slash the shadows with the shadow slasher

[davemerrill]

Today STUPID COMICS dares to look back in bewilderment at the era of the 1990s and some really terrible comics that involve shadows, slashing, somebody named "Riplash", tiny chins and feet, and lots of scritchy scratchy little lines.



Face your fears today and witness the power of the SHADOW SLASHER! Also you might want to bring a tissue, there's a lot of involuntary moisture involved in saying that name three or four times in a row.

Comments

[hipsterdad.livejournal.com]

Afraid you've got a link to nowhere up there.

[daniel c. parmenter (from livejournal.com)]

Indeed! Our appetites have been whetted, but the link appears to be www.example.com.

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

Copious spare time to the rescue:

http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics252.html

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

that was... uh... just me checking to see if you were paying attention! Yeah, that's the ticket.

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

Originally I was gonna say something about people who use porn magazines for anatomy reference, but I don't think these people did even THAT much research.

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

I think they were mainly using Extreme Studios comics for anatomy reference.

There was somebody in Rob Liefeld's crew who did the same really squooshed faces like that, but I forget who...

[jasonrmerrill.livejournal.com]

It's the 90's comic drinking game! Take a drink every time they avoid drawing feet! You would be wasted by the second page...

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm willing to cut them slack for something like that, since A: Feet don't HAVE to be shown and B: Feet are hard to draw. Learning how to block a panel/shot better would be a required skill, however.

I will take points away, however, for focusing on certain parts of anatomy while ignoring others, and assembling various body parts in ways that looks like a collage of different angles and views, stitched together in the inking. Impaling a Barbie Doll on a stick would give better reference that the above picture demonstrates. Her neck is as long-- and almost as wide-- as her abdomen, she's got no weight on either leg, and I don't even WANT to talk about her shoulders.

I need to learn to draw (and prove that I have learned to draw) so I can say stuff like this and have it actually taken seriously. Looking throw that paragraph I come off as.. well, pretty snotty, really.

[(Anonymous)]

Not really. Those are all valid critiques. The fact that a non-working artist can make them speaks volumes for how much that working artist still needs to learn. I could go on and on and on, but...no point now. I wonder if the guy who drew this has gotten any better since then. In my experience, bad habits like these are particularly hard to break. I still have plenty of my own.

-Tim E.

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I wonder if I can market that... *ponders*

[damerell.livejournal.com]

She seems to have healed up pretty quickly given the square foot of skin she's missing at the start. Or is that part of what one might laughably call her costume?

[(Anonymous)]

Putting aside the quality of the execution, when you think about it...this isn't unlike the body and face distortions of quote, manga style, unquote, just going in a different aesthetic direction. While I never understood how someone could like the look of a Rob Liefeld character, I acknowledge there are likewise many people for whom big eyes never worked, and never will.

--Carl

[(Anonymous)]

I'll grant you that the degree of stylization here is probably not worse than you would find in a mainstream manga anthology, BUT...practiced artists (particularly those who work in a mangaka studio system) are consistent in their stylization. The pages from this comic on Dave's site show dramatic distortions from one panel to the next with very little consistency. In other words, this artist had no control over his pencilling. I looked up his name earlier today to see if he had any more recent credits; could only find one for inking.

PS: "Shadow Slasher" lasted for a whole 5 issues. That means at least the first three paid for themselves.

-Tim E.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Or somebody's college fund ran out. "Direct Market" means never having to justify spending money.

[sobieniak.livejournal.com]

Either way, it was a good laugh at one's misery!