Monday, March 7, 2011

2009 "JLA-Martian Manhunter" by Marcus Kelligrew

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Done for a 7 piece JLA commission. The backgrounds fit together. 81/2"x11"

I like this one much better than the Mandrake style commission, so I decided to track down the set. Wonder Woman has the most unique, being Paradise Island and all. I would have liked the Aquaman better if the artist hadn't given Earth two moons. Green Lantern Hal Jordan is at a Coast City air field, while Batman generally has to get by with the Bat-Signal setting his city apart. Superman has the Daily Planet, while The Flash has to obscure the flatness of his town with speed streaks. For the most part, Middletown is Anytown, in need of an Apex sign or some falling meteors in the sky. However, in a very cute and subtle touch, Kelligrew has incorporated the Flame of Py'tar tower to the right.

By the way-- all this March Madness business has fired up my desire to write new Vile Menagerie entries after an unacceptably long absence. There was nearly a year between Tybalt Bak'sar and Mr. V, which itself was almost half a year ago. Even if I count the "Vile Corpus" pseudo entries, that thirtyish members on a blog that's been around about forty-two months, so I figure I'm behind by at least twelve entries. We'll begin working to correct that disparity tomorrow...

2 comments:

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

the only thing about this one that doesn't quite work for me is manhunter's face. despite the classic MM heavy brow look it some how doesn't quite look right. other then that this is excellent work, especially from a figure drawing stand point.

Diabolu Frank said...

I like the face fine. If the style were more detailed, I might take issue, but not with the stark contrast here. The eyes are old school comic booky, and the cheekbones are unusually high and pointy, but I dig the broad nose and thin upper lip. He looks intense without being outright pissed. Folded collars remain a pathway to my heart, as does the belt buckle.