Whoops, we happened to post at the same time, today.
Oh well, it's a 2-for-1 day for the readers! :D
You're welcome, and I look forward to it myself! (so far I've only seen the original short and some previews)
Someone in the BD sub mentioned that it reminded them of the work of LEO (Aldebaran, etc etc) and I agree with that, too.
Anyway, in the Mastodon thread linked above, someone in the comments said that if the show does well in S1, then Netflix will supposedly order a S2.
Cheesesteak, bingo. A greasy, unhealthy steak sandwich with lots of cheese... or cheese-product, haha.
Never heard of pork & greens being a Philly thing, especially. Scrapple's pretty good when made right, sort of like smashed "homefry" potatoes, but the ingredients are kinda nasty, like hotdogs, etc.
Yeap, I was going to suggest that the runaways went on to produce such fine masterpieces as Sigmund and Cha-Ka & friends.
...require knife & fork.
Sort of....
Depending on the company and setting, perhaps. But they can still be eaten with hands, provided there's a napkin and preferably a little water around, afterwards.
As someone who grew up in Philly, we have a local/regional sandwich that's a whole lot messier than that Chicago one. I think once or twice in my life did I see someone eating it with a knife and fork, and I suspect they were from out of town.
I may be missing something here
I would guess Larson wasn't a fan, and thought that "new age" practices were mainly performative and non-productive, leading practitioners to get stuck in repetitive little circles, getting nothing done in the end.
If so, it's a pretty cynical take IMO, and certainly one of his more personal, brassy ones.
I sort of accidentally discovered that when dining at the local cantina.
The restaurant did something neat in serving an appetizer of guacamole on top of pico de gallo. For whatever reason I decided to dump the whole thing in to the bowl of spicy, chicken-black bean soup I was having. The contrast in flavors, and cooked vs fresh, spicy vs cool was an instant game changer. Indeed, I never looked back from there.
As I learned afterwards, it's a companion (or adaptation?) of the new animated series, which was itself based on this short from around ten years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TRzemJbUsw
EDIT: No, I'm wrong. It's not a BD; just refers to the series moving to Netflix and being re-released there.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I'm frankly rather curious how many of the subscribers here are interested moreso in the pure art or in Euro comics as a whole. I have a community update coming soon, so maybe there's some way I can add a poll...
I... am both dumbfounded and grateful that you appreciate our community, Rolando. <3
Can someone explain this one for me?
Apart from the algorithm-angle, I kind of enjoyed it as an analogue to institutions like Christianity. Think of the formula as a typical sculpture of Christ on the cross-- commonly revered by millions, but at its heart, something which doesn't add up in today's world, leading millions of slavish worshippers astray over and over again.
(haha, and yes, that was a cynical interpretation indeed)
It's from album #19, Au bord du Grand Rien (At the Edge of the Great Void).
Interestingly, the original art by Jean-Claude Mézières (downloadable here in high-res), was estimated at €25,000 - 30,000 at auction, and sold for €31,200 two years ago!
More details at the link above.
These first two are from the book A Land Called Tarot. It's a wordless set of stories inspired by cards, characters and motifs from the venerable tarot deck of cards. The characters are drawn in an anime style (shades of Studio Ghibli), while the backgrounds & settings remind me a lot of Moebius. The stories are fluffily light and whimsical, and for me they're really about looking at the pleasant artwork and imagining what might be happening. Some readers will really enjoy that, and some will miss the lack of a more concrete story.
These next two are from some kind of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" project Bertrand was doing for Nickelodeon. I liked the fact that they're the exact same view, but captured during different time frames, making for a cool 'flip-card' effect.
More art by Bertrand HERE.
This is a fun series I've been reading recently. A pirate captain's lady love was tortured and killed physically, but due to sorcerous machinations, her spirit is able to hang on... barely. Hannibal must soon find a fabled artifact in order to fully restore her, else she's a goner. Unfortunately, some dangerous, undead witches are also after the treasure, and are quite content with wiping our antiheroes out in the process.
