Marineman!

I'm trying to get through the last few episodes of Kamen Rider Kuuga right now. I started episode 47 but was a little confused. They seemed to gloss over a bit of set up to that episode, so I looked over and I saw the 46.5 episode. So that's what's currently playing in the background. It looks like it's just a REALLY long clip show (just shy of an hour!), so I'm able to concentrate on writing some blog stuff.

Right beside me is Ian Chruchill's "Marineman". It's a comic I picked up for Jordan's birthday, but only just recently got the chance to read it myself. I'm pretty sure I picked it up because I confused the creator with Mike Weiringo, an awesome artist who died a few years ago whose claim to faim was the unbridled optimism apparent in his work.

The cover to Marineman (obviously)

An example of Mike Weiringo's stuff.


I should probably have used a better example of Weiringo's stuff, but that's actually the cover to the first comic by him I ever owned, so I went the nostalgic route.

For comparison, here's an example of some of Churchill's most famous work, his Supergirl run:

You'll note that, though both versions of work are highly stylized, the Marineman cover is the more obviously cartoonish... and more realistic? Idealized? The Supergirl stuff has her ridiculously thin, and the women in Marineman are very curvy. For a slight contrast, while Marineman himself is obviously gigantic, with arms bigger than most peoples head, it's actually addressed in-story. He's very specifically a mutant human. So that's his excuse.

The story is cluttered with exposition. I took one look at that first page and knew I needed to be fresh to tackle this thing. I'm fairly positive that Churchill is only known for his art, and it shows with his writing here. Cliches left right and centre, the aforementioned exposition, and an abundance of tell don't show.

But on the otherhand, this work is obviously a labour of love for the man. He LOVES the ocean, and wanted to create a vehicle to instruct people about it. Not only that, but he's doing it with a character he created as a very little kid- now THAT is something I can relate to.

Among the special features at the back of the book, there's the sketches he drew when he was little- including a mini comic he made back then (it looks so much like the stuff my brothers and I drew when we were little..)- but the largest section is devoted to his "Oceanauts" interviews, interviews with various ocean related scientists (oceanographers, marine biologists, etc. etc.). Man, that was dry stuff. But only because it's not entirely to my interest. I really do appreciate the enthusiasm these guys bring to the table.