#1) I’ve been out of the Batman/dc comics phase for almost a year so I don’t care that much about the topic

[figofswords]

anybody remember the stephanie brown essay I was working on under a research grant fully last summer? yeah it’s not done yet it super needs to be done and I’ve been avoiding working on it for weeks. someone tell me to just do it already

[tessatechaitea]

Dark Nights: Metal #1

I thought this series was going to be about how the meta gene is tied into Nth metal and not some fifteen year old metal head's idea of a cool black light poster.

Apparently time travel makes you vomit blood.

I thought the page after that scanned page was going to declare the new age was the Age of the Bat. But it didn't. It declared it was the Age of Metal! After reading that, you're supposed to make guitar noises with your mouth and bang your head and throw up some devil horns. You might even fuck a goat, if you're super cool. I'm not sure when the Age of Metal began. There was the Golden Age and the Silver Age and the Modern Age (and maybe some other metallic ages I don't remember). Perhaps the Age of Metal just means the time when superhero comics began? Or did the Age of Metal start when Peter David gave Aquaman long hair and a hook for a hand? Mongul currently has the Justice League battling for their life on his new Warworld. This takes place almost immediately after Mongul was punched into orbit by General Zod, so editorial demanded that Batman mention something about how this makes no sense, continuity-wise. He doesn't say it to help explain it! He just says it because editorial was all, "You know we're going to get buttfucked hard on this by the Fangenders¹, right? You need to get out in front of this shit." And Snyder was all, "Okay, okay. Batman will be all, 'This doesn't make sense!' But then Superman will be all, 'Stop over thinking things, you stupid fucking hypocritical moron living in your parents' basement and not adding any value to anything because all you do is destroy things with your Internet criticisms!'" And the editor was all, "Yeah, maybe that. But tone it the fuck down. You're sounding like Cullen Bunn anonymously defending his shitty Twat Lobo comics on harsh but hilarious blogs offering valid critical reviews." The Justice League's powers have been rendered inert by...well, it doesn't really matter what by. It's the same old shit as usual. The heroes are too powerful so to create dramatic tension, you remove their powers. Snyder does offer a few ways that their powers can be dampened by invoking red sons and vibration domination technology and Gorgon pasties just so the Fangenders can nod enthusiastically and think, "Yep! Yep! They should have seen this coming! This is just like Justice League #45²! Idiots." Of course, those are the powers with fairly easy explanations for how to suppress them. He doesn't explain how he's keeping Cyborg from utilizing his Mother Box technology. Or how Green Lantern's ring isn't working (although, I mean, really? It's probably just out of charge like in 95% of Green Lantern comic books). And how did he stop Aquaman from talking to fish? Oh, you know what. Mongul probably decided Aquaman could keep his stupid power. Oh, just so Scott Snyder doesn't feel like he was being too subtle, I got it. It's the Metal Age and the entire Justice League is being forced to wear armor by Mongul!

Some of it is super sexy titty fucking armor!

Toyman has also been captured by Mongul, probably because Scott Snyder needed enemies that the Justice League could kill without Batman getting on everybody's dick about murder. Toyman tells Mongul the name of the toys that will kill the Justice League is Fulcum Abominus. Mongul pulls out his dick and begins sucking it because he's smarter than me and that apparently means something to him. I shouldn't feel too stupid though because why should I have known what a fulcum is? I've never owned a Warworld and seemed to have missed the adolescent phase where Roman soldiers intrigued me as much as women's nipples. I suppose the name means the Justice League will be battling an abominable shield wall? A close formation made up of Yetis? Or maybe just a few transforming robots.

Judging by Mongul and the crowd's reaction, the Aegea Formation must be where the Justice League creates an illusion that they're running away. Either that or this is Greg Capullo's way of telling Snyder to fuck off because he's going to draw whatever the fuck he wants.

I'm not four years old so the crowd chanting "Do not run! Pain is fun!" doesn't amuse me. It does make me question why I've spent so much of my life reading comic books though. It's at this point during the battle that I need to apologize to Scott Snyder. It's my first apology of the new season but it won't be my last. The problem with writing the critique as I'm experiencing the "art" is that I tend to point out flaws before the artist has a chance to finish. It's like when I'm in the middle of cleaning a floor and somebody thinks they're the next George Burns and says, "You missed a spot!"³ So, um, my apology is that I assumed Snyder couldn't think of ways to dampen the powers of the other Justice League. But he continues explaining how they've all been shut down. Green Lantern's gauntlet has a mini-black hole. And you know what they say about black holes when they're not making anus jokes, right?! Not even Green Lantern light can escape! Plus it's a mini-black hole so don't worry about how heavy and dense it is. Even though it must be even denser than a non-mini black hole if it can still capture light in its gravitational pull. And Aquaman has lost half of his strength to the vambraces made from glass forged in the heat of Apokolips! Each creature in the Fulcum Abominus has been designed to counter one of the Justice League members. So not only do they not have their usual powers, they have to battle creatures that wouldn't care if they had those powers anyway! Wonder Woman can't even outsmart hers because it has a Cassandra Engine! And we all know what that means! Well, most of us do. Those who don't can always watch old reruns of Red Dwarf. I hope the solution to defeating the Fulcum Abominus isn't to switch opponents because that's been done fifteen thousand times. Although it would be more original than just having Batman defeat them all after the rest of the Justice League are incapacitated. That's been done about sixteen thousand times. I can't think of any other way this conflict might end. Maybe it'll have something to do with the metal! Or maybe Toyman will have programmed the Fulcum Abominus to turn on Mongul once he's done sucking his dick. He'll be drained and distracted at that point! Batman comes up with a plan to be eaten by Toyman's machines. He comes up with it the way Dr. House came up with solutions to his medical mysteries. You know how somebody would say just the right word and he'd sort of glaze over into a fugue state for a few seconds before snapping back and yelling, "I am a genius! You people are all idiots! And this show shits on the scientific process to pander to people who believe intuition is some magic panacea that comes out of the ether!" Anyway, Wonder Woman says "Formation" and Batman is all, "That's it! Formation! These machines were formated by Toymanster! If I reach into the gaping maw of this one, I'm sure to find a WayneTech Emergency Shutdown Switch!" Or something. I mean, there is a button in the creature's throat and it does have a bat on it and Batman does push it. But it doesn't shut the thing off at all. It just makes it eat Batman. By pushing the buttons in the throat of the creature (which Batman realized by knowing that the command to form the fulcum formation was done by a cry from the back of the throat (because Batman knows everything (which means Toyman must know everything because you can't give subtle clues to people who know everything if you're a dumbshit like me...I mean Mongul))), the Justice League turn the machines into Voltron armor. This allows them to "form up" like the Roman formation and turn into a giant robot. Batman is the head, of course. Aquaman is the balls.

Is that why Snyder introduced the stupid rhyming chant earlier when it made no sense because the Justice League wasn't running? Just so Batman can act childish now? Eh, works for me! I mean, I'm the guy who chose to write that Aquaman was the giant robot's balls.

Instead of saying "ass" on the next page, Snyder inserts the title page and credits. Apparently the logo for Metal is a Satanic Hexagram. Can hexagrams be Satanic? They made it into a six pointed star but not so that it looks like the Star of David. It's got some bend to it. But the star is enclosed in a circle with symbols at each point. Those symbols are combinations of Justice League symbols and the bat symbol. So Wonder Wobatman and Superbatman and Aquabatman and Black Computer Batman and Green Lanterbatman and the other one. It's totally metal. Also the word metal is textured like the bumper on a pickup truck. Is that metal? I mean, it's metal, literally. But is it metal, 80's figuratively? When the Justice League return to Earth, they find a mountain has appeared in the middle of Gotham. Apparently it didn't kill too many people because the city somehow made room for it. But Batman is still upset by it for some reason. Probably because he's thinking about how he vowed to never let anybody else be crushed by a mountain after his parents were crushed by that mountain in that alley. The Flash finds a door inside the mountain with a pseudo-Challengers of the Unknown symbol on it. It's an hour glass with most of the sand in the bottom half. That's probably not a good sign, right? Inside the door, they find a cryogenic pod with five people inside. I bet one is a white woman, one is a white man with blond hair, one is a white man with brown hair, one is a black man, and one is white man with red hair! Nearby the pod is Red Tornado. They don't seem to recognize him even though earlier somebody mentioned Aquaman's hook hand. If they remember that, they should surely remember Red Tornado! The Blackhawks appear, led by Lady Blackhawk, Kendra Saunders. Get it?! She's still a hawk! Oh, Scott Snyder! You're so fucking clever! I bet Geoff Johns hates the fuck out of you. It always hurts to be usurped. I imagine. Nobody has ever been able to usurp me. Or wanted to? Lady Blackhawk tells everybody that this is the start of an invasion but she can't tell them who is doing the invading. That's called dramatic tension! It's also called bullshit writing. Just fucking say it, you resurrected nutcase! Instead of revealing cool shit, she spends a few pages taking everybody to Blackhawk Island where she has a map of Grant Morrison's Multiversity. She's all, "Nth metal is this thing that's behind all these things. It's such a crazy thing! Hawkman, the most boring hero in the Multiverse after Aquaman, has been studying it his entire lives! Yeah, you heard me right! I said lives! He decided it didn't come from anywhere in the known Multiverse through assumptions and poor science. Unless over the course of all his lives, he had time to use good science? You know what? Who cares? Just believe me when I say it must have come from somewhere else. He didn't know where until he binged Stranger Things last year and Eleven turned over the Dungeons and Dragons map. That's when he was all, 'A-ha! That's the one place on the map I didn't search! The other side of it! The dark side of it! The Dark Multiverse! And now that I've decided that the known Multiverse is much like a two dimensional representation of it, the other side of the map must exist in reality! A Dark Multiverse!'" "I'm not the worst," mumbled Aquaman.

Ha ha! Wanting proof! How silly!

I like how Kendra wanted proof of Carter's theory which caused Carter to want to prove her wrong. What the fuck does that mean?! You don't prove somebody wrong who just wants some evidence that your theory is reality! You just prove your stupid theory. I already hate this new version of Hawkman. Yes, I'm biased because I've hated every version of Hawkman so I didn't have far to go to hate this one. But I hate him more passionately than I ever hated the other ones and I haven't even met this one yet! The other ones I just sort of hated for no real reason. This one is a scientific idiot. Kendra isn't much for science either. She just found the word wagon over and over again because a wagon would carry a dark beast named Barbatos from the Dark Multiverse into the Non-Dark Multiverse. And then she decided that Wagon was the root of the name Wayne (you know, wainwright? Wains! Wagons!) which must mean that the Wagon was Batman and he was the bad guy. That's when the Blackhawks pull their guns on Batman. But they don't shoot him in the face for some reason. Some heroes they are! Red Tornado begins screaming about the door being left open which probably saves Batman's life. He then flips the fuck out which means he'll be dismembered in a few pages. His stories always end in dismemberment. Batman steals Kendra's Nth Metal and races back to the Batcave to destroy the Multiverse in the pursuit of knowledge. The Nth Metal reveals Carter Hall's diary hidden in Wayne Manor. It's there to tell Batman he was right to pursue whatever he's been pursuing. The mysteries of the Nth Metal, I guess. And once he's been proving right, he's visited by Dream of The Endless. Well. I guess Snyder can still surprise me without me needing to make a snarky comment about how dumb his twist is. I don't know why Dream has appeared but it's pretty cool that he's been allowed back into the regular DC Universe. I'll say this about Metal: it's entertaining and interesting. But it's also built upon the dumb shit that Scott Snyder likes to build his retcons. So far we've learned that the Meta-gene is actually the Metal Gene because Nth Metal is behind all superpowers. We also learned that Nth Metal couldn't have come from anywhere in the DC Multiverse so it must have come from the other side of a two-dimensional representation of the Multiverse. I know that's just a metaphor but I bring it up because it's a metaphor from Stranger Things. The other big twist is that Wayne means wagon. In both the meta/metal and wagon/Wayne plot elements, we see the thing Scott Snyder bases almost all of his stories on. He starts small by looking at words and their meanings to expand those observations into a bigger story. Usually I'm just annoyed by them. But this time, he gets to really fuck around with the DC Universe by making this Nth metal/meta-gene connection and I'm always up for a good buttfucking of the DC Universe. Oh yeah! How can I mention all the word play without mentioning the Dark Nights title of the series? Oh, probably because it's been used before. But this time it's the Dark Nights bring the Dark Knights of the Dark Multiverse! It's boner and/or lubrication inducing! _________________________________________________________ ¹"Fangenders" is my inclusive term for what was once thought of as Fanboys. Being an obnoxious comic book know-it-all knows no gender boundary. ²I don't actually know what happens in Justice League #45. But if you were instantly angry at my lack of knowledge, you're a Fangender. That was the whole point, dum-dum! ³I have a floor cleaning business. This isn't just an analogy of a thing I rarely do. It happens all the time. I'm getting angry just thinking about it! I should probably footnote George Burns as well but what's the point? You have access to the fucking Internet, lazy!

[sweetwriting]

Tim Drake Week 2017 - Day 6 (part 1): AU

Category : Gen

Genre : Angst / Murder / Mystery

Fandoms : DC Comics, Batverse - Superverse

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary : Tim really didn't want to deal with a murder case.

