Category: Comics

This is less a disclaimer and more a mild warning: I wrote 90% of the following post in a notebook while taxiing on a runway, so it probably reads as such. Enjoy!

Have we seen the best that the world’s brightest creative minds have to offer? No, of course not; not by a longshot. Still, it’s hard not to think like this when you take a look at any popular, storied franchise across all media. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately while catching up on comics, especially when reading series like those from DC’s filled-to-bursting stable of Batman books. The stories change but the faces remain the same. After all, who wants to read a Batman story featuring some no-name villain? We want Joker, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Clayface; to a lesser extent we’ll go for The Ventriloquist or something. Whatever, just give us something we know.

And they do. Writers, artists, and publishers as a whole deliver on what the masses want because they, in turn, need you to buy what they’re sellin’. It’s not just comics either, it’s everything. If nostalgia stifles creativity, it’s not any one group’s fault. Consumers are just as much to blame as creators. Most people don’t want to cook a whole new dish from scratch and chance a spoiled meal when they can whip up that tried and true recipe and pat their bellies in satisfaction.  I get the same sandwiches from the local deli all the time. I’m sure there’s another revelation or two on the menu, but most of the time I just want what I know tastes good. It’s safe and easy, and it requires almost no thought.

When’s the last time Nintendo really nailed a new character, or busted out an overwhelmingly creative new IP? Pikmin? I’m not going to count anything that stars a custom-made Mii, and I’m also not saying creativity is dead. It’s just risky. We applaud new frontiers endlessly because they’re exceedingly rare. Hell, I still think one of the boldest moves Nintendo could make would involve not using Bowser as Mario’s antagonist. Give us Wart, or even Tatanga.

Think about that for a minute. I consider it bold to insert either a villain from a technically unrelated entry—I know this is common knowledge to most of my readers, but Super Mario Bros. 2 was a reworked version of a platformer called Doki Doki Panic, with Mario and co. inserted as the heroes—or a purple alien from Mario’s first Game Boy adventure. I want this because I’ve seen the alternative. As much as I love games like Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the villains suck. I know it can’t just be me being stubborn; there’s something missing.

Let’s swing back to comics for a bit. I was reading the new Moon Knight by Brian Michael Bendis, and I couldn’t shake the fact that, other than Mark Spector being a dull lead, the villain is just the worst. Keep in mind that the villain in question, Count Nefaria, is an old throwback Marvel villain, but the issue remains. He’s unfamiliar to me. He seems inconsequential. His design is understandably dated and non-threatening. Who cares? Just come up with something new if the best you can do is dig in an old box and pull out a dude named Count Nefaria. They joke around in self-aware fashion about Moon Knight being a B- or C-level hero, but they make it so themselves on a page-by-page basis.

In the New 52 run of Detective Comics, Batman faces a foe called The Dollmaker. The premise behind him isn’t bad—he basically tears folks apart and stitches new ones together from the pieces—but he looks like a cast-off member of Slipknot and has zero personality. I actually just did a quick Internet search to make sure he’s a new character, and he is. Just throw him in Arkham and move on to the Riddler or something. It makes me wonder just how substantial our contribution to the problem is, though. If we keep turning our noses up at every spitwad that doesn’t stick, are creators just going to become increasingly hesitant to be, well, creative?

I know this is kind of an age-old sentiment, but it pops up in one of the issues of the New 52 Nightwing run, and kill me now, I’m going to quote it: “At the end of the day, my past isn’t my biggest weakness, it’s my biggest strength — It’s what makes me who I am.” We’re all a product of what we grew up on in one way or another, so we naturally gravitate toward that in our entertainment. But doesn’t its strength start to wane at least a little when we can’t help but revisit it over and over again? Sure, there are independent comics and games, and creativity flourishes all around us, but when the principal players are just cycling through old yearbooks, doesn’t it make you wonder how much longer we’ll want to keep up with them?

With that said, I’m going to go play Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Oh, look at that, I’m reading comics again. Well, I’m always reading comics, but I’m actually getting current on a bunch of series, mostly superhero stuff, now that I have my hands on an iPad. I originally posted the below impressions on a forum, but you lucky ducks get a slightly spruced up, marginally less lazy version. Also, as a bonus, here’s a drawing I did inspired by the recent Daredevil series.

Moon Knight – I might be done with this one. It’s ok, but the villain is one of the worst and, ultimately, Mark Spector isn’t a very interesting character. Even Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man) hasn’t been able to crack the code of making this hero intriguing, and I’ve always kind of rooted for Moon Knight for some odd reason. Making him a somewhat schizo amalgamation of various Avengers—namely Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man—isn’t doing it for me so much.

