Animated Chambers of Chills #19!

I decided to animate an old comic cover for October! (Before AI makes my gif-making efforts worthless.) Boo!

Here's the original--

Animated Merry Christmas, Old Comics Edition

Just goofing around. Happy Holidays!

Art taken form Comic Cavalcade #13, 1945.

Mr. Fantastic and His Private Viewscreen

I recently ran across an interesting panel from an old Fantastic Four comic. I tried to STOP MYSELF from turning it into an animated GIF. But, I couldn't.

If you're curious (and you are), here's the original panel.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fun with old postcards! I haven't animated anything in awhile. :)

Superman Smoking

I recently discovered the above panel from a 1958 comic, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #30. The man is actually a thug who is imitating Superman, but I still HAD to animate it!

I almost added a word balloon, "That sounds like your problem. I don't really give a $#%@." At least I stopped myself from doing that.

Blinking Baby Yoda

For no reason whatsoever.

Animated Comic Cover-- Happy Halloween!

It's been a while since I've animated a comic cover. When I recently saw World's Finest #139, I knew I had to do it for Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Doctor Strange Gifs!

Pin-up from 1965's Strange Tales #128. I went a little insane animating this.

BONUS! My son, Kit, animated a different Ditko Dr. Strange background (from Strange Tales #138) using Google's Deep Dream Generator--

By the Name of the Dread Dormammu, that's creepy!

Marvel's Black Panther Gif

All longtime comic readers have certain notable panels that stick in their memories forever. I have several, and one of them is my first exposure to the Black Panther from 1975's Giant-Size Fantastic Four #5. I've taken the liberty of creating an animated gif of it. Yes, it's subtle, but it warms my heart. I was a kid when this was published (it was a reprint of Fantastic Four Annual #5 from 1967) and I've loved the character ever since. Here's the full page--

Oh Jack, you so Kirby! I reread it countless times. I didn't have many comics growing up. I'm super-excited to see BP on the big screen this Summer!

This issue also made me a fan of Black Bolt, and to a greatly lesser degree, Psycho-Man.

Tigra and the Cucumber

I had the urge to draw a gif of this. So I did. :)

You know about cats and cucumbers, right?

Season's Greetings! New Animated Comic cover!

Strange Adventures #79, from 1957. Original art by Gil Kane.

Animated Comic Cover-- Batman Inc!

It's been awhile since I've created an animated comic cover. I recently came across Batman Incorporated #13, drawn by Chris Burnham, and HAD to animate it.

 I had to!

What WAS the Comic Battle of the 20th Century? Part 6 - Superman vs. Spider-Man!

Continuing my 12-part series reviewing comic books that claim The Battle/Fight/Bout/Showdown of the Century on their covers. Today's battle---

Superman vs. Spider-Man! First presented in Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, 1976. Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.

WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?

First of all, let’s talk about how they even coexist! Superman is published by DC Comics, while Spider-Man is published by Marvel. They come from two different universes! However, in this joint-published book, it appears they’ve always existed together and merely have never met. Smart move. No story time is wasted with explaining "crossing dimensions" or such.

New York City is holding a “World News Conference." Anyone who’s anybody in the news business is attending, including Clark Kent - reporter, Lois Lane - reporter, Peter Parker - photographer, and Mary Jane Watson - um, trophy girlfriend?

Lois later bumps into Peter and they start talking about how much they admire each other’s work. Mary Jane shows up sporting a ‘tude.

Yep. Superman shows up too! The gang’s all here. I wonder what wonderful…  WHHAAAAA?!

Did… did Superman just disintegrate Lois and Peter’s trophy girlfriend?!?

Peter decides to investigate as Spider-Man, which treats us to this hi-larious panel.

Clark Kent has been here the whole time? Something’s not right, now is it? Both our heroes decide to investigate outside the building.

HOW EPIC IS THE BATTLE?

I’m not sure why Spider-Man is so giddy to see Superman. He considers him either a murderer or a kidnapper!  Superman considers Spider-Man a criminal and possibly behind the women’s disappearance. There’s going to be a fight! Superman against Spider-Man. This should last about two seconds.

Hold on, there’s a couple of guys lurking in the shadows. And by “shadows” I mean a brightly lit rooftop. It’s Lex Luther and Doctor Octopus! Luthor was masquerading as Superman!

Our villains are pleased that Spider-Man is unexpectedly involved, and decide to give him a little boost to his power level.

Looks like the power boost worked! There’s a rumor that Neal Adams re-penciled some of the Superman art. This page makes me believe it.

Spider-Man knocks Superman around for a few pages. Superman never hits back. He’s trying to start a conversation. Such a gentleman.

Finally, Superman loses his patience and throws a punch! However, being a very quick thinker, he realizes, “Great Krypton—What am I DOING? If this blow connects—it’ll KILL HIM!” He stops it at the last moment.

