Unshaven Fans... tis time to wake up! Yes indeed. Marc here, with an update on the production blog.
Last we spoke, Disposable Razors #1 was done, and printed. If you came out to C2E2 to meet us, then maybe you scored a copy! If you still haven't... well, nertz to you! Just kidding. If you still want a copy, well, come out to Stand-Up Comics in Lansing, Illinois... and buy a copy. They have a few left. And so do we.
But Marc, you ask, what about issue #2? We're hard at work on it. 12 pages are fully colored and ready to go-go-go. 12 more pages to finalize for Ironside, and then the next chapter of "The White" to come. And as a bonus? We may just include a special secret story few of you know about. What is it? It's funny. It's violent. It's by Kyle. We'll let you know about it in the coming weeks.
So, as we get back into our groove, the plan is simple: We'll be attending the upcoming Wizard World Convention as fans this year. No need for a table. If you see us on the floor, DO stop us and take pictures, and pretend we're famous though. We're totally into that.
Thanks for sticking around. As always, be our fan on Facebook, and feel free to ask questions if you got em. A more detailed production blog to come next week! Have a good one!
Welcome to more brain droppings and rants from your local Unshaven Artist. I’m here to talk today about that certain someone you just can’t stand in the comic industry for one reason or another. My fellow Unshaven creator Marc has written his own public letter to Jeph Loeb explaining his personal distaste for some of his writings. How about me? Well, what do I love to hate?
I hate Michael Turner art.
There, I said it.
Now I want to go out there and let you know as your reading this, I don’t hate Michael Turner, the person. The man made a living, a very good living, working from the lowest point in comics (background artist/grunt) to the highest. He suffered through a horrible battle with chondrosarcoma, a form of cancer. He lost nearly half his right pelvis and by most medical reports, at least three pounds of bone. His continuing battle with this cancer would see him sadly loose, when he passed away on June 27th, 2008.
I remember being at Wizard World Chicago when it happened. News of his passing spread through the bar (the typical post-con hangout) like wildfire and the next day it was officially acknowledged throughout media sites round the world. Friends and fans spoke highly of Turner as a human being and a creator. I respected the man for making a name for himself in an industry where fly-by-night creators come and go. Not many people can rise to a level of super stardom and stay there. Again, I want to make perfectly clear that I don’t hate Michael Turner. I just hate his art.
In the 90’s, you had certain staples in the art being produced for books. Women had huge boobs and impossible waists. The guys where hyper-muscular to the point of being inhuman. Not to mention that everybody had shoulder pads, pouches everywhere, and ridiculously huge guns that don’t make a lick of sense functionally. So many pouches…*shudders*. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a gaggle of characters drawn with these unrealistic proportions, but we as artist’s have toned some of that down and made them more believable, since the age of excess. Not all do this, mind you, but most are trying.
Anyway, Turner was introduced to me art wise when I picked up Witchblade as a series. I was young, it was a hot series and thus my money was spent. In the beginning, I enjoyed his art. The panels where dynamic, storytelling was smooth and the women where hot. What more could you want in a series when you're fourteen? But as time went on, I began to enjoy the series less and less not because of story, but because of the art I'd once admired. It soon became harder and harder to tell apart certain characters visually; They all had the same facial structure and they were all drawn in suits. Since Withcblade was and still is primarily a cop drama at the heart of it all, there were a lot of people in suits... but maybe someone observes casual Friday now and then?!
Time went by and I dropped out of the title while still occasionally keeping tabs on what’s new. But I soon started to see Turners' art on everything else; In pin-ups, on covers, and in his creator owned books. His work soon evolved in my opinion to a level that it became a caricature of itself. It just seemed to be the same standard super, uber cut male body and the same incredibly hot, skinny, big boobed chick; all with different sets of clothing on to determine who's who. And worse than that? They were all in the same pose too... just standing there. Much like Keanu Reeves always has that look on his face followed by his horrible surfer accent saying “whoa dude” no matter the part... every pose of Turner's artwork looked the same to me.
The height of it all came after his death. Every article I read about him, seemed to talk about his art, and as a shining example referenced the Flash cover he'd recently completed. I saw that cover when it hit the shelves and my first thought was “The Flash is not that buff.” I see the Flash having a lean runner’s body due to the fact that, I don’t know, he run’s really fast. Many people would talk of how much motion and power was displayed in that cover. What I saw was standard Turner body with Flash costume added, while in that 'just standing there, in all my muscular glory' pose.
To me, the mark of a great comic artist is to make the characters you draw represent your style, and gives a sense of weight and individuality per character. One of my favorite artists is Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys). His work lets you get a sense that each character is his/her own person with individual quirks in their appearance. Robertson’s Wolverine is a short, squat guy who’s thick with muscle. He's proportionally believable to be that character as it's always been written. Find Michael Turner's Wolverine. Short? Maybe. Stocky, squat? My ass.
I wish Michael Turner was still alive, I really do. I’ve lost family to cancer and it’s a horrible disease to see anybody have. I want him to still be making new art in the world and living a healthy life. It was said that if you wanted a boost in sales, get Turner to do an alternate cover for you and you where guaranteed a three thousand dollar boost in sales. To this day, that blows my mind. That it was just guaranteed to sell that much more because he did a cover variant? Amazing. It proved he had fans and collectors of his art; I just wasn’t one of them.
So I am wondering, who's the creator of interest that just keeps getting work, all to the gnash of your teeth? ?
Hello once again from your friendly neighborhood Unshaven Artist. I’m here to talk today about the CW's drama Smallville. Yes, we know the internet is flooded with the news that the show is ending on it’s tenth season next year. Lets see what they did good and what they did wrong.
When Smallville was announced on the then new WB network in 2001, I was intrigued. I wasn’t to far removed from watching the horridness of 'The New Adventures of Lois and Clark'. I was far enough removed to have seen all the Superman movies on VHS and had laughed at the horrible effects of it’s time. Now I was at the ground level of something that could be great. The fans loved the pilot, and soon after the show started with a nice sized fanbase.
So I watched.
Now, most comic nerds/geeks/aficionado’s know the major beats to Superman’s background:
1: He crashes on earth from an alien planet and is adopted by John and Martha Kent.
2: He slowly learns his powers from a small child till his senior year in high school.
3: Lana Lang is his old flame from Smallville.
4: He’s the football star of high school, and college.
5: He meets Lois Lane on his first day at the Daily Planet.
6: Everybody see’s Clark as a big dork with a heart of gold.
(Side note, go ahead and count in Superman comics how many people have the LL initials or have red hair. Go on, I’ll wait….creepy when you think about it.)

