#dc comics black label

[kingdomcomicscenter-blog]

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"....A THREE-BOOK ODYSSEY CHARTING THE HISTORY OF PRINCESS DIANA AND THE AMAZONS FROM THE MOMENT OF THEIR CREATION..."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on textless and published cover art to "Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons" #1 (of 3 issues) of the series "Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons" (Vol. 1). January, 2022. DC Black Label/DC Comics. Artwork by Phil Jimenez & Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

OVERVIEW: ""Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons" is a three-book DC Black Label series that shows us the first days of the Amazons like nothing before it. Spanning thousands of years, the book begins with the righteous rage of the goddesses and the passion of its pages never lets up from there.

Hestia. Artemis. Demeter. Hecate. Aphrodite. Athena. Hera. Their names are familiar and comforting, but you’ve never seen these mythological figures like this. Hera isn’t merely a jealous wife, as some of the stories of old would have you believe. The Goddess of Women, gifted with foresight, sees all and knows all. After witnessing the unending pain inflicted on woman after woman at the hands of men, the wife of Zeus burns with a fury brighter than any sun.  

Hera takes the grievances of thousands of women and the injustices of thousands of years to her husband and the gods of Olympus. The other goddesses stand at her side as she says plainly, “We have had enough of men.”

Zeus and the gods dismiss them with condescension. In the depths of Hades, at the Well of the Lost, the goddesses put their own plan into motion—one that will ultimately rock the very heavens themselves. As these powerful women create the Amazons from the souls of those lost to violence and massacre, their gifts are stunning in their generosity and power.

The first Amazons are as unique as the goddesses who create them. Their names can be found in both books of myths and comics: Penthesilea, Io, Pythia and Antiope. Each goddess, except Hera, calls forth a tribe of five. These first Amazons aren’t “warrior women”—they are warriors. As the book comes to a close, we meet Hippolyta and the fateful decision she makes that will eventually lead her path to cross with theirs."

-- DC COMICS/DC BLACK LABEL, by Kelly Knox, c. December 2021

Resolution from largest to smallest: 25550x3263, 1985x3052 (2x), 1080x1434, & 677x942.

Sources: https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Wonder_Woman_Historia:_The_Amazons_Vol_1_1, Washington Post, Modern Mythology Comics, various, etc...

[re-readingcomics]

Comics Read 10/14-11/02/2023

I recently read the first two volumes of The Nice House on the Lake written by James Tyrion IV, with art by Álvaro Martínez Bueno and colors by Jordie Bellaire. I have been reading Tyrion for a while, and Bellaire’s colors are familiar, the work of Martínez Bueno is new to me. I decided to read it based on liking Tyrion’s other work, which was good decision!

The Nice House on the Lake is about a bunch of people who all share a friend in a guy named Walter. Only it turns out that Walter is an alien from a species that has decided to wipe out most of humanity, except for some segregated groups of ten, who will prove that they can live in harmony unlike the rest. Here it is important to note that we do not see any of the other groups of ten that other members of Walter’s species selected in this volume, and also there are more than ten in this group. Walter invited his hand selected favorite people to survive the destruction of the world in a cabin near Milwaukee. These friends are from various phases in life, high school, college, and just hanging around New York City. They don’t know each other well and between that and the shock of that’s happened they are doomed from the start. Helpfully, both volumes come with a not quite complete character guide in their back matter.

Each issue is introduced by one of the characters narrating directly to reader, some time after the main narrative, when the idyllic isolation of the house has ended and the apocalypse has become a regular part of their lives. The two volumes presented here do not bring us to that point yet, but I am interested in getting there. What I have read reminds me a  bit of Tyrion’s earlier comic book, The Woods, which I liked, and I am willing to say that this is better. Early on, it also reminded me of the Vertigo series Unfollowed, but considering what a misanthropic mess that turned into, it is probably for the best that I stoped being reminded of it. 

The speaker at the beginning of the issue also shares flashbacks illuminating their one-on-one personal relationships with Walter. These always involve multi-panel two page spreads. I bring this up because the multi-panel two page spreads in comics are pretty unusual. Having them become a regular part of this comic’s formula is destabilizing, like the characters existence.

Near the end of the first volume it’s revealed that Walter is capable of altering his friends’ memories, and has been doing so for a while. It turns out, some of them have had more to do with building this cabin and it’s rules than they are comfortable with consciously knowing. This leads to the second volume having something of a reset. The format is slightly tweaked and things rush toward a scenario where maybe the characters will have more control over their lives.

As I said earlier, I was unfamiliar with Martínez Bueno’s work coming into this, but now I can say that I am a fan. His work is sharp, but with a sense of wash giving an easy to read sense of movement. It could be water color, but in an almost impossibly controlled way. He designed  Walter to wears glasses that block the view of his eyes, even in his shifty alien form. However, there are other characters who also wear glasses where their eyes are clearly visible behind them. A great way to constantly remind the readers that he’s not quite who he says he is. My only complaint about the character design is that two of the female characters, Norah and Sarah, are a little too similar in appearance, a fact not helped by both characters being chain smokers.  But most importantly the house of the title really does look like it would be an awesome place. That is, If it weren’t for the circumstances surrounding everything. 

[camo-wolf]

The boy wonder #5 variant!

By Lea Murawiec

[dailydccomics]

John Constantine by Bilquis Evely and Mat Lopes

[bobbole]

Morpheus and Daniel - art by Bilquis Evely

[dismas-n-dismay]

I'm not fucking joking when I tell you I saw this panel and literally started sobbing and crying over seeing my babygirl buying chocolate with just fucking quarters. This is the people's jason todd for real, thank you Juni Ba

[petty-d4bblr]

John "who needs a lighter when you have fire demons" Constantine

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Plastic Man No More! #2 by Christopher Cantwell, Alex Lins and Jacob Edgar. Variant cover by Riley Rossmo. Out in October.

"The Justice League won’t listen to him, his wife and kid want nothing to do with him… but Plastic Man doesn’t need a single one of them to pull off his grand plan to cheat death. And it all starts with, uh… kidnapping the Metal Men. It’s for a good cause! He swears!"

[shyjusticewarrior]

[vertigoartgore]

2019's John Constantine: Hellblazer Vol.1 #1 cover by cover artist John Paul Leon (R.I.P.).

[vexingjacktheripper]

Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham #1 (September 16, 2023) variant cover art by Priscilla Petraites

[squero215]

The Corinthian🦷🩸

Ins

[smashpages]

Batman: Full Moon #1 (DC, October 2024) variant cover by Francesco Francavilla

[camo-wolf]

New image for the boy wonder #3

[dailydccomics]

Zatanna: Bring Down The House #4 by Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodríguez