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...