indie spotlight: line of thought

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art, art book, black and white, coloring book, drawing, Indie Comics, ink drawings, line of thought, Peter Deligdisch, peter draws, self publishing, zentangle

Line of Thought by Peter Deligdisch is long overdue for a spotlight here at Mars Will Send No More. For maybe two years now, Line of Thought has inspired me. Filled with complex and often abstract drawings, this completely black and white book gives me an instant trip to an art museum. It’s the cup of ink-black coffee that wakes me up when my artistic spirit is lagging.

Line of Thought by Peter Deligdisch

Peter’s newest work is called Almanac, which you can see at http://www.peterdraws.com/#almanac

Maybe you’ve already discovered Peter’s artwork on YouTube or, like me, on Reddit. Line of Thought collects many of his more polished works alongside a few odds and ends that make the book feel like an intimate look at the artist’s sketchbook. I like that kind of thing, but some reviewers criticized the book for not being print-quality reproductions and for including what they felt were doodles.

I enjoy Line of Thought‘s resemblance to underground and indie comics, and to zines, and to publications like Seattle’s Intruder which is entirely comics and art. (Intruder will soon publish its final issue after a pretty amazing run.) This book fits right in with works such as Rick Griffin’s Man from Utopia. It’s an art book, and I think my fellow comic book fans might dig it, too.

Peter works in several distinct styles, but most of his work fits in with what have recently been called zentangles. They are ornately detailed renderings of the plane along shapes which can be either swirling and chaotic, or geometric and orderly. You can make a zentangle out of something representational, or it can be abstract. And when you see Peter’s ink drawings, you can’t help but imagine coloring in all the tiny shapes.

Although I love this book, it may be a mistake to have it categorized in the coloring books category. It got some negative reviews for not really being a coloring book, and that sounds fair. On the other hand, many of the pieces in Line of Thought could totally work as coloring book pages, with a few alterations to the current format. That might include enlarging many of the pieces currently filling half a page (and thus sharing it with another piece). And, pieces with grey-scale shading could be omitted in favor of only pieces created in high-contrast black and white.

That’s not to say it would make me love the book any more, but it would position Deligdisch more accurately in the coloring books category. I’m perfectly content to pick up Line of Thought and flip through the pages whenever I need a reminder that anything is possible in art, that both chaos and order are beautiful and intertwined, and that it’s possible to create pure magic with only a pen and a piece of paper.

Buy Line of Thought by Peter Deligdisch in Paperback.

sketchbook sundays

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art, black and white, drawing, frog, ink, pen and ink, sketchbook sundays

This little frog revisits a 4×6 drawing we did with our very first set of fine point pens in March, 2013. The original 4×6 sold on eBay. This one is bigger at 6×8, though the image above is cropped to 5×7. It uses more solid black in the background than the original version did, but the frog is pretty much the same.

We didn’t post it last week so here is a new illustration for one of the Meteor Mags stories. It was fun to produce. It began with posing for the shot, so yeah it’s sort of a self portrait. But with more awesome hair.

This was the first time we used a white gel pen to put some stars in the sky. For a guide, we studied the stars on the cover of Iron Man #215, shown below. That’s a book we bought at the drug store in the mid 1980s, and maybe we’ll feature it here sometime.

the awesomest comic book of the twentieth century

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black and white, Charles Dallas, Indie Comics, Last Gasp, Psychotic Adventures, psychotic adventures 2, underground comix

Psychotic Adventures #2 is the second of three issues by Charles Dallas, published in 1974 by Last Gasp. You only rarely see them in stock at MyComicShop, so we went directly to Last Gasp for our copy. Last Gasp is also currently out of stock, so maybe we got one of the last available copies.

The other two issues of Psychotic Adventures contain several short stories. You can see some of them in our Psychotic Adventures archive. This one, however, features a non-stop, no-advertisements action/adventure story of epic scale, a story that doesn’t stop until the back cover of the book! The hero and his comrades endure the most horrifying tragedies and injustices, pressing on with an indomitable spirit no matter what.

This story earns more than just a spot in our second round of Top Ten Favorite Single Comic Book Issues. Though we had never discovered this title until a couple years after starting this blog, it has risen to the top of our hallowed short boxes of glory to claim its spot as the most awesome comic book we have ever read. Enjoy!

Rampaging Hulk 4: Jim Starlin + Alex Niño

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Alex Nino, black and white, Hulk, Jim Starlin, magazine, Marvel Comics, other side of night, Rampaging Hulk

Anyone… Anything… can be smashed!

Originally, we meant to tell you all about how we discovered this book, which features a rare collaboration between two of our favorite artists: Jim Starlin + Alex Niño. But as we prepared our lovingly hand-crafted scans for you, we realized we scanned the exact same hair onto at least half a dozen pages. That’s a pretty big scanning fail, especially when you already shipped the dang book. OOPS.

Nevertheless, we went through too much to give up now! We must move ever forward! And so here they are, the complete pages of the awesome Starlin/Niño team-up in Rampaging Hulk #4; Marvel Comics, 1977. “The Other Side of Night.”

nexus 3 with flexi disc

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black and white, capital comics, flexi disc, frank brunner, Indie Comics, Mike Baron, Nexus, Nexus Magazine, Steve Rude

Nexus #3, a magazine-sized publication by Capital. This was the last of the magazine-sized Nexus books. Numbering would restart at #1 when Capital made Nexus a regular-sized book in full color. Despite having a playable record in it, the retail price of this comic book is under $10 most of the time. The interior has been reprinted more than once, but the original comes with a dramatic back cover by Frank Brunner and an editorial on the inside cover.

Want one? Well, we just sold ours on eBay. But, you can buy your own copy of Nexus #1-3 (Capital, 1981-82).

the history of the dc universe portfolio

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black and white, DC Comics, history of the dc universe portfolio, Swamp Thing

We bought this at a used bookstore for one reason and one reason only: the Steve Bissette portrait of Swamp Thing. But in all fairness, the portfolio has several stunning renditions of DC characters. It rarely appears in stock at MyComicShop, but you can find it on eBay for less than its original price of $15.

Underground Comix set: Zap, Young Lust, Crumb

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black and white, Indie Comics, Last Gasp, Robert Crumb, underground comix, Weirdo, young lust

 
Today we flip through pages from Zap, Young Lust, and miscellaneous works by Robert Crumb. These comics were so much fun to read, and we were glad that when we sold them we at least made back the cost of buying them. The lunacy and ribald humor of these adult-oriented magazines merges with artwork ranging from hilarious to adventurous. Not every story in an anthology title works for every reader, but if your sense of humor is warped even remotely as much as ours, you will find something to enjoy.

Normally we put links to buy comics here, but your choices for these underground comix are pretty much local shops, private owners such as eBayers, and a scavenger hunt for any printing still carried by Last Gasp.

 

demo 1 by brian wood and becky cloonan

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becky cloonan, black and white, Brian Wood, Dark Horse, DC Comics, demo, dreams, first issue, Indie Comics, vertigo, waking life of angels

These page come from the beginning of the first issue of DC/Vertigo’s Demo series by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. AIT/Planet Lar published a twelve issue Demo series in 2003-2004 before Wood and Cloonan began with a fresh number one at Vertigo in 2010. DC/Vertigo published both series in two Demo paperbacks, and Dark Horse put them together in a single Demo Complete Edition which is 464 pages softcover.

We love Becky Cloonan’s black and white artwork and how she brings to life this dramatic first issue where dreams and reality intersect. Brian Wood is the author of DMZ, one of our favorite series. We did not feel like the target audience for the romantic drama of Wood’s New York Four and New York Five, but we have seen a few issues of Northlanders which interested us, and we enjoyed the three pointless but punk rock issues of Pounded.

