#Ken Bruzenak

[ungoliantschilde]

“All right then, let’s see if I can deal Death a death-blow.”, by John Buscema, with Inks by Bill Sienkiewicz, Letters by Ken Bruzenak, Colors by Glynis Oliver, and a Script by Peter David.

#Wolverine #Patch #Logan #John Buscema #Bill Sienkiewicz #Ken Bruzenak #Glynis Oliver #Peter David #Marvel Comics #Marvel #Comics #Art #Illustration #Process #Master Class

[the-gershomite]

Wolverine #8 June 1989

written by Chris Claremont

pencils by John Buscema 

colors by Glynis Oliver

letters by Ken Bruzenak

#marvel comics #wolverine #the incredible hulk #mr. fix it #chris claremont #john buscema #glynis oliver #ken bruzenak #comic cover

[saint-of-ossaville]

The Angels of The Orders and Knights Templar: Part I of III

— The Azraels of The Order of St. Dumas

- Unnamed Azrael, referred to as the “True One” by the Azraels of the Order of Purity, in Azrael Vol 2 #6 (May 2010; 2009, DC Comics) by Fabian Nicieza (W), Ramón Bachs (P), John Stanisci (I), Jonathan D. Smith (C), and Sal Cipriano (L).

- Jean-Paul Ludovic Valley Sr., the first on-page Azrael we see but not the last Az we see get thrown out a window, in Batman: Sword of Azrael Vol 1 #1 (Oct 1992; 1992, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Joe Quesada (P), Kevin Nowlan (I), Lovern Kindzierski (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L) + Azrael Annual Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1995; 1995, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Barry Kitson and David Ammerman (P), Rob Leigh, Pam Eklund, James Pascoe, Ken Branch, Marcio Morais (I), Demetrius Bassoukos w/ Digital Hellfire (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L).

- Jean-Paul Valley Jr., son of the above entry and probably who you’re here for, in Batman: Sword of Azrael Vol 1 #1-#3 (Oct-Dec 1992; 1992, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Joe Quesada (P), Kevin Nowlan (I), Lovern Kindzierski (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L).

- Faux Azrael in Azrael Vol 1 #2 (Mar 1995; 1995, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Barry Kitson (P), James Pascoe (I), Demetrius Bassoukos (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L).

- Unnamed Azrael of China, from a Shanghai sect of the Order, in Azrael: Agent of the Bat Vol 1 #66 (Jul 2000) and #72 (Jan 2001; 1998, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Roger Robinson (#66) / Sergio Cariello (#72) (P), James Pascoe (I), Rob Ro and Alex Bleyaert (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L).

#comics #dc comics #dc #entry #entry set #the order of st dumas #ludovic valley #jean paul valley #azrael of china #azrael #other azraels #other angels #denny o'neil #fabian nicieza #joe quesada #barry kitson #james pascoe #ken bruzenak

[balu8]

American Flagg #4: Southern Comfort

by Howard Chaykin: Leslie Zahler and Ken Bruzenak

First

#american flagg #ken bruzenak #leslie zahler #howard chaykin #comic book #first comics

[cantsayidont]

March through May 1988. While the Evanier/Spiegle BLACKHAWK revival was prompted by Steven Spielberg's interest in doing a BLACKHAWK feature film as a follow-on to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, this controversial Howard Chaykin miniseries feels a fair bit like RAIDERS: a slick, stylish, rather cynical adventure story about a square-jawed heel and a saucy, two-fisted dame who save the world from fascism when they're not too busy bickering, in a nostalgia-bait setting full of visual allusions to '30s and '40s advertising and propaganda art.

Although Chaykin was certainly familiar with the Blackhawks (and had done covers and a couple of backup stories for the Evanier series), he indulges in some obligatory late '80s revisionism, dismissing or discarding some familiar elements of the feature (for instance, the characters laugh off the possibility of a Blackhawk Island, a staple of the earlier series) and tinkering with some details. Perhaps his most significant move was to reaffirm that Blackhawk was Polish, as shown in the first Blackhawk story in MILITARY COMICS #1 (by Will Eisner and Chuck Cuidera) back in 1941. Later versions of Blackhawk's origin had claimed he was American and had merely been flying for the Polish Air Force at the time of the 1939 Nazi invasion, but Chaykin was having none of that: The Blackhawk of this series is Janos Prohaska (a name borrowed from a veteran Hollywood stuntman who'd worked on STAR TREK and other movies and TV shows), a broad-shouldered, left-leaning (and, this being a Howard Chaykin story, Jewish) schlub from Krakow who spends a lot of the story under fire for "premature antifascism" from a Red-baiting Southern senator who's also a secret Nazi agent.

(Special note needs to be made of the exceptionally creative lettering of Ken Bruzenak, without which this series would be much less than it is, and also the effective color work of Steve Oliff.)

Exactly when this story is supposed to be set is a little vague. One of the pastiche magazine covers suggests that it takes place in June 1941, about the time MILITARY COMICS #1 went on sale, but the story concerns the theft of an American atomic bomb, and the U.S. already seems to be at war, so who knows! Chaykin is not Roy Thomas, who would undoubtedly have sweated such details.

The villain is none of Blackhawk's past opponents, but rather a newly created character, British fascist and disgraced Hollywood star Sir Death Mayhew, a very thinly veiled pastiche of Errol Flynn, obviously informed by Charles Higham's muckraking 1980 bio ERROL FLYNN: THE UNTOLD STORY, which alleged that Flynn was a Nazi spy. Other biographers have challenged Higham's evidence and conclusions (although even the most generous accounts of Flynn's life are pretty seamy), but by the '80s Flynn was long dead, this was after all a comic book, and Mayhew is a pretty effective (and thoroughly risible) villain. Probably the biggest disappointment is that we don't ever actually see Mayhew's earlier encounter with Blackhawk, who he says had previously exposed him as a Nazi spy, and there's never really a clash between the Blackhawks and Mayhew's fascist White Lion squadron (which ends up basically carrying the water for Mayhew's mad plan to give himself "a Viking funeral").

The original BLACKHAWK series eventually introduced a Lady Blackhawk, blond adventuress Zinda Blake, but Chaykin creates his own version: a feisty American-born Communist expat, Natalie (Gurdin) Reed. She's a flight engineer as well as a pilot, although her primary function is to spar with Blackhawk. It's not hard to envision this scene with Harrison Ford as Janos and Karen Allen as Natalie:

One of the biggest complaints levied against this series is that the other Blackhawks get short shrift: They don't show up until well into the story, one of them is killed off-handedly, and they don't have much to do other than be exasperated with their boss.

Nonetheless, this was, believe it or not, the first time in their long history that all the Blackhawks actually got full names, including "Chop Chop" (Weng Chan), who subsequently became a supporting character in the John Ostrander/Graham Nolan HAWKWORLD series in the early '90s.

Your reaction to this series will likely depend on how you feel about the Blackhawks. If you'd never heard of them beyond perhaps glancing past their WHO'S WHO entry, it's a pretty good time — the story has some missed opportunities (including surprisingly little aerial action), and marginalizing the rest of the team is definitely a flaw, but it's entertaining in its slick '80s way, and it's more cohesive than a lot of Chaykin's other work from this period (e.g., AMERICAN FLAGG!, THE SHADOW, BLACK KISS, TIME²). Hardcore Blackhawk fans (and I guess there are still a few) generally hate it, and certainly for purists, the Evanier/Spiegle series is likely to be far more satisfactory. Also, Chaykin's particular schtick is something of an acquired taste, and if you're not a fan, his customary abrasive cynicism may be a bit much. However, you can tell he was having fun, which counts for a lot. He even manages to work in the Blackhawks' "HAWKAAAAA" battle cry at the end, though not their jaunty theme song:

This miniseries, originally released in what DC used to call its "Prestige Format," apparently didn't sell as well as anticipated; for a long time, you could find copies in comic shop bargain bins for a fraction of the cover price, which is how I first read it. However, in 2020, DC finally, miraculously, reprinted the series in trade paperback (as BLACKHAWK: BLOOD & IRON), also tossing in the 1989 SECRET ORIGINS entry (by Marty Pasko, Grant Miehm, and Terry Beatty), which attempts, with fair success, to square Chaykin's version with the original Eisner/Cuidera story, and the now hard-to-find ACTION COMICS WEEKLY Blackhawk serial by Mike Grell, Rick Burchett, and Pablo Marcos, which is set after the war and is basically a straightforward pastiche of the early years of Milt Caniff's STEVE CANYON newspaper strip. I actually find the ACTION COMICS WEEKLY serial significantly more cynical and abrasive than the Chaykin series, although Burchett's art is nice. DC hasn't bothered to reprint the short-lived BLACKHAWK ongoing series of 1989–1990, by Pasko (and later Doug Moench) and Burchett, which is just as well: Also set in the late '40s, it follows on from the ACW serial, but is a pretty much unmitigated disaster, full of puzzling creative choices, including some bizarre (and misogynistic) abuse of Natalie Reed. The art is fine (although the interiors never live up to Burchett's excellent covers), but it can't save the muddy, mean-spirited storyline, which is often confusing and intermittently preposterous in a way that clashes with the intended gritty tone, making it highly missable even for completists.

#comics #blackhawk #howard chaykin #janos prohaska #natalie reed #lady blackhawk #mark evanier #dan spiegle #errol flynn #charles higham #ken bruzenak #steve oliff #martin pasko #grant miehm #terry beatty #will eisner #chuck cuidera #mike grell #rick buchett #pablo marcos #milton caniff #steve canyon #blackhawk blood & iron #the 1992 blackhawk special by ostrander and vosburg is okay #but still not essential #and manages to be far removed #from both the original concept and the chaykin version

[graphicpolicy]

Crowdfunding Corner: Howard Chaykin comes to Zoop with John Benteen's FARGO: Hell On Wheels

Crowdfunding Corner: Howard Chaykin comes to Zoop with John Benteen's FARGO: Hell On Wheels #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Backer Beware: Crowdfunding projects are not guaranteed to be delivered and/or delivered when promised. We always recommend to do your research before backing.Disclosure: Graphic Policy’s founder Brett is a member of the Zoop team. If you’re a fan of comics, you know the name Howard Chaykin. The legendary creator of American Flagg!. The man who first brought Star Wars to comics. He has worked…

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#bitch guice #dave johnson #denys cown #eduardo risso #gary frank #gizmoe press #graphic novel #graphic novels #howard chaykin #john benteens fargo: hell on wheels #Ken Bruzenak #mahmud asrar #yen nitro #zoop

[ironsaguaro]

Have You Ever Seen This GODZILLA Comic? By Steranko's Assistant, Ken Bru...

#cartoonist kayfabe #Ed Piskor #Jim Rugg #image comics #mr.monster vs gorzilla #Ken Bruzenak #parody

[coverpanelarchive]

Deadman: Exorcism #2 (1992)

#DC comics #deadman exorcism #mike baron #kelley jones #les dorscheid #ken bruzenak

[nickmarino]

#comics #marvel #silver surfer #jim starlin #ron lim #tom christopher #tom vincent #ken bruzenak

[raccoonramblings]

Myst: The Book of the Black Ships #1 (1997) (story: Lovern Kindzierski [Plot], Chris Ulm [Script] ; art: Doug Wheatley [Art], Igor Kordey [Colors], letters: Ken Bruzenak)

Intended as a 4 issue mini-series, only a #0 prequel and the #1 were released. Infamously, the two main characters' names were accidentally swapped. This isn't really an issue if you go into this book without knowing much of anything regarding Myst lore, but anyone who was a fan would definitely be scratching their head. Cyan, soured by the publisher refusing to correct the issue before the book went to printing, refused to allow the remaining 3 issues see the light of day. It's unknown how far into production they were.

There are several Myst novels, in addition to the numerous sequels and endless stream of re-releases, remasters, and remakes, but to this day there has never been another Myst comic book. And that's a damn shame because this book had a lot of potential. Intriguing story, good writing... I especially give it up for artist Doug Wheatley, who's managing to channel something akin to a diet Moebius (which sounds like an insult, but I really do mean it as a compliment). Point is, I would read more of this. If they wanted to do a collected edition of this with the names corrected and the unreleased issues, I would spend money on it.

#comic #comic books #comic art #art #myst

[ungoliantschilde]

Wolverine: the Jungle Adventure, Vol. 1 # 1 Page 01 by Mike Mignola, with Inks by Bob Wiacek, Letters by Ken Bruzenak, Colors by Mark Chiarello, and a Script by Walt Simonson.

#Wolverine: the Jungle Adventure #Wolverine #Mike Mignola #Bob Wiacek #Ken Bruzenak #Mark Chiarello #Walt Simonson #Splash Page Process #Splash Page #Process #Master Class #Marvel Comics #Marvel #Comics #Art #Illustration

[the-gershomite]

Wolverine #10 -August 1989-

written by Chris Claremont

pencils by John Buscema & Bill Sienkiewicz

colors by Mike Rockwitz

letters by Ken Bruzenak

#marvel comics #wolverine #comic cover #john buscema #bill sienkiewicz #mike rockwitz #ken bruzenak #chris claremont #sabertooth

[saint-of-ossaville]

“Some [vengeance], surely, but it has to be more about justice and compassion. If it’s not, we’re as corrupt as our enemies. You had a choice and you chose well, you chose compassion. I said you’d do fine, and you did.”

— Batman (Bruce Wayne) comforts Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) by combatting his perception of failure in the Joker escaping, with the thought of success in saving the captured child through his own compassion, in Azrael: Agent of the Bat Vol 1 #53 (Jun 1999; 1998, DC Comics) by Dennis “Denny” O’Neil (W), Roger Robinson (P), James Pascoe (I), Rob Ro and Alex Bleyaert (C), and Ken Bruzenak (L).

#comics #dc comics #dc #entry #entry quote #jean paul valley #azrael #bruce wayne #batman #azrael: agent of the bat #azrael: agent of the bat 1998 #no man's land #denny o'neil #dennis o'neil

[balu8]

American Flagg #4: Southern Comfort

by Howard Chaykin; Leslie Zahler and Ken Bruzenak

First

#first comics #american flagg #howard chaykin #ken bruzenak #leslie zahler #comic book

[graphicpolicy]

Crowdfunding Corner: Howard Chaykin comes to Zoop with John Benteen's FARGO: Hell On Wheels

Crowdfunding Corner: Howard Chaykin comes to Zoop with John Benteen's FARGO: Hell On Wheels #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Backer Beware: Crowdfunding projects are not guaranteed to be delivered and/or delivered when promised. We always recommend to do your research before backing.Disclosure: Graphic Policy’s founder Brett is a member of the Zoop team. If you’re a fan of comics, you know the name Howard Chaykin. The legendary creator of American Flagg!. The man who first brought Star Wars to comics. He has worked…

View On WordPress

#bitch guice #dave johnson #denys cown #eduardo risso #gary frank #gizmoe press #graphic novel #graphic novels #howard chaykin #john benteens fargo: hell on wheels #Ken Bruzenak #mahmud asrar #yen nitro #zoop

[marvelman901]

Wolverine vol 2 10 (1989) . 24 Hours . Written by Chris Claremont Penciled by John Buscema Inked by Bill Sienkiewicz Colors by Mike Rockwitz Lettered by Ken Bruzenak Edited by Bob Harras and Daryl Edelman Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz . Wolverine remembered when Sabertooth had "killed" Silver Fox on Wolverine's birthday... . See more relevant content here: #marvelman901wolverine #marvelman901xmen #marvelman901sabretooth #marvelman901johnbuscema #marvelman901billsienkiewicz #marvelman901silverfox #marvelman901spiderwoman . #wolverine #xmen #silverfox #sabretooth #80s #johnbuscema #birthday #jessicadrew #billsienkiewicz (på/i Canada) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpOF9udsXD1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#marvelman901wolverine #marvelman901xmen #marvelman901sabretooth #marvelman901johnbuscema #marvelman901billsienkiewicz #marvelman901silverfox #marvelman901spiderwoman #wolverine #xmen #silverfox #sabretooth #80s #johnbuscema #birthday #jessicadrew #billsienkiewicz