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A page from UNCANNY X-MEN #138 by John Byrne and Terry Austin.
This is a page from the very first issue of X-Men I ever read. I got it rolled up in my stocking for Christmas, which started a tradition that continued well into my teenage years. I still have it, too. It’s yellowed and beaten to hell, but I still reread it from time to time. As first issues go, it would be hard to beat this one, as it manages to sum up 15 or so years of X-Men history in a few dozen pages. Brilliant storytelling by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. VERY cool seeing the original artwork.
Excellent unused concept art for a failed 2001 movie adaptation of John Carter by the incredible Rafael Kayanan. You can see more of his concepts for the movie and read an interview with him over at Comic Book Resources.
The incomparable Moebius (aka Jean Giraud) passed away over the weekend, and the world has truly lost a remarkable visionary talent. The word “genius” is incredibly overused these days, but in the case of Moebius, it’s almost not strong enough a word to accurately describe the man. His comic book output was prodigious, right up until the very end, and on top of that he contributed design work to some of the biggest and most influential science fiction films of the last 40 years: Tron, Blade Runner, Alien, The Fifth Element. I won’t simply relist his credits here, but it’s worth checking out his Wikipedia entry to see just how far and wide his reach is.
I don’t remember the first time I saw his work, but I do remember the first time I saw a piece of his and thought “oh, I get it”. It was a pinup image of Superman done for Superman #400, which came out in 1984. It says everything about Superman that everyone else seems to miss. While clearly an idealized form of a man, he is not the muscle bound lunkhead you often see. There is grace in his posture, a sense of ease with his other-worldly power that you would expect from a person who knows he is indestructible (as long as there’s no Kryptonite around, of course). His work focuses more on the “super” than the “man” part, eliminating the human flaws that writers of the character like to focus on to try to make him more relatible or vulnerable.
What sets this apart from most other artists’ rendering of the character, however, is how Moebius draws his face. Superman is ultimately an alien, not of this planet and forever an outsider as a result. The face of Moebius’s Superman not only reflects it, but embraces it. Almost every other artist draws the character as a generic, hunky looking guy, ranging in age from 20 to 35 or so. Here, Moebius has made him truly look like an alien, with the heavy, straight brow; thin, bridgeless nose; and pointed head. It’s a look I haven’t seen from any other artist, and that’s something that can be said about practically all of Moebius’s work. It saddens me that there won’t be any more of it.
Pleased As Punch by Jim Woodring
I’m way, way into Mr. Woodring’s art. Check out his newly revamped website for lots of other incredible, surreal bits of weirdness.
Tor Johnson by Drew Friedman
This awesome and terrifying painting was done by the great Drew Friedman, a caricaturist without peer, in my opinion. His stuff is almost too real looking. It magnifies all the flaws of his subjects ten fold.
Westmonster Abbey - World Wide Weirdies 71 by Ken Reid
From the Flickr stream of Aeron Alfrey comes this great set of single panel comics illustrations by Ken Reid.
A rough sketch of what looks like the cover to issue 12 of J.M. DeMatteis and Jon J. Muth’s comic miniseries Moonshadow.
Taken from the Amazing Heroes Preview Special #2.
Descendent by Malachi Ward
Click on the image to view it larger.
Also visit Mr. Ward’s blog to see much more of his art.
E.C. Segar being held up by a terrifying real-life representation of his most famous creation, Popeye. via www.latimes.com
Here’s a cool article about the origins of Popeye the Sailor.
