Kurtz, creator of PvP, details the events of the live art show he participated in over the weekend. During an auction afterwards, he won a gorgeous piece by Usagi Yojimbo’s Stan Sakai. Take a look:
Congratulations, Scott (you lucky bastard).
Author: Ray Cornwall
Greatest wedding vows ever.
Warning: adult topics discussed.
Still, greatest wedding vows ever.
35 Books in 30 Days 7: Book of Lost Souls 1 by J. Michael Straczynski and Colleen Doran
Boy, I’m glad I gave this book a second chance.
The Book of Lost Souls is an ongoing series by JMS (Babylon 5) and Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil, Orbiter). Marvel’s publishing it through their Icon imprint of creator-owned books. The story centers around Jonathan, a young man who commits suicide a long time ago. His soul is recruited by The Two to help steer humanity’s Lost Souls. One of the Two, the Dark Man, tries to push Jonathan towards evil, but Jonathan, as all good protagonists should, resists, despite the consequences.
I first tried to read this book while waiting on a car repair. I got through the first chapter but was completely turned off by the introduction of Mystery, a talking cat who acts as Jonathan’s helper. The panel where we meet him quite frankly made me nauseous.
No, not really. This is the purplest prose I’ve seen this side of gothy MySpace sites and 70’s horror comics. For a cat? And there’s quite a few panels of this sort. I couldn’t read any more, and I put the book down for a few weeks.
I found myself on a bench outside the Toms River Library yesterday, a beautiful sunny September day at Bookfest. I decided to give the book a second chance, and started again at page one.
I was glad I did. This is a rare work, one that actually has something- a lot of somethings- to say. The prose is still a little overblown, but you can see an improvement over time as JMS grows more comfortable with Doran’s art.
Doran’s the star of the show here. Her inkwork’s scratchier than on some of her other projects, but it fits here in the world of shadows. More importantly, when we hit the sixth chapter and Mystery has to take the stage in a starring role, she pulls of a miracle. Her Mystery is a convincing actor with a full range of human emotions while still looking like a cat. Any other artist would have either made Mystery more cartoony or ignored the needs of the script. Not Doran. She uses Mystery’s eyes and ears to pull it off in a way only a cat owner could do. (I’d post the pages, but I’d spoil the story. You’ll just have to trust me on this.)
JMS and Doran are getting ready to put out another 6 issues of this series, and I’ll be looking forward to each issue.
The Book of Lost Souls:
Cats, dreamers, hitmen, all lost;
Found here in this tome.
Stupid Thing Marvel Editors Say: Number 1 in a Series
“But, what I’ve stated in the past is that what we’re hoping for Civil War to do is to get us a little closer to that feeling that was prevalent in the early days of the Marvel Universe. Back to that feeling of uncertainty, of unease between characters. This was always an integral part of the Marvel formula that many have tried to copy over the years and that we in many ways strayed from. It’s a natural progression, these characters have been alive for forty plus years, there’s a level of familiarity that comes after all those years of publishing and that familiarity doesn’t just extend itself to the characters but to the creators and the fans as well. That’s why I love Civil War so much; it brings so much of that feeling back without being a throwback.”
Um…
Avengers 5:
And Civil War 4:
Um, er, no, Joe.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I like Civil War. But don’t try to tell me Civil War is anything like Silver Age Marvel.
Erik Larsen sums up exactly how I feel about comics
He talks about how he ends up buying and rebuying newer editions of his favorite comics, specifically mentioning Absolute/Omnibus/oversized editions.
He did miss one fun aspect of rebuying, though. Last night, my wife told me that one of her friends had an 11-year old son who was just getting into comics, and did I have any extra books I could give to him?
Of course I did. I made my eyes pop when I hauled out 6 Essential Marvel books and a few other trades. I had recently repurchased the same material but in Omnibus or Masterworks format, and I’d rather give these to an 11-year old kid getting into comics than bother putting them up on eBay. Giving comics to kids is one of the coolest things an adult comics fan can do.