DESIGN CONTEXT: My Influences

The Walking Dead.

A popular ongoing comic book series.

Set in post-apocalyptic world full of zombies a band of survivors join together. The comic is about the situations that the humans get themselves into. It is a riveting read as it tackles situations about how a world would restart. The comic has a strong fan base including many celebrities because of its style of writing. The drawings are mostly dynamic and in black and white. It is sold around the world and its success as a comic has led to it being a successful television series.

Popular Comic Books.

A quick search on Google for popular comics and you get what you would have expected. The superhero universe, the age old battle of the good vs the bad. It is the most popular structure for comics old and new. 

Each superhero has their own story but they are generally based about a outsider who has extraordinary powers. They are published by very successful companies. Marvel comics the largest of the companies is actually owned by the Disney corporation.  

The Superhero Genre. 

 

What I really like about these comics is the covers. The character poses are so dynamic. They tell the story of what the comic is like. The comics have high production values often having advertisements for other products inside.

I’ve had a interest in superheroes for a long time. It would be interesting to create a superhero style comic but with a modern twist.

These popular comics are a good starting point but its not the only way I could make this comic. The superhero genre is a popular area but its also a overcrowded area. Another superhero story could seem generic. Standout or different takes on the genre should be looked at.

Big Head - Jeffery Brown.

Published by Top Shelf Productions.

I wanted to look at other comics that were not necessarily the most popular but the ones that have a particularly interesting view on the superhero genre.

The big head comics created by Jeffery brown are clever super-hero parody collection of comics. Brown's comics are a good example of something similar to what I would like to achieve. Often drawing from real life situations, his comics are fun and light hearted. Brown also refrences the modern world

Although they may never be placed next to Spiderman in your local comic shop, they have been very sucessful in their own right.

Cowboy Henk.

I am uncertain about the origins of this comic but it is popular on blog sites such as Tumblr and Blogger. The comics are single page sketches. They parody and mock certain parts of life. The colours and style are similar to that of the old beano and dandy comics. But the humour is very rude and risky. Adult comics.

Comic Diorama - Collected Comics - Grant Reynolds 2009. Top Shelf Productions.

Collections of short stories put together in an A5 format. Short stories based on journals recovered in a fire that took the life of the author. The journals are commonly known as ‘The Legends of Chance Oxblood'.

A very surreal collection of comics the stories are short and have limited text. A interesting view point exepcially as I have never considered basing a comic around real life events. The style of the comic flows nicely, it does change in drawing style from story to story but never does anything that doesn’t fit in with the rest of the comic. The minimal use of text in some stories is what Is fascinaticing as the illustrations can tell the story. Not a humorous comic in any sense as the tales can be slightly disturbing and the drawing style quite surreal.

The use of black pens to create texture and tone is what really stood out from the comic. Compared to larger scale production comics it is completely different. The characters are drawn in unconventional ways and is marketed to a adult audience as the stories are sometimes upsetting. Some stories are done with a single illustration on a single page.

Jack Teagle

Printed and distributed comics by 'NO GUTS NO GLORY'. 

  

Great sense of humour throughout his comics. The stories and illustrations are easy to follow, the sense of humour is light hearted but meant for a grown up audience. The drawing style is unlike other comics It is freely drawn and creative. The main emphasis is to create the characters and not the detailing on them. The characters are rarely put in life and death situations and even when they are they seem fun. 

Sherlock Holmes vs Skeletor 
Gareth J Brookes Self Published

The style of this particular comic is great. It does not rely on great image making to tell a good story. The story is fairly simple and set up as a sketch show. Each page being a different situation that the characters would get themselves into. The title of the comic and cover suggest that its going to be over the top big fight but actually the comic is very humane. there is no violence what so ever, It appeals to larger audience because of this.