“The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies” is an eye opener, because I own most of the equipment on this site, and I still use much of it daily.  Have computers changed everything that much?  Well, yes, as a matter of fact, they have.

I am surprised by how few people my age are online.  It seems like a good 90% of the people I grew up with have no web presence to speak of.  (I’m a spry 45, for those who don’t know.)  I was on the web as soon as it became widely available, and I’ve had a site of some sort since 1996, and I’m not sure how many sites I’m involved with or at least participate in.  Probably 20 or 30, maybe more.

I’m looking for an ultrasonic pen cleaner, so I can continue to use my apparently antiquated pens.  I found this, and this, and this.  I’m not really sure when I’m going to be able to afford said cleaner, but I can be patient.  I used to have one some years back, and used it till it burned out, and I really miss the danged thing.

So, I’m reading several books.  First up, there is Whitley Streiber’s “Confirmation.”  Then, there is Alvin Schwarts “An Unlikely Prophet.”  Throw into the mix Jim Marr’s “The Alien Agenda.”  I love to read, and I juggle books I’m reading based on my mood at any given time.  I’m also re-reading Frank Miller’s and John Romita Jr’s “Daredevil: The Man Without Fear” hardcover.

The Alvin Schwartz book is quite interesting so far, because he wrote the Batman and Superman comic strips for seventeen years in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  He has had some mystical encounters in his life, and some odd synchronicities, and the 1990’s he apparently met a tulpa, or being composed of pure thought, a “dreamed up” man.  I’m about a third of the way into this one, and I’ve had trouble putting it down, to be honest.

“Daredevil: The Man Without Fear” is outstanding, as those of you who have read probably already know, and it’s created by two masters at the height of their creative power.  This is vintage Frank Miller in the days prior to “The Dark Knight Strikes Again,” back when Frank created compelling stories that still affect the way I see comics.  John Romita Jr.’s work is a joy to behold: Like Eric Clapton’s Guitar playing, it gives me great happiness.  JrJr’s art is not about being polished, or delicate rendering, or the excesses that plagued most other comic artists in 90’s.  Romita Jr’s work is about power and force, and about spot-on storytelling.  In my book, he handles cartooning like no one since Jack Kirby.

Scott.

This vacation week has been sunshine and roses all the way!  Today, Benita and I ate lunch with some old friends from college.  We are just about done getting issue 9 corrected and packaged, and it will be off to the printer quite soon.  At the end of next issue, we may have enough material for the next trade-paperback!

When I mention “correcting” an issue, it’s just that.  Benita and go over the issue from top to bottom, and we check for misspellings, or continuity errors in the art.  Since I rarely get to draw a scene all the way through, without extended breaks for inking and coloring, I’ve been known to flub up costume details, eye color, etc.  Correcting the comic is our chance to go back in time and retroactively improve it.

As I understand, we are getting close to the opening of ComicsXP.  Digital comic downloads have been tried many times before to various levels of success, but something tells me that the time for this service is upon us, and that ComicsXP has the right mix of to really make it work.  I hope you all vindicate me in this.

I’m listening to the audio book “From Russia With Love” by Ian Fleming—that guy sure could write!  But, this brings me to an interesting observation: you’ve probably heard me wax poetic about my beloved British authors, such as Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, Michael Moorcock, JRR Tolkien, Neal Gaiman, and Simon Green, again and again.  Well, I don’t want to give the impression I read only British authors, because there are some American authors I think a great deal of: Geoff Johns, Ed Brubaker, Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Butcher, and Kurt Busiek  All of these writers are well worth checking out.

I didn’t mention Frank Miller, did I?  Well, I suppose I have a few issues with Frank.  “The Dark Knight Returns” is one of the most important books in my life, up there with “Lord of the Rings” as literature that played a transformative role in my development.  I liked 300, and I’ve enjoyed Sin City.  Yet, “The Dark Knight Strikes Again” takes unenjoyability to a new level, and “All Star Batman and Robin” reads like a sadistic bondage violence porn novel, and it is all sorts of offensive.  Even read as a parody, this comic seems to take joy in twisting its source material out of shape.  As I said, I have a few problems with Mr. Miller’s later work.  He’s a media giant, so I imagine that he can shrug off my disappointment easily.

Scott

Yesterday I went to Downtown Comics, my local comic shop, bought a few things, and gabbed with good friend Pete Kilmer, one of the DTC managers.  I hadnÆt been in a comic shop for a good while, and it was pleasantly overwhelming to see all the comics.  Really, if I could afford it, there are things I would buy: For example, this Dark Reign storyline and the Avengers line as a whole looks right down my alley.  It would be great to chart the rise, and eventual fall, of Norman Osborne, the key villain in the Marvel Universe.

Yet, I have to wonder, would it be that great to follow it?  Marvel has begun raising its comic prices from $2.99 to $3.99.  Four dollars is an awful lot of money for a magazine thin enough that you can read them in fifteen minutes.  Some fans would argue that you donÆt just read comics once, that you read and re-read them.  True enough.  I do that.

