Nathan Caroland Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Hey, I find myself trawling through online comics, artist websites and this or that looking for inspiration from time to time or more to the point just to see some neat artwork and to pass some time. Anyhow, haven't been into comics since I was like ten, and don't ever really plan on getting back into it, but I keep hearing people mention this comic or that character and then have to go digging for information and find some rather neat artwork or characters involved. Curious to see what type of comics and/or artwork styles that people dig in that sort of industry. Link me up, pictures would be a big plus (hit that yellow envelope thing at the top there when replying to link it in) but just some ideas and styles would be neat. I find that I like to see the 'character' in the drawing (who they are, poses, physical showing of emotion - rage, hate, anger, sorrow .. etc). Also very curious about comics outside of US production as I know there are some neat ones out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph-E Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I 've showing you this one , Nath. It's a french comics, something really rare because i love it. And I use to hate french comics. http://www.mutafukaz.com/accueil.php?lang=en Asian comics, more known as Manga are pretty good too. I can name Hellsing, Priest, GTO, FLCL, Saru Lock... I do love some older comics too. Battle Chasers from Joe Madurera is one of my favorite. And all the UK comics from 2000AD, judge Dredd for the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritual Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I always liked Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics (or rather graphic novels). They are very unlike anything else in comics and are filled with twisted imagery (although the earlier ones were not very well drawn), mythology and dark humour. Simple things, like the fact that his speech balloons are always black with white text. I also like the albums about Death, Morpheus's (the main character in Sandman) sister. I like the fact that Death is portrayed as a sweet young woman who always seems to be in a good mood. Another fun character that turns up now and then is Delerium, another sister to Morpheus and Death. She speaks with multi-coloured speech balloons where the text swirls around aimlessly with varying size of the letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonasD Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Next to my toilet there's a whole shelf of Mickey Mouse and other comics. Just the best read when one is... In one of those I also discovered a great Mickey Mouse Story with loads of cool fanatsy elements. It's now on my desk and I surely will draw some inspiration from there. Other than that I really like the McFarlane-Style and old classics from France, such as Asterix or Valerian and Veronique (Real great Sci-Fi stuff!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeinated Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Having sculpted superhero stuff for so long & with some friends in the industry I've been into comics fairly non-stop. I read a lot of different books. There are very few monthlies I still get though, mostly trades & graphic novels now. There is such a huge variety of stuff it really depends on what you are into or looking for. I'll inundate you with a crazy amount of stuff here. Current ongoing stuff I like: Walking Dead- good zombie book that is really more about survival in a ruined world. Great zombie illustrations in it. Invincible-by same author is a good superhero book done from a developing hero's POV. Fables-Fairy tales have fled to our world & live secretly among humans while avoiding a dimension conquering adversary. Great designs on a lot of the fantasy monsters & gear. Favorite authors: Alan Moore: Anything. Here are some top selections. Watchmen-Still a gritty real world superhero epic. Changed how comics wee perceived & if you missed it(first published in 1985 I believe), see it before the movie comes out soon. V for Vendetta-The movie did a fairly good job capturing the feel. Feeds my anarchistic, anti-fascism mentality. Very moody & adventurous. Tom Strong-Fun 50's style science hero adventure. All the books under Moore's ABC publishing banner fit in with this. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-Nothing at all like the movie, which blew monkey chunks. Blends late 19/early 20th century characters together into a fun adventure story. Swamp Thing-My all-time favorite. Under morre's run it was very dark & groundbreaking. The art by Bissette & Totleben is amazing. John Constantine Hellblazer is from this series. Other writers have had mixed results with the character though. The original 70's run is also excellent. Neil Gaiman: Sandman as has been said already. Spun a bit off of Swamp Thing. Black Orchid-abook about identity from a female characters POV. Part of the Swamp Thing mythos. Books of Magic-Harry Potter is fairly well a copy of this series & looks just like the Tim Hunter protagonist. This is much more mature though. Spun from the Hellblazer mythos. Favorite illustrators- Berni Wrightson- Created the original Swamp Thing design in the original run. His Frankenstein adaptation is amazing. Richly detailed pen & ink work & a master of horror illustration. Illustrated Creepshow Graphic Novel & several Stephen King books. Designs a lot for movies these days- Creepshow, Ghostbusters, The Faculty, Spiderman. Mike Mignola- very graphic work design-wise. Hellboy is always fun to read & beautiful to look at. Designed Disney's Atlantis & Worked on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Also Stephen Bissette & Jon Totleben as mentioned above have done standout work. David Mack-Fine art illustrator & also writer. Created Kabuki which is a near