Muller — News & Blog » Comics

Comics this month (July 2010)

hellomuller — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:52:27 +0000

Sometimes I think I still read too much straight up superhero comics and not enough alternative things, although…

• Ultimate Avengers 2 #5 (Marvel Comics)
• New Ultimates #3 (Marvel Comics)
• The Avengers #3 (Marvel Comics)
• Secret Avengers #3 (Marvel Comics)
• The New Avengers #2 (Marvel Comics)
• Astonishing X-Men #34 (Marvel Comics)
• Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant #4 (of 5) (Marvel Comics)
• Scarlet #1 (Icon/Marvel Comics)
• Haunt #8 (Image Comics)
• Officer Downe (Image Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Batman and Robin #13 (DC Comics)
• Batman: Odyssey #1 (DC Comics)
• Batman #701 (DC Comics)
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4 (of 6) (DC Comics)
• Hellblazer #269 (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• Hellboy: The Storm #1 (of 3) (Dark Horse Comics
• Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1, #2 (Dark Horse Comics
• Wolfskin: Hundredth Dream #3 (Blood Thirst variant) (Avatar Press)
• Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island #2 (Avatar Press)
• Neonomicon #1 (Book of the dead variant) (Avatar Press)
• Hotwire: Deep Cut #1 (Radical Publishing) — RECOMMENDED
• Shiny Beasts — Rick Veitch (with Alan Moore and S.R. Bissette) (King Hell) — RECOMMENDED

Comics this month (June 2010, part 2)

hellomuller — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:12:04 +0000

Following on from the previous post, more June-bought comics than I have time to read…

• The Avengers #2 (Marvel Comics)
• The Secret Avengers #2 (Marvel Comics)
• The New Avengers #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate X #3 (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate Avengers 2 #4 (Marvel Comics)
• Powers #5 (ICON/Marvel Comics)
• Haunt #7 (Image Comics)
• Ted McKeever’s META 4 #1 (Image Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Turf #2 (Image Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Crossed: Family Values #2 (wraparound variant) (Avatar Press)
• 7 Psychopaths #1, #2 (BOOM! Studios) — RECOMMENDED
• Hellblazer #268 (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #3 (of 6) (DC Comics)
• GANTZ #11 (Dark Horse Comics) — RECOMMENDED (Buy US / Buy UK)
• The Life And Times Of Martha Washington In The Twenty-First Century TPB (Dark Horse Comics) — RECOMMENDED (Buy US / Buy UK)

Interview: Designers’ Aesthetics.

hellomuller — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:46:23 +0000

Comic news site Broken Frontier has just published an interview with designer Jeff Powell and myself where we briefly talk about our work in comics and discuss designers’ aesthetics.

Comics this month (May, part of June 2010)

hellomuller — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 15:44:31 +0000

Another month (and a half) of new comics, with recommendations.
Looks like I went on a little Avengers binge…

• Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1, #2 (of 5) (Marvel Comics)
• SIEGE #4 (of 4) (Marvel Comics)
• The New Avengers Finale #1 (one-shot) (Marvel Comics)
• The Avengers #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Avengers Prime #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Secret Avengers #1 (Marvel Comics)
• The Invincible Iron Man #26 (Marvel Comics)
• S.H.I.E.L.D #2 (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Spider-Man: Fever #2, #3 (of 3) (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant #2, #3 (of 5) (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Ultimate Avengers #2, #3 (Marvel Comics)
• New Ultimates #2 (Marvel Comics)
• Stephen King’s N #3, #4 (of 4) (Marvel Comics)
• Nemesis #2 ((Icon/Marvel Comics)
• Hellboy In Mexico (Dark Horse Comics)
• B.P.R.D. King of Fear #5 (Dark Horse Comics)
• Gravel #19 (wraparound variant) (Avatar Press)
• Wolfskin: Hundredth Dream #2 (painted variant) (Avatar Press)
• Tom Strong and the Robots Of Doom #1 (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
• Batman #700 (DC Comics)
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1, #2 (of 6) (DC Comics)
• Batman and Robin #12 (DC Comics)
• Daytripper #6, #7 (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• Scalped Vol. 6: The Gnawing (Vertigo/DC Comics) — RECOMMENDED (Buy US / Buy UK)
• Ashley Wood’s F.I.! #1 (IDW Publishing) — RECOMMENDED (Buy US / Buy UK)
• BIOMEGA #1 (VIZ Media) — RECOMMENDED (Buy US / Buy UK)

Newsarama interview

hellomuller — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:07:53 +0000

Comic news site Newsarama has an extensive interview with yours truly cheekily titled Tom Muller on the “Rise & Fall” of Design in Comic Books— where I talk about comics work and my feelings & views towards the current state of design in comic industry.

