List-Mania: Comic Book Covers

A few months ago I blogged about if I was a rich man what would I spend my money on. Not surprisingly, it was about what comic book original art would I adorn my den/library with.

A few of my online friends and I were discussing what some of our favorite comic book covers. If it was possible, if I was a rich man, what comic book covers would I want? Now I could have just picked my favorite comics but I wanted to pick out just the covers alone without any regard to the story themselves.

I didn't spend a lot of time brainstorming this topic or rooting through the thousands of comics that I own, I just chose the ones that came to my mind first. I was a little bit surprised that out of the five covers I picked, only one of them came from my list of favorite comic book artists. I am positive that I am forgetting some and maybe I will post my favorite covers from my favorite artists in the future.

HELLBOY: THE CORPSE

One of my favorite things about artist Mike Mignola is the way he uses the color black. His art is not soft, it has a dark and hard edge to it. I already had this short story but when I had to have this comic when it was re-released to coincide with the first Hellboy movie because of the cover art. I would love to have this hanging in my den/library.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN TPB

Here is another case where I double dipped and paid money for something that I already owned. I had the single issues of this series but I could not pass up getting the collected version with this awesome new cover by my favorite artist Alan Davis. Davis typically has a clean style, no line wasted and very precise. What makes this cover stand out to me is that it feels (and looks) a lot more sketchy, which gives it a dirty impression which does fit the story quite well.

YOUNG LIARS #1

The coloring of the covers and interiors of this woefully cut-short series is what really grabs my eye. It has a pulpy feel to it, like I am reading something out of the 70's. Each cover is unique but this one captures the energy of the series. One of the side effects of having this hanging on my wall is that it would remind me of the whack job this series was. The writer/artist certainly has a warped mind and a keen sense of style.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #321

Artist Mike Zeck ruled during the 80's as one of the best cover artists around. He draw a ton of comics from my childhood (Secret Wars, G.I. Joe, Captain America) but this one stands out. What would make Captain America so angry that he would drop the shield and pick up an Uzi? This was a close one, he did a fantastic G.I. Joe cover and a memorable Wolverine/Captain America showdown that I almost chose. But this one kept popping up in my mind. 

BONE #16

Now I have to admit that I chose this particular Bone cover because of the story inside. I chose it only because it represented my favorite set of storytelling panels. The vicious Rat Creatures have surrounded Bone and his friends in the forest and you cannot see them. The artist Jeff Smith employs the solid use of black and white (the original series was published in black and white) to show how pitch black it was in the forest. When sudden flashes of lightning occurred you could see how close the Rat Creatures were creating a very spooky and tense situation. 

Already by writing this blog I have remembered other covers that I would love to own and hang on a wall in my house. I just might have to share those here on the blog as well.

Random Ramblings

Day 338

Today has finally come and I cannot tell if I am excited or if I am nervous. Either way, I have puking butterflies in my stomach because today is the Halloween Hootenanny featuring the Gruesome Twosome!

I have no idea what to expect from the show, the crowd or from the weather (it is supposed to rain). All I know if that I will have a good time. I think I prepared enough by listening to Alice Cooper non-stop this last week and I grew out my beard a little bit. All I have to do today to prepare for the show is figure out what I should wear and then put some oil in the car and pump up the tires.

I have not been running as much as I used to so I had to find something that will motivate me some. A couple of weeks ago it was the Top of Utah marathon and I have decided that I will run the 5K race next year. This will give me sufficient time to train next summer. I also checked the results and found that most of the people run the marathon or half-marathon but few run the 5K. If I had raced using my time of my pre-test run, I would have placed 17th overall and 8th in my age category.

The last few days I have been in contact with my favorite artist Alan Davis and I have been redesigning the forum for him. I am not a huge fan of web design work but at least you can see your work progress as you make changes. I had to upload a new banner that Alan designed and sent me and I had to move a ton of topics and reorder the threads. I then uploaded a new look and I had to do some tweaking. Overall I am pretty happy with how it looks. You can view it by clicking here. 

I am so lucky that I am in such close contact with my favorite comic book artist. I have to admit that I geek out when I get e-mails from him.

Pic of the Week: Comic Book Logan

Day 272

I have not done a Pic of the Week blog post in months. Unfortunately my camera fell into the river and has passed on. Part of me is happy since it gives us an excuse to buy a better camera but it leaves us in a lurch since we have no camera at the moment and probably won't get one until later this week.

