Wednesday Interview: J.Bone

I don't make a secret of the fact that I love J.Bone. And I really love it when he gets to do some interior art, as is the case with this week's issue of Super Friends! When he's not busy drawing awesome things, he is crocheting awesome things! He was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about Super Friends #15, the Doom Patrol, Captain Marvel, The Brave and the Bold, and other things he loves.

The last issue of Super Friends that you did the interior art for was the Superman's birthday issue. This time it's Batman's birthday! Is it in your Super Friends contract that you get to draw any and all birthday issues in the series?

Batman’s birthday? I don’t know what you’re talking about. (Shhh...it’s a surprise party...on’tday elltay atmanBay) It’s no coincidence, though. My editor, Rachel Gluckstern, let me know right after the Superman issue that Batman’s was coming up and that she’d like me to draw it.

Your art is perfect for all-ages comics, and you seem to have a genuine excitement about making comics for kids. What do you think of the efforts by DC and Marvel in recent years to make comics for kids again?

Why thank you, Rachelle! I do indeed love to draw comics for kids. I’m thrilled that Marvel and DC are doing kid friendly material. DC’s always had the Johnny DC line with its tie-ins to the Cartoon Network and Warner animated properties. The fact that Super Friends is based on a toy line has come up more than a few times in reviews of the comic. It’s used as a negative which I don’t get at all! It’s not as though DC "sold out" and are now targeting kids with nefarious marketing ploys to try and get them to buy toys! The opposite is true...it’s about time toys AND comics were aimed at kids again! Um...they were made for kids in the first place.

Secondly, being a cartoony guy there really is no other chance for me to draw DC’s big six! That a book like Super Friends exists and I get to work on it is all the info I need! I just hope that DC and Marvel see a profit from these titles so that they continue to run and entertain kids.

I notice you did the cover of the upcoming July issue of Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam. Any chance you might be doing some interiors on that title now that DC has decided to change the creative team?

I tell ya, I’d like to. But, as with the amazing Andy Suriano on Brave and the Bold, the fact that Stephen DeStefano is drawing the book means I’d rather see his art than mine!

I have to ask you about this: you mentioned on your blog that you are drawing an upcoming issue of Batman: The Brave and the Bold that will feature the DOOM PATROL?! That must be a dream come true for you.

It is, absolutely. I’ve got my list of dream characters to work on and, happily, I’ve crossed quite a few off my list over the past few years. Starting with Spidey and the Fantastic Four back on the Tangled Web book with Cooke. Wonder Woman and Aquaman in the Super Friends (although I’d still love to take another shot at both with a style closer to my own...sorta like the New Frontier One-Shot with my Wonder Woman story written by Cooke). And now the Doom Patrol in Brave and the Bold. I knew that Torres was writing the story and that he too is a fan of the Doom Patrol. I’m glad the editor (once again, the fabulous Rachel Gluckstern...and also Michael Siglain and Harvey Richards) gave us the thumbs up to go ahead and throw the DP into the Brave and Bold Universe.

As yet unchecked on the list: Metamorpho, Plastic Man, Hawkman, Metal Men and the She-Hulk. I’ll get them. It’ll take some time, but I’ll get them. And when I do I will have one Comic Book BINGO!

What other projects do you have on the go? A how-to-crochet super heroes book? That would be rad.

Believe me, a How-To book would be a lot faster to make than some of the dolls I’ve tackled. I’m working on creating simpler designs (like the little Batman and Spidey that I made for you and Cal). They take less time but still aren’t as easy as just drawing a picture of Batman or Spidey.

I’ve got a few of my own characters I’d like to get out in comic books soon. Jett Vector has been too long on the shelf and must get finished by the end of this year! I’m also working on a sketchbook with my pin-up art, both the cheesecake and the beefcake. I’ll be gathering up the artwork from years passed and should have a book (or two) put together by mid-summer! Most likely it’ll be a print on demand type of collection through one of the many online printers.

Round-Up!

I've got a bunch of litle things I want to talk about, and that means it's time for a round-up post!

What Dave's Been Up To

Because Dave is too humble to mention this himself, I want to bring to everyone's attention that the comic he inked and lettered, Snakor's Pizza, is now up on the Arcana Comics website. It was written by one of Dave's BFFs, Sean Jordan, aka The Wordburglar, aka the Guy Who Won That DC Contest in the 90s Where the Winner Got Their Local Comic Shop and Themselves Featured in an Issue of Superman. The entire first issue is free online, so go enjoy it!

