hulk
What Are You Reading?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50
Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Ross Campbell, creator of Shadoweyes and its recent sequel, Shadoweyes in Love, as well as Wet Moon, Water Baby, The Abandoned and “Refuse,” a short story in the recent Strange Adventures anthology from Vertigo.
To see what Ross and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.
- June 19, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Batman has a soft spot for green-haired wild cards
Artist Coran Stone captured this sweet moment between the Dark Knight Detective and the Green Goliath. Apparently they made up after their previous meeting:
- May 3, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Michael May
What Are You Reading?
A God Somewhere
Happy Easter and welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look back at the comics and other stuff we’ve checked out recently.
Today our special guest is Chris Schweizer, creator of the Crogan Adventures series published by Oni Press and a professor of sequential art at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
To see what Chris and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click the link below.
- April 24, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Justice League of America #55
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Graeme McMillan
If I had $15 this week, I’d probably put it towards the latest issues of series I’ve been enjoying for awhile: Batman Inc. #4, New York Five #3, Justice League of America #55 – Yes, even with my nervousness over Brett Booth’s art – (All DC Comics, $2.99) as well as Jeff Parker and Gabe Hardman’s Hulk #31 (Marvel Comics, $3.99).
If I had $30, however, I’d probably put JLA back on the shelf and add The Arctic Marauder (Fantagraphics, $16.99), instead. I found myself enjoying Tardi’s Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec earlier this year, and
Splurgewise, it’s a tough one – I’d like to pick up the collection of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s second Demo series (DC/Vertigo, $17.99), but I see that the hardcover collection of Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth’s spectacular Stumptown (Oni Press, $29.99) is out this week, and that really falls into the
category of having to have it. I’ll grab Demo next week.
- March 22, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Gabriel Hardman
Hardman's Fortean character design
Not to mince words: In the plethora of talented artists that are working at Marvel currently, Gabriel Hardman is the best. His eye for layout alone injects a vitality to his work rarely seen in comics. In addition to discussing his collaborative efforts with writer Jeff Parker, most recently on Hulk (Issue 30.1 hits stands this Wednesday, March 16, 2011), Hardman was kind enough to give Robot 6 a sneak peek of a sci-fi OGN he’s working on, with his wife, Corinna Bechko, called STATION TO STATION. My thanks to Hardman for his time and to friend of the blog, Jeff Parker, for helping arrange this interview. Finally, please be sure to contribute to the comments section this week, as Hardman is seeking suggestions for future Daily Sketches.
Tim O’Shea: In terms of current artists in the industry, you have a strikingly distinctive layout approach. Not every artist is as ambitious as you are. Do you ever back off from challenging scenes to layout, or is that what part of what makes the work interesting for you.
Gabriel Hardman: Storytelling in general is what keeps me interested in comics and the layouts are a huge part of that. My only goal is to serve the story being told. When I read the script, I can visualize the angles and layouts pretty easily. Figuring out a given angle is fairly simple: focus on the most important thing happening in the panel. Then place those important elements on the page in a way that leads your eye from top left to bottom right. It all works best when she script gives me freedom with the layouts.
- March 14, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
What Are You Reading?
Vietnamerica
Welcome to a special Super Bowl Sunday edition of What Are You Reading? Not that it’s any different from a regular WAYR column, but you can enjoy it while eating hot wings while the TV is paused.
Today our special guest is biology professor Jay Hosler, creator of Clan Apis and Optical Allusions. His latest book, Evolution, with artists Kevin Cannon and Zandor Cannon, was recently released by Hill & Wang. Check out his blog for a story he’s working on about photosynthesis.
To see what Jay and the Robot 6 gang are reading, click below.
- February 6, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
The new M.O.D.O.K. is ‘a bit of a charmer’
MODOK
After being defeated in last year’s World War Hulks storyline, the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, aka M.O.D.O.K., apparently decided it was time for a makeover. Above is a rough sketch of the new design for the character, compliments of artist Gabriel Hardman.
“It’s a new age, and we need a new M.O.D.O.K. who works in new ways,” writer Jeff Parker told Marvel.com. “This one will get out and interact in a way the previous model didn’t. And he’s a bit of a charmer.”
Hardman went into detail on his design process for the lovable killing machine.
