Comic Book Candy

When DC first introduced readers to Kate Kane, the character and her story were met with universal praise. Not only was the story unique for featuring a gay female super heroine, but she was headlining one of DC's oldest properties, Detective Comics, and shocking above all else? It was really good. The stunning artwork of J. H. Williams III combined with Greg Rucka's pitch perfect take on the new character made for a memorable introduction, and it was an origin that was a hard act to follow. Over the last year since the beginning of DC's New 52, Kate Kane's solo title Batwoman has attempted to live up to that legacy forged in Detective Comics. It has failed to reach the same level of quality, proving that artwork alone cannot maintain a series. Greg Rucka knows how to write women. Sadly, this is still a unique skill among comic book (and film and television) writers. Any writer, male or female that write women well (and the ladies don't do it well by default) is...

Jill Thompson's take on Jughead and Betty. What makes the cast of Archie such appealing subjects for comic book artists? Fond memories from childhood? The simplicity of the well established archetypes? Maybe Archie and the gang are just really fun to draw. More interesting than the widespread desire of comics professionals to draw Jughead is seeing the surprising results. What happens when artists with uniquely recognizable styles draw the Riverdale gang? Awesome happens. Here's a small collection of some alternative takes on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead. An adorable Hero Initiative sketch cover by Agnes Garbowska . A very young Lucy Knisley's own Archie comic ( at 8 or 9 and already a "cynical cartoonist" ). Not only does this crossover make perfect sense, but it's great to see Art Baltazar draw Robin dancing to Josie and the Pussycats.   Aviv Itzcovitz's version of a classic Jughead cover, as seen on the blog Covered ...

This past weekend Mighty Fine Tee's revealed a new line of women's t-shirts featuring Marvel comic book characters depicted in the iconic style of Patrick Nagel's album artwork. But that wasn't the only artist to come to mind when I viewed these new duds - Cliff Chiang has been creating very similar parodies for years. Like showing up to Prom in the same dress... (Chiang's take at left) In Mighty Fine Tee's defense, they have a lot of really awesome, original designs available through their site. I myself own a Scott Pilgrim tee from their store, and I am seriously considering buying this art nouveau style Shadowcat tee . But these new designs have only been online for a day and already several of Cliff Chiang's fans have pointed out the similarities , myself included. This case is a little less cut and dry compared to some of the blatant infringements that have been brought forth by artists, such as Jess Fink's recent battle with several t-s...