Batman Black and White

Tags

Batman, Batman Black and White, black and white, DC Comics

Today we flip through the wide assortment of art styles in Batman Black and White, a four-issue series from DC Comics in 1996. DC would later publish a series of four hardcover editions of Batman Black and White, collecting this 1996 series with two volumes of stories from Gotham Nights and a final volume of all-new material. You can usually find that collection in trade paperback format at about half the price of the hardcovers.

This series really knocked our socks off with so many inventive and beautifully-drawn takes on DC’s iconic detective adventurer. Joe Kubert’s classic approach rubs shoulders with Walt Simonson’s futuristic vision. In one story, a man fantasizes about assassinating Batman. In another, Batman and Joker are depicted as two actors who discuss each other’s wife and kids between their “filmed” fight scenes. In no particular order, here is a sampling of the interior pages culled from pics we took to sell our set on eBay. This is one we would like to read again.

Flesh: The Dino Files TPB

Tags

black and white, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, dinosaurs, Flesh, flesh dino files, Indie Comics, Pat Mills, UK comics

This isn’t the first time Flesh appears this blog, so let’s keep it brief and look at some awesome dinosaur art! We got our copy at MyComicShop but you can also find it on Amazon. You can see more pages in our Flesh Archives. Okay? Wow, what a beautiful volume this is. Check it out!

bizarre sex #7 by kitchen sink

Tags

bizarre sex, black and white, Indie Comics, kitchen sink, underground comix

 
Ah, Valentine’s Day. A day for Americans to observe a Roman pagan fertility ritual in the name of a saint appointed by Italians with plenty of candy hearts and bizarre sex. Speaking of Bizarre Sex, here are a few pages for you to flip through. Due to the explicit sexual content of the comic book, these are just about the only pages we can show you without causing some sort of brouhaha. And today is a day for love, not first amendment battles. Those belong on President’s Day.

Prior to listing it on eBay, we snapped these photos of the interior of a later printing of Bizarre Sex #7; Kitchen Sink, 1979.

 

Meteor Mags Art by Trey Baldwin!

Tags

art, black and white, Collapsar Comics, drawing, Indie Comics, meteor mags, Trey Baldwin

Trey Baldwin sent us a joyously anarchic drawing of Meteor Mags, finely crafted with black Sumi ink and white Liquitex marker. Explore more of Trey’s artwork at turbolard.wordpress.com

 

indie spotlight: Silvertongue 30xx, Space-time District Attorney

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black and white, first issue, Indie Comics, little nando, manga, silvertongue 30xx, spacetime detective

The opening scene of Silvertongue 30xx: Space-Time District Attorney caught our eye and drew us into this book. The coin falling, flipping end over end from heads to tails, in a dramatic beam of light, with short voiceovers: what a visually dramatic way to bring us in and set up the story! In the scenes that follow, creator Nando Sarmiento delivers on the expectation for visually striking settings.

The opening scenes make it clear this digital manga will address political and cultural conflicts in its two-part story, The Chippewa Vendetta. Silvertongue Hernandez and all his supporting characters have a unique perspective on the central conflict: industrial construction and waste disposal in tribal lands. Each scene explores what they personally have at stake, and this really puts the meat on the bones of the main courtroom drama. We expected more of a straight detective story, but found ourselves drawn into a story you don’t usually see in comic books.

As with many first issues, it can feel like we need to do a lot of catching up to understand the main scenes. Background exposition takes the form of a news broadcast which reinforces the court case as a spectacle, a form of entertainment. The case takes place in a gigantic court-on-wheels whose laws change as it crosses state lines. This puts pressure on the case and keeps the dramatic tension at a feverish pitch.

The first issue promises an episodic manga with entertaining, dramatic artwork and character-driven scenes. We look forward to seeing how this story continues, and what other thought-provoking scenarios Nando can invent for his space-time district attorney.

