Tag Archives: Joe Prado

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 44

Billy and Dave are back with another episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast. They preview new comics coming out the week of Wednesday, November 5, 2014, including the official start of Spider-Verse. The guys also review recent comics, including James Robinson and Leonard Kirk’s Fantastic Four #12, Scott Snyder and Greg Cappullo’s Batman #35 and Geoff Johns and company’s Justice League #35. Plus, they talk about Marvel’s latest movie announcements. It’s another fun episode. Listen to it now!

rocket groot spiderman 9 cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 34

multiversity 1 cover close up

In the latest episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave go deep into The Multiversity #1 by Grant Morrison, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. We breakdown who’s who and what’s what, as well as point out references to other companies’ heroes, and try to figure out how this fits in with Grant Morrison’s previous DC story, Final Crisis. If you read The Multiversity, then LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST!

 

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 25

Dave is back! Billy and Dave make their picks for new comic books coming out on Wednesday, 6/25/14, and discuss the craziness that has been Marvel’s Original Sin thus far! If you’re loving Original Sin, listen to this episode!

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast – Episode 24

Billy records alone! It’s just Billy on the week on the Tuesday Night Comics podcast. He gives you his picks for the new comics he’s most excited about for the week of June 18, 2014, talks about Miracle Man: A Dream of Flying and Brian Woods’s Star Wars, and recaps this weekend’s big comic book convention in New York City, Special Edition: NYC.

Speaking of Special Edition: NYC, check out this awesome Spider-Man sketch I bought from Marcio Takara!

spiderman by marcio takara

Don’t worry, Dave fans. Dave will be back next week.

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Brazilian Breakfast Club

This past summer, Bleeding Cool ran a story with the headline Get a Brazilian Breakfast With Ivan Reis and Joe Prado at NYCC. The article talked about an art book called Ícones dos Quadrinhos (Comic Book Icons) being crowdfunded on Catarse. Catarse is like a Brailian Kickstarter. The book sounded cool. It had illustrations by 100 different artists. Each of the artists drew one of their favorite characters from their childhood. One of the support levels included a “Brazilian breakfast” with Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, a hardcover copy of Ícones dos Quadrinhos and sketches from Ivan and Joe in the book. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Not only are Ivan and Joe two of my favorite artists in the comics industry, but at NYCC 2012 I helped thwart a big art theft at their tables.  Also, for years I’ve wanted a Hal Jordan sketch by Ivan, but have never been able to get one. Here was my chance!

I jumped to support the project. The Brazilian Breakfast option was limited to 6 people, and I figured that with Bleeding Cool running this story, it would sell out quickly. The price looked steep initially at R$500, but thanks to the magic of exchange rates, R$500 at the time turned out to be only about US$210. I was the first person go for the breakfast option.

When Bleeding Cool posted about the project, it was in its final day of crowdfunding. I figured the breakfast (and sketches!) at NYCC would be too hard to pass up and the other five spots would sell out quickly. Because of this, I was very surprised when I checked back on Catarse throughout the day and saw that no one else had gotten in on what to me was a tremendous deal. Later that day, the crowdsourcing period ended, and I was the only one who had signed for the Brazilian Breakfast.

WHAT?!?

Seriously, how did not one other single person decide to get in on this? I cannot put into words how excited I was. Getting breakfast with Ivan, Joe and 5 other fans would have been cool. But just me? AWESOME.

When I told a friend my news, he asked “What’s a Brazilian breakfast entail?” I said I wasn’t sure. “It sounds like a weird sex act,” he said. “I think you just signed up for a 4-way with these guys,” he added.

Shortly before NYCC , Ivan Freitas Da Costa, the man behind Ícones dos Quadrinhos, got in touch with me to coordinate when and where we’d meet up for the Brazilian breakfast. As it turned out, the Brazilian in Brazilian breakfast referred to the company I’d be in, not the food (also, thankfully, not the sex act). We we agreed to meet at the Market Diner near the Javits Center at 8 AM on Thursday morning, the first day of NYCC. Because they were all operating on a tight schedule, Ivan Freitas Da Costa told me to get to the restaurant by 8 AM sharp. I arrived at 7:45.