Also from the department of Dave being awesome, check out this poster he did for a local screening of Conan the Barbarian!

The Dawn of a New Age...An Action Age!

Chris Sims of Invincible Super Blog fame also has some excellent free comics available on the Action Age Comics website. The complete first issue of Solomon Stone is posted. I am sure most of you have read it by now, because I am slow, but if not check it out! Need incentive? Here's some:

That dinosaur is reading a book!!!

Seriously, I think what Chris is doing with Action Age is awesome and everyone should read the comics. He's working his ass off to give you free entertainment! Again!

HeroesCon!

Well, HeroesCon is nearly a mere month away. I went down to Charlotte for this last year and it was a really great time. I'll be heading there again this year and I can't wait. If you wanna meet me, I'll probably be hanging out at the Dollar Bin Podcast's table, eating BBQ pork somewhere, or high fiving Roger Langridge.

If you can only afford to go to one comic con this year, I highly recommend HeroesCon! San Diego may be bigger, but HeroesCon is BBQ-er!

And Speaking of the Dollar Bin...

I totally forgot to mention this last week, but I joined the Dollar Bin for an episode of their awesome podcast recently. We chatted about Wolverine and Canadian comic books and cartoonists. Check it out! Always a pleasure, guys.

Wizard Gets My Attention

I don't mention Wizard Magazine a lot here because I don't read Wizard Magazine (they make it clear that it's a Men's Entertainment Magazine, so I am not allowed to read it anyway). They did get something right recently though when they named Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier the BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIME! So suck on that, Maus!

Last Week's Comics

I was off the grid visiting my grandparents over the weekend, so I didn't get an Archie Sunday post up. I also didn't get my comic reviews up. I just wanted to mention a couple of things:

Power Girl #1: I think Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray write women as well as or better than pretty much anyone writing comics right now. And Amanda Conner can certainly draw the hell out of them. I am really excited about this book.

Exiles #2: I have been picking this up because Jeff Parker is writing it. It's a bit of a stretch for me to be reading an X-Men spin-off title, but I have been really enjoying it. But I am not so much enjoying the clothing on the women in this comic. Between this and the Greg Land issues of Uncanny X-Men, I am really dying for an X-Men book where women are wearing actual clothing. And I am not talking about the costumes, I'm talking about when they are out of them. Like this dress, for instance:

That's not a real thing. You can't wear that. It's silly. I don't care what parallel universe this is, Kitty Pryde should not be wearing that anywhere.

And it's too bad because the art, by Salvador Espin, is actually quite good on this book, except for the female clothing.

So that about rounds things up. Stay tuned for another Wednesday interview...this week with J.Bone!

"They're Coming To Get You, Barbara!"

Not only am I a huge comic nerd, but I am also a huge action figure nerd (my girlfriend Hillary graciously allows me to adorn the top of our kitchen cupboards with various superheroes, action movie stars, and Futurama characters), and a huge horror movie nerd as well. Sometimes these two passions of mine collide with each other, and the result is pure bliss. For example, Emce Toys, the fine folks behind the recent re-creations of Mego-style (plastic figures with sculpted rubber heads and cloth outfits, for those of you who were born after the company folded in 1983) Star Trek and Planet of the Apes figures, made my day with their new Night of the Living Dead assortment. The first assortment features the Graveyard Zombie from the movie’s opening (played by Bill Hinzman), and Ben, the film’s tragic hero, as played by Duane Jones.

Not only are the facial sculpts frighteningly accurate--check the handy comparison below...

...but the packaging is both eye-catching and practical—these carded figures come in a resealable plastic sleeve for display purposes. And, with the retro-cool, era-appropriate painted artwork featuring the film’s leads, you’ll want to hang on to this packaging.

Possibly the coolest thing about these figures, though, is the fact that—unlike the aforementioned Star Trek and Planet of the Apes figures—Mego never made Night of the Living Dead toys! The ST and POTA assortment perfectly mimic the figures and packaging from the 1970s, but the NOTLD assortment is designed from scratch, as though there had been a toy line for this classic film back in its heyday. It’s almost as though these toys are relics from a parallel universe where Mego had made NOTLD toys. I love stuff like that! Kudos, Emce toys. I really hope this line continues—the back of the packages promises upcoming figures of Judith O’Dea as “Barbara”, the alternately hysterical/catatonic heroine of the movie, and Kyra Schon’s “Karen Cooper” who, we can only hope, will come with a bloody garden trowel accessory.

