#IReadsYou Book Review: Stan Lee's How to Draw Comics

STAN LEE’S HOW TO DRAW COMICS
WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS/Dynamite Entertainment

WRITERS: Stan Lee with David Campiti
COVER: John Romita with Dean White (limited edition cover: Francesco Francavilla)
ISBN: 978-0-8230-0083-8; paperback
224pp, Color, $24.99 U.S., $27.99 CAN

He was born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922, but the world of arts and entertainment knows him as Stan Lee. For Marvel Comics, Lee has been a writer, editor, and publisher and has been associated with Marvel Comics since 1939 when it was Timely Comics.

Collaborating with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee created such characters as Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Hulk, among many others. In addition to writing comic books, Lee has also authored several books. Perhaps, Lee’s best known non-comic book, book is How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (1978), which he co-authored with the late artist, John Buscema.

Stan Lee’s latest how-to book is Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics. Co-written with David Campiti, Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is essentially an update of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, but with less emphasis on “the Marvel Way.” In his introduction, Stan writes that it was time for a new book, one with “a cornucopia of cutting-edge, techno-savvy instructions.”

I have a copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, one through which I’ve thumbed countless times, and the difference between the 1978 book and this one is jarring. Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is, for one thing, bigger, and there is much information on digital lettering and computer coloring. How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is essentially analog, but obviously that’s because computers weren’t being used to produce comic book art and graphics when it was written. Campiti’s hand is all over the sections on computers and digital processes to create comics because he runs Glasshouse Graphics, a company that provides everything from story and art to pre-press and custom publishing for comic book publishers and other clients.

Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics provides a broad overview of creating visuals for comic books. There are sections on penciling, inking and coloring; lettering and word balloons. Readers can learn about creating costumes; what makes great action; perspective and foreshortening; page and panel layout; and how to create visually appealing covers. There is information on digital advances, creating a portfolio, and getting work in the industry.

Not to dismiss the earlier book, Stan Lee’s How to Write Comics, but Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is a complete book offering both theory and procedure. A budding comic book creator can get tips on penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering a comic book using both new and traditional methods, and he or she can examine numerous black and white diagrams that illustrate the basics of creating comic book graphics. Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is a text book because it explains the why’s and how’s, often using the advise and expertise of industry professionals. There is even a section on using Google Sketchup to create skyscrapers, buildings, and other exterior landscapes.

There is apparently a limited edition of Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics. I don’t know whether or not it’s a hardcover, but this paperback edition is the one to get if you have an eye on becoming a professional comic book artist. The paperback is made to be handled a lot.

A-

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:
Neal Adams, Erica Awano
Dan Borgones, Nick Bradshaw, Ariel Burgess
Aaron Campbell, J. Scott Campbell, Chris Caniano, Eman Casallos, John Cassaday, Frank Cho, Vince Colletta
Bong Dazo, Mike Deodato, Jr., Steve Ditko
Tina Francisco
Ken Haeser, Tabitha Haeser
Bob Kane, Gil Kane, Michael Kelleher, Jack Kirby
Fabio Laguna, Jonathan Lau, Jae Lee, Jim Lee, Jun Lofamia
Gemma Magno, Jezreel Morales
Earl Norem,
Ariel Padilla
Cliff Richards, Al Rio John Romita, Alex Ross, Mel Rubi
Steve Sadowski, Gaspar Saladino, Edgar Salazar, Mel Joy San Juan, Alexander Sicat, Joe Sinnott
Anthony Tan, Wilson Tortosa, Michael Turner

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#IReadsYou Review: BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #43

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #43
DC COMICS

WRITER/ARTIST: Sam Keith
COLORIST: Jose Villarrubia and Sam Keith
LETTERS: Sam Cipriano
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

Batman Confidential was a comic book series published by DC Comics from 2006 to 2011. Like Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Batman Confidential featured rotating creative teams, but while I read LotDK for many years, I only read a few issues of Batman Confidential.

A few months ago, I was visiting a favorite comic book haunt and the owner gave me a freebie, Batman Confidential #43. It was the final issue of a five-issue story arc from Sam Keith (Batman Confidential #40-43), and although I hadn’t read the other issues, I was able to follow the story (“Ghosts: The Conclusion”).

The story involves a young woman named Callie who is being stalked by some kind of ghost or monster or monstrous ghost. Batman is trying to protect her, but there is the added complication that Batman has feelings for Callie. Why? It is because her tragedy is like the childhood tragedy that set Bruce Wayne’s life as Batman in motion or is it just love?

