A Whole New Civil War

Once upon a time, I knew a boy named Justin Ponsor. Initially, I knew his mother better than I knew him, as she played the piano in my church. But later on, I got involved with the puppet team. He was a great puppeteer, and he and I bonded over our mutual love for puppets. 

While Justin liked puppets, he also loved comics. He knew what he wanted to do when he grew up: he wanted to get involved in comics. Now he's a colorist for Marvel. And this year, he's working on Marvel's premiere summer event: Civil War II. 

Even if you've never seen the Marvel movies, and are unfamiliar with Marvel characters, you'll no doubt recognize Iron Man, and his comrade-in-armor War Machine. Some characters you might be less familiar with are Captain Marvel and She-Hulk. The latter two may yet to feature in a Marvel movie, but that has more to do with how many great characters inhabit the Marvel universe, and less to do with their popularity. If you've followed this blog, you'll notice that we read the early issues of the current Iron Man series, which featured Iron Man and War Machine. If not, you can scroll back through my posts, and catch up.

I've just learned that Marvel has printed over 380,000 copies of Issue 1. Meanwhile, the prologue story, Civil War II #0, has gone back for a second printing. Compare those numbers with household character books such as Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy, which only merit print runs of a tenth of that number. That gives you an idea of how much popular Marvel's new Civil War II series is. So if you want to read what the majority of comics readers are buying, you might want to pick up a copy of Civil War II Issue 0. 

Then, as you read, you can marvel at the awesome coloring done by Justin Ponsor, former church puppeteer, now premier colorist for a bestselling, mega-popular comic event.

Dragon Dave 

War Machine Versus Ninjas

In Invincible Iron Man 6, Brian Michael Bendis depicts Tony Stark's friend James Rhodes in his War Machine armor, investigating the Stark facility infiltrated by Madame Masque. There he is attacked by two beautiful, but deadly, ninjas. This time, they're ladies.

This photo of Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's artwork suffers a little from light reflection on the right hand side. But you can still compare how differently Dave Marquez and Justin Ponsor treated a similar scene in my earlier Ninja post. Take a look at the ladies' legs, for example. There's no detail in their musculature. You can barely see their feet.

There's much less depth and vibrancy than in the Ninja scenes by Marquez and Ponsor. The skin tones seem particularly flat by comparison. And there's so much black. Ordinarily, I would wonder if that was due to the Inker. But no one is listed as Inker for the issue, so it must be down to artist Mike Deodato or colorist Frank Martin.

I battled with light reflection while taking all my photos of Issue 6. Either that's got something to do with the change in art style, or I suddenly forgot how to use my camera.

Dragon Dave

Groovy War Machine

In Invincible Iron Man 6, Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's art provides a vivid contrast with that of Dave Marquez and Justin Ponsor. Take this image of James Rhodes in his War Machine armor, for example. Colorist Frank Martin seems to adore orange and black: those colors suffuse nearly every page. By comparison, all other seem muted. As you may have noticed in the earlier posts, the comic nearly becomes black-and-white, with silhouettes, and blazing light, mostly in the orange spectrum, that washes out much of the detail. 

Justin Ponsor colors each frame like a realist, evoking everyday color without, for the most part, enhancing it for effect. Frank Martin's color super-saturation, and his love affair with orange, make me wonder if at heart, he's a child of the swinging 1960s. Justin's work is forever, and for everyone. Frank Martin's color style appeals to the wild child. As Austin Powers might say, he's groovy, baby!

Dragon Dave

Hero or Villain?

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 6, Tony Stark's relationship with Amara Perera has deepened. We find them in bed together. The two then go out to eat at a diner. Mike Deodato's sketching and Frank Martin's artwork, coupled with this phase of the relationship, make me look at Amara completely differently. She doesn't seem so innocent or classy anymore. 

But then, Tony Stark doesn't look so earnest, so willing to break down the barriers to be a man who's worthy of her either. To me, he looks more like a villain.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Mike Deodato and Frank Martin's artwork. Nonetheless, it makes me feel completely differently about the characters that penciler Dave Marquez and colorist Justin Ponsor got me to care about. Suddenly, I no longer love, or respect Tony Stark and Amara Perera as much as I once did.

Dragon Dave

Radioactive Amara Perera

In Invincible Iron Man Issues one through five, author Brian Michael Bendis introduced us to Dr Amara Perera. She's every bit as smart as Tony Stark, and classy enough to refuse a kiss on their first date. Later, she warms to him, but Dave Marquez's sketching and Justin Ponsor's coloring made her seem like an elegant yet innocent young princess. Her skin is chocolate brown, yet gentle and supple. Clearly, it's her natural skin color.

In Invincible Iron Man Issue 6, colorist Frank Martin depicts Amara as a surfer girl. Either she's just sat under a sun lamp for a few hours, or Tony Stark's Iron Man armor has developed a radiation leak. Amara, run, do not walk, to your nearest dermatologist. 

Hurry!

Dragon Dave

An Invincible Variant Cover

Imagine our surprise when we went to the comic book store to pick up Invincible Iron Man Issue 6, and discovered that Justin had left the book. While author Brian Michael Bendis remained, penciler Dave Marquez had also departed. Replacing the art team were penciler Mike Deodato and colorist Frank Martin. Although their artwork was cool, my wife and I were amazed by how much their unique style altered how we looked at the series. 

While we liked their cover featuring Tony Stark's friend James Rhodes as War Machine, we decided to purchase this copy, featuring a variant cover by artist Skottie Young instead. The scene not have anything to do with the story, and it doesn't feature the color art of Justin Ponsor, but every time I look at it, it really perks me up. I wonder why.

Dragon Dave

Mary Jane's Dilemma

In the new Invincible Iron Man series by writer Brian Michael Bendis, Mary Jane Watson moves to a new city and opens a night club. As she tells the crowd, one of the perils of living in New York City is that it's filled with superheroes and super villains. On one occasion, the clash between the two forces destroyed the first night club she tried to open. So for her, this represents a fresh start.

Of course, often a fresh start really isn't a new act. It's merely the repetition of an old act. Of course, we can hone our skills, and eventually master them, through repetition. But all too often, we merely pick up and move somewhere else, or try doing the same thing in a new place. Then we wonder why we fail.

Some claim the definition of insanity is to continue doing what hasn't worked in the past, and hope for different (better) results this time. Yeah, like none of us ever do that.

While nothing can (or should) stop us from trying, sometimes we are the way we are. In Mary Jane's case, she naturally attracts superheroes and super villains. It's just part of who she is. So when Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Superhero!) and Whitney Frost, aka Madame Masque (Super Villain!) walk into her new bar...well, you can guess the result.

When her new club is destroyed, Tony Stark recognizes not just her loss, but her talent and tenacity. So he offers her a job. Unlike merely opening another bar, going to work for Stark Industries will be a different move for her. It will be interesting to see how she grows as she stretches herself in a new environment. 

Do what you did someplace else, and hope for better results next time? Try your hand at something different, and hope it gives you more satisfaction that your previous efforts? There's always more than one way to embrace the future. As to which course will offer the future we desire...well, that's a little more difficult to see, isn't it?

Either way, it's better than doing nothing. Right?

Right?

Dragon Dave