So, I havn't posted in ages, as it is typical me, I still don't know what to really do with this blog. I'm a person that just doesn't have the time to catalog my life.
So, I'll leave this blog as a review site for Trade Paperbacks, I'm not going to make it every monday or something, whenever I feel like, there might be once a week, or twice a day.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sha-la-la-la
Hey guys, great news! "Stranger Things", a new webcomic drawn by myself and written by Chris Stackhouse, is premiering tomorrow on Friday, so keep your eyes on this link: http://strangerthingscomic.blogspot.com/
In other news, I completely my fan-comic for IDW's Transformers: Mosaic, starring Beast War's Rampage! Here's a sneak peek! ^_^, I'm immensly proud of it, written, pencilled and extruciatinly inked by myself!
In other news, I completely my fan-comic for IDW's Transformers: Mosaic, starring Beast War's Rampage! Here's a sneak peek! ^_^, I'm immensly proud of it, written, pencilled and extruciatinly inked by myself!
Monday, March 10, 2008
TPB MONDAY: Megatron Orgin & Witchblade: Witch hunt
Ok, so I'm going to try to fit a regular schedule here, so Monday's are officially Trade Paperback review days. So, today's are going to be IDW's Transformers: Megatron Origin, and Top Cow's Witchblade: Witch Hunt. Let's begin! First up is Megatron Origin (scroll till you see the next pic for Witchblade)
Transformers: Megatron Origin
IDW Comics
Collects Transformers: Megatron Origin #1-4
Written By: Eric Holmes
Art by: Alex Milne & Marcelo Matere (pgs. 36-43)
Colours by: Josh Perez
$17.99 USD
RATING: 2.5 cupcakes (out of 5)
Ok, so this series was created in the Transformers (henceforth known as TF) Universe preluding to the Great War on Cybertron, and even predating the Decepticons. The intention of this series was to show the rise of the Decepticons and what made Megatron the ruthless Leader that he is. Set in IDW's continuity.
Ok, I'll get this out of the way: I love villains. Not sure why. I just always have. When I think about it more, probably because they are more realistic then the heroes (not in every case, I'm of course talking about more mature work, not like Villains from silly cartoons like Carebears [No Heart])
Megatron has always been a favourite of mine (now, the Beast Wars version is my fave, but G1's version has been a close second.), but for some reason, I never felt the need to know why he "ticked". Megatron's never been "super evil", he is cruel, but he's a warlord, it kinda comes to it. He's a machine dedicated to conquering... well... everything. His motives were pretty simple, and I was happy with that.
But, I am a fan of IDW's Transformers comics, so I thought I'd give this a go, and honestly, I was disappointed.
I'll start with the writing, looking at Mr. Holmes previous experience, he was a video game designer for Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. How on Earth did he get this job? Whatever.
Throughout reading the 4 issues, I felt that none of the characters poppped out at me, they all seemed to be the same person with different mouths. Megatron for starters was strangly quiet and poetic ("Oh Destiny, how it pleases you to carasse a few and molest others") Whereas I have never seen or read Megatron like that before. Other characters felt "bleh", and didn't catch my attention, especially Sentinel Prime
The main story is that Megatron is a miner, and when the miners are going to be replaced with Automatons (which is confusing, because they are machines themselves, is that the same as us replacing workers with monkeys?), and Megatron and others rebel against the "corrupt" Autobot government (although they never really explore how it's so "corrupt") and creates the faction "Decepticons". Key characters such as Soundwave, Starscream (and the other seekers) and the Constructicons appear (although the absence of Shockwave is odd, you'd think he'd be somewhere there...) and Ratbat being a politician prior to a cassette-bot was a nice touch
But for a peaceful government to suddenly see a riot going on and a new faction appearing, there isn't a huge cause of alarm throughout, where I would be &*^%ing my pants if I heard what was going on. Oh well...
Now, the art. This is usually the shining part of IDW's books. Not this one.
Look at that cover! Now, there's no doubt that Alex Milne has talent, but what's with the massive chin? And the OVERLY huge blocky elements? This isn't Pat Lee!
It doesn't look like these bots could move, much else fight each other... Alex Milne's contribution to the Transformers Universe is "Sentinel Prime", the Leader of the Autobots before Optimus Prime. What a horrible design... let's give hims guns coming out of the wazoo! That will make him cool! Let's not try to make something cohesive and NOT a gundam rip-off!
Unfortunate, while Mr. Milne is fantastic at pin-ups and such, he lacks in storytelling skills, which make this poorly written story even more difficult to follow.
I would only recommend this to fans who need to complete IDW's Transformers timeline, but if you look at a few scans and read a synopsis, you're already caught up.
Witchblade vol. 01: Witch Hunt
Top Cow
collects Witchblade #80-85
Written By: Ron Marz
Pencilled by: Mike Choi
Inked by: Sal Regla
Coloured by: Brian Buccellato
$4.99 USD
Rating: 4 cupcakes (out of 5)
Top Cow's Witchblade I've been wanting to read for ages, but unable to find Trade Paperbacks of the series (and I am NOT hunting down 80 individual issues), so I was told that Issue's 80 to 85 were written as a jump on point for new readers, and not feel horribly lost. As a special promotion for it, all 5 issues are present in this book from the arc for 5 dollars! Yes, 5 dollars! How could anyone go wrong?
Answer: You can't!
So, I read this on my way home, and instantly I knew I was in the middle of a story, but it's written well enough that all the important details are told (without it flatly saying "hey look, here's what happened in the past"). A new character is introduced, detective Patrick Gleason, who is assigned to find out why detective Sara Pezzini (current wielder of the Witchblade) is mysteriously in a coma.
When Sara awakens, strange demonic creatures star attacking them both. Gleason needs answers. So, Sara gives as much as she can (she doesn't know much of what the Witchblade weapon is), and we're more or less caught up to speed. There isn't much action in the title, but the emotions and realism of the characters make up for it, and I never found myself bored with the story, even when half of it is just people talking. It's imersive and a unique story, interconnecting with Top Cow's other titles (The Darkness and Mageldela), which I'd highly recommend picking up "The Darkness: Compendium" to catch up on his stories.
And then there's the art. Dear god, it is GORGEOUS. Mike Choi (Marvel's X-23), is absolutely stunning, able to draw beautiful women without giving them inhuman proportions (sometimes a rarity amongst comic books) and everything from buildings, people and demons are all drawn incredibly well. I can find no faults.
All in all, a fantastic book, great jump-on point, and it's only $4.99! I recently found out that there is a Witchblade compendium (collects the first 50 issues) for approx. 60 bucks, so I'll probably pick that up.
go buy this book! Now!
Well, that's all for today, g'night folks!
Transformers: Megatron Origin
IDW Comics
Collects Transformers: Megatron Origin #1-4
Written By: Eric Holmes
Art by: Alex Milne & Marcelo Matere (pgs. 36-43)
Colours by: Josh Perez
$17.99 USD
RATING: 2.5 cupcakes (out of 5)
Ok, so this series was created in the Transformers (henceforth known as TF) Universe preluding to the Great War on Cybertron, and even predating the Decepticons. The intention of this series was to show the rise of the Decepticons and what made Megatron the ruthless Leader that he is. Set in IDW's continuity.
Ok, I'll get this out of the way: I love villains. Not sure why. I just always have. When I think about it more, probably because they are more realistic then the heroes (not in every case, I'm of course talking about more mature work, not like Villains from silly cartoons like Carebears [No Heart])
Megatron has always been a favourite of mine (now, the Beast Wars version is my fave, but G1's version has been a close second.), but for some reason, I never felt the need to know why he "ticked". Megatron's never been "super evil", he is cruel, but he's a warlord, it kinda comes to it. He's a machine dedicated to conquering... well... everything. His motives were pretty simple, and I was happy with that.
But, I am a fan of IDW's Transformers comics, so I thought I'd give this a go, and honestly, I was disappointed.
I'll start with the writing, looking at Mr. Holmes previous experience, he was a video game designer for Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. How on Earth did he get this job? Whatever.
Throughout reading the 4 issues, I felt that none of the characters poppped out at me, they all seemed to be the same person with different mouths. Megatron for starters was strangly quiet and poetic ("Oh Destiny, how it pleases you to carasse a few and molest others") Whereas I have never seen or read Megatron like that before. Other characters felt "bleh", and didn't catch my attention, especially Sentinel Prime
The main story is that Megatron is a miner, and when the miners are going to be replaced with Automatons (which is confusing, because they are machines themselves, is that the same as us replacing workers with monkeys?), and Megatron and others rebel against the "corrupt" Autobot government (although they never really explore how it's so "corrupt") and creates the faction "Decepticons". Key characters such as Soundwave, Starscream (and the other seekers) and the Constructicons appear (although the absence of Shockwave is odd, you'd think he'd be somewhere there...) and Ratbat being a politician prior to a cassette-bot was a nice touch
But for a peaceful government to suddenly see a riot going on and a new faction appearing, there isn't a huge cause of alarm throughout, where I would be &*^%ing my pants if I heard what was going on. Oh well...
Now, the art. This is usually the shining part of IDW's books. Not this one.
Look at that cover! Now, there's no doubt that Alex Milne has talent, but what's with the massive chin? And the OVERLY huge blocky elements? This isn't Pat Lee!
It doesn't look like these bots could move, much else fight each other... Alex Milne's contribution to the Transformers Universe is "Sentinel Prime", the Leader of the Autobots before Optimus Prime. What a horrible design... let's give hims guns coming out of the wazoo! That will make him cool! Let's not try to make something cohesive and NOT a gundam rip-off!
Unfortunate, while Mr. Milne is fantastic at pin-ups and such, he lacks in storytelling skills, which make this poorly written story even more difficult to follow.
I would only recommend this to fans who need to complete IDW's Transformers timeline, but if you look at a few scans and read a synopsis, you're already caught up.
Witchblade vol. 01: Witch Hunt
Top Cow
collects Witchblade #80-85
Written By: Ron Marz
Pencilled by: Mike Choi
Inked by: Sal Regla
Coloured by: Brian Buccellato
$4.99 USD
Rating: 4 cupcakes (out of 5)
Top Cow's Witchblade I've been wanting to read for ages, but unable to find Trade Paperbacks of the series (and I am NOT hunting down 80 individual issues), so I was told that Issue's 80 to 85 were written as a jump on point for new readers, and not feel horribly lost. As a special promotion for it, all 5 issues are present in this book from the arc for 5 dollars! Yes, 5 dollars! How could anyone go wrong?
Answer: You can't!
So, I read this on my way home, and instantly I knew I was in the middle of a story, but it's written well enough that all the important details are told (without it flatly saying "hey look, here's what happened in the past"). A new character is introduced, detective Patrick Gleason, who is assigned to find out why detective Sara Pezzini (current wielder of the Witchblade) is mysteriously in a coma.
When Sara awakens, strange demonic creatures star attacking them both. Gleason needs answers. So, Sara gives as much as she can (she doesn't know much of what the Witchblade weapon is), and we're more or less caught up to speed. There isn't much action in the title, but the emotions and realism of the characters make up for it, and I never found myself bored with the story, even when half of it is just people talking. It's imersive and a unique story, interconnecting with Top Cow's other titles (The Darkness and Mageldela), which I'd highly recommend picking up "The Darkness: Compendium" to catch up on his stories.
And then there's the art. Dear god, it is GORGEOUS. Mike Choi (Marvel's X-23), is absolutely stunning, able to draw beautiful women without giving them inhuman proportions (sometimes a rarity amongst comic books) and everything from buildings, people and demons are all drawn incredibly well. I can find no faults.
All in all, a fantastic book, great jump-on point, and it's only $4.99! I recently found out that there is a Witchblade compendium (collects the first 50 issues) for approx. 60 bucks, so I'll probably pick that up.
go buy this book! Now!
Well, that's all for today, g'night folks!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
First review... Etrigan!
So, today is considered to me the first real post here (last one was just a warm-up), so let's see what I can ramble about today.
Well, over the last week or so, it seems that winter finally remembered that its suppose to be here, and boy, did we get slammed. I can't believe the amount of snow we've gotten, all the shovelling and well, I could go on forever.
Oh well, that's what I get for living in Canada.
So, I'm still not quite sure what this blog will cover, so I'll be tackling a variety of topics. Don't care for one, just skip to the next one:
DC CLASSICS UNIVERSE THOUGHTS (AND MINI-REVIEW):
So, for me being the geek that I am, I decided to indulge on Mattel's response to Toybiz/Hasbro's "Marvel Legends" with "DC Classics", toys that cover the major areas that fan have been clamoring for: articulation, decent sculpt, decent paint and good selection.
Toybiz/Hasbro have had a jolly good time with their lines, some fantastic figures, some... not so fantastic.
Anywho, Mattel has started their first line, and to the surprise of everyone, Four Horsemen provided the sculpts! (FH are considered some of the best in the sculpting biz, nearly everything they touch is gold) Overall, the strategy has been to create figures using generic torsos and such, but with enough stock bodies that enough paint and other sculpted elements would make the stock bodies unnoticeable. When I heard about that, I was apprehensive, as I feared it would be something along the lines of JLU line (more or less one stock body, and different heads), but, lo and behold, Mattel has come through.
So, while wondering through Wal-Mart, I came across a couple of them, and wow! The packaging really pops out on these guys, and the biggest surprise came from what I found:
The Demon Etrigan!
"Change! Change, O form of man!
Release the might from fleshy mire!
Boil the blood in heart of fire!
Gone! Gone! -- the form of man --
Rise, the Demon Etrigan!!"
Well, over the last week or so, it seems that winter finally remembered that its suppose to be here, and boy, did we get slammed. I can't believe the amount of snow we've gotten, all the shovelling and well, I could go on forever.
Oh well, that's what I get for living in Canada.
So, I'm still not quite sure what this blog will cover, so I'll be tackling a variety of topics. Don't care for one, just skip to the next one:
DC CLASSICS UNIVERSE THOUGHTS (AND MINI-REVIEW):
So, for me being the geek that I am, I decided to indulge on Mattel's response to Toybiz/Hasbro's "Marvel Legends" with "DC Classics", toys that cover the major areas that fan have been clamoring for: articulation, decent sculpt, decent paint and good selection.
Toybiz/Hasbro have had a jolly good time with their lines, some fantastic figures, some... not so fantastic.
Anywho, Mattel has started their first line, and to the surprise of everyone, Four Horsemen provided the sculpts! (FH are considered some of the best in the sculpting biz, nearly everything they touch is gold) Overall, the strategy has been to create figures using generic torsos and such, but with enough stock bodies that enough paint and other sculpted elements would make the stock bodies unnoticeable. When I heard about that, I was apprehensive, as I feared it would be something along the lines of JLU line (more or less one stock body, and different heads), but, lo and behold, Mattel has come through.
So, while wondering through Wal-Mart, I came across a couple of them, and wow! The packaging really pops out on these guys, and the biggest surprise came from what I found:
The Demon Etrigan!
"Change! Change, O form of man!
Release the might from fleshy mire!
Boil the blood in heart of fire!
Gone! Gone! -- the form of man --
Rise, the Demon Etrigan!!"
(Demon no. 1 August/September 1972 p. 22)
Ah, Etrigan, that rhyming little demon we all love. Well, maybe love's too strong a word. This guy's got quite the history, he's a creation of the late Great Jack Kirby during his brief stay at DC Comics' in the 70s (creating The Demon and "New Gods"), the stroy is that he was a demon that was summoned by Merlin in the waning days of Camelot to fight Morgan Le Fay. Of Course, summouning a demon to fight for you is pretty stupid, and things got out of hand quickly, so Etrigan was bound to Jason Blood, a knight who had betrayed Arthur to Le Fay, and now they are together bound until the end of time.
Well, this toy is so awesome, it's statue quality! I can't get over how good of a job Four Horsemen did on this guy, they managed to capture John Byrne's version of Entrigan (as doing something strictly Kirby style, while would have been awesome, would not have mixed well with the rest of the line), along with Four Horsemen's own tastes. Combined it makes a fantastic sculpt, with emphasis on the head, hands and legs. All are unique to Etrigan, with textured skin, an ugly face and sharp claws. Articulation is fantastic, not quite the Toybiz Marvel Legends' amount, but he doesn't need it, FH seems to have found a nice balance of enough joints, but not too much to ruin the look of the figure. Paint apps are minimal, but Mattel has finally figured out how to make a wash work, and you wouldn't notice that most of the fig is coloured in its casted plastic. Overall, a bang-up job by FH and Mattel, and I look foward to the next wave!
Monday, February 11, 2008
First Post
So, as if I don't have enough ways to whore myself over the internet, I now have a new one! Whoo-hoo!
So, for anyone here who doesn't know me (which as far as I know, is just about everyone), allow me to introduce myself. The name is Matthew D. Ingraham, artist extrodinaire (in my world at least), a host of useless knowledge and hopefully a slightly different point of view of our merry little planet (for better or for worse is your judgment).
On this blog a multitude of things will be exposed, from my art, to other's art, to well-crafted stories, reviews of whatever I feel like reviewing, and who know what else that I feel like posting to my amusement.
So, for now, there's nothing. But hey, even God started the universe with nothing, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Will post again soon, on what, who knows.
Sincerely, Matthew Ingraham.
So, for anyone here who doesn't know me (which as far as I know, is just about everyone), allow me to introduce myself. The name is Matthew D. Ingraham, artist extrodinaire (in my world at least), a host of useless knowledge and hopefully a slightly different point of view of our merry little planet (for better or for worse is your judgment).
On this blog a multitude of things will be exposed, from my art, to other's art, to well-crafted stories, reviews of whatever I feel like reviewing, and who know what else that I feel like posting to my amusement.
So, for now, there's nothing. But hey, even God started the universe with nothing, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Will post again soon, on what, who knows.
Sincerely, Matthew Ingraham.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