Once upon a time, I was a huge Sam Keith fan. I think that I stopped following Keith’s work after his work in Marvel Comics Presents and after the first few issues of The Maxx, which debuted in 1993 from Image Comics. My favorite work of Keith’s remains I Before E, a collection of Keith’s early work, which Fantagraphics Books published in two issues back in the 1980s.

Although known for his quirky storytelling and still quirkier drawing style, Keith is capable of evocative and poignant work. Ghosts is a Batman story, but at its heart, it is about people who are like lost souls, which both Batman and Callie are, trying to find safe harbor. This is one of those last issues that makes me want to go back to the beginning of the story.

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#IReadsYou Review: TIME BOMB #3

TIME BOMB #3

 RADICAL PUBLISHING

CREATORS/WRITERS: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

ART: Paul Gulacy
COLORS: Rain Beredo
LETTERS: John J. Hill
COVER: Paul Gulacy and Rain Beredo
56pp, Color, $4.99

Time Bomb is a science fiction comic book created and written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex, Power Girl) and drawn by still-going-strong industry veteran, Paul Gulacy. The series opens in the year 2012 and finds that the human race has 72 hours to live! Why? The Omega Bomb, a relic of Nazi Germany, was accidentally launched, unleashing a horrible virus.

Jack McCrea, team leader; Ken Weinhauser, tech-ops specialist; Peggy Medina, deadly science expert; and Christian Grainger, strategist are four specialists assigned by the New World Order to save the world. They are sent back in time and their target is the day before the bomb was discovered, in an attempt to prevent the disaster. However, the Time Bomb sends them back seven decades earlier and drops them in the heart of Germany towards the end of World War II.

In Time Bomb #3, the mission to save the world comes to an explosive conclusion. Jack and a lovely double agent are imprisoned in the underground bunker where the Omega Bomb sits. Jack is also about to learn the shocking true identity of the Omega Bomb’s sinister creator. Meanwhile, Ken, Peggy, and Christian make an attempt to rescue Jack, but their own freedom is also in jeopardy. And a legendary player enters the game.

One can praise Time Bomb for being consistently good, but what it was consistent at was being freaking good. If I could describe the speed at which I read this to driving, that comparison would be that I read Time Bomb #3 at breakneck speed. It’s easily one of the very best comic books of the year, and it is certainly way better as an action comic book than many films were as action movies. Also, with his excellent art for this series, Paul Gulacy proves that after four decades drawing comic books, he is still at the top of his game, which is above many other artists’ games.

A+

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I Reads You Review: AKIRA, VOL. 3

Creator: Katsuhiro Otomo; Yoko Umezawa, Linda M. York, Jo Duffy (translation and adaptation)
Publishing Information: Kodansha Comics, paperback, 288 pages, $24.99 (US), $28.99 CAN
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-935-42904-3 (ISBN-13)

Kodansha Comics (through Del Rey Manga, apparently) recently released the third volume in their current English-language republication of Katsuhiro Otomo’s legendary manga, Akira. Just as the first two volumes did, Vol. 3 had me racing through nearly 300 pages of comics as if my life depended on it.

Originally published in the Japanese manga periodical, Young Magazine (from December 1982 to June 1990), Akira takes place in the year 2030 A.D. and is set Neo-Tokyo, the new city built upon the ashes of Tokyo. 38 years earlier, Tokyo was destroyed by a monstrous psychokinetic power known as Akira in a nuclear-like blast that also started World War III. Tetsuo Shima, a juvenile delinquent, begins to exhibit paranormal abilities, which brings him to the attention of The Colonel, the head of a covert government program that studies children with telekinetic powers. Tetsuo’s kidnapping thrusts his friend Shotaro Kaneda into this conspiracy.

As Akira, Vol. 3 opens, Akira, who actually a boy, is awake and is now the pawn in a deadly game of take-away. Kaneda, Rei the young resistance member and her associate, Chiyoko, rescue the boy from the clutches of Tetsuo, who awakened Akira in hopes of challenging his powers. Soon, however, other competing forces attain, lose, and regain the boy in a chase that culminates in a quite neighborhood, where a small war breaks out.

On the back cover of this third volume of Akira, there is a quote from comic book writer Warren Ellis (Red) that says, “Utterly unlike anything you’ve experience before.” A short sentence that speaks volumes of truth, that’s what it is. Praise Ellis! Testify!

There have been science fiction comic books with majestic art (like the works of French cartoonist/illustrator Moebius). There have been dystopian comics that are both great reads, highly acclaimed, and hugely influential (like American Flagg!, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen). They live in Akira’s shadow. The entirety of Vol. 3 is fantastic, but the last 60 pages have a visual power unparalleled in comic books. I think we would have to reference motion pictures in order to quantify Akira’s visual power. Right now, I’m thinking that this is the greatest comic book ever.

