Comic Book Jobs: Mike Mayhew

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Comic book artist Mike Mayhew (who works for both DC and Marvel) has landed himself “a gig from a major comics publisher.” Since he uses photo-reference to help him achieve the photo-realistic look of his art, he’s looking for “many models to portray dramatic scenes in a mainstream comic book. All ages, races, and types will be considered.”

It’s an extended assignment and a paid gig and he’s looking to start shooting at his studio in Glendale, CA right now. The photos “are merely reference for my art and will not be reproduced.”

You can find samples of Mayhew’s work at his website.

Good luck, models!

[Artwork: Namor #5 cover by Mayhew, © Marvel Characters]

Aquaman Saves The Gulf?!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,

Aquaman! Welcome, your highness. Thanks for coming. Ted Belvedere, Department of Surf And Turf. Namor, that saltwater prick, didn’t even return my call. You want a shrimp cocktail before we start? I don’t think it’s anyone you know.

Can I call you Mr. Curry? Great. As you know there’s oil all over the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to BP’s “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” emergency planning. Those gas-huffing boobs make Tea Party candidates look like Rhodes scholars. BP’s latest plan is to shove all the dead ducks into the pipe as a two-fer hail Mary: plug the hole and hide the damage. But the “Lucky Duck” won’t work any better than the Big Hat, the Wishful Thought or the Cork of Destiny.

We need a hero. A professional. We need the fashion-forward green-and-orange of the King Of What’ll Be Left Of The Seven Seas. That’s where you come in, Arthur.

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Marvel Comics Review: Captain America: Reborn #3

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: ****

Another great issue for this series.  In our last issue, Bucky and the Black Widow were captured by Norman and Obsborn.  Norman has released to the media that Sharon Carter was the second shooter in the assassination of Captain America.  He released the Black Widow and said that unless she returns with Sharon Carter, Bucky is dead.

Our story opens with Cap continuing to jump through time to different points in his life.  Cap has now jumped to the time when he was frozen in ice.  During this period, Cap was worshiped by local tribe as some sort of ice god.  Namor arrives and is angry at the natives and picks up the block of ice and launches back into the ocean.  Steve narrates the scene and it seems this isn’t the first time he’s visited this point in time.  He says that he tries to cry out for help every time, but it never works.  We then flash to the present where Reed Richards and the present Namor are at the same spot.  Namor brings up Steve’s glass coffin, only to see his body disappear! 

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Marvel Comics Review: Marvels Project #1

Posted by David Torres Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Rating: *** 1/2*

I forget where I first read the preview for the mini-seriesThe Marvels Project.  I heard about this series prior to reading the preview and I didn’t really have an interest in picking it up.  It sounded cool, but with limited funds, I decided I was going to pass on this one.  However, after reading the preview, I was hooked and committed to picking up the series. 

Our story begins in 1938 at the dawn of the Marvel Universe.  An old man is dying in a hospital bed and tells a doctor about the coming age of the super heroes.  The doctor doesn’t believe him of course and the old man dies shortly after telling his story.  He does however leave the doctor a gift.  The gift is a wooden box that contains a pair of six shooters and it is then the doctor realizes that the man who died - Matthew Hawk - was the famed Two-Gun Kid.  Now for those of you who don’t know, the Two-Gun kid is hero within the Marvel Universe who existed in the Old West within the Marvel Universe.  He did however join the Avengers for a period after traveling through time. 

The story then flashes forward a year later to FDR and the coming US involvement in World War II.  We also see Namor the Submariner battling Nazis who are “fishing” for Atlanteans in order to use them for experiments.  Namor is of course not too pleased about this and takes these guys on.  During World War II, the super heroes that battled the Nazis consisted of Captain America, Bucky, Namor, and the Human Torch.  The Torch is also introduced here as we see his origin in how he was invented and then encased in concrete as his creator Professor Phineas Horton could not control him from bursting into flames.  The original Human Torch was an android and the people of the time were angry that scientists created this artificial being.  To some it was a sin and against the laws of nature which was another reason why he was encased in concrete.

