Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special: Coloring

 

 

In the Bloodshot Free Comic Book Day 2019 Special, the first thing you notice is that colorist Diego Rodriquez favors pastels. New York City looks so soft and inviting on a snowy day. But trouble is coming!

 

The second thing we see is this closeup of what looks like a framed certificate. Only the glass is broken, revealing a difference of how the light plays through the glass shards and the white (or off-white) paper. 

Oh, and both are different from the surrounding snow, which is even more white. But also blue!

 

The next panel is even more interesting. With the lights off in the building, the interior looks monochromatic. Only the outside shows a little color from the inside-looking-out. 

 

Only in the next panels do we finally realize what's happening. The three are not staring at a framed document lying in the snow. They are staring at a photo on a cellphone. What we thought was broken glass is actually ice on the screen.

I like how all the background colors are muted and blurred in these panels, as we are focused upon the trio. And yet, the pinpoint of pink to the right in the second panel suggests someone--or something--is coming.

 

 

Here's an interesting panel of Bloodshot Vision. The red circuit background shows us that we're listening in on Bloodshot tracking all these radio signals via his nanites. The tinges of color on his face remind us that he's very Human, even though the nanites are in full operating mode, and have changed his skin white. 

The subtle glow Diego Rodriguez adds around the phone is a nice touch most of us would never notice.

 

While Diego Rodriguez colors the bottom panel beautifully in pastels, the way he colors the fuel draining out of the ruptured tank draws my eye immediately. It is only after that that I notice the sparks coming from the broken wire, and realize what is coming.

 

From the explosion and resultant cloud of smoke, to all the snow the skidding motorcycles are kicking up, Diego Rodriguez colors it all subtly yet powerfully. Even the tire shooting off the exploding motorcycle looks pink/red, as it reflects the furnace from which it has been hurled.

Need I go on? Diego Rodriguez has colored this short issue beautifully. Every panel is nuanced, and a piece of art in itself. Great job, Diego! Really nicely done!

Dragon Dave

The Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special is included in Bloodshot Book One.

 

 

Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special: Lettering

 

Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special--Cover by Dan Brereton

 

Reviewing comics has given me a greater appreciation for the role of the letterer. It's easy to take all those narrative boxes, dialogue balloons, thought clouds, and sound effects for granted. 

The late colorist Justin Ponsor once told me that he received the penciled and inked artwork at the same time the letterer did. Marvel would then receive his colored files, and the letterer's files, and composite them together to make the finished panels they sent to the printers. That was awhile ago, and I don't know what Valiant's process is like. Still, it gives me a sense of how the publishers interact remotely with creators all over the world, and how they speed that whole process along. 

One thing I know for sure is that Dave Sharpe does a terrific job at lettering, so let's dive into his contributions in the Bloodshot Free Comic Book Day 2019 Special.

 

The first panel in a comic sets the tone for the story. Here Dave Sharpe immediately drills us into place with his distinctive bloodshot/blood-splatter lettering. We also get the sense we're listening to a radio station, or some kind of electronic transmission, by the lightning edged dialogue balloon.

 

I love the symmetry of Dave Sharpe's lettering here. To the left, we get the hopes and dreams of these renegade cultists, encapsulated in the dialogue balloon. To the right, we get his stylish sound effect. 

Despite the symmetry, the way Dave Sharpe has written out the sound effect--letters not in a straight line, and some bigger than the others--is jarring. In his subtle way, Dave Sharpe is hinting that something is about to endanger all these men believe they have accomplished.

 

 

In this full page panel, the single dialogue balloon confirms this: that Bloodshot has arrived to halt this group's villainy. I love the way Dave Sharpe's red sound effects link thematically with the bloodshot/blood-splatter logo in the first panel. And of course, there's the sound of the bad guy's gun going off, which doesn't bother Bloodshot a bit.

 

When the cult warriors take flight, you know they're unhinged by the sheer fact that some of them are riding motorcycles across roads covered in snow and ice. The communication transmissions, contained in the lightning bolt balloons, tell us that observers are tracking the group.

The snow-covered sound effects help you hear the way the tire treads drag and slip on all that snow and ice. I want to know what that font is, Dave Sharpe! I want to write my Christmas letters with that font!

 

Here's another long, thin panel. Again, I love the symmetry here. To the left, we have the blood exploding out of Bloodshot as the cultists' bullets tear through him. But the damage they are doing to his body doesn't shake Bloodshot at all. 