Word Count : 1861

To read it on AO3

Day 6 : Crossover

Author’s notes (under the cut ‘cause it’s long) :

A few things before starting this AU : 1. This What if Universe is "What if Tim had never talked to Dick and Bruce ?" It basically went down like this : Batman got a lot more violent until meeting Steph a year later. She underwent about 6 to 8 months of training and is a pretty good Robin (she and Cass are still BFF of course but she's also Wonder Girl's BFF). When Tim's parent died when he was 13, he was sent to a foster home. But there's like 1 social worker for 17 cases and Tim's personality is not as big as that of some of the other cases his social worker had to, well work. So he ended up in a few pretty bad foster houses and decided to run away from one when he was almost 16. He got out of the state of NJ and right into NY where he made his way into Metropolis. Also he's a lot less sexist that he was in canon 'cause women didn't let him be in this verse and Tim is a character that usually learns when confronted with his problems (it doesn't show here 'cause there are no female characters).2. Tim shows signs of (complex ?)PTSD + Development of Borderline Personality Disorder in his early days. Meeting Dick and Bruce and becoming Robin kinda helped prevent Tim from actually developing the PD but he still kept some of the symptoms up to the end of the preboot. So if he hadn't met Dick&Bruce, Tim would have most probably developed the PD so here he was diagnosed with it. Remember that once you have developed a personality disorder you can't get rid of it but you can be taught on how to control your behavior.3. As for Kon, without Tim there to form YJ he and Bart sometimes see Secret and she comes to ask for their help but nothing more. He and Wonder Girl met a few times during the different crisis but without being forced to hang out together nothing ever came out of it. The Teen Titans were never re-formed. And Kon's parcour was similar to that of the 2nd part of Superboy v3, without the extra fuckboy crap. After Roxy's cameo she and Superboy stayed in contact, as such he went with her instead of going to live in Metropolis when Cadmus Disappeared. Superman still had him go live with the Kents but Roxy is a constant presence and ends up visiting a lot once she stopped bailing her father out. She's still very much his sister (like we needed the blood transfer for that to happen), Kon still only does superheroing on the W-E once he lives in Smallville but with Superman, Supergirl and Steel. Some of the character changes never happened without Tim like : his arrogance is still partially there, he's more angry because his friends are scarce. He still talks to Hero who is, by all means his BFF along with Bart I retcon Geoff Johns' retcon that made him slightly homophobic OKAY. STill, between his PTSD and depression he has his own anger issues. Overall he met the others but beside Bart never really befriended them. He and Kyle worked together a few times though and he really looks up to him. Without feeling like he had to protect Cassie, he never died (one of the scientist also miraculously thought about sunlight in Infinite Crisis)

Tim didn't know what he was doing. He was lucky Perry White had some sort of conscience hidden and locked somewhere deep inside his gruff journalist interior and exterior otherwise he'd be living on the street (or maybe not, he was pretty resourceful and a hard worker after all. And he had pretty much lived under a bridge for about two years before meeting Mr. White six months ago). And okay, working at the archives of the Daily Planet was about as exciting as feeding your goldfish but Tim got to read weird stuff in the comic and in the miscellaneous news items which gave him a sense of randomness that was much needed despite his desire for a slightly more stable life than what he had had in the past few years.           Of course, this lack of excitement was not that common, even in a simple archive room because this was metropolis and, while obviously not on Gotham's crime levels, it was in its on category as far as big crisis went. And he wasn't talking about one of Ms. Lane's dubious request either.

Now if only he could convince the guy -whose trembling hand held a a gun that was pointed toward him- that he was simply a low-level employee, maybe he could have a chance of making it alive because, unlike what a lot of people thought, completely unexperienced people were as dangerous for low mortals like himself as perfectly trained ones for the simple reason that they were unpredictable. And really Tim may not have been all that attached to his life but it didn't mean he wanted it to end this soon.

So, here he was, sweating profusely when none other than Superboy arrived and started a "conversation" with the man (read: made unfunny jokes about the man) who, in frustration at the young man, started shooting at them.       Superboy put himself between them before punching the guy who lost consciousness on the spot. He was about to turn the guy in to the police when Tim stopped him urgently:

"Wait! Don't you want to know what he wanted?"

"What? No. Why should I care?" came the condescending answer of a superhero Tim just knew he wouldn't like. As such, he couldn't help the equally condescending tone as he answered him:

"Well this isn't exactly Metropolis Bank you know. Why do you think a guy in his forties who obviously never touched a gun in his life visited the archive room of a big newspaper, genius?"

Superboy glared at him and replied, clearly losing the little patience he had:

"Okay then, what did he want Smartass?"

"How would I know? He just showed up and pulled a gun on me when you appeared and insulted him before knocking him out without asking him what his goal was", Tim snapped.

This seemed to have struck Superboy speechless and increase his annoyance with Tim. Not that Tim felt any better than him…or that he minded, he was seriously hoping not to see the young man again after whatever this was (hopefully it wouldn't last more than a few minutes or he might get really angry and he was trying to control his "intense anger" dixit the therapist he was "forced" to see as part of his deal with Mr. White -because it was pretty obvious that Tim was not *okay* and while Mr. White wanted to help he wasn't going to let in some kid who could be a danger to his employees).

Superboy took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, and turned to face the man. He tied him up and they waited. It only took a minute before he woke up. He looked up, surprised, and tried to move his arms before he realized he was tied up. Superboy looked at him with a cold look in his eyes which made Tim shiver slightly from fear and it effectively stopped the anger he felt toward the young man. In his annoyance, he had forgotten that Superboy was, in fact, a powerhouse, no matter how ridiculous he could seem on TV (granted that hadn't happened in a while). Good Cop/Bad Cop it would be then... he hadn't expected to ever play the part of the good cop though. He placed himself besides Superboy and tried to be engaging.

"Excuse him he's not very welcoming toward people who shoot others for no reason." Okay, so Tim was indeed not used to being the good cop... or soothing... or nice in general, he was quite clearly out of practice even if his therapist had helped him make tremendous progress in behaving in a more acceptable fashion. "What I mean is, why are you here?" And now Superboy was looking at him like he was an idiot, like it's not hard to not be tactless. As if the guy was allowed to say anything considering he's the one who insulted the man without thinking things through and startled and annoyed him into shooting at them. Tim continued while trying to prevent the anger that was starting to build again from coming out.

"I mean you obviously didn't come here for the money. "

Now the question for 300 000 $: Which is worse, Condescension or Hostility? Seeing as the man was now frowning and more ready for a fight than scared to death, hostility might have been better. Oh well. He could see Superboy rolling his eyes, yeah well, it was still mostly his fault they were in this situation.

Superboy placed himself between them again, apparently no amount of annoyance could prevent him from protecting people. Good to know. He glowered at the man who cowered and started trying to explain himself and apologize every few words.

