Below are all four pages that I wrote and illustrated for Marvel Comic's "Strange Tales vol 1." that was released back in November 2009 in issue #3. Later on all 3 issues were collected into a book which you can find in bookstores like Amazon HERE. About 30 creators contributed to this anthology including Invader Zim creator, Jhonen Vasquez, Paul Pope, Peter Bagge, Stan Sakai, Becky Cloonan and many more. It was an honor to be included with these WAY more awesome and well-known creators.This was a pretty unique and awesome opportunity. Pretty much a dream job, it was a LOT of pressure as I was pretty much given free reign to write and draw whatever I wanted. Seriously, how often does that happen?! and for Marvel Comics no less. Added the fact that they wanted something weird and well, strange, which is prolly the reason they asked me to contribute, it added even more pressure as that's exactly what I love to do. This might seem like it'd be easier, but when you are given essentially free reign then there's pressure because you should be putting out your best work, no excuses to say "oh, I couldn't do what I really wanted..."
So my goal was to try and create something that was prolly as far away from what you'd see in a Marvel comic. In general, I like the philosophy of creating art that people either love or hate, and to avoid forgettable or mediocrity. After the issue was released I googled around looking for reviews and boy, did I get my wish, heh. There seemed to be a LOT of hate/confusion over my pages, ha ha. I found it quite amusing. I figured since I only had 4 pages, I'd jam back it with as much stuff and make you have to use a bit more effort and time to figure it out, kinda like a puzzle...apparently it was TOO much of a puzzle as I don't think anyone could figure it out, ha! If I only had 4 pages, I wanted them to come back to it and hopefully find something new each time, so they don't just glance over it and it'll get lost in all the other stories in the book.
Ok, so here's a breakdown of what's going on and all the behind the scenes stuff on what it what and bonus easter egg stuff.
PAGE 1!
First of all, every single sea animal I tried to find their fitting Marvel character counterpart that would make sense and as a fun bonus, I tried to cast my caricature friends who would fit the Marvel character as well as the animal. Caricatures has been a huge part of my life since I caught the bug in 2006 and shifted my focus more on. I've meet some of the coolest and most talented caricature artists in the past few years and thought it'd be cool to put them in for fun. I spent a LOT of time and careful planning on trying to find the best fit for all 3 factors...I prolly spent too much time as I think the art isn't the best it could have been, oh whale, I tried my best at that time.
WHO'S WHO PAGE PAGE 1
Captain America = Starfish, think it's pretty self explanatory why a starfish = Alex Clare, who's gotta pretty streamlined short haircut like Cap A's head gear design, Alex is kinda known for his streamlined headshape. plus Cap he's got an A on his head, that suits Alex! yay! Alex is easily one of the best caricaturist out there, watching the speed, confidence and skill that he does live caricatures is pretty friggin impressive.
Red Skull= Angler fish, those really creepy skull-like deep sea fish which I thought fit perfectly for the Red Skull = Stacy Pierce, who is supa talented with art, sculptures, crafts/costumes, and now starting her tattooing career, she's also friggin hilarous and has an awesome demented sense of humor. zombies, skulls, nazi's being common topics you might see/hear in her art or jokes so I thought it'd be a perfect fit for her as the Nazi loving Red Skull. also, Stacy has her known rosy red cheeks that fits well with the Red Skull :) The hanging down thingy that Angler fish have I made into a cupcake, which like myself on page 2 when she changes into the Red Skull, it becomes a skull cupcake which is the same design that Stacy has tattooed on her arm.
Doc Octopus = Octopus big stretch, I know! heh = Matt Zitman, my good buddy/# 1 nemesis, heh. I always just imagined Matt's face being very fitting as an octopus, and later on after I drew this, I realized that Matt had a lot of octopus shirts, turns out he likes them and how fitting as I like whales and they're pretty much rivals, which is very fitting to our friendship, heh. We just like making fun of each other but in a good natured way...well, he likes to moreso, heh. Anyhoo, I work with Matt at Dorney park and we've created a pretty great staff and fun working environment. He's also easily one of the best caricature artists out there. oh, Matt's a big car person, he LOVES his Mazda Rx-8, which I drew him holding on pg 1.
Electro = electric eel, duh. = Me- cause I'm yellow. this one wasn't too clever, heh.
Hulk= green sea turtle, y'know, green and green = Nate Kapnicky. Nate's a big hulking-ish dude...think he fits the Hulk pretty well, heh. Nate's does awesome crazy exaggerated caricatures. very inspiring.
Nightcrawler = squid, nightcrawler when he teleports disappears in a cloud of smoke like ink squid. *Bamf* = Andy Urzua, who I think kinda fits the wily silliness of nightcrawler, heh. Andy's art is one of my favs, has an awesome cartoony exaggerated style. cracks me up!
Giant Grouper fish = Colossus, Grouper fish are known to get extremely large like Colossus = Nolan Harris, one of the coolest people you will meet as well as a talented artist, he's got a deep bag of art tricks.
Jellyfish= Sue Richards/Invisible woman, from Fantastic 4. Sue creates an invisible bubble forcefield which looks kind of like a jellyfish head = Robin Schwartzman, a multi-talented artist, who does great caricatures, printmaking and creates awesome life size puppets and structures.
Sea Slug= Blob = Sean Gardner, my good buddy and #2 nemesis (Matt Zitman is still leading a head being #1, heh) Sean does crazy awesome caricatures as well as travels to lots of conventions doing Zombie Caricatures (www.ZombieCaricatures.com!) with partner in crime, Nick Mitchell. You need to check them out! they're BOTH two of my favorite caricature artists.
Beluga whale = Silver Surfer, both white/silvery = Brian Oakes, one of the best out there. period. He's good...almost too good, heh! I think his face shape is sorta beluga whale-ish too, heh. I hid Brian's distinct signature in the shine of the whale as well.
Barracuda= Moebius, a vampire Marvel character. both have sharp teeth = Ben Bloss, a cool dude with cool artwork and sharp teeth.
Lobster= Marvel Girl = ? I gave this person this comic and they still haven't realized I drew them as lobster/Marvel girl. They barely glanced at it when I gave it to them. You could have at least pretended to care about something I cared about and was excited about. oh well.
Pufferfish= Spiral. Spiral has four arms and holds swords, pufferfish are pointy, yeah, that's about it, heh. = Kayla Gales, has a fantastic cartoony caricature style. great likeness + great cartoony fun.
Horseshoe crab= Moon knight, his emblem logo half moon is shaped like the front of a horseshoe crab. = Mike Crawford, his mouth area shape reminds me of a horseshoe crab shape. also one of my fav people to watch drawing live caricatures, insane linework control. such a cool stylized style.
Seal= Beast = Beau Hufford, is known to balance various objects on his nose like a seal. one of my favs in cartoon styles, very graphic and design orientated. vastly underrated caricature artist, in my opinion. deceptively simple...sometimes I think people confuse simple with easy. which it isn't. the good simple, that is.
Killer Whale= the Punisher = Brad Bailey, I liked that I made the Punisher symbol be a white spot on the killer whale. Brad's got a very cool and graphic style, lots of energy comes thru. Brad's also an awesome and inspiring person.
Clam = Venom, who's got a trademark long tongue, ala clams = eh, it came out so small that it's unrecognizable as to who I meant it to be, but my intent was for it to be Joe Bluhm, who is a legend in the theme park caricature artist world.
Portuguese man o' war, for those that don't know this animal, they look sorta like jellyfish, but are from a different family, they float on the ocean, have a sorta bubble and poisonous tentacles that hang down. very cool looking= Dazzler, both are bluish-y = Sam Gorrie, also one of my favorite cartoon styles, just SO fun and lively. I finally had a chance to draw caricatures beside her while I visited Vegas and had such a blast!
Betta fish, a fighter fish = Mystique, both beautiful yet very dangerous = Mel Murphy, does face painting and Mystique is known/has ability to mask her face and appearance. Mel's not necessarily a caricature artist, but friend and rad newly art teacher.
Macaroni Penguin = Iceman = Loy Bouttamy, is always in a cool and collected demeanor, thought fitting as iceman. Loy has done some awesome crazy exaggerated super rendered caricatures. oh I chose the macaroni penguin specifically cause Loy's haircut was sorta spikey in areas like that penguin, heh.
