Rick Remender has been my favorite writer in both 2015 & 2016 and he's now well on his way into the third years of "Deadly Class" (Artist: Wes Craig) and "Black Science" (Artist: Matteo Scalera) with an inspired first arc of "Seven To Eternity" (Artists: Jerome Opena & James Harren) just wrapped up.
It's an exciting time to be reading comics in general, but Remender's books remain unique and interesting long after their launches because of his top notch artistic collaborators and consistent ability to craft a satisfying and emotionally authentic long form story. "Black Science" has recently been transformed into a story far beyond its original premise and while I'm loving that turn, "Deadly Class" is still my favorite because of the grounded 1980s setting, the strong character work, the music & pop culture commentary, genuinely shocking twists, and the increasingly inventive one-man-tour-de-force art from Wes Craig.
Here's a little something I worked up with Saya, Willie, Marcus, & Maria. I love this gang almost as much as I love the cast of David Lapham's "Stray Bullets"and that's saying something (no one beats that merry band of scumbags, degenerates, and reprobates for my heart, not ever)...
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, and at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery (both in Seattle).
Here's my mock cover of a Silver Age Doom Patrol. I made Gerard Way & Nick Derington's "Doom Patrol" relaunch my new series of the year in 2016, but this recently released Doom Patrol: The Silver Age Omniboo collecting the entirety of the Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani run from 1963 to 1968 has lovingly enveloped me in its fantastic weirdness. It's truly bizarre and wonderful stuff that's far more reminiscent in tone to the suspense/horror comics of the 1950s than that of the original Kirby/Lee "X-Men" I've always heard it compared to. The run benefits greatly from the ability to build tension by telling continuing stories, something that didn't happen so much until those Silver Age superhero days.
Also posted is a drawing of Splinter & Casey Jones from TMNT. I'm not thrilled with how Splinter turned out, but Casey looks good enough...
I'm still very into Ride's "Weather Diaries" album. It has real staying power for me, but I've also been vacillating between DJ Shadow's "The Less You Know, The Better" (2011) & the new Broken Social Scene, "Hug of Thunder" between podcasts of late.
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, and at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery (both in Seattle).
With today being the 28th Anniversary of "Batman" (1989) I thought it was only fitting that I reintroduce the public to the Robin of that very era, Tim Drake (Robin III).
I barely knew who Jason Todd (Robin II) was before he died in "A Death in the Family", but that storyline captured my imagination in a way few DC books had at the time and seeing Dick Grayson (Robin I) all grown up and contending with an increasingly violent Bruce in the wake of Jason's death and some pesky kid who just wanted to help in the follow-up storylines "A Lonely Place of Dying" & "Batman : Year 3" probably made a batfan for life out of me.
Tim was my Robin from then on, up until the New 52 and the rise, however wrongheaded post-Grant Morrison, of Damian Wayne. I'm not sure what he's up to these days. I know his origin is pretty unnecessarily mangled by reboots and retcons and that he's in the current "Detective" series, but all I'm reading is Scott Snyder's Batman stuff these days and I seriously doubt he'll be showing up in either "All Star" or "Metal".
I guess what will always keep Tim relevant is how successful his costume revamp was. Once in a great while a comic book reader will see an artist draw a flashback or a retro tale with Dick in the classic elf shoes and green short-pants, but more often than not any nod to the Robin's past is drawn with the Tim costume. It served as Dick's Robin costume in "Batman : The Animated Series" and "Batman Forever" and was even worn by Stephanie Brown in her brief time as a Robin.
Well, kick back and enjoy a viewing of "Batman" (1989) tonight and remember Tim Drake!! Or better yet, do that, then have yourself a listening party of Radiohead's reissue of "OK Computer (1997-2017 OKNOTOK)" with 11 newly-unearthed and remastered tracks from the era. It's truly incredible music and I hope its rock n' roll soul treats you as well as it's treating me.
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
"Twin Peaks : The Return" has easily been my favorite show on TV since
"Sopranos" ended, but after last night I'll concede Lynch & Frost
are testing their audience. Thankfully, I'm happy to be the hands of
two master storytellers presenting their incredibly imaginative and
unfiltered artistic vision on such a large commercial scale. Everything in this show is working so well that you almost don't notice that Kyle MacLachlan is doing some of the best acting of his career.
Which brings us to last night's Episode 6, and here's
a little drawing of Dougie Jones (Coop) in the midst of revealing some important information his boss has yet to discover the magnitude of.
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
I'll probably keep drawing Kirby characters on and off until the King's 100th Birthday on August 28 and here's another. The all-ages winner in my Best of 2016, "Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur" seems to be continuing into a 3rd year. It's really nice to see Artist Natacha Bustos taking over cover duties with issue #19. Still, I hope we see former co-writer and cover artist Amy Reeder do some more Marvel work in the future. Her covers set the tone for the series' monster movie scale and she had a really good sense of story potential for older established characters like The Thing & Dr Strange and some of the new school heroes like Ms Marvel & Hulk (Amadeus Cho).
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
The High Evolutionary is one of Kirby's less popular creations at this point, yet his whole character premise as a perfectionist who regularly destroys the very civilizations he creates seems ripe for a modern day spin beyond the fleeting excellence of Rick Remender & Daniel Acuna's second volume of "Uncanny Avengers". He's a dynamo of design whom I've never seen a bad version of, but he's never looked more iconic to me than when drawn by Keith Pollard on the "What If..." cover referenced below. Oh, and I loved when he met ALF in that faithful summer of 1988...
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
Oh, the agonies and ecstasies of life as X-Man, Scott Summers... He's had his ups and downs, especially in recent years, but he's never been the hippest square this side of Captain America and Superman since his 1990s iteration. And why not? This was post-"Inferno", the time of the animated series, and everything leading up to him and Jean tying the knot in 1994.
Check out my comic book, Spinner-Rack #1 (80 Pages / Black & White). It's available on Etsy, at Arcane Comics in Seattle, & at the Fantagraphics Store & Gallery
