REVIEW: From the pages of Marvelocity… I don’t know if you’ve picked up Marvelocity yet, but I cannot recommend it highly enough. The coffee-table book, which celebrates the Marvel art of Alex Ross, is hands down the most spectacularly illustrated publication about comics I’ve seen this year. Hardly a surprise, mind you. This is Alex Ross we’re talking about and the hardcover was produced with one of publishing’s top designers, Chip Kidd, along with first-rate photographer Geoff Spear. The book, a companion to the beautiful, DC-focused Mythology that came out 15 years ago, is jammed with hundreds of Ross’ covers, prints, sketches and pages – even his designs for the opening credits of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and a series of busts based on his photorealistic style of art. A lot of it you’ve seen before, of course, but it’s all in the presentation, an intoxicating brew of colorful detail that makes you believe there’s a world somewhere in the multiverse that looks exactly how Ross envisions it. Even more fascinating, naturally, is what you haven’t seen – such as a new Spider-Man story and, startlingly, Ross’ doomed pitch to reboot the Fantastic Four in 2017 while Marvel’s First Family was still on hiatus. It just goes to show you that even the biggest talents in comics don’t always get what they want – and what Ross wanted was an eye-popping comic that echoed the DayGlo ’60s while offering something fresh. Just check this out: Ross spells out his vision across six pages in the book, including designs, sample pages and even treatments for potential logos. He never explains why the project wasn’t greenlit but we can imagine what might have been: — Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross, is a 312-page, oversized hardcover, published by Pantheon. It lists for $50 and is available at comics shops, bookstores and online retailers. Miss it not, True...
REVIEW of Issue #1: SPOILERS AHEAD… Heroes in Crisis, DC’s newest event comic – by writer Tom King with line art by Clay Mann – debuted Wednesday. Here are 13 QUICK THOUGHTS – and yes, there are BIG SPOILERS: — 1. In a nutshell, the first issue shows us the aftermath of a slaughter at Sanctuary, a secret mental-health facility for superheroes suffering from PTSD and other emotional trauma. It was created by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, who are horrified to find that the place they’ve set up as a haven has become a killing ground. 2. The issue is naturally well crafted. You’ve got an Eisner-winning writer who’s passionate about the subject matter and an art team – Mann, colorist Tomeu Morey and letterer Clayton Cowles – that’s capable of shifting between violent action and introspective moments. 3. That’s important because the hallmark of the story is a series of nine-panel pages where various characters unburden themselves – or in some very significant ways, don’t – to what is presumably an off-camera therapist or counselor. They’re interspersed throughout the book. I’m not entirely sold on the device yet because there’s a danger that these sequences will end up a bit too cloying or pat. — 4. Who died in the massacre? Well, DC has been hyping the answer to this big time and the sad part is that the two major victims are Roy Harper (aka Arsenal) and the original Wally West (aka the other Flash), which is a gut punch to a longtime reader like me who likes to think of them like this: — 5. I can’t say I’m surprised about Arsenal (nee Speedy). You can argue that this is the logical conclusion to 47 years of him being put through the ringer. When Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams turned Roy Harper into a heroin addict in 1971, it was a major comic landmark that put an exclamation point on the end of the shiny, happy Silver Age, which had faded out at the end of the ’60s. In the intervening decades, Harper never got too far from his addictions — which were expanded to include pills and booze — and was always struggling with his demons. — 6. In a sense, Wally West’s demise feels more painful and unfair. This is more for meta...
REVIEW: From the pages of Marvelocity…
REVIEW of Issue #1: SPOILERS AHEAD…
13 QUICK THOUGHTS on the new Walmart exclusives…
REVIEW: A lotta talent in one package…