GUIDE TO WHAT IS HAPPENING! heh. PAGE 1
The title "Suenami Cupcake" is written at the top, It's meant to be sorta hidden but most people seemed to have missed that and just see "cupcake" as the title of this short story. I blame chua for that! oh wait, that's me. oh and in the panel to the very right of the exclamation point in "cupcake!" on Sea Turtle Hulk is "NK" which is the signature of my friend, Nate Kapnicky, who I drew as Sea Turtle Hulk.
Sea Turtle Hulk is sleep swimming and accidentally swims into poisonous jellyfish Sue Richards which zaps and knocks Hulk out. Hulk drops down and falls right on top of an unsuspecting angler fish who was just baking some nice yummy cupcakes. Doc Octopus (who I drew my friend, Matt Zitman is best friends with Stacy Angler fish in real lifesies) is horrified and punches sea turtle Hulk off of her far away but it's too
late, underneath, the angler fish is dead. Doc Octopus screams in anger/sadness and starts crying octo inky ink. At the same time on the left side, Capt. Amercia starfish is just minding his business riding Electro electric eel off on a nice strolly swim in the ocean when the large black mass of ink from Doc Octopus rises in front of them. Electro Eel can't see and starts falling down.
late, underneath, the angler fish is dead. Doc Octopus screams in anger/sadness and starts crying octo inky ink. At the same time on the left side, Capt. Amercia starfish is just minding his business riding Electro electric eel off on a nice strolly swim in the ocean when the large black mass of ink from Doc Octopus rises in front of them. Electro Eel can't see and starts falling down.
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PAGE 2!
WHO'S WHO PAGE 2
Wolverine = crab, a crab's legs looked like wolverine's claws to me = my pal, Gabe Hunt. I think I made Gabe as wolverine as I felt he had a similar demenor/sense of humor as wolverine. although he differs from wolvie in that he doesn't have an regeneration of body parts like wolverine. as Gabe is powered by 9 finger digits. Gabe's got a great cartoony caricature style, and held the company record for a good while for most money sold in a single day, I think it was like $2,500 or something. which is STILL very impressive today and hard to even come close.Juggernaut = hammerhead shark, Juggernaut is pretty durable, hammerheads are too, their name sounds pretty tough too, heh = my friend, Aaron Philby. Aaron's got a big brow, like a hammerhead shark. I'm a huge fan of Aaron's work. he's got some crazy skills. go check out his work.
GUIDE TO WHAT'S HAPPENING ON PAGE 2!
Electro eel crashes onto the ground which happens to be right on top of the newly killed angler fish. Doc Octopus manages to jump away. The crash creates an electrical shockwave that melts angler fish while at the same time brings it back to life but now it has changed and become evil Red Skull Nazi angler fish. Why? cause that's just what happens in these things, silly wabbit :). Looking to shoot anything with its evil machine guns. Meanwhile, following the green dotted lines from the previous page of its path, sea turtle Hulk is still descending from Doc Ock's punch and happens to lands on top of someone again, this time it's on top of an
unsuspecting crab Wolverine. Crab Wolverine "Snikts" his way through sea turtle hulk. Lots of Hulk blood floats into the water, attracting Hammerhead Juggernaut. He swims down and in one bite, eats crab Wolverine and swims away. Once again crab Wolverine "Snikts"
unsuspecting crab Wolverine. Crab Wolverine "Snikts" his way through sea turtle hulk. Lots of Hulk blood floats into the water, attracting Hammerhead Juggernaut. He swims down and in one bite, eats crab Wolverine and swims away. Once again crab Wolverine "Snikts"
I purposely made the overall layout/design and plot of the bottoms of both pages 1 and 2 mimic each other. Both have some form of liquid rise up and effect a character. I enjoy doing these fun parallels where a lot of things seem random and chaotic but if you look closely hopefully you see that there is actually thought put into it and there's reasoning for pretty much everything I do.
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PAGE 3!
