Cover based on Valiant’s Rai #0 by Jim Shooter. Credit to Michael O’Hare’s and Nicola Scott’s illustrations of Misfit in Birds of Prey 121 and 107 respectfully which I combined and silhouetted.
Also
I found out only after starting this that the original cover Rai 0 was
done by Shooter and he said that he based Rai’s positioning off a
Punisher drawing by Mike Zeck.
I selected the kanji on the cover
through intensive and painstaking research (i.e. an hour’s worth of
googling). According to what I found on JapanDict, “妙” means odd or
exquisite, strange, queer, mystery, miracle, excellent, delicate,
charming; Which I found pretty fitting for Misfit. I was able to find a
kanji that meant misfit, “鋙” but it also meant discordant, music
instrument, and hoe (not sure if the tool) so I went with the first one
since its definitions fit Misfit’s character better.
The writing in the issue info, “ミスフィット”, is google’s translation of misfit into Japanese.
Created in Adobe Illustrator.
Fonts used: Fuji Quake Zone, Gill Sans MT, and 小塚明朝 Pr6N.
Thanks to MoonKitty for feedback and letting me bounce ideas off of her. (“Bounce”, Ha! I didn’t even intend that. )
Cover based on Valiant’s Rai #0 by Jim Shooter. Credit to Michael O’Hare’s and Nicola Scott’s illustrations of Misfit in Birds of Prey 121 and 107 respectfully which I combined and silhouetted.
Also
I found out only after starting this that the original cover Rai 0 was
done by Shooter and he said that he based Rai’s positioning off a
Punisher drawing by Mike Zeck.
I selected the kanji on the cover
through intensive and painstaking research (i.e. an hour’s worth of
googling). According to what I found on JapanDict, “妙” means odd or
exquisite, strange, queer, mystery, miracle, excellent, delicate,
charming; Which I found pretty fitting for Misfit. I was able to find a
kanji that meant misfit, “鋙” but it also meant discordant, music
instrument, and hoe (not sure if the tool) so I went with the first one
since its definitions fit Misfit’s character better.
The writing in the issue info, “ミスフィット”, is google’s translation of misfit into Japanese.
Created in Adobe Illustrator.
Fonts used: Fuji Quake Zone, Gill Sans MT, and 小塚明朝 Pr6N.
Thanks to MoonKitty for feedback and letting me bounce ideas off of her. (“Bounce”, Ha! I didn’t even intend that. )
All right, it’s Misfit Appreciation Day 2017, and we’re finally at the 1990s for the entry here.
When a lot of people talk about the 1990s, it’s usually with scorn, often making accusations of every comic being loaded with over-muscled men, women with impossible body types, pupil-less eyes, shoulder pads, big knives and bigger guns. And I’m here to tell you that’s like assuming you know what the 1970s was like because you watched a bunch of blackploitation movies. While there were a ton of bad books, there were plenty of awesome and amazing books from that decade. Just off the top of my mind, Kingdom Come, Mike Allred’s Madman (as well as his series Red Rocket 7), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Hellboy, Preacher, Sandman Mystery Theatre, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac… I wanna count Maus in there, but I can’t remember if it started in the early 90s or late 80s and I’m too lazy to do a Google search. And honestly… Whether they were great books or not, the Knightfall and Death of Superman stories were a LOT of fun to read. The Birds of Prey started around this time as well. Valiant’s Unity Crossover early on was amazing to read at that time… And that’s just the stuff I remember off the top of my mind. And there were a ton of comics that started off questionable that turned into something amazing. Witchblade turned into Switch (which I’m still waiting on issue #5, Stjepan Sejic!) Glory, which was kinda crappy turned into the amazing comic by Joe Keatinge. And then there’s Prophet… Which is all sorts of amazing, considering how bad that book was.
The 90s gave us some pretty amazing things. Yeah, there still was rampant sexism and stupid violence. But there was some very great comics and ideas that still influence very positive things to this day in comics.
Such as the Batman Adventures, and a special one-shot it had that, for me, is the greatest comic of all time: Batman: Mad Love
The use of shading and strong line work. Story panel layouts and “camera work”. Strong dialogue and even stronger storytelling. Characterization so developed that even if you didn’t watch the show, you knew what was going on and who the characters were. We all know how great the show was, but this was the first time i’ve seen a comic book fully make me feel like I was reading an episode of the series. (So much so that I actually prefer the comic book to the episode!) That book was THE most influential comic to me EVER. I would probably have given up being a cartoonist long ago, if not for that book. It’s probably more responsible for me being the artist I am, more than anything else.
So it’s only fitting that Misfit’s entry into the 1990s be based on the comic book series that created… Well… Created me. 🙂
All right, it’s Misfit Appreciation Day 2017, and we’re finally at the 1990s for the entry here.