View more interior artwork and a short video about Silvertongue 30xx: Space-time District Attorney at Little Nando’s website, where you can purchase the book in several digital formats.

Dan Dare

Tags

2000AD, black and white, Dan Dare, Indie Comics, Massimo Bellardinelli, science fiction, UK comics

 
For years, we passed up UK science fiction hero Dan Dare because of his utterly terrible name. Big mistake! But, some scans of his early adventures in 2000AD really floored us. Fantastic space art full of raging aliens cranks the awesome-meter into the red. Dan Dare has the interesting points-of-view and dramatic panel layouts chock-full of action that typify the 2000AD classics.

 

 
If you know of a collected edition that features these 2000AD tales, we would love to hear from you. We can’t find one! Many artists and writers, including Pat Mills, Dave Gibbons, and Massimo Bellardinelli worked on Dan at 2000AD. We will share with you a few of the scans we found from these late 1970s stories.

 

 
A more vintage take on Dan Dare “The Pilot of the Future” awaits readers in a series of Titan Books reprints collecting early Frank Hampson tales in the 1950s and 60s. Readers wanting a more contemporary take on Dan might enjoy the Dan Dare by Garth Ennis Omnibus, Ennis being well-known for his work on Preacher, The Boys, and Punisher.

Rogue Trooper

Tags

2000AD, black and white, Brett Ewins, Dave Gibbons, Gerry Finley-Day, IDW Publishing, Indie Comics, Major Magnam, Nu-Earth, Rogue Trooper, UK comics

 
IDW began publishing a Rogue Trooper series this year. This character, like Judge Dredd, comes from the pages of UK comics magazine 2000AD. Co-created by Dave Gibbons, the original Rogue Trooper blended war comics with science-fiction. The G.I.’s of Rogue Trooper were not “Government Issue” but laboratory-spawned “Genetic Infantrymen” designed to withstand the harsh and toxic environments of an utterly poisoned Nu-Earth. Readers in the States may recognize Rogue Trooper from the video game of the same name, although the comics have never truly penetrated the mainstream here.

 

 
Our gallery today features parts one through four of the “Major Magnam” story – short enough that you can easily enjoy all of it, but long enough to give you a good idea of the vibe of this series. We also included some full-color covers from 2000AD featuring Rogue Trooper. Artist Brett Ewins, one of several to provide top-notch work on Rogue Trooper, dramatically illustrates this deliciously dark script by Gerry Finley-Day.

You can enjoy the Rogue Trooper classics in two paperback volumes that, together, come to about 800 pages: Rogue Trooper Tales of Nu-Earth 1 and Tales of Nu-Earth 2. You can also enjoy the first issue free, courtesy of the BBC.

 

Harlem Heroes

Tags

2000AD, aeroball, black and white, brains, Dave Gibbons, Harlem Heroes, Indie Comics, Pat Mills, sports, sports comics, Tom Tully, UK comics

 
Audiences in the States may know 2000AD as the UK magazine that spawned Judge Dredd. Our readers know we love 2000AD for the dinosaur series Flesh, the violent time-traveling fantasy of writer Pat Mills. Artist Dave Gibbons may not be a household word, but the American film industry made more people aware of the most famous book he drew: Watchmen. Our gallery today features another of Pat Mills’ brilliant ideas: the Harlem Heroes.

 

 
Dave Gibbons drew the Harlem Heroes, of which we share with you the first 50 pages or so. Tom Tully’s script delivers action and heroism at a breakneck pace. The Harlem Heroes play a futuristic game called Aeroball, and the series blends an outrageous dose of science-fiction themes with sports in a barrage of non-stop conflict. Well, when one of your team members is a brain in a vat, what else can you expect?