I thought this was a well-realised tale, regardless of the mashup of paranormal angles, and overall a bit in the style of Belladonna (reviewed previously). This one feels slightly more contrived in places, but it moves with a purpose, and features gorgeous art. It's certainly one of the better pirate-themed series I've read, bringing some unusual new wrinkles in to the genre. Written by Jean-Luc Istin, with Sandrine Cordurié inking Créty's pencils.
Couldn't find the creator, sorry. If anyone figures that out, leave a comment and I'll add the credit, thanks.
https://aethernaut.thecomicseries.com/comics/
It's hard to describe this series, but I guess we could go with: 'a coming-of-age adventure set in a 17th-century steampunk world.' It's been running for 12 years now, yet I almost feel as if it's just started to get rolling, which is maybe a tribute to the quality world-building.
On the surface, we have a dashing young protagonist trying to advance his fortunes, yet this series is just as much about the world itself, its cultures, wrangling political factions, unusual races (both humanoid and animal), and of course, a trickster-fool as a side character, getting our guy in and out of jams on a regular basis.
Mariah Kaercher (TCG): Browsing through Æthernaut, I got a Charles Dickens meets Pirates of the Caribbean space-adventure vibe. What inspired you to write this web comic?
Neal Skorpen: The world and main characters of Æthernaut were inspired by weird post-medieval art: engravings and drawings that have a dreamlike feel because linear perspective wasn’t quite figured out. The clothes are bizarre and awkward compared to the more familiar costumes of the deep Middle Ages or the 17th and 18th centuries. The first draft of the story was modeled on Gulliver’s Travels; four voyages to strange places, each one a metaphorical attack on one social injustice or another. In the years between making the first draft and beginning the current version, I’ve become less of a believer in such direct political satire, at least in my own practice. To a certain extent I can probably never get away from injecting social commentary, but a good story needs to be driven by the characters, so that’s become my focus.
Interview concludes here.
Ooh, ooh, here's a bonus: (it's the Kidman / McGregor poster)
I have a feeling this is AI-generated, to be honest. I first found it on a German site IIRC, but couldn't find any significant matches apart from that.
I'll try to avoid posting AI art in future, but I have to admit... some of it is pretty flippin' impressive!
EDIT: No, I guess I'll post more AI art in future, based on the positive response and discussion below. I'm frankly a little torn, but I'll abide.
Millidge is a British cartoonist best known for his series "Strangehaven."
Subject matter aside, I love the striking nature of this piece... the disciplined light & shadow interplay, limited palette, and the piercing, mysterious look of the masked woman.
An unlettered version of the piece is here, which might do with some sharpening and cropping.
Spirou (literally "squirrel") is one of the most venerable BD characters & franchises, going through something like nine creative teams or single creators over the years. Part of the reason for this turnover is that the originator, Robert Velter, sold the rights to Dupuis early in its history.
(an alternate layout)
Spirou's uniform is based on being a humble lift (elevator) operator, but it was artist-writer André Franquin who turned the character in to much more of an adventure figure. I understand that the current team (Yoann & Vehlmann) have now turned him in to a superhero(!)
I've tried to assemble the best versions of these graphics that I could, then did some upscaling and simple editing. Enjoy.
(and an expanded layout)
(click links for samples, zoom in on image below for example page)
Grandville (Bryan Talbot, 2009-2017) - When a book featuring 'anthro' animals doesn't get on my nerves, it's usually something quite good. What we have here is a steampunk detective story set in an alternate history; one in which Napoleon managed to conquer Western Europe. This is also something of a 'Noir' story writ large, in which instead of the usual private detective working a case, we have an actual police detective, taking on something... very big. Grandville is frankly quite violent, resorting to the facile, old storytelling technique of using murder to tie up loose ends everywhere. While I'm not really a fan of such, I have to admit it works nicely here, and the story zips along to a satisfying conclusion in which our hero (a badger) takes on a right-wing conspiracy out to stir up war, in order to plunder newly-discovered oil fields. A familiar, topical story one might say, although that just covers the first volume. There are five 100-page books in the series, and the quality only builds from here. As a special bonus, one of the huge pleasures of this series is spotting the endless BD & literary cameos, such as (from Tintin) Snowy's sad yet hilarious appearance here. If you loved the art and style of Blacksad, but found the stories a bit cliché at times, I can recommend Grandville for having sharper, more original plotting and dialogue. Frankly there's much more to say about the series, which I'll try to get to in future.
