Pretty Weird Art Poster: WIP of Primal Rage

 

Here's a WIP shot of my next poster. It's based off an old arcade fighting game named "Primal Rage". 

Pretty Weird 90's Comic Book Review: Uncanny X-men 302

Issue: Uncanny X-men Issue 302

Publication Date: July 1993

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Pencils: John Romita JR

Story Synopsis

The villainous Trevor Fitzroy attacks the mutant Forge in an attempt to gain favor with the cabal known as "The Upstarts". The X-men are alerted to the attack and rush to thwart it while Professor Xavier remains at the x-mansion watching over Colossus’ dying sister.

Writing

The more I read Scott Lobdell’s work on the X-men, the more I appreciate how he weaves character motivation into his plots. This issue would probably be best characterized as an “action-centric” story, but the action works in the service of character development. There are two action set pieces in the story and both evolve their participants into more well-rounded individuals. The first action scene shows Storm and Iceman fending off a riot. Storm apparently has a troubled romantic history with Forge but is still rushing to his aid while Iceman is shown pushing his powers to limits he hasn’t before reached. The second scene is of Forge, Bishop, and Colossus fending off Trevor Fritzroy’s attack. Bishop is forced to confront how his view of lethal force differs from the rest of the X-men’s while Colossus’ anguish over his dying sister pushes him to act with greater violence than normal.

Art

 John Romita Jr does a great job on interiors once again, but seems to turn in pretty lazily conceived cover art. The cropping of Iceman and Bishop holding back a furious Colossus feels way to claustrophobic. The more cynical portion of my brain says that the cropping is deliberate so that the artist doesn’t have to draw a background or anything above the waist. The cover art could be a side-effect of the cover artist being the same guy doing the interiors, so I wouldn’t factor out deadlines as being partially responsible for the end result. 

This issue did impress on me how much I enjoy Romita’s interior page layouts. When he’s not drawing for the cover, his pages show a number of dynamic, full-body depictions of the main characters. Storm, Fitzroy, Bishop, Forge, and Colossus all get at least one panel that clearly shows them and their costume clearly and dynamically. John draws a number of his panels as if they are pin ups with dialogue and I like that. Some of my favorite comic book artists have wonderful art styles ( I’m looking at you Chris Bachalo) but they crop their panels in such a way that you never get a clear view of the entire character. Romita’s work here avoids that annoyance. If you compare this issue with Uncanny X-men #300, you’ll see how each X-men character gets at least one pin-up-worthy panel without breaking the flow of the story. The only drawback is that Romita has a habit of doing a sideways double page spread every couple of issues that comes across as being 50% awe-inspiring and 50% annoying because it breaks up the page flow. He also continues to have a deft ability to use ink to convey motion or visual sensory effects.

Atmospheric / Impressionistic Inking

I really enjoy how he uses loose inks to create buildings and landscapes in his establishing shots.

 

Sideways 2 Page Spread

Here’s the dreaded sideways two-page spread. Sometimes it’s awesome and sometimes it’s annoying.

Panel Flow

I like how Romita popped Bishop out of the middle panel on this page. It aids in panel progression and gives the reader a chance to soak in Bishop’s character design.

Touching 6 Panel Emotional Beat

This scene is beautifully written. It’s a single-page poignant character beat for professor Xavior.

 

Effective Inking / Coloring = Cinematic Atmospheric Effects 

Romita’s loose inking combined with appropriate coloring effectively simulates a flare’s blinding light. Good stuff!

Iceman's Power Set

The staging of Bobby’s use of his ice powers in these two pages is awesome! And the banter between him and a rioter are pithily amusing. The coloring on Bobby is also notable. I love the blues/green color scheme.

Pretty Weird Art Universal Monsters Poster

I'm finished another large 18 x 24 poster illustrating the classic monsters from Universal Studios. 

It should look pretty awesome next to the "Slasher" movie poster I completed in March. I've included rather gruesome illustrations of the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, Dracula, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Pretty Weird Universal Monsters Poster

I'm working on another large 18 x 24 poster illustrating the classic monsters from Universal Studios. 

Here's a few snippets of pieces of the poster as it's progressing. Hopefully the entire thing will be done by the end of the month. It should look pretty awesome next to the "Slasher" movie poster I completed in March. So far I've included rather gruesome illustrations of the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, Dracula, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.