The Carnival You Didn't Read - "The Hotel Disaster"

Found this piece in the archives, and had forgotten about it completely. This was the title page to an unfinished story called "The Hotel Disaster" that i had started to write only to find that i didn't have nearly the skill to bring it off. There are also a few things about this piece that bug the heck out of me now.

Take a look and then move on, that's what i say.

Working away, can't wait til APE 2014 at Fort M
ason in San Francisco.

Sneak Peek: Wraparound Cover for The Carnival #2

Finished the new cover for what will be the second Carnival story, and wanted everyone to get a peak at it without trade dress and tones... just pure black and white! A wraparound cover to make things interesting.

Avengers Annual #10: Worst to Best Cover Ever by Michael Golden

Among the hyperbolic winners in our comic group's informal chat sessions: best comic with the worst cover. As opposed to many issues of Rom: Space night that had great covers and regrettable interiors, or plenty of other issues with solid interesting Cockrum covers and, again, generic interiors.

#1 on the list, always, was Avengers Annual #10, the utter tour de force from Michael Golden and Armando Gil, a comic where, literally, every page was a stunner and a new lesson in how to do Marvel comics. Introducing Maddy Pryor and Rogue, it turned into a lynch pin of understanding the New X-men as well. Amazing. And it was saddled with this cover. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Al Milgrom. As I've said, he was one of the two biggest influences on my inking and it is to my current regret that i've not met him in person to thank him. But this was not his best work. It honestly looks like something knocked out at the last minute in the office when another cover didn't work and the deadline was, well, passed most likely.So I've honestly no idea where this piece came from, other than it might be a commission by a fan for Golden to do what would have been his take on the cover. The style says to me that its fairly recent, but your could try to convince me otherwise. Either way, its beautiful, and i'm psyched that someone went to the trouble to get the correct trade dress for the art. Enjoy the comic that might have been.

The Latest Cover Controversy: Ms. Marvel #21

OOooooh! Can I possibly be the first person to blog on what I'm sure will be the latest Marvel Feminist controversy?

Yes, yet another Boobs not quite falling where they should, female in peril cover of Ms. my ass is barely covered in this costume Marvel.

And its not good. Oh no, the composition and negative space are terrible. Just because you have paint is no reason to go overboard like this.

I knew letter writers back in the 1970's who would constantly point out that Iron Man was brutalized more on his covers than any other hero in the Marvel Universe. Whereas Cap or Thor would be menaced, Iron Man was being melted by acid, crushed, whipped, and being blasted into a grave by Firelord. You had to believe that Tony had a slightly masochistic relationship with his villians (Doctor Spectrum in particular, who had a particularly "pretty" costume). I'm not sure that is anything on what female comic characters have to face. Always being knocked around, breasts spilling out (and yet always defying gravity in certain ways), and male artists always having to draw around to complete crotch shot for the costumes.

You'd think, after the amount of feminist angst and the Mother Jones article, they might get a clue. And here's a thought, if I were to do a a run of Ms Marvel, with her looking hot and Cho-like sexy, battling villians, but holding her own, do you think that they would see any less than the book already is? Make her sexy, make her beautiful, just make her strong. I can still see the 'boys picking it up.

And last, is that a Brood queen come back?