Sunday, February 28, 2010

Not '3D'. Just Double 'D'.



I, STEVERINO have returned yet again
 to pull from the Big Box something you may have missed
...or not. This comic might have poked you in the eyes
and said "Buy Me" or at the very least
"Pick Me Up and Fondle Me".

Blue Bulleteer
AC Comics (Americomics): No. 1, 1989


"Double Trouble for Lady Luger"
story/layouts:Bill Black  pencils:Bill lux  inks:John Dell & Bill Lux
letters:Walter Paisley  grey tones:Rebekah Black

Where to start? When I reached into the Big Box and
grabbed onto this I was at first a little intimidated
and then became exicited. I thought "great I'll read
this thing and rip it for the obvious over-the-top
 female exploitation that was/is AC Comics".
I...I...can't. I want to but, I can't.


After being treated to an eye catching full color Eisner'esque
cover I was let down a bit to find an all black and white interior.
I got myself together and read on.
Less than great, but not that bad artwork with decent
splash/pin-up pages kept me moving forward...
not to mention the snappy dialogue. Please see above.

We begin the epic in a flashback. Uh oh.
Rita Farrar known as Rio Rita does battle with Nazis
 in the 40's along with fellow "Colorado Project" (special
American soldier) Dan Barton aka "Black Commando"
(He's a white dude in a black costume). 
Barton buys the farm and funding is cut for the
experimental program. Rita's boyfriend Jack Lodge has been
inventing the sci-fi equipment used in the program.
The USA wants none of it. (I chose to overlook that)
Barton's Girl (a senators daughter) Laura Wright
trained by night to keep up the good fight with guns and
a very skimpy costume. (I couldn't overlook that)
She's the "Blue Bulleteer". Right?

Or, is she?

 The inventor Jack Lodge makes use of his toys that include
a flight suit and magnetic weapons (that the US didn't want)
to become the "Blue Bulleteer".
I know but, it does make a good sub-plot.
OK. Back to the present but still the 1940's.
We readers are then given a glimps of "Der Fuhrer" himself.


Enter the villains. Voltzman who just perfected a
teleport system and Lady Luger who just walked through
this system and feels great. They want to bring more troops over.
Lady Luger can't wait for them so she aims to sabotage
the first large event she can find. Guess who's in attendance.
A little fire breaks out and when the panic starts
it's BB time.


Luger is beat and scrams "schnell" but Blue bulleteer is down
and about to burn. Who'll save the day?
 The other Blue bulleteer? Yup.


Our buttonless she-villain is not happy and targets
 the senators daughter for "der schnatch". Her words.
She nabs Laura during a night-time stroll and ties her up.
You had to know that was coming.
Laura's silent signal device tips off the FEMFORCE
(I don't know if the US knew about that device)
and they tell her father just as the male "BB" arrives.
Back out the window he flew and... smash he enters the
lair allowing Laura to sneak away and get back into that
Superhero...well, underwear.
 "Now you know why I'm called the Blue Bulleteer!"
BB shoots a henchman to save her friend. 
Her male counterpart fights off Nazi thugs as
Lady Luger runs to the roof.
Blue Bulleteer (female) soon follows
and is again caught in a bad yet sexy situation.
I refer you to our cover.


 

That's how it ends. It's compleately predictable except
for that punch in the face. Lady Luger will be back and I'm
sure they'll work the whole name thing out.
Like the last panel says "more 40's fun" will be had next issue.
I think the fact that this was kept simple and let's face it
skimpy made it a fun read. If you don't take it too seriously and
 overlook a few things (like the fact that our heroes are the
"Blue" Bulleteer in a black and white mag.)
you might want to come back for more.
It was a nice throwback to simpler times.
There was a second story.

A re-print from the 40's. Same type of story and ending.
This has great art by Bill Ward and features Rita Ferrar as
"Bullet Girl" along with Jack lodge as our hero.
Good clean fun. I am pleased.
What about this? I found it and had to share.


Find more of this here.
The well made costumes and more than cheezy, over the top,
cable TV'ness of it all makes it worth a look.

Annnd where does this guy fit in?

more here.

or him...

more here.
I could go on. Who knew?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Kyle Ferrin

What can I say people?
You are in for "...an Extra Precious Experience...".

Kyle Ferrin

I was born in the Great State of Utah around 23 years ago,
and have lived in a town called Farmington for a majority on my life.
 My first introduction to comics was from watching the
X-Men and Batman TV shows on Saturday mornings before
going out to work in the orchard or shovel the snow.
I'm the oldest of eight kids, and as my mom always says,

 "We just didn't know you were anything special
 when it came to art
until you went to kindergarten, because
we had nothing to compare
a 4 year old who could draw Garfield strips from memory to."
(I think my mom still has some of those Garfield drawings.)

