OL' DR. BILL MOULTON MARSTON: He Had No Choice But To Pen The Truth

[Source]

The DC Comics Art of J. BONE (1/5)

We're practically outing ourselves as closet Canadaphiles, but like love, great art knows no boundaries and neither do we. This afternoon, the DC Comics Artist Series proudly returns to feature the vibrantly playful work of J. Bone.

J.Bone is a Toronto based illustrator and comic book artist. A skilled writer, penciller, inker, colorist, and letter, Bone's one of the few comics artists today whose talents would enable him to create an entire comic book by himself.  But to do would require an extraordinary amount of time, and Bone's extraordinarily prolific. In his sixteen-plus years as a comics professional, Bone's contributed to dozens of works, including Alison Dare for Oni Press, Michael Allred's Madman and The Atomics,  and Jingle Belle for Dark Horse Comics.   

But Bone's most prominent contributions belong to his DC Comics resume.  As a friend and frequent collaborator of Darwyn Cooke (whom we showcased in our first Series), Bone's stand-out talents have launched such series as The Spirit (2007) and Justice League: The New Frontier, on which Bone contributed both to Cooke's comics  as well as the DC Universe Animated film. 

Yet the work that best bears his signature may be better recognized by young comics fans rather than appreciating adults. Bone's name has become almost synonymous with DC's young readers imprint, Johnny DC, recently rebranded by the publisher as DC Kids.  Having contributed his skills as a cover artist to nearly every DC Kids comic on the stands, Bone recently celebrated his second anniversary as cover artist and series illustrator on Super  Friends, one of DC Kids' best-selling books and the inspiration for Fisher-Price's line of Super Friends toys.

A very playful B'Wana Beast  sprinting across the top of our blog, we  follow with two different portrayals of Bone's Wonder Woman; together, three works that highlight Bone's individual skills as  illustrator, colorist, penciller, and inker (as well as the many contributions he makes is support of artistic endeavors and worthwhile causes, including 2008's Wonder Woman Day.)  But we'll soon discover that Bone's artistry extends far beyond superheroes, too. Surprises await as DC Comics Artist Series featuring the art of J. Bone continues!

Wonder Woman: New Frontier 

Pencils: D. Cooke / Colors: J. Bone [via]

Wonder Woman Day (2008)

By J. Bone [via]

If you'd like to get a jump on us and check out even more of Bone's super hero work, Comic Vine provides a great overview of his cover art HERE while Comic Book Database offers a complete listing of Bone's comic book accomplishments HERE. And for a more personal exploration of his professional palette, J. Bone's Blah, Blah, Blog! is HERE.

LATE-NIGHT Funnies: BAT-HAMSTER! Our BATMAN Covering The Caped Crusader -- Special Edition!!

After an unforgivable comicsblog absence last week, our rollicking and barely readable Sunday Funnies are back again for the first time ever!! That's right, dabblers, this laugh-laden Late Night Edition of the Funnies will send you off to slumber with split sides and squinty eyes. Not because we're the best imitation of an actual newspaper on the 'net, no sir! Our randomly intermittent coverage of the blow-away blog-hit Covering The Caped Crusader continues right here - yeah, we know! Whowouldathunkit??  But be warned, daring dabblers: our Late Night Editions tend to deviate from the Funnies format you know and love, but who cares?! They're a helluva lotta buncha of fun, and Joker only knows we can all use a good laugh, 'cause we're sure not getting any on TV - Fox News and any show that Sarah Palin's on excepted, of course!

But we digress... tonight, ol' Bats is joined in good humor by his pals from the Justice League: Superman (aka Shazam), Wonder Woman (as you've never seen her before!), Aquaman (or is that Bizzaro-Aquaman?), The Flash (the not-so-speedy Speedster), Grossly-obese Green Lantern, and Robin The (Annoying) Boy Wonder! And that's not including Batman's surprise special Marvelous guest-stars:  Iron Man! The Uncanny X-Men! and A Cat in a Tree!!!

   

Famous Last Words [via] 

That No Is Bizzaro-Aquaman [via]

  Wonder Woman meets Cat In A Tree!  [via]

 Bat-Hamster Cave   [via]

Scott Kurtz's Player Vs Player [via]

 

Uncanny Dick  [via]

  Holy Bat-Spam!    [via]

 Batman's Last Dance   [via]

 

Batmobile Lost A Wheel  [via]

Comicsblog favorite Cameron Stewart makes his Funnies debut with a Tweet! Stewart recently posted this sketch - the 'rejected cover art' he drew for Batman and Robin Issue 9 -  to his Twitter page, proving the Clown Prince of Crime's not the only Joker our Caped Crusader has to worry about! Don't get the funny in Stewart's pic? You'd better rush out and get a copy of Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart's latest issue -- on sale now at your local comic shop!

 

Rejection is so Tweet [via]

 

Batman is Bum-Rushing...Again [via]

 

The Iron and The Irony

[via]

  No Fast Pass for the Flash

 

  That's The Ticket  [via]

 

Wednesday Comics[via]

That's it for Sunday Funnies' Covering The Caped Crusader Late-Night Edition. 

We sure hope you had as much fun as we did, because boy-oh-boy, did we ever have fun! On a final note, dabblers, cross your fingers and say those prayers - conduct human sacrifice if you must - because it all hits the fan next week, when the delightful daylight Funnies return... in just seven days!!!

 

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

DC Night Out - Have A Drink On Me 

by Nick Bradshaw and Chris Shields [via]

Cover Girl: Lynda Carter's WONDER WOMAN

Dabblers love comics; they lust after comic book cover art. We know those action-packed, brightly-colored faces of our favorite four-color books are more than the marketing tools they - like all covers of books and magazines - have traditionally been. Mark our words, we'll have plenty more on the art form that is the comic book cover coming your way this week. To fulfill this promise, we had to dive in someplace, and the Wonder Woman works of  Ray Caspio, graphic designer and illustrator, were an ideal place to begin.

Caspio's love of DC Comics' Amazonian Princess finds it roots in the live-action Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter, which enthralled audiences first on ABC in 1975, then later on CBS until 1979.   In what we think is a very innovative move, Caspio's represented his favorite episodes as comic book covers, each one true-to-form and perfectly capturing all the essentials -- like "The Deadly Dolphin" of Wonder Woman episode 45, which aired back in December of 1978.

In order to best translate his comic book homages to Wonder Woman's episodes,  Caspio's numbering is slightly different than what's given in most episode guides -- although it makes far better sense. Caspio counts the two-part 1975  Wonder Woman pilot movie as his Episodes One and Two, then continues his counting right through the show's two-part finale, which finish out his full 61-episode system. For a full episode listing of Wonder Woman, go HERE.

To date, Caspio's completed four in his ongoing series of comic book covers based on Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman:  The Return of Wonder Woman (Episode No. 15), The Deadly Dolphin (No. 45),  Skateboard Whiz (No. 44 ), and The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (No. 61).  

We think they're all really cool -- and even cooler, Caspio's made each available as an 11x17 print. If you're interested on framing one of his wonderful homages to Lynda Carter as much as Wonder Woman herself, you can contact him HERE.  If you're fave happens to be his latest work, Wonder Woman No. 15 (just below), you're in even better shape: you get your choice of either a print HERE or a T-shirt HERE.   We're thinking No. 15 as a tee, while "The Deadly Dolphin" already has the perfect spot over the kitchen pantry. 

Ray's comics illustrations don't quit with Wonder Woman, though.  You'll find much more of his amazing work and superheroine homages on his blog and website, HERE.

Boy, It's Vintage! Wonder Woman Doesn't Like Pussy

Wonder Woman gives The Cheetah her New Year's Eve kicks (DC Comics, 1977)

Golden Trinity: The DC Comics Art of Darwyn Cooke (1/6)

Darwyn Cooke's Trinity

via [link]

Lynda Carter: Behind The Scenes Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman's Trailer via [link]

Why Is Batman Whispering In Wonder Woman's Mouth?