"Wait, skip to the end...I just wanna make sure I survive this thing."

Look, even Jones thinks they're awesome!
 

Super-Human Delinquents of the Thirtieth Century: Vibrex

Hey there! It's time to inaugurate another new feature here on Johnathan Saturdays. For a couple of years now I've been doing reviews of the Super-Human Detritus of the Thirtieth Century, said detritus being people who tried and failed to get into the Legion of Super-Heroes and occasionally people who got in and were subsequently kicked out for being evil. Now, I have a few more of those things that I can do, but Silver Age Legion rejects are getting a bit thin on the ground. I thought about expanding the definition to include villains but it just didn't sit right, so here we are: Super-human Delinquents of the Thirtieth Century, featuring all of the future's most strange and incompetent bad guys. First up: Vibrex, Master of Vibration!

Vibrex showed up in Legion of Super-Heroes No. 267, in a backup story set just after Mon-El had been released from the Phantom Zone and inducted into the Legion as a full member and not just a Sad Reservist. Everyone is hanging around the Clubhouse being cool and talking about how cool they are when they receive news that there is trouble on the space elevator (the space elevator is the coolest mode of future-travel there is, bar none) and they all rush off to look into it. Mon-El is excited to participate in his first Legion mission that doesn't involve beating up a robot Lex Luthor.

Oh no! The sentence that Mon-El didn't get to finish was indicating that he didn't believe that this assignment was going to be any trouble, but there is trouble after all! trouble in the form of a poorly-dressed super-villain!

Oh lord is he poorly dressed. That thing where his torso is a different colour than his limbs? All I can think of when I see that is "action figure whose arms and legs come off." He's practically a He-Man character, and not one of the good ones, like Buzz-Off. No, he's... he's that robotic elephant firefighter guy who squirted water out of his nose. Also, that's a terrible colour scheme. And you don't need a 'V' on your forehead if you have one on your chest.

Mon-El's not intimidated though, and - oh lord, the stripes go all the way around. This guy put a lot of effort into this costume, didn't he? He thinks that he looks fantastic, like the indie dude I saw last month who had the ironic tight jeans and the ironic jeanjacket-over-cardigan and the ironic pedophile moustache and the ironic Seventies haircut and it all came together no make him look like a badly-dressed guy with terrible hair. Actually, Vibrex is worse, because Mr. Indie was at least piling proven methods on top of one another to form a mess, while our blue-limbed pal here is just flailing wildly in the  fabric store.

Oh, shoot. I already told you his name, didn't I? Sorry for ruining your big moment, Vibrex. Really, though. You're not much of a planner. You sneak onboard the Space Elevator to steal some ore, armed only with your vibratory powers (obtained when he "...flew my unprotected cruiser into a deep space radiation field..." which is, incidently, another well-thought-out plan) and no evidence of superstrength (to carry the ore) or flight (to get off of the Space Elevator before it docks) or any thought to how to get away once he gets to the end of the elevator cable, because it's an elevator and he can't land it anywhere but at the regular landing area, which presumably has some sort of security.

Vibrex gets the upper hand quickly, using his vibratory powers to cancel Mon-El's anti-lead serum and shut off the other Legionnaires' flight belts, but shows his colours again immediately by completely ignoring the super-heroes that he just dumped out into space. Mister, if you're dumb enough to turn your back on three super-heroes after doing nothing more deadly to them than throwing them out of a door that's four kilometres in the air then you deserve this:

KRAK!

BOK!

UH... IN SPACE, NO-ONE CAN HEAR YOU GET PUNCHED!

Anyway, I have more pictures of Vibrex but you know what? It's all the same. The guy was a loser, through and through - he ain't appearing in Legion of Three Worlds, that's for sure.

  

When Vibrex wakes up, tell him he's NOT APPROVED.

John Weighs in on the X-Men DVD Thing

Well, Rachelle pretty much nailed it on her review, so I'll keep this brief. Yes, these cartoons were terrible. The voice acting was basically bad, bad, bad (with some exceptions - Apocalypse was terrific), the animation was cheap, etc, etc. BUT. there are still some reasons to think about getting this collection:

1. The possibility of special prizes. The copy that we received contained, in lieu of Volume 1, Disc 1, the Leonardo DiCaprio film Catch Me if You Can. Maybe you'll get a Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVD, or a slice of dried bologna or anything! It's like gambling!

2. Drinking games. Every time they reuse footage or dialogue, take a shot. Every time Professor X zooms into frame at an unsafe speed, take a shot. Every time something MAKES NO SENSE, take a shot. You will require about one episode per party.

3. Canadian pride (assumes that you are Canadian). Watch the episode with Alpha Flight and take pride in knowing that our national super-hero, the Vindicator, is so concerned with duty that he is willing to confiscate his best friend's skeleton for the good of his country/the military conspiracy that he works for. I felt so filled with national pride that I immediately confiscated some of Rachelle's ribs. Also, once more: suck it, other national conspiracies.

4. MST3K fun. If you watch bad movies specifically for the purpose of mocking them you will have fun with this. We burnt out after four or five episodes, though.

5. Academic interest. Watch and consider the political or practical considerations behind each nonsensical decision: why does Cable have a black starburst around his (intact) eye? Are scars hard to animate or did the writers/animators believe that children shouldn't know about eye-scarification, in case they might try to it themselves (to look cool, like Cable)? What about that hover-wheelchair? Was regular chair-wheeling too intricate an animation? Was it a plot hook that never got used, like Moira McTaggart's Irish accent? I swear that I could write five papers on this stuff.

6. PYRO AND AVALANCHE. They only show up every few episodes but these two are the very best thing about this show. Pyro is an Australo-Cockney skinny-boy and Avalanche is a big dumb dope who sounds like he maybe got his powers by being beat repeatedly about the head with a pipe. Nothing ever goes right for them - they try to hit on a chick in a bar and it turns out to be Rogue, who beats them silly. They kidnap a scientist and it turns out to be their boss Mystique in disguise. They are the ultimate sad sacks. I want to pitch The Misadventures of Pyro and Avalanche to Adult Swim. Rachelle's suggestion, Pyro and Avalanche in: Gettin' the Blob Laid also has merit, maybe as a movie spin-off.

In any case, you already know if you're going to buy this thing or not. It's exactly like you remember it, trust me.

Oops, now I've got to write my Saturday post. Bye!

Set Phasers For Fun: Dave's Spoiler-Free Mini Review of Star Trek

After a stumbling start with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (see Rachelle’s review here), the summer 2009 movie season got kicked off properly last night with the first shows of J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek makeover, featuring young, angsty versions of the original cast—Kirk, Spock, etc.—in a universe that is not quite the same as the one we all know but is still somehow canon. How, exactly, requires me to discuss plot points that I don’t want to get into (spoilers and all), but it’s not important anyway. What is important is that the new Star Trek is a hell of a good time, and exactly what this series needed.

Without giving too much away, a Romulan bad guy named Nero has traveled back in time, to back before the original series, to mess with history in various diabolical ways. Along the way, he encounters the USS Enterprise and its crew of fledgling recruits, who have to get over their various differences to stop him from blowing up lots of planets and messing up the spacetime continuum. More than he already has, I mean—his interference has already altered the timeline, meaning that the future as we know it is not set anymore (a handy trick of the filmmakers, one that sidesteps Wolverine’s lack of suspense in knowing that the character survives for at least three more movies). The wonky pseudoscience that has always accompanied the Star Trek brand name and its recurring time travel plotlines allows for an almost literal cosmic reset button, which will hopefully keep the die-hard fans content, while also making way for director J.J. Abrams’ sexy, flashy new vision of the Star Trek universe—while, finally, not in any way contradicting What Has Gone Before.  

The cast is pretty much uniformly great—Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, as Kirk and Spock, respectively, inhabit their characters without resorting to imitations, the supporting characters all get to have cool moments where we see why they’re all destined for greatness, and the space battles and fight scenes are all exciting to watch. There are a lot of fun nods to the original series, but not obnoxiously so. There are some moments of fairly goofy humour, but that’s not so out of place either—never let it be said that Star Trek, in any of its incarnations, is above a lame gag or three. And seriously, when’s the last time we had a good space adventure flick? One that didn’t take place in some depressing dystopia, but in a future where all (or most, anyway) races have come together to get stuff done? By the end of this movie, I was pretty much begging for a sequel, but that’s probably still about three years away. Not soon enough! Great job, everyone involved.