THINGS TO CLICK

Frank Quitely page from Batman and Robin #2

Tim Sievert page from That Salty Air

Darwyn Cooke page from Batman Black and White

ONLINE COMICS

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February 12, 2007

From a t-shirt design [finished design here]:

If you want to see some of my other artwork, go here.

February 10, 2007

From my sketchbook:

If you want to see some of my other artwork, go here.

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FUNNYBOOK CHIMP

Detective Chimp has been around since 1952 (see Wikipedia article here) and always seemed (to me) a very unserious character unsuited to the serious reader of serious superhero comics. Well, that's how it was with me at one time, gripping my realistic Neal Adams and Denny O'Niel Batman comics which faced off serious social issues, through the prism of men in colorful tights....

In a much more annoying characterization, Detective Chimp figured importantly in the DC Comics "Day of Vengeance" series from - - I think - - 2005. The sturm und drang unsuccessfully put forward in those books is completely missing here in Bill Willingham's relatively light-hearted story which pokes fun at superheros and the problem of being a super-genius chimpanzee. There's also the problem of Dr. Fate's helmet which makes for trouble when used.

The art by Shawn McManus is also humor-laden and well done, full of complete backgrounds the sort of which many hero-artists do not bother with anymore, and with a funnybook sense of caricature for humans and their expressions.

February 9, 2007

From my sketchbook:

If you want to see some of my other artwork, go here.

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FUNNYBOOKS I REGRET

It's interesting that the cover (by Simone Bianchi) of Detective Comics #827 has no relation whatsoever to the inside story.

In said story, traps are set by "the Ventriloquist," in the shape of a new partner for the lethal talking dummy (a buxom blonde in red dress carries the ridiculous puppet around, versus the old wrinkly "ventriloquist" called Arnold Weskers, who was dead but incidentally isn't in the coffin in which he was recently buried).

Paul Dini is probably one of the better Batman writers DC Comics has, but how is it that the same little circle of villains keep popping up, no matter how much they are killed, time after time in these increasingly loony Batman books? And Batman has all the brains and "deductive abilities" of a disinterested hound dog.

February 8, 2007

REVIEW
FUN HOME
By Alison Bechdel, Houghton Mifflin 2006

Fun Home
By Alison Bechdel
238 Pages
Published by Houghton Mifflin

The Complete Review of FUN HOME is here.

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