Comic Book Resources

Interesting. Nice cover shot and those ninja type baddies look cool.

I can’t help but feel like this Obama in Comics trend has tipped over from “nice nod” to “cynical and crass marketing.”

Is Liefeld writing the backup story, with Marat Mychaels on art?

Marat’s art looks AWESOME!

Just when i thought this Obama stuff in comics was over this book actually looks decent. I like the cover and the write up of the book has an interesting premise with idea of the legacy character, which seems to be all the rage whether its batman, cap, and more.

ANOTHER CASHING IN ON OBAMA BY IMAGE COMICS!

That looks very cool. Marat’s art ALWAYS delivers! It’ll be interesting to get more background information on Die Hard and his transition to Free Agent . . . bring it on! I can’t wait to read this!!

Marat — GREAT work!

Marats art is so awsome in this! Fantastic

Once again, Liefeld and Mychaels bring it to the table.
This looks amazing. Can’t wait to hold this sucker in my hands.

Are you guys kidding me?! Liefeld has never done anything worthwhile and this is no different. The art is ok, but not great; there is only two (tiny) panels with a background, and there is a ton of wasted (filler) space on page 2. Plus this weak-ass character is just a blatant rip-off of Force Works US Agent. And I’m not even going to comment on the crass commercialism. Seriously, how can someone legitimately enjoy a Liefeld book?

When is this coming out? I thought this issue was supposed to be out in May, two months after issue #8?

I haven’t followed the Youngblood stuff, but isn’t Free Agent really just a slight redesign of Liefeld’s take on Fighting American?

“Marat’s art looks AWESOME!”

I disagree.
I’m not familiar with his work but with these sample pages alone I’m not impressed.

There are 17 panels on these three pages. TWELVE of these panels are head-shot/close-ups!
This is HORRIBLE story telling.
Let me rephrase that, it’s LAZY storytelling.

Actually, it’s the kind of work I’d expect from Rob Leifeld, so maybe he’s just doing what he’s directed to.

“Are you guys kidding me?! Liefeld has never done anything worthwhile and this is no different.”

So keep moving along and pass the Liefeld postings by. You’re obviously not going to like it so move along. Move along.

“The art is ok, but not great; there is only two (tiny) panels with a background, and there is a ton of wasted (filler) space on page 2.”

One of the first things you’re taught in design is to use white space to your advantage. It helps make other items “pop”. And the art is great, thankyouverymuch.

“Plus this weak-ass character is just a blatant rip-off of Force Works US Agent.”

This almost made me pee my pants in laughter. Ummm . . . no one would rip off that crap version of US Agent. Free Agent’s been around for a bit, although hasn’t appeared much. I’d suggest reading the character before passing judgment. By the same token, you could say that all of the characters in Watchmen were “weak ass characters” who were “blatant rip offs of” Charleston characters. But they weren’t were they . . . .

“Seriously, how can someone legitimately enjoy a Liefeld book?”

I’ve been enjoying Liefeld books since 1988.

“I haven’t followed the Youngblood stuff, but isn’t Free Agent really just a slight redesign of Liefeld’s take on Fighting American?”

No.

“There are 17 panels on these three pages. TWELVE of these panels are head-shot/close-ups! This is HORRIBLE story telling. Let me rephrase that, it’s LAZY storytelling.”

OR, maybe the artist is designing his page the way he needs to in order to allow for proper text boxes and word balloons. If there’s a ton of dialogue going on, he’s doing the right thing here. You mentioned not being familiar with Marat’s work. He’s an industry veteran for over 17 years and was the art director of a major studio “back in the day” as well as having multiple design firms. I think he knows what he’s doing. Care to share your credentials with the class?

“Actually, it’s the kind of work I’d expect from Rob Leifeld, so maybe he’s just doing what he’s directed to”

Wow. That’s the most productive, useful comment I’ve read today. ::rolls eyes:: You must be proud of your cleverness.

I have to agree, Marat Mychaels’ art looks fantastic!

But as for Free Agent? Here’s the story…

-Rob Liefeld takes on Heroes Reborn Cap

-Marvel renegotiates his salary half-way through the run, so he leaves, taking his unused artwork with him, then he slightly modifies it and creates Agent America

-Marvel attempts to sue over the similarities, so Liefeld panics and buys the rights to Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Fighting American (slightly modifying the art again)

-a couple Fighting American minis come out, then the rights eventually expire/revert, Rob no longer cares, so he slightly modifies the artwork yet one more time and creates Free Agent, whose one and only appearance is a brief cameo in Youngblood: Imperial #1, which is, consequently, the only issue of that entire volume

So, really, Free Agent is a “new” character. The America-themed hero of the Image-verse, and Liefeld’s Extreme-verse, was always Superpatriot. Erik Larsen even let Rob use him in his Maximum Press and Awesome books when he left Image. *see Supreme

So, why the need for this new character, I do not know. I’m equally confused about “Calvin Raines” assuming the identity. Wasn’t Die Hard a robot since day one?

“OR, maybe the artist is designing his page the way he needs to in order to allow for proper text boxes and word balloons. If there’s a ton of dialogue going on, he’s doing the right thing here.”

So wrong!! Go look at John Buscema or Jack Kirby stage a page of conversation. There would never be panel after panel of head shots. That’s weak.

And see page four where you have a face shot of Obama, and then a face shot of Obama. That’s pointless. Do one nice portrait shot. The last two panels on page four…are we supposed to be seeing Obama as the superhero? I mean that’s what it reads as. Could be what we are supposed to see.

And when people are talking…have their mouths open!! They must all be ventriloquists.

Anyone notice there isn’t a single drawing of a foot and only one floor/ground in three pages? Everything takes place in some backgroundless neither world. Is that a pre-requisite to draw for Image? Liefeld never drew feet or backgrounds either.

Not to mention the character is completely un-original in anyway shape or form.

I always find unfinished pages where the dialog boxes or narration text haven’t yet been added to be kind of amusing.

It looks like a lot of people having very dramatic pauses in every panel.

Art looks pretty good. Only issue I have with the cover, really, is that Obama’s line of sight isn’t quite at Free Agent’s eyes. It makes it look like Obama’s kind of disinterested and looking for someone or something else.

Might be intentional, though.

“So wrong!! Go look at John Buscema or Jack Kirby stage a page of conversation. There would never be panel after panel of head shots. That’s weak.”

Art is subjective. Picasso couldn’t place the proper body parts on the proper parts of the body. He must have been a hack. How weak! ::cue sarcasm::

I like what I’m seeing here.

“And see page four where you have a face shot of Obama, and then a face shot of Obama. That’s pointless. Do one nice portrait shot.”

Depends on how the writer wrote the piece. There might be a legitimate reason for two separate panels. Layout and design isn’t always the penciller’s prerogative. Sometimes writers write in “director” fashion . . .

“OR, maybe the artist is designing his page the way he needs to in order to allow for proper text boxes and word balloons. If there’s a ton of dialogue going on, he’s doing the right thing here. You mentioned not being familiar with Marat’s work. He’s an industry veteran for over 17 years and was the art director of a major studio “back in the day” as well as having multiple design firms. I think he knows what he’s doing. Care to share your credentials with the class?”

————————————-

If what you say is true, then these sample pages are a horrible representation of his design and story telling ability.

Have you never seen the work of, oh let’s say John Buscema, or Jack Kirby or Will Eisner to name a few? These artists knew how, now matter how much dialogue was involved, to tell the story visually that even if the dialogue was not on the page you (the reader) could still tell what was going on.

These gentlemen could tell a story visually, changing the camera angles, bringing it in for a close-up or establishing shot, to help the reader get the most out of the page, no matter HOW much dialogue was involved.

Throwing in panel after panel of close-ups are boring, and a poor way to tell a dramatic story.

And John, I didn’t REALIZE that we (posters) had to have “credentials” or a resume to “present to the class” before posting, but if you must know I’ve been a professional artist, graphic designer, illustrator, toy designer and art director for over 25 years. I’ve also read comics, of all kinds for over 40 years and have even studied under the late Burne Hogarth.

None of that should matter, John.
We, the comic reading audience (no matter what our credentials) should ALWAYS expect the best from the talent involved when paying our money to read their work.

These days, lazy story telling, IMO, is unacceptable.

“Throwing in panel after panel of close-ups are boring, and a poor way to tell a dramatic story.”

There’s a blend to art and text that makes the final art form. I’ll be happy to see the final outcome.

“And John, I didn’t REALIZE that we (posters) had to have “credentials” or a resume to “present to the class” before posting, but if you must know I’ve been a professional artist, graphic designer, illustrator, toy designer and art director for over 25 years. I’ve also read comics, of all kinds for over 40 years and have even studied under the late Burne Hogarth.”

I saw your website, actually. Impressive credentials. I’d assume that someone as seasoned as you would understand there are different approaches to art. One man’s “lazy” is another man’s “inspired.” I didn’t realize that we, as posters, had to all agree on what to like.

“We, the comic reading audience (no matter what our credentials) should ALWAYS expect the best from the talent involved when paying our money to read their work. These days, lazy story telling, IMO, is unacceptable.”

I agree. That’s why I’ve always made it a point to purchase works from artists I’ve historically enjoyed. That puts this storyline on my “purchase” pile. I still don’t see it as “lazy” storytelling.

I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree . . .

In the immortal words of Dave Chappelle impersonating R Kelly

“Haters want to hate,
lovers want to love
I don’t really care about none of the above…
I want to pee on you!”

Just playin!
Seriously if you like the work..thanks for your support,
if you don’t…oh well, not your cup o’ tea…my day goes on.

Marat has come a long way since his Brigade days but these pages still show some of his limitations. That last page for example, the first panel, the persepective is screwy, everything is going to one vanishing point except for the soldiers. Then you have to deal with the white soldier being on the right of Free Agent in panel 1 then jumping to his left in panel 2.

I have to assume that the narrative of the final three panels is not Obama reminicing of the days when he was Free Agent, but that’s the way it reads. Since the art is done and its not going to change they can tweak this easily, first thing stop coloring Free Agents lips the same tone as Obama’s lips. Second, flip either the Obama panel or the Free Agent panels so they are looking the other way. This will at least help the reader realize that they are looking at two different people.

I’m not slamming Mychaels for this, as I said this is infinitely better than his Brigade stuff, but the people calling this “great” need to chill a bit but so do the people who just feel the need to slam anything Liefeld related. While I’m totally over the Barack-sploitation I think in the context of Youngblood it works organically.

Actually, Picasso *could* place the “proper body parts on the proper parts of the body.” The difference (one of many) between Picasso and Rob Liefeld (or Marat Mychels, who has *never* been anything more than a sub-par Liefeld clone) is that Picasso knew the rules of anatomy and form, and then broke them. Rob (and his clones) never actually knew the rules, and didn’t care to learn them, but drew that way because it looks “kewl.” The point of comic book art is to tell a story. That’s it. You should be able to tell what’s going on WITHOUT DIALOGUE. If you can’t do that, then the artist has failed. This looks like more pin-up b.s.

Why is Free Agent attacking that terrorist with his crotch on the first page? What exactly is his superpower?

One of the first things you’re taught in design is to use white space to your advantage. It helps make other items “pop”. And the art is great, thankyouverymuch.

I took design classes in college and while they did teach us how to use white space, they did not teach us to use it all of the time. I also took writing classes, and one of the foundations of the story is SETTING. Now where are they fighting on pg 2? In front of a green screen?

This almost made me pee my pants in laughter. Ummm . . . no one would rip off that crap version of US Agent. Free Agent’s been around for a bit, although hasn’t appeared much. I’d suggest reading the character before passing judgment. By the same token, you could say that all of the characters in Watchmen were “weak ass characters” who were “blatant rip offs of” Charleston characters. But they weren’t were they . . . .

Really? Because Free Agent’s character design is almost exactly like the Force Works US Agent. Link below
http://media.photobucket.com/image/us%20agent/lorresalnac/us_agent.jpg
Free Agent’s been around for a while, huh? Like one appearance in ’04…yeah, he’s pretty established, isn’t he?
As for the Watchmen characters. They were supposed to be references to already established archetypes. It’s called SATIRE.

“‘Why is Free Agent attacking that terrorist with his crotch on the first page? What exactly is his superpower?”

And how did the terrorist–who was stabbed completely through the neck from behind–still alive long enough to turn around, back away and shoot five bullets?

“As for the Watchmen characters. They were supposed to be references to already established archetypes. It’s called SATIRE.”

Actually, no. It’s called “He wrote the story for the Charleston characters — then was told he couldn’t use them — so he created ‘stand in’ characters instead.”

“Marat Mychels, who has *never* been anything more than a sub-par Liefeld clone”

That’s unfounded as well. His early work certainly had Rob and Jim Lee influences, but his recent work (over the last DECADE if you still want to call that recent) has shown outstanding professional growth and creation of a style all his own . . . any early influences (like ALL artists have) have been lost and his lines are definitely lines of his own . . .

Will the comic industry PLEEEZE get off Obama’s jock?

Thank you.

I hate the lazy 90′s image style. There is a background in only two of those panels.

John, are you going to be in every comic book shop explaining why this is a great comic?
Take the high road, man.

Personally, I’m trying to get over the shock of an American soldier (superhuman or not) kicking Muslim terrorist butt. It’s been a while since someone thought “You know? Like Nazis, the Taliban really are flesh-and-blood villains that you can beat down without guilt.”

So, I applaud Liefeld’s bold, un-PC stance in this comic.

If this doesnt sell well will obama take over Image?

backgrounds, schmackgrounds,,,,

you guys are like the comic snobs at my LCS, always going on & on about “there’s no backgrounds in this comic” or “there’s no backgrounds in that comic”. funny thing though, even when they are reading their favorite comic by their favorite artist, I’ve never once heard any of the following come out of their mouths:

– look at that tight looking telephone!
– wow! awesome windows!
– sharp looking tires!
– bad-ass trees!

I bet none of you guys have ever said those sentences either.

The use of a President has always been a very big thing in the Youngblood books. When Clinton took office the Youngblood books reflected the changeover very blatantly. We missed the change over to Bush because there wasn’t a Youngblood book in the early years of Bush though Rob had had plans for a book going in. Bloodsport was released that early but is a possible future story, not a current timeline series. Imperial similarly so but it was a kind of comment on the idea that Bush was bringing about a new Imperialistic Era and the idea of “if they don’t agree with us, make em a new state”! It was very vague about that though.

The idea of using Obama in Youngblood is perfectly valid as the book is about a government sponsored superteam.

As to Free Agent… Fighting American was licensed after Rob had announced Agent America and I think a little before the lawsuit was brought about by Marvel. Free Agent is a re-activated Die Hard, who was always portrayed as a WWII hero with a shield and an analogue for Captain America, but not quite as Patriotic but he was a Cap analogue. This was established in Youngblood Strikefile and a SUpreme annual focusing on the Allies: Diehard, SuperPatriot, GLory & Supreme. Diehard wasn’t a robot but was a cyborg who had had so much replaced that he was more machine than man but I also got that he was heavily cloned & recycled etc.

Marat is an awesome artist who did start as a Rob clone, because he was Rob’s assistant! He had to draw like Rob. Later on (Brigade vol. 2) he had his own style and if you need an action scene he is one of the best artists in the biz on action. Brigade vol. 2 had some of the most intense action sequences of any book in that era or any era.

Bah, if you critically and objectively observe comics most suffer from what the haters perceive as “no backgrounds”. The elimination of backgrounds in some panels is a stylistic choice, especially in an action sequence where the emphasis is on the characters and their interaction, not whether a chair is in the right place or something similar. Backgrounds are to serve the story by establishing the setting and from there visual cues are to be used to remind the reader but not dominate the panel to panel work. Artists who use too many backgrounds, the artwork looks busy & distracts from the action. A rare exception is George Perez who has found that balance in his detailed work. I can think of whole issues where Kirby didn’t draw much in way of backgrounds and I have several Miller issues of daredevil where backgrounds are only implied via odd shapes in the backgrounds.

“I can think of whole issues where Kirby didn’t draw much in way of backgrounds”
Check to see who the inker was on that Kirby work you refer to. Certain inkers (for various debatable reasons or not) would not ink as much as Kirby penciled.

Great work Marat. I”m looking forward to picking it up.

And the Kool-Aid drinking continues. I suspect about the only value this book will have at the end of the next 3 and a half years will be as fertilizer or mulch.

Thanks for the preview. Some interesting stuff here.

For the Liefeld lovers: He’s not the greatest comic artist in the world, okay? But he was a helluva innovator and his stuff is fun. When the history of the modern comic era is written, he’ll warrant several pages of examination.

For the Liefeld haters: The majority of comic artists ape the current, popular style. The current, popular style tends to be…boring. Comics were never meant to be boring.

Who cares about the value Dick Ruiz? It isn’t about “value” but about whether I enjoy the story or not. So far I have immensely enjoyed the new Youngblood series, it has been a very fresh take in the vein of the new style of comic that Image has been pushing in Invincible, which owes a great big debt to Savage Dragon stylistically speaking. I don’t collect comics with the idea that in the future they will be worth money. A few years back, well, ten, the early Spider-clone stuff was going for decent dollarage, now it is in the quarter bins. House of M was going for some decent dollars as well and is now something people aren’t looking for, let alone talking about, unlike Infinity Gauntlet or Crisis. The final issue of Legends was decent money back when the JLI book launched following that series as it had their first appearance in it. The Death of Robin was big money as well… nothing much now.

I wouldn’t call the current style boring, I’d say that the clones don’t get it. What gets to me are the people who praise Land and in the same breath demonize Liefeld. Hitch & Epting are amazing artists in this new style vein, they can do that photolooking stuff & still make an exciting page & tell an exciting story. Epting especially as he still has an old school sensibility in his layouts while deftly adapting his artwork to a more grounded approach. One of the top five guys currently working today. Lee Weeks is another one. Ryan Sook as well.

Liefeld engaging in crass commercialism and embracing gimmicks? I don’t believe.

A Black Captain America! Who said Liefeld can’t come up with original ideas!

Except Die-Hard, who Free-Agent is, was a black Captain America about 10 years before the Truth came out… talk about rip offs! Joke on that bit but yes, Die-hard is/has been black for aeons. In the Golden Age part of the reason he wore the full face mask etc. was to hide the colour of his skin.