“Jeff had some specifics he wanted to integrate, specifically the legs and bald head. My design process was to go back through the previous iterations of M.O.D.O.K.’s look to get a feel for the choices other artists had made over the years. But I mainly focused on his early appearances. Anytime I design something for Marvel, I want it to feel like it could fit into the world Jack Kirby designed, even if it has more contemporary industrial design elements,” Hardman said.
And if the spider legs aren’t working for you, never fear — Parker stated on Twitter that M.O.D.O.K. would have several different modes. “That’s only one of MODOK’s modes, @NinjaCyborg -hope you like the others more,” he said.
The new M.O.D.O.K. debuts in Hulk #29, on sale Feb. 2.
- January 4, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Deadpool Team-Up #886
Hello and welcome to a special “birthday bash” edition of our weekly “What Are You Reading” feature, where the Robot 6 crew talks about what books we’ve read recently. Usually we invite a special guest to share what they’ve been reading, but since today isn’t just an ordinary day for us, we thought we’d invite a whole bunch of special guests to help us out — our friends and colleagues from Comic Book Resources, Spinoff and Comics Should Be Good!
To see what everyone has been reading, click below …
- January 2, 2011 @ 05:00 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Uncanny X-Force #1
Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Robot 6 crew has been enjoying on the comics front. Today our special guest is our friend Ron Richards, one of the co-founders of the popular comics website iFanboy.com. To see what Ron and the Robot 6 crew have been reading, click below.
- December 12, 2010 @ 01:14 PM by JK Parkin
Hulk, Cloak & Dagger being prepped for TV
Hulk
It looks like the Hulk could once again be smashing the small screen.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel and ABC are working on a new Hulk TV series for the network, as well as a Cloak & Dagger series for ABC Family. Both are in the early stages of development.
According to the report, Marvel met with ABC back in May to pitch several potential television shows, including Hulk, Heroes for Hire, Moon Knight, The Eternals, Ka-Zar and The Punisher, among others. Cloak & Dagger made the cut despite not being on the list, and Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel’s TV division, is reportedly hearing ideas for the show. HR also notes that The Punisher could become a cable show down the road — presumably not on ABC Family.
The original Hulk television show, which starred Bill Bixby as Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as his green-skinned alter ego, ran from 1978 until 1982 on CBS.
- October 14, 2010 @ 08:17 PM by JK Parkin
Kurt Busiek, artcomix aficionado
from Seth's pencils for the Coober Skeber 2 cover
The other day we linked you to the saga of Coober Skeber 2, the Marvel-spoofing, copyright-defying anthology put together by influential alternative comics publisher Tom Devlin and a small galaxy of future alternative-comics stars in the late 1990s. Well, now it’s time for genuine superhero-comics superstar Kurt Busiek to weigh in on the book. On his blog, the Buse shares his memories of getting a copy at Comic-Con International in 1997 and digging it so much he helped get one participant hired by Marvel:
I liked the Hulk story so much that when I got home, I photocopied the story and faxed it to Tom Brevoort at Marvel (this was in those halcyon days before scanners were common), and urged him to get someone to buy it from Kochalka and have it colored and run it as a backup somewhere. It was too cool not to show to Hulk fans everywhere.
Tom wasn’t editing Hulk at the time, but he took over the book a little later, and eventually did try to buy the story. Kochalka wanted to re-do it, so Tom hired him to re-do the story, in color, and it ran in Hulk 2001, that year’s Annual.
Click the link to read the whole story — and to get a look at the full pencils for Seth’s cover, which Busiek bought. This makes me wonder: Does Astro City have a hipster enclave full of superheroes that look like Fort Thunder drawings?
- September 30, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Sean T. Collins
Talking Comics with Tim | Jeff Parker
Atlas 5
Any interview in which I can ask a question that prompts Jeff Parker to damn me is a good interview in my estimation (read on to find the “damn” moment, it’s a fun-loving damn). We initially conducted this interview before last week’s announced demise of Wildstorm, but I gave him a chance to adjust his response when discussing the likelihood of a second Mysterius miniseries. I’m sad to see Parker’s series Atlas come to an end this week with the release of Atlas 5. It’s not often that a writer gets to end a series on his own terms, and yet that’s what happened for Parker with Atlas. While the Atlas series takes its final lap, last week marked the start of Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman on the Hulk monthly (and I loved their first issue [25]). While this interview does not cover all of Parker’s Marvel work, we definitely work in a discussion of his Thunderbolts work.
Tim O’Shea: You ended the ATLAS series on your own terms. When you wrote the final scene of the last issue was it upsetting, or was it fine, as you realize you can always find ways to work aspects of these characters into future Marvel books?
Jeff Parker: No, I was actually pretty happy as I wrote it, because I felt this was one of the most “Atlasy” of all the stories. It did its own thing and was exciting and defied expectations, which is what that book should do. I can probably have them pop up in other things, but I really prefer them in their own corner of the Marvel Universe.
- September 27, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tim O'Shea
The Fifth Color | Rest in peace, Betty Banner
Betty's Futher Away Than You Think
I made peace with Betty Banner’s death a while ago. Her death was in 1998 in one of Peter David’s final issues on his historic run on the title, and it not only fit with the personal tragedy in his life at the time, but it fit with Bruce Banner’s own themes of loss and solitude. The Hulk isn’t known for his jet-setting and warm family life after all. After her death, the book went on in a new “Rampaging” direction, and that was that.
Paul Jenkins came along later and, at least for me, squared away some of the lingering hurt and loss from losing such a central character of the book. We had not just the Hulk, but Bruce Banner himself defeating the man/monster who killed Betty in The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 #50; the battle between the two is barely kept on the physical page by the brutal force of John Romita Jr.’s artwork, and the final moments of Banner walking away from the emotional prison he’d created for Blonsky is just as powerful. Three years later someone pays for Betty’s death and a couple issues later, Bruce himself comes to understand that her death is permanent. In The Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 #28, the darkest and most evil part of Banner’s personality tries to make a deal with Bruce: He would allow Bruce to live out a dream life with his beautiful wife and kids in exchange for full control over Banner’s body and, by extension, the Hulk’s. Bruce kisses the image of his wife goodbye, walks away from the deal to accept his fate and weeps for the loss.
That’s the issue I finally said goodbye to Betty Banner. The idea of ever getting her back would be a fantasy, some sort of trick because without her, Bruce moves on. With her comes the expectation that he could live happily ever after and, as Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada loves to remind us, no one would want to read a book about the Well-Adjusted Adventures of Married Man. Or at least a Hulk that’s settled down and worries about PTA meetings. If he doesn’t get the good life with Betty, then all he’s doing is dragging her through one tragedy after another, and if you truly love someone, you’ll let them go.
But heaven forbid we ever do that. Real death certainly doesn’t equal comic book death, no matter how much readers may tire of the revolving door. Editorial decides death due to character arcs and sales concerns, not for the soul-searching reasons we deal with as people. If done right, death is a setting stone both in the dead character’s life and the stories of those around them. Captain Marvel inspired a heck of a lot of people by dying from cancer, the Vision has been torn apart to give weight to “Avengers Disassembled” and returned to give even more weight to Young Avengers. Most importantly, if a death is good enough, they can always do it again.
- September 3, 2010 @ 04:30 PM by Carla Hoffman
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn!, the feature where you send us pictures of your collection to share with comic fans everywhere. Today’s shelves are part two of a collection we shared last week, Stephen Yarish‘s Hulk collection.
Which leads me to my next point — we need more Shelf Porn! After this one, I only have one more, so please send me your write-up and pictures at jkparkin@yahoo.com if you’re interested in sharing your shelves with our readers.
Now let’s see the rest of Steve’s shelves …
- August 25, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Bone: Tall Tales
Welcome once again to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy based on certain spending limits — $15, $30 to spend and if we had extra money to spend on what we call the “Splurge” item.
So join Brigid Alverson, Chris Mautner and me as we run down what we’d buy this week, and check out Diamond’s release list to play along in our comments section.
Chris Mautner
If I had $15:
This one’s easy, as Wednesday sees the arrival of Jeff Smith’s latest Bone-related project, Tall Tales ($10.99 paperback, $22.99 hardcover — I’m obviously going for the paperback here). My daughter has become obsessed with Bone — to the point where she’s started making her own Bone-related comics (complete with theme music) — and is eager to pick up the latest volume, even if it does mostly collect material she and I have read before (namely the Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails series). I’ll probably pick it up on the sly this week and give it to her for for her birthday next month.
- August 10, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin