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Here it is: the next chapter fully pencilled in (except for some buildings that you'll notice are just grids still- I have a special plan for those) spoilerific dialogue included. You can see the progress I made from the previous post. Next step: the coloring process!
Another sneak peek at the next chapter: Lady POTUS and a scientist watch as a robot rips through a herd of dinosaurs! I'll be posting more of the progress on the next chapter soon!
I did it again. I posted the work in progress for every page of the next chapter along with the dialogue. I've resequenced a couple panels and added in an extra page resulting in the longest chapter yet at 8 pages. This also improves the emotional impact of the moment where Eric says the line about the dinopocalypse and Molly is caught her with her guard down, tears in her eyes as she worries about her family and watches Nikki's reunion. This results in a nice panel where she is trying to hide her tears.
Back when I was doing the "art swap" I put together these reference pages that anyone who was doing a DRC drawing could refer to. A few minor spoilers are buried in there. Enjoy.
Okay, I couldn't wait any longer. Here's the result of the DRC/RGA swap out. My version of RGA, and Frankie Washington's version of DRC! Eventually I'll create a better parking spot for that artwork, but in the meantime, here they are side by side. I find it interesting how every artist can have their own take on the same subject matter. While his style is very different from mine, its also a perfectly awesome fit for DRC!
This week She-Hulk dominates my comic book stack, starting with Avenging Spider-Man #7. This is your basic Spidey-Team-up comic, so I don't pick it up every month, just on the issues that grab my interest. I was excited about this issue for two reasons: One: Art by Stuart Immonen. As I've said previously, hes a great illustrator- one of my favorites. And Two: Spidey teams up with She-hulk, and I kinda have a crush on her (along with Power Girl and Super Girl- don't tell my wife, she wouldn't understand) In fact, how cool would it be if they had She Hulk in the next Avengers movie as a full CGI character, like a green, slightly more clothed version of Dr Manhattan Anyway, this comic starts out on the right note: See above pic of Shulkie and Spidey wresting a giant sewer-fish. Thats dope. Thats pretty much the high point though. The rest of the story involves an army of cats, She-Hulk growing a tail, Spider-Man wearing a cow head, and a giant Egyptian Cat Goddess. Seriously. Now I expect some goofy fun with this situation, but it was less fun than I was hoping and a lot more goofy. I still give it 7 points for the art and for She Hulk !!!!!!!
X-Men Legacy #266: The cover had She Hulk, Rogue, and some strangling and hair pulling going on. Its an Avenger vs X-Men story. Rogue does her best to keep neutral on the AvX war when a couple of avengers (including She Hulk) show up to basically loiter on the school grounds waiting for Hope to show up. Their presence is provoking the students who, like Cyclops, seem to have fantasies of persecution. Sure enough, things get out of hand and Rogue starts boxing She hulk, until another avenger shows up unexpectedly right at the end. I give this comic: 7 points too !!!!!!!
Wolverine and the X-men #10: This happens before X--men Legacy 266. Cyclops and Emma Frost show up at Wolverine's school. They discuss their differences, and resolve absolutely nothing. In the end, two members of the shool join up with Cyclops, and an alien anti-Phoenix task force show up, and the side story about Angel going bonkers becomes more interesting. This is my favorite X-book right now. Also, 7 points!!!!!!!
Invincible #91: Seriously, why does the black Invincible have to have cheating-on-his-girlfriend issues? Seems a little stereotypey to me. Last time I'll gripe about that. The Dinosaurus/Viltrumite story continues, and there is a surprise ending. You know with Invincible, that usually means blood and guts. 6 exclamation points!!!!!!
The Walking Dead #97: Rick and his Posse have their first run-in with Negan's people. Can't wait to see him lay down the law on that big meanie. 7 points !!!!!!!
The Ultimates #10: The shocking ending from last issue actually happened. This is the aftermath. Things actually get worse. For the love of God, it is time for Reed and his Children of Tomorrow to get their butts handed to them by Nick Fury. Still hasn't happened yet. 6 points!!!!!!
New Avengers 26: Unexpectedly cool. I wasn't too excited to see a flashback story about Iron Fist. Turns out its kinda cool. Back in the days of Leonardo Da Vinci, there was a female Iron First who hosted the Phoenix force, thus tying into the present day AvX story. I like the idea of DaVinci participating in Marvel Universe history. 8 exclamation points!!!!!!
