There isn't much news in the world of comics today... other than Cartoon Network is launching a DC Universe block of programing, but the only thing they specifically mentioned was the upcoming Green Lantern cartoon, so I'm guessing this is just going to be reruns of old shows. Which isn't bad, it's just not that exciting, either.So, I'm just going to do another tribute to a creator I really love. Today's pick a fairly recent arrival in the world of comics, but she does a kick-ass job and I always love seeing her work, Amanda Conner! She officially began working in the late 80s as a comic illustrator, working for Archie and Marvel, but in recent years, she's catapulted to success on a number of projects, many of them involving DC's female heroes. She illustrated the Black Canary/Green Arrow Wedding Special, which... wasn't great. I mean her artwork looked stellar, but whose idea was it to make Black Canary's "wedding gown" into a variation on her super leotard? Silly.
Plus, the wedding pretty much officially fucked up one of the most famous couples in comics. Black Canary was removed from her headlining role in Birds of Prey, the book that MADE her the superstar she is today, to co-star with GA in a tepid series (that nevertheless boasted some lovely artwork by Cliff Chiang). The book tanked, and took Birds of Prey out along with it, since it tanked with its lead character gone. That's okay, Black Canary/Green Arrow didn't last long. BC is back with the Birds and GA has his own book out now.
Amanda illustrated the weekly Supergirl strip in the newspaper-sized Wednesday Comics anthology.
She illustrated the Terra miniseries written by her frequent collaborators Justin Grey and (her husband) Jimmy Palmiotti.
She's best known for revitalizing Power Girl, a well-liked character who'd drifted aimlessly since the mid-80s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Along with Grey and Palmiotti, the group restored her original powers and origin (she is the parallel universe version of Supergirl, Superman's cousin). After refining her in a miniseries, the creators were given the chance to continue developing her in an ongoing series. The series was fantastic, exciting, funny, light and featuring a likable and easy-to-relate-to lead female character! Unfortunately the entire team left the book and it went straight into the toilet. (Someone really needs to ban Judd Winnick from ever writing comics again!)
Amanda's artwork is clean and has a cartoon-y feel to it. She's known for her lovely females, who have a definite Pin Up Girl look.
But her fellas aren't hard to look at either. Hell, she made Jimmy Olsen cute! Jimmy Olsen!
For serious!
Super cute Robin on Batgirl sketch!
Perhaps the coolest thing to happen, is her being tapped to design a line of DC heroine minibusts. The first was this Batgirl to the left, doing the Batusi! HOW cute!!! Amanda's work always has a humorous element to it and these busts certainly maintain that!
Classic Star Sapphire, somehow having acquired Green Lantern's ring!
A powerful Queen Hippolyta as the Golden Age Wonder Woman!
Simply stunning Power Girl, showing off her second most famous assets!
Looking forward to whatever projects she has coming down the pipeline to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment