The Walking Dead - Rereading Awesomeness

The Walking Dead in my opinion is the best zombie comic ever created.  There are many reason why but I wont go into them all right now.  In preparation for The Walking Dead season 5 like many others I re-watched season 4 just to refresh my mind before diving into the new season.  In doing so I built up this overwhelming desire to reread the comics because they are just so good!

After reading the 1st arch again one of the things to stuck out the most to me was the art.  Tony Moore just kills it and even in black and white creates some of the most fantastic and memorable panels in modern comics.  So I thought I'd share with you some of my favorites from that first story arch that spawned the huge success that is The Walking Dead.

Amazing right?  If these don't get you syked to read this series for the first time or the forth time I don't know what will.  Now go and READ.

Thanks about leaving work to finish reading the next arch,
~Steve

New THOR #1 Thorina, Lady Thor, Thorette, Female Thor

So my first reaction was, "Thor's got boobs?!?"

Eh hem.  Ok now that that is out of the way, seriously a female Thor?  Look don't get me wrong I was on board with the female Loki.  That made sense, trickster god of mischief who can shape-shift, no big stretch.  But how exactly can they justify turning Thor into a lady?  We'll find out shortly since it's slated for publishing in October but I don't know how they're going to pull this off believably.  (And yes I do see the irony in asking a comic book plot line about Norse Gods to be more believable)

Look I know what the hammer says, it's like an incantation we chant at Geekaholics Anonymous: "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor".  But lets get literal.  It says, "shall possess the power of Thor" not "shall become Thor".

Jerk: But if you have the powers of Thor doesn't that make you Thor?

Me: No!  If you got the powers of Superman would you be Superman? No! You'd just be some jerk with Supermans powers.

See more @ CBR.com Here and Other Here.

Wondering what the female version of myself looks like,
~Steve

Revisiting the Female Form in Comics

I don't know what it is but I find this very interesting.  The female form and it's history of changes throughout comics.  It's reflective of so much more than just the female image in media but also the social/moral aspect of society during those times.

Top: Clockwise from top left: Zatanna, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Huntress, Harley Quinn, Black Canary, The Women of Birds of Prey (May 2013), Batwoman, Batgirl, Equinox, Starfire, Catwoman, Amanda Waller.
Bottom: Clockwise from top Left: Black Widow, Hawkeye, Storm, America Chavez, Capt. Marvel, Rogue, The Women of X-Men (May 2013), Psylocke, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Elektra, and The Invisible Woman.

Back in early 2012 I wrote a piece that became easily my most talked about and commented on, in both good and bad ways. It was called “No it’s Not Equal” and it was all about breaking down the ways that visually, women are not presented equally to men in comics. The piece was born of getting very tired of hearing people say ridiculous things related to female representation in superhero comics – stuff like “all superheroes wear skintight clothes, not just women!” and “it’s comics! nobody has realistic bodies!” I wanted to break down why those arguments are so flawed and how the representation is/has been unbalanced when it comes to men and women. It’s been about 28 months since I posted that piece and I started wondering if anything significant had changed when it comes to mainstream superhero comics. 

For me the answer is both yes and no, specifically if we look to the big two, who still do lead the pack when it comes to sales and content as well as spreading their IP to larger markets. And as the leaders who SHOULD be leading us, setting a great example and changing the face of comics.

Check out the FULL article CBR: She Has No Head!

Feeling chauvinistic,
~Steve

Marvel Event Evil "Axis" in October with Rick Remender at the Helm

Marvel events are always hit and miss.  Everybody has their own ideas about how they tie in to the Marvel Universe and what, if any, lasting effect they have on the characters and plot lines and I'm no exception.  But this next one coming up has sparked my interest.  Why you ask?  One word.  REMENDER.  Ok so technically its a name but I have loved this guys work ever since his big run on X-Force and of course his Captain America stuff has been awesome.  So, in short.  I have hope!

Check out more details over at CBR - Remender Spins Marvels Evil "Axis"

Crossing my fingers for a hit,
~Steve

Game of Thrones Redrawn for the 90's

I love to see artists recreate characters for different time periods or universes and Mike Robel does an awesome job of remaking the cast of Game of Thrones for the 80's and 90's.  Here are my favorites:

These were the best recreations in my opinion.  Bron would totally be a mafia thug only wearing jump suits! Jaime is spot on dirt bag Miami Vice wanna be!

Check out the rest on Buzzfeed

Enjoy,
~Steve

Body of Work - CBR.com

This is a great article and interview with some comic creators.  It's a great reflection on comics and how they relate to fandom and societies idea of beauty.

BODY OF WORK: EXPANDING THE EXPECTATIONS OF BODY IMAGE IN COMICS

Seriously, read this.

~Steve

New Marvel What IF Age of Ultron

Nothing like awesome art to pique my interest!

 Check it out at Marvel.com What IF Age of Ultron

Enjoy,
~Steve

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAN LEE! 91 Years Young! Excelsior!

One of my personal heroes turns 91 today.  The outstanding, stupendous and infallible STAN LEE!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of him posted over on CBR's Robot Six.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERO!
~Steve

"Mini" Reading - X-Men Black Sun

Mini (Series) reading can admittedly suck sometimes.  For the most part they are, as a rule, hit and miss but every once in a while you get a winner.  The X-Men are mini-series whores.  Like a few cheerleaders, they might not know it but they just are.

I actually bought these books on a whim from ebay.  You know when you buy something and then that same seller has other items for good prices and your like, "heck why not, I'll get combined shipping".  Yep this was one of those.  I really enjoyed it for a few reasons my number one was the return of MAGIK!  Not only is she like my 6th favorite X-Men but that is also my preferred spelling of the word magik (also known as magic).

Chris Claremont does a great job weaving this tale but I wont go over the whole story because some poor soul has already done that in great detail @ UXN.

I did want to however want to share some of my favorite panels.  Even though it's painfully clear the art in these books are classic late 90's early 00's style there is still some really cool stuff from artist Tom Derenick.

As seen above there is some great stuff in this mini-series and any X-Men fan should have a copy in their collection!  And in the last pages, a classic comics wrap up and who doesn't love a good "with great responsibility..." speech?

Back to reading more comics,
~Steve

Cool Comic Stuff From The Internet

Everyone remembers those art history classes they make you take in college right?  Well I really enjoyed mine.  No seriously.  As proof, I still have my art history text book while others went in the garage sale box. (Okay I realize that's not real proof because I'm just telling you I still have it but it's all I got, so accept it)

Anyways I stumbled across this and had to share because guess who just got a new desktop background!

Awesome right!?!  What, not convinced of it's awesomeness?  Okay here's the original:

See?  Crap in comparison just like I said!  Move over Michelangelo, Nick Perks in the Sistine Chapel Hizouse!

Perk’s “Creation of The Surfer” is a masterpiece!  The original concept transformed into Galactus and the Surfer is genius.

Check this out and all the other awesome stuff @ CBR Comics Should Be Good - The Line It Is Drawn

As Always Wishing I Could Draw,
~Steve