Why I don’t want to be PM

October 30th, 2008

Apparently when you take on the top job the important things in your life can be cut into:

TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso complained on Sunday he cannot find enough time to devote himself to his lifelong hobby — reading comics.

Aso, who takes comics on trips abroad, said he finished reading two weekly magazines last week but has yet to find time to read two others.

“It’s hard to read comic books as my time is now restricted,” a smiling Aso told an audience of hundreds in his first street speech since taking office on September 24.
Source

I mean it’s hard enough I imagine sitting through hours and hours of meetings about… I dunno… stuff I suppose.  But then when comic book Thursday comes around and all you want to do is curl up on the bean bag in the back of the office and read about the Deadpool and people keep bugging you about bloody national this and stupid international that.

What I’d like to see is less of this whole income protection marlacky and more about combatting the exchange rate which importantly affects the prices of import comics.

I mean come on, priorities people.

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Deadpool experiment uncut

October 11th, 2008

I’ve got the cropped, larger version of this over at my Posterous site but I wanted to quickly share the uncut version here - it’s a large drawing actually, I had to scan it three times and put it together in the computer.

The ink I was playing with didn’t play nicely so I just did more of a character sketch to see how various things would come up on the page and what the composition would be like.

I will probably do a proper version of this some time in the future.

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Swollenpickles: A comic book Q&A

October 8th, 2008

I’ve known Swollenpickles for simple ages now, it may have been before joining the Aussie Bloggers forum but I can’t be sure.  Swollenpickles and I have had a couple of good chats about comics and he also runs Comicologist where we share a lot of the same ideas when it comes to comic books.

  • Favourite regular series right Now?
    Probably a tie between Immortal Iron Fist and Moon Knight, with the current X-Men series running a close second.
  • Comic book character you only recently discovered/started reading?
    I guess I’m still new enough to comics that they are all relatively recent discoveries. I only recently discovered Wanted and that was awesome. I also recently discovered the Dark Phoenix saga (not that is new, but it was new to me).
  • If you could draw/write one character who would it be?
    Besides Deadpool, it would have to be Moon Knight. He’s a super hero onion. Layers… plus he can make a grown man cry, I’m told it’s one of his powers.
    Actually, I can’t limit it to one, so I have to say I’d like to take a crack at Wolverine Origins, if nothing else, just to pick up the pace a bit. Two things bug me about that book. The pacing seems unnecessarily drawn out and Dillion seems to have a Sylvester Stallone fascination. Take a look at any male face he’s drawn and see if it doesn’t look like Sylvester Stallone to you!
  • Are you a fan of the big multi issue crossover extravaganzas?
    Only when it’s done well. I think Messiah Complex was really well put together. Civil War was good also, but all the spinoffs became a bit much.
    World War Hulk was kind of disappointing, especially after how brilliant Planet Hulk as.
  • Last comic book series that you dropped and why?  
    I’m not going to worry about the next Hulk series. Planet Hulk was awesome,
    but then along came World War Hulk and they lost me. Some of the World War Hulk tie ins were absolutely terrible as well. The WWH X-Men four issue thing was unforgiveable.
  • Favourite character?
    Deadpool, Gambit or Moon Knight. Gambit has been a favorite for as long as I can remember, Deadpool and Moon Knight I’ve only started appreciating later in life.
  • Are you a DC or a Marvel?  
    Marvel for sure. Besides Batman, I can’t think of a major DC series that I’m
    in to.
  • Do you remember your first comic/series?
    Late bloomer, but it was Cable & Deadpool. Actually only got into reading
    comics because of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance. What sort of geek am I? I bought Cable & Deadpool Vol.1 and Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth at the same time. I tore through Cable & Deadpool and promptly order the other trades that were out at the time.
  • Is Watchmen the movie going to be as good as the comic book?
    I saw the preview at IMAX and it looks like it just might.
  • Favourite comic book movie?
    The Dark Knight.
  • Worst comic book movie?
    Ghost Rider. Terrible.
  • Character you’d like to see in a movie?
    Deadpool, Gambit or Moon Knight… see a trend here? I think Immortal Iron
    Fist would make an excellent movie as well.
  • Series that you’d like to see on TV?
    I’m not sure. It would have to be something more character driven I think for it to work. Actually, I’d like to see the Walking Dead series adapted for TV or a movie. It’s got that epic serial feel, plus it has zombies so everyone wins!

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Lee - A comic book Q&A

October 7th, 2008

Back in the day Marvel comics used to feature a little Q & A piece in each of their comics with an artist or writer.  I don’t think they do this anymore, maybe via the website etc but I thought it might be a cool way to talk comic books and I’m sending the question out to a bunch of you I know who are reading comics right now, maybe in the future I’ll do up a set of questions for those who used to read them :)

  • Favourite regular series right Now?
    It’s always hard to play favourites because I think I’ve already culled a lot of comic books series simply because they weren’t exciting me each week when I knew they were ready to pick up.  So generally everything I read write now is my favourite.  But I have to pick one and so I’ll go with the one I probably most look forward to each month which is Runaways.  I’ve already talked about how much I love the series and why (picked up the hard cover collection the other week) so at present it is probably my favourite.
  • Comic book character you only recently discovered/started reading?
    There have been a couple actually, digital comics make it so much easier to try out a character, Deadpool for one, when someone suggested drawing him (or I simply got the notion to) I started reading his new series that ties into Secret Invasion.  But the biggest discovery that I’ve made of recent times is The Immortal Iron Fist, knew vaguely of the character and I do mean vaguely but picked up the trade paperback The last Iron Fist Story.  The title was a bit misleading as it tells the origins of the character and certainly doesn’t appear to be the last story in the least :) but it is certainly strong enough to make me want to read more.
  • If you could draw/write one character who would it be?
    If you ask me today it would probably be the Punisher, writing wise I think that the character can be full of a lot of depth and written really well he is extraordinarily interesting and horrifying.  I wouldn’t want to draw the book though as I don’t really like drawing guns, I think you have to know a bit about them and I know the basics of firing a rifle and that’s it.  I would probably want to draw Hellboy truth be told, but I’m probably happier enjoying Mignola’s work :)
  • Are you a fan of the big multi issue crossover extravaganzas?
    I go back and forth with this, I think the storyline has to be really good and I prefer it to be removed from the normal comic series run, only because it’s unfair if you’re not interested in the whole thing but like reading one series.  I’ve generally hated the Batman extravaganzas the most especially RIP right now, he story is disjointed and basically turned me off the current run of Bat family comics.  I think Secret Invasion would be really good as a standalone comic series and left the regular series to only reference it, these aren’t real worlds so I think you can remove it from direct continuity and yet insert it after it’s all completed.  God knows what’s going on with Final Crisis, hopefully it will be the final one after all :)
  • Last comic book series that you dropped and why?
    I think the last big one was Trinity, it was just weak and didn’t deliver on its promise.
  • Favourite character?
    Can I say 90s Iron Man?
  • Are you a DC or a Marvel?
    I used to be a DC and now I probably consider myself a Marvel.
  • Do you remember your first comic/series?
    Batman, Breyfogle years which I mentioned in a previous post.
  • Is Watchmen the movie going to be as good as the comic book?
    Yes, but a different kind of good.  From the scenes I’ve seen in the trailer it looks bloody impressive and lines up well with the imagery from the book.  The book is still the most amazing piece of comic book work though so it’s going to be hard for them to live up to that.
  • Favourite comic book movie?
    Iron Man, daresay I better than the source material…  Dark Knight is brilliant but given the choice I would probably opt to watch Iron Man more.
  • Worst comic book movie?
    I’m going to go with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not because it’s a really bad film, certainly not worse than Judge Dredd and Batman and Robin, but the source material is brilliant, beyond brilliant and they went and ruined it by poor casting and deviation from the stories.
  • Character you’d like to see in a movie?
    Wonder Woman, done really well, with great care taken in preserving the dignity of the character.
  • Series that you’d like to see on TV?
    I’ve talked BPRD in the past but I could also live with a Runaways TV show. 

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Those are weapons in those crates

August 23rd, 2008

I took away some of the impressions I got of the Deadpool character and rushed out another marker drawing, I’m much happier with this over the first one (which was in itself just stretching out to test the feel of the character anyway).

The paper I’m using still isn’t that crash hot but I want to use it all up.

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Getting to know Deadpool

August 23rd, 2008

Deadpool.

Isn’t that the last of the Dirty Harry films?   You know the one with Liam Neeson, Jim Carrey and a Guns’N'Roses song?

That’s The Deadpool.

Ah right.

I don’t know much about the Marvel character Deadpool, I know that he’s got some of Wolverine’s mojo and he is an assassin.   I read a little about him during Civil War (I think, it may have been a different series, he was pretty funny though) and I’ve played him in one of the Marvel PS2 games, I forget which one.

So when Swollenpickles suggested drawing him I had to go and really take a look at how he moved, his costume etc.

This is a quick study of the character, I really hate my natural style and am working on adapting it to something with more implied in the details (something more retro 40s)… I don’t know I’m still working on it.

Anyway here’s my ‘getting to know Deadpool’ sketch:

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