It’s with a mixture of a heavy heart, a sigh of relief, and a burden lifted off myself that I must announce an indefinite hiatus for “Heavenly”. I’ve been doing this comic consistently for 7 and a half years, but recent life events have convinced me that my creative energies might be better focused elsewhere.
The comic isn’t coming to a proper end, but rather I’m stopping cold turkey working on it. As is, strips will continue to run up to X859 on 4/22. Beyond that, I have up to X880 drawn and lettered, up to X905 drawn, and another 14 beyond that written, finally introducing my version of “Jesus”.
I wish I could continue doing the comic indefinitely, but it was too much work for too small reward. Who knows if I’ll ever come back to continue it, but I can say that I’m proud (mostly) of the work I did.
Thanks for reading,
NiK!
Pick of the Week: “Silver Surfer” #2 by Dan Slott and Michael Allred
on March 28, 2016 at 3:18 pmPosted In: Blog
I’m a big fan of writer Dan Slott’s work. His love and passion for comics shines through in everything he writes, particularly with respect to characterization. Slott’s run with artist Michael Allred on “Silver Surfer” has been something special. In this second issue of the new volume, it’s the Surfer’s increasing boredom with Earth and his companion Dawn Greenwood’s subtle jealousy of Alicia Masters that really standout. Great characterization.
Pick of the Week: “Karnak” #2 by Warren Ellis, Gerardo Zaffino, and Antonio Fuso
on March 21, 2016 at 5:44 pmPosted In: Blog
I don’t really appreciate how Marvel is trying to cram the Inhumans down our throats in their comics line and in “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” I don’t like the look of the new Inhumans, nor their stories or sudden importance in the Marvel Universe. I am, however, a fan of the old school Inhumans co-created by Jack Kirby, and of the seminal “Inhumans” Marvel Knights story by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee. And currently I’m really digging Warren Ellis’s “Karnak” book, which takes place away from all of the highfalutin NuInhuman drama. I love how Ellis can seemingly effortlessly take old school characters and make them great again, like he also did recently with Moon Knight. In the end, I can tolerate all of the NuInhuman stuff as long as we still get smaller, more intimate books like “Karnak”.
Pick of the Week: “The Amazing Spider-Man” #7 by Dan Slott and Matteo Buffagni
on March 13, 2016 at 1:02 pmPosted In: Blog
For my money, there’s no better pure superhero writer than Dan Slott. Slott has been doing amazing (pun intended) work with Spider-Man over the past several years, not to mention his other great runs on “The Thing” and “She-Hulk” and the current “Silver Surfer”. Slott isn’t a big universe-spanning event writer, or a grim and gritty writer, or a shock-and-awe writer; rather, he’s just a writer who LOVES comic books, and his love and enthusiasm bleeds onto the page. Listen to any of his interviews on John Siuntres’s Word Balloon podcasts to get a taste of his earnest love of comics.
There’s been some criticism regarding Slott’s Spidey run. Some people complain that Slott is taking Spider-Man too far, killing him and replacing him with Doc Ock, making Peter Parker head of a huge international corporation, and so on. Normally, I would be against such huge character shifts, because a lot of times such shifts are done out of desperation and a need for any change that gets readers interested again in a dying intellectual property. But Slott LOVES Spider-Man, and Slott’s changes to Spidey feel organic and natural, especially since Slott is so great with Spidey’s characterization and supporting cast and universe.
Slott’s Spidey run is consistently so good that I feel sometimes we take it for granted that Spidey is and always will be this good (I, however, know better, having grown up in the Howard Mackie era of Spidey). We are, and have been for the past couple of years, in a great Spidey run that I hope lasts many many more years. Let’s not take Slott’s run for granted.
P.S. I particularly choose “The Amazing Spider-Man” #7 to highlight because of the awesome, hilarious, and heartbreaking burn an evil Cloak and Dagger deliver to Spider-Man regarding his quips. Had me laughing and feeling sad at the same time. That’s great comics.
Pick of the Week: “X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever” #1 by Max Bemis and Michael Walsh
on March 7, 2016 at 6:12 pmPosted In: Blog
Growing up and being a fan of the X-Men I always fantasized about being an X-Man myself, living at the X-Mansion with cool mutant powers and being part of an X-team and going on adventures and saving the world. It seems like writer (and “Say Anything” frontman) Max Bemis had similar fantasies which he is now channeling into the mini-series “X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever”. The series is about a boring, nondescript kid who gets his wish of finding out he’s a mutant, only for him to have the shit beat out of him when he finds out that he has a stupid, useless mutant power and his parents die meaningless deaths. The ups and downs the kid goes through in this first issue are hilarious and heartbreaking, and hit kinda close to home for someone that used to fantasize they could be an X-Man in real life.
The other thing to note about this series is that it takes place in the X-Men world but doesn’t specify which period the series actually takes place in. The X-Men books have been in seemingly constant change for the past couple of years, so much that it’s hard to keep track of it all and stay current. I’m glad that this book is essentially just taking a classic, general approach to the X-Men universe sans the burden of continuity.