Zom’s choice now.  He’s brought along Morning Glories, written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Joe Eisma.

morning-glories1

I bet you wish that you were trapped in a smoky room of grown men taking about this comic.  Well this is the next best thing!


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13 Responses to “2011 Mindless Podcast #3 Morning Glories”

  1. Thrills Says:

    I find myself agreeing with the art criticisms, really. I read the preview of the comic on some website or other, and the art just immediately put me off. I’ve never read any Nick Spencer, so I don’t know if his writing would appeal to me enough to make me ignore the pictures. But, y’know, it’s a comic, the art’s important.

    I don’t really see the ‘manga-esque’ thing people keep describing, though? Is it because it’s depicting young folks, with a clean line?

    One good thing about the pictures: at least the faces have expressions. Annoying expressions, but still, it’s remarkable how often faces in comics are either ‘RAGE’ or ‘SAD RAGE’.

    I guess I’ll follow online natter aboot the comic, see if how it is round about ‘Trade’ time.

    Also, I’m interested in a later podcast or article about Chew, for sure!

    And LOLZEROLZ at the double-fadeout podcast ending.

  2. Zom Says:

    The art is definitely not good

  3. was Smitty is now J_Smitty_ Says:

    Something that’s rarely ever remarked upon by the comics crowd is how – quite literally – the whole biz is guilty of false advertising / bait and switch of the highest order.

    If the art outside of Morning Glories was the art inside…this might be a pretty sweet package. I am ONSIDE when it comes to Spencer. He is a real breakout writer with good sensibilities for the material I’ve seen. So…his art partner…

    The dissonance created by the cover image can be alarming to say the least. Simply asking me to open the book is the goal of the cover but if your interior artists aren’t up to the task of crafting a compelling image for said cover the companies need to ask the obvious question;

    “Do I have the right person contributing 98 percent of the material to this thing?”

    Furthermore, I don’t know the page rates for this kind of thing but if artists are paid more for a cover than xx number of interior pages that’s a problem. Why should I work on storytelling / sequential art / maximizing the possibilities of or possibly transforming the art form when I can draw one page of someone looking ragey / constipated / sad and make similar money?

    I’m looking at you, DeviantArt crowd…

    Example 1 – David Aja created BEAUTIFUL interiors for the first portion of Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist. He has since been pulled almost entirely from panel to panel in favor of frozen cover imagery. Granted, it’s nice to look at, well crafted and self-assured but comics could be growing audiences with this guy. He’s that good. But, someone would rather sell us the sizzle and skimp on the steak. I “conversed” with Aja briefly over twitter and he is going back to interiors shortly but he’s been “out” over the better part of a year doing covers and to follow his twitter feed is somewhat amusing in a sad way. “On to cover #6″

    Example 1A – Here’s the solicit…
    5 RONIN #1-#5
    Written by PETER MILLIGAN
    Penciled by TOMM COKER, DALIBOR TALAJIC, LAURENCE CAMPBELL, GORAN PARLOV & LEANDRO FERNANDEZ
    Covers by JOHN CASSADAY, MARK BROOKS, GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI, DAVID MACK, ED MCGUINESS & DAVID AJA
    Parental Advisory …$2.99 (each)

    Debate amongst yourselves re: the marshaling of artistic talent. I like artists on both sides of the argument and I “like less” some on each side as well. Star Power, though? No Contest. Also, just so you know, I think each of the cover artists is doing 5 covers so welcome to Variant City – population: Alla this. 5 covers x 5 artists = 25 DIFFERENT COVERS? Priorities? Fucked.

  4. Botswana Beast Says:

    I think 5 Ronin only has two variant, J-Smits, so 10 covers. I mean, there shouldn’t be any imo, but that’s capitalism etc.

    Also, all the interior artists are really good. (Well, Fernandez is only sometimes, imo but I’ve never seen any of the others do a thing I did not like the look of – largely, Parlov aside, on the Aja/JP Leon style-scale.)

    I remember being really cross as a kid at Batman comics with Kelley Jones covers and Norm Breyfogle interiors. I have since changed my mind re: Norm.

  5. amypoodle Says:

    man, i loved breyfogle. he was MY batman artist.

  6. The Beast Must Die Says:

    Yep. It’s a crime that he’s so unrecognised. His fluidity and dynamism, as well as flawless storytelling chops mean he should have always been one of the big boy.

  7. was Smitty is now J_Smitty_ Says:

    JP Leon – LOVELY

    I really enjoyed Parlov at the last stages of Punisher Max. Something about how ragged the pace was becoming fit with a rough style. What stood out for me with his work there was frequently the women he drew. Very nice without being T&A. Very distinctive as individuals.

    I’m unfamiliar with Coker, Talijic, & Campbell. My Google search turned up a lot of gaming / book cover illustration. And I may take a bit of heat on this but if McGuiness ever got his head really back in comics I think he’s a world beater. I’ll put up the first three issues of JLA Classified (Seven Soldiers set-up arc) against damn near anything.

    I think I may have yammered on about Breyfogle as well in these threads. Very weird that we all reach so far back for him. I think Beast had it RIGHT on with the comment re: dynamism and fluidity.

    The definition of “sitting down at the drawing board and letting it RIP.”

    The Guy Fawkes issue of Detective (John Wagner script?) he drew was amazing to a 9 year old with a broken arm. He also drew a very emotive cast out of costume. Close to cartooning in their expressiveness. You couldn’t count the teeth in someone’s head unless you needed to. When the panel called for it he could be as detailed as anyone but always seemed to go for “flow” when the story allowed for it.

    CHOPS!

  8. The Beast Must Die Says:

    Yep. Sort of the anti-Perez (not that I’m against Perez per-se, although I find imitators like Van Sciver massively unappealing in their totally un-kinetic, over-rendered style).

    Breyfogle worked great with Alan Grant’s bouncy action-packed scripting, and he helped create some great new Villains. An underrated period of Bat-dom that.

  9. amypoodle Says:

    phil jimenez is the best imitator, though, yes.

  10. The Beast Must Die Says:

    Yeah, and I do sort of like Jiminez, but it’s all so fucking stiff and mannered. Give me the loose, sexy line of Mazzuchelli, Wagner or Toth any day.

  11. amypoodle Says:

    just because all the mindless spell it wrong: it’s ‘jimenez’.

  12. The Beast Must Die Says:

    Jimmy Nezz

  13. RetroWarbird Says:

    Love Breyfogle. Ditto Aparo. Love late 80′s, early 90′s art. Hate late 80′s, early 90′s design sensibilities. There’s a myriad of Breyfogled design concepts for Batman and Robin costumes out there in Googletown that make the ones they eventually put on Azrael look like a beacon of moderation.

    But … “those were the days”.

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