Since I was the first one there, I grabbed a table for four. Shortly thereafter, Joe and the two Ivans walked in, along with two other guys. Looking at my four-man booth, I immediately thought we’re going to need a bigger boat. The two other guys turned out to be Daniel HDR and the Brazilain giant from the art theft story from last year, whose real name it is Breno Tamura. I’m glad Breno came to the breakfast, as he had become such a mythical figure in mind from the way he apprehended the thieves last year.

After we moved to a larger booth, sat down and introduced ourselves, I mentioned that I had met Ivan, Joe and Breno last year when I helped stop the theft at their table. The table erupted. Joe Prado exclaimed “I knew I recognized you when I walked in!” Joe, Ivan, Breno and I related the art theft story from our different points of view to the other guys at the table.

Ivan Freitas Da Costa presented me with my copy of Ícones. If I could only use two words to describe this book, they would be gorgeous and huge. The art is printed on thick, high quality paper and really pops off the page. Opposite the art is a text piece by each artist, presented in both Portuguese and English. The book really is big. It’s about the size of a DC Absolute Edition, which definitely helps show off the artwork inside. You can tell just by looking at it that it was a passion project. This book is very limited. If you can get your hands on one, I definitely recommend doing so.

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The cover and slipcase to Ícones dos Quadrinhos. This book is gorgeous!

It was cool getting to hang out with all of these artists in such a casual environment.  They’re a tight knit group, some of them having known each other for 20 years. Ivan Reis, Joe and Daniel told me the stories about how they each broke into the industry. I didn’t realize that Ivan Reis’s first pairing with Geoff Johns wasn’t at DC, but was at Marvel, during Geoff’s Vison limited series from 2002. It’s amazing to think this iconic pair has been working together for over 10 years now.

During breakfast, Ivan Reis drew a Green Lantern logo on a bottle of Tabasco and signed it. He then reached for the mustard and began doodling on that. Pretty soon, all the artists at the table were drawing comic book character faces on all of the creamers.

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After everyone had drawn on something, Ivan Reis handed me a pen and said, “You do one.” I’m no artist, but I managed to draw a half-decent Spider-Man face on a creamer. Ivan Freitas Da Costa took a picture. He posted to Facebook that Ivan Reis was doodling on condiments at the Market Diner. No joke, less than 5 minutes later, two very fan boy looking dudes walked into the diner all wild eyed, spotted our booth and immediately sat in a booth near ours. I leaned over and said, “I think those guys are here for the condiments.”

Green Lantern Tabasco and Friends

The Legion of Super Condiments

Ivan, Joe, Ivan, Daniel and Breno are all super cool dudes. There was a lot of laughter at our table during our breakfast on the first morning of New York Comic Con.  If you get a chance to meet these guys at a convention, do it. Each of them are awesome.

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Ivan Reis signing his Astro Boy illustration in Ícones dos Quadrinhos.

After we finished a very good breakfast (thumbs up to the Market Diner’s Leo Omelette), and got back to chatting, Ivan and Joe each drew sketch for me in my copy of Ícones dos Quadrinhos. I asked Ivan for a Hal Jordan Green Lantern and Joe for a Hal Jordan Black Lantern.

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As he was finishing up his sketch, Ivan pulled out a silver pen and began crosshatching in the background. Ivan then said, “3D cover!”  We laughed. The two sketches by Ivan and Joe look amazing. They are on opposite pages and mirror each other. Ivan gave his Hal a word balloon that said “Thanks for saving my covers!” and Joe gave his Hal a word balloon that said “Thanks for the save, brother!”