"I'm sorry I just, I've been wrongly accused of a crime and, I, sorry, I, I got out of jail a few months ago but no one wants to believe me, I tried to get journalists to help but they wouldn't and the library doesn't have every newspaper of the Daily Planet and I don't know how to use the internet well enough and I needed the information. And I didn't expect anyone to still be here at this hour"

Tim looked at the man then shared a look with Superboy. They both seemed to agree that this man most likely needed help and the police wasn't going to be it. So Tim turned back to the man and asked him what his name was and when the crime had happened: April 19th 1998.           And Tim found it, a young woman had been lacerated and slowly bled to death. She was found on an altar in her boyfriend's basement along with every single one of the boy's close family members who were found surrounding the altar in a circular fashion, stuck in a prayer position, forehead against the floor, arms resting next to their heads, a knife in the neck. They were all wearing dark robes with a hood lowered, stained with their blood. And okay, Tim felt like throwing up. Superboy barely seemed phased but the widening of his eyes gave him away. The man, Martin Bastre, was the boyfriend in question and the haunted look in his eyes as he managed to get up and look at the screen wasn't that of a man who committed a murder so much as that of a man who couldn't prevent it. Tim now truly believed that he was innocent and if he had to think objectively, there was almost no chance anyone would bring back this kind of story to the surface unless they were innocent... or a narcissistic person who wanted everyone to remember their crimes (which would suggest they considered this their best work, a work which could never be reproduced or they would have simply done another one. Since this one concerned his family and girlfriend it could very easily be his favorite work).     And now Tim had a headache.   So maybe his gut chose to believe the man because the other possibility was too screwed up, even for him, or maybe it was because he really believed it. In any case he really wanted out of this right now. He had been forced to look into too many murder cases in his life and now that he had a choice he'd rather be far away from it. So first he told Martin that even while his gut seemed to believe the man, he still had a thing to talk over with Superboy. Then as he whispered his thoughts to the young man he could see that the reasoning had never entered his mind - then again, managing Tim's brand of pessimism mixed with naivety was a very hard thing to do.     Tim tried to make sure Superboy understood he only told him as a "just in case" scenario and not as a really big possibility for the man to be that horrible so he wouldn't go and knock him out again after Tim left them to their own device. This seemed to slightly surprise Superboy.

"Well I'm not gonna join you in anything dangerous. I'm trying to work on my issues not worsen them. So I'm gonna help try and find a few things to connect together but I'm just a kid who was, honestly not that good at school, and I may be able program a VCR player but I am no genius okay, my abilities stop at web design and hacking photoshop."

Superboy looked at him as if he was a very strange person. Then again, he was surrounded by teen heroes, so he was probably not that used to non-heroic types being involved in a case like this refusing to go out and fight bad guys.

In any case Tim ushered the both of them out, saying it was too late and that if the Martin's murderer friend had been out for 20 years, one more night wasn't going to change anything. He told them he would looked through the archives during the day and to meet him again tomorrow night at the Planet when no one would be around.  Once the two started leaving. Tim turned on to go home without looking back. He was in no hurry to continue this adventure but if the man was actually innocent he really did not deserve what had happened to him. And someone had to help. If it was him and SuperAttentionSeeker then so be it. He still hoped their working duo wouldn't last.

As he got home, Tim never noticed the mics hidden in the plug sockets of his apartment. He made himself a warm cup of hot chocolate before slipping in his bed, soon joined by the two cats who had decided to overstay their welcome. Not that Tim actually minded. Especially not tonight. He burrowed his face in one's fur and held the other close to his heart. The two almost teddy bears started purring and helped him fall into a semi restful sleep, hoping not to have any nightmares about the pictures he saw that night.

Authors’s Note 2 : I only wrote this as a "mise en bouche". This is why a lot of things are not explained (like how Tim ended up working there). If you want me to I might write a multi chapters fanfic about it (I know everything about this AU, which includes this arc and the others).

[easythingstodrawtutorials]

How to Draw Batman - Tech Version

New Post has been published on https://easythingstodraw.net/how-to-draw-batman-tech-version/

How to Draw Batman - Tech Version

How to Draw Batman – Tech Version – Easy Things to Draw

This is the tech version of batman I’m drawing from my mind. I had no preparation to draw this, I am making it up as I go along. I talk about my process through narration. I use ballpoint pen. Check out the entire video, and please like and share if possible.

Also, don’t forget to check another tutorial Kids Drawing Revamp #1 – Easy Things to Draw

Hey guys, how are you doing, I’m Enrique and welcome to easy things to draw, hopefully you guys are having a really good day, this article is about an old video that I had from the channel sketch monster and I want to import in this channel, I’m actually having to record over the video because the original footage of this didn’t have commentary at all, so I just thought I can bring something different to it.

What I want to do with this is slowly merging my two channels together, realistically, I’m getting rid of the sketch monster channel, I might just make that only digital, I’m not sure yet and I will take most of these videos and delete them from sketch monster and put them over here, on easy things to draw…

  As I said before, I don’t want to upload the same video so I’ll go over it, what I’ll draw today is a made-up version of Batman just going to tech version because I love drawing tech, I usually go through phases where I love to draw robots and things related to them, you know, like all kinds of machines and it’s almost the only thing I do, then I go to another phase where I like to draw only monsters most of the time so I go to get back to draw people because I don’t draw that as much as I used to…

The first thing I will do to get started is ghosting the image, this is something I’ve talked about before, so if you need to go over this theme you can go see a video that I have, where I explain with more detail what the ghosting is about. In this step you should go quite light with your pen, the one I’m using is a regular Ballpoint pen, is one of those who give you free to advertise and those things are very generic…

  I originally did it to prove a point, which is, it really doesn’t matter what tools you use, just depends on the level of knowledge you have, because spend hundreds of dollars buying tools it won’t make you better, what will make you draw better is to learn and practice, of course I like my fine Ballpoint pen a lot better, but the one I’m using, which is free and the most common is good, I mean, it’s okay and also adequate to draw.

I continue with my drawing and I want to make like plates coming down in like the shoulder and neck area, I was thinking of giving like a samurai style, maybe a cyber samurai type, that’s actually the first thing that comes to my mind, you can find millions of amazing versions of Batman if you ever go looking for them…

  If you don’t know this character, even though I doubt it, I’ll tell you a little bit about his story, Batman is a character created by the Americans: Bob Kane and Bill Finger is also owned by DC Comics. His first appearance was in the story “The case of the chemical syndicate” of the magazine, Detective Comics N. °27, published on March 30, 1939.

Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, who is a billionaire and philanthropist who owns the Wayne company in Gotham City, after witnessing the murder of his parents in a violent assault when he was a kid, He swears revenge and fights against crime, for this, he undergoes a rigorous training

His clothing, fighting utensils and vehicle is characterized by the design of a bat. Unlike most superheroes, he doesn’t have superpowers, he has to resort to his intellect, well as scientific and technological applications to create weapons and tools with which he carries out his fights. He lives in the Wayne mansion and in the underground we can find the Batcave, which is the center operations of Batman. He also gets help from allies, among which we can find Robin, Elwood, Nightwing, the local police commissioner, James Gordon, and his butler Alfred Pennyworth.

