The Fashion Spot

Ah...Internet returns!

2009-02-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Wow...I just read teh last post i put up before I moved, and WOW am I full of S&*T. I mean seriously.

Anyway, I'm going to try and get back into the swing of this thing, so First I'm gonna do a real quick review probably my favorite book in the past year, Brian Azzarello, and Lee Bermejo's "Joker"

This book is friggin' AWESOME. It came out in November, and retails for about 20 bucks. It's just beautiful. Probably the best Batman Book I've EVER read.

Bermejo's takes on Harley Quin, Joker, Killer Croc, and the P.O.V of the story Johnny Frost are gorgeous.

So gorgeous in fact that a piece from this book is soon going to be adorning my right side, the close up shot of Harley Quinn from Joker Page 19.

I highly recommend this book. And if any one out there has any ideas as to what they'd like to see me draw, or re-design, hit me up, lemme know.

Stay fashionable.

Draw an A$$ Like a Pony?

2008-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

Okay guys I know I said I'd start Sunday, but things happen. My bad.

Anyway, this past weekend was Texas' annual Wizard World Event, which happens to be TExas' largest pop culture convention, and let me tell ya, it was a blast.

The guest list this year was just amazing. We had John Cassady, Frank Cho, Brian Azzarello, Lee Bermejo, Ben Templesmith, Marko Djurdjevic, Matt Wagner, Terry Moore, and my favorite, Whilce Portacio.

The only person on that list I didn't meet was John Cassady, but I'm not really too bummed about that.

So yeah, I took my portfolio to get reviewed by some of comics best and brightest and I got tore to shreds, it was damned amazing. Everyone basically said the same things. My backgrounds felt fake, and I needed to watch the size of my heads, as I apparently have a bad habit of drawing the same sized head in all my shots.

The best review of the weekend by far though came from Whilce Portacio. You may remember Whilce from his work on Wetworks, and Uncanny X-men. Recently he has returned to comics with work on Batman: Confidential, and An upcoming ( has it started yet?) run on Spawn with scripts from Todd Mcfarlane.

His words were very uplifting to me, telling me that he was happy to see an artist that had a style developing, and that wasn't afraid to lay with backgrounds, adn that yes, I did have small composition problems, experience would fix them. He told me my biggest problem was that my lines were too wispy, too trepidatious, and may confuse an inker. He added that the best way to get around that is too simply be positive about that line that I put down was the one I wanted.

It was an amazing time for me.

See, My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE time of year is when I get to go to a convention. The atmosphere, the crowds, the swag. It's great, I LOVE it.

Speaking of swag, I got some AWESOME stuff this year.

I bought way too much, adn spent WAAAAAYYY too much money, but I got some really cool shtuff. My personal favorite thing though, my Girlfriend gave to me. See one of my favorite comics is Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore ( who was at the show) My Girlfriend bought, without me knowing an Artist proof edition of the Clayburn Moore Katchoo bust, (#18 of 200) and got it signed for me by Terry. I love this thing.

As to what I bought for myself, I got the new Joker Hardcover, signed by both Lee Bermejo, and Brian Azzarello, a Robin action figure I've been looking for, Evil Dead the Musical ( gotta love bootlegs) and the greatest thing I got for myself, the San DIego Comic-con exclusive Ka-Zar, Shanna, and Zabu three pack, with box art by Frank Cho, SIGNED by Frank Cho.

I also attended a great Panel hosted by Cho, on how to draw sexy women, in which he ( kind of) explained the steps to drawing attractive women. Okay so in actuality he stood up at the front of the room, where for the first about 20 minutes he explained, and gave examples of right and wrong ways to draw faces and breasts, then spent the rest of the class talking about the Arse, opening with the great line of " Okay to draw a good women's a$$...draw an a$$ like....A Pony. Big and round"

Yeah-bu-wha?

See Frank, like me, enjoys girls that have actually eaten a few times in their lives.
This guy was hilarious, at one point bemoaning the fact that very few comic artists, especially the ones known for drawing Gorgeous women, ignore the butt. At one point he pointed out probably the most prolific "Good-girl" artist, Adam Hughes, saying " Adam Hughes, best artist in the business, can't draw an a$$ to save his life, I think he might be gay"

Absolutely hilarious.

Then he did a demonstration of pulling it all together, by drawing a gorgeous Wasp. Unfortunately when I asked if I could have it, he said he had already promised the drawing to the Wizard guys.

So all in all the show was great, and I can't wait for next year. Peace out folks,

FASHION!

2008-10-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, SO, I fell off the map. Yep, I screwed up. No excuses, just an explanation, and a different purpose.

So, here we go. I'm no good at reviewing comics in my opinion. I research the creators waaaay too much to be objective. That and I don't enjoy it. Therefore, I'm changing the format a bit.

Scratch that.

I'm flipping the script on this bitch.

I'm just gonna post a ton of art here. Everyday some new sketch or something.

No more review, no more busting down people's designs. ( Except Porcupine. He DESERVES to be made fun of.) I always do some warm up thing or something anyway, and often it's a re-design, or a " Figure it out" drawing.

Second, No more comic reviews. I'm just gonna make suggestions, you know read this book, give this a flip through, try this trade, that kind of thing. I may also throw up music movie and book suggestions.

I'm still gonig to shine a light on a weekly artist, bit I'm also going be throwing new inker's colorists, and writers into the mix.

See, my goal in life is rejuvenate the comics industry, get as many new people to read these books as possible. Superheroes, slice of life, comedy horror, romance, whatever your into I guarantee there IS a comic that looks into it.

NOW for the bad news. I'm in the home stretch of getting my portfolio together for Wizard World Texas, which is about a week and a half from now. I'm working on a five page Fantastic four piece from FF # 60 ( 3rd series, written by Mark Waid)

I LOVE Waid's writing style. It's very smooth and familiar, like he wants the writer to have the easiest, most fun time in the world, where I've read some scripts that come across like the artists would have a hard time drawing it.

Waid's scripts move with a flourish and grace, while at the same time seem like a fun, rowdy party with a couple of good ole' boys. It's great. I'd love to work with him sometime. Of course, I'd love to work with anyone professionally.

I think the top five writer's I'd like to work with are

1 Todd Dezago
2 mark Waid
3 Denny O'neil ( I CAN DREAM!!!)
4 Chris Claremont ( on a Wolverine story preferably)
and 5 is a tie with Neil Gaiman or Warren Ellis.

So Daily updates will commence Sunday, Novemeber 9th.

And once again, I apoligize for just disappearing. I finally moved, and things were crazy-wack-funky, but we're good now. Let's rock on people.

Oh yeah, go out tomorrow, go to your local LCS ( Local Comic shop) and Buy a copy of the Scream Land TPB. It's put out by Image, and is absolutely FABULOUS. Any fan of like Behind the Music, or Universal Studios monster flicks WILL enjoy this book. It's great.

See, the premise is that back in the day, a Talent Agent offered every monster-actor in the business a life-time contract. Only a few took the offer, the big four. Dracula, Wolfman, The Mummy, and Adam, ( Frankenstein's monster). Anyway, the fifties hit, monsters were played out, and they all had a helluva hard time getting work. Now it's present day and a movie studio has gotten the rights to a Manga called something like Monster hunter 3000 or some such BS, and want to " Get the Gang back together" so the monster hunter ( of course a buxom Buffy-esque chicka)

See you in a few days.

FASHION!

Mysterio....And Quentin Beck?

2008-09-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Okay so this week I realized that I needed to go at Mysterio a bit differently. I needed to think about the guy under the costume, since he doesn't actually have any powers. So I thought about him. I realized that He would often be more concerned with his tech stuff, and playing with new gadgets than going toe-to-toe with a super powered crime-fighter. So I did a design of Quentin Beck and his favorite toy, a Floating Robot.

Then I thought about what it would look like. So I figured, a bit less bright colors and quilted body suit, more billowing and mysterious. And what about those weird floating Hologram projectors? Well, Mysterio always had a weird eye thing going on. So lets see what we can do with that. So here's Quentin's favorite toy...Customized.

Well, I didn't ink or color this one, because well.. I'm terrible at that stuff to be blunt. I much prefer my pencils. But the colors should be much more drab, darker, but keeping the same color motif. The floating eyes/hard-light hologram projections are in place of his Eye clasp projectors. Yeah the bubble dome shape is there still, but I elongated it, and well, now it's a Robot, not a dudes mask. So tell me what you think, love it, hate it, just fill me in.

Okay, I'm overall happy with the books I'm reading. Unfortunately the books I'm reading don't have my favorite characters in them. See My favorite characters are kind of off the beaten path heroes and Villains, Like Ragman, Pyro, and Cloak and Dagger.

My absolute favorite characters however are Robin (Tim Drake) and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) and too bad for me, terrible writers are handling them right now. With Fabien Nicieza terrible is not the right word to use as I really enjoy his Thunderbolts, New Warriors, and Trinity ( Co Written with Kurt Busiek) is really well done so far.

I just don't think he's a good fit for Robin. In fact Robin hasn't been good since around issue #130, and hasn't been readable since #149. I find it very irritating. I still try to read it, but most of Adam Beechen's run went un-read as it was chock full of Fan-fictiony idiocy, complete with the superbly MarySue-ish Zoanne. Also the return of Freddie E Williams as artist on the series has really discouraged me from having any hope for this title. Seriously, why the hell did he give Tim Drake MUTTONCHOPS!?

Personally I'd really love Mark Bagley, or Tom Grummet on the title, or maybe DC should sweet-talk Sean Galloway, or a more cartoony, animated artist into doing the book. Robin's a young guy, lets see some Fun art.

And We've all heard (read) my Batgirl rant. Beechen sucks and that's all I've got to say about that. I've NEVER read anything by him that I liked, and he needs to go back to writing crappy animated television designed to destroy the free-thinking capability of the youth of America.

Also Jim Califiore, while he has his good points, is just like Frank Quitely, in that he couldn't draw an attractive female to save his damned life. UNLIKE Quitely though he doesn't have sense of page design that makes it palatable. However he can keep his deadlines unlike Quitely. I can't really think of another good point though.

Seriously folks put Kelley Pluckett back on Batgirl's Writing chores, or ( and I'm allowed to dream) Gail Simone, and give me a good artist, like Ale Garza, Pop Mhan. There are a TON of artists out there that would be great on BG, but no they pick what is probably the worst choice in the world. Except maybe Greg Land. But that's another rant for another time.

Fix my Batfamily DC. Or no biscuit, or new readers, for you.

As usual you can find books containing the stories, characters, and creators at mycomicshop.com, milehighcomics.com, and instocktrades.com.

Okay, so join me next week when I'll review Batman: Knightfall (Yes the WHOLE THING), Showcase the A fore-mentioned Ale Garza, and I'll be attempting a re-design of Former Batman Protege Jean-Paul Valley, A.K.A Azrael.

Until then this has been J.C Fashion beautifying your life one lame character at a time.

Dustin Nguyen

2008-09-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Dustin Nguyen

So This cat is relatively new to the Comics world, and in my mind, has the potential of being the next Jim Lee. Nguyen is going to be HUGE. His batman work right now is phenomonal, and is soon to be collected in a rather yummy looking hardcover called Batman: Private Casebook. It collects Detective Comics #840-845, the beginnigs of Nguyen's run with Paul Dini Scripts.

He got his start with Wildstorm in 2000 working on, as far as I can tell a Jet miniseries, before moving on to Authority, and his fist run on Batman. He's also drawn 16 issues of Wildcats 3.0, and issues #37-42 of Superman/Batman with Alan Burnett.

Now Superman/Batman is where I first caught on to Dustin, and I've become an avid fan of this guy. I love his stuff. It's got a very nice, technical style, adn reminds me of a less line-happy Moebius.

What I really enjoy about his art though is when he gets to play. HIs use of water color and super-deformed characters is some of the coolest stuff I've seen.

I really just enjoy this guy and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors, and Hopefully I'll be able to add one of his sketches to my book one day.

Check him out on the web at duss005.deviantart.com, and duss005.blogspot.com.

As usual you can find books containing the stories, characters, and creators at mycomicshop.com, milehighcomics.com, and instocktrades.com.

Okay, come back Friday and check out our new look for Mysterio, and well, I'm not too unhappy with comics on a whole, so I guess they're won't be a rant. Meh, there will be something worth reading though, so tune in and give me a holler.

Until then this had been JC Fashion beautifying your life one lame costume at a time.

TO FIGHT THE UNBEATABLE FOE!!

2008-09-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this week I'm reviewing what is quite possibly my favorite Spider-man story ever.
Issues 229-230 are one of Spider-man's greatest losses, and victories.

In issue #229, Black Tom and Juggernaut are coming to New York with the goal of kidnapping Madame Web in order to use her to increase Black Tom's powers.

Across town, Madame Web has a vision of a giant coming and killing her, after fighting off a wuld be hero. Sensing she needs help she calls Spidey. What follows is Juggernaut walking through the city, ignoring Spider-man trying to stop him.
Arriving at Madame Webs hide-out Juggernaut unknowingly yanks Madame Web from her life-support chair, sending her into a catatonic state. The Issue ends with Juggernaut leaving the scene while Spidey cradles the near lifeless body of Madame Web in his arms, vowing that Juggernaut will NOT leave Manhatten.