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As we left the diner, one of the guys in our group turned back and yelled “Those guys just grabbed the condiments!” Apparently, they didn’t even wait until we were all completely out the door before pouncing. Ivan Freitas Da Costa joked that we’re going to see “Ivan Reis Tabasco” on eBay. With a wry smile, I said, “They didn’t get the Tabasco.”  I opened my sport coat to reveal the Tabasco bottle that has the ability to overcome great fear. There were howls of laughter. I’m glad I grabbed the Tabasco bottle on my way out of the diner, but I did feel weird about it. These were the guys whose artwork I stopped from getting stolen last year. Now I was showing off a purloined bottle of Tabasco in front of them.

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If you’re the guy who took the Spider-Man creamer thinking it was drawn by Ivan Reis, sorry.

I walked the guys back to their hotel before heading back to Brooklyn to get ready myself. We were still hours away from NYCC officially opening to the public (though there were people lined up at that Javits that drizzly morning at 9 AM waiting for the doors to open at 3 PM). When we made our goodbyes, Joe asked if they’d see me at their tables. I said, “Of course!”  I don’t know if you saw it, but the Brazilian artists basically took over the F aisle in Artist’s Alley this year. During the show, I started calling their row Brazil.

brazilian breakfast

It’s funny how fate has linked me to Joe Prado and Ivan Reis over the past twelve months. From the art theft last year to breakfast this year, it feels like things have come full circle. Thank you Joe, Ivan, Ivan, Daniel and Breno. This breakfast really was the perfect start to my NYCC 2013.

Breakfast Club

Left to right: Ivan Freitas Da Costa, Daniel HDR, Joe Prado, Billy Henehan, Ivan Reis, Breno Tamura

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The Outsider Revealed! – Justice League #23 Review

5/5 – Perfection from Johns, Reis & Prado
First off, I would like to welcome all the new readers who discovered our site from Bleeding Cool and New Earth 2 linking to our Who Is The Outsider? post.
I woke up early like a kid on Christmas morning and rushed to my iPad to buy Justice League #23. After putting out my Outsider/Alfred post, the suspense of waiting to have my suspicions confirmed was killing me. I had the feeling we’d be getting answers this issue and did we!
Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis knock the art in this issue out of the park. I think this is best I’ve ever seen out of this art team. Every panel on every page is expertly rendered. If there’s any complaint about the art here, it’s that not enough comics from Marvel and DC look this good.
I’d like to warn you all that I am going SPOILER CRAZY from here on out, so if you haven’t read Justice League #23 yet, perhaps now would be a good time to close this window and come back when you have. Cool?
The Spoiler is giving you a warning!
Justice League #23 reveals The Outsider’s identity as the Alfred Pennyworth of Earth-3. I had the feeling that we would get that reveal either in this issue or in Forever Evil #1. Needless to say, I was very excited to read confirmation for my theory on The Outsider’s identity.
Alfred works for Owlman, the evil Batman counterpart from Earth-3. Some people have speculated that Earth-3 Owlman and the Owlman that appeared in Scott Snyder’s Court of Owls are one and the same, but that does not appear to be the case. While they do have costumes very similar to each other, going by how he addresses Alfred, it sounds like the Earth-3 Owlman has been trapped on Earth-3 alongside the rest of the Crime Syndicate all this time.
Geoff Johns is a writer who loves the Silver Age. He’s the man who made Hal Jordan and Barry Allen relevant again. Because of that, I am insanely excited to see his take on the Crime Syndicate of America. I’ve had a thing for the Crime Syndicate since I first encountered them the first time I read Crisis on Infinite Earths. I have always loved evil versions of heroes. It’s a concept that doesn’t get old to me. Grant Morrison perfected the Crime Syndicate in his Earth-2 graphic novel, and I’m looking forward to Geoff Johns taking them to the next level. The amount of thought that Johns has already put into these new versions of these characters is great. Power Ring being a coward is so clever, yet I’m surprised no one ever thought of that before. Superwoman’s golden lasso being made out of barbed wire makes her appear like even more of a sadist that when Grant Morrison wrote her.
Power Ring is no Hal Jordan.
Has Cyborg ever been treated as brutally as he was in his takeover by The Grid? This panel makes Magneto ripping Wolverine’s adamantium out look like a spa exfoliation treatment. I’m really hoping that Vic having his cyborg half ripped from him means we’re going to get a slimmed down redesign of Cyborg in the near future.
My other favorite scene in the book is when Atomica reveals herself as the traitor. The way that Reis and Prado draw the expression on her face when she’s revealing the truth to Vic is just classic.
Everything you need to know about the character is revealed right there in that panel. She’s not the guilt-ridden wet blanket that she’s been portraying herself as in the previous parts of Trinity War. She played both leagues. Somehow she even managed to hide it from J’onn. I really like that Johns hid her duplicity as The Outsider’s inside woman in the league by having her cover being she was a secret agent spying on the Justice League for the Justice League of America. Looking back on it though, it makes so much sense. The Outsider bragged about having a mole in the Justice League of America and the Justice League. It should have been obvious that the mole would be the one person who has access to both leagues.
I wonder if the outing of Atomica means we’ll see the return of Ray Palmer to the DCU. I certainly hope so.
It’s funny, Justice League #23 had much bigger reveals than Marvel’s Age of Ultron #10, but DC didn’t feel the need to wrap Justice League #23 in a black polybag. The end of the Trinity War succeeded where Age of Ultron failed. Age of Ultron’s lackluster tenth issue made me less excited for the Marvel events that immediately followed. But after reading Justice League #23, I am psyched for Forever Evil and Villains Month! Bring on the bad guys!

