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Dressed For Success – Page 202
Posted on January 22, 2025 by Jeff

Alex Corbett and Eddy the Lump, face to face after quite a long time. Alex attempts to sidestep the awkwardness.

You decide how well he's doing.

Chris answers the question “What is Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s Greatest Creation?”

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book DailyThis weeks question looks back at the early days of Marvel comics and two of the big guys, Stan ‘The Man’ Lee and Jack ‘The King’ Kirby. I’m not going to linger on their greatness or significance to the world of superhero comics, may other can and have. I will recommend reading Michael Chabon’s Cavalier and Clay. It might be fiction, but it’s obviously meant as a tribute the Stan and Jack. (And his Manhood for Amateurs was great for a fairly new geek Dad like me.) Nimrod and Juggernaut oh yeah.My answer to this weeks question was the X-Men. We were encouraged to not double up on our choices, and I was pleased that they hadn’t been chosen. I’ll admit to never getting the FF, and while the Hulks fine for what he is, I never really read it either. But the X-Men, at least during the Claremont years I know. While I didn’t have a deep emotional connection to the plight of the mutants or anything, I appreciated that they were a superhero comic that was also about something larger. Heavy ideas, exemplified in stories like God Loves, Man Kills, were a part of their appeal. They also dealt with small, personal stories, relationships between the characters, long before our current state where so many comics seem more like soap operas. (Scott and Maddy, Peter and Kitty, and wow, Forge and Storm in Life Death.) And they were my first superhero comic that I really followed. I started in the 180’s or 190’s and quickly read back to the Byrne era and beyond. Going forward I remember racing to the comic shop when X-Factor 1 came out. Eventually I moved away from guys in tights hitting each other, and the X-Men are unrecognizable to me. But for good or for bad, their influence can be felt throughout comics, as I mentioned, there’s a lot of that big ideas and small interpersonal stories now, (maybe too much). So thanks Stan and Jack. See everyones responses over at CBD.

Chris DOESN’T answer the question, “What’s the best comic book that no one is reading?”

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book DailyI failed. I tried and tried to come up with something that would be appropriate for this question. I try and take this thing sorta seriously, and I just couldn’t think of an ongoing comic book that no one was reading that I could recommend. Not that I couldn’t think of good comics. Obviously the comics I spend money on I believe are good. But none of them really qualified as no one is reading. Terry Moore’s Echo is doing just fine, Glamourpuss is still going through Diamond, so it’s okay. I thought about Kill Shakespeare, which everyone should read, but it’s been tearing up the press in only a few short months. But surely there must be things I read that don’t have a large readership. Well, maybe, like Royal Historian of OZ. Problem is it’s only had two issues, the second coming out last week, so I really can’t say it’s the best at this point. There’s Jack Staff, but again, while I enjoy Paul Grist, I’ve only managed a couple issues. There’s the Elsewhere Chronicles, but it’s an import and not exactly a monthly floppy. And I doubt it’s hurting for readers. If it had been webcomics, I’m sure I could have come up with a list. With the exception of the big name ones, most webcomics are in the no one is reading category to one degree or another. (Hell I was gonna just say ‘MINE!’) It would have given me another chance to push Max Overacts. Or JonnyCrossbones, Kukuburi or the others we’ve got links to over there on the right. Or one of a hundred others. So, while I may not have been able to answer this weeks question, maybe I hit something you didn’t know about, or haven’t tried. I expect there will be many more opportunities, both with the Q52 questions and just in conversations here to share comics and other things we enjoy or feel should be getting more attention. Anything you want to share?

Chris answers the question: What was the first comic book that made you realize you’d be a comics fan for life?