In issue #230 Spidey throws EVERYTHING Including several kitchen sinks at Juggernaut ( literally. Spidey is on a roof, using a makeshift web sling-shot to hurl bricks at Juggernaut, who gets irritated and yanks a corner of the building OFF, collapsing it on himself and our Hero) This is also during one of JJJ's bids to turn the City against Spidey, as seen when Spider-man stops to take a quick breather and try to think of ANY way to stop Juggernaut, he perches on the front of a Eighteen Wheeler. The driver gets out brandishing a large tire-iron, which, in a great "Scram kid, Ya Botther me" moment, Spidey snatches the tire-iron away, and ties it into a bow-tie.

As the driver runs away, it occurs to Spidey, " Hey maybe if I hit him with something big. Like a truck!" Spidey jumps into the truck, driving full-speed ahead into Juggernaut, causing it to explode, engulfing the Juggernaut in a raging inferno. As Spidey begins freaking out about having killed another person, Juggernaut casually walks out of the flames, exclaiming that Spidey was toast, having finally pissed him off.

The issue climaxes with Spider-man leaping onto Juggernaut's head trying to pry the helmet off, only to discover it has been welded on. Yet the little Web-head persists, covering Juggernaut's eyes as the Behemoth relentlessly pounds on him, while walking blindly into a 40 foot pit of wet cement. Spidey leaps away while Juggy exclaims that he'll escape, that nothing can stop him.

Cut to a Hospital where Peter Parker bursts into Madame Web's room, only to discover she has no recollection of him, what happened to her, and apparently, no powers. The issue ends with Black Tom back on the boat, looking for Juggernaut, wondering where he was, commenting that nothing could possibly hurt him...Or could it?

I LOVE this storyline, it's fun, it's over the top, and it's Great early John Romita Jr. His art now is still highly influenced by his dad, but in the beginning it was like reading a more daring John Romita. JRJR is much more willing to use more adventurous layouts, while John SR's pages are a bit easier to read. So breaking it down, it goes like this.

ART: I love the art in this book. It's fun, it's easy to read, it honestly doesn't even NEED word balloons or captions. John Jr was great then, and he's gotten better since. His original run on Amazing was great and every run since has delivered wonderfully.

STORY: It's just a good, FUN read, everything a Spidey book should be. Totally out-classed, but he never ever quits.

SATISFACTION: This is one of the more satisfying Spider-man reads for me, simply because it always makes me feel like a little kid again, sending me back to that place of wonder and happiness that I felt when I was just getting into comics, back when I was in third grade.

Do whatever you can to read this issue. It been collected in 3 trades, Marvel Visionaries: John Romita Jr., Amazing Spider-man: Murder by Spider, and Amazing Spider-man: Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut.

FASHION VICTIM

Okay, so this week's Fashion Victim is a Reader's Request, by Joe Bloke.

MYSTERIO.

Quentin Back was a Special Effects genius who decided to embark on a life of crime to, what else? Get famous. See, he always thought his destiny was to be famous, but he didn't have the looks to be an actor, the patience to be a director, and thought Special Effects were a dead end. So when one of his friends said " Well, take out on of them there Super folks" He thought it was a great idea, and became Mysterio.

Though he has a TON of great gadgets to use against Spidey, like a gas that negates the Spider-sense, and a webbing solvent, He constantly aims low, and gets trounced, even by Karma.

See come to find out the chemicals he used to create his signature cloud of smoke have riddled his body with Cancer. Yet when he decided to make a grand run of Driving Spider-man mad, and then killing him, he realized that this Spider-man was not HIS Spider-man, and set his sights on Daredevil ( Daredevil: Guardian Devil).

I actually kind of enjoy this costume, in the same way I enjoy Pimp Suits. Ya know you shouldn't but you just can't help but smile. This guy had a good idea, but bad execution. And once again with Steve Ditko, we get the Green and an accent color, this time Purple. This color scheme was very popular with Spider-man villains, Used, three times that I can think of off the top of my head, with Mysterio, Prowler ( designed by John Romita Jr), and The Variations of Beetle ( designed by I believe Carl Burgos)

The Giant Purple cape really reminds me of something Don "Magic" Juan would wear while accompanying Snoop on stage, and the gloves are a really nice touch, and reminiscent of Oriental paper lanterns.

This costume simply does not work on all levels. It's Memorable, but in a " Hey, that guy was so much fun to make fun of" kind of way. Lets see is we can make him a bit more menacing and maybe a little spooky.

As usual you can find the stories, characters and artists reviewed here at mycomicshop.com, milehighcomics.com, and instocktrades.com

Alright the rest of this week is going to be mush easier as I did some prep work this time. Come Back Wednesday when I give a review of a relatively new cat that is rocking the holy blue hell out of Detective Comics, Dustin Nguyen, and come back Friday for a hopefully spookier, less fish-bowly Mysterio.

Until then this is JC Fashion Beautifying your life one lame costume at a time.

Pyro's (very late) Redesign

2008-09-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Yeah, I know I'm late. Lots of stress lately, and the next few weeks may be a little...shaky.
Things should smooth out rather nicely here pretty soon though. I'll be moving in he next oh, two to three weeks, and then things should get much better.

Anyway on to things that aren't me making bitch excuses. For Pyro I decided to go for a bit more practical in his fire starting abilities. Since he needs a fire-source for his flames ( which I think is a mental block, since he was able to create flames before succumbing to the Legacy Virus), but not a huge source, just a few sparks, I put pieces of Flint on his vest, which I figured would be made out of Kevlar, and bits of ridged steel on the palms of his gloves. Also, I kept the flame throwers, but like in the movie I decided to down size them a bit. With Pyro's flame system, less is more.

I also changed his mask up a bit. While he's able to control the flames and smoke, and not be burned, I've never heard mention of him being able to breathe smoke. So I added a gas mask design to his head gear, and goggles to keep with his current mask. The rest is more inspired by functionality and ease of movement, especially when trying to get away when a battle turns against him

So Here it is.

Now, this weeks topic was going to be me complaining about the current state of horror comics, and then I realized that to do that I'd have to complain about horror movies as well. Both have moved away from the cool monster, or artful dispatchment of victims in slasher movies, to full on shock-shit. So I'm going to avoid that.

Instead I'm going to bitch about Writers of comics that seem to not really want to write comics but movie treatments. The first one that springs to mind is actually a pretty big name.

Mark Millar.

Besides the fact that his penchant for ignoring continuity unless he wrote it making him a bad writer, It's becoming fairly obvious he wants to use comics as a stepping stone for moving to movies. TWICE he has written creator owned properties and signed away the movie rights before the comics is even finished being published. Wanted, which I haven't seen but I have read which comes off as a venomous "Screw You" to comics fans, and Kick-ass, a horribly written, violence just because I can piece of garbage. I've TRIED really TRIED to like that series as well, but not even John Romita Jr penciling it can make me like the rag. It's utter trash, and shouldn't be published. It's just another in the long line of things Joe Quesada should apoligize for.

THe problem I have with Millar selling these movie rights before the book has finished, or at least gotten established is that there is absolutely NO WAY the movie can be accurate to the book, which in my experience is a comic movie-goers biggest complaint about comic movies.

However now that I think about it I can't think of another writer who has done this kind of thing. Kevin Smith comes to mind, but he did the oposite. Wrote several movies, then went on to do comics. However, because of this he often gets very behind writing his comic scripts, and has trouble keping deadlines.

Damon Lindelof is another television/movie writer that came to comics. However the one book he's done started in January of 06 and still has not wrapped up, though it is confirmed that all six issues have been written and turned in.

Okay, I'm not as passionate about this gripe as I am about attracting new readers because comic movies CAN and DO attract new readers. So, that's it for this rant.

Monday...I have no idea what I'm reviewing, so tune and find out.

This is JC Fashion, beautifying your life one lame costume at a time.

Mike "Ringo" Wieringo 1963-2007

2008-09-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Mike Wieringo

This week we're once again looking in on one of my heroes, Mike Wieringo and if you look at any of my sequential art ( some of which will eventually be posted here) you'll see he's a big influence on how I tell stories. He was born in Italy in 1963 and was raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. Along with Mark Waid he created Impulse, and along with Todd Dezago created some very fun memorable stories in Sensational Spider-man, and the fantasy adventure world of Tellos. He is most known for his work on Fantastic Four with Mark Waid, one of the most prolific, and largest runs of his career. He died on August 12, 2007, aged 44.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't "discover" his work until about two years ago, but I quickly became a devout, voracious fan of his work, his Superman work in particular.

Universally well liked in the comic industry, he, like John Romita Jr, Mark Bagley, and Humberto Ramos, who all have proven track records of keeping deadlines, and producing phenomenal work, yet never seem to get the respect he deserved from the companies he worked for, with said companies seeming to prefer "Hot" artists for their big events, then wonder why the events fall behind schedule .

This is especially true of Wizard the Comics magazine, who, while Ringo was on Sensational Spider-man, consistently put him on their lists of Top Ten comic artists, and invited him to appear at Conventions. However when he accepted the offers of going, he was only given about an hour block a day to sign at the Wizard Booth, and then not supplied a table with which to sit and interact with fans. Shortly after leaving Sensational, Ringo also left Wizard's Top Ten list, or receiving invites to Cons.

Lo and Behold when he launched Friendly Neighborhood with Peter David, he was invited to attend the Texas Wizard World Convention. He declined, due to the shoddy treatment he received, Wizards MOSTLY Big three only coverage, and Wizard putting out feelers to discover a venue to compete with Charlotte, North Carolina's much beloved Annual Heroes Con.

He was an avid supporter of Indie books, stating Rocketo among his favorites. In his blog he constantly posted about when the time was right beginning his own creator owned series, such as more Tellos, Prince of Saturn, and Flyboy. I SO wish I'd have been able to see them in print. He was also a long-time vegetarian and animal lover, and he considered his best friend his cat Charlie.

His art style was very bubbly, and expressive and always makes me happy when I see it. His Heroes were large and proud, his villains harkened back to a yester-year of Malevolent but not "Rape your baby" Evil that seems to be the current trend. He like me was an advocate of FUN comics, and intelligent kid-friendly stories.

His designs have an old school Golden age vibe that current comics sorely miss, and his backgrounds and locations seemed to come alive on the page. Friends and colleagues are noted as saying he had a zest for life, that wound it's way through every aspect of his life, and career. Many, myself included believe he was just starting to come into the prime of his artistic career, and that he was simply getting better.

I've learned alot about comics from reading his thoughts in his blog, and his work in comics. He re-inforced the values of Integrity and Hard Work My Grandfather taught me, in that he always gave the best he could, even when he wasn't thrilled with the assignment ( Later issues of Friendly, Rogue), and turned down assignments he would feel uncomfortable drawing ( He was offered a short run on Punisher War Zone, and turned it down in favor of What If: New Fantastic Four shortly before passing).

Comics are much less fun without him around, and I miss seeing his new blog in the mornings, and new work every month. We miss you Mike. I'm sorry I never got to meet you.

Suggested Reading:
Flash second series #91 -92
Tellos #1-10
Fantastic Four #51- 524 ( 27 of Mark Waid's 36 issues )
Spider-man/ Fantastic Four #1-4
What If?—The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Wieringo.

For more information on Mike, check out his blog at mikewieringo.com , his deviantart site wieringo.deviantart.com , and you cand pick up books he's worked on at the usual spots, mycomicshop.com , milehighcomics.com , and instocktrades.com.

Come back Friday when I reveal a more urban commando take on Pyro, and talk about the state of horror comics today.

This is J.C. Fashion, beautifying your life one lame costume at a time.

The Crow

2008-09-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Crow is the story of Eric Draven risen from the grave a year after the murder of himself and his fiance Shelly Webster on aback country road, to "Set the wrong things right". During the course of the story Eric tortures, maims, and murders his way through the ranks of those that Killed him then raped and murdered Shelly. It speaks out against child-neglect, drug abuse, and was written as a coping mechanism in response to death of a loved one who was killed by a drunk driver.

It has since been the inspiration for two Feature Films ( The Crow, The Crow: City of Angels) two direct to DVD Features ( The Crow: Salvation, The Crow: Wicked Prayer) Several comics, novels, a television series, toys and videogames.

James O'Barr has been quoted saying he wished he had never written "The Crow" particularly in response to the Death of Brandon Lee, whom the writer/artist had struck up a close friendship with.

Here's my review.

Okay, back in 1994 I was 8 years old, and I was watching a movie at my grandparents with my Uncle Bill called "The Crow". I'd never seen anything like this movie before. The good guy was almost as vicious and brutal as the bad guys. He was mean, angry, and violent. There was absolutely NO middle ground. You were on his side or you weren't, with the exception of Darla, the mother of The Crow's ( Always the Crow when I was younger. He didn't have a real name, he was THE CROW) friend Sarah, whom he allowed to live even though she associated with the bad guys.