As opposed to the Knock Knock the cultists heard in the earlier panel, notice how even, straight, and blocky these sound effects are. The red color links with the bloodshot/bloodsplatter logo. The way each successive BLAM gets bigger, and without a trace of unevenness, tells us that Bloodshot isn't shaken by anything the cultists can throw at him.

 

 

This may be the best panel in the entire Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special. From a lettering perspective, it's certainly my favorite. The word uttered from the van, presumably by one of the cultists, let's us know how much Bloodshot's actions have shaken his world, if not ended his jihad, or holy war.

Most of all, I love the sound effect of Bloodshot plowing this motorcycle directly into the van. Of all the panels in this comic, this one makes me think that Dave Sharpe must have had access to the colored panels of Diego Rodriguez. Whereas the earlier sound effect echoed the snow, this one reminds us of ice. We can hear the screech of all that metal being smashed together and torn apart, while the wrecked vehicles are skidding across the icy road. 

Well done, Bloodshot! You've halted the cultists' villainy! And well done letterer Dave Sharpe, for helping us hear and feel Tim Seeley's story so effectively!

Dragon Dave

Bloodshot Book One--Cover by Declan Shalvey

 

P.S. You can read the Bloodshot FCBD 2019 Special in Bloodshot Book One.

 

Shadowman Coffee Now Available

SHADOWMAN COFFEE ROASTS NOW AVAILABLE FROM VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT & GEEK GRIND COFFEE

 

Why drink ordinary coffee when you can sip a supernatural roast? 

 

Valiant Entertainment has partnered with Geek Grind Coffee Company to release two SHADOWMAN coffee roasts: the Spirit of the LOA Medium Roast and the Darque Roaste! These special roasts are made from 100% single source, small-lot Columbian coffee from women-owned farms.

 

 

Shadowman Darque Roaste

 

Russell Brown, the President of Consumer Products at Valiant Entertainment, is happy to partner with the company and give Valiant fans a new drink to enjoy. "The quality of Greek Grind's mountain-grown coffee, their ethical Colombian origin production process, and marketing prowess are all of the highest standards that Valiant looks for. And we're so excited to have coffee and tea this special to sip out of our Valiant mugs!"

 

 

Spirit of the Loa Medium Roast

 

Geek Grind Coffee appreciates all that the Valiant Universe has to offer and wants to provide a product that can make fans proud. “As fans for many years of the Valiant deep library of characters, I can say that Geek Grind Coffee could not be any more excited to work with the Valiant team to develop this delicious line-up of releases," stated Patrick Meyer, CEO and Co-founder Geek Grind Coffee. 

 

"Today, more than ever, fans demand products that reflect their passions which they can integrate into their daily routines. Coffee and tea products translate very well into these needs while delighting and surprising those same fans with gorgeous packaging and world-class coffee direct from our own family farms in Colombia.”

 

Shadowman Coffee: So good you'll need to guard your Valiant mug!

 

Fans can purchase the Spirit of the LOA blend here and the Darque Roaste here. For more information, visit geekgrindcoffee.com. The Bloodshot "First Shot" Espresso Roast will be released at a later date.

 

 

SHADOWMAN #1, a brand-new horror series from Cullen Bunn and Jon Davis-Hunt, goes on sale April 28th wherever comics are sold.

Ninjak's American Lunch

 California's no England, but spring makes every place beautiful.

You folks don't memorize places like us Brits, but this clock is a nice touch. Too bad it's stopped.

Say, I wonder if it was struck by lightning?

Heavy.

Now this makes me feel like I'm back in dear old Blighty.

A traditional Cornish Pasty--including turnips!

I say, are those for me? 

Who says Americans don't know how to have a good time?

Not me, mate. You chaps are a bit of all right!

Savage #3 Review: Story Part 2

  

Warning: This post contains a potential plot spoiler. If you have not read Savage #3 yet, you may wish to save this post for future reading.

Despite his simple origins on a tropical island, Kevin is not immune to the way money and power affect us. When his chief butler Al rejects his request to enjoy a quiet evening together off-the-clock in Savage #3, the man has every right to do so. Yet Kevin takes this as a rejection.

 

 

Later, when Al sees Kevin in the grips of a monster, the butler quite reasonably assumes that Kevin's situation is hopeless and flees the island. Well, wouldn't you, if a beast like this took over your island?