Comics this month (April 2010)

hellomuller — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:41:28 +0000

What I’ve been buying this month… with recommendations of things you should definitely pick up.

• Invincible Iron Man #25 (Rian Hughes & Salvador Larroca variant) (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate Avengers #6 (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate Avengers 2 #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate X #2 (Marvel Comics)
• Powers #4 (Icon/Marvel Comics)
• Stephen King’s N #2 (Marvel Comics)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Spider-Man: Fever #1 (of 3) (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Black Widow #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant #1 (of 5) (Marvel Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• Crossed: Family Values #1 (wraparound variant) (Avatar Press)
• Wolfskin: Hundredth Dream #1 (wraparound variant) (Avatar Press)
• Gravel #18 (wraparound variant) (Avatar Press)
• Batman and Robin #11 (DC Comics)
• Hellblazer #265, 266 (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• Daytripper #5 (Vertigo/DC Comics)
• B.P.R.D. The King of Fear #4 (Dark Horse Comics)
• Hellcyon #1 (Dark Horse Comics)
• Turf #1 (Image Comics) — RECOMMENDED
• The Light #1 (Image Comics) — RECOMMENDED

Anatomy of a cover: VIKING Volume 1 “The Long Cold Fire”.

hellomuller — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:39:15 +0000

VIKING Volume 1 cover

Out now in all good comic shops and bookstores is the massively oversized hardcover of the first season of VIKING, collecting the first 5 issues of the comics series by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein. Readers of this blog will know that I’ve been involved with the series from the word go as the logo and cover designer, so when the time came to work on the collection, the 3 of us stuck our heads together to see how we could push the design of the book a bit further after the initial waves it made in the industry — with the design and format of the single issues — and create a package for the book that would stand out on the shelves.

A lot of people have asked why we changed the VIKING logo. The logo worked well on the single issues, so if it ain’t broke, why fix it? There were a few good reasons why I decided to change the logo and the overall look of the cover, which I’ll explain below.

The seeds for the new logo design were sown before the series ended. Issue 4 had just been released and I was ready to start on the cover of issue 5, which would be the final issue in the current arc. Ivan wanted to signal this by adding the words ‘SEASON FINALE’ to the cover.

Cover ideas for VIKING #5

Initially I used the custom typeface to write SEASON FINALE in various forms, but I quickly discovered that the letterforms didn’t really work, and the text was overpowering the image.
At one point I wanted to redesign the ‘E’ to make it more legible, but doing that would mean replacing the ‘E’ in Nic’s last name as well — which would be a very inconsistent change to make in a last issue. As an alternative I decided on using Avant Garde, which I was using already for the issue numbering, which worked much better and contrasted nicely with the VIKING font, and with a bit of work the final cover for issue 5 was a fact.

Soon after, we started discussing the design for the hardcover collection, deciding to shift tactics in the design process. Instead of designing the cover after Nic had created the art (which brought with it certain restrictions), I would take the lead and art direct the cover from scratch, working in tandem with Nic, who would create the artwork based on the design.

The first thing on the agenda was the logo. I felt that it had run its course on the single issue covers (there’s only so many ways to tilt a logo) — it had become too rigid compared to Nic’s very dynamic and mixed media artwork. I proposed to Ivan to redesign the logo and establish a new, much more intense graphic treatment for the book, something that would thematically be a closer fit to what Nic was doing.

Initial logo explorations

My first attempts at redesigning the logo were quite subtle and were more an evolution instead of a clean break. However it was immediately clear to me that this wasn’t working, and wasn’t even close to the concept I was aiming for.

Hand-traced letters

Then, while I was doing research I stumbled across a typeface in an old issue of Avant Garde which, with modification, would be a perfect fit for VIKING. I discovered quickly that the typeface wasn’t commercially available anywhere and so I grabbed some tracing paper and traced a few of the letters I needed with a fine black marker pen while reconstructing the ones that were missing.

Assembled text with applied texture.

I assembled all the words and names, applied textures to it and ran the result a through Illustrator tracing the outlines, printing it, scanning it again and repeating the process a few times, until I got the right roughed up, photocopied look I was aiming for. Adding distorted geometric shapes to work as a framing & support device I started working on the cover design.

