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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 28, 2023 21:39:42 GMT -5
Remember that time the Punisher fought Doc Doom? Mike Baron's Punisher run is so random, and he lasted on the book for an insanely long time as well. In fact, it's kind of weird to me that he wasn't turfed like some of the other writers at the time. I guess none of the big name artists wanted to draw the Punisher, which seems strange given his reputation as a big seller. The character wound up having three monthly titles and yet couldn't attract a hot artist. The character was more of a cult favorite, at the start of Baron's run, but grew into more of a hit, though the Grant & Zeck mini did well enough to launch the series. Klaus Jansen is there at the start, but cedes the work to younger hands, quickly. I suspect there are a few factors at play. One, young talent wanted to get at the big superhero titles, both because they grew up with them, but also due to the better chance of nice royalty checks. Two, the series played more in the real world (as much as any Marvel title did) and you had to draw a lot of mundane things, as well as firearms and explosions; so, less room to produce wonky material. Three, Baron was used to working with newer talent, with his time in the indie world, with Steve Rude and Bill Reinhold, on his own books. Whilce Portacio was on it for a while, in the first couple of years (Baron was on it for a bit over 5 years), then you get some quick issues from Shea Antn Pensa and Larry Stroman. Then, Erik Larsen does several, then a couple from Russ heath and then Bill Reinhold settles in for a while, with some Mark Texeira fill-ins. Punisher War Journal had at least a few issues with Jim Lee, as it was one of his earlier titles. I suspect anyone who starts looking better and better soon finds themselves in demand for the higher profile things. The X-titles were getting fat royalty checks and that was followed by the Spidey books and I suspect it was hard to get name guys with those things expanding. Plus, looking at a lot of the art of that era, working on a title where some level of realism and detail is necessary was not an attraction for a lot of that crowd. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Aug 7, 2023 14:57:04 GMT -5
Going through my recovered comics collection, I found and remembered this  It was a part of a series of "Goosebumps" style books for kids that retold some creepy stories from the Marvel Universe. Personally, I'd love to see them come back There, I said it |
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Post by Duragizer on Aug 12, 2023 23:12:45 GMT -5
I've never been one of those Philistines who hates long underwear costumes with trunks, but I've never understood why Kirby gave the FF and Silver Surfer trunks with theirs. The Surfer's case is especially bewildering. Does the metal coating his skin not hide his junk adequately?
So yeah, why I generally dislike the mentality that leads to the removal of trunks, I'm glad the FF and Surfer no longer wear them.
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Post by commond on Aug 13, 2023 3:39:40 GMT -5
I finally made my way to Roy Thomas' return to Conan in 1991, and I've gotta tell you, it's serial reading Conan stories that look like a 1991 Marvel comic with the black Captain America box in the bottom left corner, and the god damn ugly font that introduced the characters above the title page. Covers by Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee. It's weird. Conan is so entrenched in my mind as a Bronze Age book that takes a bit of getting used to.
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Post by Farrar on Aug 16, 2023 18:36:50 GMT -5
It's a classic...sort of...a classic John Buscema cover on a recent 1:100 Black Widow variant (ie a dealer had to order 100 regular copies to get one of these). Quite a number of these classic artwork prints are being used for recent variants and they are great tributes to creators from the past, I prefer them to homage covers which, more often than not, are lazy rip offs.
