The Comic Book Discussion Thread

[Grouchy]

Explain to me how the cover is fuck ugly. It's better than 80% of superhero cover art.

Also, OK, he's a cunt to you, I don't know who he is. But I agree with every one of his points in that video. I also don't see any problem with the cover and a lot of problems with the criticism it raised.

[Skitch]

I'm not really taking a side on this one. I agreed with some of this Maddox guy's points, but I also agree the cover is fuck ugly. All her parts, from head to rear, are all out of proportion like a warped sketch that was penciled drunkenly on a paper placemat.

[Grouchy]

All her parts, from head to rear, are all out of proportion like a warped sketch that was penciled drunkenly on a paper placemat.

Have you ever studied anatomy for art or drawing? I have. Where do you come up with this absurdity?

[Skitch]

Have you ever studied anatomy for art or drawing? I have. Where do you come up with this absurdity?

I'm just an idiot, sir. It looks ugly to me. I guess if I studied more I'd see the beauty.

[Dukefrukem]

Maddox is such a cunt.

Love him. I can't believe I'm just learning that he has a youtube account now.

[Dukefrukem]

Have you ever studied anatomy for art or drawing? I have. Where do you come up with this absurdity?

It's been done.

[Skitch]

Whats the story on this Maddox fellow? Ive never heard of him until now.

[Grouchy]

It's been done.

Yeah, and I realized it wasn't right the minute I saw that. Here's a correct 3D rendering without malicious intent:Skitch, I didn't mean to sound like an asshole. I guess it just stuns me how easy it is to badmouth a master's work on the internet. I'll wake up tomorrow and say Neil Gaiman can't write his way out of a paper bag and I guess I don't even need to justify myself.

[Skitch]

Its cool, and I didnt blast all the guy's work, this particular piece just doesnt gel with me. Master or not, doesnt mean any artist is incapable of dropping a turd here and there. Nobody is perfect.

[Dukefrukem]

Whats the story on this Maddox fellow? Ive never heard of him until now.

Google: The best page in the universe.

He basically was the only good thing on the internet back in 1998. And hilariously never changed his website design.

Read through the 2004-2007 era- esp his take on the iPhone. Hilarious.

[Skitch]

I think the render Duke posted was extra harsh, and Grouchys extra forgiving. Im hung up on the waistline. Its so tight and sharp it looks inhuman. Theres no room for kidneys lol

[Skitch]

Google: The greatest website in the universe.

I was looking for personal opinions, but tell me more about this "Google"....

[Dukefrukem]

I think the render Duke posted was extra harsh, and Grouchys extra forgiving. Im hung up on the waistline. Its so tight and sharp it looks inhuman. Theres no room for kidneys lol

You can tell Grouchys's version is wrong- look at the leg gap. It's not even close to what was drawn.

[Grouchy]

You can tell Grouchys's version is wrong- look at the leg gap. It's not even close to what was drawn.

It's exactly the same as what was drawn. There's no difference in the leg gap. The only difference is that Manara didn't draw her right foot. The rendering you posted that came from some blog is obviously wrong - there's no reason to draw the neck from that angle so that's not a problem, and the eyes are just a cheap trick to make it look more uncanny valley. The leg joints are also badly done on purpose.

[Grouchy]

Also, great art is not always about perfect anatomy. I think this concept pretty much explains itself, but here are some comic book panels to illustrate my point:Kyle BakerWill Eisner

[Grouchy]

Ok, that post came out wrong and I can't edit for some reason. The pic that doesn't show up is Kyle Baker's, the last one is Norm Breyfogle's.

[Dukefrukem]

It's exactly the same as what was drawn. There's no difference in the leg gap.

I guess if 6-8 inches is no difference than you're right.

[Grouchy]

I guess if 6-8 inches is no difference than you're right.

Dude, you got to calculate the proportion. The original cover art, the reproduction in there and the 3D thingy don't all have the same size.

[sevenarts]

Yeah there's no difference between Breyfogle distorting perspective on a shot of Batman kicking a guy and Manara contorting female anatomy to maximize the sexualized posture and display her assets in the most extreme way. OK. The issue is not Manara being a bad artist, because he's certainly not, he's fantastic at what he does. But what he does is porn comics with outlandishly beautiful, unrelentingly sexualized women, which is great if that's what you're looking for and not so great if you're looking at a Big Two superhero property that purports to be part of a push to appeal to and incorporate more women into their line. Is this really so hard to understand? Acting like those who dislike the cover are bitching that comics always have to have realistic anatomy or that cartoony exaggeration is bad is disingenuous in the extreme. I'd argue that kicking off a new female-focused superhero title, as part of a general line move towards more female heroines in the spotlight, is the wrong place for a Manara cover that's just to appeal to the same old horny adolescent mentality that's dominated comics for, well, ever.

[EyesWideOpen]

I don't care about proper anatomy. That cover is horrendous.

[Grouchy]

Yeah there's no difference between Breyfogle distorting perspective on a shot of Batman kicking a guy and Manara contorting female anatomy to maximize the sexualized posture and display her assets in the most extreme way. OK. The issue is not Manara being a bad artist, because he's certainly not, he's fantastic at what he does. But what he does is porn comics with outlandishly beautiful, unrelentingly sexualized women, which is great if that's what you're looking for and not so great if you're looking at a Big Two superhero property that purports to be part of a push to appeal to and incorporate more women into their line. Is this really so hard to understand? Acting like those who dislike the cover are bitching that comics always have to have realistic anatomy or that cartoony exaggeration is bad is disingenuous in the extreme. I'd argue that kicking off a new female-focused superhero title, as part of a general line move towards more female heroines in the spotlight, is the wrong place for a Manara cover that's just to appeal to the same old horny adolescent mentality that's dominated comics for, well, ever.

Well then they shouldn't call Manara a bad artist or try to mock his style by creating fake 3D renderings. I'm not making it up, there's a blog called The Mary Sue where people with absolutely unproven artistic talent (to be generous) are doing that very thing.

I frankly don't get the medieval mindset that women with curves and asses are a bad thing, but that's part of a broader discussion, I guess. I'm against random people in the internet attacking a talented artist I like.

[Ezee E]

There's much worse covers out there.

[Skitch]

I'm not a stickler for accurate anatomy, but she looks like she would be more at home in the Aeon Flux universe. Just my humble opinion.

[Dukefrukem]

I'm not a stickler for accurate anatomy, but she looks like she would be more at home in the Aeon Flux universe. Just my humble opinion.

I thought this was Eric's opinion.

[number8]

LOL:

So I approached Marvel representatives with the question and discovered that, no, this wasn’t the case at all. That Milo Manara’s schedule was heavily filled working on his Le Caravage graphic novel about the life of Italian artist Caravaggio. And he was unable to meet Marvel deadlines as well.

But I learned that Marvel had told him not to rush. Knowing how important the project is to him, that they were happy to wait.

Manara’s already-begun covers for Thor and Axis will now appear as Manara variant covers for later issues of those series, to be followed by a long list of planned covers from Manara featuring a number of Marvel characters, male and female.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/09/...rs-for-marvel/