two characters were featured on the covers.

• At October 22, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  While Sentry has no ‘new’ powers, I like the theory of the CLOC telling him which disaster is more important ...

• At October 22, 2007, Alan wrote:

  Best new power? Sylar, on Heroes (that counts, right?) Working out what's "wrong" with someone's brain and then fixing your ...

• At October 22, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  All three covers feature artists using different styles to the one's they became famous for?

  (or are known for - not ...

• At October 23, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  you know, "yay" for Comic Boo Idol and all, but are we going to get a page from everyone every ...

• At October 23, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  you know, “yay” for Comic Boo Idol and all, but are we going to get a page from everyone every ...

• At October 23, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  (okay, I lied - I got bored and stopped the page loading)

  For the cover challenge: is it werewolves? Captain America ...

• At October 23, 2007, Danar wrote:

  I'll go out on a limb and say the cover challenge is the cover features a fight that never occurred. ...

• At October 23, 2007, John Seavey wrote:

  Silverclaw on 1, actually, although I spent most of 2-5 worried I was going to be shot down. And the ...

• At October 23, 2007, acespot wrote:

  Flemgem has a pretty gross superpower: horking up great gobbets of snot onto his opponents.

  Dogwelder doesn't actually have any SUPERpowers, ...

• At October 23, 2007, Will wrote:

  Milligan's X-Factor had one or two interesting ones. I'm not sure how sweating acid translated into energy blasts, but it ...

• At October 23, 2007, Zach Adams wrote:

  Yeah, X-Force/X-Statix had some truly out-there ones. Gin Genie, whose seismic powers were fueled by booze, Dead Girl's corpse-reading, ...

• At October 23, 2007, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Multiple Man's new power: resembles the Archie Legion's Triplicate Girl, each component of whom had a distinct personality.

  Before The Anarchist ...

• At October 23, 2007, Scott MacIver wrote:

  Silverclaw on 5.

  Best new power in the past 10 years... I kind of like the Drummer from Planetary, I always ...

• At October 23, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  And the last she was seen was in Civil War

  she also showed up a couple months ago in Ms. Marvel's ...

• At October 23, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  As far as powers go, it'd be dang hard to come up with anything completely new. I feel it's ...

• At October 23, 2007, Matt D wrote:

  I actually really like the powers for one of the urchins that Whedon just came up with in Runaways, the ...

• At October 23, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  Flying isn't a new power; it's a new take on one. I'll give him that much.

• At October 23, 2007, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  Henry in the novel of the Time Traveller's Wife is my bid. Time travel is shown as almost entirely involuntary ...

• At October 23, 2007, Craig wrote:

  yo go re beat me to the werewolf guess. Wolfsbane and Wolverine both actually appeared in the Capwolf story, and ...

• At October 23, 2007, sgt pepper wrote:

  As for those Comic Book Idol pages, some of them are fantastic, but I'm surprised at just how awful some ...

• At October 23, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Cap, Wolfsbane and Wolverine were all members of the "Wolfpack" during the Cap-Wolf storyline.

  So yo go re and Craig both ...

• At October 23, 2007, John Cage wrote:

  Does this count for the Agatha Harkness question:

  http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-23599503122488_1971_2255287

  (She's behind Black Talon.)

  Have a good day.

  John Cage

• At October 23, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  hey, score! Usually the ones I *can* guess already *are* guessed by the time I see them. High fives all ...

• At October 24, 2007, Craig wrote:

  Right back at ya, yo go re. :)

  Not bad for a guy that comes here to lurk, eh?

Enjoy!

COMIC BOOK IDOL 3 UPDATE

Here are the entries from the ten finalists for the first round of Comic Book Idol 3!

Check out the Comic Book Idol 3 forum if you want to see the rest of their pages!

I am going to post all their first pages (of their three page assignment). For reference, here is the script by Vince Hernandez for that first page...

PAGE ONE.

Panel 1.
Establishing shot. A breathtaking vista illuminates a Mexican sunset as we key in on a peninsula rising above the crashing ocean waves below. A lone beach house is on the peninsula, appearing rather inconspicuous. CHANCE CALLOWAY'S '59 Thunderbird convertible is parked right outside.

Panel 2.
Inside the beach house, we see a cloth towel draped over a chair in the foreground. Chance lounges on a beat-up futon in the background; sipping on a beer while watching television. Steam emits from a bathroom door in the background-someone is showering.

Panel 3.
A small inset panel, a bird's eye view of the beach house from high above in the sky. A Comanche attack helicopter blade whirls through our shot as it zeroes in on the house.