 

 

Instead, Kevin views Al's actions as an even bigger betrayal. He even laments that Al should have been his Pennyworth, a reference to Bruce Wayne's butler Albert Pennyworth in Batman comics. This makes me wonder if the man's name is even Al, or if Kevin simply bestowed the name on him as a humorous nickname.

 

The way Kevin treats Al when the man displeases him is anything but civil or mature. His words and actions suggest that Kevin has grown used to wielding power over people. Clearly, all this money and power have not helped Kevin become a more caring person, and treat others with compassion.

 

 

Perhaps he has not become totally corrupted, but Kevin seems far more like an antihero than a hero to me.

 

In closing,Savage #3 offers readers plenty of action, and builds upon plots and themes developed in earlier issues. It offers bonuses like glimpses two other Valiant superheroes in action, and explains Valiant's recent Mount Rushmore meme on Twitter. Like Savage #1 and #2, Max Bemis will throw you a curveball you didn't see coming, and make you wonder how he'll possibly follow that development up in Savage #4. Yet one question from Savage #3 remains.

 

What's so special about Savage? Why does the world need him? Or, to put it yet another way, what can Savage do that no one else in the Valiant Universe can? 

For the answer to that, we'll have to wait for Savage #4.

 

Thanks for another entertaining, action-packed, and thought-provoking issue, Max Bemis.

 

Dragon Dave

P.S. Due to circumstances beyond my control, my reviews on Savage #3 have extended far beyond the date of the issue's release. If you've stuck with me for all these posts, thank you. I hope you've enjoyed them.

Savage #3 Review: Story Part 1

 

 

Writer Max Bemis enriches each issue of Savage with witty wordplay and pop culture references. He enlarges Kevin's world with backstory, and invents new organizations that threaten the world. Each issue of his series is packed with action, plot, reflection, dialogue, and is anything but a five-minute read. 

 

Every time I reread this comic, I discover something new. Occasionally, I discover I've missed something basic to my understanding of the story. While Max Bemis planted numerous clues in previous issues, somehow I missed out on the fact that Henry is not just Kevin's life coach and brand manager, but also his older brother. Somehow!

 

Hopefully by now you've had a chance to read Savage #3, and weigh my earlier posts against your own reactions. For this post, I have a few thoughts I'd like to share. But first, if you have not yet read Savage #3, I will warn you that I include a potential spoiler as my final point. I'll post another warning at that point, in case you wish to read up until then.

 

First off, Savage #3 offered explosive action, as Project Bizarre puts its ultimate plans into operation. Yet Kevin's idle on a private island reminds me of Savage #1, when Kevin says that his mind is always active, always working. How could Kevin think that he could just check out on his own exclusive island and be satisfied? 

 

Given his upbringing, Kevin clearly needs to feel as if he's just hanging onto life by his fingertips.

 

 

Secondly, in Savage #2 Mae revealed that she knows about her adoptive father's intended plans for worldwide domination. When Professor Nealon puts those into effect in Savage #3, the mild mannered laboratory researcher turns badass hero.

 

 

Like Kevin, Mae has suffered heartbreak and tragedy. I look forward to seeing what Mae does--and how she might even steal the show--in the climactic final issue of Savage.

Warning: Potential Spoiler Ahead. If you have not read Savage #3 yet, you may wish to save this last portion for later.

 

Lastly, like billionaire Troy Whitaker in Valiant's current X-O Manowar series, Kevin's brother Henry believes that power is an end in itself, and influencing the media is the means of channeling that power. As if we needed it, we get confirmation in Savage #3 that Henry Sauvage will do anything to hold onto that power. 

 

 

Like Mr. Tull, Rampage, and Toyo Harada, money and power have corrupted both Henry Sauvage and Professor Nealon. While Mae seems to have escaped its influence, how about our man Kevin? 

 

What do you think?

 

Dragon Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Savage #3 Review: Penciling & Inking Part 2

Savage #3 Cover B by Joe Quinones

 

Here's some final thoughts on Nathan Stockman's penciling and inking in Savage #3.

 

 

Firstly, I like how Nathan, as an artist, generally gets the perspective right. In the above panel, Kevin looks small in the background, but not disproportionately so compared to his chief butler Al. It's easy for an artist to make a character in the foreground look like a giant compared to those in the distance. This recently happened in a comic by an artist whose work I've long admired, and it threw me out of the story. 

 

 

Secondly, I really like this lightbulb moment. Kevin's clearly been struck by inspiration. No background needed!