Well, blow me down! It still knocks the living bejeebers out of Spider-Man! (I took the liberty of rotating this page from its original vertical orientation.)

Spider-Man flies through the air and through some windows, in one side of a building and out the other. I suppose if he had hit a wall, it would have been a shorter comic. Spider-Man comes back and attacks Supes with an angry two feet to the chest! But…

No more Red Sun Radiation performance-enhancement for Spidey! But, he still continues to attack.

It's sad, really.

When I got to the above page, I knew I had to make a gif!

It's like me trying to convince my phone company they over-charged me. Am I right?

WHO WINS?

In a surprising turn of events, Supes and Spidey soon decide they should work together!

(But  I’m secretly calling Superman the winner.)

Okay, the Superman vs. Spider-Man battle is over, but there’s still thirty-some pages left in the book! Let’s see… Nasa has launched a “Comlab One” satellite and Luthor has taken control of it. He can now manipulate the weather! I'm not sure why he teamed up with Doc Ock. Even mad scientists get lonely I suppose.  He has kidnapped Lois (and Mary Jane who maybe was invading Lois’ personal space when the ray hit?) to lure Superman to his lair. Luthor wants to gloat as he DESTROYS THE ENTIRE EARTH! Doc Ock realizes that Luthor puts the “mad” in “mad scientist” and wrecks Luthor’s equipment. Earth saved!

Superman and Spider-Man then wrap up the story by talking about how great they are.

IS IT THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY?

In 1976, Superman and Spider-Man were arguably the two biggest names in superheroes. Also, two different companies had to work together to make this book happen, so it was a harder match to manage. The fight itself was fairly impressive. (And BIG! This happened in a “tabloid” sized comic.) The real question is-- Does it beat the Hulk/Thing battle of 1964?

The Hulk/Thing fight was a great brawl, but eventually, their tussles became fairly commonplace. The Superman/Spider-Man battle remained very unique!

So, I’m going to say, “Yes." In 1976, the Battle of the Century is the Superman/Spider-Man Showdown!

Come back Monday for Part 7! Machine Man vs. Ten-For! If you dare!

Animated Superman #1

Whenever I see Superman #1 from 1939, I remember how Superman could only jump in his first adventures, not fly. That's where we get the whole "able leap buildings in a single bound" thing. This cover would have had to been timed just right to get him in a cool looking pose!

I had the urge to animate it, so I did.

A split second later and the cover would have looked like this.

Animated Comic Cover: Valentine's Day Edition!

When I have time, I enjoy creating animated covers. I like to bring attention to classic or interesting artwork. I think 1951's Amazing Adventures #4 qualifies...

(And yes, the alien drool is on the original cover.)

On a totally different note, the frequency of my blog posts have slowed down the last few months. I've been drawing on a 160 page comic, which I hope to launch on the web later this year. The below page doesn't give much away. It may look like a cliche zombie situation, but I guarantee you have no idea where the story is headed...

Animated Kirby Machinery!

Click on above image to see entire GIF.

I personally don't know Robert Bensam, but he made a comment on a recent post that I couldn't ignore. I rarely take requests, but I felt a gauntlet hit my foot.

It sounded really fun to animate some Kirby Tech! A lot of my blog work is sincere adoration to classic comics, and this is one of them. I started with a cropped splash page from Fantastic Four #64. I thought about removing the dialog, but it's so classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby, it had to stay.

It makes you wish Disney would make a straight-up Kirby-inspired FF CG movie, doesn't it?

Animated Comic Cover-- Kirby Style!

I've animated comic book covers in the past, but I recently realized I've never done a Kirby cover! That seems wrong. So, today is the day I remedy that.

Fantastic Four #51, art by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott...

My friend Rich should like this one.

A Few More Animated Comic Covers

See my other animated covers here. This time, I had the urge to work on a modern comic cover, so I picked the beautiful Daredevil #7, by Paolo Rivera...

Daredevil put me in such a peaceful mood, I then decided to try my hand at a Calvin and Hobbes collection cover, The Days Are Just Packed...

Finally, I give you Batman #15, from 1943. Original cover by Jack Burnley...

More Animated Comic Covers

I've been incredibly busy over the Holidays, but I did manage to animate a couple of old comic covers.

First up, Nick Fury, Agent of Shield #4, from 1968. Original cover by groovy Jim Steranko. It feels like it should be accompanied by music...

Next, what's more fun than an old Lois Lane cover? Animating an old Lois Lane cover! Here's Lois Lane #29, from 1961. Original cover by Curt Swan/Stan Kaye. (And no, I didn't change any content in the situation.)

(And don't ask me what the situation is. I've never read the book!)