Panel 4.
ASPEN MATTHEWS pops ONLY her head and everything above her breast-line out of the bathroom doorway pointing at the towel on the chair. This is our opening shot of her so make it count. NO NUDITY.

Panel 5.
From the POV of the side of the Comanche helicopter (we don't want to fully reveal it just yet), we see a pair of Hellfire missiles shoot out towards the beach house.

Andrew Huerta
a 23-year-old freelance artist from Santa Ana, CA.

Caio Oliveira
a 28-year-old who is currently unemployed, from Teresina, Piauí, Brazil.

Charles Paul Wilson III
a 31-year-old security guard from Wharton, NJ.

Daniel Lafrance
a 42-year-old freelance artist from Toronto.

Dan McDaid
a 30-year-old writer and illustrator from London.

Jon Reed
a 28-year-old accountant assistant from Alexandria, VA.

Jose "Joh James" Holder
a 36-year-old storyboard artist from Montreal.

Nicholas Pitarra
a 25-year-old college student and part-time waiter from Houston.

Warren Leonhardt
a 33-year-old freelance storyboard artist from Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.

Wilfredo Torres
a 35-year-old information technology professional from Lawrencville, GA.

Get ready to vote this Wednesday!

And you have until Wednesday 11am to make your picks for my Comic Book Idol 3 contest!

Also, if you want to see how some other artists did working on the same pages, I have five samples up here at the latest Idol Thoughts on the Comic Book Idol 3 blog.

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

Good luck! A cool point to the first person to figure it out!

1.

2.

3.

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

After Giant-Size X-Men, the X-Men determined they had too many members, so shrunk down to 7 - Cyclops, Banshee, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossues and Thunderbird. If the X-Men had to do that NOW, who would your six members (other than Wolverine, as, come on, you can't have the X-Men without Wolverine) be?

THE COVER GAME

This week's game is as follows...

I featured Sue Dibny LAST week, so how about her killer, Jean Loring, THIS week?

Find me a cover featuring Jean Loring on it...

Floating heads don't count! And Jean as Eclipso doesn't count!

Here is an example (which you can't use!)....

Remember, only one cover per commenter!

Good luck!

WHO IS IT?

Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!

1. This creator's first mainstream work was on the character Vampirella.
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2. This creator then worked for both Marvel AND DC.
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3. This creator is an artist who has only released one full issue of a comic in the past year plus.
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4. This creator has had at least one action figure series based on his artwork.
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5. This creator works pretty much exclusively with writer Jeph Loeb nowadays.

Who is it?

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!

25 Comments

• At October 16, 2007, jazzbo wrote:

  Tim Sale? The Jeph Loeb hint seems to point that way.

• At October 16, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Cover challenge?

  All feature characters who went over to the Malibu universe when Marvel first purchased it.

  (Black Knight, Sersi and Juggernaut).

• At October 16, 2007, Anthony Strand wrote:

  Who is it? - Tim Sale, I suppose. I got it on #5.

• At October 16, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Correct, Funky!!!

  And while Superman Confidential has been quite late, it hasn't been THAT late, so a number of issues of ...

• At October 16, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  WHOO!

  That's the first one I've been even able to take a guess at!

• At October 16, 2007, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I've also figured out the creator, but I had to hit wikipedia to figure it out, and I was only ...

• At October 16, 2007, Kieran wrote:

  Ed McGuiness

• At October 16, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yay, Kieran (after a little editing on my part ;))!!

• At October 16, 2007, Vig wrote:

  Ed McGuiness.

• At October 16, 2007, Vig wrote:

  Ah damn, someone beat me to it!

• At October 16, 2007, Vilas wrote:

  Guys... Caio's city is TERESINA, not Tersina.

• At October 16, 2007, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  Ooh, I knew Ed McGuiness. I think that's the first one of those I've read that I've known.

  The comic ...

• At October 16, 2007, fanboy d wrote:

  x-men:

  cyclops

  cyclops' current beau (hopefully psychic)

  beast

  rogue

  shadowcat or armor

  colossus

• At October 16, 2007, Matt D wrote:

  Cyke, Beast, Cannonball, Kitty, Emma, Nightcrawler.

  You can't really have just one X-team that small though. Too many characters.

• At October 16, 2007, The Mutt wrote:

  Beast

  Banshee

  Storm

  Angel

  Cyclops

  Kitty

• At October 16, 2007, M Bloom wrote:

  Cover game: I've got nothing. I'd assumed that Jean would be on the cover of JLA #157, the issue where ...

