Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Podcast: Martian Manhunter #5 & All-Star Section Eight #3 (2015)

Episode #19



Look for us on iTunes, ShoutEngine or directly download an art-tagged MP3 from the Internet Archive



Frank summarizes and critiques two comedic comics: the fifth issue of the New 52/DC You Martian Manhunter series by Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows, plus the Alien Atlas' cover-spotlighted appearance in All-Star Section Eight by Garth Ennis & John McCrea!





We enjoy dialogue on the red planet, so here are our non-telepathic contact options:

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Thursday, January 14, 2016

2015 Ma'alefa'ak J'onzz Amazing Houston Comic Con Jam Sketch Detail by Rob Liefeld



I've been a fan of Rob Liefeld since my brother passed me his copy of New Mutants #98 to read. I bought his X-Force run new, and worked after school to make money to buy back issues of New Mutants that cost then royal sums of $6-20 (obviously the debut of Cable was out of my price range, but I had the reprint with the gold ink at least.) Of all the Image artists, Liefeld's was the only style I could halfway achieve, so there's a bunch of yellowed typing paper in a box somewhere of my Robified versions of beloved action figures and original characters of mine.

Liefeld was at the first Houston comic convention I'd attended since the EXTREME!!! '90s, and the first time I sought commissions. Unfortunately, I was poor back in 2010, and my friends told me his quote was roughly the same as my entire budget for that first show. Still, it planted the desire to get a Martian Manhunter piece, but then Liefeld proceeded to blow off Houston shows for the next three years, and then I was out of the country when he did roll through in 2014.

I wasn't 100% on attending Amazing Con, and my friends who had attended previously did not have kind things to say. I'd started and mostly completed the J'Onzz Family jam piece at Space City Comic Con, but I saved Ma'alefa'ak just for Liefeld, and really only attended this show to get that done. I don't recall if I went Friday, but if I did, catching Rob was a bust. You know those enormous serpentine lines that "Zombie King" guy photoshopped into his con promotional pictures? That's what Liefeld's actually look like.

I didn't want to spend my entire time looking at some other fanboy's back and stealing glances at passing cosplayers, so I toured the con like I normally would, running through a number of single commissions and new jams. That said, I kept eyeing the line, looking for an opportunity. Saturday was Liefeld's last day, and after missing him during panels and other promotional efforts, I finally saw an opening that morning. After waiting on the sidelines while he took pictures with some kids, I made my approach.

Liefeld is famously upbeat and unflappable at these appearances, so I was surprised to hear him say to a handler "I'm salty today! I've never been so salty!" Something had clearly set him off, and he was in a sour mood. I had intended to gush a bit about my '90s fandom, but it seemed best to cut to the chase and hope he would be game to join the jam. He immediately stated that he was only doing head shots for a set price, and if I was fine with that, he'd do his part. I agreed, figuring maybe I could get another artist to ape him somewhere down the line to fill out the piece. I gave him my reference, which featured a variety of takes on the character, and he asked me which was the closest to what I wanted, Ed Barreto's. I paid the man and split, only for a new wave of fans to show up right behind me to keep Rob busy for hours.

While I still wanted a J'Onn J'Onzz someday, if a full figure wasn't in the cards, his evil twin brother Malefic was a close second. I'd already gotten Brett Booth to do J'Onn's Silver Age younger brother T'Omm J'Onzz, and part of my head canon was that instead of merely being consigned to the dust bin of history, T'Omm had become Ma'alefa'ak at some point. That way, I could chalk up the elements of the Ostrander/Mandrake series that berthed Malefic that I didn't like to the unreliable narration of a mad Martian. Also, Booth was one of the early Image studio artists who trained under its founders, so I liked the implied progression from his innocent T'Omm to Liefled's Sith-level Ma'alefa'ak.

I checked in on the piece for the rest of the afternoon, but Liefeld was constantly swamped, and didn't seem to make much headway there. Finally, he began to pack up, and asked me to wait in the lobby of his hotel while he took the piece to his room to finish. I waited patiently, anxious that I might be in the wrong part of the lobby, or even the wrong hotel! Finally, Rob showed, and he'd gone well beyond what he'd agreed to in drawing Malefic's full body incorporated into the jam! I was giddy over finally having the equivalent of a Liefeld Martian Manhunter, and gushed over it. Rob was noticeably happier than he was that salty morning, and the jam was nigh-complete without stress or incident! I only needed one more artist for the finishing touches...


More from Rob Liefeld
The J'Onzzes

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

2015 K'hym J'onzz Space City Comic Con Jam Sketch Detail by Dietrich Smith



I first heard of Dietrich Smith on mid-'90s EXTREME!!! books like The Night Man/Gambit and Chapel before he disappeared and reappeared on more eccentric, experimental fare like Tad Williams' The Next. Most recently, he's been working at Dynamite on licensed projects like Battlestar Galactica, Army of Darkness, and the upcoming Shaft: Imitation of Life with David F. Walker. His style has changed a lot over the years, but in researching him for commissions, I found that I really enjoyed his current output. He often foregoes solid blacks in favor of rendering figures in pure color via pencil, marker, or watercolor. It softens the focus and gives a greater impression of a moment of life rather than a crystallized image.

I wanted that kind of delicacy in the approach to K'hym, J'Onn J'Onzz's deceased daughter, whose spirit hangs over the series of superhuman teenage surrogates the Martian Manhunter has mentored since shortly before K'hym's existence was revealed in 1988 (Gypsy, Jenny Quantum, Stargirl, The Pearl... and in outside media, Miss Martian and Supergirl.) As much as I'm sure J'Onn mourns and misses his wife, J'Onn's role as the father of an older child (usually depicted as pre/early adolescent) who has passed not only twists the knife of tragedy that much more than is commonly seen in super-hero comics, but has had a stronger reflection in his ongoing narrative than his little seen and short-lived romantic interludes. The specter of K'hym cast a pall over J'Onn's continued existence to a greater degree than any other long and forever lost member of his family.

Like most of the other artists, Smith had to not only capture the nature of his subject, but do so within the confines of a collaborative project where numerous figures would be interacting with one another, all drawn by different artists in a sequence without direct communication with one another or an overarching layout. K'hym had one of the hardest "green screen" roles, since she's fourth in line after her father was looking at her mother was looking at her uncle who was himself looking at the audience, all in a diagonal line of sight that terminated with T'omm J'onzz, and with J'Onn slightly left of center.

Smith had K'hym believably interact with a presently distracted but not neglectful father while having her relate to a flame that was used to set up other artists and their characters. It was Smith's idea to add the fire, which ultimately reflected Grandmother J'onzz's comfort with/connection to her god H'ronmeer and his embers of destruction/creation. I love how accurately Smith was able to depict this young woman's body through the color-only anatomical/costume details, while also making feminine her bald alien head, sewn together by dark lines to better tie her into the overall piece. The look on her face and the trepidation in her body language while she steps away from a modest danger toward her protector, both figures connected but neither actually looking at the other. Even though she's an otherworldly green-skinned being, she's also your friend or your sister or your daughter.

For the record, the contrasts on the scan make it appear like K'hym has a harsh light source to her left, but that area is actually just more lightly colored than the copy was able to pick up. K'hym is the only character in the piece fully colored by their artist, with lovely shading besides, so she really stands out in the finished piece (though I hope to have the whole thing hand or digitally colored in the future.)


More from Dietrich Smith
The J'Onzzes