Can Someone Explain This to Me?

I liked the Image series "Debris" that came out last year. It was a little heavy on the hero's journey/ Mono-myth stuff for my taste, but it was fun and the art was really good. I even did fan art for it!

The four issues of "Debris" were recently collected into a trade paperback. I was surprised to see how differently the lead female character was portrayed on the cover of the paperback as compared to the comics.

Here's what I mean: Here is the cover of the first issue featuring the protagonist, Maya:

And here is the cover of the trade:

Can we see that one more time? (this time with the cover of issue #3):

 

The cover artist for the trade is not the same artist for the book. OK, fine.

But I thought the depiction of women* in the book was pretty respectful. Maya was young and attractive, and sure, wore tight clothing, but she was at least drawn realistically.

I was happy to see a more realistic portrayal of a female character. It's a little sad now to see that character all sex-potted up. Fishnets and a flowy evening dress are not practical for fighting giant robots!

Also, she's straddling a penis-shaped pipe! Seriously!?



*(There was actually more than one woman! This is what we call progress in comic books.)

Workspace Upgrade!!

So here is my desk/ workspace as I last posted it (around October of last year):

And here is my desk now:



Getting that cork board changed my life.

Not really. But it is nice to have somewhere to put things. I was tired of taping things to the wall.

Also, my wife painted the bedroom. No more gross yellow.

Plus! I have a new computer. My last computer was purchased back in 2005, so I was overdue. I mounted the monitor and stored the CPU under the desk so I could keep my drawing board. Not pictured is the Wacom tablet I also bought. I'm pretty happy with the whole set up, but it's given me a lot of new tools to learn (Including Manga Studio 5) 

Anyway, I'm still working a with traditional media. Here are a couple sketchbook pictures:

Astronaut looking over alien landscape.

Astronaut looked terrified and amazed.

Both of these are studies for a new comic I'm working on at the same time as I finish my Mars one.

In other news, my lovely wife has taken up blogging. You can now find her at Projectophile! I've been blogging for a long time, but she is already blowing me out of the water with her blogging proficiency (It probably has something to do with the fact that she's a way better writer than I am).  This one about mid-century modern houses that will kill your children has been particularly popular.