Juggernaut hammerhead spits out a Wolverine crab which bounces off panel borders and Red skull...as Red Skull is going psycho shooting everyone who are all taking shelter behind metal Colossus grouper fish. Capt. America starfish sees both a cupcake and Wolverine crab being spit out and gets an idea. He throws his snail shield to ricochet Wolverine crab into the Red Skull's cross fire. His shield continues to ricochet and accidentally hits Jellyfish Sue Richards and she gets knocked out. His main intention does work and Wolverine crab gets torn to shreads in the crossfire and its pieces land on a cupcake. Red Skull sees the cupcake now a "crabcake" which it loves and starts reverting back to good version of angler fish as it eats it. Capt America starfish and company cheer as it's working. Suddenly angler fish starts chocking on the crab cupcake. Doc Octopus sees this and goes to help her.
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PAGE 4!
WHO'S WHO ON PAGE 4.
I added a few more marvel characters to have fun casting them and also put more of my friends :)
Moray eel = Mr Fantastic = Jeremy Stock, he's wire-y like mr, fantastic. great dude, very artistic and creative, cool art style, smart. funny. talented musician/singer.
Rockfish= The Thing = Shaun Stipick, one of my favorite people to draw caricatures with, he does some of the coolest most complicated body situations on caricatures, really goes all out. He also exaggerates a lot and we draw similar speeds when we both take our times on certain ones :) He's also a walking encyclopedia on all things art. He opened up his own art school in NJ! Lyceum Hall center for the arts
?( hmm. I forgot what sea creature I made him)= Thor= Sean Favre, has a beard like thor, heh. Sean is another multi-talented friend and all-around good guy. artist, musician-his band- Meet Pause , improve group- Helicopter dance off
Seahorse = Rogue= Marlo Meekins, sea horses have pointy snouts, so does Marlo. Rogue has poofy hair so does Marlo. Sea horses are awesome caricature artists, so is Marlo! heh, no, but seriously, Marlo has one of the coolest distinct aggressive styles. Very cool interpretations and unique caricatures. always interesting and inspiring to see what she comes up with.
Catfish= Black cat= Cat Hupp. yeah, this one is complicated casting, I know ;P It looks like I gave Cat glasses which she doesn't wear (well, she has contacts but rarely wears glasses out) Cat's one of the earliest artists I've met when I started with Kamans back in 2006 (and still with the company) and now I hate her more than ever, ha! just kidding, Cat's become a close friend and I work with her at Dorney Park with Matt Zitman. We have a blast!
GUIDE TO WHAT'S HAPPENING ON PAGE 4!
Doc. Octopus gives angler fish the Heimlich, she spits out the chewed up pieces of Wolverine crab including his sharp leg "blades" and ricochets around the panels and happens to slice up and kill everyone. The chewed up pieces of Wolverine crab finally lands on the ground seen in the long thing panel. In the background are all the remains of all the newly deceased. Some bonus fun stuff, you can see the signatures of some of my caricature friends if you look closely from left to right--Brian Oakes, Andy Urzua, Sam Gorrie, At the same time the knocked out Jellyfish Sue Richards falls to the ground near the fallen Wolverine crab. Wolverine crab starts to regenerate since that is one of Wolverine's powers (for those not in the know of such folklore). Then he just walks away going about his business when he comes across Jellyfish Sue Richards, claws a piece of her and eats it and proclaims "That's some good SUE-shi" get it? so yeah, I like puns, heh. I was happy about making the letters of SUE be her eyes and nose. Robin who I made into the Jellyfish/Sue Richards likes sushi so another reason I cast her as her. Also, I purposely made the overall shape of the top of page 4 to mimic that of page 1, so there's a sort of full circle bookend connection. THE END.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I was happy enough with the plot, obviously, it's ridiculous and contains lots of cartoon logic. The theme of coincidences of characters having to be a the right/wrong place at the right time and each event triggering something else. I like silliness and violence. in entertainment. not real life. well silliness, yes. violence, no. well, I mean UFC is fun to watch. anyhoo, you know what I mean, heh
Looking at it now, and even shortly after I completed it, I think the art could have been better. I think I concentrated too much on the casting and trying to get the likeness right on my friends...and even still, I think they could have been better. I do have the habit sometimes that the more time I have and the harder I work on something the more overworked it can become. But even still, I'm still proud of it, I worked really hard on it and tried my best. I seem to go thru different phases and my artwork fluxchuates depending on what artistic kick I'm on at the moment. It really does go thru a noticeable change. I did want to do something different and in your face and I think I accomplished enough of that. I'm happy that I had the idea to include my caricature friends as it's a big part of my life, both personally and artistically. It's cool that I got to include them into a Marvel comic.
