The Defenders Appreciation 2021

[Factor]

The old Foom cover looks much better than the new one. New coloring techniques just don't fit 80s art as well.

[Reviresco]

The old Foom cover looks much better than the new one. New coloring techniques just don't fit 80s art as well.

Not only the coloring, but the paper. For the longest time I put off getting any Marvel Masterworks, because the coloring looked off to me. And part of that was the high quality slick paper they used. DC used to handle that by actually using the lower grade paper for some of their trades reprinting older books.

[Reviresco]

Don't forget! The new Defenders mini-series drops tomorrow!

AIPT has an early review of the Defenders. The only "negative" is that appears to be that it is densely written, which is no complaint for me.

it can be a bit hard to follow as it dives into different histories and a ton of past continuity at a breakneck pace

Sounds like the awesome layouts and colors we've gotten in the preview will continue. I can't wait for tomorrow!


https://aiptcomics.com/2021/08/10/defenders-1-review/

[Phoenixx9]

Don't forget! The new Defenders mini-series drops tomorrow!

AIPT has an early review of the Defenders. The only "negative" is that appears to be that it is densely written, which is no complaint for me.



Sounds like the awesome layouts and colors we've gotten in the preview will continue. I can't wait for tomorrow!


https://aiptcomics.com/2021/08/10/defenders-1-review/

I did forget!

Thanks for the reminder! (I knew it was this month, but lost track of when.)

[ed2962]

I loved this era of them, the best. I loved the one with MoonDragon and Wasp on the cover. It was a fairly current variant costume of Jan's, so kudos on that.

Plus it was the origin of Omega the Unknown!

[jwatson]

This is my first rodeo with the Defenders and i have to say it's off to a good start. Every page was simply stunning and i'm looking forward to more Red Harpy.

defenders.jpg

[Reviresco]

Looks awesome! Can't wait to pick up my copy.

[Will Evans]

Won’t be able to pick this up until this weekend.

Longtime Defenders fans, how was it?

[Oberon]

Forgot that. But yeah, was an OmegA fan too.

[Ying Ko]

Looking forward to reading this tonight. I trust Ewing knocked it out of the park?

[PlanetaryDevastation]

First issue was good. It's mostly a setup issue with Strange as the main star and the Masked Rider as the secondary character. The art and coloring is, as to be expected, amazing. An very old school Strange character is the key behind all of this from one his most famous storylines. Surfer has some problems he needs to work out. Betty doesn't remember her time in the Avengers but Stephen does. Cloud is an obscure character that Ewing doesn't go into but it's not too much of a problem. You don't need a lot of information to understand this comic.

It's keep the nonteam theme of past Defender comics. It uses the cost of magic thing that I'm not a fan of but it's not a bit of problem. And we get to see the sixth cosmos. But this was a good comic. A real good comic. Looking forward to the rest.

[Tien Long]

Just read this comic. Really digging it. Strange seemed to be very creative in his mysticism which fits with the character. This sense of creativity and offbeat nature permeated the book. Initially, the story and characters seem a little random, but when you read it, it's pretty cool and different.

A couple of questions:

- So the Silver Surfer is solid again? I remember reading him in the King In Black series and it wasn't too clear if he became solid.

- Ewing's inclusion of Cloud is a good choice. The character seems to be nonbinary, which is a plus. We need more representation in comics. Also, it fits with Ewing's own personal experience with gender identity.

[Lee Stone]

Not only the coloring, but the paper. For the longest time I put off getting any Marvel Masterworks, because the coloring looked off to me. And part of that was the high quality slick paper they used. DC used to handle that by actually using the lower grade paper for some of their trades reprinting older books.

I agree. I hate the re-coloring done in digital. They seem to have no subtlety or texture.
Just flat and bold (almost gaudy) colors.
I recently compared pages from Tomb of Dracula and Kirby's Demon and saw how inferior the coloring was in the reprints. Almost like someone just learned how to use Photoshop.

I got the digital copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 on Comixology and couldn't read it. It looked like a webcomic after they plastered it with bright colors and 'artistically' chose to add in gradients in place of tones.
I ended up buying a copy of another issue of Spider-Man that reprinted Amazing Fantasy in at least the original colors of that issue.

[Phoenixx9]

I agree. I hate the re-coloring done in trades. They seem to have no subtlety or texture.
Just flat and bold (almost gaudy) colors.
I recently compared pages from Tomb of Dracula and Kirby's Demon and saw how inferior the coloring was in the reprints. Almost like someone just learned how to use Photoshop.

I got the digital copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 on Comixology and couldn't read it. It looked like a webcomic after they plastered it with bright colors and 'artistically' chose to add in gradients in place of tones.
I ended up buying a copy of another issue of Spider-Man that reprinted Amazing Fantasy in at least the original colors of that issue.

I was not really aware that they were doing that in trades. Why are they doing this?

[Lee Stone]

I was not really aware that they were doing that in trades. Why are they doing this?

I think I may have mis-posted...
The art I've seen for those have been the digital versions of the trades vs. the original printed art.

It is possible that the re-coloring happened at the digital stage, so the trades may actually be the original colors.

Edited my original post.

Also, a minor example from Tomb of Dracula #10-

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...=1#post3956418

https://www.whenitwascool.com/tomb-o...ic-book-review

Granted, the original could've used some touching up.
But they put pink highlights in her hair, colored the sky purple, the blue on Dracula is too bright, the colors on the last panel where he turns into a bat are off, the captions of the first panel were colored blue, the two guys in the background in the third panel were re-colored green.

Actually, the third panel shows the greatest difference in color that is mostly due to the paper.
The original has texture, due to the slight discoloration caused by the printing process. The green area has hints of yellow. The pink area has hints of light and dark patches.
The reprint looks glossy with flat bold colors. And also changes the pink area to purple.