Daredevil – This comic is the jam. I love it. The art is fantastic—I’m especially fond of the emphasis on sound effects and how Daredevil/Matt Murdock perceives the world around him—and, most importantly, it’s a lot of FUN. This is the man without fear, for sure.

Animal Man – I almost wrote this one off after an issue. I was worried it was just going to be Animal Man fighting crime, and if that’s the case, forget it, because Animal Man is kind of lame! He has the power of all animals! He can fly like a bird and fart like a dog! But then the series got just weird enough for me to stick around, and I’m liking it for that reason. The art is ok. I still think the lead, Buddy, is uninteresting overall, and he makes some questionable parenting decisions on a regular basis, but I like the bizarreness of the series so I’ll stick with it.

Batman – I’ve yet to read the new Detective Comics, but so far this is my favorite of the New 52 Batman comics. I really like the focused story on the Court of Owls, and the labyrinth issue was probably my favorite individual chapter so far. Looking forward to issue 8.

Batman & Robin – This one’s average. I had no idea Batman had a son, and had to ask someone about that, so that kind of threw me off right away. Anyway, Damian/Robin is Batman’s son, yeah, and the story centers on him kind of rebelling against Batman’s morally rigid ways. Not a bad Batman story but not the best. Robin’s a brat. It also seemed a little convenient that Robin turning against Batman lasted a whole issue at most. Come on. Ready for the next arc.

Batman: Dark Knight – Just caught up on this one last night. It’s enjoyable, but it’s also one of those “let’s throw in as many villains as possible right out the gate” stories. That’s fine, but it doesn’t feel as focused as Batman, and I’m not a Bane fan. If anything I’d compare it to the game Arkham City or something else along those playfully dumb lines.

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. – Holy ham, Frankenstein, where’ve you been all my life? I feel spoiled between this and having recently read Punisher: Franken-Castle. Of all the DC Comics, this one is most suitable for a rad Saturday morning cartoon. I could picture the toy commercial when they busted out the WAR WHEELS, with kids slamming them into makeshift playsets that would make the most spoiled bambino shriek with jealousy. Lots of fun!

Prophet – Speaking of fun. Boy oh boy, this comic is a treat. Brandon Graham’s run is great sci-fi world exploration, like a tour through the imagination, as it should be. Not much emphasis on dialogue, very pulpy vibe. I love it. If you’re not already keen on Graham (King City) you should follow his posts.

That’s it for now. Sorry for the semi-lazy post, but it’s better than nothing!

Fellow comicker Joe Shieh and I decided to start doing improv comics a year or two ago, switching off panels and basically trying to one-up one another in weirdness to see what direction the stupid thing would go in. Since we’re finally about to do another one, I thought I’d put together the first in whoppin’ vertically-scrolling fashion.

Be warned: it’s mega-stupid (read: awesome)! The order goes Me, Joe, Me, Joe, and so on:

Unfortunately for everyone in the world, most of January and the entire month of February doesn’t exist in the subhumanzone. As a result, I wasn’t able to make any blog posts for some time, despite my hosting company insisting on charging me during this black void of existence.

That’s ok, though, because I’m back thanks to the power of comics. Recently, manga artist Yūsuke Murata—best known for his work on his and Riichiro Inagaki’s Japanese comic about American Football, Eyeshield 21—posted a particularly rad comic to Twitter. The result is the perfect example of why comics are really exciting, especially the possibilities when they’re presented online.

You should really read the whole thing, which my good friend Emily helpfully translated into English for me, but here are some of my favorite panels.

“Aaahh!”

WHAM!

“Don’t take Jump editors lightly! X-Ray Mangaka Search!!!!”

SLASH!

“Hergh”

I could go on. As soon as I started uploading favorites I realized I was tempted to just keep inserting pics, so I’ll stop here. You get the picture(s). It’s not that Murata is the first person to mess around with this kind of visual play in online comics, but he does it so well and so creatively that it’s a wonder so many webcomics are satisfied with being traditional, static pictures.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Shoehorning FX into comics with zero inspiration would be just as bad as doing nothing interesting with them at all. Another example of someone who does it right is Zac Gorman over at Magical Game Time. While no one should be allowed to make a Mario comic/joke/video ever again, he’s doing some good things over there.

So yeah. I’m really excited about comics right now. I’ve been drawing a lot and have a big project in the works that I haven’t really mentioned to many people yet except in passing. Part of me doesn’t want to say anything until at least the first leg of it is finished, but there’s also that fueling, added pressure that comes as a bonus of making something known and announcing its impending existence. I think I’ll hold off for now and go read more One Piece instead. 

I’ll post some unrelated in-progress artwork soon, though.