Doug: I'm just back home from a 10-day assignment in Washington, DC. While out there I did manage to get three comics reviews written (be on the look-out for Hulk #340 a week from Monday, and then partner reviews of the first four issues of the Marvel Presents Guardians of the Galaxy series in August -- I framed MP #s 3 and 4 for Karen to come along for the color commentary). Anyway, and speaking of the Guardians, I saw in Marvel's October solicitations a pencil-only version of an Alex Ross variant cover for Guardians of the Galaxy 3000. As has been the case, this is part of Marvel's 75th anniversary celebration. As we've long discussed Ross's color palettes, I thought it would be cool to see the raw art and have some discourse on it. So fire away!
18 comments:
meh.
Is that Starhawk looking distracted in the rear? And where's Nikki?
I believe that is Starhawk, yes.
Preview of my thoughts on the Marvel Presents series, as crafted by Steve Gerber and Al Milgrom -- refer to our topic of a few days ago about stories "holding up"...
Doug
This is pretty cool!
I remember the original crew, and I really liked that weird little comic, but I've enjoyed the previews for the upcoming film and I'm just gonna have to go see it. They hooked me.
Also, I agree with William. Where's Nikki? She was my favorite character.
mp
I like it...but it reminds me of something, some other drawing or scene from something else that I just can't remember right now. I also wonder why Nikki is not present in any of the art for the new series.
Curious. Nikki to me was a such a late addition that she never comes to mind when I list the original Guardians. She was the Kitty Pryde character. A perfectly solid team shoehorn in a spunky teen girl. Groan.
Every rare sample of Ross' pencil work makes me wish he'd do a comic like the rest of the guys. Pencil and ink stuff. Just to see. His pencils are just a shade more "relaxed". Nice.
This actually looks pretty nice, like a splash-page in one of Marvel's b&w mags back in the '70s. I agree with Murray about Ross doing pencil and ink work - looks better than his paintings.
I don't agree, however, about Nikki. I thought she was a good addition to the team, so I'm also wondering why she's missing from this picture.
Yeah, I just don't agree with Murray about Nikki either.
She wasn't anything like Kitty Pryde, who I thought was annoying too.
Nikki was a tough smart-ass who didn't take crap off anybody. She was nobody's victim. She would routinely chew out Vance Astro for moping or tell Starhawk to "grow up already."
She even kicked Spider-man in the stomach one time!
I wouldn't mind seeing her make it to the big screen. One of my favorite female comic characters.
The original Guardians concept involved only Vance Astro and the three others from their respective Earth colonies, so Ross's depiction of Starhawk, "off to the side" and occupied elsewhere instead of being front and center, makes sense if he's designed his portrait in keeping with that concept. If I remember correctly, the "Marvel Presents" series featured Starhawk as more of an unknown quantity who worked with the Guardians but kept to himself and wasn't formerly a "member" of the group--so in that respect, I think Ross's depiction has nailed it perfectly.
In the spirit of persnickety discussion...
I have to elaborate to Brother Edo that, while I think an Alex Ross pencilled comic would be something to see, I am actually a great fan of his paintings.
Building on Brother ComicsFan's historical note, the core four are the Guardians in my book. I didn't mention it in my previous post, but the fact Starhawk is way in the background (tweeting with other cosmic conundrums or whatever) suits me very well.
Awakening to all this Nikki love sent me to web search and memory refreshing. Am I misremembering her somehow?
It's kind of funny. The first image of Nikki that popped up was a ghastly portrait done in a Liefield-Image-90's style. Complete with the mandatory, gigantic, "credit card gun" (what comes out of those thin, rectangular muzzles?) I can't stop chuckling and will just remain firm in my minority stance.
Have a nice Sunday. The blue looks exquisite right now!
Yep, I like the drawing just fine. Honestly, it's very much like a John Buscema/Neal Adams hybrid to my eye. Mind you, I tilted my laptop about 30 degrees clockwise so I could actually see it clearly. The deeply-tilted perspective doesn't do a single thing for me-- doesn't add particular excitement or tension, and somewhat gets in the way of taking in the picture. Another very small nitpick is that all four of our main guys in the foreground are wearing pretty much identical grim, concerned expressions. This is a pretty common convention. . . but with an artist that's able to create such detailed, realistic faces, you kind of want to see more nuanced, in-character differences in how each of them is reacting to what they're seeing. That's. . . a tall order on my part, though.
I do get the absence of Nikki. She wasn't one of the original four, plus she showed up one issue later than Starhawk, even. (I almost typed "Starfox" and then "Starlord". . . good grief, how cliche'd can a name be??) I liked Nikki just fine-- the line-up was extremely staid as originally conceived, and became even more-so w/ the addition of the almost laughably taciturn and humorless Mr.S-Lord. She was a welcome and necessary down-to-earth element who helped lighten the tone. My guess is that she would be depicted in the next image that Ross comes up with for this series (if it is a series).
HB
Now this is my Guardians of the Galaxy! Rocket who? The classic team of Vance Astro, Yondu, Martinex and Charlie-27 will always be my favourite roster for the Guardians.
The movie trailer makes it look like this will be an action comedy - what do you expect with a talking raccoon and a talking tree? While this will probably do well at the box office somehow I've never been into this version of the GotG.
As for Nikki, count me in on those fans who wished to see her included here. I think she adds a more dynamic vibe and personality to the team, much more so than the powerful yet dour Starhawk.
- Mike 'where's the movie Yondu's head fin?' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Well, dang it all. Hate to threadjack, but since I know he has some fans here, I have to say: RIP James Garner.
re: Anonymous' question: "where's the movie Yondu's head fin?" I have a feeling that it might be a gloriously living CGI creation. I haven't read anything to confirm that, but just call it a hunch.
Just to chime in on some points that have been made:
I don't mind that Ross chose to picture the four main heroes with Starhawk in the back as sort of an afterthought. I think that logic explains, too, why Nikki is not depicted.
As to the tilting of the image, I thought that was a funny comment. Many of our Ross detractors complain that his work is stiff and static. For me, the image is set diagonally intentionally to give the illusion of movement.
I agree with those who said it would be interesting to see Ross's work done in traditional four-color style.
Again, to preface our reviews from Marvel Presents that will begin the first Monday in August, I'd invite all interested parties to read the first five stories ahead of time. One of the ideas I am going to complain about is the stark personality change in Vance Astro. I'll have other issues, but that should whet the appetite for those who care.
Doug
"it reminds me of something, some other drawing or scene from something else that I just can't remember right now."
Quite reminiscent of that first panel to show the Guardians in Marvel Two in One #5 (I think) - the one where the Thing, Captain America and Co. go into the future to help fight the Earth-dominating badoon.
Scripted by Gerber, pencilled by S. Buscema
Karen: Also reminiscent (since someone mentioned Adams and Buscema) of some splash pages other people are going to remember more correctly than I am: isn't there a splash with Cyclops in the Adams-drawn X-Men sequence (vs. the Sentinels) that looks just like this? I also think there's something with Cap at the controls of the Quinjet in some Avengers story . . . but maybe that's also Adams in the Kree-Skrull war.
William P. - I think you're thinking of the splash page of X-Men 59, which has Cyclops, Beast, and Marvel Girl all leaning over the controls of their jet. But the controls are obscured and Beast is rather frantic looking. The shot of the Avengers in the quinjet in the Kree-Skrull War in Avengers 96 is a little closer, but no one is hanging over Cap's shoulder like they are in the Guardians piece by Ross. This is really going to drive me crazy...
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