Stormbreaker Files

Quick thoughts on Godhunter #2

2009-07-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Reposted from the Thor MB @ Alvaro's:

I know some people are wondering what my reaction is to this and honestly, I don't have much of one (had to grab this while on break at work earlier, just got home moments ago) except for this:

... Saw that coming several miles away.

And ya'know what? I'm not upset. It is depressing, yeah, but it makes sense. At least, to me it does. In all honesty, I'd be really upset if Bill was still worthy enough to wield the hammer after what he did, even if he was trying to have some good intentions. I guess the Odinpower enchantment does have standards. ;]

Besides, sometimes you gotta fall to rock bottom in order to soar high again. And yeah, Bill's hit rock bottom here. I'm not going to try and whitewash that.

I, for one, am excited to see if Bill does redeem himself in the next issue. TBQH, I think this is the first time in a while (since I read 'Stormbreaker') where Bill has truly been captivating.

But your mileage may vary.

Godhunter #2 Preview

2009-07-11T04:45:00.000-07:00

Aaaaand we're back. Thanks for your patience, everyone. Now then!

Read the preview of 'Godhunter #2' at CBR!

This does beg some interesting questions. Guess we'll find out more on Wednesday!

Please Stand By...

2009-06-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, I've been having some major techincal difficulties the last few weeks. Normal updates -to the blog and the site- will resume in July.

Thanks for your patience!

Recommended Drawings, pt. II

2009-06-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Continuing from a couple posts down, here's some lovely drawings of Bill I've found during my searches on the internet.

This time, I'm linking to pictures from ComicArtFans.com, which in of itself is a lovely place to find some swanky stuff, including original art. If you like what you see, do patronize their galleries and show some love! (Note that most of these galleries here are those who upload art they own... or something like that. I'm so confused how that works!)

Beta Ray Bill by Greg Fitzpatrick
- I'm a big fan of the 'cartoony'/stylized stuff and this is no exception. Dig the clean lines!

Beta Ray Bill by Doug Braithwaite
- We all know Mr. Braithwaite to be the artist for 'Secret Invasion: Thor'. I like his interpretation of Bill and the sketchiness of this is aces.

Beta Ray Bill by David Finch
- OH SHOOT HE'S GOING TO BITE MY HEAD OFF!!! D=;;; (N'awwww, it's cool)

Beta Ray Bill by Scott Kollins
- WOW. WOW. WOWOWOWOW.... Just... incredible.

Beta Ray Bill by Craig Rosseau
- Love the texture on this one.

Strange Tales MAX

2009-06-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

Strange Tales MAX, a Marvel compliation done by various indie writers/arists, hits in September of 2009.

No clue if there's going to be a Bill story (let alone Thor) in it, but you just gotta love that WICKED rendition of him by Paul Pope on the cover.

Godhunter #1 Preview

2009-06-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

Cosmicbooknews.com has an 8 page preview of Godhunter #1 up.

Hits stores next Wednesday. Looks super fine!

He always did have a statuesque figure...

2009-06-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

After years of waiting, here's a preliminary 3D model of the -eventual- BRB statue from Bowen Designs. Thanks to Dana P. over at the Thor MB on Alvaro's for this, because I spazzed out when I saw this.

No ETA for when this statue hits, much less an estimated price, but my guess is probably somewhere in late '09, early '10.

... Am I missing something?

2009-06-02T06:23:00.001-07:00

My older sister pointed this blurb out the other day over at a Transformers wiki, of all things:

Any similarities between Roadbuster and a certain Master Chief are purely coincidental. Also, at no time must anyone refer to Roadbuster's alt mode as a "Warthog". I'm just sayin', is all. Master Chief is an obvious Beta Ray Bill ripoff, anyway.

Now, I don't claim to be the biggest fan of Halo (actually, I'm not a fan of the series, like, at all. Half-Life 2 4evah, man!) so this confused me greatly, especially since said older sister kept asking me if I knew what they meant by that.

So I did some digging and I found this from Johnny-Boy's history:

The original children are brought to planet Reach, one of the UNSC's headquarters, to begin intense physical and psychological training to become SPARTAN-II supersoldiers.They are assigned new identification numbers instead of last names; John becomes known as John-117. Approximately eight years later, John and the other children are biologically and cybernetically augmented and enhanced. These procedures had substantial risks; only John and thirty-two other Spartans survive.

Well. Hm. I suppose I can see where the person (however tongue-in-cheek they may have been) got the idea that Chief was a "rip-off" of Beta Ray Bill, but I'd chalk it up to being largely a coincidence. I mean, how many times has that backstory plot-device been done, anyhow?

... Though if Chief shows up in a crossover with the MU and wields Mjolnir (not the armor, mind you), then I suppose we should start worrying.

Recommended Drawings

2009-06-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

DeviantArt and ComicArtFans.com are both awesome sites to find artwork. And amazingly enough, there's some pretty good Bill-related drawings on both sites.

I'm going to link to some lovely pictures on DeviantArt, culled from my favorites. Pleased check these out and patronize their galleries if you like what you see. Some of these people are absolutely phenominal:

Beta Ray Bill (Thor Thursday) by DocShaner
- A delightfully old-schoolesque drawing of Bill. Say what you will about him having lips, I think it actually adds to the piece than if he had his normal mouth. Plus, the colors!

Beta Ray Bill by Yildiray Cinar
- Some of you may know Cinar as the artist for the indie comic 'Noble Causes'. This was a pen and marker sketch he did some time ago and it's still one of my favorites. Just look at those colors pop!

Beta Ray Bill by SeoulmanTed
- This is perhaps the first time I've ever seen Bill in Thor's new costume. Strangely enough? I like it!

Marvel Masterpiece Sketchcards by Saiful Remy Mokhtar (Eisu)
- You have to scroll down a ways, but this is a very delightful interpretation of Bill from a highly talented artist. Doesn't hurt everyone else is well drawn too!

And trust me, there'll be more to come soon enough.

Clothes Make the (Horse) Man, pt. 1

2009-05-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

Up until recently, Bill has not had any frequent costume changes. In the last 5 years alone -out of the 25 he's been around for-, he's had about 3: the 'Stormbreaker', 'Omega Flight' and the blue-gold version of his classic costume. Each attempt has been made in the pretense that they are trying to 'distance' him from being too much like Thor.

However, they always end up going back to his classic costume.

It's easy: it's iconic. I myself prefer the 'Stormbreaker' costume, but I will elaborate on that at a later time. But yes, there's something iconic about his classic costume that sticks with people. Perhaps it's the cover to Thor #337 -which you can see a couple entries below- that sticks in people's minds. Or that he's been drawn with it the most for over 20 years. I suppose the old saw is true: if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

Although it's not necessarily my favorite, I can see in a purely aesthetic sense why it works: you have several colors that go together (black, blue, yellow and red). The red cape acts as the complimentary hue to the bits of blue that take up most of the costume. Yellow is slightly complimentary to blue and the black brings all the colors together so that it looks just "right".

You can tell right away, just by looking at it, that it's a sci-fi version of Thor's classic costume. It takes the basic ideas of the Kirby costume and makes it better by removing some of the more eyesore elements. (Though your mileage may vary)

It helps that the design of the costume itself is simple and effective. There's no useless decorations, like Liefeld-esque shoulder "bricks", head socks, pouches that serve no purpose.

So as far as Bill's costumes go, I'd put this as my #2 favorite. Derivative of Thor's it may be and say what you will about it, but Bill has certainly taken what could have been the most boring design for a costume and made it completely his own, distinct trademark.

Notable Quotes

2009-05-23T06:04:00.001-07:00

By now, I'm sure a lot of you have read the 'Godhunter' interview over at Marvel.com. However, I just wanted to extract one quote that I felt stood out to me. I think it says a lot about Bill and other characters too:

"Of course, being the stoic, heroic and genuinely painfully noble guy he is, he's been keeping it to himself," he goes on. "There are characters who [will] go on a monologue about the horror of life when they burn their toast. Bill has it worse than anyone, and you'd have to drag those words from him."

That's the thing about Bill. He never really complains about how horrible things are and if he does, he keeps it to a minimum. Granted, given the rocket-pace speed of his last few appearances since 'Stormbreaker', he hasn't had much time to complain. ;]

Top 70 Covers

2009-05-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

'Thor #337' earned the #57 slot on Marvel's Top 70 Covers list.

Honestly, for a cover that's iconic and has been lampooned a couple of times now, I think it should have been placed higher. Still, #57 isn't anything to scoff at completely.

All in all, I'm disappointed but pleased at the same time. Go figure.

It'll be interesting to see if Bill shows up anywhere else on the list, but we'll see, I suppose.

'Godhunter' #3 Solicit

2009-05-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize I'm a day or two late to the party, but here goes!

BETA RAY BILL: GODHUNTER #3 (of 3)
Written by KIERON GILLEN
Art by KANO
Cover by PATRICK ZIRCHER
Beta Ray Bill has stalked his prey across the universe...driven to punish the ever-feared Galactus. Now, with the Planet-Eater on his knees, Bill discovers he has one final, brutal price to pay. In an apocalyptic battle to decide the fate of world upon world, can Bill make this ultimate sacrifice?!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

While the cover itself leads to some major speculation (where's Stormbreaker? Was Bill able to K.O. Galactus? Why does he have Kirby Crackles coming from his hands?), I want to remind people that it's still waaaaaaaaay to early to speculate about such things when the first issue of the mini-series itself isn't even out yet.

I have to admit, the reactions to the cover alone are hilarious. Just sayin'.

I Say Thee Nay!

2009-05-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

To start off with, here is a lovely Beta Ray Bill drawing by Walt Simonson and colored by Yours Truly.

Walt gave me his permission to repost it, so here ya' go. It's always nice to see Bill as drawn by his creator, isn't it? (You wouldn't believe how nervous I was coloring this thing!)

Welcome!

2009-05-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

'The Stormbreaker Files' is a blog-sorta thing, mostly for news and other mini-Bill related happenings. I've started this up because it takes time to manually update a website (get the images, upload the images, find stuff, ect.) and blogs are fairly automatic.

Plus I can share little useless tidbits and quotes related to our favorite horsefaced cyborg too! And I can review the comics better, which will take a load off of the comics section.

So stick around and enjoy.