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Random and Not So Random Thoughts

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

• Okay, in JLA 28 we have this character named Starbreaker. He devours the energy of planets and sends heralds out first. Now I realize there are a few differences, but haven’t we seen a similar character over in Marvel? Galactoid, Galacman, Dark Galac…something like that.
• I actually liked Dark Avengers. This is the way to set up a new storyline. Each replacement of an Avenger is recruited based on their powers in a nice orderly way. After trying to slog through Final Crisis this story seems so straightforward that it is a great relief. Starting a storyline at the beginning - a novel concept! And Mighty Avengers, also plunging into a new storyline was pretty much linear too. To have two Avenger books that have easy to read stories in the same month… Christmas is 11 months early.
• But Superman 3D is beyond awful and in a universe all its own. I guess I could try to re-read part 1 to have any hope of figuring this out, but life is too short. Who the hell are all these people? And why do so many entities want to destroy everything? Is it the characters or the writers that have deep-seeded psychological problems? The DC Universe needs its own Doc Sampson.
• There are so many factions running around trying to kill each other and conquer each other in Guardians of the Galaxy that it could get confusing, but luckily, we have Rocket Racoon to keep everything on the straight and narrow. And Cosmo the dog is just too precious.
• Over in Astonishing X-men besides all the regular mutants, we have Triploids (mutants with three-stranded DNA) and mutants from a parallel universe. Gee, weren’t we supposed to be down to 198 mutants plus one baby. And speaking of babies, wasn’t X-Factor off the weirdness chart?
• Emma Frost and Namor? Who knew? I am not sure if this book raised or lowered my mental IQ, but did I ever mention the sex quotient has really gotten more blatant in comics? Still, on a purely prurient basis I loved it. And it actually blends into the entire ILL-illuminati story line. And it has lots of sex in it. Or did I already say that.

Reviewing and Betting on Dark Reign

Posted by Todd Matthy Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Marvel Comics,

Last week Marvel’s event three years in the making ended anti-climatically with a last page that was an advertisement for this week’s one-shot, “Secret Invasion: Dark Reign”.

I have loved the team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev since they began their run on “Daredevil” in 2001. Maleev’s gritty, yet realistic artwork complemented Bendis’ down-to-earth dialogue perfectly for a dirty, street level character like Daredevil.  These three ingredients sparked one of the greatest runs in comic book history, so it’s easy to see why Marvel would use this team to launch the new direction of the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, the Marvel Universe is not one-size-fits-all, and what works on Daredevil won’t necessarily work for the Avengers.

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Dark Reign

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Marvel Comics,

And so, without further ado, we move into Dark Reign. I would like to start with the cover. Now, I am a guy, which means I love, shall we put it, well drawn women. I mean, at least as much as the next breathing male. But let’s compare Emma Frost and the new, improved Loki. Emma looks, well, great, but Loki, even for an Asgardian seems a litlle…. well… too well built. The old joke used to be that there is only one letter difference between wow and cow and before I get into any more trouble, I will leave it at that.

The art was okay, which is a subject I usually don’t opine on. Sure, I like good art from bad, but I’m more of a plot and story person. But it was alright except for Namor who is drawn to resemble the bum he was when Johnny Storm found him 45 years ago, but with a bad shave. Facially, not good and the hair is too short. Just doesn’t look like Sub-Mariner to me, but with Atlantis destroyed for the 78th or 79th time, I suppose we can give him a pass.
 
But the story… that I liked. This ill-Illuminati seems to be off to a good start. The members distrust each other even more than the hero’s illuminati. Everyone has his or her own agenda. They all want to kill the boss. Good stuff. And the fact that Norman has someone hiding in the shadows who worries even this group of baddies is cool. But who is it?

Did you ever watch Murder She Wrote starring Angela Lansbury? There are only six people in the story. Jessica Fletcher didn’t do it. The victim didn’t do it. That just leaves 4 suspects and we hope we can figure out the clues before the last scene. In comics, we can have a 500 issue limited series with clues in 499 of them pointing to one guy and in issue 500 the author changes his mind or just misled us and it is someone else. After one issue of “Dare Reign,” I have premliminary thoughts. It has to be someone of immense power to intimidate these guys. Doom mentions a battle shaking this dimension. And as long as we don’t need a rational motive for our mystery man to help Normie, my first guess is Mephisto or someone like him. The Beyonder isn’t a bad guy. Galactus couldn’t care less. An Elder of the Universe? It certainly isn’t Ant-man.

Who do you think?