Rather than have two books of the same nature facing off against one another in the latest comic battle, I wanted to see what would happen if I chose two beloved series and threw them head to head at one another; snarling, gnashing, clawing at each other until one stands victorious over the other, it’s ink leaking all over the pavement, pages torn and ripped and it’s spine tattered and broken. Step forward, the challengers: Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque’s American Vampire and Bill Willingham and Lan Medina’s Fables: Legends In Exile.
In a throwback to how I initially started this column, I’ve decided to switch up how I write Papercuts and Inkstains. It’s been a long time since I last wrote one, and that’s unfortunately down to working more, wedding planning and actually writing my own comics. So, in old school Papercuts style, I’ve been asking you guys to pick which book I should read over on my twitter!
Yes, THAT title says it all really… Hello and welcome back to another Papercuts and Inkstains, so, what did you guys think of Darick Robertson’s answers? I loved them, the man himself was a pleasure to work with and he has recommended so many good books for me to read it’s unreal! However, we must continue on, so we’ve had a letterer in the shape of Marvel letterer supreme, Joe Caramagna, Darick Robertson, artist extraordinaire and now finally we get to one of the hottest comic book writers of the moment, Cullen Bunn!
Hello, welcome, good day and how the fuck are ya doin’? Welcome to another Papercuts and Inkstains, and it’s the second of our special treats for you as this time around, we are talking with one of comics most shocking, sensory overloading, sublime artists, Mr Darick Robertson!
Now, lettering in comics is a big deal. A poorly lettered and laid out comic can really affect the flow and pace of the story. In some instances it can make a comic unreadable. Having had a go myself, I can tell you, choosing correct fonts, letters, styles, sizes, shapes and picking a layout can be extremely tough. Well, my guest this week is perhaps the king of lettering. Joe Caramagna is one of the hardest working guys in comics right now!
I haven’t been reading comics for very long, in fact I started reading them around the same time I started writing about them. So last year. In that time I have had a list of comics recommended to me, which if written down as a list, in a really, REALLY small font type, it would already be as long as my entire body.
Welcome back one and all. Break out th’ bagpipes, dust off ya kilt, tussle up yer sporran lasses and laddies, as Papercuts and Inkstains is headin’ oop the highlands! Scottish independence is a hot topic of conversation these days, what with there being a referendum on whether or not the country secedes from the United Kingdom and stands proudly on it’s own two legs as an independent country.
Throughout my foray into comics, I’ve careered from pillar to post with no clear cut route or direction. I’m assuming this is the norm for most new starters, everything looks shiny, new and inviting. You want to immediately be part of the zeitgeist, know the context of every discussion and not sound like an arse because you haven’t seen the cover to 2006′s issue #13 of Heroes for Hire, which caused a storm of controversy due to the issue of over sexualisation.
Merry Christmas you crazy comic loving people! Welcome to this, my Papercuts and Inkstains Christmas Special! I was tempted to start listing Christmas themed comics, ala my Halloween special, but decided against it. I was also going to do a countdown of awesome Geeky gifts and presents, but, you’ll see why I didn’t.
Passion. Passion flows through us all. It’s in our blood, in our hearts, minds and veins. For some of us the pull of it, the overwhelming nature of it, is stronger than others, but it is there, buried in recesses of your soul. I like to think I’m a passionate man. There are many things in my life I am passionate about. Charlotte, my fiance, our children, music, comics, films, my job and such.
When I was a young warthog…. WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOOOOOOOOG…. Wait, no. Stop plagurising Disney Robin! When I was younger, I loved characters like Batman, Superman, the X-Men and such and very much enjoyed the TV shows that were on offer at the time. There were classic like Batman The Animated Series, The X-Men cartoon, which to this day has one of the most recognisable (and immense) theme tunes, Spider-Man,The Tick, Earthworm Jim, Bucky O’Hare and so so many more!
So Thought Bubble came and went. Myself, Charlotte my fiancee, Captain Inter-Comics, Dan Cole and our good friend Sean Favager descended upon Leeds like a group of alcohol deprived ghouls and drank our way through the whole thing. So as the cobwebs, hangovers and various drink related injuries were wearing themselves off, my good friend Michael Sambrook got in contact with me, imploring me to get hold of Paul Holden
Co-Written by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, with Carmine Di Giandomenico providing the wonderful artwork, Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without A Face is where I started, which was a backwards way of reading them as it’s the second one, however at the time I was reading a Panini Marvel reprint of Astonishing Spider-Man and one of the stories in those pages was Eyes Without a Face #1. I can honestly say I was left quite speechless.
It finally happened. The chained up writer in me finally reared it’s creative, hydra like head, roared the roar of it’s people and forced my chubby hand to the keyboard, I attempted to resist and started fighting it valiantly using the nearby kebab stick as a rudimentary phalanx, but alas my pitiful poking device merely angered the beast.