I've loved illustration my whole life, and I'm currently going to
 University to get a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design
with an Illustration emphasis. When I'm not doing four times the
 work load of other students, (this is not a joke,
my professors give me extra work so I don't get bored,)
 I'm working from home on social media websites like Twitter.

I LOVE Twitter. You should definitely follow me!
or to get straight to some of the pictures I've posted to twitter,

You may notice from some of those pictures that
I'm a HUGE fantasy nerd in addition to loving comic books.
I play Dungeons and Dragons, and I keep a blog
with mainly just artwork in relation to that great hobby: http://d20machine.blogspot.com/search/label/Illustrations

I'm also a big science-fiction appreciator, and
most other things associated with
the stereotypical nerd are applicable.
 I'm happy to live in a generation where being a nerd is "cool".
 I think I figured out when I first got to high school that if
you are popular in Junior High, you will be greatly outnumbered
by the unpopulars when you move up to high school...
and then be forgotten. Nerd power.

(To give an example, as a senior in highschool,
 I was voted to be "king" in the school Christmas dance. At the time,
 I had braces, a roller backpack,
 rode the bus to school, had a cast on my left arm,
 and was the lead in the school musical. Nerd Power.)

Recently, with the help of one of my Twitter friends,
I got a comic strip website together about my life.
It's called "...an eXtra Precious experience..." and this is the link: http://www.xp.omnivangelist.net/
There's only about five comic strips on there right now,
but I've only had it for 2 weeks, and I'm still working out the kinks.

And yes, I really do have a red-plaid hoodie
that I wear all of the time.
 Extra Precious updates every Monday and Thursday for now,
 but may update more regularly when summer rolls around.

I love doing commissions, and I'm pretty versatile
when it comes to different art styles. When I'm not drawing strictly on
 Adobe Illustrator or Corel Painter,
you can find me watercolor painting
or putting some good old fashioned pencil to paper.
(In fact, some of my favorite work can be found
amidst the notes of my non-art classes.)

I just got a scanner,
 and I will be posting these doodles on another blog called http://qualitydoodles.blogspot.com/


I appreciate Comic Creators United showcasing my work,
and although I'm not as polished an artist with as large a portfolio
as some others, I've got talent, and I think I'm doing pretty good
so far for being a 22 year old who has been married for a
 little more than a year. ;D Thanks for checking out my work!

Good stuff, Kyle.
 "...an eXtra Precious experience..." can't miss.
CCU is proud to have such fine up-and-coming talent on board.
You can create more artwork but, we'll still want more.
Thanks and come back soon. 

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Hey Goalie, Ya Got Some Nerd On You.

(Jean Sebastian-Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks wearing what appears to be a Terminator Duck)

A goalie's mask is probably the most personal piece of equipment in all of sports. It does, in fact, save their face from a blistering rubber disc going 90-100 mph; but it also allows them to express their individuality. Hand painted masks that display where they come from, nicknames they might have, and their interests. Some of these goalies share a common interest with those of us who enjoy the "nerdier" side of life.

I was going through a list of goalie masks in the NHL when I came across a Spider Man painted mask. That got me thinking, how many goalies have there been with superheroes displayed on their head. Well, it turns out science fiction and video games were pretty popular too.

So, I've compliled a list of the best "nerdy" goalie masks that I could find:


Spider Man











Venom





















Marvel Heroes


(Yeah, who knew Marvel was gonna corner this market huh?)
Iron Man and Captain America


















The Incredible Hulk



Wolverine


















Thor and Silver Surfer













Batman and Villains















Star Wars






Ghostbusters

Peter Budaj (Colorado Avalanche) and Kari Lehtonen (Atlanta Thrashers)
I had to give these two goalies their own section because both of them had multiple nerdy masks.

Budaj has some really sweet masks. Yes, that's Altair from Assasin's Creed in the top two pictures. The Red Hulk on the bottom two - and a jacked Ned Flanders on the back of it.
Kari Lehtonen Starts off with an homage to Kill Bill with Beatrix Kiddo and O-Ren Ishii


Then he has a quite obscure mask featuring the girls from Final Fantasy x - Yuna and Rikku

Then to finish it off we see Lehtonen in an Optimus Prime mask.

Chris Mason also has a couple of cool designs, Kratos from God of War and Leonidas from 300



Even though the masks they use now are definitely safer, they lack a certain amount of intimidation that goalies in the past were able to execute.





Yeah, nobody wants to get on a breakaway and have to stare down a skull-man or vicious wildcat.

Check out Daveart.com and Griffe for more great designs. The goalie mask is such a unique piece of equipment it's fascinating how many designs there are out there.

 
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