The Outfits Have Finally Come Off

Every year there's a San Diego Comic Con and we get new spoilers about upcoming movies, tv shows and comic books. It's considered the biggest comic book convention in the world and it continues to grow because Hollywood has totally flooded it with all that is summer blockbuster. So the fans flock to the show to get Hollywood star autographs, comics or just to have fun.
















I've wanted to go to this show for years but it's hard to justify a trip from the east coast to San Diego just to get some comic books. But those that do go absolutely love it. This year there's been a ton of photos that have come out and the most entertaining have to be the people wearing the coolest costumes and the incredibly hot models dressed as superhero characters. I guess someone saw this and had an idea.





So while I was surfing the web and checking out the latest scoops I ran into these amazing but very risque pictures of nude models as comic book characters. I had to figure out who and why? Eventually I found out through Jo Blo that the company behind them is Nerd Core and the pics are for a calendar. I have to admit I love the idea, I even bought a calendar. Each shot has a sense of coolness behind them. They are really well art directed and photographed. Plus a lot of care was put into making sure they didn't turn out like porn. I know it's sexist and childish but woman look great in superhero outfits, look at Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, she's awesome and I don't think I was the only one imagining naughty things. Obviously sex sells and our culture thrives on it. I think these guys came up with an idea that hadn't been done "well" before and tried to not make it look like crap. There are a few misses but overall they turned out very cool. To see them all go to Nerd Core.

Now That's The Spirit

I've been following the Spirit marketing for a while now and wrote a column about it a while ago, click here. Up until today I've been underwhelmed by a lot of what I've seen and the trailer looked okay until Samuel L. Jackson started looking like a drag queen. At that point it became a mess and I feel sorry for all that are involved. It's a shame because I like Frank Miller, he's a great artist and his stories are fun. But I think in this case he's been given too much freedom and it's looking like crapola!

So today I ran across an interesting article and a great piece of art from the Art Institute of California-San Diego. Apparently Frank Miller and the marketers have teamed up with the Art Institute to do a nine piece series of the Spirit done by the students. Talk about fresh and creative!

Take a look at the first poster! I love the combination of Saul Bass and grit. It's eclectic, uneven and it feels amateur. I love it, for better or worse these students are going to put out posters that are going to be something we haven't seen in quite some time. They'll be either truly original; skewed slightly differently somehow; or all the above. Whatever they'll be they won't be the norm and perhaps that's what the Spirit needs.