 

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That Time I Stopped an Art Theft at Ivan Reis’s Table at NYCC

It was Saturday at New York Comic Con. I turned to my friend and said, “We should head over to Ivan Reis’s table in Artist’s Alley. He has the original art to the cover of Earth 2 #1 at his table. It’s $3,000, so I don’t think either of us are buying it. But it’s cool to see it in person.” My friend, like me, is a fan of Earth 2, so I knew he’d want to check this out.
Ivan had two tables that he shared with his brother Rod and Joe Prado. Books of original art lined the table, along with a stack of sketchbooks for sale and a bin of covers and splash pages. It was in this bin where I had seen the cover to Earth 2 #1. Everything in that bin was at least $2,500.
As we approached the table, there were two guys leafing through the original art. They looked almost identical: same height, same build, same jeans, and same Yankees cap. The only difference between them was the color of their hoodies. One of them had the cover art for Earth 2 #1 on the table and another page from the bin in his hands. “Wow, that guy’s buying the Earth 2 #1 cover.” I said to my buddy. I’ve never seen $6,000 in cash trade hands before, so I wanted to hang out and watch the exchange take place.
There’s usually a bunch of people at this table: Ivan, Joe, Rod, various friends. Right now, it was empty except for a woman I took to be Ivan or Joe’s wife or sister.
The guy with the Earth 2 #1 cover and other cover in his hand walked away from the table.
“Did I just see what I think I saw? Did he just steal that art? Maybe he paid before we got there? What if I say something and it turns out he did pay for it? I’ll feel like a jerk. But what if he is stealing this and I don’t say anything? I won’t be able live with myself.” Those thoughts raced through my head in about half a second before I called out, “Did you pay for that?”
No response. He kept walking. His friend was silent too. Here’s the thing about asking someone if they’ve stolen something. If they haven’t stolen anything, they will very vocally tell you so.
I wasn’t sure what to do. These guys were both much larger than me, and if they wanted to, could easily kick my butt.
The first guy waited for his friend about 10 feet from the table. The friend picked up a splash page from the bin and put it down on a box he had placed on the table. He pulled out another page, looked up and asked the woman at the table, “How much?” She indicated the price was on the page. He put that page back, picked up his box with the other splash page resting on it and walked away.
Yep. These guys clearly just ripped off Ivan Reis. There was no question about it. When the two guys were about 15 feet away, I ran over to the woman behind the table and said “Those two guys just stole three pages from you!” She had no idea what I was saying. I repeated myself. She still had no idea what I was saying. “Oh damn,” I thought, “The Reises are from Brazil. This lady only speaks Portuguese!” I tried a combination of words, hand gestures and pantomime. Her eyes went wide. “They…stole…?” she said. “Yes! Those two guys over there!” They had just rounded the corner to the next aisle.
The lady called out something in Portuguese and this Brazilian giant ran over from another table. The two thieves were big. This guy was huge. She frantically explained to him in Portuguese what happened. He turned to me and said, “You saw them?” I responded, “Yeah, they’re right there!” They were almost lined up perfectly with us in the next aisle. “I don’t see them,” he said. “They’re right there! Those two guys in hoodies and Yankees caps.” “I don’t see them.” I was getting frustrated. “Follow me!”
I took off like a rabbit. The giant followed. The two thieves walked at a slow pace, like they didn’t have a care in the world. I pulled up about 15 feet behind them. The giant caught up with me. “That guy in the Yankees cap, and that guy in the Yankees cap,” I said while pointing at them.
The giant went up to the second thief. He stood in front of the thief and blocked his path. They exchanged a few words and the thief gave up the art. The other thief didn’t even turn. He just kept walking.
The giant returned to me. “Thanks,” he said. “What about the other guy?” I exclaimed. “What other guy?” he said. I pointed out the other thief. The giant gave chase. He tried getting in front of the guy, but the guy went around him. “Excuse me,” the giant said, trying to get his attention. No response. The guy kept walking. The giant grabbed that stolen art that was under the thief’s hand. This stopped the guy. He gave up the Earth 2 cover and the other piece of art he stole from Ivan.
The giant returned to me. He thanked me and told me that the thieves claimed they thought the art was free. “Yeah, right,” I said. He told the thieves to stay away from their table. I wish he had brought them to the police. I wondered how much of their duffel bag was full of other stolen goods. I saw police officers in Artist’s Alley every day of NYCC, but at this moment, I didn’t see one. He thanked me again. I followed him back to the table. My friends were still waiting there, and I still wanted to check out the original cover art to Earth 2 #1.
We returned to the table. The woman thanked me. Ivan returned to the table about a minute later and the woman explained what happened. He shook my hand and thanked me. I told him, “Don’t worry about it. I was just doing the right thing. I’m a huge fan and wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I let them get away with that.” Ivan reached for one of his sketchbooks, thought better of it, and picked up his book of Aquaman art. He pulled out a page from Aquaman #12 showing Arthur and Vostok-X talking and gave it to me. “Please, take this.” he said. Now it was my turn to thank him.
The next day, I said to my friend that I wanted to return to Ivan’s table. He had a book of prelims that had some cool stuff in it and I wanted to buy one. When I returned to the table, the woman from yesterday was manning it again. She smiled and said hello, as did I. I found an Earth 2 #7 rough cover prelim and indicated that I wanted to buy it. I pulled out my cash when someone called out, “Don’t charge him.” I turned and saw it was Joe Prado, sitting a few feet away. “That’s okay,” I said, and attempted to hand the woman my money. “You’re the guy from yesterday, right? The guy who stopped the theft?” he asked. “Yeah, that’s me.” I replied. “Don’t worry about it. Just take it.” he said. I smiled and thanked him.
Later that day, I turned to my friend and said that I wanted to go back to Ivan’s table and buy this sweet looking Tempest design sheet that was in his prelim book, but I was worried they were going to think I was some kind of mooch that was trying to bleed them dry off one good deed. We joked that I’d have to have the cash out and throw it at them as I took the art. We didn’t return to the table.
We did stop by the table of Tim “Mr. Tim” Chamberlain, of Our Valued Customer fame. He was doing sketches of convention attendees. At this point, I had told the story of stopping the theft at Ivan’s table to every friend I ran into at NYCC. After telling him the story, Mr. Tim drew this commission for me: