The Ink Spill No. 6 

Another installment of the Ink Spill is right here, in front of your face area! Check it out party boy!

No. 1- Captain America #10 (Parel Variant)

art: Gerald Parel 

      Avengers! The block buster movie event that is Marvel's all star assemblage is right around the corner. Lots and lots of people are very excited about the film and while I don't necessary count myself among them, I do enjoy the Avengers. The idea of organizing (and even regulating) the resources of super-powered beings is not only practical but also pretty appealing. Much to my surprise Marvel has been doing a pretty good job of striking a balance between integration of the movie property into the realm of its print and digital comics and keeping said comics separate enough to not feel overly bogged down. 

     This cover for Captain America #10 is a great example of this. Gerald Parel has created an interesting mix of current and classic. One of my biggest gripes with Avengers as a property is that it's too much of its own thing and to me it feels like it could exist outside of the Marvel universe entirely. Here in this cover Parel has opted to mostly utilize classic representations of the depicted characters, with artful integration of very modern designs (Ultimate style Nick Fury blends well with Oliver Coipel's Thor). The realistic rendering style is very reminiscent of Alex Ross while also possessing a more painterly feel. The starkly classical triangular composition lends a strong air of artistry to the piece and accentuates the element of cohesion within this particular Avengers lineup. 

Overall I really enjoy this cover and I'm glad the print end of things is still (barely) able to stand on its own. This specific Cap arc very nicely deals with less canon characters like The Falcon and those are kinds of things that the film adaptations should be doing more often. 

Publisher: Marvel Comics - Available: April 25, 2012

Hit the jump for a couple more covers plus my dumb thoughts about them!

The Ink Spill No.5

   Sorry for the delay! I wanted to do a big new year 'issue' of the Spill rounding up a bunch of cool titles bridging the gap of the year that just passed... instead I just wound up doing other things much less relevant to this site. But I don't really need to apologize because this is my safe space and I can do whatever I damn well please (even forego the wearing of pants). Leg coverings aside, this shit is back so buckle up!


No. 1 - Caligula No. 6

art: Jacen Burrows

   This pick is the result of sort of stumbling through current stuff that's just floating around outside of the big publishers. While I'm not crazy about a lot of the visual elements this cover has going on I'm a huge sucker for anything Caligula related and I think him having his own comic is very long overdue. Also the warped joy this rendering reflects in the face of being stabbed an inhuman amount of times and being fully impaled is probably worth the price of the book in itself. 

Publisher: Avatar Press - Available: January 18, 2012 

hit the jump!... or don't.

The Ink Spill No.4

Hey guys, another edition of the Ink Spill is here so you can look at pretty pictures and subsequently see what I have to say about them.


-No.1- Iron Man 2.0 #11

art: Salvador Larroca

       Apparently Iron Man is going through some tumultuous times and Rhodey is getting a lot of focus these days. I can't say that's a bad thing as I personally have always loved the contrast that the War Machine color scheme offers to the vibrancy of the red and gold. Salvador Larroca is definitely a cover guy and he's shown what he can do with Iron Man all throughout Matt Fraction's handling of the book. While this iteration is being penned by Nick Spencer, Larroca's cover are still great to have. I'm not the biggest fan of the hard black lines in the background but the coloring overall on this is great and as dynamic a compliment to the line work as anything I've seen dropping this week.

Publisher: Marvel Comics - Available: December 14, 2011

More after the jump!

The Ink Spill No.3

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to the third installment of The Ink Spill! For anyone who is steadily following the podcast and is upset by the fact that we haven't put out a new episode, fret not! A new episode of the podcast will be up before the end of this weekend! So see? It's okay, stop crying... eat your turkey, go ahead finish it. Finishit!


-No.1 Aquaman #3

art: Ivan Reis

  It's a week of threes' for DC as the New 52 Aquaman run hits its' 3rd issue. Ivan Reis has done some stellar stuff working on Green Lantern and this cover is one of the most dynamic I've seen being released this week. While I'm not crazy about the coloring, the rendering is certainly there and colors are usually the least significant factor for me in a cover. Overall great stuff visually coming out this aquatic facet of DC's massive overhaul.

Publisher: DC - Available: November 23, 2011

Hit the jump for more ya big turkey!

The Ink Spill No.2

   The second installment of NWC's weekly feature The Ink Spill! As always, these covers reflect my personal taste toward the aesthetic of the art and are not intended to be judgements on any particular title. This week will mark the first issue of The Ink Spill that features a top pick. What is it? Why don't you just read on and find out, punk?


No.1- The Incredible Hulk #2

art: Mark Silvestri 

   What better way to start the weekly feature than with the Hulk fighting sharks? Nothing, that's what. Anyone who's even remotely familiar with Mark Silvestri's work on the Hulk will appreciate the super tight, almost sketchy rendering at work in this cover. Silvestri is, I think, one of the best artists there is right now at translating his interior page style to his cover work. His lines, framing, and overall sense of dynamism are present in equal measure within his pages and his covers, and need I remind you that this cover features the Hulk fighting sharks!?... didn't think so.

Publisher: Marvel - Available: November 16, 2011

You want more comic art? Well just hit the jump you greedy little bastards.

The Ink Spill No.1

This is the first installment of The Ink Spill, something I'll hopefully be doing weekly or at least biweekly. I've tried to limit myself to including books being released this week and rounding up the covers that strike me the most. I'm only including books based on cover aesthetic and I'm not making overall judgments on any title. Enjoy!

No.1 - Batman: Streets of Gotham TBP Vol. 02 Leviathan

art: Dustin Nguyen

 While I haven't kept up with this book, I absolutely love Dustin Nguyen's unique, almost blocky style of handling Batman and this cover shows how strong he can be in both traditional inked art and more painterly images. Damien Wayne is by far my least favorite Robin but not surprisingly Nguyen makes me like him a little bit more with his mature rendering.

Publisher: DC - Available: November 9, 2011

Hear Scott's artistic opinion on a few more covers, after the jump!