Ultimate Power

[The Toyroom]

Anyone else buying this? Why am I still buying this? This story has gone nowhere except fight scenes and Greg Land cheesecake poses every issue.

The only saving grace finally was a last minute, 2 page appearance of the original Squadron Supreme (think old Avengers stories and the 80s Gruenwald mini-series). I'd rather see these guys than the JMS wannabes. I started out liking "Supreme Power" but it's gotten boring and the long delays between issues doesn't help.

[VintageMike]

I have #7 but haven't read it yet.

[megocanada]

I too love the last page. The only thing I didn't understand is Hyperion is in his old costume with mask but Ladylark is in her Skylark costume. So does this mean the Ultimate universe is going to meet the Marvel universe (616)

[thunderbolt]

There have been some hints dropped that the whole Ult. U is going away.

[The Toyroom]

^ Really? I'm surprised...I thought it was a pretty successful line for Marvel.

[BlackKnight]

I have them all,.. just have not found the time to read any yet.. was waiting also to get them all. Land's art work is amazing imo,.. so I continue to buy. :yes:

[The Toyroom]

I have them all,.. just have not found the time to read any yet.. was waiting also to get them all. Land's art work is amazing imo,.. so I continue to buy. :yes:

From what I've been reading, Land seems to swipe a lot of his artwork from other sources/artists/photos. In many instances he appears to be nothing more than a glorified tracer.
__________________________________________

Submitted for your disapproval...

Topher Grace/Mr Fantastic:

http://images.comicbookresources.com/litg/reedtad2kl.gif

Brad Pitt/Magneto:

http://images.comicbookresources.com/litg/hmmmmm4kt.gif

[ctc]

>Land seems to swipe a lot of his artwork from other sources/artists/photos.

It's not uncommon for fantasy/sci-fi/comic artists who work in a realistic style to do so. (Part of the fun of the old "Marvels" series was guessing who was the model for each character.) Sometimes they use professional models (which is why so many romance novel covers have a Fabio-lookin' dude on the cover) sometimes the crib models from pop culture.

Don C.

[The Toyroom]

Yeah but I think there's a difference between drawing using a model (whatever the source) and blatant tracing over. Alex Ross for example uses live models as you mentioned in "Marvels", "Kingdom Come" etc but actually poses them, photos them and sketches/paints everything.

[BlackKnight]

From what I've been reading, Land seems to swipe a lot of his artwork from other sources/artists/photos. In many instances he appears to be nothing more than a glorified tracer.
__________________________________________

Submitted for your disapproval...

Topher Grace/Mr Fantastic:

http://images.comicbookresources.com/litg/reedtad2kl.gif

Brad Pitt/Magneto:

http://images.comicbookresources.com/litg/hmmmmm4kt.gif


Well even if it's true,.. he still may have some sorta talent. I still like it,.. & it still takes alot to paint,.. & do whatever. Right ? I mean P diddy,.. or Puff Diddy or whatever his name is , is rich for boosting others peoples music, at first right ? :juggleyes_y::smiley1:

[ctc]

>I think there's a difference between drawing using a model (whatever the source) and blatant tracing over.

Well.... while I DO agree, it's amazing how common this sort of thing can be. A lot of the time the artist is working an an incredibly tight schedule and may not have access to models and the like. So I guess you can cut them a little slack sometimes...

>Alex Ross for example uses live models as you mentioned in "Marvels", "Kingdom Come" etc but actually poses them, photos them and sketches/paints everything.

Yeah; but Ross was working on... I HATE to use the phrase, but EVENT comics. He had more time to prep, and was producing works of short duration.

>Well even if it's true,.. he still may have some sorta talent. I still like it,.. & it still takes alot to paint,.. & do whatever.

In this case though, I may be less forgiving since when you look at the other stuff in the comics, a lot of the backgrounds are vague; and stuff like the guy in the first example panel are a bit skewed. So it's possible he's using the live shots as a crutch.

>I mean P diddy,.. or Puff Diddy or whatever his name is , is rich for boosting others peoples music, at first right ?

Oh man; DON'T get me started on that sort of thing..... My buddy Rob summed up how I feel about the last decade of cultural mining in his essay on pseudo-fanfics.... (Which I linked to in the "THIS is the new Ming" thread.) While it's good to make your works topical, and EVERYTHING builds on it's predecessors I really hate when folks just chop up something old and "repackage" it.

Don C.

[Comic Book Geek]

There have been some hints dropped that the whole Ult. U is going away.

That's just crazy talk. I'd bet there are at least 2 Ultimate titles in the top 20

[Cosmicman]

Yeah but I think there's a difference between drawing using a model (whatever the source) and blatant tracing over. Alex Ross for example uses live models as you mentioned in "Marvels", "Kingdom Come" etc but actually poses them, photos them and sketches/paints everything.

I am guilty of stealing poses and faces. So, I guess that doesn't make me an artist either. :smile: I don't trace them. I usually have a source when I am drawing to look at, otherwise it don't come out right.

[kingdom warrior]

For the Longest I knew Land was Taking from real photos you can always tell by the overuse of head shots for story telling....Many of Marvel and Dc artist are doing this. Drawing photo realistic is extremely hard and the fact that comics are on a deadline I can see why some artist do this. In comics it's not a good thing because it becomes a crutch. Taking Anatomy lessons is important and artist that don't do this will always suffer. It's one thing to take a photo and use it as your source for lighting or shooting for an extreme angle...it's another thing to traceover it...That's just being flat out lazy.

As Really good as Alex Ross is I feel that he overuses photos for his artwork. It always looks perfect but sometimes looks lifeless. Frank frazetta said "I'd rather see an artist work from his imagination the drawing should look like he's searching and trying to grab the image rather than use a photo as a crutch he said about his panthers and animals they're not anatomically correct but they look right...

If you look at Ross's work lately his poses seem the same.

Jack Kirby Drew very Powerfully but many times was not anatomically correct but because he drew so much his artwork had convincing power behind it.He said I drew background and weapons like no one else because i was making it up...I wasn't trying to be anyone else.

[The Toyroom]

I am guilty of stealing poses and faces. So, I guess that doesn't make me an artist either. :smile: I don't trace them. I usually have a source when I am drawing to look at, otherwise it don't come out right.


I think that's what most people who draw, myself included, do...use the model as a reference. With Land it seems sometimes like he's not even trying...with the tracing he's just phoning it in.

[ctc]

>As Really good as Alex Ross is I feel that he overuses photos for his artwork. It always looks perfect but sometimes looks lifeless.

I prefer the cartoonier artists to the realistic ones. If you're not trying for realism you can get a LOT more expression, feel and emotion from your designs. Plus, you can usually tell when a realistic cartoonist isn't using a model 'cos everything not refrenced gets skewed.

ASIDE: One thing I find really strange is how a lot of realistic artists will refrence characters, and then sort of crib things like backgrounds and hardware. I think Ross was one of the few that put some work into the inanimates; but most of the rest don't seem to. Which is weird; since the REST of the world seems to do it the other way around: cartoony characters, realistic hardware:

http://megomuseum.com/albums/custom-stuff/deathnote.jpg

Don C.