Blade
I was approached to do a Blade submission a few weeks ago.Spent quite a bit of my free time immersing myself in the character. I watched the movies, borrowed a ton of Blade comics, snooped around on-line, and re-read whatever comics I had lying in the shelves.I just can't understand why Marvel can't seem to get it right.Blade's an old character, and historically, he has never been able to support his own series, instead being used mainly as a supporting character in those old Tomb of Dracula books. However, the guy has OBVIOUS potential; simply because unlike most other vampire hunters (in ANY medium), Blade's a bonafide psycho. Sometime in the 90's, the bigwigs at Marvel noticed that as well. Blade immediately spun out of the Nightstalkers book and was given his own series.It went downhill from there. That series was under the capable hands of Ian Edgington and Douglas Wheatley, and they came up with a fairly interesting and complex plot. However, this was in the early 90's, and I don't think too many kids were looking for those qualities. The book was cancelled after a dozen or so issues.After the success of the first Blade movie, Marvel tried again, with another series, written by Bart S---- eh?Bart SEARS?!?!?! As a WRITER?!?!? Geez, no wonder that didn't last very long. To be honest, I couldn't do anything more than skim through this run-- it was that bad. It was seriously overwritten, the plot made my head spin (Blade: Agent of SHIELD???) and the art was horrendous (sears himself was okay as an artist, but he didn't draw the entire mini). Just terrible, terrible stuff.And yet, Blade II was another resounding success. Which prompted another Marvel attempt, this time under the MAX imprint. Oooh, boobies and swearing! No way can this fail!!!Well, you'd think.Okay, maybe that's a tad harsh. Chris Hinz and Steve Pugh's little tale wasn't bad at all, but neither was it great. Mediocre is the word, really. Pugh's art was inconsistent-- brilliant at times, amateurish at others. Hinz writing seemed forced at times, as if he just couldn't let go of any "cool" scenes in his head. Compared to Sears' Blade however, this was Watchmen. And those Bradstreet covers were pretty slick.I browsed through a few other lame Blade comics and specials. The only one that stood out was Crescent City Blues, a nice tale illustrated well by Gene Colan.Interestingly enough, the best Blade I saw was in a guest appearance on one o my Gambit comics, illustrated by one of my gods, Steve Skroce. Skroce's version of Blade was perfect, a half-human muscle car ridin' whirlwind on a warpath. Skroce got it. So few others, unfortunately, haven't. Some have tried to turn him into a superhero (Sears), while others tried to inject a noirish aspect to the character (Hinz). At the end of the day though, Blade's a psychopathic killing-machine. It's not hard to see-- just rent the movies!
The Butchies 2005
My personal Comic Awards for 2006 (Butchies?)!BEST COMIC (SERIES) - Ultimate Fantastic FourNot even a contest for me. UFF just delivers, month in and month out. UFF isn't always my favorite book of the month, but its always up there. The fact that it comes out often (more than 12 issues a year, I believe) is a plus. Last year we had Warren Ellis, Mike Carey, and Mark Millar take turns guiding the ship, ably assisted by Adam Kubert, Jae Lee, and Greg Land. Not a bad line-up at all! The potential of this book is staggering. Here's an FF that's just starting to achieve celebrity status, as opposed to the original team, which became famous overnight. We all know the greatness that's coming-- Black Panther, Galactus, Inhumans (although we've already seen them once), the Impossible Man, the Molecule Man, more Doom, more Namor...BEST COMIC (MINI) - JLA Classified (New Maps of Hell)Warren Ellis. Butch Guice. JLA. Geez.Warren shows everyone how the JLA should be done. Firm, confident, and effective. Even against the DC equivalent of Satan, the JLA swiftly overcomes any obstacle and inevitably triumphs.Guice's art is rough when he inks himself, losing a little bit in quality. However, his strong storytelling skills are still present in the arc, impressively handling several cool sequences as well as the obligatory "WOW!" moments.BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL - WantedWhat a package. The entire Wanted mini, plus the Wanted Dossier. An impressive amount of extras-- script excerpts, commentary, designs, a cover gallery, and so forth. Definitely worth the $20.BEST WRITER - Mark MillarMillar narrowly beats out Ellis for my favorite writer of the year. Mark is the king of popcorn comics. Last year, I picked up Wanted, Ultimate FF, MK Spider-Man, and Wolverine, all of which were terrific reads. He's just a master of the visual medium, showing a developed sense of when to speak up and when to just shut up and let the artist go nuts. And 2006 already looks like it'll be his year again. He's spearheading Marvel's big Civil War event, as well as his fumetti-style 1985 project. Not to mention Ultimates 2, which I'll be picking up as soon as the collection comes out.BEST PENCILLER - I really can't give this "Butchie" out. I'm too close to it to be objective. Do I give it to Cassaday for his compositional skills and ability to convey raw emotions? Why not Steve Epting, for his inking skill and storytelling? How about Ed Benes, who comes up with some of the most inventive angles? Can anyone beat Greg Land or Frank Cho when it comes to drawing women? And that's not even considering Bryan Hitch, Butch Guice, Steve McNiven, EVS, and so many others...That's what I get for studying these guys all the time. I can make an argument for about a dozen artists why they deserve to be Artist of the Year! ... Ah, I give up. At least I know Pat Lee ain't getting it!BEST INKER - Paul NearyThe guy inks Bryan Hitch. I mean-- is there anything more difficult for an inker in to do in the business?In terms of sheer technical skill, I don't think there are very many in the game who can rival him. Props also go to Marc Campos, whose inking skill just confuses me. How the hell does he get those fine lines?!?!?BEST COLORIST - Justin PonsorHoly god, is this guy good. I figured he was a one-trick pony, only able to work on Greg Land's realistic style. However, his recent USM issues, in which he colored oer the traditional art of Mark Bagley, proved just how much talent he has. Under his talented brush (er, stylus), Mark's art has received a sexy sheen that gives it a fresher look that ever.And Ultimate FF is just silly. Land would be lost without him..... and there you have it! My personal faves for the year 2005.
Image is Everything (Or at Least, Something)
Someone over on Millarworld asked something that we all ask at some point or another, "what happened to Image?"My response didn't address that (although the answer, in a nutshell, is "egos"), but rather, "what if...?"What if the Image founders didn't start bickering and kept together all these years? I said if Image stuck to their original publishing philosophies, we'd have a Big Three right now. Image wouldn't be the niche publisher they are right now, and would be right up there in the mainstream with Marvel and DC. I said that was a good thing.Of course, some people disagreed with me. And they had good, valid points. Image as it is today publishes some of the best comics around--The Walking Dead, Sea of Red, Fell, etc, etc. However, my feeling is this: Image had a chance, a very real chance, to shake up the Marvel/DC duopoly that's been dominating the industry for the past four decades. Nobody has come as close as they were, and I doubt if anyone will come as close anytime soon.By today's standards, 90's Image published some of the worst comics ever. Flashy art, juvenile plots, laughable scripts. Still, compared to 90' Marvel and DC comics, Image wasn't so bad. Image had superior production values, flashy art (it's both a plus and a minus), more creative leeway, and some decent concepts.Okay, fine, WildCATS was about as thought-provoking as X-Men. But Spawn had some depth, dealing with issues such as race and religion. Youngblood introduced the government-team-as-celebrities concept to a wide audience. Savage Dragon dealt with the consequences and lifestyle of being a celebrity law-enforcer. This wasn't Sandman, but compared to JLA Task Force or Secret Defenders? Not bad, really.Imagine if all the Image creators were still around doing their thing when Jemas kickstarted the industry. They would have taken a hit (like DC), but I have a feeling they would eventually have been able to respond (like DC has) and improve the quality of their product.Yes, this would have meant more superhero comics. But it would also have meant more choice. If you didn't like what Marvel or DC was doing, you had a third alternative mainstream universe to escape to. The Big Three would check and balance each other, preventing any abuses or marketing gimmicks that could corner the fans.Meanwhile, your favorite books like Invincible or Godland? They'd still be around, either as part of Image or another publisher (Dark Horse, IDW, AiT, take your pick). Wouldn't that be a better world?
