John Byrne's Covers for Avengers West Coast (Some of them anyway)

John Byrne is my favorite comic book artist of all time, with his sleek pleasing style and strong sense of composition and storytelling, he can make virtually any superhero tale a pleasure to read.

However in the late 1980s I was focused on other things and started to drift away from the hobby of buying and reading the funny papers.

Mister Byrne was drawing and writing The West Coast Avengers (later retitled Avengers West Coast) and I never found an opportunity to pick them up. I missed quite a bit, so here are several covers of AWC I am not overly familiar with, unlike his work on, say, The Uncanny X-Men, The Fantastic Four, and Superman.

In no particular order:

(I must say, I am truly digging that image of Iron Man bursting through the wall. A Byrne specialty!)
















Copyright 1989 and 2019 by Marvel Entertainment. No infringement of those copyrights is intended with this publication.

Move Over Ghost Rider! Make Room for RIDE RIDER!

We love poking fun at Rob Liefeld, the lightning rod artist known for co-creating X-Force for Marvel Comics and for being one of the seven artists to quit Mavel to start up Image Comics with his Youngblood series.

Liefeld has had great success in comics but, let's be honest here, the dude, a self-taught artist, can't draw his way out of a paper bag. He is (in)famous for wonky anatomy, not being able to draw hands or feet, absurd poses, and for "pouchifying" his costumes. Additionally, his character names leave something to be desired: Bloodpool, Task, Badrock, Bloodstrike, Blahblood, and Bloodblah. (Those last two might not be real.)

While perusing some Twitter posts with vintage Ghost Rider art, I wondered what that character might look like under a Liefeldian revamp. Would we be staring at the vacant eyes of Blood Rider? Blaze Rider? How about Pouch Rider or Ghost Ghoster? I got it: Ride Rider!

 Don't insult Ride Rider's pouches. You won't like him when you insult his pouches.

The Lord Taketh Away TV Series, then the Lord Giveth New Series

Netflix just announced they are canceling the acclaimed and popular series Daredevil, starring Charlie Cox as the titular horn-headed hero. This announcement comes on the heels of the streaming service also canceling their other Marvel Comics series Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

But viewers of quality TV should fret not. Netflix still has their first Marvel series Jessica Jones and the upcoming highly anticipated fantasy series The Witcher. There still are new tales to look forward to on Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access, Game of Thrones on HBO, the once-canceled-by- Syfy-but-picked-up by Amazon The Expanse, The Mandalorian (the first live action Star Wars series) on Disney+, and for those craving superhero action DC Universe is streaming with the Teen Titans, Swamp Thing, and Doom Patrol for starters.

For the first time, well, ever there may be too many genre shows on TV: The CW is practically The DC Comics Channel with what seems like 19 interrelated DC series, AMC's The Walking Dead is still shambling along despite total viewership dropping to a third of what it was in its heyday and companion series Fear TWD is shuffling along side it. Add in The Punisher, Westworld, Dr. Who, The Man in the High Castle, The Handmaid's Tale, Runaways, The Tick and Happy!, Preacher, the ultra trippy Legion, The Orville, Wynonna Earp, The Good Place, American Horror Story, Krypton and the great Black Mirror to name just a few, and you see what I am getting at. An embarrassment of riches.

So goodbye Daredevil. Until we see you resurrected on the big screen alongside your MCU kin, keep those hallways cleared of thugs and always keep a loaded billy club by your side.

 Pinterest photo by Jose Luis Lajo Sinovas

Avengers Assemble in Infinity War Trailer

Avengers Frickin' Assemble!

Avengers: Infinity War.

Holy shit!