Batman is one of the most emblematic characters of DC Comics, he even got his own magazine in the year 1940, given to for his good acceptance. Three years later, Columbia Pictures released the first television adaptation of the character, which was followed by the Batman and Robin series in 1949. In the 1960s, another series was released, called “Batman”, which used a more “camp” concept and this ended up setting aside his somber tone with which it was originally conceived.

Later, the writers Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams, and Frank Miller produced newly written material about the Batman universe, which passed between the 1970s and 1980s, taking up the original designs and elements of the franchise.

Tim Burton’s namesake film, released in 1989, is considered to have played an important role in the popularity of Batman, also was the series of films launched with “Batman Begins” in 2005. In addition to the previous productions, there are several more in which the character and his elements have been incorporated.

So there’s a huge amount of Batman versions to blow your mind on, if you guys have a favorite Batman version, please send me a link to it or just tell me, that way I can go search for myself because I love seeing different versions of the characters.

I continuing with the drawing and I putting in little parts, I still don’t know where the neck part is going to attach, which I do know is I want that neck area to be a little more complicated, I also start finding for smaller shapes, and this is something I have said in the past, of all kinds of things, you star large, very broad and then you start to focus on different aspects of the drawing. If we’re talking about design, I don’t want to over complicate the forehead, I’ve talked about tension and release, tension in the area of massive complications, well not massive but just complicated area, right here, would be in the area of the face mask, then I release private upper forehead, the ears.

Now I’m trying to give this dimension, I want the plates do not overlap completely but give the feeling that they’re touching so you can see a little crack in between the plates, that’s like attention to detail thing. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the lens/eyes if it’s gonna be completely robotic, and then it made me think that this won’t be the real Batman, maybe, you know, it’ll be a more robotic version of Batman…

Now I want the line I’m making can bottle the chin over the cheekbone, it in carrying through all the way to the back of the forehead, you have the sweeps and that sort of thing and you can check out in this channel, since they were in my main channel before and that doesn’t exist anymore.

Continuing with the drawing, I’m going to the forehead of the far the side of the eye, now I’m choosing which lines I want to make thicker, as they’re going to really be the main focus, with at least one line you’ll create several different focuses, whatever you do darker in your drawing, it will push forward about the viewer so you’ll have to be careful what you pick and that’s why I can get away with kind of scribbling stuff in and then I put a thicker line, you know that too, if you’ve been drawing for even a little while…

You’ve already done exactly the same thing I’ve done, you know, you start drawing with a pencil and then you try to erase it, but the line is really dug so you can’t get it out, what I mean by that is kind of the same thing, but this time you’re doing it on purpose, although with this drawing I’m using a pen and it’s a little different.

Now I go around the side of the necklace and I push it downward, I just add abstract shapes at this point, fiddling with a small shape, just making a kind of mess around, also I’m trying to duplicate this piece on the shoulder, trying to mirror it, and that’s it, all I do is pretty much random, I also do this on the shoulders and the neck, I have no plan with this, I just do what I feel will look better.

We’re almost at the end of this drawing, I’ve always found pretty funny to darkening the contour, we’ve already got to the part of the drawing where the only thing left is just darksome things here and there and I feel like my drawing is almost ready, I just throw a couple of extra lines to kind of make it more presentable to the viewer, that’s also something I always think, “is this presentable enough” or “what can I do to make it more presentable”, I also like to darkening a couple of things, because this makes very clear what to look at and is more dealing to the viewer.

And that’s it, we’ve already finished our tutorial on how to draw tech Batman version, some things I have to say before saying goodbye is that I’ve started a new page in Patreon, although I already had one, like about two years ago, but this time I’m working really hard on it, since the one I had before I never took it very seriously and now I’m giving to Patreon another chance, this time I want to do it more seriously and consistently, so if you have time go visit my page…

  Another thing you can do to support me is subscribing you to my channel “Easy Things To Draw 101” (the whole title together) and activate the little bell button, That way you’ll get notifications every time I upload new content to my channel, you know I like to teach you how to draw easy things, what can be: superheroes, monsters, body anatomy, robot or things related to mechanics, You don’t have to worry if you don’t know anything about it, because I always try to explain..

How to draw step by step and I try to do my tutorials the best way to help you guys, also it doesn’t really matter if you’ve been drawing for a long time or if you’re new, my tutorials and other videos are made for all types of artist, you can find drawings for beginners or also if you are a more experienced artist, you can review some themes, It is always good to do it because one can forget some things.

Another thing I like to talk about in my videos are experiences that happened to me and can happen to you as an artist, they can be, blockades when you are drawing or also can be bad art teachers among some things. And that’s all, thank you so much for seeing my tutorial, I really hope it can help you and I see you in another tutorial where I will teach you easy things to draw, goodbye.

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Also, don’t forget to check another tutorial Kids Drawing Revamp #1 – Easy Things to Draw

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2015 Comics Holiday Gift Guide Part 1 - For the Movie Fans

By Vincent Faust

(This was originally published on December 14, 2015)

Happy holidays! Whether you’re a Catholic, Jew, an observant of Kwanzaa or simply a standard slave to consumerist culture, you’ll be giving gifts to those you love. Is your father a boomer who will tell you how he used to love Thor growing up, but hasn’t picked up a four color page in decades? Is there an obnoxious young cousin in your life that could use some action packed stuff to shut her up? Maybe you treat yourself to some things too – courtesy of Santa perhaps? Well, as this club’s self-professed lord of all things comics, I’ve thrown together a handy holiday gift guide.

If you skip to the end, I have a basic list of all my recommendations if you want to bypass all my fluff. I include Amazon links throughout, but most of these books should also be available at your local comic shop (which you can find here) or run of the mill book store. I also recommend instocktrades.com for saving some money (free shipping on orders over $50).

Are you a newcomer to the superhero subculture? Maybe you found yourself among us because of Robert Downey Jr.’s undeniable wit, Chris Hemsworth’s luscious locks or Christopher Nolan’s masterful trilogy? The CW is doing some great things with Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Netflix can apparently only hit home runs, with Daredevil and Jessica Jones so far. Maybe you know that the world will be pummeled with over two dozen more superhero flicks by 2020, and you feel that you may as well willingly submit to your new geek overlords before you’re forced to do so. Here are some selections to prepare you for upcoming blockbusters or to delve deeper into some recent gems.

1. Jessica Jones

After Fredric Wertham nearly destroyed the medium with faulty science, the Comics Code Authority was created in 1954 as a self regulatory agency for the comics industry. Marvel remained an adherent of the censorship club until 2001. 

