Happy Mother's Day

I dont cook a lot. Rarely if ever (especially because my wife is a ridiculously good cook... have you seen her blog). Every now and then i'll wake up early and whip something up for breakfast. On Mother's Day I did just that.



It was a ridiculous amount of food for the two of us. Scrambled eggs, bacon (lots of it), tater tots, toast, and fruit salad. All while the new Gavin (Gavin is pretty special to us... we've listened to a ton, both together and separate) played in the background. All in all. I'd have to say it was a very delightful morning. A fitting way to start the day and say thanks to my beautiful wife. Happy Mothers Day.

Supergirl

One of my favorite comic artist is Ed McGuiness. Luckily for me he did a lengthy run on my favorite DC Universe character Superman. The success he had on that run led him to an even more successful run on the Superman/Batman title with Jeph Loeb. He also was able to launch JLA Confidential with Loeb. All of that led him to work on just about every important character in the DC Universe. So when DC Direct announced they would be making figures based on the Public Enemies (great story) storyline, I was one happy camper.

After the success of that wave DC decided they would release figures based on the JLA Confidential series. Once again, success led to 3 more waves of figures. All based on the artwork of Mr. McGuiness. Now I've heard action figure fans comlain about the limited articulation and the reusing of sculpts, but I just don't care. I think each of these figures (and I have just about all of them) capture the art of McGuiness perfectly. The overt-the-top musculature. The large eyes on the female figures. The great, vibrant color. All trademarks of both McGuiness and these great figures based on his art.

One of the last figures of the line I bought was the above Supergirl. Which as I stated above is a perfect recreation of a Ed McGuiness piece of art. Well done DC Direct. Unfortunately I think they've run out of characters that Ed drew. Plus I don't think I could add anymore on my dedicated McGuiness shelf.

Difference Maker

When Alex Rodriguez opted out of his Yankee contract last fall I was one of the New Yorkers who thought to himself "Good, we won 4 World Series with Scott Brosius at 3rd, I'm sure we'd be fine with someone else". The list of replacements in-house (Wilson Betamit) as well as those on the free-agent market (Morgan Ensberg) or available via trade (Joe Crede or Josh Fields) wasn't very strong. I still held to my guns, we'd be better off.

Then the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was crazy. There were huge chunks of last season where ARod simply carried the Yanks. ARod had a remarkable April (an amazing June as well), he had the most homeruns in the 8th and 9th inning last year, he had 150 RBI's. They couldn't all be useless homers and RBI's. Could they.

Then the inexplicable happened. Rodriguez blamed the opting out on Scott Boras over a miscommunication and he announced he wanted to end his career as a Yankee. I quickly reversed field and became of the mind, that the New York Yankees were the only place for the best player in baseball (sorry Pujols, but ARod is better with the glove and running the bases). As if we needed more evidence that the team is better with him in the lineup than not all we have to do is look at this season.

Alex started the season a bit slowly, than quickly injured his quadriceps and had an almost month-long stay on the DL. During the 17 games he missed, the Yanks were 6-11. They averaged barely more than 3 runs a game. Since his return they are 5-1 and hitting the ball much better. Someone like ARod has a trickle down effect on the whole lineup. All of a sudden you start worrying about how to pitch to Abreu before him, or if Matsui will damage you after him. It's the fear that only the best players put in opposing teams. So I must apologize to Mr. Rodriguez, I'm happy he is still a Yankee. Id rather have him hitting homers for us than against us. I also understand that our best chance at winning comes when he is in the number 4 hole causing havok.

New Art

I know, this is a weird "New Art" post which actually contains no new art. I just want to assure everyone that I am drawing and am currently working on my 4th new piece of the last 8 days (I should be drawing everyday). It's way too early to show any of it, so you'll have to take my word for it... i'm really digging the results.

I'll try and squeeze in some postable art soon. The next characters on my list are Hellboy and Iron Fist. I might actually be able to squeeze both of those out in one day.

Amazing Playoffs

Let me start out by saying that I have been completely enthralled with this season's NBA Playoffs. When the season ended I thought the Finals would end up being the Lakers and the Celtics, or at least I was hoping for the Lakers and Celtics. Although my prediction of long Suns playoff run blew up in my face.

The Lakers still have a rough test in the defending champion Spurs in front of them, I think they can get by in 6 games. The Spurs were just taken to the distance by a up start Hornets team that you'd be hard-pressed to have imagined taking the champs to 7. The Lakers meanwhile looked brilliant (for the second series in a row) dispatching the tough Jazz. Now we will truly see if Kobe and Co. can beat Timmy and the Champs.

The Celtics on the other hand have a much tougher road. They have to get by an incredibly well-rested and playoff-tested Pistons team. A team that actually wins on the road... something the Celts seem to have forgotten. How can the Celts with their 65 regular season wins have been taken to the distance by both the Hawks and the Cavs. Both teams have huge flaws that the Celts should have been able to exploit. Yet, they haven't. Celtic fans should be thankful for the series-saving game 7 effort by Paul Pierce. Otherwise Doc Rivers would have had a lot to answer for. I've never been a fan of Doc as a coach. I think the Pistons blitz the Celts and get by them in 5 games. Not much left in the tanks of the big 3 (or should i say big 2 as Allen has disappeared almost entirely).

As for the Finals, I don't think any team has looked as impressive as the Lakers. The only team that can stop them are themselves, and I simply don't see that happening. I think this season will end in Big Chief Triangle hoisting up his 10th Finals trophy as a head coach.

