16 Times Comic Book Artists Totally Rocked Rock Music Album Cover Art [Hot Linked]

Artist: Todd McFarlane • Image Credit: Epic Records, Marvel Comics 

The long wait for a new post is finally over, kids! Exhaustively curated here for your viewing pleasure is a new spine-tingling listicle revealing 16 times comic book artists rocked rock music cover art.

16 Times Comic Book Artists Absolutely Rocked Hip-Hop Album Cover Art [Hot Linked]

Image Credit: Def Jam, Marvel Comics

"Exhaustively curated here for your viewing pleasure is a senses-shattering listicle showing 16 times comic book artists rocked hip-hop music cover art."

Thor, Superman, X-Men: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Artwork Reveals Powerful Superhero Influences [Excerpt]

Charles the First, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982. Courtesy of the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, New York © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Basquiat’s Charles the First, viewed by many as a work celebrating the jazz icon Charlie Parker (see also: the reference to the Parker song CHEROKEE), actually contains more elements reflecting his love of comics. And though it doesn’t feature any figural drawings of superheroes, it does name drop a few of the medium’s best-known characters. The first of those named is the mighty THOR, whose name is written near the top of the first panel in the Charles the First triptych, and framed with a box. Hovering just above Thor’s name is one of Basquiat’s now iconic graffiti crowns, and above both the sardonic phrase HALOES FIFTY NINE CENT is written. 

The name of Thor’s publisher Marvel actually makes two appearances. The first is further down the aforementioned panel, just under the number “193,” but scribbles mostly render MARVEL COMICS INC illegible. The name, however, is easy to discern at bottom of the third panel, where it appears with a line drawn through it, recalling a practice from graffiti. Also extracted from graffiti culture is the once ubiquitous S symbol that kids across America formerly doodled on endless sheets of notebook paper and on classroom desks. Its stylized form appears in the first panel encased in a strike zone box, like those once drawn with chalk on the sides of buildings where boys gathered to play stickball now ages ago. Next to the stylized S in the strike zone box is the ever-recognizable chest emblem of Superman with an S nested at its center. Directly above Superman’s emblem is where X-MN is written, a somewhat abbreviated reference to Marvel’s merry mutant superheroes, the X-Men. 

A variety of non-comic book related elements also make up Charles the First, which — as a whole — recalls the youth-driven scrawl that covered the doorways, walls, and trains in New York in the 1980s. But none attract more notice than the insightful phrase written across the bottom of the first and second panel: MOST YOUNG KINGS GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF.

King Charles I of England, though not exactly young at the time, was beheaded for treason at the tender age of 55. Jazz great Charles/Charlie Parker, at the age of 35, died from a bout of pneumonia exacerbated by Parker’s many years of substance abuse. And in 1988, at the young age of 27, Jean-Michel Basquiat died from a heroin overdose.

Excerpt from the 2018 essay 'Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Artwork Reveals Powerful Superhero Influences'.

“I want a girl with extensions in her hair..."

Art: Marcus Williams

...Bamboo earrings, at least two pair.” – LL Cool J

Captain's Log: Stardate 11222013

Lost in Translation (Episode I), St. Paco, 2013 

" It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you without a strong rhyme to step to." – Rakim

YKFS has been all but abandoned over the past few months. It's for good reason, though. In addition to my writing and research for an essay collection I plan to publish, I've made a return to my art/graphic design roots. When I'd decided to do a zine show to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of KFG earlier this year (Time flies, right?), I decided to create other stuff for the show as well: limited edition decorative prints, a painting or two...or three, and even some  t-shirts. So, during this long leave of absence from the blog interwebs, thirty or so pieces have been made. In addition to all that, there are other design projects now in various phases of development. One of them will be blogged about in a couple of days, so check back for it. Oh, and please enjoy the next few posts--cuz it'll prolly be a while before I'm blogging again.

Thanks for reading.

SP

 

Brought to you (Again) by the Number Five, St. Paco, 2013

 

I Saw the Mach 5 in Gold (After Demuth), St. Paco, 2013

[Press-N-Play®] Eric B. & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul

Elephunk

Distant God 1.0 (Hip-hop vs. Hindu Remix) by St. Paco (after Doze & Haze)
Limited edition inkjet print on genuine archival grade bamboo art paper
8" x 10"

Thinkin' of a master plan...

 Taggers in the Temple by St. Paco
Limited edition inkjet art print on genuine archival grade bamboo art paper
8.5" x 11"

Fist full of eyelashes

The photo that you see above is mucho months late to the YKFS blog, but it has been visible on my Flickr site since the day back in February when it was taken.

Casper, a stencil and block print artist in the Netherlands, wrote to offer in trade one of his canvases for a stack of my zines. The piece being offered at the time didn't really speak to me, but as I browsed through the other works that were posted to his Flickr space, a comic-inspired canvas that sampled John Byrne's cover art from Iron Fist #8 grabbed me by the eyelashes.

The piece that I'd immediately become interested in had already been traded to someone else, but I shot a note back to Casper asking if he would mind creating another one for me. A month later, live-and-direct from the Netherlands came a freshly customized canvas that I liked even more than the one that I had seen online. Best of all, it had a red background.

For the better part of a year, it has been a want of mine to decorate one of the walls in my studio with pieces produced by artist friends and acquaintances. Though the styles of art would vary widely, it seemed like a cool idea to see if I could create a sense of harmony amongst the differing styles on display by focusing on pieces that prominently incorporated the color red.

The color scheme, by the way, was dictated by pieces already positioned on the wall: an Afro Samurai poster signed by creator Bob Okazaki and a woodcut print made by my zine-making brother-in-arms, Kiyoshi Nakazawa (Drunken Master). Ink sketches like two that I own by David Choe and longtime friend Stormko, as well as black & white photos by soul-brother-from-another-mother Damon Daood would bring a monochromatic contrast to the redness.

Because I didn't want to impose on Casper's creativity in any way, I fought back the gnawing urge to request that his stencil work be somehow done with red. Still, without a single word the work came tailor-made to fit my wall. Great minds think alike, goes the popular proverb.

And although there are only five or six pieces in my collection now, as evidenced by the image posted up top, it is shaping up to be an eyelash grabbin' set.

[Book Report™] Kirby: King of Comics

The bad thing about big coffee table books is that they don't always get read. Oh, sure, you'll read a few pages. Maybe even a few chapters. But what you'll often wind up doing is reading the captions placed beside and below the book's abundant illustrations. And why? Because the writing isn't all that engaging. So that impressively-sized publication quickly becomes this massive thing with a lot of unread words in it. And how does that make you feel? Yeah, just like you're in pre-school again, because you have another book that's as tall as your torso, and all you've managed to do is to study the pictures.

Well, true believers, Mark Evanier's Kirby: King of Comics is another coffee table tome that you will also not read. No, this is one that you're actually gonna devour, hungrily, like a densely populated planet on the soup spoon of Galactus. Well, that is after you've removed the dust jacket to keep it in minty fresh condition. And in your cover-to-cover consumption of this fitting tribute to Evanier's friend and mentor, you will learn far more about the history of comic books in general, and Kirby's king-sized place in the art form, than you could ever have imagined. Kirby: King of Comics is a pulse-pounding portrait of one of the most important figures to ever apply pencil lead to a multi-paneled page. A man whose space-spanning imagination may not have been fully comprehended or appreciated until now. Long live the "king."

P.S. The bad thing about this book, is that is is so profusely illustrated with stunning full-page illustrations (8.75" x 12") that you will constantly wanna tear 'em out and to tape 'em to the wall. If you're thinking that you won't be able to fight the urge, Barnes & Noble currently has Kirby: King of Comics on the clearance table for $12.98 (SRP $40). You can pick up two copies for less than the price of one! 'Nuff said.

Click to enlarge

The Deadly Art of Black Dynamite

On August 8th (next Monday), the pilot for Cartoon Network's Black Dynamite will air during the network's Adult Swim. To mark this righteous occasion, I've whipped together a lil' gallery of some of the super bad BD-related imagery that I've seen during my various trips down the rough-and-tumble back streets and alleyways of the internet.

Submitted for your perusal, the deadly art of...

Click any image to enlarge

David Choe


Dustin D'Arnault


Dan Barrett (WonderDookie)


"Black Dynamite vs. Sugar Hill" by Armando Zanker


Jeremy Wheeler


Jun Lofamia

"Black Dynamite Machete" by Elvin Hernandez

Unfortunately, the actual show doesn't begin airing until Spring of 2012. Based on what can be gleaned from the teaser trailer, though (uh...you have seen the teaser trailer, right?), Cartoon Network will be rewarding Black Dynamite fans handsomely for their patience.