I stopped buying the monthly comics because of two reasons: It cost too much, and I was running out of room in my house to store them.  When I can, I pick up trade paperbacks.  IÆm not alone in this change of purchasing trends.

When I dropped away from the monthlies, and turned to trades, I discovered that my buying habits in trades are different from the monthly titles I collected.  Suddenly, I was not so quick to purchase Thor, or Fantastic Four, or Avengers, or JLA, or JSA, etc.  Now, in trades, I had quirkier buying habits.  Supreme, Black Summer, Watchmen, Project Superpowers, etc.  I still loved good superhero stories, but I wanted stories that actually had something to say and a witty way of saying it.

At Downtown Comics, I was pleased to see that they had set up Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, and Neal Gaiman sections, and this had reportedly done well for sales.  These writers are the superstars of the comic industry, and with good reason.  Pete noted that he should put up a Grant Morrison section, and I heartily agreed.  Morrison is my favorite writer, after all.

Scott.

This review can be found on J.’s blog over at Mysteries of the Arcana, a supernatural dimension hopping tale that has quickly become one of my favorite comics.  I love this type of story, so I endorse it wholeheartedly.

Over at Choice Comics.net, EEN (real name not known) wrote a well considered and detailed review of Johnny Saturn.  His honesty and insightfulness are greatly appreciated! He gave us four out of five stars.

I would like to note, however, that I’m not the only creator on the comic.  Benita helps develop characters and plots, writes about half the scenes, writes all the dialogue, letters everything, and edits the whole series.  She is an integral part of our little production team.

Johnny Saturn is a hard comic for me to review because I have mixed feelings. There are a lot of good things to be said about JS. Sometimes it feels like Frank Miller and Grant Morrison are writing this comic instead of Scott Story….other times it reminds of why I stopped reading image comics.

In the end it is comic written by a fan of the genre for fans of the genre. This isn’t a universe where heroes have traded in the capes of leather jackets, but it is one where heroes strap their logo onto Kevlar rather than spandex. A series that isn’t afraid to give you want to expect in a super hero or deconstruct the genre depending on where the story goes. And it has an infectious energy that draw you into the world even when something makes you roll your eyes.

On Writing:
Scott’s Story lines originally where very hit or miss with me but they’ve gotten much better over time. If you’re willing to enjoy a bit of comic book logic the recent storylines have been very solid and enjoyable, more over the comic has gone from a simple noir action romp to actually having surprising emotional depth. Early on a lot of the paranormal elements really felt out of place ruining the feel of the gritty universe and snapping your suspension of disbelief like a twig but Scott backed off them for a bit and as they’ve started to creep back into the comic they now feel right at home.

Scott is a good writer of morally grey characters and the further the comics goes the more depth it starts to bring to those characters. Some obvious straw-men stand-ins for other staple superheroes have really grown from total tools in the early chapters to well rounded relatable characters with depth, motivations, virtues and flaws. The major flaw with the comic now is that the villains have not grown with the series. The grey moral haze and complexities of the heroes only makes the black hearted villains and their often nihilistic or Orwellian plans progressively more the comics critical weak point. The comic’s villains are all Red Skulls and Mephistopheles when what the comic needs is a good Doctor Doom or Magneto.

On Art:
Scott’s are style is fairly unique and a good fit for the universe. It strikes me as a cross between the Batman: Animated series style and the 90′s image style popularized by McFarlane and his like.

The colors used in the character designs would be my only complaint, but the style itself is very enjoyable and most of the characters are very visually interesting if sometimes a bit over the top, but in a super hero universe sometimes that is just what you need.

Overall:

In summery if you enjoyed things like Allen Moore’s run on Supreme in all its love letter to the genre flavor then you’ll enjoy Johnny Saturn. Johnny Saturn in listed a B class hero in the universe and maybe Johnny Saturn is B super hero comic sometimes, but it gets it right more often than not and even when it lack polish and refinement it always tries its hardest and gives a lot more than most of the main stream titles.

Read and Enjoy.

Artistic Influences

Over the years, numerous people have hazarded guesses at who my artistic influences are. I’ve never kept those influences a secret, but I also don’t think they really show in my art style. Now, to set the record straight, I present the definitive list.

Cheesecake: Joseph Michael Linsner, Gil Elvgrin

Digital Painter: Greg Horn

Figure Artist: Andrew Loomis, Burne Hogarth

Others: Alphonse Mucha, M.C. Escher
Painter: Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta

Pen & Ink Artist: Charles Dana Gibson

Water Colorist: Alex Ross, John Howe, Alan Lee

Penciler, Original Influence: John Buscema, Gil Kane

Modern Comic Influences: Al Rio, Bruce Timm, Frank Cho, Frank Miller, George Perez, Jack Kirby, Jim Lee, John Byrne, John Romita Jr., Mike Mignola, Neal Adams

If you are an artist, who are your influences? The same question may be asked of writers and their influences.

