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Kickstarter has been a useful tool for independent creators of films, art, and even comic books. There’s no shortage of good projects that could use some support to get them up and running, so it really takes a unique project to stand out. One of these unique projects is “The Way (of Yahweh)” by creator/writer/artist Jason Tucker. This comic is making itself stand out with the introduction of fan chosen storylines. Fans have been able to vote on stories before to choose the direction they go in, so we are familiar with the idea. One of the best examples of this is when Batman fans proved they were vicious monsters and voted to kill off Robin. The DC vs. Marvel mini-series also operated on fan votes as readers decided whether DC or Marvel would win. “The Way” operates like this, but on a bigger scale. The readers get to choose pretty much everything that happens in this story. I’ll let the promotional video explain:

The fan chosen storylines are only a part of what makes this project intriguing. There’s no point in having people vote on stories if the stories aren’t very good. Luckily Jason Tucker has put together a pretty interesting premise for his comic. His futuristic tale of what happens to faith when it is scientifically proven false has a lot of potential. There are so many different ideologies and beliefs that could come into play here that this story could really go in any direction. Chances are it will be a bit more thought provoking than the average read.

Choosing how a city is destroyed can be fun too.

I enjoy comics that go beyond the well known beat up the bad guys archetype and actually discuss important topics. It is always good to see differing viewpoints on topics such as religion, and this comic will provide a great way to see exactly this. Keeping track of how many people vote for each potential branch of the story could be a fun little social experiment. I would really like to see this comic happen. Unfortunately, it is still quite a ways away from reaching its Kickstarter goal. If you find this idea as intriguing as I do check out the Kickstarter page for “The Way”.

Everybody here has seen The Avengers by now, right? Good, then we all remember how Agent Coulson got turned into a human shish kabob. Rumors have been swirling around Agent Coulson’s possible return to The Avengers as The Vision ever since, mainly because everybody loves actor Clark Gregg. He is kind of the man. Well now it looks like all of our dreams have come true! Here we have the very first look at Clark Gregg as The Vision!

They forgot his robot arms!

Okay, so that’s not actually Clark Gregg. It is just an awesome sculpture of what he might look like as The Vision. This ridiculously detailed work of art was done by Sculpture and Makeup Effects Forum user bhsfx. Unfortunately there is no official connection between this bust and The Avengers 2, so we can’t quite confirm that Clark Gregg will be returning for the sequel yet. Still, the rumors were right when everybody said Joss Whedon was going to kill off Agent Coulson. Obviously this means that we are right about this rumor as well. It has to happen now that we’ve seen how cool he would look. We will have to keep a look out for updates once this bust is actually painted. I expect great things from it. For now we will have to be satisfied with a couple more photos of Agent Coulson reborn.

A big shout out to Comic Book Movie for spotting this gem.

We recently looked at character sketches of what the Avengers might have looked like in medieval times, compliments of the talented Denis Medri. Medri is at it again with his unique take on Batman. His latest series of drawings is based off of the simple premise of what if Batman was into the rockabilly lifestyle? The answer is that he would be the coolest greaser around. The batmobile would also be a kickass hot-rod.

You can just tell that this Batman don’t take no lip.

It looks like this version of Bruce Wayne isn’t a multi-billionaire, but I have the feeling he still doesn’t have any problems getting the ladies. I really like the stylized bat logo on his shirt as well. The big question is whether he has replaced batarangs with that lead pipe. This definitely looks like a version of Batman that doesn’t mess around. Medri also created stylized versions of many of the villains from Batman’s rogues’ gallery. Two of my favorite are his depictions of Two-Face and Penguin.

Seriously, Two-Face is awesome.

That Two-Face is amazing. I don’t think that you can get any more opposite than he is right there. Penguin also looks kind of intimidating, probably because this version of him doesn’t remind me of Danny DeVito. Any time an artist can make the Penguin look vaguely menacing, they have done something right. Of course no collection of Batman villains would be complete without the Joker, so next up is Medri’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime.

This nerdy Joker is somehow one of the creepiest Jokers I’ve seen.

That Joker definitely looks unbalanced. Actually, this is probably the Batman character that needed the least amount of tweaking to fit Medri’s vision of a rockabilly world. That new car of his is a nice touch though. I’d love to see a game of chicken between that and the hot-rod batmobile. Medri has plenty of other rockabilly versions of Batman characters on his Deviant Art page, so go check them out. Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl all look awesome, but I will warn you that the Bane is a little unsettling.

It looks like Denis Medri and his Medieval Avengers character sketches aren’t the only pieces of art taking the internet by storm this week. Matthew Humphries recently posted drawings of the X-Men on his Deviant Art page, and it is a pretty interesting take on the characters. As we all know, Disney bought Marvel a while back. It is actually fairly easy to forget that fact as Marvel has pretty much stayed the course since that whole Disney acquisition thing, which most comic book fans are grateful for. Humphries decided to draw out what the X-Men would look like if Disney turned them into their next big animated film. Check them out below.

Yeah, Deadpool is taking a picture up Kitty Pryde’s skirt. Even the Disney treatment can’t tame him.

These drawings kind of make me want a Disney-fied version of the X-Men to appear somewhere. The designs are slightly reminiscent of the old X-Men: Evolution cartoon, but you can recognize the Disney influence right away with the big eyes and face shapes. Also the fact that Wolverine kind of looks like a midget version of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast is a bit of a tip-off. Storm’s throwback outfit and mohawk are a nice touch as well. Now we need to see Disney versions of some of the X-Men’s foes, such as Magneto, Blob, Sabretooth, and Juggernaut. Maybe a Professor X as well. Let us know if you have seen unique takes on comic book characters recently so we can share them here!

It has pretty much been all Avengers all the time since May 4th, and for good reason. The Avengers are awesome, plain and simple. This basic thought has led people to hypothesize about Avengers interpretations that could be even more awesome than what we saw on-screen. While the all Nicolas Cage cast of The Avengers was amusing, comic book artist Denis Medri upped the ante and created character sketches of what the Avengers would look like in medieval times. First up is Thor as a viking and Captain America and Iron Man as knights.

 I would totally read any comic with that Iron Man in it.

Medri also made sure that we can fill out the Avengers roster with Ogre Hulk, Hawkeye the ranger, scantily clad Black Widow, and Nick Fury hanging out in the background as usual.

Hopefully Hulk doesn’t jump around too much in that loincloth.

Yes, these are awesome. It would actually be pretty cool to see a comic series made with these versions of the characters. Some non-canon What If? stories are always enjoyable. This means that we need some medieval versions of villains, Medri. Dr. Doom already has a castle, he could certainly fit in well. Maybe some sort of dark ages Ultron. Be sure to keep an eye on Denis Medri’s blog for more amazing works of art.

Axe Cop is one of the biggest success stories from the world of web comics. Who knew that a story told by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother would be so popular? If you are not familiar with Axe Cop, it is a comic series about a cop who uses a fireman’s axe to chop crime to pieces and often rides a tyrannosaurus rex. It is full of the randomness, plot twists, and robot moon battles that you would expect from the mind of a little boy. In other words, it is ridiculously entertaining. Fox agrees and decided that Axe Cop would make the perfect cartoon for Animation Domination HD, a new block of late night cartoons that is supposed to draw viewers away from Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

Yeah, I think I’d watch this.

Neither Malachai Nicolle, the young writer, or Ethan Nicolle, the artist, aren’t Seth MacFarlane, so it is a little surprising that their work will be on Fox. I thought MacFarlane had some sort of monopoly on animated airtime there. Either way, it will be interesting to see how the sudden twists and turns of Axe Cop will fit into animated airtime. I am especially curious to see how long episodes will be. I feel like 15 minute episodes in the vein of Aqua Teen Hunger Force would be the way to go if the Axe Cop television show stays as random as the comics. That kind of manic story jumping could grow wearisome if it went on for a full 30 minutes every episode, as those longer episodes usually require a bit more of a structured story element to keep the audience interested. Too much structure would rob Axe Cop of its unique charm, so Fox will definitely be walking a fine line with the development of this series.

I also wonder if Fox is scouting other web comics to turn into animated series. The popular web comic Least I Could Do has been working on putting together an animated series for quite a while now, and the adult humor in that strip would certainly fit a late night cartoon block. If I was to choose one web comic to become an ongoing television series, my vote would have to go to Anthony Clark’s Nedroid comics. 15 minute episodes of Beartato and Reginald being random and lovable would be the best thing ever. Basically a grown up Adventure Time without having to grow up.

Go read about Beartato if you like being happy.

I am getting to be an old man. An old man who misses out on awesome jokes spread around the internet. Just in case anybody else had a senior moment, or month as the case may be, here is some news from Skybound. They plan on releasing The Walking Dead: For Kids with kid friendly drawings by Chris Giarrusso. Skybound’s official statement was:

‘“THE WALKING DEAD: FOR KIDS is going to be word-for-word, panel-for-panel like the regular Walking Dead books, with all the violence, all the sex… but for kids!”

Giarrusso added: “It’ll be adorable.”’

Now kids can enjoy Maury Povich-like paternity conundrums and numerous gruesome deaths in the most adorable way imaginable! Except that this was of course an April Fool’s Day prank. Still, we did come away from this with some awesome Chris Giarrusso cover art, so I call it a win.

 I wish this was a real thing.

I would actually love to see some more work from Giarrusso. I miss his Mini Marvels series. It was that series that first introduced me to Hawkeye’s awesomeness, which I am very thankful for. While The Walking Dead: For Kids won’t be happening, there are plenty of other series for Giarrusso to make his own. What would you like to see him work on next?

Anthony Clark is one of my favorite cartoonists. He has done great work coloring the pages of Dr. McNinja, and his misadventures of Beartato and Reginald are always entertaining. Pretty much anything that Anthony Clark AKA Nedroid does is made of pure awesome. This holds true for his work dealing with the holidays as well. First up comes a short comic that was written by Benito Cereno and illustrated by Anthony Clark. It is both entertaining and educational, as it teaches us why some people hit a log with a stick to make it poop candy on Christmas. That is a real Christmas tradition that we should all learn about, so read this joyous story at Comics Alliance.

Next up comes Anthony’s work with Beartato and Reginald in Nedroid Comics. Clark weaves a Christmas story over three parts in true Dickens fashion, except better. Check out the first installment in the series below and go to Nedroid.com to read the rest. Happy Holidays from Hero District folks, hopefully these comics put you in the right frame of mind to celebrate!

Comics lost another legend this week. Joe Simon, 98, passed away on December 14th.  Simon is best know for creating Captain America alongside Jack Kirby. Captain America Comics #1 hit the stands in December 1941, a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Even before WWII broke out, Simon used comic books to denounce the Nazi regime and make a powerful statement to the country.

Joe Simon wanted to punch Hitler before Hitler punching was cool.

One of the original pioneers of the medium, Joe Simon will be missed.

Joe Simon 1913-2011

An awesome collection of superhero paint splatter art that every comic geek will enjoy. The digital print collection was created by a French web designer Arian Noveir. You can purchase Noveir’s superhero prints at Society 6 as well as some of his other creations and check out his gallery at DeviantArt. I love the Superman, Hellboy and Hulk prints – might treat myself to a Christmas present, haven’t done that in years.

[via Onelargeprawn]