From under my rock I can see quite a bit is going on.

Between comics-to-film news and revamps of iconic characters to sexy political intrigue perfect for a good story exercise; if you wanted “interesting” you’ve got it in spades.

The Russian spy scandal

First of all, yeah, she is not bad on the eyes even if she’s an alleged dirty, filthy, spy. Admittedly, I’ve been avoiding TV especially mainstream media for the last month or so, so I’m not well versed on the up-to-the-minute details of this story. On the surface however it has that classic sleeper agent spy story begging for a new post-cold war twist. It’s almost perfect timing  as Angelina Jolie’s flick Salt gears up with a somewhat similar plot-line. I’d be rather impressed if it was somehow a large guerrilla / viral-marketing  scheme (yeah, I know it’s not).

The BP oil spill debacle / environmental FUBAR

I don’t care who’s at fault, the damage is monumental and is on-going. This oil spill is disheartening! It’s killing already strained local economies as well as absolutely wrecking the ecosystem of the gulf. It’s so bad my kids (when I have them – go go gadget 2012 baby announcement / end of the world) will probably be in their 20′s before it can be said that the the impact on the environment has let up from this spill. Heads need to roll and the way we look at our energy sources needs a drastic overhaul. It’s wishful thinking at this point but from time to time I sing the praises of companies like Tesla Motors for trying to push alternative powered automobiles that don’t look weak as all get out. There needs to be more of these innovative companies pushing the status quo to the side in the name of true progress.  Maybe my kids will see that day.

Jim Lee, come on dude…

This one deserves a full article. Jim Lee was who I had patterned my drawing style from, I collected issues of X-Men & WildC.A.T.s and anything I could get my hands on studying the style. Now, after the Captain America thing (you let that HACK Rob Liefeld touch Caps?!) and this story, maybe the time away was for the best. While I’m quite comfortable with the idea of rebooting an iconic character like Wonder Woman (I was attached to the TV show not the actual comic), I can see the fuss that it’s making, and maybe they should have thought the revamped look through a little more. I’ll speak to that in that blog post for sure. Maybe even make one about imagery when it comes to established characters. Oh, the ideas these sorts of things spark…

DC Comic’s move into web / mobile distribution

I spoke of this a couple of years ago, the little guys are pioneering it and the big guys are going to catch on soon enough. With the emergence of apps centric mobile devices, and CDNs (Content Distribution Network) media is moving to a point of merging into a singular entity where your entertainment, communication and information channels are driven by the cloud and your stored preferences follow you everywhere. Devices like the iPAD while ridiculously named are just the transitional bits of technology necessary to get us to that future.

Here’s some neat fan art

of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man gathered at Youthedesigner.com. As of late, Spidey has been in the headlines for troubles with the property at Sony. When the plans for the fourth sequel fell through, Spider-Man became yet another victim of the “gritty reboot”. Now that they’ve committed to it, the speculator’s talk now is about the possibility and acceptability of taking the character and his alter-ego Peter Parker in a new direction by arguing that the character is more defined by his personality and principles than his (traditionally) portrayed race.

They’ve decided to skew young as well so with this in mind some fans have taken to campaigning for Comedian / Musician Donald Glover (of NBC’s Community) to take up the  webbed mask. I can’t give an opinion on Glover as I’m not familiar with his body of work, however when I’ve asked around, the word is he’s well versed in being a geek on the screen. Danny has been said to have been honored by the thought but would want to earn the role traditionally rather than by popular vote. I say if he can act, why not give him a screen test for the part Sony, after Michael Clarke Duncan’s portrayal of The Kingpin in an otherwise crappy movie (Daredevil), I’m more open minded.

Click here to read the full article»

clipped from www.youthedesigner.com

33 Astonishing Spider-Man Artworks

Among the most popular superheroes that have ever been launched, Spider-Man (Peter Parker) may be considered as one of the most successful fictional characters of all time, possibly even second only to Superman. It has been almost fifty years since his first appearance, but Marvel’s number one superhero is still going strong, especially in the minds and hearts of today’s designers.

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What sort of Mickey Mouse @#^! is this?

This was enough to get me to come running out from under my rock wondering just what happened to the world while I was away. It was Monday so I expected some sort of buzz-worthy event to smack me in the face but Marvel sold to Disney? The end is nigh!

I don't think Frank Castle would approve.

Hold up, pump the breaks.

Like many things that throw you for a loop, a night to sleep on it adds perspective. This assimilation into the Evil Empire may just be what the doctor ordered.  Marvel is no doubt unwieldy at times and though they have taken great strides to keep it in some sort of shape organizationally, it’s been a mixed bag in terms of product. They’ve slowly developed a web model to compensate for the fact that their audience has shifted from printed books to digital distribution, they’re ahead of the newspaper industry but not at the edge of innovative practices. Disney has been more successful in adapting and adopting new technology. This is key because Marvel needs fresh ideas, they need a refreshed vision, I’ll come out and say it, they need Disney.

If you know me personally, you know that I loathe Disney in its current form. I had been a big fan growing up but as I got older I began to firmly believe that they have made some  deal with Satan to pump weak, saccharine garbage into the world. What? Yes, Disney has always been ultra candy coated, but the one thing they brought was a sense of grand imagination, short of Pixar, where has this been for the last 20 years? They killed 2d animation(!), delivered uneven results with their motion pictures, fell off with their music & lost their way with their television programming. It’s been manufactured retreads ad nauseum giving us Britney, Christina, Justin, Lindsey, Shia, Miley, High School Musical & The Jonas brothers and many more… Now that I think about it, Disney needs Marvel…