Human (Agrimbau & Varela, 2019) - Another cracking good read from Lucas Varela, author of the modern classic Longest Day of the Future. In this futuristic, robot-centric story, a married pair of scientists go in to cryogenic stasis, planning to revive together when a post-apocalyptic Earth is safe to inhabit again. The button-down, rigorously professional husband arrives and sets up camp, aided by his talented team of robot assistants. All the while he relentlessly tries to discover the whereabouts of his wife, who seemingly arrived a few years earlier. Finally he locates her, and is broken by what he discovers. Human is a nice sci-fi story that examines the psyche, and specifically, what holds our internal realities together. It also has a lot of fun with Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, particularly when it comes to interacting with a once-sane person losing their mind in a world filled with strange, hominid descendants.
Back (K.C. Green & Anthony Clark, 2014 - 2021) - I'm going to cheat this time and include my favorite (non-Euro) webcomic of all time, now that it's completed its big finale. Some will be familiar with Green as the creator of Gunshow, featuring the "Question Hound," who famously says "this is fine" whilst sitting in a burning house, a pretty savage metaphor for modern civilisation. (have you seen the full sequence? if not, then here it is, plus it's lesser-known sequel)
So-- Back is a bit like Princess Mononoke in that it features a heroine whose mission is to shut down industries of exploitation, thus helping to save the world. What's oh-so-great about this online GN (graphic novel) is that it's nothing at all like one would expect from that mission statement. It's delightfully quirky, rude, farcical, inventive and unpredictable, whilst still retaining plenty of logic and internal structure. In the story, Abigail (the heroine) and her friend Daniel proceed through a long journey and series of events to reach the capitol and confront the king, i.e. Earth's primary exploiter. In fact Abigail, having woken up with no memory and little sense of purpose, isn't very sure about her supposed mission, and is even told by various helping hands along the way that her purpose is actually to END the world. This is a superb GN which concludes with a string of shocks, surprises and fireworks in hugely-satisfying fashion. I recommend taking a look while it's still free to read online, as it may go exclusively to book format in future.
Diabolical Summer (Smolderen & Clerisse, 2019) Another intriguing work from the team that produced Atomic Empire (reviewed previously). This one shares the playful, stylised art and 50's-60's time period, but is a lot more focused and relevant. In most ways it's about a young man on the slippery path to adulthood, struggling with new friendships, new challenges, the opposite sex, and especially, trying to make sense of who is father really is. Somehow it's also a tale of dark pasts, murder, and espionage, yet I can't help but feel that the central theme is still that of struggling to understood ourselves, the people around us, and the inner lives of our parents. As with other 'S & C' works, style-wise there's an intriguing 'elusiveness' which is at turns pleasant or sinister, which I found unique and even riveting at times.
The Coldest City (Johnston & Hart, 2012) - A slow-brewing espionage tale filled with deceptions, double-agents, and heaps of shadowy unknowns. In other words, more realities of the actual spy profession, and much less of the entertaining nonsense found in James Bond and similar series. The album features rudimentary, sketch-like art, but the story was excellent and most certainly carried the day. It reminded me a lot of the intricate Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy series, and was in fact made in to a critically well-received movie, Atomic Blonde (2017).
The panel is from tome 3 "Le Rige." I liked artist Régis Loisel's ligne claire here, particularly the hatching, shadows and line-work on the mounted beasts. Also, the composition is nicely framed, balancing foreground & background elements with some lush colors, and inverts the typical lighting / shading scheme.
"Roxanna" is ostensibly a 'swords & sorcery'-type series, but there's an unusual, interesting background with our two heroes, i.e. Roxanne and her father, Bragon. I hope to do a proper review one of these days..
Wow. Awesome, and nice find!
So, due to the peculiarities of modding here, I'll leave it to @[email protected] to take this link and add it to the other post.
When that's done, this post can then be retired. One-stop shopping and all that.
Hope that's understandable, and thanks for the great find, Varyk. <3