Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Random Thoughts: July 4th, 2007

Empowered #1
Ominous Clouds Over the Vendors
Meg n' Jack

Top: Empowered #1. Adam Warren is so good, he sickens me. See for yourself.
Middle: A wet, but fun Canada Day.
Bottom: The White Stripes at MTS Centre, July 2nd.


  • I shouldn't be up, but here I am.
  • The Stripes show was great. My fandom is renewed. The Jason Stollsteimer incident bugged me a bit, but hey, who hasn't been in a dust-up now n' then, huh? Icky Thump is a great listen, too.
  • Frank Kozik has 46 (!!!) toy designs coming out this month. Holy shit!
  • My iPod is brain dead. The living room of my apartment is in shambles due to my rooting about for CDs.
  • I did mention how gut-wrenchingly good Adam Warren is, right? I've been reading Empowered #1 over and over for months now, and I'm constantly blown away how great it is in both its script and artwork. Every panel appeals to me on both a technical level (the whole fucking thing is in pencil. PENCIL! Fine, don't believe me? Here's his process.), and on a very base one (Adam draws ladies quite nicely). I've been digging his work since he used to illustrate the "tech" column in Spin, and I was immediately taken by his ability to take manga traits and make them palatable for a North American audience, and this was when manga was still pretty foreign. Now that a lot of us are more attuned to Japanese comics, the signifiers he uses in his artistic blend are that much more entertaining when they're employed. On the writing end, Adam continually skewers comics and pop culture in general. In one chapter, a number of Empowered's "Superhomey" associates recount their origins...standard comic book fair. The twist is that they all got their powers via irresponsible sexual liaisons. Another chapter deals with Emp and her friend Ninjette giddily reading slash fan fiction on the internet about themselves and their cohorts. That's a fuckin' brilliant premise.
  • While I'm talking about talented folks, let's shine a light on a French dude named Yves, better known as Balak. I got a deviantART membership only so I could freely comment on his work (which is lovely, and a little pervy) and Adam's. Plus, it allows me to be privy to some of their naugtier work, too. Y'all know how I roll.
  • Other than that, there ain't a whole lot of reason to have a deviantART account, unless yer really into the anthropomorphic thing. I'm not.
  • Fellow gigposters.com and flickr user Frank Sparrow (that's his pen name, actually) has a set of illustrations going, and I've been entertained by each one so far. Check 'em out.
  • I'm going to bed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Adam Warren does indeed rule. His writing is some of the funniest satire I've read. He's made some great interpretations of classic characters over the years.