 Mahfood's art has undergone an incredible transformation since his work first gained recognition on books like Kevin Smith's Clerks (1998). He's done some work for Marvel like a run on Spectacular Spider-Man (lettered by yours truly) and more recently on Wha Huh?, a book with an all-star lineup of writers who were all alarmingly unfunny. Instead of that stuff, which is worth picking up for the art so feel free…I'd strongly suggest checking out Mahfood's work from Oni and Image like Grrl Scouts or his more recent OGN One Page Filler Man. Looking at these two pieces of work are great examples of how his art has evolved. He's moved away from the more graphic blacks and zip tones he exhibited in Grrl Scouts to an almost gestural Basquiat-influenced line that he uses today. He's also a great guy to hit up for swag at conventions. Let's face it, he could easily publish his work through a myriad of publishers of his choice but he still rocks hand stapled mini-comics, typically printing as few as 200 copies, so you're really getting a limited edition piece of art. Mahfood's first hardcover art book Mixtape: Volume One hits stores February 27th.  Food One's site, blog and Myspace are all updated regularly. Some other comic artists with graffiti influence worth checking out are Scottie Young, who semi-regularly updates his great blog here. Damien Scott penciled a great run on Batgirl a few years back. Humberto Ramos, who did some work on Spectacular Spider-Man is also worth investigating. I couldn't find any blogs by these guys so go use the Google. Font the News!  It's been a relatively quiet week for news. At least as far as what I'd call "news" so I figured I'd look through this week's shipping list and see what piques my interest. From Dark Horse we've got Star Wars Legacy#20. I've heard good things about this book but I haven't picked up a Star Wars book in ages. I want to, but honestly, I'm not into new characters or what the geeks call "expanded universe"… I could be dead wrong and missing some great stuff but I dunno. If anyone is reading these books hit me up on the Font of Wisdom Message Board. The ever-controversial All Star Batman and Robin ships this week. Frank Miller is like a deity to me and while I picked this one up for a few issues I decided to sit this one out and wait for the trade. It comes out so infrequently that I can't remember what the hell happened the previous issue. I don't think it's as horrible as some folks do and at the end of the day that Jim Lee art sure is pretty. JLA Classified #35 by B. Clay Moore; Art by Ramon Perez looks great… check out this preview of the art Moore posted over at the Image board. Beautiful stuff. From Marvel I'll definitely be picking up Kick Ass #1 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. It's Millar's first Icon book and honestly with JRJR artwork, good writing is just a bonus for me. Hell, take the balloons away and I'd still buy his work. I'm sure Millar will weave a tapestry of obscenities… Alright, folks… that'll do for this week. Stay tuned for that NYComix trade paperback debuting at this years NY Comic Con… Thanks for reading... Font You! Randy |
Any artist who works in New York City would cite the city itself as an endless source of inspiration. Aside from the obvious inspirations like the history, the people or the architecture is, believe it or not, the vandalism. At least that's what the NYPD calls it, people in the know call it Street Art.