• At October 16, 2007, Scott MacIver wrote:

  Cyclops: Sure, I think he's a tool, but you have to have one of the originals on the team, or ...

• At October 16, 2007, jazzbo wrote:

  McGuiness was my second guess. I had no idea if either him or Sale have done a comic this year, ...

• At October 16, 2007, Ian wrote:

  Cyclops

  Emma Frost

  Nightcrawler

  Colossus

  Beast

  Iceman

  Rogue (w/o her Ms. Marvel powers)

• At October 16, 2007, DanLarkin wrote:

  Cyclops

  Emma

  Nightcrawler

  Colossus

  Kitty

  Angel

• At October 16, 2007, Dan (other Dan) wrote:

  I wouldn't vote for any of those pages in which Aspen is holding her tits. Mainly because of the ...

• At October 16, 2007, Will wrote:

  I'm assuming you mean using characters as they are right now - meaning no Jean, Psylocke as a badly written ...

• At October 16, 2007, Paul wrote:

  This probably isn't the place for this, but my vote on the CBI thing would hands down be Dan McDaid. ...

• At October 16, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  X-Team:

  Bear in mind that I haven't read any X-title since 1995. I'm not aware of any major changes since ...

• At October 17, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Erm...

  Beast

  erm....

  I've just realised how few X-Men I actually like.

If you have not been following Comic Book Idol 3, it begins officially today, Thursday, October 11th.

Here is a list of the ten finalists, with a link to their websites.

The contest is a simple one - post in the comments section to this entry who you think the two finalists will be. Everyone who guesses correctly will be entered into a random drawing, with the winner receiving a bunch of free stuff, including autographed comics courtesy of Comic Book Idol 3's host, J Torres!!

So make your guesses! I'll stop accepting guesses next Wednesday, at 11am Eastern time.

18 Comments

• At October 11, 2007, Nils wrote:

  Of course I don't know, who the two finalists will be, but I can say, who I like to see ...

• At October 11, 2007, Mer wrote:

  Charles Paul Wilson III and Jose Holder

• At October 11, 2007, nadir wrote:

  i have a very good sense it will be Caio Oliveira & Daniel Lafrance. they both use space very well ...

• At October 11, 2007, Aaron wrote:

  Dan McDaid and Daniel LaFrance. I like the cuts of their respective jibs.

• At October 11, 2007, TimCallahan wrote:

  McDaid and Pitarra look like the top 2 to me--I hope they make it all the way.

• At October 12, 2007, Comic Book Idol 3 - The Amateur Art Contest from Comic Book Resources » Idol Thoughts 10/11 wrote:

  [...] I am running a Comic Book Idol 3 contest on Comics Should Be Good! Check the contest out here. ...

• At October 12, 2007, Raghu wrote:

  Jon Reed & Nicholas Pitarra are my votes.

  I loved Jon Reed's work - looks very special. Suprised that he is ...

• At October 12, 2007, Scott wrote:

  I'm going to go with Jon Reed and Charles Paul Wilson III.

• At October 12, 2007, Kevin Collazo wrote:

  Charles Paul Wilson III & Jon Reed take the cake easily.

  When is Comic Idol 4 starting?

• At October 12, 2007, William Ferguson wrote:

  Warren Leonhardt all the way! Oh you want two? Daniel LaFrance then! Canadians kick ass!

• At October 12, 2007, Edison Culver wrote:

  Jon Reed & Nicholas Pitarra

  GO JON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• At October 12, 2007, Nabeel A. wrote:

  Andrew Huerta and Jon Reed

• At October 14, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  Going purely on the strength of the pages that were posted in the Snark Freee Corner (I can't get into ...

• At October 15, 2007, Shane wrote:

  I've got a pair of Dan's

  Daniel Lafrance

  Dan McDaid

• At October 16, 2007, Comics Should Be Good! » Snark Free Corner for 10/15 wrote:

  [...] And you have until Wednesday 11am to make your picks for my Comic Book Idol 3 contest! [...]

• At October 16, 2007, avengers63 wrote:

  With the ten pages we've seen, my favorite two are Charles Paul Wilson III and Caio Oliveira. In my ...

• At October 17, 2007, DeeSnider wrote:

  I'll go with Charles Paul Wilson III and Warren Leonhardt.

• At November 16, 2007, Scott wrote:

  So, Brian, looks like we have a couple of correct guesses. When is the drawing? :)

Enjoy!

COOL COMIC THINGS

The top ten finalists have been named for Comic Book Idol 3!! Follow the event on the Comic Book Idol Forum here or on the Comic Book Idol 3 blog here!