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book Daily So another week, another Q52. This week had me reminiscing over my earliest experiences with comics. What I didn’t really get to mention over at comicbookdaily, was the huge influence my friend Heath had on me. He was the one who loaned me Contest of Champions, a mini-series where the Marvel heroes travel the world playing an early reality show game. Heath was into all sorts of stuff I was. He had great Lego, Micronauts toys, role playing games and comics. Oh did he have comics. So much so, that years later, he and his Dad started a comic store in a room in their house. That grew and grew and for a good 10 years, the Comic Express was my home town pusher. Heath also introduced me to the idea of making your own comics. He would hand draw and colour small comics, and then I would try and reproduce them. Photocopiers were a ways off at that time. Once they were available, the very first comic Jeff and I produced was done with Heath. It was, big surprise, a superhero comic about a Canadian team called Northern Lights. It’s embarrassing, and if you happen to have one, burn it. But I wanted to add that bit in. While I was learning to enjoy reading comics, I was simultaneously learning about making them. I think that helped to cement my love for the art form. Thanks Heath. – Chris

Chris answers the question, “Who is your favourite artist currently working in comics?”

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book DailyAnother week, another instalment of Q52 over at comicbookdaily.com. This weeks question got scubbered, so only a few responses made it. It’s really hard for me to pick a single favourite on anything. I’d much prefer to list 5 or 10 I really like. So I went with a slightly tactical answer and again tried to choose something non-mainstream. Now anyone who knows me can likely guess who I would choose for favourite currently working artist in comics, so it won’t be a big surprise or anything, and my answer is pretty short, so I thought I might add in some of the other names I would love to have listed. Frank Cho was chosen by someone else, and yeah, he’s pretty incredible. John Romita Jr. is always going to be on my list, Ramon Perez is great, if slightly over-worked. A new favourite is Caanan, who does really funny work that looks great.  Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone and a few others who’ve brought a cleaner, almost retro feel back into comics which I love, first as a reaction to the overly busy Image school, and because it’s reminiscent of the work of the sadly departed Mike Parobeck. And a bunch of others that as they occur to me, I’ll add to that list. As to the Q52 response, and the plucky Canadian who did it his way? My official answer is here.

Rise Of The Machine

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Jeff
Back in our mini comic days I was given a certain nickname among our group of local comic creators.  That being “The Machine”.  The reason being that I seemed to be able to produce comic pages with an almost inhuman speed and consistency.  From my point of view, I was very effective at getting in a groove and being productive without letting outside distractions get to me.  I was also good at judging how long it would take to produce a given page. Since there was a span of about 14 years between working on the print version of Dressed for Success and working on the webcomic version I was concerned about whether or not I still had it in me to live up to the nickname “The Machine”.  After all that was a long time to go without consistently working on drawing comic pages.  Fortunately after a short period of uncertainty I realized that yes I could indeed reclaim the name and soon after “The Machine” found itself rising up from the ashes. With the webcomic requiring a more steady production of comic pages in order to meet the demand of posting a page a week, as opposed to 20 pages over a 3 month period in the print days, I found myself devising a system in which I could layout/pencil/letter and ink 2 pages over the course of my work week.  All the while allowing me to have my weekends for myself.  Below are pictures I took to illustrate my creative process for producing new comic pages.  I thought you might find it interesting to see the evolution of my comic art.  Enjoy! – Jeff P.S. I apologize in advance for the blurriness and low light quality of the photos.  I’m still learning how to use my digital camera. 😛

Thumbnails

Before I sit down at my drafting table to begin drawing pages I quickly sketch out some rough thumbnail images for each page.  This is where a lot of the heavy lifting takes place to translate the written script pages to penciled comic art. pages stage 1

Monday

On the first day I take a sheet of  11×14 bristol board and rule out 2 pages worth of comic panels.  From there I add the initial rough pencils, lettering and word balloons. pages stage 2

Tuesday

On day two I concern myself with fleshing out and finishing my pencils.  This step seems to go pretty quickly and I can also include inking the lettering and word balloons on this day.  Depending on my mood. Pages stage 3

Wednesday

On day three I begin the inking process, focusing my attention on the first of the two pages. Pages stage 4

Thursday

On the forth day I am left to ink the second of the two pages, all the while seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Pages stage 5

Friday

The last day of my work week involves taking the completed comic pages and scanning them into a digital form.  From there I use Photoshop to save them out as individual comic page files and do any required touch ups before sending them off to Chris for colouring.

Holiday Road

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Jeff
Much like Chevy Chase in the 80’s comedy “National Lampoon’s Vacation” I am embarking on the holiday road.  Mind you my vacation is more of the “staycation” variety.  For the next 10 days I will be taking part in the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) watching 20+ films.  Instead of hitting the holiday road traveling somewhere I will be staying in my hometown and, more appropriately, hitting the holiday lineup. I will be spending much of my time traveling to and standing in movie lineups waiting to enter various theatres around the city to watch movies.  This will mean I won’t be able to keep to my usual work schedule of producing 2 comic pages over the course of the work week.  Admittedly, I have a sizable number of pages banked and ready to go so that won’t be an issue, but I always like to feel like I am working on something related to the comic, whether it is pages, script writing, and other extra content for the website. Right now, one of the projects that Chris and I are undertaking is a re-design of the site that will see us upgrading to the latest version of ComicPress.  So, In the moments of free time where I find myself at home I will work away on that as well as sketching out thumbnails for the next set of script pages in order to keep me busy once I’ve come down from my festival high. Finally, if I find the time and energy, I will see about posting my thoughts on some of the films I’ve seen over the course of the week.  But for now, I’ll see you down the road. – Jeff

Chris answers the question, “What comic book locale would you like to visit?”

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book DailyWeek 2 of comicbookdaily’s Q52 asked us where we’d like to visit in comic book land. Many of the respondents chose Arkham Asylum. I think they are crazy. (See what I did there?) I wanted to visit somewhere a little safer, and a little further off the beaten path. Go see what I wanna see.

I Know What I Like

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Chris
Band of JoyMy radio station has recently been playing the new Robert Plant single. I really like it. When they played it today, they were talking about Plant going to see John Paul Jones’ new band and his comments about the directions they’ve both taken.  Which started me thinking about the artists I like and have followed through their careers. It takes a lot to get me to decide I really like something. Oh I can say, yeah that’s okay or I like that, but to really make me latch on and decide this makes the list takes time and something pretty special. Once I do make that decision though, I’m devoted. Take Plant. Oh sure, everyone has to like at least some Zepplin. But it took some personal stuff to really latch on to their electrified blues. and then as I explored their later work, and then Page and Plant did the unplugged album No Quarter I was suddenly completely hooked. I will now follow whatever Plant does next. I like that he’s continued, and I like that he’s evolving. If I look at the other musicians that fall into that category, McCartney, RUSH, David Bowie, (he’s a real one for trying all sorts of new things, and I’m in for whatever he comes up with) and of course my beloved Genesis, they are all marked by long careers that show them reaching and exploring and experimenting. These are the artists that fill my shelves with every thing they touch. Same for other art forms. In film I’m a Woody Allen fan. Now there’s a guy who’s not stuck in a rut. Absurdism, farce, drama, expressionism, and even a musical. Terry Gilliam is another favourite. Now sometimes, I can give up on someone. They start out great, but somewhere along the way, they stagnate, or take a path that just doesn’t work for me. I really liked Tim Burton. I still really like some of his early work. But I haven’t seen anything he’s done in years. It’s all become so samey. And I’ll just leave George Lucas to your imagination. In comics, I like John Romita Jr. A career Marvel man, he’s worked on lots of different projects and his work has changed an evolved over the years. He’s even recently dabbled with work that’s not for Marvel. Dave Sim I’ll buy his napkin scrawlings. It’s not always that I’ll buy anything and everything, but I’ll always keep tabs, flip through, listen to a clip what have you. Some of it is likely the comfortable familiarity, but that would only hold if they were to keep doing what they’ve always done. It’s more that they’ve struck a nerve, made a connection. And now i’ll follow wherever they lead. What do you like?

Chris answers a question

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Chris
Comic Book DailySo yesterday I got a note from Pete DeCourcy of Comic Book Daily, the blog that has been carrying Dressed For Success and is associated with Chris’ new comic book pusher Big B Comics. He’s adding a new column that asks a question a week. This weeks question? Who’s your favourite female comic book character? The first one was kinda short notice and I panicked a bit, but in the end I’m pleased with my choice. Wanna know who I chose?

Who’s Wha?!

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Chris
Just a quick note to let you know that the Who’s Wha?! guide to Dressed For Success has been updated with entries for Jay and Celeste. It’s a little early to put up entries for some of the other figures seen in MJATLSOTO, (whoa, is that an acronym!) but would there be interest in entries for characters from the older small press print stories?