Each week I boldly delve into a bag of ten random comic books, choosing one (and only one) panel from each to get the raw materials for crafting a comics story requiring no illustration ability whatsoever on my part. Just the power to make bad puns.

For our new adventure, we explore a side of comics you rarely see — what happens in the aftermath of one of these big giant super-hero fights? Our story begins in the present:

Read the rest of this entry »

I now officially have an unsavory love for my new Macintosh, as I discovered in the process of trying to create the following screencast of the early beta FaceMaker applet. When I tried to do this on my PC, it took a good day or so of downloading and reading and tinkering, and I never did end up with a decent movie. With the Mac, it took about half an hour, start to finish.

The end result is this clip, showing how the FaceMaker is coming along:

Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of “OnomontoPOWia Friday”, I bring you a series of kicks to the crotch. Some of these you have seen here before and some are new, but I think we can all agree that any blow to the boys is fun, no matter what. Enjoy.

And finally, when fighting for your life in a transgendered future bar, there’s no relief like realizing the person you just kicked in the crotch is pre-, not post-operative:

Note that when American Flagg kicks someone in the junk, it is silent. I don’t know for sure what that means, but given that this is Howard Chaykin writing, it’s probably both deep and disgusting at the same time.

I can hear you out there right now, thinking “I like reading this blog and Jeff Hebert is one darn sexy bald guy, but where can I go for yet more excellent comics-related blogging?” Luckily for you I am not just a mind-reader, but also a subscriber to the following Certified Good Comics Blogs:

• “Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog“: Chris has become a true Titan (or Inhuman, or New God, or Asgardian, or any other comics-related mythological bad-ass of your choice) of the comics-blogging world, with his weekly review of new releases and all things related to Batman kicking people in the face.
• “Again With the Comics“: The highest compliment one creative type can give another is to say “I wish I’d done that”, and that’s exactly how I feel about Brian Hughes’ “One Hulk, Two Hulk, Red Hulk, Blue Hulk” post.
• “Comics Worth Reading“: Primary author Johanna Draper Carlson offers a great take on the comics industry, including a number of excellent reviews of Manga releases about which, frankly, I know nothing. If you’re trying to expand your comics tastes, check out her recommendations.
• “Fraggmented“: I keep reading John Seavey’s blog largely due to his “Storytelling Engine” series, where he takes a thoughtful look at why certain kinds of characters and books work and others do not. It’s a good read when you’re wanting something thoughtful instead of lame jokes about sentient trees wearing William Shatner’s wigs (what loser would write something like that?!).
• “The Vault of Buncheness“: Chris Bunche, comic book industry insider, gives good post on a wide range of topics of interest to the types of people who read comics. This one comes with some strong language and a few not quite safe for work images, so be warned.

That’s pretty much what I read when it comes to comics blogs. I’d love to hear about others that you follow in the comments, so by all means feel free to throw out your own favorites!

I know drawing celestials or other-dimensional characters presents numerous challenges — how do you represent something truly alien? — but surely if another world evolved some sort of ultra-powerful, face-eyed sentient tree trunk, it wouldn’t have the crippling lack of self-confidence necessary to don James Kirk’s rug:

On the other hand, as a sentient tree he’s probably getting tired of people asking him “Why don’t your roots match your hair color?”.

(Image and character ©Marvel Comics.)