Free Comics Monday: Meatball is dead!

Before we get down to the business of downloading public domain comics, I want to let fans of Golden Age comics know about Nedor-A-Day

This is a site were Nedor comics are being uploaded page by page. And while they aren't downloadable, the scans are very good, and you can read the pages without any special software. Check it out. :)

Today, I present more installments of the fantastic Lev Gleason DareDevil series. Drawn by Charles Biro, these comics have some fantastic art. Note the spoiler on the cover of this comic - Meatball is Dead!



[ Download Daredevil 16 ]




[ Download Daredevil 17]

Enjoy!

No post today - Go See Iron Man!

I was up late last night coming back from Iron Man yesterday, so no post today.

About Iron Man - I gotta say, that was easily the best superhero movie I've ever seen! Funny in the right places with a great sense of style and top notch action scenes, this felt like Spider-Man 2 did.

Do yourself a big favor and go see it! :)

Pierre Speaks!

Hi guys,

No this time it won't be Jim entertaining you but Pierre.

As the official Flashback Universe Art Guru, once in a while, I will add my 2 cents to the Flashback Universe blog to either discuss past, present or upcoming Flashback Universe projects, share my experience as an artist, talk about comics, movies, or a thousand other subjects that just don't come to mind right now.

But for this first blog, let me introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me.

As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a comic book artist.

As early as 4 or 5 years old, I would fold in two whatever pieces of paper that I could find and would draw tiny 4 pages comic books. My inspiration at the time was some collectable cards featuring Batman. I would take a card, and make a 4 pages comic based on that card.

Ahhhh the memories.

Sadly growing up.... no one I knew even had a single clue as to how someone could become a comic book artist (or even just an artist). So I had to find out the hard way... and it was a bumpy ride.

Like many other artists, I learned by copying other artists whose work I admired.

First copying poses I liked, then panels, then entire pages.

Then I got my first published drawing. A pin-up of Nova. You can compare it to a more recent drawing of Nova that I did for the "30th anniversary of Nova magazine".


After high school, I still had no idea on what to do to become a comic book artist. All I could think of was to mail some samples to various comic companies, which got me my first rejection letters. So I went to college in Arts, then Graphic Arts, and finally Illustration and Design.

After doing various crappy gigs (posters and business cards), I got my foot in 2D animation. I worked on many TV series (Arthur, Marsupilami, Bob Morane to name just a few) for various animation studios and even a feature film (Heavy Metal 2000, AKA Heavy Metal FAKK 2).

Although not being comic book work, working in animation is still for the most part fun. And I learned a lot in animation that can be applied to doing comics. The coloring style used for Flashback Universe for example pretty much comes from my experience in animation.

Then between some animation gigs, I started dawing comic book pages for various independent publishers. Sadly I quickly discovered that it does not take much for a project (or an independent publisher) to go down the drain. So not much of what I did actually saw print.

Until at some point I met a crazy "buckaroo" called Jim. And you guys can see the result on the Flashback Universe site. ;)

Click to Enlarge...

So how does one become a comic book artist?? Did I finally solve the riddle that has been plaguing me since I was a kid?

I will share with you the secret that has eluded me for so long.

One becomes a comic book artist...

... by drawing comic books. ;)

Free Comic Mondays: Smash Comics 01

Good News, Bad News...

Bad News first - I'm only going to have one free comic today, as this is a 50 meg file, so it took forever to load onto the server.

Good News - It's got a story where a Robot fights a Gorilla.






[ Download Smash Comics 01 ]


Enjoy!

Digital Comics Downloader Update

Thanks to Caine for bringing this to my attention...

Digital Comic Downloader discontinued

Update: 2008-04-25 17:15

I've decided to take down Digital Comic Downloader. I'm all about digital distribution as where comics need to go, so I'm afraid of making it less palatable to companies like Marvel (and others in the future) by causing any cold feet... As I said when I launched DCD, the purpose is not piracy but I have to admit that it is capable of enabling it. (It's probably a bit unrealistic for me to think that because the images are not perfect that users would never choose to spread them around.)

I think Derek's decision here was a very good one. :)

Forgotten Art Credit:

I would also like to credit Sean Kleefeld with the PCDW graphic I used is yesterday's column. Sorry for the oversight.

Paper Comic DeathWatch: Greenskin's Grab Bag

Yes, it's time for another installment of the column some people love and some people hate...

...from an email I received last week

"I like your Flashback comic, but why do you say to hate paper comics? Paper comics will be here forever being that people all love them. I wish to kick you in the head."

Look, just to set the record straight - I don't hate paper comics. I used to love them in fact.

However, given the historical record of comic sales since the 40's, I don't see much of a future for them. EVEN if you were to exclude the effect of rising Manga sales (as Paul Levitz seems wont to do.) AND the rise of trade paperback sales, you'd still be left with the onslaught of digital threats to the industry that seem ready to bust out of the gate any day now.

So, if we are all on the same page now, let's begin collecting the coffin nails...

Item 1: Somebody has found a way to make a 500,000 Gigabyte MP3 Player...

http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/story/16420/the_500000_gb_mp3_player

No. That's not a typo. That's 500,000 gigabytes. Now why you would want such a thing is irrelevant. If people can buy a TeraByte capable iPod, well, they are gonna get one (especially if they are mac people, cuz lord know those guys will pony up to the bar for more of that Steve Jobs coolaid, won't they?)

