Mr. Freeze

I'd just like to recommend everyone pick up the Batman Annual #1 that came out today. It's a story centered around Mr. Freeze, as you'll be able to tell by the cover by the best writer of the new 52 (in my opinion), and it's pretty damn amazing. Great first showing for the fantastic Batman villain.

Moving Forward

Sorry I haven't put anything up recently. I've been too sick to draw the last week, I've barely been able to play Diablo 3. Not that I haven't been, but, as simple as Diablo 3's actual gameplay is, the thought process behind pointing at an enemy and clicking him to death was just barely within my abilities this week.

So, no pencils. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next for my big super hero pic, maybe just some anatomy practices and buildings. Maybe a Spider-man piece...

Well, while that gestates a little, I'm going to announce something. I may, just may, be able to put forward a comic in the upcoming months. One full graphic novel style comic, a .cbz file for all of you Comixology users out there. I'm still working out what, exactly, I'm going to do and how spit-shined it's going to get. Odds are I'm going to do a Kickstarter for it.

Anyways, with that in mind, you're probably going to see some concept art thrown up here. I wont spoil anything, obviously, but I figure I should post something for you fellows. I am taking a comic book course at Emily Carr starting next week, so any major production on the actual physical project will start after that. Which just means story and character designs at the moment.

Claws Everywhere!

Laura Kinney, X-23, vs Curt Connors, The Lizard. I was going to ask for this at one of the Artist Battles at Fan Expo Vancouver, and the idea kinda stuck. Never got around to asking, unfortunately. This is another in a long line of my learning to colour properly. I'm quite happy with it.

Curt Connors, I'm pretty sure you've heard of. Scientist injects himself with Lizard DNA in an attempt to regrow his arm, turns out horribly. And, just to add insult to injury, he doesn't even get to keep the new limb when he turns human again. I've only read two story arcs with him, the one where Curt Connors and the Lizard become one and the following X-men comic where they teamed up with Spider-man. Both were thoroughly entertaining.

X-23 I've done before. Clone of Wolverine, a lot more trouble with emotions and a lot less loved ones, let alone dead ones. Wish her comic was still running, but I'm happy Gage has control of her. I've been waiting for her and Finesse to meet up since Avengers Academy started.

Saw Avengers

And it is quite possibly the most amazing thing I've ever seen. The Hulk is one of my favorite fictional characters and he is in top form here. Marvel has said they don't plan a sequel for the Hulk but, dammit, he's your best character!

And Hawkeye is done surprisingly well. It's nice that I wont have to explain why the guy with a bow and arrow is on the Avengers anymore.

Avengers! Dogpile!

Here's the finished piece, done only eight hours before I see the movie. I am so furking excited for this movie. It's the only movie of the whole lineup where the hype hasn't pushed up my worry. That fact hast me a little worried, but whatever.

Loki and Hawkeye's outfits are different from their movie counterparts. Loki because I saw an outdated picture of him, Hawkeye because purple is his god damn colour. I'm not sure why they chose maroon, they're pretty loyal on everyone else, I don't see why a purple crest on Hawkeye's outfit would cause such a ruckus.

I don't think I have to do a backstory for these characters. Watch the movie for Hawkeye and the Widow, and watch the other movies for Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Hulk you should know by heart, and if you don't I'm very disappointed in everything about you. You heard me!

Anyway, enjoy the film. Lord knows I'm going to have to find one hell of a way to pass the next eight hours. I can watch the three Avengers films that are on Netflix, I supposed.

Thrillbent and Digital Comics

Recently Daredevil scribe Mark Waid released something called Thrillbent.com, what he's described as an an experiment in digital comics as a medium. Today I read Insufferable, his free digital comic. It looks good, it reads well, and you should totally go over there and read that. It's free.

Now, the only big difference I noticed was that they were able to chose when panels turned on. This was great for timing, something that comics struggle with. It hurts when your eye wanders to the end of the page beforehand, and this system seems to deal with it well enough. It's a cool idea, and it's well executed, and I imagine a talented creative team could use to to great benefit.

Now, I'm someone who's tried digital and regular comics and I've always preferred to have the real deal in my hands. Insufferable doesn't change that. It's a well done comic with a good delivery system and an actual sense of timing that doesn't get thrown out the window if the writing's good enough to pull the reader in. But I get pulled back out when I have to scroll down my page in order to get every word bubble on a single panel and then scroll back up to get to the next one.

What I will say is this. Any movement forward in storytelling is a good thing. Mark Waid has done something really cool here to move the medium forward, at that's something to be celebrated. We don't have enough of that, with digital distribution being a touchy subject, and this feels like a good step forward.

Also, can't stress enough just how good Daredevil is. What the man's done with Matt Murdock after everything that went down in Shadowland is astonishing. It's one of the "I must have this" books of the month, alongside anything with Rick Remender and Scarlet Spider.