Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk

this was scaned from
Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk

first superman

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/yeung/actioncomics/insidecover.html

http://ratcreature.livejournal.com/175099.html

A while ago I posted some scans from Wizard How To Draw series on drawing female superheroes (here and here), and I thought I'd post a bunch more from the first book of the series on "How To Draw: Heroic Anatomy".


As everything, it starts with the basics, i.e. proportions. First the male superhero


The female example is similar, but slightly different, notice how he stands firm and straight, wheras she stands with her hips cocked a little and the leg thrust forward?


Also notice in the direct torso comparison below, how the male one is ramrod straight, but she curves and leans just a little bit in the same pose?


Now onwards to the chapter "Sultry Women". It even cautions you against overposing! Yes, it's not as if Wizard wasn't aware of the problems! (Their definition and mine of which poses are already overposed might differ slightly though, heh.)





Next, Michael Turner explains "Sex Appeal". (Or what he thinks sex appeal is.) Incidentally it also illustrates the meaning of "overposed" that was brought up in the previous chapter very effectively...





Finally for compare and contrast purpuses the chapters on "Superheroic Men" and "Superheroic Women". For the male superhero it is all about more or less ridiculously enlarged muscles as we learn:





Female superheroes don't have it that easy, they need to worry about tilting their shoulder, nipple and pubic lines attractively at all times, not to mention legs, breast size, eye make-up and hair:

http://www.comicvine.com/women-in-comics/12-43357/

Marston's Dream of a Powerful Yet Beautiful Woman in Comics

"America's woman of tomorrow should be made the hero of a new type of comic strip. By this, I mean a character with all the allure of an attractive woman, but with the strength also of a powerful man. There isn't enough love in the male organism to run this planet peacefully. What women presently lack is the dominance or self-assertive power to put over and enforce her love diaries. I have given Wonder Woman this dominant force, but kept her loving. It is my hope to make this strip as appealing to adults as it has proved to kids.”

Marston was the writer for the first Wonder Woman comics, and he had written her as a woman with natural leadership skills, though he had always portrayed them with the themes of bondage. In one issue, she went mad because her bracelets had been broken, and the bracelets represented restraint and said that “power without self-control tears a girl to pieces.”

Body Image

The use of women in comics as sexual objects has been satirized where writer-artist Jhonen Vasquez had featured a tall, blonde, scantily clad, dumb super heroine in a comic called Squee! #2 where in the storyline, she has a hard time balancing herself because of her large bust and thin hips. Her career ends when she is tapped on the forehead and falls and breaks her spine, thus ending her career.

Also another example of how a woman in comics have been portrayed for her body image is Power Girl. Power Girl artwork was first done by Wally Wood who said that with each issue he would increase Power Girls breast. Eventually it was getting ridiculous of how large her breast had become to the point where DC didn't want to have Wally Wood to work on her issues anymore with DC saying that," it is becoming unrealistic of how big her chest has become", so since then they toned done her chest even though it is still rather large . In Justice League#37, Crimson Fox attempts to explain Power Girls outfit by saying that her outfit shows people what she is. "Female. Healthy. Strong. If men want to degrade themselves by staring and drooling and tripping over themselves, that's their problem, I'm not going to apologize for it."

http://www.collectortimes.com/~comichistory/Platinum.html

The Platinum Age Of Comics

The Adventures of Mickey Mouse is considered to be the first "true" Mickey Mouse comic book. It came out in 1931, is 32 pages long and 5 -1/2" x 8 1/2". It was published by David McKay Co. with a print run of 50,000 copies. There were both hardcover and softcover versions of this book. A second book came out after the Mickey Mouse cartoons and the characters within were made similar to the cartoons.

Not all comics were squeaky clean and sold on newsstands. From about the 1930's to the 1950's small dirty comics were sold through underground means. These were called Tijuana Bibles, despite the name they were made in America. While much of their origins or artists are not known it's believed they were made by members of organized crime. This is partialy because the bibles were illegally using trademarked characters. Well known comic strips, movies stars, sport celeberties and more had their likeness used to tell dirty stories with. The book shown here is a collection of Tijuana Bibles.

as u can see comic started off innnocent but there has always been
adlut themes in comics. but still this was underground and
illegal so it doesnt really count as real comic books but it shows what
they would become in the furture

In March 1937, Detective Comics #1 came out. This comic was the first true DC comic book. This issue was the first production of two companies that formed the DC company. Comic producer Major Malcolm Wheeler wasn't making much money with his comic books (New Fun being one of them) and owed money to his printer and just about everybody else. Wheeler was forced to collaborated with his printer/distributor Harry Donenfeld to produce this book. Most of the stories in this issue are racist towards Chineese people and they are the villains in the majority of the tales. One such story titled "Claws of the Red Dragon" writen by Major Malcolm Wheeler. Another story of note in here is called Slam Bradley done by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The character looks very similar to another they created. That being Superman. From the opening splash page to the different layouts to the tough guy hero saves the girls it's easy to see how there style paved the way for the typical comic hero story.