Comic Inconsistencies

One of the things that drives me absolutely mad are when comics are inconsistent with their continuity. After reading last weeks issues two issues really pissed me off.

First off was the Action Comics Annual. The first reason this comic pissed me off was because it was over a year late. This storyline started in November of 2006. The sixth part of the story just hit in May 0f 2008. Are you kidding me. 19 months to tell a 6 part story. Even I could beat that kind of schedule and I'm a pretty slow (and critical) artist. The second reason this story pissed me off was because it was so good. The story was amazing (the dialogue between Superman and Lex is classic—Geoff Johns continues to be the best superhero writer in comics today) the art was off the charts (I'm hard-pressed to find a better single Kubert issue) and the inking and coloring were top-notch. I think this story will be much better appreciated as a trade paperback where you don't have the constant anger of having to wait months before the next issue. The last and biggest reason this story upset me was the ending. When Christopher gets sucked back into the Phantom Zone. Are we supposed to believe that all those months of him running around with Lois and Clark happened before this story. Where do all of those stories fit? It just seemed very inconsistent.

My friends over at Marvel don't get off the hook though. In the latest issue of Mighty Avengers (which was brilliantly written and drawn by the team of Bendis and Maleev—I love those guys together) there is another huge inconsistency. Nick's agent is supposed to go around and recruit the kids from his caterpillar file. Who is one of the characters on the list? Layla Miller from X-Force. The same Layla Miller that was trapped in an alternate future (and has yet to return) in Messiah Complex. Am I to believe Secret Invasion which is being released almost 5 months after Messiah Complex takes place far before it... absolutely ridiculous.

As a comic fan story inconsistencies drive me up the wall. How hard can it be to ask your colleagues what they have going on. Doesn't seem like such a difficult task to me. Where are the editors on these books whose job it is to check these things. Come on big 2, I expect a lot better from you guys.

Darth Vader

So it's been quite a while since I last drew something for myself. Something that wasn't for a client or to pitch an idea. I had been watching a lot of Star Wars recently as well as playing the Star Wars Lego game (absolutely love it) and decided it had been a while since I tried to draw any Star Wars characters.

I knew the piece I wanted to draw, but having recently put my comics in storage I couldnt find the actual image. All of that led me to my search online. The above piece is a recreation of a great Star Wars Tales cover. Star Wars Tales was a very well-written Dark Horse anthology series. It told lots of the in-between off camera moments in the Star Wars mythos. This story happened to take place on cloud city where after 3PO gets blasted by Storm Troopers, Vader gives the order not to have him destroyed, but rather placed in the cell with Chewie. Knowing full well that Chewie will repair this robot that Darth created on Tattooine years earlier. It was a very tenderly written story which humanized the character of Vader a lot more than in an of the films. The above piece was the cover for the issue. It was a iconic pose that stuck with me for years.

The pencils took quite a bit of time. The detail in the arm, hands, and head is very intricate. My guess would be a little over 2 hours. The inking is a whole other story. Probably another 2+ hours. Making this image clock in at close to 4.5 hours... phew, quite a task, but an image that I'm really proud of.

Retirement Party!

Let me be the first to wish these phrases well in their retirement... Hot Mess, Hot Tranny Mess, and Fierce. Thank you Christian Siriano for introducing the masses to these phrases, but they have been used to death since he took America by storm in Project Runway. Much the same way Nice, sexytime and other Borat-isms needed to be quickly retired, we need to get rid of these phrases before they go from mildly annoying to I f---in hate it (we're getting pretty close). Let's all agree to get rid of those phrases now... trust me, we'll all be much happier.

Weekend Viewing

So after posting a pretty impressive streak of blogging in early April (almost every day for a little while) I haven't posted in nearly three weeks (life has been busy). That should change this week, as I have some more toy pics to toss up, finally drew some new art (for me), and my general thoughts on the sports/toy/comic book/pop culture world.

The specific reason for todays post though is my weekend theater viewing. I saw two films on complete opposite ends of the spectrum this weekend... and I loved them both. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who saw both Iron-Man and Made of Honor this weekend, let alone someone who enjoyed both thoroughly.

Iron-Man was simply put the best Marvel film since X2. I don't compare Marvel films to DC films as I believe the DC films are in a whole different stratosphere (I hold Batman Begins and Superman Returns in very high esteem). After a series of creative misfires (FF 1 and 2, Elektra, Ghost Rider, X3, Spider-Man 3... blech) they finally got it right. Instead of trying to do too much, Marvel told a very tight film with an exceptional cast. Not since X1 and 2 has a Marvel film been graced with a cast this talented. Robert Downey Jr. was perfect as Tony Stark. Paltrow, Bridges, Howard and Samuel L. Jackson (you must stay past the credits) were all excellent in their respective roles. The action and special effects were great, the acting spot on. All in all a very intelligent take on a great Marvel character. Iron-Man will become the first Marvel DVD I buy since X2, two very enthusiastic thumbs up from me.

As for Made of Honor... yeah, it was kind of a cliche romantic comedy, but Patrick Dempsey's charm really makes the film (did I just actually say that). The plot is basically guy has best friend, she goes away, he realizes he loves her, she comes back with fiance, hijinks ensue. It basically is My Best Friends Wedding with a guy in the Julia Roberts role. Yeah its formulaic and predictable, but its also a ton of fun. I truly enjoyed this film. Michelle Monaghan (who I only remember from MI3) is also very good as the best friend who realizes her true love is her best friend and not the hunky Scot which she barely knows. A fun film, again two thumbs way up from me.

So there you have it. I loved both a super-hero action film as well as a sappy romantic comedy.