Hi, Folks!

Word on the net is that Dr. Stephen Strange may get his own big-budget movie in 2010, or thereabouts. I’ve always loved this character, and I think it would be awesome–more than awesome–to see the bizarre mindscapes and planar excursions of Steve Ditko brought to fruition on the big screen. For those who have looked at Ditko’s incredible art in the early Dr. Strange comics, you know that this would be a mind-blowing feat to pull off. Nowadays, it could be done. Pretty much anything that can be imagined can be pulled off on the big screen if you throw enough money and talent at it. I want to see Dr. Strange get his day the limelight.

I’ve seen some more of the Watchman footage, and that’s cool, because now it sounds like the movie is going to be released. The footage for Rorschach is outstanding. He’ll probably be the runaway favorite character for those who dig the movie . . . Hmmmn, a Steve Ditko theme is developing here. I assume everyone who reads this knows that Rorschach is a version of the Question, a Ditko creation.

There’s an interesting video out on “The Spirit,” with some more Frank Miller footage. I’ve not felt great about this movie, and I have had my share of mixed feelings. I didn’t know the Spirit had a mutant healing factor. Hmmn.

Hi, Friends!

Lacking, as I am, any truly random thoughts tonight, I have decided to instead ply you with a short review of Grant Morrison’s and Andy Kubert’s “Batman and Son” trade paperback.  I’ll let you know right off the bat (hehehe) that I enjoyed this book.  It’s Batman, right?  Why wouldn’t I love this book?  Well, I fail to enjoy many of the Batman projects that are published, which is one of the reasons I quit buying monthly comics and wait for the trades.  The real question should be, ‘why’ did I enjoy it?

Could it be the writer?  Grant Morrison is my favorite comic writer, and I’ve often said that he is the smartest man in the world.  I’ve also mentioned in the past that he’s the real deal, or that he’s pulling the wool over our eyes and laughing his way to the bank.  Either way, I am real fan.  I originally got into Grant by reading ‘The Invisibles,’ an absolutely insane, brilliant, and revolutionary work that I make of point of re-reading in its entirety every year.  I believe it was my third reading where I started to get a clue as to what it was about.  Or not!  If Grant Morrison really is the smartest man in the world, then I may well be deluding myself!  Morrison’s run on JLA was magnificent, and the series was never the same after he left.  Animal Man was outstanding, and it really introduced American readers to a style of meta-fiction that was not well known on this side of the Atlantic, at least not for comic readers.  I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here.  I will say that it was not solely for the writing that I enjoyed “Batman and Son.”

Could it be the artist?  Andy Kubert is very skilled storyteller, with dynamics out the metaphorical wazzoo!  His characters twist, and bend, and wildly foreshorten, all while looking very cool indeed.  But, no, the art wasn’t what I enjoyed about this book the most.

No, what I enjoyed about “Batman and Son” was that DC was willing to take such a giant leap in continuity!  Characters that are decades old can be very resistant to change; characters that date from the Great Depression especially so!  The introduction of Damien, the clearly sociopathic eight-year-old son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul adds such a cool dimension to the Bat mythos.  The concept was originally explored in “Batman: Son of the Demon,” a long out-of-continuity graphic novel by Mike W. Barr. 

Changing old characters is risky business, and adding additional layers to their back-stories often fails.  Sometimes it works, as in Frank Miller’s “Daredevil” run.  Other times, it fails, as in the Spider-Man “Clone Saga.”  This time, it appears that a forgotten footnote in Batman lore has come back into continuity.

The only thing I didn’t care for was the prose Joker story that split the book up.  Sure, it was interesting, but it was just as likely to be forgotten by all future Bat writers.  The digital art by John Van Fleet wasn’t my thing, either.  I’ve seen Van Fleet produce some very interesting, even haunting art before, but his foray into Poser looked awkward in many places to me. 

So, overall I give “Batman and Son” an A- grade.

Story Studios

3.99@, color, 28 pages@, available now

Writer and artist: Scott Story

Reviewed by Kurt Anthony Krug ***1/2 in Comic Buyers Guide

For an independent comic book, the art, story, and even the colors in this mini-series are high-quality.  You’d swear this title were published by one of the larger companies instead of by Scott Story and his wife, Benita.

Johnny Saturn is a Batman-esque hero who dies at the hands of Dr. Synn, his arch-nemesis.  But death is only the beginning for both Johnny Saturn and Synn.  Character profiles bookend each issues.

Story said he was inspired by Watchmen and Frank Miller’s work on Batman and Daredevil.  There’s also a dash of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City and Neil Gaiman, as well as DC-Wildstorm’s Apollo (as seen in Story’s Utopian) and Midnighter.  The pacing remains excellent throughout, and the art is consistent, not to mention consistently good.  If you read only one independent title in the next month, make it Johnny Saturn.