INTERVIEW I DID FOR MARVEL
you can read my silly answers HERE
DOING A SIGNING AT "THE MAD HATTER" IN NYC APRIL 9, 7-9PM "STRANGE TALES PARTY!"
It'll be on the same weekend as the MoCCA Festival (Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art) http://www.moccany.org which is on 68 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010-1830 (State Armory) I haven't been to that show in a few years, but it has always been one of my favs. Some of the best in alternative and indie comics will be there. Lots of awesome illustrators/artists always attend to show/sell their work. I'll be there both days to walk around and check it out.
The signing will be at "the mad hatter" which is across the street from the MoCCa show http://www.madhattersaloonnyc.com/home.html. come say hi if you're in the neck of the woods! It is a fund rasier hosted by THE BEAT and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and all donations will be for the Comic Book Defense Fund.
Check out this rad poster for the event drawn by Paul Maybury, who was a contributor in Volume 2. He's one of my fav artists. a super talented and cool guy as well. go check out his work!
RESPONSES TO MY STORY ala READ ALL THE INTERNET HATE FOR ME, heehee...
so like I said, I googled to see what kind of response people had on my work, here's some I found that I copied and pasted. If anyone finds anything (good or bad, but especially if it's really really bad, heh) that I haven't included, drop me a line and I'll just edit this post and add it.
As mentioned, there are a few stinkers present. Peter Bagge's "Incorrigible Hulk" begins to wear out its welcome by the end. This is one story that simply went on too long. Jay Stephens' "La Querelle des Monstres" bounces between being a light comedy and a heady drama and never really manages either. And if you thought the Wonder Woman strip in Wednesday Comics was illegible, just wait until you get a load of Chris Chua's story. I couldn't even tell you what the title is, honestly. It's an intricately detailed, totally abstract mess of a sequential story.
"A completely different explosion of color comes in Chris Chua's surreal
four-pager. The piece looks pretty and is exciting when viewed as a piece
of primitive and bizarre artwork. But I keep staring at the story, drying
to discern some sort of narrative in it. I'll be damned if I can find
anything other than pretty colors and some real strangeness in this one."
"The lows were Peter Bagge's cute but underwhelming Hulk serial (the whole
"the story Marvel didn't want you to see until now" aspect of it didn't
help at all), Jonathan Jay Lee's trailer for a Punisher revamp we'll never
(with art I couldn't get in to at all), Max Cannon's dumb Amazing Fantasy
#15 riff, and whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing (that guy works with
Khoi Pham? For reals?)."
--------response to above comments--
"have to say, Strange Tales #3 was by far the weakest issue of the series.
Chua's short was flat-out incoherent, but for me Lewis's clocked in as the
second worst if only because the writing was so aggressively awful that not
even the art could save it. Cannon's segment was running pretty closely
with Lewis, though.
Brown was probably my favorite segment of this issue, but I did enjoy
Cloonan's as well. I actually liked Lee's Punisher story. There wasn't much
to it, but the art was interesting enough and I'd take it as an
asian-inspired elseworld oneshot over that piece of crap Mangaverse
Punisher one-shot Peter David did a few years ago. Then again, I may just
be being overly generous to it seeing as how it followed the 1-2 punch of
Chua and Cannon."
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"whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing "
Yeah, what the F was up with that? It looked like Jackson Pollock trying to
draw a comic using his splatter technique. Was there even anything
sequential going on there? I can't believe Marvel accepted that thing.
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"The final issue of this mini, and I remain amazed that Marvel let all of
these guys play with their toys. Sakai’s probably the best in show this
time, but Bagge and Brown are the funniest, Hornschemeier is the most
quietly affecting, and Chua is, by far, the most avant-garde. All are worth
a look, and, as with the first two issues, the creator biographies are a
valuable primer of who these people are, and why you should care about
them."
"Chris Chua’s two pager feels like a severely more manic version of
Brendan McCarthy, being really tough to follow in spots."
