BURIED TREASURE: Adam Kubert’s Brilliant 1988 Miniseries JEZEBEL JADE
We kick off Pete Stone’s new feature with a three-issue Jonny Quest spinoff…
Let’s not forget what came right after Hush… — DC in 2025 will be re-releasing the famed Batman: Hush storyline as a series of Facsimile Editions — and publishing a Hush 2 sequel by the same creative team, led by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. But don’t forget the excellent story arc that came right after, Broken City. — Dan — By PETER STONE For decades, drawing a Batman comic was the bellwether of the comics industry. If you wanted to find out if you were one of the best artists, you desperately tried to get on a Batman book to compare yourself to all the others who had come before you. I believe it is still that way. Look at some of the artists drawing Batman these days: Jorge Jimenez, Clay Mann, Jorge Fornes, among them. Every comics great has tried their hand at the Darknight Detective. Which brings us to a little artistic gem from 2003-04 called Batman: Broken City, written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by the unique and wonderful Eduardo Risso, with evocative, negative-space covers by Dave Johnson. Risso is an Argentinian artist who had a huge career before he ever set foot on American soil. With a knowledge of anatomy and storytelling, Risso takes Azzarello’s story and adds a brand new look to the Caped Crusader. His Batman drifts more toward Frank Miller than Neal Adams, but there are moments when Risso shows the Dark Knight in his more athletic form. His storytelling is always clear and concise and, as a reader, you’re never confused as to what is going on. There might be some David Mazzucchelli in there too, because there are very few forced perspective images.Risso just moves the camera around to create interesting compositions. He seems to love the close-up of main characters, showing their emotions or pain. Does it seem just a bit cartoony? Perhaps, but that just adds to the entire style he has created. Risso is a master of black ink. He creates silhouettes in a way no one else does. . foreground figure will be all black except for a necklace. A background figure’s face may be black except for his eyes and gritted teeth, but his upraised arms are clear as a spring morning. Black shapes fill the backgrounds, and sometimes even foregrounds are loaded with...
A terrific series that just didn’t find its audience… By PETER STONE After Alan Davis had drawn most the characters from the Marvel and DC universes, what other worlds did he have to conquer? Well, Davis decided he could create his own superheroes. So, in 1994, that’s exactly what he did. Davis had spent more than a decade drawing everything from the Avengers, to the X-Men, to the JLA, to Batman, and even Marvelman (Miracleman here in the States). For a man who had never real intention of becoming an artist, he was very professional, inventive and punctual (a trait every editor loves). Now he obviously felt the need to stretch his artistic and writing wings. Marvel Comics, where he had done a tremendous amount of high-caliber work, was more than happy to accept an Alan Davis-created series. This new series would exist in the MCU and eventually interact with other Marvel heroes like the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and Daredevil. The book, launched in 1994, was called ClanDestine and it was basically a family (or clan) named Destine. The family was started in 1168 A.D. in England and grew from there. They were a group of superpowered beings who had little desire to be heroes and lived in the shadows, using their abilities to better their own lives. Davis, creating, writing and penciling the entire run, showed that he had a sense of drama and a sense of humor. He was proving to be quite a good writer. The first series lasted only 12 issues (Davis did the first eight) before it was cancelled, mainly because it didn’t seem to find its audience. (That, and probably because Wolverine was not in the first eight issues.) Davis’ penciling work was sincere and detailed as all his work was, but there was an elevated sense of intensity because he was in charge of the entire show. If it succeeded, it was because of him but if it failed he would have to take the blame. The characters were unique but not strange enough to push the average reader away. There’s the “Big Guy” named Wallop, the “Crazy One” named Hex, the “Tough Woman” named Argent, and the erstwhile heroes of the series and the youngest members of the family, Crimson Crusader and Imp. Youthful and funny, they are the reader’s way...
We kick off Pete Stone’s new feature with a three-issue Jonny Quest spinoff…