Day of Dredd

05 October 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics, Misc Sci-Fi, Movie Review, Trawling The Net
 

Earlier this week there was a drive via online social networks for a sequel of 2012's film Dredd starring Karl Urban as Judge Dredd. Known as Day of Dredd, there were many posts and tweets about it across the internet. Even Psi Judge Anderson actress Olivia Thirlby herself made a thank you video for fans who helped with this drive.

Dredd was an enjoyable, very tight, very focused story with just the right balance of grittiness and the absurdness of the future social dynamics of Mega City One. Its violence is very explicit, assaulting viewers with the atrocities of the film's villains. It sets the tone for the grimness of the situation of having Dredd and the rookie Anderson trapped in a vast but somehow claustrophobic Peach Tower residential block by Ma-Ma, the local drug lord played by Lena Headey.

Of course the dire circumstances only serves to  accentuate how cathartic the payback is to the criminals when Dredd regains the upper hand. It's no spoiler he would eventually get the upper hand. How he gets there is a roller coaster ride.

Would a Dredd 2 emerge from this effort? Let's hope so.

Here's my contribution to Day of Dredd on Twitter:

I should have also drawn the Lawgiver
 

Random Encounter Runoff

28 August 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics, Trawling The Net
 

Because of the Random Encounter in the last blog post...

Yes, I know she's not technically shooting at him. Cheated perspective a bit.
 

Random Encounter

26 August 2014 | Hisham | | Comics, Humour, Trawling The Net
 

It's not every day my tweet gets a reply from Joss Whedon.

But it doesn't feed the family. Sigh.

Addendum: Follow-up post created.

 

Babs

14 July 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 
Barbara Gordon

I drew Babs.

Specifically the new Batgirl costume designed by Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr.

Also, yay! 1300th entry!

 

Terror of Yolanda Comic Page Process

27 April 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

Terror of Yolanda is a 10-page comic written by Angelia Ong for the Haiyan Benefit Anthology comic, which I pencilled and inked.

Here is a look at the process of getting page 7 together.

First I set the page size by pixel, lay the page out on GIMP from Angelia's script, and then pencil it with MyPaint. 

I digitally ink it on another layer with MyPaint and save the the final inks as a high resolution lossless format to be sent to the colourist.

Then Ryan Rhodes coloured it and Chris Johnson lettered it.

Voila. Page 7!

Ryan was the colourist of pages 6-10. Pages 1-5 was coloured by Lancelot Catan. The book is in the last stages of being put together by Phil Woodward to be released for the public soon. Watch for more posts on the Haiyan Benefit Anthology soon.

 

Mysterio's Fishbowl Head

05 September 2013 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

What the world needs right now is universal peace.

That, and a drawing of Quentin Beck's head as a fishbowl.

NEEDS MOAR MOTION CONTROL AND CGI!
 

Peter and Tony

01 August 2013 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

It's been months since I used ink and watercolours, so I drew Peter Quill and Tony Stark to flex the my traditional artwork muscles.

Star Lord and Iron Man

Can't wait for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy next year!

 

Some Iron Man Three Viewing Report

11 May 2013 | Hisham | | Comics, Movie Review
 

The onslaught of summer movies is upon us.

We've caught the first of them, Iron Man Three. Here's Irfan with Benedict Cumberbatch behind him just before he watched the movie.

Reichenbach something...

Yes, yes, yes. We saw Iron Man and not Star Trek that evening.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

 

Seven Random...

08 December 2012 | Hisham | | Comics, Role Playing Games
 

...Roleplaying games:

RPGS!
 

...Comics:

COMICS!

Just a couple of participation photos from various activities on Google+.

 

Malaysian Games and Comic Convention 2012

30 May 2012 | Hisham | | Comics, Friends
 

The inaugural Malaysian Games and Comic Convention 2012 (MGCCon 2012) took place on the 19th and 20th of May at Kolej Damansara Utara.

I visited the event on Sunday the 20th. Here's hoping someday I'll be able to take part as a participant, perhaps with a table at Artist's Alley sketching stuff and selling swag. Compared to the conventions I'm used to, this would certainly be a more relaxing and fun one.

