Best Covers: DC Solicitations, April '08

I stole this idea from the Super Punch blog.
This is just about the art, not whether or not I like the comic or artist or whatever (altho, I'm sure that probably factors in, at least subconsciously). Simply: Is it an awesome piece of art? In alphabetical order:

BLACK ADAM: THE DARK AGE TP by Alex Ross


GEN13 #19 by Michael Lopez & Richard Friend


NEW DYNAMIX #2 cover by J.J. Kirby


THE QUESTION: THE FIVE BOOKS OF BLOOD HC by John Van Fleet


WONDER WOMAN #19 by Bernard Chang

You can see the full solicitations here.

Best Covers: Marvel Solicitations, April '08

Okay, so I still don't read Marvel, I can enjoy the art of their covers:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #556 by Chris Bachalo


ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST #6 by Aleksi Briclot


MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #8 by Brandon Peterson


NEW WARRIORS #11 by Nic Klein


NOVA #12 Alex Maleev

You can see the full solicitations here.

Heath Ledger - Dead at 28

Associated Press via Yahoo News

Aaron Lopresti: New WONDER WOMAN Artist

Wow. I didn't even know that the Dodsons were leaving. I'm sad.
I don't really know Aaron Lopresti's artwork, but it looks good. I think he'll do just fine.You can read all about it at Newsarama.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some costume tweaks shortly.
At least Gail's not leaving. Yay!

No JUSTICE for this LEAGUE

I'm sure you've heard by now that the "fast-tracked" JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA movie is now off-track. Warner Bros. decided that the script needed more work, and with the writer's strike going on, that wasn't possible.

So there've been no contracts signed for the kids, although WB has said they still want to make the movie with this cast. I guess time will tell...



P.S. Armie Hammer's given name is (are you ready) Armand Hammer. I would hate my parents if they did that to me.

The Third Time's even more Charming!

I've said it before.
I've said it again.
I don't really think it's necessary for me to repeat myself.

From COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #15

Story by Paul Dini with Keith Giffen
Script by Tony Bedard
Art by Pete Woods

Necessary, no. But you know I'm going to do it anyway...

DONNA TROY IS NOT YOUR BITCH!!

Snap.

Princess Felicity of Themyscria...?

Keri Russell as Wonder Woman!?
Okay, no, not like that, lol (altho, it might actually work...). But apparently she may end up doing the voice of Wonder Woman in the planned animated movie. At least, that's what TV Guide is saying...

DC Universe Classics by Mattel

Surely you've heard of or seen the new line of action figures from Mattel. They now have a license to make figures of any and every DC Universe character. Of course, they're so ashamed of it that there's absolutely no mention of it on their website...
But anyway, there are two websites out there that are following the line and you can check them out:

dcuc.info


dcuniverseclassics.com

Double Take

A 40-year old cover gets swiped. Not once -- but twice. And just a couple months apart. Kinda crazy.

Our Army at War #195
by Joe Kubert
(July 1968)


Countdown to Final Crisis #17
by Pete Woods
(January 2, 2008)


Action Comics #862 (variant)
by Keith Giffen and Al Milgrom
(April 2008)

Okay, yeah, I give up...

Well, if an artist not only doesn't try and get her costume right, but can't even be bothered to be consistent from panel to panel within the pages of the same issue... What's the point of fighting? Nobody at DC cares. Why should I?

From THE FLASH #235 art by Freddie E. Williams II

This is the last time I will ever bring up the fact that Wonder Woman gets no love or respect.



Probably.

Best Covers: Marvel Solicitations, March '08

Okay, so I don't read Marvel, I can still enjoy the art of their covers:

ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST #5 by Aleksi Briclot


DAREDEVIL #106 by Marko Djurdjevic


MYTHOS: CAPTAIN AMERICA by Paolo Rivera


THOR #8 by Marko Djurdjevic


ULTIMATES 3 #4 by Joe Madureira & Christian Lichtner

You can see the full solicitations here.