I instantly fell in love with everything about this movie. The look, the sound, the costumes, all of it. Especially Michael Wincott as Top Dollar. I F*cking LOVE this guy. Until I saw Pulp Fiction, and was introduced to Samuel L Jackson when I was 10, This guy was my measuring stick for Bad Mutha-F****.

Still to this day, this character in this movie is why I grow my hair long, why I love swords, and gave voice to one of my favorite movie quotes of all time.

(After shooting Eric's Crow) "Quick impression for ya. CAW, CAW! BANG! FUCK! I'm Dead!"
Not to mention a boy-hood crush I still have 14 years later, for the wonderful Bai Ling

I have SO many fond memories of this movie, and Crow City of Angels. I've not seen the other two installments in the franchise, so I can't really comment on them, but I think Ed Furlong is probably bashed alot more than he deserves. I'll probably just ignore the reviews, and rent the lot of this weekend, and have me a marathon.

Now flash forward about 3 years, I'm eleven, digging around my Uncle's room looking for a new Horror movie to consume into my adolescent brain, when I see The Crow. NOT the movie. Well...What do we have here?

I opened it up and started reading, sitting indian-style in the middle of my Uncle's bedroom floor. I was exposed upon this reading to a Wonderfully rich, dark world filled with bile, and desperate heart-wrenching loneliness and rage. Despair, Fury, Violence, destruction, I finally learned, the Crow was not the important part of the equation, merely the source of power for an undead avenger fueled by a thirst for vengeance against an act so heinous mortal words could do it no justice.

My mind could barely process it. I've read it at least once a year since then, and have Met James O'Barr several times, and contrary to popular belief, he is genuinely one of the nicest guys I've met at a comic-con, though he seems a bit melancholy.

Not only was this book my first foray into "grown-up" comics, it was also my first foray into a non-cape comic book, my first black and white comic book, and my first comic where the Hero was a killer.

I Have NOTHING but love for this comic. NOTHING but love.

So here we go by the numbers.

Art: O'Barr's stark black and white renderings for the main story are a perfect match for the primal, vicious subject matter that the story presents, while the soft ink wash flashback sequences are light and refreshing interludes from the grime and decay of the main story, and is almost jarring when revealing the reasons for Eric's return from the grave.

Story: Written as an experiment in catharsis ( which O'barr claims is a failed experiment) it's the ultimate tale of undying love and a man that will go to any means necessary to protect those he cherishes. Beautifully paced, it is both moving and disturbing. Many retailers claim this to be the number one Graphic novel bought by Female readers, followed by j. Michael Linsner's Dawn series, and Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. Go read it. Period. Go now.

Satisfaction: It never fails to do it's job. I always leave the book feeling inspired, reflective, and Oddly enough, It makes me want to call and check on my mother.

Overall the original Crow Story ranks right up there with the Death of Superman and Batman: Year One as my favorite stories ever. I will never NOT recommend it, and the movie is in the Upper Echelon of my favorite films of all time. It has one of my favorite bit actors ( Ernie Hudson) ignited my Love of Bruce, and Brandon Lee, and it really did shape a generation.

Unfortunately most of them turned into whiny goth-in-a-box patrons, and allowed the evolution of Emo culture. But that's a rant for another blog, not mine.

Go pick up this book, watch this movie, and Heap tons of Money upon James O'Barr's Person whenever you see him. AND Pressure DC to finally agree to publish the Batman story he's been sitting on for YEARS. It can't be anything but brilliant.

Oooo....J O'Barr's words, Kelly Jones art on Batman...I sense Eisner Award on that particular dream project folks.

Okay, on to the...

FASHION VICTIM!!!

This guy is my favorite Villain in any universe, since even when he's going up against a non-powered hero, he's still kind of the under-dog. With a bit more training and some practice, He could posibly be just as powerful as Johnny Storm, and with some imagination, every bit the X-men Villain on is own as Magneto is.

This is St. John Allerdyce..

PYRO

Created By Chris Claremont and John Byrne during there legendary run on Uncanny X-men, His first appearance was in Uncanny X-men #141, as a member of the Mystique led Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and later on as a government sponsored mutant hunter on the Freedom Force.

Now I love this character, I think he's totally under-rated, and under-appreciated. So I think he deserves much better look. Come back Friday, where we'll give him a more fitting look for, what he became, a Government operative.

As always you can find the books containing these stories and characters at mycomicshop.com, milehighcomics.com, and instocktrades.com.

So Come back tomorrow where our featured artist will help Tellos a story, and be sure to come back Friday for a look at Pyro's new duds.

Also, by all means, feel free to comment, and leave suggestions for characters you wish to see re-designed, or Comic stories you'd like me to review.

Until then, this is J.C Fashion, Beautifying your life one lame costume at a time.

Delays

2008-09-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, there's been a family emergency involving my girlfriends Father, update on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week.

This week will also be partial Film, and Comic review, I"ll still be covering a passed on Genius, and I'll STILL be giving my favorite Villain a New look. See you then.

Predator with Too much Gel, and a bit of a Rant.

2008-09-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, So I did not fail in my task for a re-design of Porcupine. It's not a good design though. I think it's damn-near impossible to get a good look for this LAME ASS character. This is proof that not everything Marvel related Stan Lee thought up/ claims he had a hand in is good. Porcupine is Terrible. Welp...Here it is.

Is it just me or does he look a bit like a Predator with way too much hair gel? No this one has no color on it, as to meet deadline I ignored color scheme this week. I know, sad, I fail.

I decided to go for a more mechanized sci-fi feel for the character, not caring if he looked a tad goofy, because..seriously Porcupine? So yeah, I was thinking a shiny, copper-ish metal tone for the upper body, arms and "quills", and a deep chocolate brown color for his lower body, with coppery boots. He still sucks though.

Porcupine = FAIL.

Now on to my little tirade.

Does anyone else find it odd that DC is doing things that seem like they are planned to piss off the fans? Examples

Adam Beechen destroyed 6+ years of character development on Cassandra "Batgirl" Cain, in about 6y issues of Robin. What does DC do when Fan outcry dictates to string Beechen up by his toes? Proclaim how well he knows the characters, assign him Teen Titans, and a Batgirl 6 issue miniseries. FAIL.

Politics is one of the things that are quick to start arguments and in some extreme cases end friendships. So DC, knowing that most of their writers ( Hell most writers period) are Liberals decide to produce a miniseries entitled DC: Decisions, which will focus on the political beliefs of Superheroes. DO NOT WANT. I firmly believe this series will alienate several fans, simply due to the fact that common sense dictates this series will be made of Political Agenda Bullshit.

Now this is the example that actually makes me believe that DC could give two spurts of piss about Fans, Young or Old, or Creators, Young or Old.

Johnny DC.

Now, don't get me wrong I LOVE these books, Tiny Titans is probably the best book on the stands right now. However, producing books like these, with limited or no continuity, save nods to regular continuity in joke form that you kind of need to know to get the joke, or books like The Batman Strikes, which is based on cartoon series several fans dislike, is NOT going to attract new Readers.

But what about their Main Universe stories? You mean the one in which Superman is plagued by Self Doubt, and has been getting his head kicked in just about every storyline? Where Batman is going insane, in a storyline so steeped in Golden-Age stories you need a road map and five hands to find your own ass after reading an issue? Where Wonder Woman is...Well Wonder Woman ain't doing too bad right now actually.. Okay bad example with Wondie. Still not going to attract new readers.

Okay how about the All Star Line? Great. All Star Superman is one of the best Superman books in decades. All Star Batman and Robin. Sucks so much vacuums use it to clean floors. One reviewer even claimed that Frank Miller " Has seemingly set out to write the worst Batman story possible. The titles only redeeming quality is Jim Lee's pencils, which are wasted on this garbage". All Star Wonder Woman....Where the hell is it? Yeah Adam Hughes hurt his hand a few months back, but this was announced a few YEARS back. Can't we even see some promo art?

NONE OF THIS IS CONDUCIVE TO GETTING NEW READERS!

DC needs to follow Marvels idea and start some form of Ultimate Universe, which All Star had the potential of being. This time though, instead of A-listers that can't keep deadlines, get some new cats that are hungry and want to prove themselves. Start a line totally from Scratch. Superman's first weeks in Metropolis, Bruce Wayne on the Path to become Batman, not even him in Costume for the first year of the title. Wonder Woman with a ( GOD PLEASE) personality embued Steve Trevor. A Green Lantern Corps book of Hal being Trained by Kilowog.

Kids are not stupid. Give them GOOD BOOKS. Re-work some classic issues of Superman and Batman into more modern stuff, start a DC Adventures line. It's good for Fans, it's good for making New Fans, and it's good for business. Subscription-wise, (where sales figures SHOULD come from, instead of pre-order wise) Marvel Adventures Spider-man UTTERLY DECIMATES the next highest main universe book, by THOUSANDS OF COPIES. These would be the books you can put back in grocery stores and gas stations, in book stores, and gift shops.

Comic books have to be able to sustain themselves as something more than Hollywood's Idea Room to last another 50 years. As much as many of we fans hate to admit it comics are a dieing medium. There is no way around that. Yes we are selling thousands of issues a month. In the 50's they were selling Millions. We need to get our prices back under control, 3.00 for 22 pages is ridiculous. in the 80's you could get 80 pages for a buck.

Children are the future of our industry, they always have been, they always will be. If a child loses interest in Superman because he can blast a guy with a flame-thrower on a video game it IS our fault.

Fans are as much to blame for this as well. I've heard from countless people about how "Comic People" made them feel stupid for asking questions about superheroes. The average person will NOT know that there have been three ( technically five if you count Spoiler and DKR) Robins. They will not know that there are thousands of Green Lanterns. I actually heard in the Theater while watching Iron Man, "Dude that was Awesome, it should be like a comic or something" We as fans need to proudly state that we enjoy comics, and try to educate people that are interested, instead of treating Batman like some Secret of the Holy Grail type-shit.

Share a book that is fun for you. Say hey, I know you're bored with sitting on this plane, here give this a read. Show your little Cousin some Walt Simonson Thor books. Show little Timmy down the Street John Romita Sr. Amazing Spider-man. Share our beloved mediums history with the next generation people.

And Collectors, go fuck your-selves and die. And I'm not talking about the guys that put their books in poly-bags to protect them, I'm talking these douche-bags that buy a rare book, then hoard it to try and pay their kids college tuition someday, or buy thirty seven copies of a variant cover and post them all on E-Bay. You want a comic related collectible go to a con, get a sketch. Bam! Collectible. You think it wasn't worth the price? Most artists don't care if it gets sold, shit happens. You stiff an artist on a piece you're buying from them? They'll probably just sell it later in the show, or at the next one anyway. Comic BOOKS should be read, and enjoyed, not locked in a damn vault to sustain your wrinkly ass when you retire. Comics are NOT a prospecting market like Real Estate. You want something you can sell later on for profit, invest in a house. You want something you can give to your kid and say enjoy this...buy a house AND a comic.

This is going on a little longer than I intended so in summary:

DC needs to re-think the current approach to satisfying unhappy fans.
Re-think the approach to attracting New Readers.
Fans need to stop being collectors, and start being fans again.
And Need to spread the gospel of Comics for lack of a better term. ( And no I don't mean stuff like "Batman 3:16 say put the TV down, or I break your pelvic bone)
Encourage new readers, and for that matter encourage a kid to read ANYTHING.

This is J.C Fashion, and this has been the Fashion Spot.

Join us Next week when I review The Crow, spotlight a dearly departed Hero, and put out the fire that is Pyro's bad fashion choices.
Until then, This is J.C Fashion Beautifying your life, one lame costume at a time.

Just a heads up.

2008-09-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

Okay so Porcupine is proving extremely difficult to re-design. I was hoping to hold off for a while, but it is Appearing as though I may have to post my failure image.

I've still got some time though. Wish me luck!

J.C Fashion

Going MAD!!!

2008-09-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

GreeEEEEEEEETINGS YA'LL!

Anyway. Today I'm gonna tell you to go look at one of my all time favorite artists. He started drawing for Marvel comics at the age of Sixteen years old, telling stories in interviews about coming home from High School doing his homework, then staying up late to draw Deadpool pages for publication.

At the start of his career he described his art as "Emaciated Arthur Adams characters", then became known as the Artist most influential in bringing Anime and Manga influences to american comics, citing Ghost in the Shell, and "Bastard!" as his personal favorites.

This is

Joe Madureira.

I've liked Joe's art since I first came across it, buying a copy of Battle Chasers #3 from a half-price books ( Great Place to get comics on the cheap if you just want to enjoy them). I was about 13 years old, and spent most of my Eigth Grade year of school copying the pages out of the issue, especially a panel of Gully sitting on Calibretto's shoulder, eating a fruit.

When I was Sophmore my Stepdad, who was encouraging me to really draw as often as possible, bought me the trade collection of the first 6 issues of BC, and it still has a very special spot on my bookshelf.

His monsters and character designs are alway original, and larger than life. His heroes look heroic, his girls are gorgeous, and his kids, look like Kids. Not many comic artists can say that nowadays.

Unfrtunately he doesn't seem to have much Drive. Ultimates 3 was announced in 2006...and it's still ben delayed. Battle Chasers, while an extremely fresh concept and beautifully executed, was also horribly late, with some issues as many as 6 months apart.

I fear that Joe Mad is a sample of a comic artist that Burned bright, Burned quick, and Burned Out. And if you lose your passion for comics, what is the point of drawing them?

Currently Mad is working as lead designer for Darksiders, produced by Vigil Games, And is set to be released in 2009. While not his first game, it does look to be the first to actually get released.

My final thoughts on Joe are these. He's extremely imaginative, uber-talented, and wonderully creative. He's also slow, and uninspired in his drive to produce comic art. He's left a huge mark on the comic industry that lasts to this day, and his influence can bee seen in one of the biggest names in comics today Ed McGuiness, and rising star Francis Manapul.

For Joe Mad books, and comics, check out mycomicshop.com, milehighcomics.com, or instocktrades.com.

Okay, Friday, I'll reveal my re-design of the Porcupine, and get on a soap-box about my realization that DC doesn't care about fan opinion. Should be fun. Be sure to come see me, and tell me what you think.

Uncanny X-men #337

2008-08-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this week I'm reviewing what I consider to be a stand alone issue of Uncanny X-Men, Issue #337.

It's a Quasi-Epilogue to the Onslaught crossover event. It was written by Scott Lobdell with Pencils by Joe Madureira and inks by Tim Townsend.

Honestly I probably shouldn't be reviewing this book as A) I've never read the Onslaught stuff and B) I'm not really a fan of the X-men at all. I only picked it up for the Cover.

The interior art was good, but not as good as MAD!'s Battle Chasers. You can already feel the beginnings of burn-out that would cause the delays that plagued Battle Chasers, and more recently Ultimates 3. Of course that book has bigger problems than that, but that's for another time, If I decide to make this a straight-up review blog with no time-period restraints.

My personal favorite scene in the entire issue is during a Danger Room sequence in which the X-men are using the Danger Room to see if visions of Magneto will trigger any memories ( or homicidal tendancies) in newest recruit, "Joseph" a mind-wiped Magneto, who was later revealed to be a clone of Magneto. This scene is my favorite because of Joe Mad's renderings of the original five X-Men in their original Costumes.

So, Overall here is how I rate this issue.

Art: 7/10. I'm a huge Joe Madureira fan, and I've alway sloved Tim Townsend's inks, but this issue lacks...Spark. You can see Joe losing his passion for Superhero books with every line, and it detracts from the enjoyability of the issue. I still give it a high 7 because Townsend's are always highly enjoyable, and always add wonderful depth to anything he works on. I'd rate him as my third favorite inker behind Jesse Delperdang, and Scott Hanna.

Story: 6/10. I'll admit to being a little lost in this issue since I've never read the Onslaught stories, so I can't really say much about the actual story. There are some things though that stand out, such as Gambit's jealousy over the developing relation-ship between Rogue and Joseph, and Wolverine's interaction with Professor Xavier, were both exceptionally well done.

Satisfaction: 8/10. I was actually very happy at the end of this book. It was a very calm issue, with mostly character driven moments that fleshed out some of the smaller sub-plots that were occurring in the books at the time. It was somber, and almost whisper-ish at times, but it did it's job, and left me wanting to know what happens to the group after wards.

If you're an X-Men fan and know the characters it's a really solid issue. However if you're looking for a jump on point to start reading X-men this is NOT it.

NOW!

FASHION VICTIM OF THE WEEK!

I wanted to do a DC character this week, but I couldn't think of anyone that hasn't gotten a re-design lately. So I'll give it another week. Instead I went with this Guy.

Originally appearing in Tales to Astonish #48, this F.V was a Giant Man, and Captain America villain created by Stan Lee and Don Heck. This is

THE PORCUPINE!!!

Okay, really do I even have to say ANYTHING?
Honestly he looks like he got dunked in a vat of tar rolled around in a bale of Hay, and was given a gas mask. Guy looks like a prank an older Super-Villain would play on their younger sibling.
Really now, how the hell do you even begin to justify this design? Other villains would and SHOULD make fun of him. And really the "Re-design" is just as bad. He goes from looking like king of the wicker people to the God of All Mullets. Even Kip Winger would make fun of this guy. This should be a fun Challenge.

Alright come back Wednesday when we get MAD, and return Friday for our * HOPEFULLY *
better version of the Porcupine.

Fashion Victim: Electro

2008-08-28T21:09:00.001-07:00

Okay, I know I am total FAIL with Markers, but I didn't think it would be right to leave it in black and white. However because of the epic fail that is this marker job ( not actually that bad in person though) All future redesigns will be pencil drawings, until I get around to getting a Wacom.

Design decision explanations tomorrow, as it is kinda late and I need to crash.

EDIT:

Okay, here's my design reasoning. First, the Mask. It was terrible. Even back in the sixties, it wouldn't have inspired fear, and had little to no functionality.

So I got rid of the Star-fish on his face, and gave him Yellow Goggles, kind of like adapted science-class goggles, and made it all black, to make the eyes pop more.

As to the color scheme, I strayed away from the Green and Yellow to differentiate him from the other villains, and once again to make the Electric Designs pop a bit more. A few people from an Art Forum I post at asked for a version of this costume in the classic colors, so I may throw something together like that.

In total my biggest problems with the costume were the mask and color scheme. So that's what I changed.

Artist of the Week #1

2008-08-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Again, and welcome to The Fashion Spot.

This is J.C. Fashion and this is my review/design blog. This is my FIRST week doing this, and this being Wednesday is my Artist Review Day. So here we go.

This guy is one of my all time favorite artists, and is considered one th artists along with Adam Warren and Joe Madureira to bring Anime influence to American comic art, even though he says Anime and Manga have never been a big influence to him, but has seeped into his art because of the Artists that DO inspire him. He is

Humberto Ramos! *

Born in 1970, this particular artist has been wowing American fans since his debut in 1994. To my knowledge his first work was for DC on the debuting Impulse title, with writer Mark Waid, from issue 1 through 25, before moving on to DV8 for wildstorm comics, drawings issues 1, 2 and 4 through 7.

From there he went to where I first became acquainted with is work, Crimson.

Crimson was the story of Alex Elder a recently changed Vampire who struggled to retain his humanity and come to grips with being the apparent Chosen Savior of Vampire and Human kind. The series lasted for 24 issues and was created by Humberto Ramos, with Paul Jenkins providing scripts based on Ramos plots. (If I'm wrong about that, let me know)

He has since gone on to other creator owned projects, Out There, and Revelations, provided covers and interiors for Peter Parker, SPider-man, re-launched SPectacular Spider-man ( a series which includes my personal favorite Venom story).

