Yearly Archives: 2011

Hence the name “Flame Gun”

(From "Big 3" number 1, 1940.)

SOD.241 – Saturn Girl

One of Saturn Girl's several costume changes.

Power User Profile: Spidercow2010

Spidercow2010 has won Character Design Contests 31 (Weapon), 45 (Kirby), and 48 (Circus), and Caption Contest 71, which is a darn impressive resume. Here's a little more info about the homo sapiens behind the arachnobovine.

Continue reading

Um, I don’t think that’s a super power

(Via ComicallyVintage.com.)

SOD.240 – Saturn Girl

Apparently I'm on a Legion kick, but pseudo-retro-Sixties style. I must've been unduly influenced by "X-Men: First Class".

Reason #13: He’s a hack

The upcoming "Hawk & Dove" relaunch features a cover by none other than Rob Liefeld, whose art (as you know) I hate with the white-hot intensity of the sun. Here's the cover:

Apparently DC, having already decided to grant an entire line to two characters no one has cared about since the Nineties, went all-in by having the cover drawn by an artist no one has cared about since the Nineties.

Rob Liefeld is a hack. That means he never got the necessary grounding in the fundamentals of professional illustration (or human anatomy), the absolutely essential scaffolding upon which good art is built. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing hacks in general. I consider myself one in many ways, certainly when it comes to programming (I'm totally self-taught, so there are embarrassing gaps in the fundamentals anyone having gone through a structured program would have received). Sometimes, the only way to get clear of the choking jungle is to hack your way through.

But he's a bad hack. Whose hackery inspired twenty years of insipid imitation that gutted the artistic integrity of a medium I love.

Thus, after a long absence I bring you another installment in the "I Hate Rob Liefeld's Art" series!

Rather than type out my review of why this cover is a classic example of Liefeldian Hackery, I give it to you in image format. Enjoy! And if I missed anything, please chime in to let me know.

(Image and characters ©2011, DC Comics, Inc. If they choose to claim ownership of either, that is.)

Great moments in collateral damage

(From "Big 3" number 1, 1940.)

Wilson?

We left our intrepid Lone Wolf Cub dithering in the cabin of his ship's captain while a fire raged in the hold, pondering whether to search the cabin or follow the leader upstairs. By almost a two-to-one margin, we have apparently decided our adventurer is the Straight Arrow type. Thus, up to the deck we go:

Continue reading

SOD.239 – Wildfire

One of my favorite Legionnaires.

Evil Villain Fail

(From "Big 3" number 1, 1940.)