First up we have two fantastic images of Doctor Fate by Terry Huddleston (Thuddleston on deviantART).  I LOVE this pop-art style!  The good Doctor’s helmet always looks cool, but Terry makes it especially awesome!

Terry has done more fantastic head-shots and full-body poses of various Marvel and DC characters. Click here for Terry’s DC head-shots and click here for his DC full-body poses. So cool!

Next up we have Doctor Fate by Alessandro (AlexMax on deviantART).

I love the stylized look! As seen below, this is actually just one section of a larger drawing featuring seven members of the Justice Society.  Click the image to enlarge.  Click here to be taken to Alessandro’s deviantART page for an even closer look at this spectacular piece.

See below for the other JSA group shot Alessandro drew. Click the image to enlarge. Click here to be taken to Alessandro’s deviantART page for an even closer look at this gorgeous piece.

My thanks to Dan from the It’s a Dan’s World blog for leading me to Terry Huddleston’s work.  My thanks to Frank Lee Delano for leading me to Alessandro’s work. Check out Frank’s Power of the Atom blog for a great Hawkman by Alessandro, then follow the links for four more cool pieces by the same artist! Finally, check out Firestorm Fan today as I’ve got artwork of Firestorm by Terry Huddleston and Killer Frost by Alessandro!

This insanely cool Star Trek and Doctor Who mash-up was done for Wizard Magazine by Mike Mayhew and Rain Beredo.  Click the image to enlarge.

So you gotta ask yourself, is this just an awesome image, or is this the beginning of some terrible fan fiction?  Assume for a moment that it’s a story, it goes without saying that Kirk would make out with Amy.  Would it then become “slash fiction”, or is that just so obvious that it’s not a problem? 

My thanks to Ed from THE UNIQUE GEEK listserv for directing me to this image.  Check out Mike Mayhew’s deviantART page by clicking here.  Visit Rain Beredo’s deviantART page by clicking here.

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2011/03/10/star-trek-vs-doctor-who/feed/ 3 http://onceuponageek.com/2010/12/28/norman-rockwell-byrne/ http://onceuponageek.com/2010/12/28/norman-rockwell-byrne/#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:45:50 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=4754

Long-time readers of ONCE UPON A GEEK may recall I’m a big fan of Norman Rockwell.  My good buddy Ravenface recently directed me to a wonderful Norman Rockwell tribute by John Byrne done in 2007.  This is a homage to Rockwell’s famous “Runaway” painting.  Check out the inked work below, and further down is a color version from Back Issue #38.

Simply fantastic (pun intended).

Here is a fun interpretation of the fourth Doctor!

15th Century River Song!

My thanks to Holly for sending these my way!  Be sure to visit Bill Mudron’s website by clicking here!

I did not intend to pick up Batman: Odyssey #1 by Neal Adams.  I harbored no ill feelings toward the book, I’m just trying to minimize my current comic book expense.  Well, when I saw the book on the shelf I couldn’t help but sneak a peek.  After seeing one or two panels of Neal Adams’ gorgeous artwork, the comic found its way to my “buy” pile.

Without a doubt, Adams is still a visual storytelling genius.  His Batman is… to put it simply, his Batman IS Batman.  The characters faces and expressions are dead-on.  Each page is chockfull of details, each gadget is intricate and fascinating, each panel completed to their fullest.  His sense of motion, perspective, and action are breathtaking.  This comic is what all comics should look like.  Using creative panel grids rarely seen in comics today, he’s able to effortlessly transition from eight-panel pages to two-page splash panels.  Just amazing stuff.

The story starts off with a flashback to the early days of Batman.  Adams does a great job showing how Batman’s early costume was unsophisticated and a far cry from the costume of today.  The proto-Batman has a loose-fitting cowl and floppy ears.  Nice job by Adams making him immediately distinguishable from today’s Batman.

That covers the art.  Now, about the story…

While I was blown away by the art in this book, I found myself disappointed in the story.  I re-read the comic a day or two later hoping for a different impression.  It was definitely better upon second reading, but overall was still not what I was expecting.

The dialogue in the book didn’t feel like a modern Batman tale.  Perhaps this was how Batman was written in the 1970s, I really don’t know.  Regardless, it didn’t “feel” like Batman talking and thinking. I’m not really sure what to make of the plot at this point.  The first half of the book is taken up with the flashback, followed up with some odd Man-Bat scenes, and finally Batman & Robin arriving at the Gotham Pier in hopes of foiling the Riddler’s heist.  All of these elements seem completely unrelated, but perhaps it’ll come together in later issues.

In the flashback, Batman sports two .45 automatic pistols used to shoot villain’s guns from their hands.  I believe this directly contradicts Batman: Year One and Batman: Year Two.  Don’t hold me to that as I haven’t read either story in a long time, but at the very least it contradicts the spirit of those books.  Adding contradictory elements to characters origins worked fine in the 1970s when continuity wasn’t as important, but nowadays that is difficult as readers have become more particular.