I reminded myself that Hollywood versions of superheros don’t always look like their counterparts, and this rule applies to TV as well as movies. As I watched Smallville, I learned to love what those changes with the characters, so kudos to them for writing them to transcend all boundaries, and connect with the modern world. It took a little over a year before I learned that the producer’s had a standing rule of “no flights, no tights” for the series. Considering this was to be about Superman’s childhood developing years, I could live with that. With the list above, it seems it wouldn't be a problem to reach those major beats for his background, and these things would lend themselves to make a great show.


So what happened? Well here’s the good stuff:
We received the villain of the week scenario for most of the first and second season. Moving sub-plots along with Clark and Lex being friends, not friends, friends again, then eventual enemies. New powers emerged with some episodes and the shenanigans that where involved in mastering those powers. All the while, they teased the best one of all, flight, several times.
And now? The Bad:
Clark is the football star for all of ten minutes in high school. Lana and he date on and off. He meets Lois (Season four) while still in High School due to her being a cousin of one of the made up characters on the show (Chloe Sullivan). Collage life happened for half a season before he suddenly worked at the Daily Planet. He shows no distinction visually between him being Clark (glasses, dorky and a mess) to Superman (confident, good looking and all around awesome guy). 
And what really burns me is that after all this "fast forwarding" through Clark's adolescence, he still can’t fly!!!
That’s right, their heading into the tenth and last season of the show and he still can’t fly. Other people get his powers for ten seconds, stand in the glow of earths yellow sun and then shoot off into the sky with ease. Clark’s been soaking up sunlight for the better part of twenty years and can’t even float? NBA players gets more hang time with slam dunk contests then our 'Superman'!
I’ve talked with my fellow partners at Unshaven Comics as well as friends and co-workers on what they think might have fixed the show, over it's run:
First:
Clark needs to have gone to college. The struggle to balance superheroing and college classes would be a major plot point to connect the show to a prime demographic. If it worked for Peter Parker, it can work for Clark Kent.
Second:
The real last season should have been a semi year one of Clark coming to Metropolis to embrace his destiny. That’s when he truly meets Lois, Jimmy and Perry for the first time.
Third:

Lex Luthor should have never died on the show. That’s not to say they won’t bring him back for the last season, but he should always have been in the background somewhere. Be a voice on a phone or story in a newspaper. Hell, take the 'Power Ranger' route and say that he’s at the peace conference in Switzerland for all I care, just include him in the in-show-universe.
Fourth:
Dear Gods in all heavens, stop calling the damn show Smallville!! He’s been living and working in Metropolis since season six!!
Lastly:
The original producers had the rule “no tights, no flights” for a long time. But they (those original producers) have since left after season seven and we’ve seen men (and women) in tights since then. Everybody knows what the costume looks like, so please have him wear it. Enough of this Blur bull-crap. He’s Superman, and if you haven’t figured that out by the big “S” on his chest by now, you really don’t know what you’re watching.
All in all, you're looking at a show that should have run it's course around 8 seasons. The first four are his high school years. The next three are his college years. Have him say he took summer courses and you can skip a year of his college time would be more believable. The last season could have been his first year in Metropolis, as I mentioned before. Easy, clean, and room for telling good stories. So I say thank you TV gods for putting a kryptonite bullet between the eyes of this show next season.
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