In June 1938, Action Comics #1 came out, featuring a man in a red and blue costume lifting a car over his head! This was Superman, the very first comic character to have powers far beyond a normal human being. Sure, Flash Gordon and The Shadow were neat, but they couldn't lift a car over their heads and throw it at someone! Nor could they let bullets bounce off their chests, or run faster than a train, or leap over tall buildings in a single bound. To say the least, Superman was a fitting name.

Detective Comics #27 hit the stands in In May, 1939. In it we saw the first appearance of Batman. While Superman was pure and clean, Batman was grim and gritty. In this comic, the villain fell into a vat of acid, which killed him. Not showing any remorse for causing the death, Batman observed "A fitting end for his kind."

The 'arrival' of Dr. Fredric Werthham was the scariest thing to ever happen to comic books. He was a highly distinguished psychologist who thought comic books were bad for kids, and his efforts to have them censored had a horrible and lasting impact that still affect comic books to this day.

A few weeks later Dr. Wertham attended a symposium in New York City called "The Psychopathology of Comic Books". The reaction to Dr. Wertham's views was immediate. One month later, in the April issue of Time magazine, a story appeared about Detroit Police Commissioner Harry S. Toy, who examined all the comic books available in his community, and then stated they were; "Loaded with communist teachings, sex, and racial discrimination." In May of 1948 he also presented his views in an article for the Saturday Review of Literature.

The mass burning of comic books did happen. On December 20th, in 1948, Time magazine reported and printed pictures of Binghamton, New York residents, after a house to house collection of comic books, having a mass public comic book burning (with a bunch of kids in the background watching).

In 1948, some of the comic publishers formed the Association of Comic Magazine Publishers (ACMP). It's goal was to set out guidelines under which comic books would be published. They did this hoping that it would reduce the amount of criticism they were under. The ACMP set up a board of people that had to approve a comic before it would see print. But because some big companies like DC and Dell comics had their own internal approval boards, they didn't join the ACMP. As well, some of the partners involved had disagreements over parts of the approval guidelines, which caused them to quit the ACMP.

Even though there were a number of people in the media who were critical of comic books, Dr. Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954, had the most devastating effects. In this book Dr. Wertham stated that in his studies with children, he found comic books to be a major cause of juvenile delinquency. This assertion was based mostly on guilt by association. The vast majority of kids in those days read comic books, including the ones who became delinquents. But according to Dr. Wertham, comic books caused the children to become delinquents.

But comics went much further than just turning kids into juvenile delinquents. According to Wertham, comic books were giving kids wrong ideas about the laws of physics, because Superman could fly! He also charged that comic books were implementing and re-enforcing homosexual thoughts because Robin was drawn with bare legs, that were often wide open, and that Robin seemed devoted and attached to only Batman. Dr. Wertham also stated that Wonder Woman was giving little girls the "wrong ideas" about a woman's place in society.

At the time, there were a lot of horror comic books on the market showing some pretty gruesome things. But what Dr. Wertham wouldn't admit was that kids were not reading those books, adults were. While fighting in WWII, many soldiers read comic books for morale and entertainment. Upon coming back, these men continued reading comic books. It was mainly for this audience that horror comics were written. Even today, those comic books are being redone into Tales of the Crypt shows, being aired late at night for adult audiences.

DC's batman started out as a killer. A dark man how starts his first comic throwing someone of a roof. [Put scan of book here] he later got a side kick robin and the comic got lighter. Batman would never kill and he fought crazy people like the joker or two-face instead of just gangsters and killers. The villains had gimmicks Two-Face would steal from the 2nd bank on the 2nd of February at 2:02. Batman became even more light-hearted when got a bat-family. There was Batdog, batman, robin, Batwoman, bat girl, Nightwing (the first robin who grew up) and an elf like alien who believe he is Batman's biggest fan Bat-Mite (first appearance-1959). In the 80's batman became darker again. With the comic book 'the dark knight returns' where frank miller creator of '300' and 'sin city' wrote and drew the comic. In this story batman has given up being a hero after the last robin died. Gotham city is over run with gang and mutant like people. Batman once again cleans up Gotham with a new robin a girl this time. In this batman is old and out of practise he get shot at he bleeds and there is graphical violence. In this book batman didn’t smile and joke around, fighting killers and criminals isn’t fun. Batman started out dark but he never has any violent weapons and only threw a guy off a building. The new batman nearly beat people to death if it wasn’t for self control. Also criminals became more twisted over time. Joker was just a gimmick. A new villain who face has been damaged by acid and blames batman. His face is white and his mouth is stuck as a smile. Over time he became a twisted evil person who now only cares to make batman’s life a mess. [Add joker info here]

answer

How do you feel about the content of comics today?

A little too focused on super hero stuff. (even though I love superheroes)

How do you feel comic have changed from the past?

Comics are trying a little too hard to be movies. I think they work best when they use the tools that are unique to comic book storytelling.

Has any of it changed for the worst?

yes, see above...

With comics like the Ultimates do you feel that comics are still for children?

No - that's a common misconception. There are some comics that are appropriate for children, but comics are certainly not *just* for children. I think there's room for all kinds of comics.

What percent of comic do you think is targeted for children?

fairly small amount these days I would think.

What do you feel is the future of comic books?

Comics need to become more engaged in digital and web means of distribution. The current model of only selling in specialty comics stores is not a good business model. I don't know specifically how - if I did I would be making a ton of money.