future japanese assassin story. He published the first book while we were in college together. Did a lot on Daredevil as well. Really good guy. Other books: Preacher-Violent & fun series that's soon to be a HBO TV series. Alcoholic priest imbued with God-like powers seeks answers from God on why the world is F'd up. Priest-Western Zombie manga that Stephan mentioned. Battle Royale-Near future manga series about lottery chosen high school students forced into a battle to the death on an island. Extremely violent & very graphic. Also a novel & 2 Japanese films. I can recommend lots more stuff, but I'll let you breath a bit. Best, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I always liked Spawn for the story line - rather liked the whole hellspawn idea and of course who can't love that Clown. Then there were the X-men, the old ones though, don't know anything about the new ones at all, or where they have gone with it. Whatever happened after the battle with that group that was killing all the Morlocks? Seems to me like it should have puttered out there after a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Those last few sound real interesting to me, Preacher and Priest. Knew Battle Royale was a movie but not a comic. The zombie one I'm going to look into as well. Seems a bit evil to me. Now this one looks interesting. Is he a vampire or something or just fighting them? And HBO series? Sweet - when? Links? I saw this one in a store actually - cover caught my attention. So basically 'Dawn of the Dead' ala comic style? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeinated Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Battle Royale was originally a novel which was first adapted to comic form. I plan on getting the english translation at some point. The movie is nowhere near as graphic & disturbing as the manga. You may need eye-filters. Preacher is pretty violent. The main character is a pretty good guy,though flawed, who runs up against corruptions & evil in the Church & other groups. Lots of supernatural & weird stuff. His best friend is an Irish vampire. The series is being written now with the participation of the comic writer Garth Ennis (his runs on Punisher & Hellblazer are also excellent). http://www.comics2film.com/index.php?a=story&b=27395 Priest is also a bout a fallen priest. His powers are demon imbued. He kind of skirts the line as to morality. Lot of shootouts with zombies & demons. A lot of Wyrd characters would fit in well in this universe. The art is somewhat Mignola inspired & the Korean illustrator lists himself as fan. Its al Black & white inside but all the covers are amazingly moody. Its on book 14 & still hasn't seemed to be near a resolution. Walking Dead is in the Romero Night/Dawn/Day/Land of style. As the writer says, its good to see what happens to characters in the long run during a zombie apocalypse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I have the first 4 or so Trade Paper Backs from the Walking Dead. Great characters, but oh so freaking depressing. The characters just never get a reprieve! If you are interested Nathan, let me know, I could borrow them to you at the very least. It covers the first 24 ish issues. Let me know. I was big into comics for a while several years back. Mostly superhero stuff though. The only recent one I read on a regular basis is THE GOON. Just a fantastically drawn, pulp style, humor mix, crazy monsters, great characters. Hard to describe really. Its just fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 The Goon sounds pretty interesting, what is he, like some mob enforcer or dock worker turned into beat the crap out of paranormal stuff? As for the loan of the Walking Dead - would love it. Lemme know and I'll see what I can do to return the favor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi6ers Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Anything illustrated by Simon Bisley. in particular Slaine: The horned God. I've re-read it a hundred times. Other then that I'm a fan of marvel and the ultimates series.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 Sounds good Nathan! Shoot me a PM of your Home Address, and I'll get you some books right away. Back to the Goon: A short synopsis: The Goon works as the 'enforcer' for a big time Mob boss. But, nobody has seen this boss in some time. Meanwhile, some sort of Necromancer has set up shop and taken over parts of the city with zombies. Goon dislikes zombies very much. Lots of strange monsters are around as well. It is very campy, but so beautifully drawn....in a kind of retro 'silver age' style comic way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duende Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 My favorite: The Crow by James O'Barr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I'm not a hugge comic fan, but I like a good story. Last one I remember really enjoying was the Astro City series. Some of it is very retro, and I just love the concept of a world where superheroes are fairly normal and it focuses on their daily lives, marital relationships etc. Sometimes even stories about ordinary people living in a world full of super heroes. Plus there's some killer artwork. How's that for NMM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 What is the Ultimates series? Rather like the zombie superheros - got a real tickle out of seeing Cyclops holding his head and firing beams out of it! Astro City sounds interesting - but the question is, if everyone is super, is anyone? Huh .. huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeinated Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 There are Ultimate versions of a lot of Marvel's characters. They are basicly a restart on all the series, sometimes with a new take. The Ultimates is the new version of the Avengers & can be seen in 2 new animated movies. The Ultimates is