 

 
These second-hand scans we found years ago while looking for images from Flesh leave something to be desired, we know. Still, they give a good impression of the awesomeness of this little-known series. If you want a high-quality reproduction of the complete series, you can buy the collected Harlem Heroes on Amazon. Also know that the UK’s version of Amazon has three informative reviews of Harlem Heroes that do not appear on the States’ version of Amazon.

Well – what are you waiting for? Let’s play aeroball!
 

love and rockets tpb set

Tags

black and white, collection, Fantagraphics, Gilbert Hernandez, Hernandez Brothers, Indie Comics, Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets

Before packing up our modest collection of Love & Rockets paperbacks, we snapped a few examples of the dramatic and personal artwork inside. Let’s just admit the photos aren’t the greatest, and offer this as merely a peek – a glimpse – of greatness. The Hernandez Brothers treat their cartoons with love. Though many of these stories resonate with us more than others, you won’t find any poorly done stories.

Highlights include the book Love & Rockets X, a riotous melting pot of ethnic, generational, and gender identity conflicts rendered with humor – but not so much sensitivity it doesn’t sting. The stories of female wrestlers remain our favorites, with loveable and pleasingly plump heroines rendered in black-and-white perfection. Our collection held a large chunk of the critically-acclaimed Palomar stories and the earliest Mechanics stories. If you haven’t read any of this historic series before, see if these pages catch your eyes.

Fantagraphics continues to publish new printings every few years. You can browse the Fantagraphics Love & Rockets selection to see what they currently have in print and in stock. Happy Reading!

A Look Inside Weirdo Magazine

Tags

black and white, Indie Comics, Last Gasp, Robert Crumb, Spain, Trashman, underground comix, Weirdo

Weirdo features the legendary underground artist Robert Crumb and a cavalcade of independent talent. Spain’s infamous TrashMan makes an appearance, as do Kim Deitch, Ed Roth, Peter ‘Hate’ Bagge, and too many to list here: some of the funniest, boldest, and most outrageous artists of an era!

Most of these copies in our photos came directly from Last Gasp publishing, and represent the best condition you can get new copies in. Overall, they have shipped us high-quality books that have been long out-of-print and are depleting rapidly from their original stock. We are willing to accept the occasional roll to a spine or minor ding in a corner to enjoy a classic.

These comic books are not intended for small children! They feature nudity, sexual content, cartoon violence, and frankly degenerate behavior! Using strong language, they talk about dead musicians, the hippie movement, intimate biographical material, bodily functions, subversive and revolutionary ideas, and ALL THE GOOD STUFF. Ok? Not for kids.

We recently sold our modest collection of Weirdo on eBay, but not before we snapped some pics of the interior art. If you haven’t seen Weirdo before, enjoy a look inside!

Indie Comics Spotlight: 130 Odyssey by Nikkarin

Tags

130 Odysea, 130 Odyssey, Big Book Brotherhood, black and white, Czech, digital comics, digital comics app, first issue, Indie Comics, Nikkarin

130 Odyssey Part One

This 100+ page epic by Czech artist Nikkarin follows a pilgrim named Bo as he travels through a post-apocalyptic and thoroughly psychedelic wasteland, getting acquainted with the new realities of a post-war world.

130 Odyssey may be the first comic we’ve read from a Czech artist. Its infrequent dialogue takes place in English, at least in the version we previewed. Our images here are from some untranslated sources online, but we read it in English. Its original title reads as 130 Odysea. Regardless, this work relies mostly on purely pictorial storytelling. Nikkarin shows little interest in explaining through exposition the strange places and people on this journey. Instead, the reader becomes immersed in the unfamiliar, a wandering soul in the landscape of the artist’s imagination.

We won’t say we completely understood 130 Odyssey on the first read. On the other hand, incomprehensiblity may be part of its charm. Everything has changed, and we discover it with Bo as the journey unfolds. We would recommend this work to our readers in the States who have already discovered Moebius and other European talents, or to readers who want to get a taste of something off the beaten path of American comics.