 

 

Thirdly, here's a reminder of what Kevin's left behind. We glimpse his older brother Henry in his posh London flat. It looks similar to Kevin's. Or was Kevin living in Henry's apartment? More on that in my Savage #3 story review.

 

Lastly, here's a tiny panel from beyond the preview pages in Savage #3. For those of you who may not have picked up your copy of Savage #3, I don't want to throw out too many spoilers. So I'll just hint that the purple-tentacled creature that attacks Kevin isn't the only monster we'll see in this issue. Project Bizarre has clearly been busy, as has Nathan Stockman. But then, what would you expect of an artist who draws cities, monsters, tropical islands, and people equally well?

Dragon Dave

Savage #3 Review: Penciling & Inking Part 1

 

Savage #3 Cover A by Marcus To & Rico Renzi*

 

Without penciling and inking, you'd just have a script, not a comic. As visual people, we respond to pictures far more than words. In an artist's hands, one picture can transport us to another place, another time, and make even the most bizarre people and monsters seem real.

 

I know I used this panel before, in my lettering post, but I wanted to use it again because I love it so much. Despite Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou's great skills, I wish I could see this picture without the narrative boxes. Triona Farrell's coloring really brings out all of Nathan Stockman's artwork here. Nonetheless, it's Nathan's skills that show Kevin swinging through the trees like Tarzan. It's clear Kev's having the time of his life. 

While Triona's coloring helps us see the distance better, Nathan drew all the background first. I'm also intrigued by how Nathan inked parts of the water, instead of leaving Triona to color those areas more darkly. In any case, that inked water helps bring Kevin to the forefront.

 

When visiting the Big Island of Hawaii, I'll often see a vehicle parked off the side of the road. Just in the middle of nowhere. From talking with the locals, I suspect many of those belong to guys who have gone out to hunt wild pigs.

Here Kevin's going after the wild pigs on his own tropical paradise. I love how Nathan Stockman captures all the crazy, confused action that must go on in a fight like this. Unlike those Hawaiian hunters, Kevin's not shooting an animal from the distance. Armed solely with his dinosaur-claw knives, he risks getting gored, if not killed. 

In this small panel, Nathan helps me feel the exhilaration of the hunt.

 

 

I recently enjoyed Kim Stanley Robinson's novel Green Earth. It's an edited compilation of an earlier trilogy: Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and Sixty Days and Counting. In Robinson's story, Frank is a scientist working at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. After a massive flood ruins many apartment buildings in the area, he has trouble finding affordable housing. Inspired by dreams of his youth, he builds a rudimentary treehouse in a closed-off section of a wilderness park. There, he finds himself at home amid nature, and at peace within himself.

In case my description of Robinson's novel intrigues you, I don't want to give away too many spoilers. Still, I'll give you another tease. Later in Green Earth, Frank uses his experience in treehouse-building to help design a treehouse complex worthy of the Ewok tribe in the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi." 

Okay, back to Savage #3.

 

 

 

I love all the little homey touches Nathan has built into Kevin's treehouse: his weapons, his trophies, and of course, the boar he's killed. There's a picture of (I believe) the emoji he's created which has made him lots of money. I also find myself wondering about the crest on the banner. Is it from the British football team (Soccer to us) his dad used to play for? Or is it the family crest that adorned a cover from Valiant's earlier Savage series?

As the issue goes on, solitude may get Kevin down. Still, due to Nathan Stockman's efforts, I can't help but wonder if Kevin doesn't love this treehouse more than his posh, expensive London flat.

Dragon Dave

*Although I didn't credit his work earlier, Rico Renzi colored Marcus To's drawing for Savage #3 Cover A. If you're interested in him, his methods, and his earlier work, here's an interview you might enjoy.

Colorist On Color: Rico Renzi

Bloodshot's Savage Friends

 

Dinosaurs, grrr! 

If my buddy Savage won't fight you, I will!

 

 

Hi Triceratops! You guys are plant eaters. 

You can rest easy. You're safe from Savage.

Okay, I won't fight you either.

 

 

I know scientists said dinosaurs were colorful, but...wow!

I guess Triona Farrell got here before me!

 

 

I wonder if Project Bizarre would miss one of these guys. 

I'd take good care of him, Professor Nealon. 

Honest!

 

Hooray, a dragon!

Spoiler alert! Dragon lovers may have reason to rejoice in Savage #3.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone I told you, okay?