Saturday, July 17, 2010

Batman and Speedy



Speedy is a character that is currently being put through the wringer. First he drops his own identity to become Red Arrow, a virtual carbon copy of his mentor. Then his young child is killed and he loses his arm. That was enough to turn me off to his mini-series, and I am glad I did because in it he apparently went back on drugs and was so out of it he was using dead cats as weapons. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder what editorial is thinking over at good old DC. Yes, I know this is probably leading to some redemption story down the line, but does it have to be such an ugly path getting there?

Friday, July 16, 2010

Batman and Speed Racer



I only caught the Speed Racer cartoon a couple of times when I was a kid, but the design of the car definitely resonated with me. Also, Racer X looked like a superhero, so that part of course intrigued me. My cousin gave me a few of his Speed Racer comics a couple of years back and I really enjoyed them.

The Speed Racer movie is a very mixed bag. Some of the humor was clearly aimed at a much younger audience than I, and is tough to sit through. The racing sequences, however, are pretty exciting. They are so over the top you just have to go with them and suspend your disbelief. Those scenes look great on a nice big screen. I wonder if the film would have done better at the box office if it had held off for a few years and was released when the big 3D craze hit.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Batman and Space Ghost



I absolutely love the design of Space Ghost's costume, ands that was the main draw to the series for me as a kid. I remember getting up very early on Saturdays to catch Hanna-Barbera's World of Super Adventure to catch his exploits. And while at that young age I never made the Alex Toth connection, I always felt like Space Ghost would fit right in with the Super Friends.

The talk show version is amusing, but I hope we see more of the straight Space Ghost soon. The mini-series that DC put out a couple of years back was a step in the right direction. I'm not sure if they still have the licence to the character, but if they do it would be cool to see him get integrated into the DCU so that he could feature in some real team ups.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Batman and Shazam!



Here is one of the very first covers I created. This is the character that I most hoped would team up with Batman back in the day. I saw Jim Aparo's version of Captain Marvel on the covers of World's Finest ans was really hoping I would get to see him illustrate the character for a full story.

I am happy to hear that a Shazam! film is finally in the works. With Geoff Johns serving as consultant, there is hope that it will be faithful to the comics.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Batman and Harvey Pekar



Inspired by a suggestion from the last post, I decided to put together a cover featuring the great Harvey Pekar, who passed away yesterday. Pekar was a true pioneer and stretched the boundaries of what comics could be and could accomplish. His unflinching depictions of the events in his life inspired many other artists to share their own stories.

If you haven't seen the movie of his life, American Splendor, I highly recommend that you seek it out. It is a great portrait of an artist with an excellent performance in the lead role by Paul Giamatti.

RIP, Harvey.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Batman and Sasquatch



Sasquatch is actually the first character I read about from Alpha Flight. He showed up in an issue of Marvel Two-In-One, and I instantly got a kick out of the design and size of the character. The rest of his teammates joined him in the following issue and I was hooked. I eventually read their guest appearances in Uncanny X-Men and eagerly followed them to their solo series. John Byrne was in his artistic prime, and all was good with the world.

Unfortunately, after Byrne left the title. things didn't go so well for Sasquatch. He was sidelined, turned white for some reason, and spent a lot of time mooning over unrequited loves. Sheesh - I just wanted to see him kick the Super Skrull's butt again (as he did in my favorite appearance)! I've been waiting for a writer to do something interesting with him, but aside from some ill-fated Alpha Flight revivals, he has kept a very low profile. Here's hoping that changes soon.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Batman and Rorschach



While it would probably be considered blasphemous to the memory of Watchmen, I have to say I would love to see Batman match wits (and fists) with Rorschach. I don't think either one would approve much of the other, and that would make for a great tale.

The Watchmen movie wasn't perfect, it should have dialed down the graphic violence and a few of the casting choices didn't suit the roles. It did get the visual look down excellently, though - I loved seeing Rorschach's mask in motion. That, along with Jackie Earl Haley's great performance makes it one of the best realized comic character movie interpretations ever. The scenes with him in the prison cafeteria and with the therapist felt like they leaped right out of the comics. Great stuff.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Batman and ROM



ROM was one comic that I liked more for the villains than the main star. The Dire Wraiths were the main bad guys and one of the most creepily designed alien races ever. They were just so inhuman looking that you knew there was no reasoning with them.

ROM himself was a little harder to get into for a couple of reasons. I liked the concept but the design made it hard for a reader to identify with him. The featureless metal mask made it very difficult to convey emotion - artists couldn't even cheat with it the way the can with Spider-Man or even Iron Man. But the main thing that bothered me about his costume was... he was wearing mittens! Yes they were made of cool alien metal, but they were still mittens! It was very hard to take a mitten-wearing superhero seriously.

Still, ROM has a lot of fans. It's too bad that rights issues prevent Marvel from reprinting his adventures.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Batman and Robocop



Thia is one team up that I would actually like to see in live action! I have heard rumors that the Robocop film franchise is in development for a return, and I hope it happens. It would be interesting to see him back on the screen with today's special effects. I still remember going to see the first movie at a drive-in theater. The sound broke down halfway through and when we went to complain, we found that the owners had left for the night! It would be a couple of years before I heard the complete movie.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Batman and Rip Hunter, Time Master



Here is another very early one so I apologize for the roughness. I was still getting used to creating new backgrounds and getting the proportions right.

I am glad that DC has found a strong supporting role for Rip in the current Booster Gold series. With all of the time travelling stories that the company does, I always thought he should have a higher profile.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Batman and Rick Jones



I remember reading about Rick Jones in Giant-Size Captain Marvel #1, and thinking that he was pretty cool. He got to have adventures with The Hulk, Captain America, The Avengers and now Mar-Vell. It was a good idea for Marvel to have a regular Joe type of character that hob-nobbed with all of their big guns. Unfortunately Snapper Carr never took off the same way for DC!

A lot of credit must go to Peter David, who kept Jones in the spotlight during his runs on Incredible Hulk and Captain Marvel. I haven't been following the Hulk titles too closely, but last time I checked in, Jones had been transformed into an Abomination riff called A-Bomb. Yeesh. Maybe it's time to start hanging out with Captain America again!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Batman and Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel)



The well known B&B cover which featured Batman protecting his new "partner", The Joker, was ripe for a re-do in this project, it was just a matter of finding the right character to replace the clown prince of crime with. When a buddy of mine requested Ma Hunkel, the original Red Tornado from the Golden Age, I thought it was just offbeat enough to work. Unfortunately there weren't a whole lot of images to work with, but I think I found a couple to fit the bill

I have to give Geoff Johns props again for finding a useful purpose for Ma Hunkel in todays continuity by making her the caretaker of the current Justice Society's headquarters, as well as being an inspiration to her granddaughter, Cyclone.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Batman and Raven



Raven was a very interesting character when she first appeared, because her personality, powers and appearance were so different from her female teammates and other super-heroines. Plus she had the great back story with her powerful demonic father, and the dark side she was always trying to suppress. I haven't followed her as closely since she somehow got the new, younger body. I think the powers that be decided to de-age her a bit so she wasn't so far removed from the animated TV version. Hopefully DC will get their Titans franchise back in order so characters like Raven, Cyborg and Starfire will get a chance to hit the heights that they had formerly achieved.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Batman and Quicksilver



I always liked Quicksilver in spite of his often pompous attitude. He couldn't get a break - neither mutants or Inhumans ever really accepted him. Sure he had a short temper, but his father is Magneto, he could be a lot worse. Basically his inclusion in an issue meant there was a level of unpredictability at play, which is always interesting for a reader.

This cover was a pleasant surprise for me. I had wanted to do a lopsided race scene and was amazed when I saw how much the two running poses matched up.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Batman and Quasar



Quasar was a character that was giving me a very hard time, as I just couldn't find an image that would work. finally I came upon a cover of his that was done by the very talented Mike Mignola and my my flashed to a Mignola Batman cover that I thought would do the trick. I had to tweak it a little, extending the cover on the left side and moving a few bats around.

I never followed Quasar's solo series but I did like him as a guest star with Spider-Man, The Avengers or the FF and thought he had an interesting history. I'm not sure but I think I read that he was killed in one of the recent Annihilation series that Marvel has put out, and there is a female version now? I'm sure one of you can let me know if I have that right or not.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Batman and The New Mutants



As promised, here is the continuation of the story that began with yesterday's cover. Looks like things didn't go too well for Batman.

I really liked the New Mutants during the first couple of years of their original series. This was back in a time where being a newly created mutant was actually a fresh concept, of course! Recently Marvel has brought the original team of characters back for a new series. I liked the first few issues, but unfortunately it got too intertwined in crossovers with X-titles I do not follow.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Batman and Professor X



The X-Men movies got as many things wrong as they did right, but one thing that was spot on was the casting of Patrick Stewart as Professor X. It's one of those times that the fan favorite casting choice was actually used and worked perfectly. From Picard to Xavier... that's as cool as being both Magneto and Gandalf! It will be interesting to see whether James McAvoy tries to do a Stewart impression when he portrays the younger Xavier in the upcoming X-Men: First Class.

By the way - this cover is only the first part of the story... what happens next? Well, stay tuned tomorrow for chapter 2!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Batman and Prez



Going to the well of obscurity once again with this one. Prez Ricard was "The First Teen President" and had a very short-lived DC series in the 70's. Other than as a guest star in a Supergirl tale around the same time and a retro Vertigo one-shot, I don't think he has made an appearance again. Still he is such an off beat product of his times, people seem to remember him. I actually had one of his issues, and it was funny to read the "hip" teen dialogue, clearly written by a middle aged man.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Batman and Power Pack



Power Pack is one of those properties that I think could do well in kids animation, it has all the elements. Kids as protagonists, visually interesting super powers, and aliens both scary and cute. Marvel does seem to be pushing them in their all-ages line and teaming them with the more heavy hitters to increase their profile.

I always remember reading the first issue of Power Pack way back in 1984 on a bus ride to Canada, it's weird how I can recall exactly when and where I was when I read certain issues, while most just fade away. The Brave and The Bold #177 with Elongated Man reminds me of my grandparent's house, DC Comics Presents #48 with Aquaman reminds me of waiting on the grass after school play rehearsal to be picked up by my mother, and so on. Some comics I guess just have a sense memory attached to them and seeing their cover is all I need to be taken back to the days of my youth. That's one of the things I love about the hobby... and why it can take me so long to sort my comics, with all the detours down memory lane!

Batman and Power Man and Iron Fist



I like Power Man a lot - He's got a unique back story and takes no guff from anyone, be it Dr. Doom or Captain America. I like Iron Fist, he has a great look, just the right amount of power and had a recent excellent run by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. Together, they really shine, however. It's really a great example of where two characters created independently can come together and truly compliment each other, and one argument in favor of shared universes.

While Iron Fist had that recent successful run, Power Man - excuse me, Luke Cage - has not been as appealing to me lately, despite a huge push by Brian Michael Bendis. He has completely changed in appearance, married and became a father, and after a stint with the New Avengers is currently heading up the Thunderbolts. But nothing in this new direction has clicked with me. I'd like to see him adopt his heroic moniker again and wear something closer to a superhero outfit... and maybe hang out with Danny Rand a little more! Sorry, I'm old school.

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