Why I think this is yet another sign of the oncoming paper comic apocalypse is because, well, once you've got a TeraByte capable iPods floating around, people are gonna want to put stuff on them. That's the whole Download/Own It mentality that so many online vendors don't seem to get. Having more room to download and own stuff is just going to enhance this mentality.

So people who have, oh I don't know, a site where you can only read their comics online are gonna get some pressure to make that content available offline...

...unless some joker doesn't find a way to force their hand. See our next item for details.

Item Two: Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited - Now Downloadable?

From Rich Johnston’s highly entertaining Lying In the Gutters…

Apparenty, an industrious individual named Derek Quenneville has built Digital Comic Downloader - an application that will make the Marvel Digital Comics library a little more *portable*

From Derek's site:

What it is

If you're a subscriber to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, you know how awful the official web viewer is. It displays pages, sure, but it is basically useless for reading. Digital Comic Downloader brings the selected comic down to your hard drive, allowing you to choose which viewing software to use. This makes reading issues a pleasant experience, letting you make the most of your subscription. It can even combine the separate text and art layers of newer comics into flat files!

What it is not

Digital Comic Downloader is not meant for piracy. The issues that you download should be the ones that you're actually about to read (and later delete). Marvel has been very kind in not using encryption or DRM and that needs to be respected.

Further, the downloads produced are not perfect copies, so even if you had a mind to infringe copyright, what you've got is useless for archiving... But great for reading.

Marvel's response so far to Derek's application has been to patch their site so Digital Comic Downloader stops working (until Derek figures out a workaround, which doesn't seem to take him long.)

This little back and forth will entertaining to watch until Marvel brings out the suits. :P

Speaking of Marvel Suits, they, just hired a really big one on the digital side...

Item 3: Marvel has a new EVP for the Global Digital Media Group

From Heidi MacDonald's The Beat

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/04/23/rubenstein-joins-marvel-as-evp-global-digital-media/

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) has appointed Ira Rubenstein to the position of Executive Vice President of Marvel’s newly launched Global Digital Media Group. In this newly created position, Mr. Rubenstein will oversee Marvel’s digital distribution strategy across all media and platforms.

Ira meet Derek. I think you might learn a lot from him. :D


Meanwhile at DC...

Also on the Beat...Comic sales slip in 1st quarter of 08.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/04/22/comics-sales-slip-in-q1/

Paul O'Brien tells us it's nothing to worry about due to the fact that last year was a big upturn because of Civil War.

And while, that's probably true, there are quite a few respondents to the post who suggest that it might be a more permanent downturn.

Is it possible that readers are starting to walk away from the big Company Wide Events?

Hasn't everyone been saying this day was coming, and that going down the Event comics road was just a bandaid for a bigger problem?

Well, Marvel seems to be ready to go with Secret Invasion. Sales on the first issue seem to be good (even though there seems to be some question as to whether it actually sold out or not.)

DC on the other hand.
Not so much.


Damn Marvel Indeed. :D

Item 4: Why is Apple buying PA Semi for $278 million?

Some people are speculating that Apple may come out with a bigger PSP type of gaming device.

Other people are suggesting what I’ve been saying all along, that Apple might be working on a portable Mobile Internet Device (or beefing up the iPod Touch.)

I think the latter is the better bet. The gaming market is extremely tough, and currently, even if Apple did come out with an awesome portable gaming device, there are absolutely no games with any hype around them for people to purchase. Apple would almost have to build the first wave of games themselves (A VERY risky proposition) before other game companies would jump on board.

No, I think that you don't have to look any further than Amazon's Kindle to see where Apple is headed with this one. Even though it is heartstoppingly ugly, the Kindle sold out initially. At $400 a pop, that's pretty good. Remember, the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player - it was simply better than anything out at the time. Improving other people's devices is sort of Apple's forte, isn't it?

"But is anyone actually reading/buying books for the Kindle?"

Yes, people are apparently buying quite a lot of eBooks it seems.

So, stringing all these various bits of news together, of course it can only mean one thing. Paper Comics are doomed and no amount of kicks to the face can save them. :D

Total PCDW Points for all Items: 15,000

New Characters to Flashback Universe

Flashback artist Jerry Hinds asked me the other day how do I manage to have the time to work on Flashback while working on other projects AND spending time with my family.

I told Jerry, I honestly don't, and on some occasions, this blog suffers for that...because I can't really sacrifice time from my family. - Especially when my wife is buying kitchen sinks that are bigger than our old sink and I have to spend all night cutting PVC pipe to fit - but that's just a hypothetical situation. ;)

...so with that bit of insider information, I present a little parade of character that have created for Flashback, but haven't used yet...let the picture speak for themselves. :D

First up: Dr. Arcane by Pierre




Next: NyghtShade by Jerry Hinds

King Scarecrow by Pierre (KS actually appeared in Same Time, Next Year, but he'll be showing up in another story soon, so I thought a nice reminder was in order.)

From the Golden Age of Flashback: The Purple Puma by Pierre


That's all for today. I now have to go buy some plumber's putty. :P