When a lot of people talk about the 1990s, it’s usually with scorn, often making accusations of every comic being loaded with over-muscled men, women with impossible body types, pupil-less eyes, shoulder pads, big knives and bigger guns. And I’m here to tell you that’s like assuming you know what the 1970s was like because you watched a bunch of blackploitation movies. While there were a ton of bad books, there were plenty of awesome and amazing books from that decade. Just off the top of my mind, Kingdom Come, Mike Allred’s Madman (as well as his series Red Rocket 7), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Hellboy, Preacher, Sandman Mystery Theatre, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac… I wanna count Maus in there, but I can’t remember if it started in the early 90s or late 80s and I’m too lazy to do a Google search. And honestly… Whether they were great books or not, the Knightfall and Death of Superman stories were a LOT of fun to read. The Birds of Prey started around this time as well. Valiant’s Unity Crossover early on was amazing to read at that time… And that’s just the stuff I remember off the top of my mind. And there were a ton of comics that started off questionable that turned into something amazing. Witchblade turned into Switch (which I’m still waiting on issue #5, Stjepan Sejic!) Glory, which was kinda crappy turned into the amazing comic by Joe Keatinge. And then there’s Prophet… Which is all sorts of amazing, considering how bad that book was.
The 90s gave us some pretty amazing things. Yeah, there still was rampant sexism and stupid violence. But there was some very great comics and ideas that still influence very positive things to this day in comics.
Such as the Batman Adventures, and a special one-shot it had that, for me, is the greatest comic of all time: Batman: Mad Love
The use of shading and strong line work. Story panel layouts and “camera work”. Strong dialogue and even stronger storytelling. Characterization so developed that even if you didn’t watch the show, you knew what was going on and who the characters were. We all know how great the show was, but this was the first time i’ve seen a comic book fully make me feel like I was reading an episode of the series. (So much so that I actually prefer the comic book to the episode!) That book was THE most influential comic to me EVER. I would probably have given up being a cartoonist long ago, if not for that book. It’s probably more responsible for me being the artist I am, more than anything else.
So it’s only fitting that Misfit’s entry into the 1990s be based on the comic book series that created… Well… Created me. 🙂
Tomorrow is Misfit Appreciation day. A fun little day, created by my favorite Happy Sorceress where we have some fun and draw up fanart and the like for the DC character Charlie Gage-Radcliff, AKA Misfit, the fun and happy teleporting girl created by Gail Simone. Every year, I’ve been posting era-themed covers for it, starting in the 1940s and working my way up to modern day.
It’s kinda funny really. I’ve drawn Misfit so much these last few years that I feel I should have done a comic with her or something. LIke a fan comic thing or something.
I mentioned this last year, but I think I’ll just repeat it here. The idea here is that when the Flashpoint happened, and the DC Universe was shifting into it’s current incarnation, Misfit was teleporting (or bouncing) at the exact same time, and ended up getting hurtled through space and time, as seen in Cover #1. So she’s been attempting to bounce her way back home, decade by decade.
But for now, here’s the previous six covers I did for it.
The kickoff with MIsfit in Time
_______________________
The Golden Age of the 1940s
_______________________
The EC Comics era of the 1950s
_______________________
A Jim Steranko inspired cover from the 1960s
_______________________
Returning to a darker era with the Bronze Age of the 1970s
_______________________
And lastly, the surreal of the 1980s British Invasion of the 1980s
_______________________
For this year, we’re at the 1990s, which is pretty important to me, because it’s the year where I started drawing comics and decided that this comic book thing is what I wanted to do with my life. So I themed the cover based on the most influential comic series ever on my art.
More on that tomorrow.
*cue Shirley Walker music*
Here’s your reminder to get those Misfit Day posts up!
Tomorrow is Misfit Appreciation day. A fun little day, created by my favorite Happy Sorceress where we have some fun and draw up fanart and the like for the DC character Charlie Gage-Radcliff, AKA Misfit, the fun and happy teleporting girl created by Gail Simone. Every year, I’ve been posting era-themed covers for it, starting in the 1940s and working my way up to modern day.
It’s kinda funny really. I’ve drawn Misfit so much these last few years that I feel I should have done a comic with her or something. LIke a fan comic thing or something.
I mentioned this last year, but I think I’ll just repeat it here. The idea here is that when the Flashpoint happened, and the DC Universe was shifting into it’s current incarnation, Misfit was teleporting (or bouncing) at the exact same time, and ended up getting hurtled through space and time, as seen in Cover #1. So she’s been attempting to bounce her way back home, decade by decade.
But for now, here’s the previous six covers I did for it.
The kickoff with MIsfit in Time
_______________________
The Golden Age of the 1940s
_______________________
The EC Comics era of the 1950s
_______________________
A Jim Steranko inspired cover from the 1960s
_______________________
Returning to a darker era with the Bronze Age of the 1970s
_______________________
And lastly, the surreal of the 1980s British Invasion of the 1980s
_______________________
For this year, we’re at the 1990s, which is pretty important to me, because it’s the year where I started drawing comics and decided that this comic book thing is what I wanted to do with my life. So I themed the cover based on the most influential comic series ever on my art.
More on that tomorrow.
*cue Shirley Walker music*
Here’s your reminder to get those Misfit Day posts up!
