Friday, September 17, 2010

Batman and The Savage Dragon



You have to admire Erik Larsen's commitment to his Savage Dragon title. With all of the changes that Image comics has undergone since its inception, The Savage Dragon has remained a constant, and always by the original creator. These days it is rare when a creator stays on a title for more than a couple of years, so the fact that he has 150+ issues and counting under his belt is pretty amazing. I also like the fact that The Dragon is a character that he came up with when he was just a kid - how many of us would have liked to have taken our childhood superhero creations and bring them to life?

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Batman and The Sandman (Garett Sanford)



Rounding out the trilogy of Sandman covers is one of the earliest covers I made, featuring the 70's Jack Kirby version. One thing DC does well is to keep their heroic names alive, whether through legacy characters or by giving the concept a whole new spin. DC went with the latter with The Sandman, and we as readers were treated to multiple cool concepts based on the name and connection to the dreamworld. Of course, The Sandman is currently represented by a legacy character. Sandy Hawkins, the former sidekick to the original Wesley Dodds version, had taken up the mantle and carries the torch in the Justice Society.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Batman and The Sandman (Dream)



I never read an issue of Neal Gaiman's Sandman series until well after it had been collected. I did however read many glowing reviews of the series as well of the many awards it had received. Finally, I had to see what the big fuss was, so I ordered the entire TPB collection and read the series straight through. What a wild ride! It's basically a contemplation on the art of storytelling itself, in all of its forms. The overall arc of Dream and the Endless is interesting and ties the whole epic together, but the real gems are the single issue stories, be they fantastical, humorous, frightening or touching. May favorite one, which still stays with me to this day was from an early issue: The Dream of 1,000 Cats. If you haven't checked out this series, do yourself a treat and do so.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Batman and The Sandman (Wesley Dodds)



I was always fascinated with the Justice society when I was a kid and could only read about them in reprints or JLA crossovers. The character that most intrigued me was the Earth-Two Sandman. He had the coolest look - business suit, cape and gas mask! Sheer awesomeness, I felt like if there were such a thing as real superheroes, they might dress like Wesley Dodds. I was not a fan of the the Kirby redesign, which made him look far more generic.

In my later years, I became a fan of the character all over again with the Vertigo Sandman Mystery Theater series. This is an excellent gritty series and features some of the best character work around with Dodds and his flame, Diane Belmont. I highly recommend it.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Batman and The Rocketeer



Dave Stevens' amazing ideas, artistic talents and design sense made The Rocketeer one of comic's perfect gems. It's a shame he passed away at such a young age. The period setting and breezy tone was what really made the title stand apart for me, it gave it a great Indiana Jones/serial cliffhanger vibe. I think the Rocketeer helmet is one of comics all-time great pieces of headgear, right up there with Dr. Doom's mask and Dr. Fate's Helmet.

I still love the Joe Johnston-directed Rocketeer film and think it is one of the better comic book adaptations. I am cautiously optimistic that he will show as much fidelity to Captain America, which he is currently helming.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Batman and The Punisher



I always liked The Punisher as a guest star in Amazing Spider-Man or Daredevil, but other than his first mini-series he had never interested me with his solo outings. Then Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon came along with the 12-part Welcome Back Frank mini series. I really loved this take and felt that it struck the right balance between violence and dark humor. The ongoing series that followed it by the same creative team had its great moments as well, especially early on - but it is those twelve issues that really define the character for me.

It has been very frustrating to see his attempts at the silver screen, all which have been critical and commercial flops. He seems like one of the easiest characters to translate to film, but somehow something always goes majorly wrong. Unfortunately, I think three strikes and you are out is the rule with comic property chances at crossing over to the movies, so it will probably be a long time before any studio wants to try again. Hopefully Marvel Studios will be the one if that day comes.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Batman and The Planet of the Apes



I watched the first Planet of the Apes film recently and it still holds up. It's my favorite Charlton Heston role and I am always impressed by how much emotion Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter were able to portray under such heavy ape makeup. Of course, Nova wasn't too hard on the eyes either. I have vague memories of watching the TV show when I was a kid, and I know I must have liked it because I had a Planet of the Apes Lunch box for a while!

The Tim Burton movie had some nice makeup and visuals but the story just did not do it for me and in the end it was a pale and unnecessary imitation of the original. I understand there is a new film in the works with James Franco titled Rise of the Apes, which is meant to be a prequel. I am a bit wary after the last attempt, but I will still keep an eye on this and hope it can capture some of the old magic again.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Batman and Nexus (Part Two)



As promised, here is Part Two of the Nexus team up. I really dig Nexus' costume and upon researching a little I was not surprised to see that Steve Rude mentions Alex Toth as an influence when he designed the look of the character. You gotta love his sleek look. Thanks for the info on where to check out his adventures, I've got some reading to do!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Batman and Nexus (Part One)



I am a huge Steve Rude fan, he has one of those timeless styles and a real mastery of light and shadow. I was happy to fulfill this request and as it turns out I couldn't decide which images to use so I made this one a two parter.

Doing the legwork on this one made me want to seek out some Nexus tales. So, what are the essential stories? Are there any TPB's that I should start with?

Monday, September 6, 2010

Batman and The Phoenix



The Dark Phoenix Saga for me is and example of comics at their best - art and writing firing on all cylinders, filled with plot twists, high stakes, colorful characters and gut wrenching melodrama. It's too bad the X-Men film franchise only kinda-sorta touched upon that storyline when if done properly it could be one of the most epic comic adaptations ever.

I must say I never paid much attention to Jean Grey in her Marvel Girl persona, it was only when she underwent her Phoenix transformation that she really started to get interesting. I haven't followed the X-titles too closely recently, but I think she is currently dead (again). Comics get a deservedly bad rap for killing off characters only to bring them back from the grave time and again, but I think that complain has to be waived when it comes to The Phoenix - I mean, death and rebirth are part of the whole concept! With that in mind, I hope we see Jean back among the living soon.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Batman and The Phantom (Part Three)



Here's the finale of the Phantom trilogy. I was really inspired by this pairing and would love to see a true crossover some day.

I checked out the SyFy Phantom movie which I think is supposed to become an ongoing series. Playing on the generation aspect of the character, a new descendant of Kit Walker is asked to take up the mantle. The show itself wasn't bad, but I felt they made a real misstep with the costume. After a quick scene dissing the classic version, we are introduced to the updated version and it is a monstrosity. I guess I can understand what they were trying to go for, using realistic type battle gear, but it is clunky and ugly - a strange cross between a football uniform and a beekeepers uniform. I hope they tweak it if the show goes to series.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Batman and The Phantom (Part Two)



Heres the second part of the Phantom trilogy

I quite like the 1996 Billy Zane Phantom move directed by Simon Wincer. It has its hokey moments but also some very well done swashbuckling action sequences and solid performances (OK, Treat Williams hams it up a bit too much). For years after I first saw it, I was convinced that Zane would make the perfect Bruce Wayne. I even thought they were able to make the costume work. It's too bad it wasn't a bigger hit and did not spawn any sequels. I think one reason for low attendance may have been the unfortunate "Slam Evil!" ad campaign which made the movie look cheesier than it was.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Batman and The Phantom (Part One)



When I started branching out from DC characters for this project, The Phantom was a no-brainer. Jim Aparo's stellar work on The Phantom's Charlton series was a precursor to his work at DC with Aquaman, The Spectre and of course Batman. This was a team-up definitely ripe for a full Aparo art cover. Once I started looking for ideas, there were just too many cool images to choose from. So, there was only one solution: Three part epic! Part 2 will continue tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Batman and The Original Human Torch



I always thought that Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch was cooler than his silver age counterpart. The featurless face while in flame form made him look much more menacing, and when I found out he was an android that made him even more awesome to me! I am glad that Marvel finally decided to bring him out of retirement and have featured him in modern tales. I am surprised that he doesn't run into Johnny Storm more often though. You would think they would have a lot to talk about.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Batman and The Newsboy Legion



This was a request, and it brought me back to reading those great DC 100-Pagers with all of the wild reprints. I thought the adventures of The Guardian and the Newsboy Legion were pretty cool, mostly due to the early Jack Kirby artwork. I liked that the Guardian was secretly a beat cop and I really dug his gold shield. In fact, I would love to see a period crossover between him and Captain America. The two WWII shielded Kirby characters together, that would be great!

Batman and The New Teen Titans



Here’s an early effort where I was still testing out altering images. In fact this is the only one in which I did not use two or more covers to create. Instead I just “erased” the rest of the JLA and added the speech balloon. Kind of lazy and it shows in the boring design, so not one of my favorites.

That shouldn’t be any reflection on how much I like the New Teen Titans though. I remember being annoyed that George Perez was departing Justice League of America so soon after his run began to work on a new title, but once it hit the stands, I was blown away just like most fans. The new characters were all instantly interesting and I was always a big Robin and Kid Flash fan. DC has had a tough time keeping the momentum with the Titans due to roster and creative team changes, but hopefully that is due for a change. I saw some footage for the upcoming Young Justice animated series and it seems like is captures a lot of the spirit of those first few great years of Titans.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Batman and The New Gods



I was a big Mr. Miracle fan when I was a kid but for some reason I just could never get into The New Gods. It was only when Darkseid became more of a line wide villain and started appearing in various titles that I started to get interested on the whole story of New Genesis and Apokolips. Fortunately, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm must have been Fourth World fans because the Kirby characters were featured quite a bit on Superman: The Animated Series and then Justice League Unlimited. It was these animated appearances where I really began to appreciate the whole mythology of the characters.

DC recently killed off all of the New Gods, and now they are going to be reborn in new forms... or something. I'm not sure. I read Final Crisis but Grant Morrison can be confusing at times! Hopefully they will be back soon.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Batman and The Micronauts



The Micronauts were probably my favorite of the toys turned comics concept that was popular during my childhood years. This was mainly due to the fact that the toys were so cool looking! Lots of points of articulation and great designs, they were pretty cool compared to most of the other action figures out at the time. I remember my brother had Biotron and I had Acroyear and we used to do mock battles, ah - good times. In the comics, I picked up a few issues if their various series, but was really won over with the X-Men vs. Micronauts mini-series. I'm not sure what the rights issues are like, but it would be nice to see The Micronauts back in action.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Batman and The Master of Kung Fu



Out of all of the martial arts characters that came out during the 70's, two really rose to the top: Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, The Master of Kung Fu. Iron Fist of course was a cross between a martial artist and superhero, so that was cool to me. Shang-Chi, on the other hand was a straight up martial artist, inspired by the likes of David Carradine's TV Kung Fu character. The neat thing was that he was still set firmly in the Marvel Universe and would appear with Spider-Man, The Thing and others.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Batman and The Marvel Universe



This is a pretty simple one, admittedly. Originally when I started this project I was very strict. I only wanted to use DC character that were around during B&B's publishing years, so that all the covers would be ones that could actually have been. After a while I got a lot of request for Marvel characters, so I made this early cover to appease the requesters. Of course it was not long before I brought individual members of the Marvel universe in...

Support STF: The Lost Issues!