Best Covers: DC Comics Solicitations, March '08

I stole this idea from the Super Punch blog.
This is just about the art, not whether or not I like the comic or artist (or whether or not they got the costumes right) or whatever. Simply: Is it an awesome piece of art? In alphabetical order:

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #6 by Cliff Chiang


JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER SPECIAL by Darwyn Cooke


SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #2 by Scott Kolins


TRIALS OF SHAZAM #12 by Mauro Cascioli


TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #3 by Karl Kerschl

You can see the full solicitations here.

While I'm on a roll...

The DC Solicitations for March came out on Christmas Eve, and I was kinda caught up with a thousand other things and didn't really take a good look at them until I was reading the Previews catalog. Oh, I'm hot. What is this:

At least Scott Kolins attempted to get the W's right for COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #8, but what-on-earth reference was he using that he missed the W belt? Scott, read this.
I don't know what Mauro Cascioli was thinking while painting the cover to TRIALS OF SHAZAM #12. Apparently, he's a big Alex Ross fan. Hey, Mauro, here's a clue: Alex Ross does not like Wonder Woman. He hates her. He never draws her as she should be, only however he feels like drawing her. Next time you have an opportunity to draw/paint Wonder Woman, pick up an issue of her series. Forget about Alex Ross.

Yes, I'd like some cheese with my whine!

ARRGH!
I got the DC Direct Wonder Woman Series 1 actions figures awhile back. And I was so irritated, that I decided to not talk about them until I calmed down. Apparently that isn't going to happen, so...
WTH? On the left is the prototype image that was released as a preview for the figure line. In the center is the same prototype from the back of the package. On the right is the actual figure.
WHERE THE HELL DID THE EAGLE HEAD GO!?
I know that a prototype is sort of a this-is-basically-what-the-figure-will-look-like. And usually changes are mostly made when the prototype has some sort of error. But this one was right! Why was this stupid change made!? I'm so irritated!!
Hey stupid DC Direct sculptors, read this!!
Meanwhile, I hate you.

Go-go Check it out!

Okay, I made a new header logo. I like this one better.
It'll probably stick around for the month (instead of just one day, LOL!).

Speaking of John Byrne II...

Well dang. I just get done posting about ol' John Byrne, and Newsarama goes and pops up a preview of:

JLA CLASSIFIED #50

Written by Roger Stern
Art by John Byrne & Mark Farmer
Cover by Joshua Middleton

And let me go on the record as saying that Mark Farmer should now and forever be the sole inker of John Byrne. It's just beautiful!

Speaking of John Byrne...

Besides a bunch of reprint collections, did Byrne have anything printed in 2007? I honestly can't remember. But either way, he's making up for it this year. He's got a bi-weekly arc starting this month in JLA: CLASSIFIED from DC; plus two STAR TREK projects and FX (a new superhero series), coming from IDW. And that's all within the next few months. Maybe he was just taking a breather?

John Byrned?

Last month's Previews catalog also had an ad for a couple of shirts coming from Marvel:
And it made me wonder, what with the writer's strike and all, does John Byrne get paid when they reuse his art? I mean, sure, it was work for hire on company owned characters, and he was paid for his work. But the writer's are basically in the same situation. They got paid for the work that they did...but what about subsequent use of it. Shouldn't they get paid for that, too?
Does Marvel pay royalties for stuff like that? Especially considering the rumored bad blood that Byrne and Marvel seem to have been having the past few years, it seems odd they'd keep mining out his stuff for merchandising. Of course, he hasn't made a stink about the Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne books Marvel's been putting out, so maybe he is getting paid. Or he's just over it...
I don't know. I was just curious.

Tiny Titans #1 Preview

Last month's Previews catalog (for books shipping in February) had a preview for TINY TITANS #1 (on sale Feb 13). Have at it:

I think I was more excited about this when I first heard about it. I mean, it is cute. But is it too "cutesy"? How long can "cute" carry it? Okay, okay: I'm waaaaay out of the age of the target demo they're going for, but still...

Snooze alarm it!

Here's the new header logo. For now anyway.
It's kinda lame. In fact the whole look of the blog this month is pretty weak.
But oh well.
I got nothing...