#jim charalampidis

[ziggymardust]

In honor of Across The Spider-Verse releasing last week & a new wave of Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk fans, here are some of @justinmasonart early designs (plus our 6-page mega spread from the final issue) for our Spider-Punk mini series that came out last April. Some characters changed pretty significantly from their first drafts (Mz Marvel & Daredevil), whiles others only had minor tweaks (Kraven & Riot Heart). Regardless, the amount of emails I sent to Justin that just said “this is sick!!!!” Is a lil embarrassing but what can ya do, just part of the creative process. Art by Justin Mason

Color by Jim Charalampidis

And check out the Official Spider-Punk Playlist if you’re looking for a nice intro to punk or a glimpse into what I was listening to while writing the book.

- Zig

[curtvilescomic]

Magik by Nick Bradshaw and Jim Charalampidis

[coverpanelarchive]

Avengers: Marvels Snapshots #1 (2021)

[comicbooksaregood]

Bettie Page: Halloween Special

Volume: 1

Issue: 1

Secret Diary

Writer: David Avallone, Leah Williams

Art: Julius Ohta, Fernando Ruiz

Colourist: Ellie Wright, Jim Charalampidis, Valentina Pinto

Cover: Reilly Brown

Dynamite Entertainment

[graphicpolicy]

Forgotten Runes: Wizard's Cult #4 is a familiar concept and a bit predictable but still fun

Forgotten Runes: Wizard's Cult #4 is a familiar concept and a bit predictable but still fun #comics #comicbooks

Who is Chronomancer George of Dreams and what is he trying to tell the reader? Visions of the past, premonitions of the future – or something far more sinister that threatens the very fabric of the Runiverse itself?! Story: Joe RechtmanArt: Reilly BrownColor: Jim CharalampidisLetterer: Taylor EspositoInks: Tony Kordos Get your copy in comic shops! To find a comic shop near you, visit…

[star-wars-comics]

Doctor Aphra #9 (2017) textless variant cover by Reilly Brown & Jim Charalampidis

[why-i-love-comics]

Birds of Prey Uncovered #1 (2024)

by Nick Bradshaw & Jim Charalampidis

[daresplaining]

Mattea Murdock, the Daredevil Drummer of Philly

In celebration of the forthcoming new Spider-Punk: Arms Race series (not to mention Hobie stealing scenes in "Across the Spider-Verse" last year), I wanted to finally write up my long-overdue overview post on Mattea Murdock! If you haven't read her introductory run yet, check it out here.

Mattea truly stands on her own in the wide canon of alternate universe DDs. She is a female Daredevil, she is Latina, and she somehow managed to escape Marvel's NYC gravity and base herself in Philadelphia, where she defends its citizens from violence and exploitation. Hobie and his self-styled Spider-Band encounter her in Spider-Punk (2022) #3, when they make a detour to fix the busted Spider-Van. They are all immediately-- and correctly-- impressed.

Mattea: "Yo, Kam!" Hobie: "Wait, you know each other?!" Kamala: "Duh! You think I wouldn't know the Daredevil Drummer of Philly?" Hobie: "You're a drummer too?" Mattea: "Best in town." Hobie: "Oh man, my friend Gwen is a pretty dope drummer too. I think y'all would definitely get along." Mattea: "Hope they're ready to get outplayed by a pretty, blind girl." Spider-Punk vol. 1 #3 by Cody Ziglar, Justin Mason, Jim Charalampidis, and Travis Lanham

I talked a little about her killer character/costume design when she was first introduced (I was a fool; of course she's blind), and my love for her look has only grown. It's badass, distinctive, and it slots her beautifully into Hobie's punk rock world while still evoking that trademark Daredevil image (red, sticks, pointy bits...). Her irises are red, which is a visual choice I enjoy in more heightened, fantastical DD stories/art styles, and I think it works for Mattea. Heck, I could even imagine them being colored contact lenses she's chosen to wear for the aesthetic. Also, one detail that wasn't in the previews is the fun little laughing devil face on the back of her jacket (I'm not punk rock enough to get the reference if it is one, but it reminds me of Darkdevil):

Of course, always a big priority for me is Daredevil's power-set, and Mattea provides a quick primer on her unique perspective, mostly focused on hearing and the radar sense:

Mattea: "What? You think just 'cause I'm a blind girl, I can't see? Echolocation, my abuelas used to call it. But it's more intimate. Instinctual. Can hear a kick drum from ten blocks away. Can see it too. If I think hard enough, I can even see what the garage it's being played in looks like." Hobie: "Yo, are you doing it right now?" Riri: "She's definitely doing it right now."

This is not my favorite description of Daredevil's powers, nor-- to be honest-- a particularly informative one. She can gather spatial information through walls...from ten blocks away? I also never love an overuse of visual language in any explanation of these powers, especially as it's implied that Mattea, like Matt, is completely blind. Surprisingly, no direct mention is made here of the hypersenses as a whole, beyond the reference to hearing a kick drum from ten blocks away. Even her hearing doesn't receive that much attention in the story overall, which feels like a missed opportunity for such a musical character. Her blindness, too, is pretty much irrelevant to the story, and never comes up again. But I do LOVE that she uses the term "echolocation", though is still very clearly the radar sense, in all its vague, undefined, semi-magic glory.