Oh, shoot, that ain't whispering...!

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman Issue #2 - January 6, 2010

 Art by the astounding Nicola Scott.

Summer's Sensation: WONDER WOMAN After World War II

We're not abbracadabbling thru  The DCU just yet....that's the 'main course,' so to speak, but we dabblers do so love our appetizers, too. Almost as much as we love classic superheroes, especially DC Comics original guard from comics' Golden Age.  Whether we're talking about history or a salad bar, experience tells us the Beginning is always the best place to start - and for Wonder Woman, the place in question would be the first issue of Sensation Comics.   DC wasn't even itself then, but All-American Publications; Wonder Woman, the perfect poster girl for a company of that name.  When Sensation #1 hit the news stands in January 1942, her star-spangled introduction made many a GI stand and salute. 

Sensation Comics debuted as an anthology title, and Wonder Woman was its star.  The series ran almost ten years, graduated William Moulton Marston's heroine to a book of her own as it did,  and eventually found its end with Issue #117.  The amazing Harry G. Peter's illustration above also graces the front of THE WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 6, a hard-cover collection of the fantastic tales once found in Sensation Comics #41-48 and Wonder Woman #13-15.   

Like most women today, Wonder Woman faces constant threats of Universal proportions and continuity reconstruction. So we're sure she'd look back just as fondly as would to the days when her biggest problems were ''The Tigeapes of Neptunia' or 'The Octopus Plant'.  Great fun from a much different era, and probably good for all of us.   We'll have Wonder Woman's latest DC Comics archival edition in our Amazon Shop  June 30th.

Ian Poole Frames His Ordinary Super Heroes

Toronto-based Ian Poole is an exceptionally talented photographer with a penchant for capturing ordinary people looking extraordinary -- and vice versa. Movie stars and royalty aside, it'd be hard to think of folks any more extraordinary than superheroes. The tough part would be figuring out just how they spend their quiet times. But with his latest series, Ordinary Super Heroes, Poole sets out to do just that.

And he accomplishes quite a feat. Where would Batman hang after-hours on a Tuesday night? What exactly makes ol' Doc Ock tick? Is Spider-Man really that 'friendly' to his neighborhood? Poole's pics do a fantastic job answering these simple questions, and they ring completely true.

Considering he juxtaposes this truth with action figure instead of actual models is why we think these work on so many levels. Close examination revealed Wonder Woman and her criss-crossed boy toy to be an exception to the rule, but it's also the photo that makes his illusion work all the better with the others.

So just where would Batman hang after-hours on a Tuesday night? What exactly does get ol' Doc Ock's ticker tockin'? Is Spider-Man really as 'friendly' to his neighborhood as we think? All the answers are here, and plenty of others can be found at Ian Poole's online gallery. Have a look. [Link]

Sunday Twirl with Wonder Woman at WB.com

Spending a quiet evening at the Springfield Home Office does have its rewards, dabblers. For one, I've avoided the wave of Elder Crime thats still terrorizing the neighborhood, and I think I'm now one of very few who has. But I learned at a young age to carry my wallet in my front pocket, and if people mistake it for my bulge, that's there problem.

But I think the biggest benefit I got from staying inside where its safe and warm was bumping into all 41 episodes of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman TV show over on the WB.com.

Lynda - or, Diana, rather -- and I are going to spend much of today getting reacquainted, as its been forever since she and I had a good twirl. I'll always remember our first back in 1977. That was a fine year, by all accounts.

If you've got some free time today or this evening, I speak the truth when I say we'd both love for you to join us. Well, figuratively speaking, that is, since you'll be wherever you are while I'm here in Springfield. I'd invite you over, but hey, I saw her first. A little privacy is good for the soul. And considering my car's in the shop and Diana's got an invisible ride, we're going to need some space to ourselves.

Find all your Wonder Woman Sunday fun here. And for dabblers who can get by with just a Wonder Quickie, you can find the show's star-spangled theme song on You Tube here.