I was still in the mood for drawing THE SATURN KID … and so I drew another generalized image of him and the Princess. Unfortunately, although I have a broad idea of the story for this project– and many of the characters that would be featured in it– I haven’t had the time to work out any specifics of story, plot and character… so I haven’t been able to do focused designs for any of those secondary characters. So I just stick with the two leads. That’s OK with me for now, though… I have fun drawing them. I won’t, however, fill the blog each day I post with sketches of the same two characters, though… so fear not. I wouldn’t want it to get boring around here.

OK… I’ve got to get to work… and go pick up my tax materials from my accountant. Joy.

Have a great day.

This is Entry 365.

Mike

This week’s REMAKE/REMODEL subject over at Warren Ellis’ ENGINE forum is SHERLOCK HOLMES. After reading the descriptions Warren furnished of the different aspects of Holmes’s persona… I started thinking about how I’d remodel him– and my thoughts turned to “Steampunk” for inspiration. It was hinted that perhaps Holmes used narcotics… and I started from there. I imagined Holmes later in live– having abused drugs for decades– to the point where his body was virtually destroyed and dying. Because of his value to Scotland Yard, British authorities undergo the drastic step of severing Holmes’ head and attaching it to a mechanical body that would keep the head and brain alive. Holmes goes on to help solve crimes that frustrate British police for years afterward.

I got a bit bizarre with the design of the mechanical body… but that was the fun of the exercise.

OK… gotta run off to work. Have a great weekend, everyone.

This is Entry 364.

Mike

I think that of all the characters and stories that I came up with when I was a kid, my SATURN KID idea is the one I’d like to flesh out the most. It’s not, by far, the idea that I did the most work on when I was younger… I drew many full issues of some of the superhero characters I came up with. They were, however, usually very recognizable knock-offs of already existing characters from Marvel and DC. While, to be honest, SATURN KID owes a huge nod to JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS for its inspiration, it’s still pretty distinct in story and the visual trappings… and I find my mind turning to the idea quite often. I think that if I ever get the opportunity to produce a solo creator-owned project, SATURN KID just may be the one…

OK.. gotta keep it brief today. Have a great one, all.

This is Entry 363.

Mike

Brandon Graham is one of a new group of comic book creators who have their feet planted in two worlds– that of American comics, and Japanese manga. Graham and others like Brian Lee O’Malley (SCOTT PILGRIM), Becky Cloonan (AMERICAN VIRGIN, DEMO, EAST COAST RISING) and Cory Lewis (SHARKNIFE), are creating some very exciting comics that mix some of the iconography and storytelling of manga with a western sensibility that– for me– is a very invigorating thing to watch unfold.

Graham recently released KING CITY through TOKYOPOP– and it’s a book I instantly found fascinating. KING CITY is infused with tons of wonderful and imaginative concepts and characters. The story follows Joe and his cat as they wander in a seeming aimless fashion through the title city. Joe’s cat has the ability, with the right injection, to become any tool that Joe may need at any given time. Throughout the book, the cat becomes in turns a perisope, a skateboard, a parachute– and performs an autopsy…. all the while, maintaining his feline appearance. During the course of the first book, Joe finds himself mixed up in a situation of dark intrigue that ends up pulling in the few friends he actually has by the end of Book 1 (it’s a 2-part story). Grahams art seems to be a wonderful mesh of many influences like Paul Pope, Mobeus, Jaimie Hewlett as well as tinges of the aforementioned manga– which all flows together into something new and wonderful. The story vacillates between high tension and a laconic pace in its storytelling. That creates a dream-like quality that just enhances the reading experience. There’s a sense of alienation… of not belonging… as an underlying theme to KING CITY. As we follow Joe, and meet his friends along the way, there’s a pulse of dread and danger thrumming under the surface of what seems like an almost idle existence that Graham’s characters lead. KING CITY is a two-dimensional reverie that I truly enjoy immersing myself in.

I highly recommend KING CITY to anyone looking for something that’s unusual and truly different from what’s being published by the Big Two. You can find examples of Brandon Graham’s work at his DEVIANTART gallery.

OK… have a great day, all.

This is Entry 362.

Mike

Todd Dezago and I were talking yesterday, and he mentioned during our conversation that he’d always wanted to draw a sketch of a grim-faced SUPERMAN flying through the BAT SIGNAL as it’s being projected on a cloudy night sky in Gotham City– suggesting the tension that exists between the two DCU icons. I thought it was a great visual… and so I asked him if he’d mind if I took a crack at it for the blog (to which he gave an enthusiastic “Heck yeah, go for it!”). That conversation and sketch idea got me thinking about how amazingly influential some creators have been on the superhero genre…. and really, comics in general. Len Wein and Dave Cockrum set a pace and a feel with their UNCANNY X-MEN revamp beginning with GIANT SIZED X-MEN that reverberates through the X-MEN franchise to this day. John Byrne’s revitalization of the SUPERMAN mythos is only NOW beginning to get chipped away at… but large chunks of that influence still stand. Certainly Alan Moore’s seminal work on WATCHMEN (along with the brilliant art of Dave Gibbons) created a feel of dark deconstruction that sent shock waves through the industry that creators are still to this day striving to match with their own attempts at grim superhero epics. One of those utterly influential paradigm shifts that caused Todd’s sketch idea is the work that Frank Miller did with his BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS in the mid-80’s. Miller’s work was a one-two punch with Moore’s WATCHMEN, setting a tone for the long-underwear set that is still influencing and inspiring creators some 20 years later. You can see evidence of that with Kaare Andrews’ recent SPIDER-MAN: REIGN– which, if we’re going to be honest, is more of a direct (and I’ll be politic here) HOMAGE to Miller’s DARK KNIGHT than it is a work of influence. I think that beyond the ‘deconstructionist’ themes of DARK KNIGHT’s impact on creators over those 2 decades — it’s also interesting to note that DK set a new tone for the relationship between SUPERMAN and BATMAN. Before Miller’s epic, the two had been, if not friends, then at least close allies. AFTER Miller’s work, that adversarial tone he set in DARK KNIGHT (a story set in a possible future of the DCU and not attached to continuity of the main comic line) bled into the regular ‘Universe’ of DC. Since that point, there’s been an uneasy truce between the two– they stand for different approaches to justice and that’s set up a tension between them that has been reinforced not only in the comics but in the various animated series based on the DCU Warner Brothers has produced in recent times as well.

I don’t know if these folks dwell much on their accomplishments… and I can’t imagine what it’s like to have had that kind of influence on an entire entertainment medium. I can say, though, that as a fan AND a comic book artist…. I’m impressed to no end from BOTH sides.

OK.. that’s it for another week. Have a great Easter weekend.

This is Entry 361.

Mike