I was looking through all of our pictures looking for a topic to blog about and found a bunch of Logan reading my comic books and thought they would be fun to blog about.

I have to be a cool dad. How many dads out there have thousands of comics in their house? The older Logan gets the more of my comics he gets to read. And I have a ton load he can start off with. When I wrote for a comic book blog a few years back, I used Logan in some of my pics.

Logan is an Alan Davis fan in waiting. Why not start him with some of the best comics out there?

The comic Secret Wars II will go down as one of the WORST comic story lines. Logan is shocked that I paid $50 for this hardcover collecting the entire series. If he only knew that it retails for $100. And yes, it is not a great story but it came out when I first started reading comics so it has a heavy nostalgic factor.

One of my favorite characters, one of my favorite writers and my favorite artist. So this must be my most favorite hardcover right? Logan agrees, it is awesome!

My comic book friends make fun of me because I almost have a complete run of Quasar. A very cheesy superhero. But sometimes the cheese is the best part, you know, like on a pizza. Logan is totally mocking me in this pic.

There are two things wrong with this picture. One, I would never let Logan drink a full can of Mountain Dew Livewire. And 2nd, I wouldn't let him read Watchmen. At least not until he is much older. He totally faked this picture looking like he was really enthralled by the book. It is one of the best graphic novels but not one for looking to read comics like Superman.

Logan is such a sport. Here he is posing with my favorite comic book character and X-Man (and will be in the new X-Men movie) Banshee. I was so excited for a Banshee action figure but was so disappointed in how stupid he looks.

The Big Picture

Day 225

Creating that large image was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Using PhotoShop to cut each picture out was a different story. But I am happy with what I got. Some of the images you cannot see all that well so here is the full picture along with a legend.

1. Lime Crush - One of my all-time favorite sodas that they don't make anymore. Sadly the new Mountain Dew Lime is nowhere like this flavor. I would drive back to Canada tomorrow if I knew I could get some.

2. Brett Favre - I have always like the Packers (even though the Jets are my team) but I really liked Favre. I own 3 different Favre jerseys and no matter the flipflops of retirement, he will go down as one of my all-time favorite players. His boyish love of the game is just one of the reasons why I admire Brett. In fact, Logan was almost named Brett (after Favre) and Kristy and I are thinking of travelling and visiting the Football Hall of Fame when Favre gets inducted. If he retires...

3. Edmonton Oilers - Before there was football there was hockey. And Hockey Night in Canada was a staple growing up in Canada. And I was very lucky to be there in Edmonton during the dynasty days. Hockey is the only sport that I can sit down and watch any team play each other and know I will be entertained.

4. Wolverine and the X-Men - I love comic books but I don't have a love of comic book movies, that is until the first X-Men was released and raised the bar. I never thought any actor would be able to portray one of my favorite comic characters but Hugh Jackman nailed the role and it only took a few minutes to convince me. Now when a comic book movie comes out I am not as nervous as I used to be. Most of them have been good with X2 being the best.

5. Ric Flair - WHOOOO! I admit that I love wrestling and I was lucky enough (if you consider that to be lucky) to watch wrestling when it was awesome. Ric Flair is my all-time favorite wrestler, again like with Brett Favre, the Nature Boy just loves to play the game. And no one plays an evil (heel) wrestler like Ric Flair. Nothing gets you more excited when a hated villain finally gets what is coming to him!

6. Nexus - I don't think I have mentioned Nexus here on the blog yet but that is one of my all-time favorite comics. It came out in the 80's and was way before its time. It combined science fiction along with a heavy dose of politics with just a hint of superheroes. The main character Nexus (picture here) is gifted with god-like powers to act as judge, jury and executioner. He dreams of evil people (mass murderers) and is haunted by these dreams until he tracks them down and kills them. If he doesn't eventually the dreams will kill him. Awesome comic series.

7. Cadbury Creme Egg - I wish I had one right now. I love these tasty Easter chocolates. My all-time favorite candy.

8. U2's Zooropa - I love U2 and I am one of the few fans that think Zooropa is their best album. And this is one album that I cannot just listen to one or two songs, I have to listen to the whole album all at once. Johnny Cash's voice on "The Wanderer" is the perfect and fitting end to such a wonderful album. For some strange reason I really like the album cover too. I wish I had a T-shirt of this album cover.

9. Mountain Dew LiveWire - I don't get to drink this very often since it is not available where I live but it gives me a grand excuse to go down to Salt Lake. My old boss used to complain that it was just orange soda mixed with Mountain Dew and I would laugh (in my mind) at him. That is EXACTLY what it is. I don't know why I love it but I do.

10. The Laughing Cat - You are either a dog person or a cat person. While I don't mind dogs, I do prefer cats. Kristy found this picture of a laughing cat in a magazine and I had to keep it. Whenever I feel down I can always look at this pic and smile. So sorry dog people, I like cats better.

11. Alan Davis and Captain Britain - Captain Britain (pictured here) is one my favorite heroes. So why not Captain America? I like Captain Britain because he is a flawed hero. He doesn't want to be a hero and makes mistakes but ultimately becomes a hero. My favorite comic book artist is Alan Davis (who drew this) and I first saw his artwork drawing this character as well. He drew the good Captain aloof and brooding but powerful. And I just had to learn more about him. I have followed Captain Britain and Alan Davis wherever they go. I also run an Alan Davis message board and I have been extremely lucky that I am in contact with my favorite artist. A comic geek's dream come true.

12. Bottlecaps - My tongue has cankers. Yes, I went out and bought another box and ate them while watching the World Cup. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I love this candy. I love soda and candy. And those orange ones taste like children's aspirin, which I love.

13. Queen - I love this picture (taken from the album The Miracle) and it totally represents what Queen means to me. They are so diverse and creative. Listening to them relaxes me and makes me want to be like them and create. I never tire of them. This may surprise you though, Crazy Little Thing Called Love is one of their songs I like the least. Not sure why, it might be because I have heard it too many times.

14. Banshee - My favorite comic book character. Why? Beats the crap out of me. I think it is because he is not popular and is not seen very much. Something about his gliders on his costume and his powers that make me think he is cool. When I participated in the ScriptFrenzy, I wrote a comic book script that had Banshee in it. One of these days...

15. Princess Leia and Star Wars - My first celebrity crush as a kid. And it wasn't until Empire Strikes Back that I really began to think that she was hot. And then Return of the Jedi came out (I was 9 at the time) and I really began to crush on her. I didn't know it at the time but I am sure her little slave outfit had something to do with it.

16. Mr. Burns and the Simpsons - I quote the Simpsons all the time. Seriously, I do it all the time and I think I do it unconsciously, without even thinking about it. Mr. Burns is my favorite character. I can watch this show anytime and every Halloween, Kristy and I will whip out all the Halloween episodes and watch them. We love the Simpsons around here.

17. NaNoWrMo - I love to write and this novel contest is awesome. If any of you are aspiring writers or want to see what you are capable of, I highly HIGHLY recommend doing this. It is very rewarding and I am looking forward to doing it again this November.

18. Bob and Doug McKenzie - SCTV was a fixture growing up. People still believe that all Canadians are like this and that is not true. Only a few of them are exactly like this. Watching Strange Brew quickly brings about my Canadian accent. I can use the Great White North call and my family would immediately call back and come running.

19. New York Jets and the NFL - I get asked this all the time, why the Jets? My mom and I share a love for the NFL and I followed the Packers and 49ers but it was not until my LDS mission where I started to follow the Jets. I was in Queens and we used to go over to Mike's, a member's house every Sunday after Church. Mike’s dad did not like us at all. He did not want to be disturbed while watching football and this Sunday wasthe Giants/Jets game. Sometimes I would peek in and see the scores but I never stayed and never made any noise. But for some reason Mike’s dad wanted to know where that one missionary was. And he for some reason was talking about me. I walked in and his dad yells out “Are you going to stand there or are you going sit here and watch the game with me?” We were all flabbergasted! I sat down next to him and I was nervous. He looked over and said, “Who are you for? The Giants or the Jets?” I did not know what to say so I looked over at the television and I saw that Ronnie Lott was on the Jets team. (I guess he was traded while I was on my mission.) I replied “I like the Jets!” I picked the right team because he muttered “Damn Giants. I hate them!” He looked over at me and I blurted out "I hate the damn Giants!" He smiled and asked Mike to bring me my dinner plate so I could watch the game with him. I did what no missionary ever did. I ate quietly (I was a little scared) and after the game was over Mike’s dad wanted to take a nap but before he went upstairs he told me he expected me next Sunday to watch the Jets play. I have rarely missed a game since.

20. Annyong and Arrested Development - The best show ever. Seriously, go google and find the episode Pier Pressure and tell me you didn't laugh. If you watched it and didn't laugh you have no soul. How can a TV show be so wrong be so right?

21. The Little Mermaid - I already confessed that I love the movie The Little Mermaid. As I left my LDS mission in New York, this cute little girl Tina, gave me her favorite puzzle of the Little Mermaid. She was so sad that I was leaving and she wanted me to have it. We used to put it together when I would visit her family.

22. Chris Hansen and Dateline - I love Dateline and Chris Hansen is awesome. One of my guilty pleasures was watching him when he did those To Catch a Predator news stories. He asked the perfect questions and said the funniest things. If I was a journalist, I would want to be Chris Hansen.

23. The Platypus Clan - My awesome family. Without them I wouldn't be what I am today. My life would be so boring without them. They are the center of my life.

List-Mania: Comic Book Artists

Day 56

Happy Boxing Day!

I have mixed feelings now that Christmas is over especially when it comes to this blog. It has been a lot of fun celebrating Christmas for the last two weeks and I think I will miss it but at the same time I am happy it is ending. Conjuring up these Christmas-themed blogs at times has been a hassle and a lot of work. So while I am sad that Christmas is ending, I am happy to be writing about something else.

So I am going to do something fun (well, for me) for today's blog. Since I have tons of white comic boxes and it is Boxing Day I thought I would blog about my favorite comic book artists. Okay, I admit that was quite the stretch.

5) John Cassaday
There was just something different about this artist when he first busted on the scene. He is incredibly detailed and is able to draw just about anything. I appreciated his work but it was when I picked up Planetary that I became a big fan of his work.
FAVORITE WORK: Planetary



4) Steve Rude
What attracted to me to his artwork was how simple and yet how complex his drawings are. His art has an old-school feel to it, like I am reading a comic from back in the sixties. There is no line wasted in his art.
FAVORITE WORK: Nexus



3) Steve Epting
Epting penciled one of my favorite runs on the Avengers and it was there where I took notice of his art. His art took a large leap when he began to pencil Crux for the then-fledgling comic company Crossgen. In fact, Crux was the first CrossGen comic I picked up; just for Epting's work alone.
FAVORITE WORK: Crux



2) Marc Silvestri
Out of all the 'hot' artists that came out of the comic book boom of the early nineties, Marc Silvestri was my favorite. His style was rough and kinetic. He is also self taught, which motivated me to try my hand at drawing. Sadly, I am no where near his level.
FAVORITE WORK: Cyberforce



1) Alan Davis
Alan is my favorite artist bar none. I will follow his artwork wherever it goes. He is the only artist that I have almost every single comic he has drawn. Uncanny X-Men became a favorite title of mine and it was there that I first discovered his work. At first I liked his artwork but I didn’t discover how special is artwork was until a little bit later when Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 came out. This also introduced a favorite character of mine in Captain Britain. It was the way he drew that particular character that quickly made me a fan of his work. He drew the good Captain with a majesty, he was bigger than life and was powerful but also commanded respect. Ever since then I have collected his work. I even got my friend Joel into his work as well. Not only am I a fan but I also have the tremendous opportunity to work with him. He started a website on his own and I noticed that his former message board and been down for months and months. I e-mailed one of his inker friends (Robin Riggs) and asked if he had any contact information about him. He sent me his e-mail address and I asked if he would be interested in me having designed and maintained a message board for him. Surprisingly he was very interested and now I am hosting his message board. VERY COOL! The other best thing is that he sent me a full sketch of whatever character I wanted (I couldn't decide between Argent of the ClanDestine or Captain Britain) and I was very fortunate to get a huge sketch of both of them. A dream come true. I never would have thought that when I first discovered Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 that later in life I would speak to him like he is a friend of mine. It is hard not to geek out! The following artwork is a picture of the artwork that I am proud to own.
FAVORITE WORK: Killraven