And visually? This is great. I'm always a fan of the cross-hatching visual, especially against a black background, and artist Justin Mason doesn't go too overboard on the detail, which is another preference of mine. And thematically, I love the ways in which Mattea's drummer identity is tied into her superheroics-- not just for laying a beatdown on bad guys, but also for channelling and enhancing her echolocation/radar sense. One of my favorite scenes in the comic is when she plays a drum solo on a roof edge to scope out the Kingpin's lair. I'm willing, in that moment, to ignore any gripes about radar sense irregularities out of respect for the coolness and thematic heft of the concept. I mean, this rocks:

Mattea: "Come on, show me the good stuff."

At the end of the day, though, this is not a Daredevil comic and Mattea is not the main character. Plus, it's only five issues long, and introduces a bunch of other new characters as well. There was only ever going to be room for the creative team to offer a cursory introduction, hopefully generating enough interest to prompt these characters to appear again in other comics. In that, I think they fully succeeded with Mattea; we get a cursory sense of her powers (or at least, enough to show that they're the normal DD set), her personality (delightfully cocky, playful, tough, fearless), a few hints of her backstory, and some truly kickass fight scenes. There's a bit of suspension of disbelief required to believe she can use drumsticks as a stand-in for billy clubs (unless her drumsticks are made of something really hefty-- and hey, maybe they are), but this is Spider-Punk. Hobie killed Norman Osborn with a guitar--twice. It's not about realism, it's about style.

Mattea: "Been waiting for this for a long time, Fisk. Real long time." Fisk: "I'm going to break you, li'l girl--AWGGH!" Mattea: "Big, strong man who sends out his band of wackos to push over people too weak to fight back." Fisk: "Wouldn't get too cocky, girlie...you're not the only one who's fast! I'm gonna hurt ya. A lot. Then I'm gonna kill ya. And I'm gonna love every second of it. You know, this is the same look you had when I had your old band clapped a few years back. I like it. Brings out your eyes--GAAAH!" Mattea: "There's something you need to understand about me, papi. I'm not the kinda girl who goes down without a fight."

I can't wait to see more of Mattea and learn more about her, her world, her friends, and her enemies. In particular, she seems to have a history (possibly romantic?) with this world's Kamala Khan, and I would love to see more of that relationship. While Mattea Murdock clearly has a lot in common with Matt Murdock, she also seems happy to be a team player, unlike Matt, and I really enjoy that. Though I guess it's not that surprising a distinction. After all, every drummer needs a band.

[wolverineholic]

From Marvel Wiki: Seething Snikters was a baseball team of Wolverines from across the Multiverse who played a game against the team of Spider-Totems called the Amazing Arachnids.

taken from Deadpool: Too Soon? Infinite Comic Vol 1 #6 (2016)

by Joshua Corin, Todd Nauck, Reilly Brown, Jim Charalampidis & Joe Sabino

[godzilla-reads]

🌸 June Reading Wrap-Up 🌸

In June I read 12 books total, bringing my yearly total to 85 books! My top 3 are the starred titles in my list:

🛍️ The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko

🦋 The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill

⭐️ On Being a Bear: Face to Face with Our Wild Sibling by Rémy Marion (trans. David Warriner)

🌊 The Daughters of Ys by M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux

🤘 Spider-Punk: Battle of the Banned by Cody Ziglar, Justin Mason, and Jim Charalampidis

🧚‍♀️ The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories edited by Kel McDonald and Kate Ashwin

🐲 Dragon’s Blood by Jane Yolen

🏳️‍🌈 The DC Book of Pride: A Celebration of DC’s LGBTQIA+ Characters by Jadzia Axelrod

⭐️ The Fire Within by Chris d’Lacey

⭐️ Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae edited by Elizabeth Dearnley

👀 In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu

🐺 Only the End of the World Again by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Troy Nixey, and Matt Hollingsworth

[omniversecomicsguide]

You can travel back in time to any moment in comics history! Where does your DeLorean take you?

Find out our answers with the new OCG COMICS SPEAKEASY podcast episode - “The Greatest Era in Comics History!”, out now on ‘Tube and pod platforms!

Featured cover art:

DEADPOOL & CABLE: SPLIT SECOND #2 (2016) by Reilly Brown & Jim Charalampidis

[comicwaren]

From Nightcrawlers #002, “The Apostate”

Art by Andrea Di Vito and Jim Charalampidis

Written by Si Spurrier

[comicbooksaregood]

Spider-Punk

Volume: 1

Issue: 1

Writers: Cody Ziglar

Pencils: Justin Mason

Inks: Justin Mason

Colours: Jim Charalampidis

Covers: : Olivier Coipell, Alejandro Sánchez Rodríguez

Marvel

[graphicpolicy]

Forgotten Runes: Wizard's Cult #3 is the best issue so far of the series!

Forgotten Runes: Wizard's Cult #3 is the best issue so far of the series! #comics #comicbooks

Who is Chronomancer George of Dreams and what is he trying to tell the reader? Visions of the past, premonitions of the future – or something far more sinister that threatens the very fabric of the Runiverse itself?! Story: Joe RechtmanArt: Reilly BrownColor: Jim CharalampidisLetterer: Taylor Esposito Get your copy in comic shops! To find a comic shop near you, visit…

[star-wars-comics]

Doctor Aphra #9 (2017) variant cover by Reilly Brown & Jim Charalampidis

[why-i-love-comics]

Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #2 - "No Hope" (2023)

written by Al Ewing art by Andrea Di Vito, Jim Charalampidis, & Rachelle Rosenberg