Jessica Jones was introduced in the series Alias, which served as the flagship title for Marvel’s Max imprint. Max was about leaving creators free to use mature/explicit themes as they saw fit. 

Alias also served as another early stepping stone in the explosive career of Brian Michael Bendis. He had already started his legendary run of Ultimate Spider-Man and was just a few months into his classic Daredevil tale. In 2015, Bendis is a multiple award winning writer and the primary architect of the Marvel Universe. 

For fans of the Netflix show, the Purple Man/Killgrave isn’t really brought up until the last five issues of the 28 issue run. It’s a slow burn character study and less of a “big bad of the week” kind of feel. Besides Bendis’ quick, natural dialogue and intriguing plotting, Alias is graced by Michael Gaydos’ noirish pencils (uplifted by Matt Hollingsworth’s colors) and David Mack’s iconic painted/collage covers. Ultimate Spider-Man collaborator Mark Bagley also does wonders on occasional flashback sequences.

Alias is collected across four trade paperbacks titled Jessica Jones: Alias. Volume 1 is here. The entire series can be grabbed together in a hardcover omnibus edition, with the added bonus of oversized pages. Here it is. 

To continue Jessica’s story, the next step is The Pulse. Still penned by Bendis, but with a more diversified art cast, the series covers Jessica’s new job at the Daily Bugle and her continuing relationship with Luke Cage. This trade paperback collects the whole series and includes the pair’s adorable wedding as a bonus.

2. Civil War

Whose side are you on? Every Marvel fan will have to make that decision on May 6, 2016 when Captain America: Civil War kicks off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by splitting the Avengers down the middle over philosophical and legal quandaries. 

The anticipated film will be loosely based on Mark Millar’s 2006 mega hit miniseries. For better or worse, Civil War was a huge success for Marvel and would kick off their current summer event strategy that continues to this day. Nearly every single ongoing series being published got drawn into the overall tale, several miniseries popped up to run alongside it, and even series with no connection had no choice but to acknowledge it. 

I’ll spoil it a bit and say that you will probably hate Tony Stark after reading the series. Civil War is incredibly divisive to this day, but at its core is a fun action romp with some barely noticeable post-9/11 philosophical questions brewing under the surface.

The seven issue mini is collected in an affordable trade. It can work as a purely standalone work.

If you want to flesh out the broader story more, check out the next entry on this list as well as looking into the Iron Man, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four tie in issues. Unfortunately, some of these trades are out of print and harder to find today; but Marvel is literally reprinting everything in time for the movie. 

If money flows through your veins, you could even splooge for this $500 MSRP box set collecting almost everything remotely relevant to Civil War.

3. The Winter Soldier

Before Steve Rogers was an anti-authoritarian leader in the monolithic Civil War, his long lost best friend and sidekick Bucky Barnes popped back up on the superhero scene. Ed Brubaker was tasked with making Captain America into a hit again after some rocky years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Right off the bat, Brubaker took a huge gamble by breaking a major rule in comics. People joke about death in superhero comics. It doesn’t matter anymore. Jean Grey has died a dozen times (which granted, is the point of the character). Doomsday killed Superman and he was back in less than a year. Despite all these meaningless deaths, many a comic fan used to claim, “no one stays dead except Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben.” In 2005,  those first two were made moot. Bucky was retconned from being the creepy Robin-like child sidekick to a badass soldier in his own right. The Soviets saved him from death and turned him into a Cold War killing machine. Captain America: Winter Soldier covered the basics pretty faithfully. The original comic story is one of the greatest stories told in the medium though, and knocks the film out of the water.

Brubaker’s very long Captain America saga is collected across several books. The highlights of the run are all at the beginning though. The Winter Soldier arc is conveniently collected in a thick trade. After the major shakeup with Bucky’s return, Brubaker focuses back on Steve for a while in Red Menace, with Crossbones and Sharon Carter making strong appearances. Then Civil War starts its rumblings and something spoilery happens to Steve directly following its finale. It was heavily promoted and reported on by the New York Times, so you should know by now. The third fat collection of Brubaker’s series collects the seminal death of Steve Rogers and the beginnings of Bucky’s time as Captain America. With those three books, you get a whopping 43 issues of stellar comic storytelling. They also work as perfect bookends to Civil War.

4. Batman vs. Superman

This club is called the Students of S.H.I.E.L.D; but it would be naive to think that many of us aren’t huge fans of DC’s characters and stories. It’s also naive to put your fanboy stake in the dirt and not open yourself up to these fantastic tales. 

Personally, I love the Marvel Universe just slightly more than the DCU. However, I think that DC has most of the greatest standalone stories in their stable. Also, Batman. 

With the divisive Man of Steel, Zach Snyder at the helm, an overcrowded cast of cameos, Doomsday showing up for some reason, so on, who knows how Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will turn out (update - it was terrible). 

If you want to lower your expectations even more, or see where the story can be done right, you should look to comics. Frank Miller revolutionized Batman in 1986/7 by putting out two stories that have since become definitive masterpieces. Batman: Year One showed us Bruce’s fledgling start as the Bat, as well as some juicy Jim Gordon and Selina Kyle backstory. The Dark Knight Returns, on the other hand, was Miller’s stark take on the “end” of Bruce’s life as Batman. The former is blessed by the beautiful art of David Mazzucchelli, while Miller uses his own rough manga/film noir style in DKR. 

Every single Batman story since has drawn on the influence of this indomitable pair. Both books are absolute must haves for anyone who considers themselves a fan of Batman or the comics medium. I am going to highlight DKR, as it includes a famous showdown with Superman. It also inspired Batfleck’s armored suit.

Dark Knight Returns, along with Watchmen, is a major cash cow for DC and can be found literally everywhere. If you want to flex your comic book critic mind, I hesitantly recommend trying out The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the incredibly controversial sequel from 2001. Unlike certain other seminal works, DC at least let Miller do the sequel himself (see: Before Watchmen). 

The thing is, Miller’s work had always had slightly misogynist, racist, xenophobic undertones. But 9/11 happened in the middle of him doing the series, and it noticeably affected the story and his psyche from that point forward. Most comic fans would tell you to completely avoid DK2 and anything he’s done since. Miller’s art is either hideous or esoteric, depending on who you ask. His ex-wife and longtime colorist, Lynn Varley, was also experimenting with digital coloring for the first time. Just like his pencils, some people argue her basic, flat colors are intentional and deconstructionist, whereas others say she did a shitty job. 

If you want to go balls deep, there is an oversized hardcover collecting both series together. DK3: The Master Race is currently being published. Miller allegedly has minimal involvement in it. As of writing this, there is one issue out and reaction has been mixed.

5. The Fantastic Four Aren’t Terrible?

Fox’s most recent mess of a Fantastic Four movie, or “Fan4stic” as people love to call it, may have tarnished the IP for mainstream moviegoers for the indefinite future. 

