Brian Churilla and Thanos the Mad Titan

This is another attempt by me to get Thanos "right"...I just can't get enough "mass" effect (although I think this is better than my earlier efforts).

The good news is, there is an artist who gets how to draw Thanos and he is drawing him right now (!). The artist is Brian Churilla, who has illustrated number of great stories (including a Robotika back-up story "Once Upon A Time...") and he is now illustrating Marvel's re-imagining of Jim Starlin's "Infinity Gauntlet". The title of the book is "Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet" and #1 is in comic book stores NOW! Here are some pages and covers from the book (courtesy of Brian's blog): "Brian Churilla's Cool Art".

What can I say...I am in love :)

Doctor Strange (take 1)

Jim Starlin's Warlock

Guy Davis' Marquis(a) (II)

Guy Davis' Marquis (I)

Princess of Mars

What do Jim Starlin and I have in common?

Answer: an introduction by Ron Marz.

Jim Starlin is also a legendary storyteller who has been creating wonderfully complex universes and engaging characters for years. A retrospective book about his career is long overdue...and here it is:
A regular edition

and a signed and numbered edition


When Norman told me that this book is coming out (thanks Norm!) I started "googling" and found a post on Ron Marz's blog about the book and his introduction. I thought that was great, because a few years ago Ron Marz was kind enough to write an introduction for my first Robotika collection. So now, even though tenuous and tangential at best, there is a connection between Mr. Starlin and....You can read the full introduction (for Jim Starlin) "HERE".

Anyone interested can order the book through amazon "HERE".

Mouse Guard Legends #1 (pencils p.7, p.8 and p.9)

Mouse Guard Legends #1 (pencils p.5 and p.6)

Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Artist's Edition....the most expensive book I ever bought!

It was an extravagance, but I purchased a copy of Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Artist's Edition. It was a $100 purchase, plus $20 in tax and shipping...I think it might be the most expensive book I own.

Except for 2 pages, all the art is reproduced from new "shots" or "scans" of the original artwork. I am guessing about the "shots", but I believe that most of the pages that remained in Dave Stevens' estate possession were shot with a digital camera. I say this because of how the shadows from the past ups appear on the printed pages, the shadows tend to indicate a consistent light source that makes them look 3D and I know that when pages are scanned (or at least when I scan them) the paste ups are hard to distinguish. A few of the pages must have ended-up in other collections and those were definitely re-scanned and sent in for publication. The "shots" appear more like gray scale drawings (showing the lettering underneath the paste ups, the white-out touch-ups, as well as the pencil notes) and the "scans" tend to have more contrast and appear like black and white drawings. Again this is just a guess based on my experience with scanners and digital cameras.

In any case, the reproduction is great and the larger black and white format makes it real easy to appreciate the care that Stevens' put into his line work and rendering. The book is oversized, but it well put together. The paper stock is real nice and the binding appears to be strong (which is a trick with a book this size). I very much enjoyed it, it truly is just like handling original pages (or at least as close as I will ever get to handle Stevens' original pages).

It was interesting to read that IDW is hoping to do this some more with other series if there is enough of a demand and since they sold out of their 1,600 copies (at $100 a pop...$160,000) I would imagine companies like Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse might hop on the band wagon. It seems that while monthly comic sales are trailing off, big comic art books are on the rise ("Absolute" editions, "Al Williamson's Flash Gordon" by Flesk Publishing, DC's over-sized collections like "Batwoman" and "Wednesday Comics" and Adam Hughes collection of covers, the recent Nino in Slumberland collections....)

I wish Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein illustrations got the same treatment (!).

Mouse Guard Legends #1 (pencils p.3 and p.4)

Batman: The Long Halloween ... NOT!!