the best of that line as it is a lot darker than the normal Marvel versions. Marvel Zombies is a spin-off from Ultimate Fantastic Four & is written by the same guy doing Walking Dead. More books: Shade the Changing Man-90's revamp of an old character. An alien takes the body of an executed convicted murder & attempts to deal with madness infecting earth. Very surreal at times & he changes bodies from time to time. http://www.aaapop.com/images/covers/DC/ShadetheChangingMan.jpg https://www.dynamicforces.com/images/shadetcmtpb.jpg Animal Man- Another 90's revamp about a superhero able to take on the abilities of animals. Not straight forward at all. Also very surreal & focuses on existentialism. http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/comics101/images/2003/oct15/animalman5.jpg http://www.tcomics.com/showcase/trades/a/AnimlMan.jpg The Authority- Some of the same writers & artists as The Ultimates & predates it. Very dark superhero story where a Justice League/Avengers type team decides to essentially fix the world's problems & screw polotics. http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/~editor/matt/brantwfowler/authority.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 See, now I sort of like the idea behind the Authority. How did that one turn out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeinated Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 The Authority is still published in arcs and specials. The first two arcs are extremely well done. It sort of comments on politics where no matter how much good they do, they are hated as a threat by those seeking totalitarian power. Many of their adversaries are government assassins & the like. The characters are likable & take typical archetypes & puts an extreme twist on them. The art is always very cinematic & epic in scope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblyn13 Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Alright, I'm going out on a limb for the strange and odd: I don't tend to be the top to go into a comic shop regularly but will pick up the occasional trade paperback First up is the Flight Anthologies: http://flightcomics.com/ While not for everyone there is a nice blend of stories that go from normal to downright odd. Daisy Kutter http://www.boltcity.com/daisy.htm one of the coolest comics in that it almost completely conveys the story with very little actual dialogue (kinda like the Snake-eyes issues from the old marvel GI Joe) The Red Star ---------------- Set in an alternate reality Russia, the stories somewhat parallel event, such as the first one Battle for Kar Dathra's Gate is based somewhat on the war between Afghanistan and Russia. with the overall meta plot of the story similar to an alternate take on the downfall of communism. The alternate reality part is in the vein of steampunk and industrial fantasy. plus the artwork is phenomenal as a mix of traditional 2-D and 3-D rendering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Now those last ones have caught my attention, particularly with the utterance of 'steampunk and industrial fantasy'. Off to google those a bit more. Some good stuff, and lots that I've not seen before, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblyn13 Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 well if your looking for steampunk, I'd have to say a quintessential steampunk comic, available in dead tree format and part of an ongoing saga is Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio, you may remember Phil from Phil & Dixie fame, Buck Godot Zap Gun for Hire, numerous magic cards (most with interesting comedic twists): http://girlgeniusonline.com/index.php Be aware that some of the subject matter is not suitable for children, people of objectionable moral value, potentially not safe for work, etc... Also a lot of it is online, with the dead tree version collecting up various chapters, if you visit the site, the Girl Genius 101 is putting up from the beginning and the Advanced class is the more recent stuff, sometime in 2008 the GG101 will catch up to the first page of GG Advanced class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted June 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 I've thumbed through a few of those at GenCon last year and thought them interesting enough, just can't get past the artwork which just doesn't suit my style in the least bit I have to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wren Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 There's a cute little card game using Girl Genius characters available. It's based on the game play of an older, collectible card game based on another Foglio comic (but with card art by other artists), a game which is definitely NSFW or suitable for children, XXXenophile. The Girl Genius version is self-contained and printed on much better card stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skya Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 If you're interested in the more whimsical I'd recommend Thieves and Kings. It has that feel of a really good fairy tale: http://www.iboxpublishing.com/ My all time favorite comic is Elfquest. One of the original indy comics from the 70's, I've been reading these since I was 7 years old and they are just as amazing . The artwork is lovely and the stories are about the elves struggle to survive in the world of men and their search to understand where they came from. I highly recommend the first 8 graphic novels which are three continuous story arcs that flow into each other: http://www.elfquest.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 The original elfquest series was great, but I wasn't very thrilled with the later stuff. It was brutal, creepy and still, it was full of a love of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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