However, the first family of comics has a storied history in the medium they helped to bring back from the dead. Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1 from November, 1961 may be the most important comic of all time. Spider-Man, Thor, Tony Stark, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Ant-Man wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Susan and Johnny Storm. 

It would be easy to thank the family for their influence and then dismiss them as archaic and irrelevant. But, that would be a major mistake. Some of the greatest Marvel stories have come from the F4. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s mind blowing 102 issue run literally built the Marvel Universe from planet to planet. John Byrne really built up Sue and brought She-Hulk into the extended family. Even Jake’s fabled Walter Simonson did some great stuff on the book. I’m going to focus on two pretty different takes.

Jonathan Hickman wrote Fantastic Four for three years. Hickman is known for his slow burning, epic storylines that build off one another. In 2015, Hickman is infamous for the insane Secret Wars, which is the closest thing Marvel has ever had to a reboot. Secret Wars features Dr. Doom as a godlike figure and ostensibly features Reed Richards as the main character. Longtime Hickman readers will notice developments in the series introduced all the way back in his F4 run. Hickman introduced the FF, or Future Foundation, to the world of Fantastic Four, so the reading order can be a little confusing. 

A quick google search can help you out. The trades you would need would be this one, this one, this one, this one, then this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and finally this one. 

If this seems intimidating, it is. I can say with complete confidence that it is worth it though, especially if you dig crazy science fiction. You can also get it all in one fell swoop across two omnibus volumes here and here. That first one is out of print though and may be an arm and a leg in the secondary market. Good thing I got it while it was available, muahaha. If you come across it at a store though, you’ll score a gem (or an investment to flip on eBay).

So…that Jonathan Hickman guy sounds kind of scary. If you were looking for some Fantastic Four stories with a little bit less emphasis on saving the multiverse, there’s something for you too. Mark Waid wrote the book for a while in the early 2000s. Waid is known for the classic Kingdom Come, as well as classic runs on Captain America, Daredevil, Hulk, Justice League, the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Flash. 

He brought one of his Flash collaborators, Mike Wieringo with him to work on the first family. Wieringo was known for his cartoony, manga inspired style that made everything he drew fun. Waid and Wieringo truly captured the family dynamic of the team. Jack Kirby shows up as a representation of God. Doom does some truly devilish shit. It’s all wonderful. 

You can get it across four trades. Tragically, the industry lost Mike Wieringo at a young age. His work will continue to inspire readers and creators for years though and show that, first and foremost, superheroes should be fun.

6. The Flash

The Flash is probably the hottest superhero property on Television (neatly excluding Daredevil and Jessica Jones since they aren’t technically on TV). The CW hit a home run with Arrow and they’ve since birthed a little universe replete with spinoffs and crossovers. When you think about it, The CW’s shows are the closest parallel to the format of comics. The shows are also going places that a multi-million dollar blockbuster wouldn’t dare, with parallel universes and such. 

Along with showrunners Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, another major player in The Flash is Geoff Johns. Johns is currently the Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics. Starting as an intern for Richard Donner (of The Goonies, Superman 1 and 2 fame), Geoff shifted over to the comics industry and had a meteoric rise. Though he wrote The Avengers for twenty issues, he is most associated with DC’s stable. He’s done character defining work on the Teen Titans, Aquaman, Superman, Booster Gold, Hawkman and the Justice Society. He presently has been writing Justice League since the start of the New 52. 

Among his prolific bibliography, Green Lantern and the Flash stick out the most. Johns brought Hal Jordan back from the grave and turned the Lantern books into DC’s biggest sellers for several years, with smash hits like The Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. He also resurrected Barry Allen (after a legendary 23 year absence) during a second stint writing the franchise. 

It’s his early work with Wally West that really stands out though. After Mark Waid built up the Speed Force and the legacy aspect of the characters in the 1990s, Johns brought a smile-inducing optimism to the book and fleshed out the infamous Rogues. Despite featuring a different lead character, much of the show’s characterization and tone is lifted directly from Johns’ Flash.

Johns’ first Flash run was originally collected across a buttload of slim trade paperbacks. Most of those are out of print. Then DC collected the whole thing across three big omnibus volumes. These are also out of print, but they had crappy tight binding anyway. 

Starting this year, the material is being recollected again in meaty trades. Here is the first volume that just came out. The second doesn’t come out until May, but will start collecting some of the truly legendary arcs. There will probably be about four of them total. 

If you absolutely need some Barry Allen in your life, you may as well go to Johns’ rebirth of the hero. He followed it up with a short second run that lead right into Flashpoint, the harbinger of the New 52 for better or worse. 

The New 52 is controversial for longtime DC fans, and hit The Flash particularly hard by wiping out the prominent elements of family and history from the title. Barry has never been married to Iris. He never sacrificed himself in Crisis. Wally and Bart are bastardized versions of themselves. Max Mercury and Johnny Quick simply don’t exist. The first 25 issues of the title are worthwhile though, if only for the absolutely beautiful art of Francis Manapul. Those issues are split across the first four trades. Here’s the first one.

7. Doctor Strange

After the destined smash hit Captain America: Civil War, the next piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe puzzle is Doctor Strange. Sherlock fans should be hype for Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the Sorcerer Supreme. 

Strange is an interesting character in the Marvel Universe. He dates back to the early days of silver age Marvel in the 1960s. He’s always been a cult favorite B-level hero throughout the years. He started out sharing the title Strange Tales with Nick Fury. The book was the ultimate treat for art nerd comic fans. Fury benefited from both Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko and had a brilliant mix of sleek James Bond style and 60s pop art sensibilities. 

Strange, on the other hand, was one of only a handful of books to get the Steve Ditko treatment. Ditko is the elusive, objectivist, visionary creator of not just Strange, but the Amazing Spider-Man himself. Whereas Peter’s scrawny, dorky physique and his creepy movement were the marks of Steve’s style on Spidey, he used Strange to go completely out there with psychedelia. The ultra conservative Ditko ironically grew to be a major inspiration to a generation of hippies. Strange has always kept that otherworldly edge in the years since.

A Lee/Ditko Dr. Strange omnibus is coming out at some point to tie into the movie. However, there are two fantastic titles that have come out closer to our own lifetimes. The most approachable and mainstream book is The Oath by Brian K. Vaughan. Vaughan is a big name in comics for writing the classic Y: The Last Man. He also has acclaim from Marvel heads for creating the cult teenage book Runaways. He is currently the number one indie darling (outside of maybe the mainstay Kirkman) with his and Fiona Staples’ Saga. Many consider The Oath to be the defining story for Stephen.

The other standout in the sparse Doctor Strange collection library is 1989’s Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom: Triumph & Torment. Written by Roger Stern, who had extensive experience with the character, and drawn by Mike Mignola, this is a true gem. Mignola is most known for founding the Hellboy/BPRD empire of independent comics over at Dark Horse. His early work at Marvel and DC is not quite as stylized and focused as Hellboy, but still features stunning art from a master of the medium. Doom goes to Stephen for help in freeing his mother’s soul from Hell. The story truly encapsulates why Strange will always be the Sorcerer Supreme at the end of the day, even if Brother Voodoo, Wanda Maximoff or Viktor seem like threats to the title. It’s also one of the best Doom tales.

8. Star Wars

Before the industry revolutionizing Star Wars came out in May, 1977, George Lucas went to Marvel Comics to try and shop a comic licensing deal. Stan Lee infamously turned him away before Roy Thomas convinced him otherwise (having previously seen success with the Conan the Barbarian license). 

Marvel went on to produce 107 issues and change over ten years. They were experiencing some financial and creative trouble in the late 1970s and early 80s, with many of their star artists gone and franchises flailing. Some critics attribute the success of the Star Wars comic (among other licenses like GI Joe and Transformers) to saving the company. 

Marvel stopped publishing the book years before the next big wave of Star Wars interest peaked in the 1990s. By this time, the license had moved to Dark Horse, where huge swaths of the now-killed Expanded Universe were built. In the 2010s, the license has returned to the house of ideas in the wake of Disney gobbling up every entertainment corporation in sight. Both LucasFilm and Marvel are now under the house of mouse. 

Marvel has since started pumping out Star Wars comics like it’s all they do. It seems to be paying off so far. Star Wars #1 was the best selling comic in twenty years, reaching over a million copies sold (yes, this is a tiny industry). The Star Wars line is basically paying for any weird experiments Marvel wants to try in the MU. If only DC could get a cash cow like this (besides Batman). An important note is that every Star Wars issue published by Marvel since January 2014 is completely canon.

Besides the fact that people would probably buy them anyway, Marvel’s Star Wars books are actually pretty great. The key to this success is putting top tier talent on the book, instead of the obscure D-listers and science fiction authors that Dark Horse used (no disrespect to those stories, which are great). 

The main title, Star Wars, is written by Jason Aaron. Aaron is one of the hottest writers of the era, with a long running indie hit (Scalped), an ongoing indie gem (Southern Bastards) and time put into Marvel on Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Punisher and several X-Men titles. He also has a instant classic under his belt (Thor: God of Thunder). 

Aaron’s Star Wars has a revolving door of all-star artists that switch out each arc. So far, John Cassaday and Stuart Immonen have done their time on the book. 

Darth Vader features the talent of Kieron Gillen (Wicked and the Divine, Phonogram, Young Avengers) and the photo realistic Salvador Larroca. Lots of comics peeps prefer Vader as the true standout in the line. 

For the Rebels fans out there, Kanan is another book. That book has no names on it though, but if you look on the bright side, they’re rising stars being given a chance to shine. 

Besides those three current ongoings, Marvel utilizes a miniseries format to tell one-and-done stories. Princess Leia herself got one by Mark Waid and Terry Dodson (another top tier team). Greg Rucka and Marco Chechetto did Journey to Force Awakens, which serves as a prequel to the film. Marvel will literally keep printing these books until the world ends I think. Chewbacca and Lando minis have wrapped up, with collections down the line. For the deranged prequel fans out there, an Obi-Wan and Anakin book is coming. 

If you want a taste of Marvel’s 1970s output, there is a nice hardcover of the first six issues, which served as a New Hope adaptation. Their old adaptations of the rest of the trilogy are available as well. If you want to read the whole series, there are three omnibuses collecting it all. An omnibus of Marvel’s dubious Ewok and droids spinoffs is coming out too. They also have the distribution rights to the Dark Horse material and are reprinting it in Epic Collection volumes. STAR WARS IS TAKING OVER!

9. Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is one of the hottest shows on television. I think it and its new spinoff actually get ratings up there with Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory, only below football programming of course. For the first few seasons, it was the “cool” thing to know that it is based on a comic book. Kind of like people boasting about knowing the plot of Game of Thrones ahead of time due to reading Martin’s novels. Everyone knows The Walking Dead is a comic by now. However, if you enjoy the show and still haven’t tried the book, you need to fix that ASAP. 

The book is written by Robert Kirkman, a major sentinel of creator’s rights. Kirkman is the poster child of the late 2000s mentality that creators don’t need to toil away at Marvel and DC for name recognition before doing their own thing. He and Brian Michael Bendis had a great debate about creator-owned comics that is worth watching for people interested in how money works in this industry. Kirkman is the only partner of Image Comics who is not a founder of the company. TWD remains the only indie comic to rank in the top twenty selling monthly books with consistency. Fun fact: his son is named Peter Parker Kirkman.

Along with his staunch views on creator rights, Kirkman is a big fan of format diversity. The Walking Dead comes in all shapes and sizes. Of course, you can buy the monthly single issues that come out monthly. Those are up to the monolithic #150 though (still trailing Savage Dragon #210 and Spawn #259 though). So, even if you are down to hop on the Wednesdays train, you have some catching up to do. The most simple way to read the book is through the trade paperbacks, which are up to volume 24 at this point. The most cost efficient method is the fat paperback compendiums. There are three so far, and they encompass eight trade paperbacks each (48 issues). 

If you are looking for something sexy to put on your shelf, you have even more options. There are hardcovers that collect twelve issues each with a trim size of 7.5 x 11 inches (compared to 6.8 x 10.2 paperbacks). Going even bigger, for maximum art appreciation, are the omnibus editions which are 8.2 x 12 and collect 24 issues each. All of the various formats collect up to issue 144 so far. If you intend to continue following the series, another thing to keep in mind is how often your format comes out.

I highly recommend www.instocktrades.com. They will offer almost all of these books cheaper than Amazon or brick and mortar stores will. Some of them might not be in stock on Amazon, or more obscure and harder to find in stores, and IST will also be more likely to have them available. Over fifty bucks, free shipping.

1. Jessica Jones – Alias Volume 1, 2, 3, 4 / Omnibus, The Pulse 2. Civil War, Mega Expensive Box Set 3. The Winter Soldier – Brubaker Captain America Vol 1, 2, 3 4. Batman v. Superman – DKR, DKSA / Deluxe HC 5. Fantastic Four – Hickman Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, FF Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, Waid Vol 1, 2, 3, 4 6. The Flash – Geoff Johns Vol 1, Rebirth, Flashpoint, N52 Vol 1 7. Doctor Strange – The Oath, Triumph & Torment 8. Star Wars – Star Wars Vol 1, Darth Vader Vol 1, Kanan Vol 1, Leia, Journey to Force Awakens, A New Hope 9. Walking Dead – TPB Vol 1 / Compendium Vol 1 / HC Vol 1 / Omnibus Vol 1