This week we celebrate the artwork of comics legend Paul Smith! The 600th issue of Uncanny X-Men hit the stands this week and I was very pleased to see that Smith contributed one of the variant covers for this landmark issue. X-Men was really the reason I got into comics as a kid. In fact the very first comic I picked up and read(besides the Bob’s Big Boy comics they used to give away when you ordered a kid’s meal..) was Uncanny X-Men #166 with that glorious Paul Smith cover of The X-Men battling the Brood!
A good friend of mine at the time(probably ’83/’84) had an older brother who collected comics and he had an big, old chest full of them(no bags ‘n boards, mind you..). So, when I’d go over there for a sleep-over, I’d get to rummage through his treasure trove of funny-books and then pull a few out for some late-night sleeping bag reading! Those Paul Smith issues of X-Men were truly magical, and always will be to me. There have been many great artists to work with Chris Claremont on his classic X-Men run, including legends like Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor Smith, Arthur Adams, Alan Davis, Jim Lee, etc. etc, but for me, my favorite X-Men artist will always be Paul Smith.
Smith is mostly a self-taught artist. He worked as an animator on Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings and American Pop before working at Marvel Comics in the early 1980’s. After establishing himself on titles like X-Men, Doctor Strange, and Marvel Fanfare, Smith would go on to do more independent, critically acclaimed series like Leave It To Chance and The Golden Age, both with writer James Robinson. He continues to work in mainstream comics for special projects, and cover illustrations, while also staying very busy with private commission work.
The best place to get updates on what Paul Martin Smith(PMS) is up to and to see more art is on his website here.
For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates
The story goes that legendary Uncanny X-Men scribe Chris Claremont discovered Malaysian-born artist Sonny Liew at a comics convention and got him his first big break into comics, landing Liew a gig illustrating Iron Man for Marvel. It was a small gig, just one illustration, but it set the stage for Liew’s bright future in comics! In 2004, Sonny Liew won the Xeric Award(an award for excellence in self-published comics) in 2004 for Malinky Robot. Later, he would go on to illustrate such titles as Slave Labor & Disney’s Wonderland series, Marvel’s Sense and Sensibility adaptation, and collaborate with artist/inker Mark Hempel on DC/Vertigo’s My Faith in Frankie.
Before studying illustration at Rhode Island School of Design, Liew attended college in Singapore(where he currently resides) and in the UK. His work has been featured in the critically acclaimed anthology Flight and he’s served as editor of the Southeast Asian comics anthology Liquid City.
Liew has been a celebrated artist at home, winning Singapore’s Young Artist Award in 2010, but recently he’s found himself in a bit of controversy over his latest book, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. The grant that supported the making of that book was withdrawn by the National Arts Council for containing sensitive topics. You can hear more about this story from the man himself at this book sharing session.
Right now is a great time to become a Sonny Liew fan, because he’s making some of the best comics art of his career on the newly relaunched Doctor Fate series with famed DC writer/editor/former-president Paul Levitz! I see that more people are catching onto this series, now that it’s up to issue 5, so hopefully that will continue to happen and we’ll get a nice, long Doctor Fate run out of Liew!
If you’d like to see more art and learn more about Sonny Liew, check out his blog here.
For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates
The second Special Edition: NYC comics-only show from ReedPop runs June 6-7 at Pier 94, and ReedPOP has just announced the first guests: Amy Reeder, Chris Claremont, Alex Maleev, Mark Texeira, Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, Kevin Maguire and Marguerite Bennett.
Tickets for the event go on sale Wednesday, February 4 (THAT”S TODAY) at 12:00 PM EST.
Unlike it’s loud, tumultuous and pulse-pounding big sister New York Comic-Con, SE:NYC is planned as a more mellow comics focused event with more Special Guests from the pages of mainstream, alternative, indie, international and web comics.
“We launched Special Edition: NYC last year, because we knew fans were clamoring for a more exclusive event aimed specifically at comic books since New York Comic Con has grown into the massive success that it has,” said Lance Fensterman, Global Senior Vice President of ReedPOP in a statement “and we felt that it answered this call. Fans and artists were able to interact and the overall environment fostered such a strong community of comic book fans. We’re excited to see what this year brings in a new location with an even better lineup.”
Channing Tatum (pictured, via) will star as Gambit for a X-Men spinoff movie.
Tatum has also signed on to serve as a producer for this film adaptation. Screenwriter Josh Zetumer has been brought on to oversee the script. Chris Claremont, the Marvel Comics writer who created this character with Jim Lee, penned the first draft of the script.
Here’s more from Deadline: “The storyline is being kept under wraps. The character, which also goes by the name Remy LeBeau, has the ability to charge matter with volatile kinetic energy, causing the object in question to explosively release its charge on impact. The character materialized in a short burst in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
VIP Tickets have sold out. That’s a good omen.