Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Reaction to the previous wash samples was generally in favour, with a contingent strongly holding out for unaltered original pages.

Well, this may change attitudes. Because here are some more greywash samples. But this time around, rather than me doing the washes, Davinder is doing the washes. And as you may have noticed, Davinder is better at this whole “art” thing than I am.

The difference, I think, is apparent.

EDIT TO ADD: In comments, Murc dissents:

Dalakhra and Kahal’s faces in particular just look WRONG.

This is where we have to disagree especially, because I speak for both Davinder and myself when we say that one of the main attractions of greywashing to us both is the fact that we can really visually emphasize the fact that most of the cast of this comic isn’t white.

That matters. Yes, from context the alert reader can tell that Kahal is black-skinned rather than Arabic-toned, and that Fezay is probably darker-hued than Dalakhra or Rayana, and that Alric is whiter than all of them by far. But it’s not immediately visually apparent on the page, and we both think that it absolutely has to be for numerous reasons, not all of which have to do with storytelling.

I also think it’s important to stress that although Davinder is much better than I am at this, what you’re seeing here are still roughs. (Kahal’s skin tone in the first sample is mostly untouched and we’re experimenting with ways to really bring it out.)

But: we also realize that there are some people who really love the stark white lines of the original art. We get that and we appreciate it, and we’re going to explore ways to bring an “original edition” into print eventually.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

For me, the best part of San Diego Comic Con (or, as it should really be named now, San Diego General Geek Interest Con That Just Happens To Include Comics As the Tiny Minority Interest They’ve Degenerated Into, or SDGGICTJHTICATTMITDI for short) isn’t going. In fact, it’s decidedly not going, because the building is pretty much at fire code capacity and the lines for everything are so long that you pretty much spend half the con queuing and frankly I’d rather go to a really well-run community-built mid-size con like CONvergence these days…but that isn’t to say that I don’t look forward to this weekend each year. Because this is the weekend that EVERYONE announces EVERYTHING.

There’s a lot to take in, and I’ll probably do some more dissection next week after the dust settles and we know everything (Lucy Lawless and Mockingbird in ‘Agents of SHIELD’! James Gunn signed to write and direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’! First images of Gal Godot as Wonder Woman!) But right now, I’m interested in talking about Marvel’s new ‘Star Wars’ comics.

Interestingly enough, they look like a giant leap backwards to Marvel’s old ‘Star Wars’ comics. That is to say, they’re all going to go back to the gap between ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, filling in some of the gaps now that the old continuity has been thrown out and there’s a different group of people deciding what happened in the new expanded universe (and theoretically paying more attention to keeping things consistent than Lucas did, although that’s something that’s easy to promise and hard to deliver). Unlike Marvel’s old ‘Star Wars’ comics, though, they’re writing these with an actual awareness of the destination (Hoth), and less of an episodic random science-fiction structure. (Meaning that unless they’re keeping things very much under wraps, we won’t see Jaxxon the Space Rabbit.)

One other thing that I’m intrigued by (and I should stress here, I’m defaulting to “cautious optimism” more than enthusiasm, because my tolerance for ancillary ‘Star Wars’ material has gotten lowered over the years by…well, by reading lots of it) is that they also seem to be willing to explore the actual consequences of things that were glossed over in the old continuity. Mark Waid is going to be doing an entire series about Princess Leia dealing with the destruction of Alderaan, which is something that I don’t think has ever been sufficiently explored. That’s a horrifyingly traumatic experience, and I have to imagine that Waid has a lot to say about it. Another series, by Kieron Gillen, deals with Vader’s rise to power in the aftermath of the destruction of the Death Star. Since this is something I’ve talked about on my own blog, in which I suggested that there was a lot more going on behind the scenes than Tarkin “holding Vader’s leash”, I’m interested in seeing where they go with this one. (Plus, I’m always a sucker for stories about devious internal politics among the bad guys. I don’t know why.)

Oh, and there’s also a ‘Star Wars’ comic by Jason Aaron which presumably features some sort of conflict between the Rebels and an empire of some sort, possibly an evil one. I’m sure it will be competently executed, but the pitch doesn’t exactly sizzle. Still, I’m much more interested in these than I have been in any ‘Star Wars’ comic in a long time, which is definitely a good sign for Marvel. Good luck to them, I say, and watch out for the fans who can’t handle change!

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

Click on thumb to see full

As always, you can also go to the dedicated Al’Rashad site.

FAVORITE CHOCOLATE BARS OF SUPERHEROES

Superman: Whatchamacallit (he thinks it’s a funny name even now. Lois just grimaces)

Kitty Pryde: Reese’s Pieces

Aquaman: Bounty (he prefers it to Mounds)

Cyclops: Snickers

Martian Manhunter: everyone gets him Hershey’s Cookies N’ Cream but it’s not proper cookies and he doesn’t really like white chocolate anyway; he likes Terry’s Chocolate Orange

Wolverine: Coffee Crisp (because Wolverine is Canadian, see)

The Flash: Mars bars (fun fact: you can cram an entire Mars bar in your mouth incredibly fast)

Hawkeye: M&Ms

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan): “Chocolate bars? Oh, I dunno. I haven’t had a chocolate bar in a while, mostly because I spend all my time in space. Hey, you know who makes a great dessert? Thanagarians. They do this thing, it’s kind of like a chocolate bar but it’s way better. I can’t really describe it. It’s a shame you can’t go to space.”

Mr. Fantastic: Milk Duds

Spider-Man: Payday, because actual chocolate bars always smear on his mask and then he has to put the mask in his laundry and that’s such a pain but Payday is just firm caramel and peanuts so it doesn’t leave stains

Captain America: Hershey Bar

Beast: anything with toffee in it, but Bobby always buys him Chicken Dinners because Bobby thinks that is a funny joke and Hank just sighs1

The Thing: Valomilk

Wonder Woman: Green & Black’s

Green Arrow: Avoids most chocolate because of third-world labour issues but since he found out Cadbury has at least an okay labour force, if not exceptional, he will occasionally indulge in a Caramilk

Dr. Strange: York Peppermint Patties

Deadpool: Everlasting Gobstoppers

Batman: 88% dark Peruvian chocolate when he chooses for himself; Three Musketeers when Alfred brings him one for a snack

1. NOTE: this is a time travel joke because the x-Men time travel a lot [↩]