The atmosphere was quite energetic. There were comic book stores selling their wares, cosplayers walking all over the place (including one very impressive, dark armoured Republic Commando), artists sketching at their tables and PeKOMIK, the Malaysian comic artist association, would be having their award ceremony later that day. In other rooms, different workshops about cosplay photography (by photographer Jay Tablante), movie VFX (by Rhythm & Hues Malaysia), videogame talks (by Ubisoft Singapore) were being conducted. I managed to get into the "Style and Market Demand for Comics" talk, where one of the guest speakers was Datuk Lat.

Here are some of the photos I took of the event:

Artists' Alley! In the middle of everything is Remy "Eisu" Mokhtar, creator of the No Pink Ponies webcomic.

The young illustrators of Confused Monkey Studios show off the artwork I commissioned from them at their table as their dad Sheldon Goh look on.

Anywhere there is a concentration of comic books, it is likely that you'd find other Sitiawananians there for some reason. I haven't seen Khoo Khay Sern since the late 80s, but here we are bumping accidentally into each other at a comic convention.

Finally,the hardworking folks of Earth 638 can be found selling their wares and networking at the main hall, right beside the table where the special guests were sketching for the public. The special guests included Billy Tan, Leinil Francis Yu and Carlo Pagulayan!

An hour or so before closing time, the MPH booth announced that selected titles they had were being sold at a 50% discount. I picked up Marvel's Agents of Atlas trade paperback Turf Wars.It was only when I was en route home when I realized that the book had a cover by Leinil and some interiors by Carlo, but I didn't even think to ask them for autographs on the book. Oh well, maybe next time.

Written by Jeff Parker
 

Avengers - A Review Of Some Sort

28 April 2012 | Hisham | | Comics, Movie Review
 

It was released here a full week ahead of the USA.
After five years of buildup by Marvel Studios across 5 movies from Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2009), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger (both 2011), we've finally reached its culmination this year in The Avengers for the Marvel Studios' movie continuity, also know as Earth-199999. (Regular Marvel Universe is Earth-616, by the way.)

Here follows a SPOILER-FREE review of the movie co-written and directed by Joss Whedon. Heck, I wont even give away anything by having a synopsis.

 

Quick Run To Kinokuniya

19 February 2012 | Hisham | | Books, Comics
 

I am in school. Second year plus change. Which means I am eligible for the RM200 book voucher giveaway for university students.

With voucher in hand, the boy and I quickly dropped by Kinokuniya Sunday morning before the overwhelming weekend herd shambled in. Without consciously deciding to purchase only horror books, we ended up with them anyway!

Irfan wanted the Hellboy and The Walking Dead books. I checked out the storylines online before deciding he was old enough for them. I also bought for him Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I grabbed for myself Charlie Stross' The Atrocity Archives because one day I want to play the Laundry RPG.

If they weren't free I wouldn't be able to buy them.

You'd think two hundred is a high number and could buy a dozen books, wouldn't you. Sigh.

Well, I suppose four is better than nothing!

 

Uncanny X-Men 159: Cornered

31 October 2011 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 
X-Men meets Dracula (THE Dracula)

Cornered blog's event this week is CORNERED FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE! My contribution is Uncanny X-Men #159 where the X-Men meets not just any vampire, but Dracula himself, who finds himself enamoured by Storm! Vampire hunting hijinks ensues. My entry can be found here.

I'd drawn another picture using inkbrush, but then I scrapped it on account of Storm's grimace being too ugly - so I whipped up another one with a pen quickly. No human, mutant nor vampire (or any combination mix thereof) should look so hideous.

Also I think I got the headpiece arms wrong. They should be turning outward, not inward.

 

Hall of Justice Diorama at Earth 638

30 October 2011 | Hisham | | Comics
 

During the Comics Are Cool event as reported in the previous entry, I noticed that there was an epic assembly of heroes in a Hall of Justice diorama, consisting of characters from the DC Animated Universe, and mostly from Justice League Unlimited. It was locate on a shelf high up on the wall, so I had to shoot with the camera phone held high. Here are three photos that makes the grade, more or less.

Enjoy the photos:

Green Lantern Corps include Arkkis Chummuck, John, Kilowog, Kyle and Tomar-Re
Not Superman's day today
Notable figures include the Justice Lords' Superman, Martian Manhunter and John Stewart
 

A Mini Comic Con in KL

29 October 2011 | Hisham | | Comics, Family Pics, Friends
 

Last Saturday, Earth 638 the comic shop located at Kelana Mall - in colaboration with Banshee Creative held COMICS ARE COOL, the first unofficial mini comic convention. From 4pm to 9pm, visitors came to the store to buy comics and meet creators. Local indie publishers also sold their comics and signed their work. There was also a line where artists drew sketches for visitors.

Below, Sheldon Goh draws!

with his honour guard, one of the twins, standing by for combat

Tan Eng Huat sketches Thor on the big collaborative card thing!

Recently, he worked on Marvel's Annihilators

Artists' Alley (or perhaps Artists' Nook would be more precise) is just bustling with all the participating comic professionals before visitors form a line for signing and sketches. Among the guests for the day were Sheldon Goh, Tan Eng Huat, Lefty Julian, Alan Quah, Yazid and Muhamad Azhar. Even Reggie Lee dropped by in the evening.

 

Batman Punches People

21 September 2011 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

After having Bruce (Wayne) punched by Carol (Ferris) and upsetting Selena (not Kyle), it's time for Batman to go punch some other dudes.

Don't say I never did anything for you, Selena! Haha!

Larger image can be found here. Version with NSFW sound effects can be with Ryan (Rhodes), who suggested this warm-up sketch.

 

Carol Punches Bruce Redux

17 September 2011 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

Remember that blog entry where Carol Danvers punches Bruce Banner?

Good times. Good times.

Here's another picture where Carol punches Bruce again.

Star Sapphire slugs Batman!

This time Carol Ferris punches Bruce Wayne in the face.

 

The Human Fly: Cornered

14 September 2011 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

Here's my second submission to Cornered blog, as curated by Calamity Jon Morris. This time it's The Human Fly! I had issue 15 way back when which taught me that The Human Fly was a real guy in real life and there was an elevator going up the Washington Monument.

Click here to view the Cornered entry! And go check out the other Cornered entries as well while you're there!

Click here to check out a larger image at deviantArt.

 

Carol Punches Bruce

11 September 2011 | Hisham | | Artwork, Comics
 

Before Aidilfitri, I went down to The Gardens, a mall in the Mid Valley arcology. There I bought a Copic Ciao brush pen. When I first found it, I asked it, "Where have you been all my life?"

What can I do with a brush pen? Here's what, as illustrated with a quick sketch of Ms. Marvel and the Hulk beating the crap out of each other.

Or is that really Moonstone?
 

The Great Nerd Archaeological Dig of Sitiawan

09 August 2011 | Hisham | | Comics, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

Earlier this month, we went back to my hometown of Sitiawan where I dug up my old stuff in my cupboard and wardrobe, then posted them on Google+. Here is a compilation of the posts, along with further elaboration, as well as a new photo near the end.

Ancient cache of geekery unearthed at my parents' house included a single Bill Mantlo / Gil Kane's Micronauts comic. I'm sure there was another where the 'Nauts battled a gentleman by the name of Professor Prometheus - at least on the cover. I don't remember much of what's inside.

Janet Van Dyne goes for several pages nekkid in combat in this issue

I found a pair of old Dazzler comics - featuring the mutant disco performer who transduced sound to light - still readable with their pages still intact. Several years later, she would be a member of the X-Men.

With guest appearances of Otto, Warren and Amora

I bought the West End Games' Star Wars RPG module titled Crisis on Cloud City, and they had a set of sabacc cards with rules. Cropping cardboard into equal sizes is harder than it looks, even with a metalwork guillotine.

Pretty sure I got an Idiot's Array before during play.

At the back of an old receipt are illustrations and game stats for a Star Wars light freighter named Nasty Nervosa. I didn't name it, the players did. Don't ask me why.

The "Nasty Nervosa" stats

Remember the old Star Wars sunday strips. I believe I culled these from the New Straits Times. Every week there was a panel that featured a character, vehicle or technology drawn by Al Williamson. I tried to collect them all. A futile effort, really.