He has in recent years lent his penciling talents to titles such as Wolverine, X-Men, and New X-Men. He is currently working on Runaways with writer Terry Moore, and a series of 3 46 page comic albums called K for French publisher Soleil Productions with famous French writer Crisse.

So, for me here is a breakdown of Humberto's art, based on

Style: 10/10. Influenced heavily by the Late, Great, Argentinian artist, Carlos Meglia, Humberto's style has taken on a life of it's own. His energy is boundless, yet lends itself beautifully to quiet moments, such as during a climatic scene from "The Return of the Goblin". His Character and Monster design in particular are brilliant things to behold, and are always a pleasure to peruse.

Influence: 10/10. Humberto's influence on the next generation is fairly evident, especially in the likes of Francisco Herrera, and some of the earlier works of Skottie Young. This is particularly evident when looking at Herrera's and Young's work on Venom, compared with Humberto's Massive, Monstrous version of Eddie Brock.

Commitment: 10/10. Man this guy is what EVERY artist should strive to be. When he was with Cliffhanger, of the three launch books, Danger Girl, Battle Chasers, and Crimson, Crimson was the ONLY book to come out on time, every time, and the only title of the original three series to last more than 8 issues. He's rarely if ever late with his projects, and is incredibly quick when drawing at conventions. He's a damned Madman and you should all love him.

Storytelling: 9/10. With such a bombastically active art style, storytelling could easily be forgotten, yet in almost every instance his stories are akin to watching a good piece of animation, Clear and concise. However, I give him a nine out of ten because there are instances where his action sequences get a little jumbled. But then again nobodies perfect.

Overall, Humberto Ramos' art is a constant pleasure and inspiration to look at, and when you speak to him you can feel the love and excitement he has for what he does ( I've been lucky enough to meet Mr. Ramos on several occasions, though they were all at Conventions, so he probably doesn't remember me), and is always encouraging others to draw.

For more information of Humberto Ramos, please visit his blog at Los Monitos De Ramos or in the sidebar.
And as always you can pick up the latest Humberto Ramos books at mycomicshop.com.

So that's it for today's post. Be sure to come back Friday when I'll reveal my first ever Rising Star of Comics, and my Redesign for Electro. Until then this is J.C Fashion Beautifying your world one Lame Costume Redux at a time.

* All photos copyright there respective owners.

Greetings, hope this goes as Planned.

2008-08-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, seeing as how this is a Review blog first and foremost, here is this weeks Old School Review from a New School Fan. This is one of my favorite comics EVER, and I wish that DC would collect it in a Showcase Presents type trade, maybe along with some other humor comics from the late 60's and early 70's. This is

Angel and The Ape

First A little crash course in Angel and the Ape. They were created in 1968 by writer E. Nelson Bridwell, and designed by Bob Oksner, who also drew the first appearance and first series, most often under inks by the legendary Wally Wood.

The duo first appeared in the September 1968 issue of Showcase Presents, #77, and was followed by a 7 issue series called Angel and the Ape except in it's final issue which was called "Meet Angel". There have also been two goes at reviving the series, one of which I have read, one I have not. The first was in 1991 written and drawn by Phil Foglio, and this is the one I've not read. However it should be noted that this series is where Sam Simeon is revealed to be related to Gorilla Grodd, and Angel is Inferior Five member Dumb Bunny's half sister.

The second, was done as a Vertigo title in 2001 and written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, with art by Philip Bond and covers by Arthur Adams. It was a bit more serious, and I personally think Bond's art style was a terrible fit for Angel and the Ape, though not bad enough to erode the charm of the stories.

The original series was a humor comic focusing on the O'day and Simeon Detective Agency, headed by Angel O'day and her partner/ape Sam Simeon. Sam wasn't necessarily DC's normal Gorilla character. Though clearly a gorilla most people simply assumed he was overly hairy, and was, in fact, often over-whelmed by the advances of flirtatious women. Also he communicated through grunts, shrieks and growls, like a gorilla, though most of the time normal people simply made statements such as " That man should Enunciate more" and more often that not Angel was the only one who could understand him.

Now on to the series itself. I Absolutely adore this comic. It's funny, it's charming and the stories are what I consider most important in a comic, LOADS OF FUN. It's a shame this series only lasted seven issues as it was filled with good laughs GREAT character design, and wonderful puns. Often the jokes are subtle, thinly veiled innuendo for older readers, with more outlandish obvious humor for younger readers.

So here's a breakdown for you, by Category.

Art: 10/10.

Bob Oksner is a truly under appreciated genius in the frealm of comics, producing some of the most beautiful and downright CUTE female characters ever, and he's made only better with Wally Woods confident, powerful inks.

Character Design: 10/10

The girls are gorgeous, and Sam looks perfect. Opening an issue is like going back in time to a 70's hipster fashion show, with wild outfits, and vibrant colors.

Satisfaction 7/10

I give this book a seven because the original series is so short, and the follow-ups are lackluster ( at least the one I read). I'll probably revisit this title after I read the 1991 series.

Overall I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this series to any and everyone. It's got nice art, wonderful characters, and is a good comic for a Teen reader who isn't interested in Superheroes.

For buying information check out mycomicshop.com
I'm pimping that particular website, because it's where I get all my books from.

OKAY Now on to the moment I've been waiting for :

FASHION VICTIM OF THE WEEK

Okay so for the inaugural Fashion Victim I've chosen one of my All Time favorite Spider-man villains, the Lord of Lightening, the King of Kilowatts, Maxwell Dillon A.K.A

ELECTRO.

Now, I know alot of folks are gonna be all " You can't screw with a classic" and I agree, Electro is a classic character Designed by one the Icons of Marvel Steve Ditko. I Love Ditko's characters, but I've gotta be honest, most of his designs leave me feeling a little let down. I'll probably be hitting alot of Ditko's characters on this Blog.

Honestly I like this design for the most part, but...well, I'll be honest it looks like Louie the Lightening Bug nutted on his face. That Mask if absolutely re-donkulous. Terrible mask design. How the hell would it not be flopping all over the place and falling your eyes and stuff? Terrible mask design. Not too thrilled with the Lightening placement either. And come on, HOW many of Spidey's foes run around in Green and an accent color? Green and Brown, Green and Purple ( FOUR Of THEM!!) one or two even in just straight Green. I know that printing costs were bother-some back in the day, but come on dude, there are other colors.

Anyway, that's it for todays blog. Tune in Wednesday for a heaping helping of one of my heroes, the often imitated, never duplicated Humberto Ramos, and check back Friday for my redesign of Electro. Until then this J.C. Fashion, beautifying your life.