I had some right place at the right time luck...a seller listed one of these with the regular $7 variant so I saved about $65  Always loved this Buscema-Verpooten BW-in-action collage from 1970's Amazing Adventures #2; interesting to see it re-used for a cover. Verpooten wasn't fancy or anything but I liked his straightforward inks on Buscema; he didn't smother Big John's work.  |
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 17, 2023 0:27:12 GMT -5
Always loved this Buscema-Verpooten BW-in-action collage from 1970's Amazing Adventures #2; interesting to see it re-used for a cover. Verpooten wasn't fancy or anything but I liked his straightforward inks on Buscema; he didn't smother Big John's work. That's an interesting credit - "written & plotted by Gary Friedrich". |
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Post by Duragizer on Aug 21, 2023 20:51:26 GMT -5
Is it just me, or do modern reprints have really poor line reproduction? I haven't yet closely examined physical trades, but in the digital copies I've read, the linework almost always looks bad, like they were sourced from low-res photocopies. And this doesn't just apply to Golden/Silver/Bronze Age stuff, but more recent material from the '90s also. It really hurts the reading experience for me when the inking, regardless of who did the inking, all looks like it was done with a dying ballpoint.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 21, 2023 21:31:01 GMT -5
Is it just me, or do modern reprints have really poor line reproduction? I haven't yet closely examined physical trades, but in the digital copies I've read, the linework almost always looks bad, like they were sourced from low-res photocopies. And this doesn't just apply to Golden/Silver/Bronze Age stuff, but more recent material from the '90s also. It really hurts the reading experience for me when the inking, regardless of who did the inking, all looks like it was done with a dying ballpoint. More than likely, they are scanning file copies (or borrowed copies), rather than original source material (which is probably long gone), then doing whatever digital work (recoloring, lean-up, etc) and are probably not investing a lot of time in scanning them properly and with the best resolution. They are also probably doing little with any line work and just jazzing up the color, in Photoshop (or something similar) and little else, other than editing for objectionable content. Looking at most of what passes for reproductions, these days, they are putting little money into putting together the print files, beyond color and format. Just another cheap product, like every other company out there. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Aug 22, 2023 11:45:48 GMT -5
Is it just me, or do modern reprints have really poor line reproduction? I haven't yet closely examined physical trades, but in the digital copies I've read, the linework almost always looks bad, like they were sourced from low-res photocopies. And this doesn't just apply to Golden/Silver/Bronze Age stuff, but more recent material from the '90s also. It really hurts the reading experience for me when the inking, regardless of who did the inking, all looks like it was done with a dying ballpoint. My copy of Moon Knight Epic Collection Volume 2 has had some color bleeding, which in this day and age shouldn't be an issue |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 22, 2023 11:55:30 GMT -5
Is it just me, or do modern reprints have really poor line reproduction? I haven't yet closely examined physical trades, but in the digital copies I've read, the linework almost always looks bad, like they were sourced from low-res photocopies. And this doesn't just apply to Golden/Silver/Bronze Age stuff, but more recent material from the '90s also. It really hurts the reading experience for me when the inking, regardless of who did the inking, all looks like it was done with a dying ballpoint. More than likely, they are scanning file copies (or borrowed copies), rather than original source material (which is probably long gone), then doing whatever digital work (recoloring, lean-up, etc) and are probably not investing a lot of time in scanning them properly and with the best resolution. They are also probably doing little with any line work and just jazzing up the color, in Photoshop (or something similar) and little else, other than editing for objectionable content. Looking at most of what passes for reproductions, these days, they are putting little money into putting together the print files, beyond color and format. Just another cheap product, like every other company out there. I haven't bought an epic in a while but the digital books look perfect. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2023 20:55:09 GMT -5
More than likely, they are scanning file copies (or borrowed copies), rather than original source material (which is probably long gone), then doing whatever digital work (recoloring, lean-up, etc) and are probably not investing a lot of time in scanning them properly and with the best resolution. They are also probably doing little with any line work and just jazzing up the color, in Photoshop (or something similar) and little else, other than editing for objectionable content. Looking at most of what passes for reproductions, these days, they are putting little money into putting together the print files, beyond color and format. Just another cheap product, like every other company out there. I haven't bought an epic in a while but the digital books look perfect. Well, see, you have different color formulas for digital display (RGB) and print (CMYK) and you don't necessarily get the same shades and tones. I see it all of the time from graphics students at the local university (well, one of the two universities in town) where they have little idea about printing technology and assume everything will look as it does on a monitor. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, depending on the tools you are using. You can also fudge digital viewing more than you can actual print. Depends on the files and the output; but, monitors and mobile devices can be adjusted for viewing, whereas print involves the human eye. I haven't bought a print copy in some years now; but, if they are using digital sources, it is as good as the scan files and I have seen good and bad. Just depends on how much the publisher is willing to spend to reproduce it well. |
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Post by rberman on Aug 28, 2023 15:13:41 GMT -5
Checking out these religious comics done by Kingstone publishing....this is the full set 1-12 of The Christ. I don't know if these are sold in comic book stores.
They did the whole Bible in comic book form, among other projects, using established comic book talent. I got a DPS based on chapter 7 in the book of Revelation, by Kyle Hotz and Jason Moore. Here is a thread about that project.  |
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Post by Icctrombone on Sept 4, 2023 13:55:30 GMT -5
No one should ever harm Krypto.
There I said it.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 4, 2023 14:01:14 GMT -5
No one should ever harm Krypto. There I said it. Doggone right!
Cei-U! I summon the caped canid!
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 4, 2023 14:08:42 GMT -5
I'm sure it's been posted before, but Mary Jane was never the "right" or perfect romantic interest for Peter Parker.
There. I said it.
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