© C Harris Lynn, 2010
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Monday, December 06, 2010
Reviews Nanny & Hank #1
I reviewed Nanny & Hank #2 last week and someone sent me an authorized (non-pirated) copy of the first issue! Kevin Smith fans should note that I pay for most of the stuff I review and am not any easier on the free stuff I get or the stuff from creators I genuinely like that just isn't... good. But like I said in the first review, I really like Nanny & Hank.The art in the first issue isn't as progressed as that in the second. From the opening, Mignola's Hellboy-era style is omnipresent, though it has some flare in its own right. It actually looks rushed from the jump, but the stylistic focal points Babb chooses engrosses the viewer. And it isn't as though the guy can't draw -- he certainly can -- it just looks a little hackneyed at first. And I hate his rendering of hands.
Just as with the second issue, the writer and artist shine in those short, characterizing sequences, such as when Nan and Hank catch the sunrise. Miller has a natural ease with the medium and actually tells a story with solid characters, not just endless plot. He's also clever and actually funny, which makes Nanny & Hank as enjoyable as it is easy to read.
Nan: "Harry Michael Harriman, you had all day to pick up that truck...!"
Hank: "It's not a truck, it's an RV."
Dialogue exchanges like this one abound, yet remain oddly absent in basically every mainstream comic book I've read in the last five years -- you simply don't have the page-count to characterize when you have to make sure your properties advance from one mega-crossover plotz to another and include 12 characters from 20 other titles. But beyond even that, few comics writers today have that gift of gab. The dialogue is natural, the characters realized, and the reader doesn't stop to question it. The villainous reveal is rushed and wonky, however; either Miller, Babb, or both have some work to do in the fight scene department.
Still, Nanny & Hank #1 was a better read than any of the mainstream superhero titles I've slogged through lately. It has personality, which those titles, properties, and products lack.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Friday, December 03, 2010
New Live RiffTrax - Streaming
RiffTrax is announcing their December 16th live, streaming show free in about an hour (3:00p, CST). Following that is a Christmas-themed short for only 99¢ !
So I am there.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
So I am there.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Drop the Background
Background has become too important in comic books. I don't just mean background as in the setting of panels, either -- character background, history and "continuity," the whole nine. All this "background" in the writing is a marketing gimmick, but a lot of contemporary artists include rich backgrounds in almost every panel and it's distracting.
The art of a comic book is the human form. It doesn't matter if you draw people in their underwear or anthropomorphic walruses (walri?), the background is not a character and there is a point where it starts distracting from the story. To be sure, there was a long period in the 1990s where almost no one drew backgrounds and that became distracting, too. But action lines, negative space, and other designs are part of good cartooning.
Photorealism has been a staple of most mainstream comic books since Neal Adams, and background is a key factor to good sequential art, but dropping the detailed backgrounds and focusing on the characters not only improves storytelling (when done effectively), it would also go a long way toward solving the lateness issue. It also adds emphasis to the panels and splashes with detailed background. Background should be used to establish and reinforce setting; colors, design, and movement/pacing provide tone and atmosphere.
Arthur Adams' Action Comics Annual #1 is a great example of fewer, and less detailed, backgrounds. Note that many of the backgrounds are little more than a single element or two -- a copse of grasses, the brick of a building. Not only does the lack of background bring the character into focus, it makes the comic read faster. Then, when more detailed panels containing actual background occur, the reader slows down, stricken by these images. It works for the story, it works for pacing -- it just works.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
The art of a comic book is the human form. It doesn't matter if you draw people in their underwear or anthropomorphic walruses (walri?), the background is not a character and there is a point where it starts distracting from the story. To be sure, there was a long period in the 1990s where almost no one drew backgrounds and that became distracting, too. But action lines, negative space, and other designs are part of good cartooning.
Photorealism has been a staple of most mainstream comic books since Neal Adams, and background is a key factor to good sequential art, but dropping the detailed backgrounds and focusing on the characters not only improves storytelling (when done effectively), it would also go a long way toward solving the lateness issue. It also adds emphasis to the panels and splashes with detailed background. Background should be used to establish and reinforce setting; colors, design, and movement/pacing provide tone and atmosphere.
Arthur Adams' Action Comics Annual #1 is a great example of fewer, and less detailed, backgrounds. Note that many of the backgrounds are little more than a single element or two -- a copse of grasses, the brick of a building. Not only does the lack of background bring the character into focus, it makes the comic read faster. Then, when more detailed panels containing actual background occur, the reader slows down, stricken by these images. It works for the story, it works for pacing -- it just works.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
How to Pitch a Comic Book Story
Nathan Cosby gives great advice on both his Twitter account and his blog, as well as provides some fun and interesting diversions in the comic book vein, and his advice on pitching a project in comics is as good as it gets.
Also, Brian Michael Bendis will be in Arizona next weekend to give a writers' class.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Also, Brian Michael Bendis will be in Arizona next weekend to give a writers' class.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
RIP: Joe D'Agostino
Joe D'Agostino, most known for his work on Archie, has passed away at 81 from bone cancer. D'Agostino's first job in sequential art was with Timely, the forerunner of Marvel Comics. D'Agostino drew for Archie and supervised Stan Goldberg, who would later become one of Archie Comics' most prominent artist.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Agenda: Shadowland Rundown
I got all the Shadowrun issues except the last handful which have not yet shipped (to me, but will be available tomorrow) and I've started reading them. I am working on a flowchart with brief reviews of select issues and I was going to do them in a series, but this seemed like it would be more convenient for everyone.
Shadowrun is a 30+-issue story arc mini-series crossover event which WILL CHANGE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE FOREVER and I only started it last week, so I'm not even halfway through (at a rate of about 1-3 comics a night). It may be up later this week or next, as I'm not waiting for the last few issues to post it.
I also have more reviews of recent and upcoming comics, as well as the Chill stuff. I didn't realize how much new content I'd posted this year, so I don't feel so bad about missing the Halloween deadline. That should probably be up by the weekend, if not sooner. I'm also working to make the whole thing nicer and easier to navigate.
Like I said before, it means things will be slower here until this is done. I'm shooting for Christmas, but expect a lot of it to be done before then.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Shadowrun is a 30+-issue story arc mini-series crossover event which WILL CHANGE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE FOREVER and I only started it last week, so I'm not even halfway through (at a rate of about 1-3 comics a night). It may be up later this week or next, as I'm not waiting for the last few issues to post it.
I also have more reviews of recent and upcoming comics, as well as the Chill stuff. I didn't realize how much new content I'd posted this year, so I don't feel so bad about missing the Halloween deadline. That should probably be up by the weekend, if not sooner. I'm also working to make the whole thing nicer and easier to navigate.
Like I said before, it means things will be slower here until this is done. I'm shooting for Christmas, but expect a lot of it to be done before then.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)