Initial text & framing cover concepts.

Working primarily with 100% cyan, magenta and yellow (and black) I set out to create intentionally bright designs, enforcing the traditional ’4 colour’ world of comics, but juxtaposing the colours to create high contrasts and dynamic shapes — Comics as an Electroclash Pop object.

Unused cover concept using skull art by Nic Klein.

Exchanging ideas with Nic the design for the cover started to come together. We tried incorporating B/W art in the design, but felt it was too overpowering. Midway in the design process, Ivan decided to change the name of the collection from ‘CRIME OF THE CENTURY’ to the more appropriate ‘THE LONG COLD FIRE’.
Now, with the main design finalised I created a template for Nic, who could now start on the art.

Front cover framing design.

First pass of the cover.

Nic had created a series of images — key scenes and characters from the story — to create a movie-style montage all held together by the central graphic. He had added textures to the design as well. Now that we had a good idea of where all the elements would be placed, I could start fine-tuning the design. Nic’s cover version was fairly dark so worked up the design elements and text, to make everything stand out more.

Not-so-final cover.

While we all agreed we liked this cover design, it was perhaps a bit too powerful a statement, and getting too far removed from the series. Even though the new design fitted the book, we couldn’t move away in such a drastic way that it’d be unrecognisable. We kept working on the cover, meticulously fine-tuning the design, colours and artwork until we reached the point where everything was in perfect balance.

The final cover design.

The final cover design (a bigger version can be seen on Flickr) signals both the end of the first VIKING season, while announcing what will hopefully follow in the future — when this much more dynamic and malleable design can be rolled out across the single issues.

The VIKING Vol1 hardcover ‘THE LONG COLD FIRE’ is out now in all good comic and bookshops. Alternatively, you can buy it from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

Comics this month (March 2010)

hellomuller — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:44:29 +0000

No, I hadn’t abandoned this series of posts, but thats what happens when you move house. Rest assured, I haven’t stopped reading comics. Anyway, we’re back — and here’s whats in my March pile. Again, I’ll highlight and link the comics & books I think you really should be reading.

• Gantz #8, #9 (Dark Horse Comics)
• Mesmo Delivery (Dark Horse Comics) — BUY
• American Vampire #1 (DC/Vertigo Comics)
• Daytripper #4 (DC/Vertigo Comics)
• Hellblazer #264, #265 (DC/Vertigo Comics)
• Batman & Robin #9, #10 (DC/Vertigo Comics)
• Northlanders Vol. 3: Blood in the Snow TPB (DC/Vertigo Comics) — BUY
• Justice League Rise & Fall Special #1 (DC Comics)
• The Rise of Arsenal #1 (DC Comics)
I only bought the 2 above because I designed the trade dress
• SIEGE #3 (of 4) (Marvel Comics)
• Stephen King’s N. #1 (of 4) (Marvel Comics)
• Nemesis #1 (Icon/Marvel Comics)
• Powers #3 (Icon/Marvel Comics)
• New Ultimates #1 (Marvel Comics)
• Ultimate Avengers #5 (Marvel Comics)
• B.P.R.D. King of Fear #3 (Dark Horse Comics)
• Haunt #6 (Image Comics)
• Image United #0 (Image Comics)
• Battlefields — Happy Valley #3 (of 3) (Dynamite)
• Supergod #3 (wrap cover variant) (Avatar Press)
• Crossed #9 (wrap cover variant) (Avatar Press)
• Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island #1 (Avatar Press)
• Gravel #17 (wrap cover variant) (Avatar Press)
• Mezolith Book 1 (DFC Library/David Fickling Books) — BUY

DC Comics preview the RISE AND FALL logo/covers.

hellomuller — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:17:29 +0000

GREEN ARROW #31 cover

DC Comics blog The Source has unveiled the covers for their upcoming RISE AND FALL event which will run through the Justice League titles.
For the series I was asked to design the trade dress and the RISE AND FALL/RISE OF/FALL OFF logos for the storyline, which they applied to the covers. Nice to see the final results!

I’ll be posting more about this later.

Millarworld logo fun.

hellomuller — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:33:23 +0000

A few days ago comics scribe extraordinaire (and fast becoming Hollywood darling) Mark Millar held a little ‘design a new logo for my forum’ competition.
Now, before I hear everyone yelling ‘SPEC WORK!’, sometimes you have to give in to your inner geek and have some fun for half an hour or so.

Of course I didn’t win. But now I have the beginnings of a new typeface.