With the anticipated release of the new Superman movie, DC’s status as a leader in the comic book industry remains as strong as ever, with its success only really comparable to that of Marvel. It’s testament to the power and longevity of their characters that the very same Man of Steel started it all with his first appearance in Action Comics in 1938. In between DC have further captured our imaginations with Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and countless others, not forgetting a long line of popular horror, science-fiction and teenage romance books.
The Golden Age of DC Comics by Paul Levitz and published by Taschen, concentrates on the initial period of 1935-1956 offering an in-depth visual history of a hugely influential time. With 400 pages of brilliantly reproduced classics, production photos, sketches and animation stills, Levtiz adds commentary throughout placing each in their proper cultural and historical context. An interview with legendary artist Joe Kubert starts things off, followed by hundreds of examples of work from many others including Wally Wood, Will Eisner, Jack Cole and Carmine Infantino.
This book does an excellent job of collecting a huge amount of source material and presenting it in an attractive and accessible way, making for an enjoyable and definitive reference title on an important period in comic book history. It might be thin on any serious insights into the inner workings of the DC studio, letting the work do the talking, but it’s an exhaustive collection that offers an introduction and opportunity for discovering more about these early masters of comic books, and well worth checking out.
The Golden Age of DC Comics by Paul Levitz
TASCHEN
Hardback 400 pages
32.5 x 4.4 x 23.8 cm
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With the sun beginning to tease with ideas of long days spent at the beach and hanging out at that unrealistically cool and imaginary surf shack, my artistic cravings start to lean towards the work of legendary surf artist Jim Phillips. No other artist captures the feeling of easy-going summers better, with his eye grabbing ...
I was thrilled to have been invited to contribute to the Mail Me Art project for 2013 and after much procrastinating popped my C5 effort in the post yesterday. I eventually decided on a fashion portrait inked on parcel paper with black and yellow acrylics with white gouache for the hair. A very loose, sketchy ...
During the reading of The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation I found myself watching all of the classic 1960′s TV Specials and subsequently listening to the excellent Vince Guaraldi soundtrack which has been pretty much playing on repeat ever since, so infectious are the characters and stories created by Charles Schultz and brought to ...
Creating the Filmation Generation tells the story of the famous animation studio that coloured the airwaves of the 1980s with its classic Saturday morning cartoons such as Batman, Star Trek, Archie, Flash Gordon and my personal childhood favourite He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! Told by its co-creator Lou Scheimer, the book covers in detail the ...
If I may, i’d like to introduce you all to Ernest, my humble pet, studio regular and now star of his own cartoon in what i’m calling Tales of Ernest – The Troublesome Spaniel. A particularly naughty and greedy English Springer Spaniel, this first drawing describes what became a regular occurrence over the holidays, in which our muffin thief of ...
The Art of Wreck-It Ralph is the next in Chronicle Book’s excellent behind the scenes series, this time taking a look at Disney’s latest video game inspired feature. Maggie Malone and Jennifer Lee Monn introduce us to Wreck-It Ralph, a Donkey Kong like figure and baddy of the 8-bit era, on a journey to prove himself through all ...
Sketch Travel from Chronicle Books is a hardback reproduction of an ambitious and collaborative project started by artists Dice Tsutsumi and Gerald Guerlais. For the benefit of children in need and the non-profit literacy organisation Room to Read, one solitary red sketchbook travelled 75,000 miles across the globe passing through the hands of 71 accomplished ...
Illustration Friday’s theme of Whiskers led me down the path of Catwoman, and specifically Michelle Pfeiffer’s version of Catwoman from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. After all the different Batman movies including Christopher Nolan’s excellent trilogy, Batman Returns remains my favourite (I could even say that Michael Keaton is my prefered Batman) with its festively dark atmosphere, ...
The first time I became aware of John Buscema was via the compilation magazine Hacoc that was released by Marvel in the early 90s. This magazine collected a some of their edgier stories such as Deathlok, Ghost Rider, RoboCop and most importantly, the Buscema illustrated Conan. This story was beautiful to look at and oozed an ...
A little Thanksgiving special this week with another John Hughes classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Probably my favourite of the Hughes movies and a masterpiece of mixed emotions; what an ending! I can’t imagine anyone who could pull of the role off Del as well as John Candy. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving. I’m now taking ...
For the demographic of those around the age of 30, the mention of Jim Henson provokes a warm glow with memories good times spent with The Muppets, The Muppet Babies, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and The Storyteller. I’m still a little astonished to find anyone who doesn’t love (or dare I it say hasn’t seen) ...
Illustration Friday’s theme of ‘Tree‘ offered the perfect reason to use John McTiernan’s classic Predator as the next Comic Book Movie. If there’s one film that features a lot of trees this is it! Still up there as one of the most enjoyable and quotable action movies ever made. I’m now taking requests for upcoming ...
In my first ever Comic Book Movie ‘by request’ I bring you Stephen King’s classic tale of boyhood friendship and dead bodies, Stand By Me. Many thanks to Tina Mories for suggesting a film that frankly, I should have thought of a long time ago!
I was recently commissioned by the New York based children’s toy and accessories company Skip Hop to produce an eight page comic book for use as a fun way to advertise their products at an upcoming trade fair. I jumped at the opportunity of working with the company whose celebrity fans include Selma Blair, Ricky Martin and Joel Madden, ...
How can you do a Halloween special without talking about John Carpenter’s brilliant Halloween. A classic that spawned several sequels of mixed quality and a terrible re-make, the original remains one of my all-time favourites and is the last of my Halloween flavoured Comic Book Movies. Happy Halloween everyone! For more Comic Book Movies visit ...
In the second of my Comic Book Movie Halloween specials, I bring you another favourite The Monster Squad. A light-hearted homage to the classic Universal Monsters, Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein and Creature from the Black Lagoon mixed with the teenage adventures of the Goonies. Another absolute classic and perfect Halloween viewing. Enjoy and come back tomorrow ...
Darwyn Cooke (born 1962) is an award-winning comic book artist, writer and designer best known for his work on Catwoman, The Spirit and (one of my favourite series of books), Richard Stark’s Parker. He has also worked on various animation projects including Batman: The Animated Series with Bruce Timm, which became a cult favourite among ...
Steven Heller, author and editor of several books on art, design and popular culture including; Menu Design in America, Advertising from the Mad Men Era and Typography Sketchbooks, presents this new peek into the minds and working processes of contemporary comic book artists in; Comic Sketchbooks – The Unseen World of Today’s Most Creative Talents. Over ...
John Hughes 80′s classic The Breakfast Club took a while to grow on me, but is now one of those films that seems to get funnier every time I watch it. There are great one-liners from the character Principle Vernon, played in a brilliant hard-ass fashion by Paul Gleason, who seemed to have reprised this ...
Christopher Nolan’s final part of his Dark Knight trilogy hits cinemas across the UK today and will no doubt own the big screens this weekend, so I thought it an appropriate time to take a look at a book that traces the origins of characters such as Batman and Superman all the way back to ...
Leslie Nielsen was surely one of the funniest men to have ever lived, and the Frank Drebin character from The Naked Gun movies was a perfect example of his brilliantly deadpan brand of humor. An absolute classic of the Zucker/Abrahams 80′s comedies and an easy choice for my next illustrated fan poster. Drawn in brush, ...
Two Joe Dante movies in a row (The Burbs was last week) and another 80s classic working off the Illustration Friday theme of Space. The Explorers is this week’s Comic Book Movie.
Once the mist has faded in Frank Darabont and Stephen King’s The Mist, we are left with one of the most devastating endings in modern cinema. If you haven’t seen it, this sketch gives nothing away. If you have seen it, i’ve probably just put a downer on your day. Sorry, maybe this will cheer ...
Released this month by Abrams ComicArts in conjunction with The Oakland Museum exhibition of the same name is The Art of Daniel Clowes; Modern Cartoonist. A career retrospective on the artist, writer and creator of some of the worlds best-loved comic books including The Death Ray and Ghost World. The latter of which, under the ...
I’ve always found that the smart, bookish or dare I say it geeky characters in comics and films are generally the type I relate to the most. I think I must have been all of those things at school (and probably why i’ve chosen to be an illustrator in adult life, a profession where you ...
Another new movie poster illustration to start the week based on my personal favorite of the EVIL DEAD Trilogy, Army of Darkness. Starring Bruce Campbell on top form in a pitch perfect horror/comedy, my poster illustration adds 1980′s inspired fantasy/adventure styling to the mix. See below for some notes on the making of the poster. ...