Next is a straight-up artistic goof.  In the issue, Batman spends quite a bit of time with Robin (Dick Grayson).  For whatever reason, Adams has drawn Grayson’s Robin in the costume of Tim Drake’s Robin.  This would be the costume Tim wore from 1989 to 2005.  Don’t get me wrong, Adams draws a beautiful rendition of Tim’s uniform, it’s just confusing because it’s Dick wearing the costume.

The disappointing writing really hurt the success of this comic in my eyes.  I believe if Adams had asked Denny O’Neil (or another accomplished writer) to draft the script, the story could have been a potential home run.  Alternatively, if they slapped an “Elseworlds” logo on the front it would have made the story more palatable.  The “Sneak Peek” artwork hints that a child will be injured or killed in a future issue.  Having just gone through that emotional sucker-punch with Justice League: Cry for Justice and the Rise of Arsenal, I’d prefer not see children exploited again in comics for shock value.

Due to the disappointing writing in the first issue, it’s unlikely I’ll be picking up the second issue.  If they were to publish an art book featuring selected artwork from this series, I would definitely be interested in that.

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2010/07/27/review-batman-odyssey-1-by-neal-adams/feed/ 3 http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/25/one-of-the-more-depressing-cartoons-ive-seen-in-a-while/ http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/25/one-of-the-more-depressing-cartoons-ive-seen-in-a-while/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 10:45:22 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=3475 Calvin saying goodbye to Hobbes at Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.  Click the image to enlarge.

So sad.  Don’t ever let go of your inner-child.  I wear mine on the outside.

Below is a World War II era poster of the Justice Society of America by Tony Harris.  Click the image to enlarge.

Below is a promotional poster for the 1992 launch of Justice Society of America by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck.  This promotional poster was part of a giveaway flier about the series.  There are blurbs for several of the characters on the outside of the flier.  When you open up the piece, you get this poster.  Mike Parobeck was an amazing artist!  I simply adored this series.  This poster still hangs in my Comicatorium.

Below is a Crisis on Infinite Earths poster by George Perez reprinting the cover to issue #1.  I believe I got this poster for free when I bought the slipcase hardcover for Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Click the image to enlarge.

Next up is the Crisis on Infinite Earths poster penciled by George Perez and painted by Alex Ross.  This poster was produced in 1998 to coincide with the release of the slipcase hardcover edition.  In order to showcase all the fantastic detail in the painting, they had to make the poster oversized – 65″ (over 5 feet!) x 28″.  The poster is hanging over my computer and I find myself studying the hundreds of characters quite frequently.  Click the image to enlarge.

Below is the gorgeous Kingdom Come poster by Alex Ross.  Click the image to enlarge.

Next up, Mike Wieringo on the Flash.  It took me a while to warm up to his version of the Scarlet Speedster, but eventually this became one of the iconic Flashes for me.  Click the image to enlarge.

Green Lantern Kyle Rayner versus Hal Jordan Parallax.  This poster was released around the time of Green Lantern #0 in 1994.  I really like this poster!  Great sense of action and energy.

Next up is a painted Green Lantern poster by Christopher Moeller.  This one features Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, and Alan Scott.  While I think Hal and Alan look great, I don’t really like how Kyle’s mask looks in this poster.  Click the image to enlarge.

To be fair, these next two posters are no longer in my possession.  I gave them away to a die-hard Neil Gaiman fan several years ago.  However, I still think posting them here is worthwhile.

This next poster, entitled Family Snap Shot Or Still Life With Cats, is by Mike Dringenberg and features the Endless family from Neil Gaiman’s groundbreaking Sandman comic book.  The poster was produced in 1992 and was one of the earliest pieces of Sandman merchandise.

This 1993 poster of Death by Chris Bachalo was produced to coincide with the mini-series, Death: The High Cost of Living.  Bachalo sure managed to make Death cute.

The next one is a promotional poster sent to comic book shops to promote the 1993 launch of Sandman Mystery Theatre.  While the series was written by Matt Wagner and drawn by Guy Davis, the covers (including this poster) were created by Gavin Wilson.

Here is a neat one!  This Spectre poster by Tom Mandrake glows in the dark!  Pretty funky!

This next one was a promotional poster sent to comic book shops to promote the 1994 launch of Starman by James Robinson and Tony Harris.

Here is another promotional poster sent to comic book shops to promote Starman.  This poster was produced in 1998 and was also created by Tony Harris.

Here is a promotional poster sent to comic book shops to promote the 1995 launch of Sovereign Seven by Chris Claremont and Dwayne Turner.  Interestingly enough, this entire poster is very shiny, as if it’s made of the same material the old foil covers were made from.  I remember when this series came out, DC thought it was going to be HUGE!  Chris Claremont had worked magic on the X-Men for Marvel, and Dwayne Turner had the Image Comics look.  DC was promoting this thing like they expected it to be a tremendous success.  In hindsight, not so much.

In 1998, DC produced a JLA/Titans mini-series with art by Phil Jimenez.   Afterward, they took Jimenez’s interlocking covers for JLA/Titans #1-3 and enlarged and expanded the artwork to a mammoth 65″ x 28″.  This astonishingly detailed poster was timed to coincide with the release of a new Titans ongoing series.  I don’t have this poster anymore as I gave it away to a die-hard Titans fan, but dang it’s cool.  Click the image to enlarge.

As I mentioned yesterday, I used some magnets to hold the posters in place for the photographs.  Here are the four magnets I used.  They’re so cool!

Come back tomorrow for more geeky posters.  We’ll be looking at some Star Wars posters that have graced my walls over the years!

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/18/comic-poster-gallery-day2/feed/ 7 http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/14/art-adams-days-dc-marvel-star-wars-thundercats-and-more/ http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/14/art-adams-days-dc-marvel-star-wars-thundercats-and-more/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 10:45:39 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=3389 Welcome back to the final installment of ART ADAMS DAYS (at least for now)!  Today we’ll be looking at a random collection of Arthur Adams work. I should point out that Art Adams is considered a fan-favorite artist on characters like Godzilla, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Gumby.  I don’t have any drawings from these comics this time around, but I’ll try and rustle some up for the next round of ART ADAMS DAYS.

The drawing below appeared in a Wizard Magazine article discussing the upcoming (at the time) mini-series Countdown Arena.  This piece drawn by Art Adams is worth checking out if for no other reason than to see Frank Miller’s Dark Knight pimp slapping Watchmen’s Rorschach.  Click the image to enlarge.

A little action from a galaxy far, far away…

Here is the cover to Avengers Classic #1.  Click the image to enlarge.

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats… HO!!!

The artwork below comes from a VS System game card entitled, “Stalwart Defense”.  Click the image to enlarge.

Fantastic Fours (yes, plural)

This was the very first issue of Daredevil I ever bought.  Now I’ve got over 250 issues of his series.  It all started with Art Adams…

Finally, here is an awesome Marvel Universe circa 1960s group shot.  Love this!

It’s so good, I gotta plug it again… If you’re a fan of Art Adams work, you should really pick up TwoMorrows Modern Masters Volume Six: Arthur Adams.  It’s a gorgeous book that celebrates the work of Art Adams and includes a gazillion obscure Art Adams drawings.  The book is in black-and-white so it really highlights his line work.  Below you’ll find the cover.  Check it out!

In 1985 Chris Claremont wrote an epic story of Mutants and Asgardians that took two oversized comics to tell – The New Mutants Special Edition and X-Men Annual #9.  Both comics were drawn by Art Adams.  Such a great story with some of the best art to ever grace an X-Men related comic.  You can find these comics reprinted in the trade paperback New Mutants Classics, Volume 5.  Below you’ll find the covers to the individual issues.  Click The New Mutants Special Edition cover to enlarge so you can appreciate the detail.

Here is another X-Men Annual featuring the New Mutants by Art Adams.

Illyana as Majik…

… and Illyana as Darkchylde.

Remember when Emma Frost was a bad guy?  I’ll never forget, especially after seeing this cover as a teenager.  Click the cover to enlarge.

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for more ART ADAMS DAYS!

]]> http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/13/art-adams-days-children-of-the-atom/feed/ 5 http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/12/art-adams-days-homo-superior/ http://onceuponageek.com/2010/05/12/art-adams-days-homo-superior/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 10:45:25 +0000 Shag http://onceuponageek.com/?p=3384 For the rest of this week we’re going to be celebrating ART ADAMS DAYS!  Why you ask?  Because it’s my blog and I say so!  And because Arthur Adams is an amazingly, friggin’ly great artist!!!  Today we’ll be looking at some of his X-Men work.  This is by no means a complete collection of his X-Men work, just some images I picked out to highlight.  I think it’s fair to say that he’s my favorite X-Men artist of all time, even more so than John Byrne.

Mr. Adams did quite a bit of work for the Classic X-Men series in the mid-1980s.  This series reprinted the early adventures of the All-New, All-Different X-Men in chronological order starting with Giant Size X-Men #1.

Art’s first real break into Marvel Comics was the Longshot limited series.  I’ve always loved the cover to issue #4, it’s so much fun!

Eventually Longshot was added to the X-Men roster.

Here is a neat one.  Art Adams drew his own rendition of the cover to The Incredible Hulk #181 – the first appearance of Wolverine.  Great stuff!

If you’re a fan of Art Adams work, you should really pick up TwoMorrows Modern Masters Volume Six: Arthur Adams.  It’s a gorgeous book that celebrates the work of Art Adams and includes a gazillion obscure Art Adams drawings.  The book is in black-and-white so it really highlights his line work.  Great book!

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for more ART ADAMS DAYS!