Best Graphic Novels of 2014 (according to the Village Voice)

The Village Voice posted an article on their website along with sample illustrated panels listing the top graphic novels of 2014. Here they are:

 The Man Who Laughs by writer David Hine and artist Mark Stafford. This is an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1689 novel.

 A Night of Gatecrashing / Book One by writer Zachary Mortensen and artist Sutu is about corporate terrorism.

Sing No Evil by writer JP Ahonen and artist KP Alare is about a dysfunctional metal band.

Skies of Fire by Pablo Peppino and Bryan Valenza is a steampunk saga revolving round Captain Helen Pierce.

 75 Years of Marvel – just as the title indicates.

Harlem Hellfighters by writer Mel Brooks (World War Z) and artist Caanan White is about African American soldiers in World War I.

 John Carpenter’s Asylum by John Carpenter and artist Leonardo Manco is about devils in Los Angeles.

Climate Changed by Philippe Squarzoni is about a coming weather apocalypse.

Second Avenue Caper by writer Joyce Brabner and artist Mark Zingareli is about gay activists in the 1980s running anti-viral drugs to fight the AIDS epidemic.

Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi is about Shackleton’s ill-fated South Pole journey.

The Love Bunglers by Ray Dominguez is a well crafted story of loss and entry into middle age. My Opinion: this may be the best of the pile.

Pirates in the Heatland: The Mythology of S. Clay Wilson Vol. 1 by Clay Wilson is an underground style, dirty comic.

Motherless Oven by Rob Davis revolves around school kids in a dystopian future.

The diversity of theses titles indicate to me that graphic novels aren’t emerging as an art form- they’ve arrived.

To see some of the graphics and to learn more, go here: http://www.villagevoice.com/microsites/2014-graphic-novels/

Warp 9 Comics

I stopped in Warp 9 today to get the November issues of The October Faction and Wytches. I asked Trey Hunt, the new owner, if I could blog about Warp 9 and he said okay.

Warp 9 has been in business since 1999 and Trey took it over earlier this year (he’s in the photo below).

 

If you’re into graphic novels and comics, then Warp 9 is the place to go. The inventory is extensive and Trey is a great source of knowledge and is happy to answer any questions. I asked Trey what got him into comics and he said his Aunt had a lot to do with it. She collected comics, which, among other things, sparked Trey’s interest in comics at an early age.

 

Comic books stores such as Warp 9 are much like local, independent books stores used to be and should be treasured. Unlike  Barnes & Noble or e-tailers such as Amazon, shops like Warp 9 make the comic experience personal The world of comics and graphic novels has its own unique culture and shops like Warp 9 help keep it alive.

Warp 9 is located in downtown Clawson, Michigan on 14 Mile Road just west of Main Street. Check it out- you won’t be disappointed.

For more, go here:  http://www.warpninecomics.com

Graphic Novel First Steps Part II

As stated in the last post, I’m experimenting with photographic backgrounds with hand drawn characters to produce a graphic novel. For practice and fun I’m putting a recurring strip up on this blog entitled JUSTICE – DETROIT STYLE. I’ll show the tools I use, the process to produce the panels and I will also post the script so you can see how that works.

Here’s the first panel I’m playing with:

I took the photo earlier this week and used Pixelmator for everything. If you have a Mac, Pixelmator is the way to go. Here’s a post about it here: http://stefanstudios84.wordpress.com/blog/ If you don’t have a Mac, you can use GIMP which is open source and free. GIMP is a great tool for creating graphics and manipulating images. If you have Photoshop then you’re all set.

The main character is Rick Justice who appears like a normal guy but takes extreme justice into his own hands. The first story is worked out which will result in about eleven or twelve panels. After that I’m going to make it up as I go along. I’m working on the characters (bad guys, Rick’s girlfriend, victims, etc.) now for the first story and for future installments.

Graphic Novel First Steps

I started some preliminary work on a graphic novel tonight. I plan on making it little different than the normal graphic novel fare where the backgrounds will be photographs with the characters layered on top. I’m not sure how well this is going to work, but I’ll document the steps here. I’ve been wandering around Detroit taking background shots and started character sketches tonight. Here’s the first one:

The drawing is a candidate male character. Above are a couple of street shots in Detroit. Next to the drawing is a Royal Langnickel pencils set that I came to appreciate in about two minutes. If you want to do any reasonably serious pencil sketches, this is the set to get. I got it for $28.75 on Amazon.

My next post will be the first attempt at scanning a character drawing and layering it into a photograph, probably using Pixelmator.