"Chris Chua's breathtaking art for his Cup Cake short story defies
description"
"Strange Tales wrapped up with #3, and it proved itself a classic. Cupcake
by Chris Chua didn’t make any sense to me, but Michael Kupperman shows up
again, and there was a terrific Beast/Morbius story by Jay Stephens and the
end of Peter Bagge’s The Incorrigible Hulk."
"And Chris Chua's four pages are completely off the deep end - they're
barely even comics in the normal sense, so much as a riot of colour and
tiny panels leading in weird directions around the page. Technically he
fulfils the remit of using Marvel characters, but it's really beside the
point. It's not a story in any way, shape or form, but there's something
unique and bizarre about it that can't help but hold the eye."
^I kinda liked this review, not really a positive review but the fact that he can;t look away was my intention. also that he spent a chunk of his review talking about my short, heh- chua
"Every story might not be to everyone’s taste (I know Cup Cake by Chris
Chua left me scratching my head), but that’s okay. Just turn a couple of
pages, and something’s bound to strike your fancy."
"and Chris Chua’s entirely incomprehensible… I really don’t know what
it’s supposed to be, but it goes on for four pages"
"I don't know what the fuck is going on in Chris Chua's story, and I don't
think I'm alone in that."
Cupcake!: (Chris Cupa) Wow, what is going on here? In terms of studying art it's very interesting.. You could look at this all day and still find new meanings with these panels. It's a bit tough to get through the first time, but I really enjoyed the art in this.
HULK seppoku?
Jeffrey Brown writes something that has absolutely nothing to do with him being awkward with girls???
Beast goes on a stake out.
Someone gave Chris Chua a box of crayons and he doodled some completely incomprehensible garbage on a placemat and convinced Marvel to print it! (Seriously, I don't even have a clue who or what this story is supposed to be about.) Sushi? Huh?
Peter Parker has a drug problem? As in, he's not medicated enough?
The Punisher gets a violent makeover.
Hulk ascends to a higher plane of existance. Ommmmmmm.
The Avengers...are...poorly drawn!
Nightcrawler...uhhh..walks in a forest?
Namor has...crabs? And has to bow to the will of Reed? Or...was it all a dream? Or, worse yet, has Richards been writing Fantastic Four slash?
While I think this was, by far, the weakest of the Strange Tales issues, it was still a lot of fun. Well, not so much the Christopher Chua art, which is hands down the most incomprehensible garbage I've ever seen in a mainstream comic book. It has an incredibly complicated layout, and it seems that he has some idea what sort of story he's telling. I see Captain America, Thor, some shrimp? It's really out of place in this collection. It's neither whimsical, nor cool. It's just...theose pages of doodles from the promising art student who forgot (s)he was supposed to turn in their assignment, so they throw together some images. I can picture Chua standing in front of a class and explaining how all this has something to do with Wolverine's fidelity issues, and how Lady Deathstrike just never got along with her mom. If someone does have a clue what this is supposed to be, I'd love to know. Well, actually, love is a strong word. I wouldn't be completely adverse to finding out what his intention was, but I would also live a fulfilled life never coming across his work again.
I gave the art a 4, due to the Chua art and the Michael Kupperman Avengers story, which just looks like badly drawn pop art.
^yes! :) again, I like that a good chunk of his review singled out my work and how much he hated it, hee hee.- chua
Abstract Comic in Mainstream Marvel Monthly!
Recently while going through recently purchased comics I got around to reading Marvel's Strange Tales #3. For those that are unaware this was a limited series where non-superhero and small press comic artists can do fun quirky short stories involving Marvel characters.
Well, in the final issue there is what I would consider an abstract comic featuring the Red Skull!. It is titled Sue Nami Cupcake and is by Liquid Fury artist Chris Chua.
I found this work to be very interesting and relevant to what we talk about on this sight.
I would have loved to share the actual work with you but I didn't want to violate anyone's copyright.
I recommend you all try to see this strip, I would love to discuss it within' the context of abstract comics.
As far as I know this is the most mainstream place this kind of work has been published.
Strange Tales #3 of 3 – Stan Sakai, yes, THAT Stan Sakai, creates one of the most interesting iterations of the Hulk story. Longshot gets the anime-rave treatment courtesy of Corey Lewis. Peter Bagge's Hulk tale comes to a close. Jeffrey Brown, Jay Stephens, Max Cannon, Jonathan Jay Lee, Paul Hornschemeier, and Becky Cloonan all offer their own weird little takes on Marvel characters. But Chris Chua provides the most bizarre thing I've seen in years.
Strange Tales #3 - This third volume (of three) of indie cartoonists approaching Marvel’s pantheon with their own skewed take is hands down the least engaging of the bunch. Stan Sakai shows little depth as he puts the Hulk in feudal Japan. Chris Chua produces an unreadable piece about what, I have no idea. Jonathan Jay Lee drops a hyperstylized Punisher story which not only doesn’t say anything new, it doesn’t say anything at all. Corey Lewis’ attempt at culture mashing feels five years out of date, and Peter Bagge’s Hulk story reaches its unimpressive conclusion. There are some nice bits from Max Cannon, Becky Cloonan,
and Jay Stephens, amongst a few others, but unlike previous issues, the entertainment to value ration is way out of whack.
Strange Tales #3: I think this one might be the best of the three. It had a nice variety of strange tales. I loved Corey Lewis's Scott Pilgrim meets Pirates of Coney Island Longshot story and I would love to see it continue, Jeffrey Brown's FF story made me laugh out loud for over a minute. Chris Chua's Marvel's Ergot story made my eyes ejaculate cotton candy, and Paul Hornschemer's Nightcrawler meets Molecule Man story made me pause and contemplate life.
^that may be my favorite quote from a review, haha.- chua
this is a podcast with 2 people talking. they talk about my story about at the 3/4 mark. " here's some highlights reviewer 1-- "...which, I gotta be honest, I had no idea what the hell was going on and ended up skipping thru it" reviewer 2-- "I get it. the guy's an artist and he's got his own style and stuff but there was no story here, it was all a visual thing...whatEVER man...I did not care for that story at all" reviewer 1-- "I had no idea what was going on and I got quite bored with it almost instantly, I really shouldn't have to put forth that much effort to decipher someone's tale " reviewer 2 "yeah, no kiddin"
The centerpiece of this three-part anthology series is "The Incorrigible Hulk," by Peter Bagge, which has been lying around at Marvel since 2002 or so. It's worth the wait: Mr. Bagge is a very observant cartoonist, the kind who knows that the best humor is funny because it's true, and that the line between the comic and the tragic tends to blur. But the other contributors don't need to fear the comparison. Nick Bertozzi, Paul Pope, Michael Kupperman, Dash Shaw, Nicholas Gurewitch, Tony Millionaire, Jeffrey Brown and Max Cannon—to name just my personal favorites among the bunch—all make the most of their unique styles and, each with their own idiosyncratic sense of humor, provoke some great laughs. Jay Stephens contributes a downright fantastic straightforward fight comic between the Beast and Morbius. And while I've got no idea what's going on in Chris Chua's entry, it certainly looks mind-blowing. (Marvel/Marvel Knights, miniseries)
Stan Sakai turns Hulk into a samurai tale, and it’s followed by one of two selections that didn’t work for me at all: Corey Lewis’ “Longshot!” Although quite colorful, it’s also quite annoying. (The other, and worse, is Chris Chua’s “Cupcake,” which is such a mess, I can’t even decipher what heroes it features. Really, it looks like doodles from a serial killer’s notebook.)------------------------------------------------------
*whew* so this post took forever to write and prolly why I waited so long to do it. if I have any other commentary or extras or anything I forgot to write I'll just put a big UPDATED so it's noticable when I do on this same post to keep it all contained.
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4 comments:
Screw the haters! I discovered your work in Strange Tales and that's when I became a fan. I'd much rather see something like what you did than some of the other boring stories.
oh cool! thanks, Josh! It's very cool to hear you dug it!
Thanks for including me and my Unibrow in your comic. I'm thanking you because I know there is money involved. Thats right, you used my likeness and trademarks with out permission. I know you big time comic book drawers get paid the big bucks, and I want my share. I don't care if you have to sell one of your mansions, or one of your Italian sports cars. You're going to pay me a percentage, and it better be big. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You decide.
I accept paypal.
I got paid in swedish fish, so I'll send you a percentage of that. hey, that works out perfectly, as you live in Sweden! (in case you forgot where you lived)
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