A+

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I Reads You Review: LOST IN THE WASH “THE FIRST HALF”

Creators: John Ira Thomas (writer) and Will Grant (artist)
Publishing Information: Candle Light Press, B&W, paperback, 72pp












Ordering information: http://www.candlelightpress.com/

Lost in the Wash: “The First Half” contains the first two chapters of Lost in the Wash, “Presoak” and “Agitate.” LitW is a graphic novel from writer John Ira Thomas (Zoo Force) and artist Will Grant (The Scrounge Was Here!). I first read and reviewed this book for the Comic Book Bin: (http://www.comicbookbin.com/lostinthewash001.html) back in September 2007. I just read it again in preparation for reading the latest installment, Lost in the Wash: 2010 Lint Trap Edition. Reading it again allowed me to catch some things I missed the first time around, and now, I must admit to liking it even more.

Lost in the Wash is set in the town of Isco (formerly Francisco until “patriotic” locals removed the “France” from the name). The story focuses on Darin, a down and out 20 or 30-something who works at his uncle’s Laundromat. Darin comes across as a loser, but his uncle IS an asshole. The Laundromat’s customers tend to be white trash jerk-offs who give Darin a hard time. Then, one day, something wet, wicked, and monstrous pops out of a washer and devours a tiresome customer. Darin decides that a monster in the washers is a good thing, especially if it will rid him of his main problem – rude customers.

This water, elemental thing isn’t the only thing haunting Darin. Terisa Salazar, a local motel proprietress, operates a haunted tour called, Gothic Colorado, for the tourists/suckers that pass through Isco. Terisa is also a figure from Darin’s past, and meeting her again leads to Darin wanting to know the truth about his parents and about a childhood accident, although he may not like how ugly this truth gets.

Lost in the Wash: “The First Half,” for me at least, recalls the spirit of the horror comics published by EC Comics in the 1950s and by Warren Publishing from the 1960s to the 70s. It’s as if EC artist Graham “Ghastly” Ingels’ tortured spirit inhabits the imagination and drawing hand of Will Grant. Grant can draw horror comic books with the best of ‘em – even those pros drawing for Vertigo, IDW and whatever publishers still doing scary books.

John Ira Thomas’ clever script always keeps the reader guessing, and his dialogue, with its layers and subtexts, adds richness to this raw tale. Thomas, through his narrative, tends to promise more to come with each page, and Lost in the Wash: “The First Half” is promising some good stuff to come.

A-

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#IReadsYou Review: NEMESIS #1

NEMESIS #1

MARVEL COMICS/ICON

WRITER: Mark Millar

ARTIST: Steve McNiven

COLORS: Dave McCaig

LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos

COVERS: Steve McNiven and Leinil Francis Yu

Nemesis is the new comic book miniseries from the team of writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven. The duo produced the hugely popular Marvel event series, Civil War, and the graphic novel, Wolverine: Old Man Logan (originally serialized in Wolverine 66-72). Nemesis is a planned four-issue series that is being published under Marvel Comics’ Icon imprint.

As Millar has stated in press coverage for this comic book, Nemesis #1 introduces a Batman-like character, called “Nemesis,” who uses his skill, resources, and whatever super powers and abilities he has for evil rather than for good. What if this cool billionaire with all those planes, cars and gadgets, put on a mask and waged war on the forces of law and order, Millar asks. The story begins with Nemesis dispatching a famous police chief in Tokyo. Afterwards, Nemesis heads to Washington D.C. to engage his next opponent, Chief Blake Morrow, the Chief of Police of the nation’s capitol.

The cover of Nemesis #1 carries a large caption that reads “MAKES KICK-ASS LOOK LIKE $#IT.” I don’t know about that. Kick-Ass, Mark Millar’s previous Icon comic book which recently concluded, is some pretty deranged $#it AND very entertaining, but I am already a fan of this new comic book. I rooted for Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight and I love a great villain, especially one who has the pigs… I mean, law enforcement quaking in their boots.

It’s a fun read. Millar paints the characters in broad strokes, and in police Chief Blake Morrow, Millar has created a Clint Eastwood-Dirty Harry type who deserves to be taken down a peg or two or ten. Steve McNiven’s art is acceptable, though it makes me wonder why he is so acclaimed. Dave McCaig’s coloring is horrid. Still, I really like this comic book and can’t wait for the next issue.

B+

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