Here is a sampling from the top ten!!

Andrew Huerta
a 23-year-old freelance artist from Santa Ana, CA.
(http://aztekh.deviantart.com/)

Caio Oliveira
a 28-year-old who is currently unemployed, from Tersina, Piauí, Brazil.
(http://www.quantaacademia.com/quantoon/Fanfiction/MPF001ing.htm)

Charles Paul Wilson III
a 31-year-old security guard from Wharton, NJ.
(http://www.comicspace.com/cpw3art/)

Daniel Lafrance
a 42-year-old freelance artist from Toronto.
(http://www.danlafrance.com/)

Dan McDaid
a 30-year-old writer and illustrator from London.
(http://danmcdaid.com)

Jon Reed
a 28-year-old accountant assistant from Alexandria, VA.
(http://www.jonreedcomicart.com/)

Jose Holder
a 36-year-old storyboard artist from Montreal.
(http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa297/johjames/NewSire2)

Nicholas Pitarra
a 25-year-old college student and part-time waiter from Houston.
(http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=9703)

Warren Leonhardt
a 33-year-old freelance storyboard artist from Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.
(http://www.warrenleonhardt.com/)

Wilfredo Torres
a 35-year-old information technology professional from Lawrencville, GA. (http://www.comicspace.com/mightyfineline/)

Follow the fun starting Thursday!!

COVER THEME GAME

As always, here is the game. I show three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, locale, creator, SOMEthing. And it isn't something obvious like "They all have prices!" "They all have logos!" "They all feature a man!" etc.

In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers.

Good luck! A cool point to the first person to figure it out!

1.

2.

3.

SNARK FREE CHALLENGE

Which of the six founding members of Image (McFarlane, Liefeld, Lee, Valentino, Larsen and Silvestri) is the best writer? Which one is the best artist?

THE COVER GAME

This week's game is as follows...

Fine me a cover featuring Sue Dibny on it...

Floating heads don't count!

Here is an example (which you can't use!)....

Remember, only one cover per commenter!

Good luck!

WHO IS IT?

Remember, tell me who it is and what number clue gave it away!

1. This creator was the regular artist on the Justice League.
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2. This creator also writes comic books.
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3. This creator fairly recently drew Spider-Man for a series.
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4. This creator is the current editor-in-chief for a comic company.
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5. This creator is currently writing a funny animal comic book.

Who is it?

Well, that's it for this installment of Snark Free Corner.

Hope you had fun!

36 Comments

• At October 9, 2007, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Larsen is definitely the best writer of the 6 remaining founders of Image.

• At October 9, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  Larsen is going to win that contest by a landslide, although I must say that I've read some McFarlane-written issues ...

• At October 9, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  D'oh! I meant to include "best artist" as a question, too!

  Fixed!

• At October 9, 2007, Chris Hill wrote:

  Is the cover theme that each one features an identity that's been used by more than one person? (Batman, Captain ...

• At October 9, 2007, Rohan Williams wrote:

  In that case, I'll pick Lee as the best artist by a country mile.

• At October 9, 2007, Damien wrote:

  I think the connection is double-cross.

  Erik Larsen is the best writer, Marc Silvestri is the best artist.

  All four ...

• At October 9, 2007, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Best writer: Larsen. His comics have coherent plots, humor, and characterization. Valentino would be second, I suppose, although I haven't ...

• At October 9, 2007, tom fitzpatrick wrote:

  Lee's definitely the best artist, Larsen's the second.

• At October 9, 2007, Matt D wrote:

  I'm sort of partial to Valentino as a writer, but that's the childhood memories kicking in.

• At October 9, 2007, mrjayberry wrote:

  When image started I thought Larsen had the best art(um ongoing series not mini) and Shadowhawk had the best writing(based ...

• At October 9, 2007, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  Larsen is the best writer, hand's down.

  Although, I understand Valentino had some good autobiographical stuff (which I haven't had the ...

• At October 9, 2007, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  Now, I thought about it, and using my favorite character as a gauge for who I'd like to see write ...

• At October 9, 2007, BrianC wrote:

  The Cover Game: Elongated Man #1 features Sue on the cover. The other three issues do not.

• At October 9, 2007, Scott MacIver wrote:

  Erik Larsen is the best writer of the bunch, if for no other reason than for his unparalleled creativity when ...

• At October 9, 2007, Chud wrote:

  Liefeld is the best artist and writer.

  .

  ..

  ...

  ..

  .

  Kidding, jeez.

  Lee is the best artist. His work on Fantastic Four v. 2, #1 ...

• At October 9, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  Larsen and Lee continue to be the tops at writing and art, respectively, in the terms of this question. I ...

• At October 9, 2007, kymaera wrote:

  I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy and also thought the issues that Valentino wrote of the second What If? ...

• At October 9, 2007, Paul wrote:

  Sue Dibney...Justice League of America vol. 1, #246...she's a tough one.

• At October 9, 2007, Paul wrote:

  Perhaps she would be less difficult if I would spell her name correctly.

• At October 9, 2007, acespot wrote:

  Could the connection be that each issue features a character who is later revealed to have been someone they were ...

• At October 9, 2007, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Yep, acespot, and Duchess of course turne dout to be Lashina (though this was made clear virtually from her first ...

• At October 9, 2007, acespot wrote:

  YAY I WIN!

• At October 9, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I'd take that answer if it was a cover with Matches ON it (and now that you mention it, using ...

• At October 9, 2007, stephen cade wrote:

  McFarlane is the best artist on that list--and since this si a snark free post, I won't mention what I ...

• At October 9, 2007, Apodaca wrote:

  Since this is snark free, I'll just abstain from the Image founders debate.

• At October 9, 2007, Jeremy Tobin wrote:

  All feature characters who were brainwashed/had their memories altered. (Batman, Dr. Light, Ronin(Maya(.

• At October 9, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I'll give you a cool point for it, Jeremy, but I think the Maya bit is a bit of a ...

• At October 9, 2007, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Cover theme game- they all feature characters once written by Pete Milligan? Batman, Shade, Elektra...

• At October 9, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Correct, Andrew!

  I try to keep these babies pretty straightforward, folks. :)

• At October 9, 2007, yo go re wrote:

  you have a very warped idea of "straightforward." Remember the Beetle/Lois Lane one? Or how about the still-outstanding (as in ...

• At October 9, 2007, Brian Cronin wrote:

  All "straightforward" means is "direct."

  Therefore, the solutions are all direct ones, not ones that include circuitous thinking.

  All the answers are ...

• At October 9, 2007, acespot wrote:

  He WAS the identity used inside, IIRC.

  And sometimes, doesn't familiarity with the actual stories contained therein count, as well?

• At October 10, 2007, Eric wrote:

  Sue Dibny appeared (along with pretty much everyone else from the Marvel and DC Universes) on the cover of JLA/Avengers ...

• At October 10, 2007, Jeff Albertson wrote:

  Larsen's probably my favorite writer in the Image bunch, and he gets mega-kudos for continuing to write and draw his ...

• At October 11, 2007, DanCJ wrote:

  I'd pick Larsen as the best writer and the best artists.

  There was a time I'd have picked McFarlane, but Larsen ...

• At October 12, 2007, Chris Griswold wrote:

  There were seven founders of Image Comics. Whilce Portacio was a founder, but he stepped down as one of the ...

Q: What have you worked on since CBI?

Penn: Competing in CBI2 allowed me to go to San Diego '04 where I was able to meet with DC editors. I did some work for Lebron James' Flava23.com which never saw the light of day. I also met Erik Larsen, who offered me a back-up in Savage Dragon which saw print last November. My first published work. I've spent most of my time post CBI2 drawing books for Platinum Studios ("Hotshot and Mighty Girl" and "Meet the Haunteds") and teaching.

Q: What are you working on today?

Penn: I am currently finishing up "Meet the Haunteds."

Q: How has CBI helped your career?

Penn: First of all, being able to compete was really encouraging and validating. Having strangers voting and posting compliments was very gratifying. On top of the confidence boost. CBI2 was and will always be my first big break which got me noticed.

Q: Have you gotten any work as a direct result of CBI?

Penn: I consider all of my Platinum work and any other work I get as a result (both directly and indirectly) of CBI2.

Q: What did you have to do to take the next step from competing in CBI to getting to where you are now?

Penn: Geez. Um, uh. Being persistent when meeting editors and I continue to pound the pavement (carpet?) at conventions.

Q: What sort of advice do you have for potential CBI contestants to survive potentially five weeks of the contest?

Penn: You HAVE to take it seriously and put your best foot forward. REMEMBER: this is an ART COMPETITION: there will be a winner and nine "not winners." This comes down to a battle of aesthetics and that you wouldn't be competing if you weren't already pretty damn awesome! (not that I think I'm awesome or anything.)

Oh yeah: HAVE FUN

Thanks, Billy!

1 Comments

• At February 23, 2008, life insurance brokers wrote:

  life insurance brokers

  carcasses?laughter!flute!