I've never seen a movie that lived up to its own hype the way the "Avengers" has. There were so many pitfalls Joss Whedon could have fallen into: getting too wrapped up in a convoluted story with all those characters, or not giving certain characters their due, or being derailed by all the different egos involved, or not flowing organically from the other movies that lead up to this. Not only did it not get screwed up, Joss Whedon knocked it out of the park. In a way, the story was very simple and straight forward: bad guy gets a hold of power cube. Good guys team up to stop his evil plans. A simple story was the right way to go so you focus on the important stuff: Making sure each Avenger gets their moment to shine, and filling the movie chock-full of wouldn't-it-be-cool-if moments. Seriously, they must have sat down and just brainstormed every cool thing that could possibly happen, and then worked it into the story. I couldn'y think of anthing I wished I had seen that wasn't in the movie. I was worried that Black Widow and Hawkeye would just be in the back ground. Didn't happen. I was worried Cap America wouldn't end up the leader. No worries there. Some movies like this become just about the special effects and action. In this case, even the dialogue was spot on. By the end I realized I had been laughing and gasping through the whole thing, and so was the rest of the audience. The reason this movie turned out so well was because, a true fan made the creative decisions instead of someone with a buisiness degree. Other movie studios need to learn that from Marvel. Get out of the way of the creative people and let them make their art. They know what they're doing. This movie was pure fun. Not dark and brooding like a lot of comic book movies try to be. It doesn't apologize for it. It feels like a comic book with a lot of larger then life moments. Unless you just hate cool things, you can't possibly be disappointed with this movie. And, stay for the post-credits teaser at the end. Both of them.
Here's my latest version of my Robot God Akamatsu drawing. I went over the last version with a softer, darker lead from a mechanical pencil, rendering more detail in the process. Next step: color!
Weekly Comic Review time! Not a big stack of comics this week. I'll do this in the order I read them:
Avengers vs X-Men: Round 3:
This issue starts with Wolverine recovering from being burned alive by Hope, who used her Phoenix powers on him. Its funny how things like this (horrible burns no one else would survive) only happen to Wolverine. Spiderman was right next to him and he was unscathed. Maybe Hope knew Logan could survive with his healing factor so she only attacked him. (Also, he was about to gut her like a fish, but that doesn't help my point) My point is, things only Wolvie can survive convienently only happen to Wolvie. I wonder if the other X-men take advantage of his healing powers for practical jokes: "Ha, ha, Logan! We replaced your beer with battery acid! It's okay, you'll heal." or "Hey, lets cut off Logan's fingertips while he sleeps and watch them grow back!" Going along with that, for someone whose pirmary weapon is having lethal knives coming out of his knuckles, he doesn't do that much stabbing. Case in point, the face off between him and Captain America. In issue three, Hope is on the run and the Avengrs and X-Men each want to find her first. The high point of the issue is when Cap questions Wolvie's loyalty, tells him to sit this one out and Logan says make me. The two have a throw down inside the Quinjet. Wolverine instantly stabs Captain America in the chest and watches him bleed to death. Just kidding. Thats what we'd think would happen if it was just a cage match. But Cap chooses his environment carefully, plus he uses his ability to phone in a friend. Overall, its a fun fight. For some reason watching heroes fight each other is more fun than them fighting villians. The fight was cool, but the issue was mostly build up for the next battle. I rate it with 7 exclamation points: !!!!!!!
Invincible Iron Man #526: Kicking off the Long Way Down story, the issue is mostly set up for future issues, but Larroca's art has visibly improved. He does a good job with the mecha and giving every character a different look and not just the same face wth different hair. 6 points !!!!!!
X-O Manowar #1: I had no idea this was coming. Valiant Comics is back and they've rebooted XO Manowar. Its a story about a barbarian who stumbles into an advanced alien armored suit. Its like Conan meets Iron Man. With great art by Cary Nord, I'm hoping this comic will last. 8 exclamation points !!!!!!!!
Ultimate Spider-man #10: Spidey faces the Prowler. Its mostly them talking and setting up for him facing the Scorpion. Looking forward to that. I really liked the art by David Marquez, but it was another filler issue setting up other issues. 6 points!!!!!!
Hey. I decided to recolor page 14 (the first page of chapter three). I never liked how it looked. The improvement isn't obvious until you see them side by side. New version first, old version below it. In fact I plan to get all George Lucas and touch up a lot of the older pages I'm not satisfied with. This won't affect my progress on the next chapter. My deadline for chapter four was always May 28th. Don't look that up.
