Monday, April 26, 2010
Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy
This one was a request, and it turned out to be a fun one. I have not followed the Guardians much aside from some guest appearances here and there, but I have heard good things about their solo series.
The bad guy on the cover here is Professor Hugo Strange, one of Batman's earliest villains. I'm not sure what Christopher Nolan's plans for the next Batman film are, but I think Strange could be a good choice for an adversary. I can see Ben Kingsley in the role. Hugo Strange used to deal in genetic manipulation and Monster Men, so they could even introduce characters like Man-Bat and Killer Croc through his involvement... although they may be a little too fantastical for the tone Nolan has set.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Batman and Doc Samson
This one I made just today and since we have already passed the appropriate spot in the alphabet, up it goes. Doc Samson was another of Marvel's C-listers that I always liked as a kid. I thought his job as a psychologist was a nice juxtaposition with his gamma produced strength and that he had a cool costume. There have been redesigns of his outfit over the years, but nothing tops his original look.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Doc Samson,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Batman and Green Lantern (John Stewart)
I usually don't use very modern images in these covers, as I am usually trying to evoke a silver/bronze age feel. This one is an exception. I saw these two great pieces by Jim Lee and Ethan Van Sciver and thought the could work together, so I gave it a shot. I still couldn't resist one old school trait by adding in a couple of word balloons. Comic covers do not have nearly enough word balloons these days!
John Stewart is a great character and I am glad that his role in the JLA/JLU animated series has given him a much higher profile. Geoff Johns and others have done some great work with him in the past few years.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Jim Lee,
John Stewart,
Team Up
Friday, April 23, 2010
Batman and Concrete
This one is a little more light hearted, as Concrete is hardly a traditional superhero. I encourage anyone who hasn't to go and check out some of the collected editions by Paul Chadwick, they are a revelation. They are filled with thought provoking stories, fully three dimensional characters and jaw-droppingly beautiful art. I think I read Concrete: The Complete Series and Concrete: The Complete Short Stories all in one weekend, I could not put them down. There have also been a bunch of mini-series featuring the character, but I haven't seen anything new in a few years. Hopefully that will change soon.
I had been wanting to do a Concrete cover for a while, but Chadwick's art was too different from Jim Aparo and I wasn't having much luck. I saw a Legends of the Dark Knight cover by Seth Fisher, and thought it would be a good fit. Not a perfect cover, but I think it worked out OK.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Batman and Godzilla
When I got this request I though that there was no way I would be able to fulfill it. But then I checked around and I found an issue of the 70's Marvel Godzilla series that would work by mixing it with a B&B cover that originally co-starred Swamp Thing. I was glad to do the hunting because is reminded me what a wonderfully offbeat series it was.
I have read that Godzilla is about to be Americanized and updated once again. I hope the filmmakers learned from the last attempt. They strayed too far from the original design and the monster spent too much of the movie hiding, giving up screen time to less interesting smaller versions of himself. The film Cloverfield showed that you can have an effective giant monster movie with a reasonable budget, so I have hope that we could still see Godzilla done right.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Godzilla,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Batman and Ghost Rider
There was a lot of cleanup with this one so it took a while. There are certain characters that I think Jim Aparo could have really excelled on if given the chance, and Ghost Rider is one of them. I have alway's loved Aparo's versions of DC's more monstrous characters like Swamp Thing, the Demon and Two-Face, and I bet he could have offered up a nice dark moody version of Johnny Blaze.
The Ghost Rider flick was crippled by a weak script, laughable villains and a hammy performance by Nicholas Cage, but I have to admit I get a kick out of the scenes featuring the title character in action. That's a testament to how great the design of the character is. It's hard to make a flaming skull with a leather jacket and motorcycle not look cool!
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Ghost Rider,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Mephisto,
Team Up
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Batman and Galactus
Galactus is yet another great creation by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I loved the fact that he was not described as good or evil, but a force of nature. My young mind thought that the concept of this world-devourer was just about the coolest thing ever. When I heard thet the second FF film was going to tell the Silver Surfer/Galactus saga, I was more than pumped... and then all we got was a cloud in place of the majestic villain. I really don't know what the filmmakers were thinking with that one.
This is a very lopsided team up, but it's the very oddity of the pairing that made me want to give it a shot. I know I would surely like to read a tale inspired from this cover.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Galactus,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Monday, April 19, 2010
Batman and Elektra
Everybody wonders who would win in a fight between Batman and Captain America, but here is a battle that I would really like to see. Both a great fighters, Batman has better gadgets, but Elektra is willing to be more lethal.
It's too bad that the vast majority of people only know Elektra from the mis-cast performances of Jennifer Garner in her two film outings. Hopefully folks who had a little interest from Daredevil and her self titled film checked out the comics and got a chance to see the correct portrayal.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Elektra,
Frank Miller,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Batman and Doctor Strange
I was glad to be able to use a Paul Smith version of Dr. Strange here, as he is my favorite artist to work on the character. This was one of the easier covers to come up with - as soon as I saw the Batman cover, I knew exactly which character to use with it, it was just a matter of finding the right picture.
Dr. Strange has been somewhat quiet as of late, even giving up the Sorcerer Supreme title to Brother Voodoo. Hopefully a creative team will find a new approach on him soon and he will rise in prominence again. I did love the Marcos Martin illustrated mini series of a few years back.
Batman and Doctor Mid-Nite & The Atom
Earth 2. If you have never read a single comic book, just hearing that term opens up a world of possibilities. A second Earth, where things turned out familiarly, yet quite differently at the same time... It was very appealing to me as a young reader. So there is no surprise that I was a huge fan of the Justice Society and all of its members.
Doctor Mid-Nite had no Earth-One counterpart and The Atom was the same in name only to the one he had, so they had even more of an air of mystery about them. The JLA/JSA team ups to me were the big events of my time. This cover was no request, just something I would have wanted to see on the stands when I was a kid.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Doctor Mid-Nite,
Jim Aparo,
JSA,
Team Up,
The Atom
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Batman and Doctor Doom
This one took a very long time, but it was worth it. It was hard replacing Doom's former victims with Batman's buddies but fortunately a little cloud placement covered many a flaw.
If I had only a few of my covers that could be made into actual stories, this is one I would pick. I would love to see this match-up! Doctor Doom is my favorite Marvel villain, hands down! His diplomatic status, his relationship to Reed Richards, his look and especially his attitude serve to make him one of the most interesting characters ever in comics, a creation as great as the FF itself.
Of course, this is why I was so annoyed with the portrayal of Doom in the FF movies. All that great stuff to work from, and they turn him into a Donald Trump type. The actor didn't even bother to put on an accent! Hopefully there will be a more faithful version in the upcoming reboot.
Labels:
Batgirl,
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Doctor Doom,
JL Garcia Lopez,
Marvel Comics,
Robin,
Team Up
Batman and Dial "H" For Hero
Another old-school cover as the result of a request. Coincidentally, Batman was solicited to team up with Robby Reed in the current B&B series just as I started this one. I wish I had used better quality pics to work from for this cover, as the colors are kind of oversaturated.
Dial "H" For Hero is a series that I think would work really well as an animated kid's series. Of course if they put one out now, folks might see it as a rip off of Ben 10, even though it predates that concept by decades.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Dial H For Hero,
Jim Aparo,
Team Up
Friday, April 16, 2010
Batman and Devil Dinosaur
This request had me stumped because I just couldn't fit the Jack Kirby artwork with a Batman cover to my satisfaction. Then I decided to see if I could find a Kirby Batman on the web. This turned out to be a lot harder than I though it would be. Kirby illustrated the two Super Powers minis series for DC in the 80's, but Batman was not featured prominently on the covers and I could not find many scans of the interiors. Finally I found a decent copy of the promotional ad to the series and was able to pull the Batman image off of there.
I never read the short lived Devil Dinosaur series, but from the covers it looks like a fun Kamandi style romp. Regardless of how much sense the stories might make, you gotta love the inventive visuals Kirby gave them.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Batman and Deathlok
Here's another character that I wish Marvel would do more with. I think my first exposure to Deathlok was in Marvel Two-In-One. I always dug his look and concept. When he was first introduced he was pretty original and since then we have seen many variations on the man/machine hybrid in film and comics. But good ol' Luther Manning was a pioneer and should not be relegated to a 4 issue miniseries once in a blue moon. I think I read that Marvel is ready to give the character another shot, hopefully this time he will find an audience.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Deathlok,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Batman and Death
This is a case where swapping out characters makes a huge difference. The original cover had Cat-Man taunting Batman in a standard villain's death trap scenario. By using the embodiment of Death instead, the story possibilities open right up. I mean, she wouldn't be there unless this was the real deal, right?
It's Amazing how Death, Sandman, and the rest of The Endless have fallen off of the map lately. Neil Gaiman created such a rich universe and while I understand DC's decision not to let other writers muck about in his creations, it would be nice to see some new stories involving them. The collected editions of their comics apparently sell well so at least new readers are being exposed to some of the most thought provoking writing in comics to date.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
Chris Bachalo,
DC Comics,
Death,
Endless,
Jim Aparo,
Team Up
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Batman and Deadpool
OK, I am not a huge fan of Deadpool. I have read a few funny comics featuring him, but these days Marvel seems determined to oversaturate the market with him for some reason. Anyway, I never thought I would do a team up with him until I stumbled onto a cover with his mask pinned with a knife and I knew it looked very similar to a cover John Byrne for the "Many Deaths of the Batman" storyline several years beck. It's a very simple concept, but I think it worked out quite nicely.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
Deadpool,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Batman and Atari Force
Here's a new one I just did as a request. I don't remember much about Atari Force back in the day, I think I only had one issue - but I have heard many good things about the series so maybe it is something I need to check out if a collection is ever released.
One major thing the series had going for it was the absolutely phenomenal artwork by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. It's too bad that licensing red tape is probably preventing this series from being reprinted.
Labels:
Atari Force,
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
DC Comics,
JL Garcia Lopez,
Team Up
Monday, April 12, 2010
Batman and Daredevil
I thought this would be a simple matter of swapping in Daredevil for Green Lantern, the original co-star in the issue of B&B that I used as a template here. I then realized that because of his DD chest symbol I couldn't flip his image, so I would up flipping the entire B&B issue and adding him in, and then I had to re-flip all of the logos and dialogue. It would up being a lot of work for such a simple looking cover. It's a good thing that Batman has a symmetrical costume or this is a problem I would probably run into a lot more often!
Even though the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie met with only a lukewarm response, I still feel that ths is a character very well suited for live action. I think a TV series would be great, half lawyer dramas and half action show. Daredevil's powers are relatively easy to represent and his rogues gallery are mostly street level characters, so this would be easy to produce. I've heard rumblings of a reboot for the film franchise, so we will see what the future holds.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
Daredevil,
DC Comics,
Jim Aparo,
John Byrne,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Batman and Cyborg
This is a team up we might have seen had B&B run for a couple of more years as The New Teen Titans was just starting up as the series ended. The George Perez art works well with Aparo here I think. Cyborg has done well in other media with animated appearances on Super Friends and Teen Titans, and a live action depiction on Smallville. Given that, I think that he should have a higher profile in the comics than he does, caught in an endless loop of being destroyed and reassembled. Yes, he just gained membership in the JLA but that seems like a temporary thing until the Geoff Johns/Jim Lee takeover on the horizon (no, there hasn't been an official announcement, but enough hints have been dropped).
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
Cyborg,
DC Comics,
George Perez,
Jim Aparo,
Team Up,
Teen Titans
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Batman and Conan
I was never a big sword and sorcery fan as a kid so I did not come to appreciate Conan comics until much later in life. Now I look back on those old issues and can't believe all of the gorgeous artwork by John Buscema and others within. This is a match up that just writes itself, whether Batman was thrust back to Conan's time, or Conan found himself in present day Gotham.
Sometimes I have to add in a caption or word balloon on these covers in order for the scene to make sense, but this was a situation where the guest star fit right in. Batman's actual teammate in this issue was The Spectre and it was a relatively simple matter to swap him out.
I read that Conan is headed back to the big screen. It will be interesting to see a new film interpretation so many years after the Arnold Schwarzenegger versions.
Labels:
Batman,
Brave and the Bold,
Conan,
DC Comics,
Jim Aparo,
Marvel Comics,
Team Up
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