Author Archives: AFDStudios

Great comics artists

The Onion AV Club has a great article up featuring their list of the most influential comics artists of all time. It’s a great introduction to guys you younger folk might not have heard of, but who nonetheless have influenced the comics and cartoons you love. Even old-timers like me can learn from it, too.

Plus, you gotta love a guy who can put together a paragraph like this:

He had legions of fans, even though he couldn’t actually draw; when he—along with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and other controversial artists—helped form the creator-owned Image Comics in 1992, the world learned that he couldn’t write, either. Since then, it’s been revealed that he can’t do much of anything else. Still, there’s no denying that the guy owned the 1990s. It was a strange decade.

Three guesses who that’s about, and the last two don’t count. Anyway, check it out, it’s a great article. And if you think someone was left off the list who ought to be included (Frank Miller, John Buscema, etc.) let ‘er rip in the comments.

Random Panel: Why the Comics Code Authority was instituted

amazingman-16-1940-stripped

(From “Amazing Man” number 16, 1940.)

Phi Lama Lama

At the suggestion of some folks yesterday, I wanted to throw out a challenge and an invitation. We previously had a contest to see who could redesign the costume of golden-age character “The Black Terror”. I thought you might like a non-contest follow-up to that, so after the jump I’m going to discuss another favorite from that time, “The Green Lama”, and his outfit.

Continue reading

Random Panel: If only there were someplace ELSE to shoot him that wasn’t Iron …

amazingman-15-1940-ironskull

(From “Amazing Man” number 15, 1940.)

Blog fail

Yeah, it turns out I have no idea what “Friday Hero Dissection” means, which is what I am supposed to be doing today. So instead I am going to post this insanely cute picture of this kid who, let’s be honest, could be any one of us when we were younger, and by younger I mean “at any time in the last six months”:

One heck of a costume

One heck of a costume

Be prepared to set your Cuteness Deflector Shields to Ten if you click through to MyFirstFail.com, folks. You’ve been warned.

I gotta come up with something else to do on Fridays, I’m drawing a blank here. Suggestions welcome, consider this an open thread, yadda yadda yadda.

Random Panel: Next in “Designer Man Comics”

amazingman-15-1940-fishyfloor

(From “Amazing Man” number 15, 1940.)

Hammerknight Recipe 7: Poses

(Many thanks to artisan Hammerknight for sharing his techniques for some of the crazy poses he’s able to put together! Click on any image to get the original full-sized version. Feel free to ask questions, make observations, or just spout off about whatever in the comments.)

poses
flying-pose
swinging-pose

HM3: Kneeded additions

I’ve just added the “Legwear-Kneepads” set to the HeroMachine 3 Alpha. Here’s a screen grab of some of the new items:

kneepads

Let me know any problems you run into, items you wanted to see but don’t, what you think of the items that are there, etc.

Next up … I have no idea. What do you want to see me work on next? More Tops like coats, jackets, etc.? Something else?

Random Panel: Great moments in DUH

amazingman-15-1940-ironskull2

(From “Amazing Man” number 15, 1940.)

Slipknot, not.

If too much of a good thing is bad, then what is too much of a bad thing? Answer: This costume.

slipknot

He’s got one rope lassoing his face, and the other about to ensnare his package. One can only assume this outfit was designed and stitched by his passive-aggressive wife, too afraid to outright tell him to keep both his mouth (and everything else) zipped, and so reduced to this subtle yet menacing textile rebuke.

You’d think two obnoxious rope elements would be enough, but you don’t get to the top of the second-rate super-villain ladder by taking half measures, my friends. No, you see those two ropes and you raise yet another one, this time actually tied to your waist. Undoubtedly it’s there as an emergency backup lassoing device, which then raises the question of how menacing he’d be with his pants falling down. Or maybe those are sans-a-belt slacks; he’s certainly clever enough to have thought that far ahead.

Not.

Or at least, not if you consider the evidence of those armpit cutouts so everyone can enjoy his manly aroma and the super-baggy sleeves. Seriously, how does he even throw the rope with those sleeves? “I have you now Firesto — crap! One sec, tangled on the sleeve … there! OK, now — CRAP!”

I don’t even want to know why he has metal boots and gloves. I’ve been to my share of rodeos, folks, and not once did I see a cowboy roping with metal gloves. I’m just sayin’.

Of course, they also weren’t about to get the ol’ block and tackle lassoed by their seamstress wives, either, so maybe the use of metal covering in strategic locations is a good idea for ol’ Slipknot. And suddenly it becomes clear why he might prefer running around town in that outfit to going home every night …

(Image and character © DC Comics, Inc.)