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Charles Apple: The Visual Side of Journalism

 

‘Comic books’ archive

Number of comments in parentheses

May 17: A fun summer super-hero movie page

Amy Olding of the Lee regional design center in Munster, Ind., sends us this fun summer super-hero movie page from today’s Journal of Sioux City, Iowa. Click for a larger view: Amy tells us: I had my comic loving Significant Other look it over and used his comic collection for inspiration. Q: What font is that? Is that one of [...]

May 2: Victoria, Texas, has some fun with the new summer super-hero movies

Assistant presentation editor Luis Rendon of the Victoria (Texas) Advocate, writes to show us what he and the crew of Get Out — the Advocate‘s weekly entertainment tab — did for today’s edition. Luis writes: We originally had planned to focus on a Cinco de Mayo story, but changed course when we realized that Iron Man 3 was coming out this [...]

May 1: Our first ‘Iron Man 3′ features treatment

My pal James A. Molnar of the Toledo (Ohio) Free Press Star writes: I’m excited to share with you our Summer Movies package. Once again, Iron Man is center stage.   I found a cool photo of Iron Man sitting on a couch and thought I’d add popcorn, as if he’s watching a movie. My editor, Michael S. Miller, asked [...]

April 24: Martin Gee’s take on Superman

Here’s master illustrator Martin Gee with his take on Superman. Click for a much larger look. Martin gives quick-hit bios for the Man of Steel and his associates: Snappy journalist Lois Lane… …Daily Planet employees Perry White and Jimmy Olsen… …a nice old couple from Smallville, a number of supervillans and one one certain mild-mannered reporter. Martin drew this for [...]

March 22: Step-by-step through a fun, comic book-themed illustration

Illustrator Craig Schaffer of the Reading Eagle‘s Business Weekly won a first place in Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s annual Keystone awards with a fun, comic-book-themed illustration about — what else? — A fun, comic book-themed local company. Craig writes that, for this story, he… I wrote the story, designed the layout, took photographs and created the illustrations. That’s the front cover. [...]

Oct. 2, 2012: An amazing photo and other notable Tuesday A1 presentations

Let’s take a quick look at a few notable front-page presentations… ___________________________________ THERE’S NO WAY THAT’S NOT PHOTOSHOPPED — CHICAGO TRIBUNE Chicago, Ill. Circulation: 414,590 That’s what I thought the first time I laid eyes on this amazing image by Chris Walker of the Chicago Tribune. But, sure enough, that is not a computer rendering. That is Sunday’s “harvest moon” [...]

Aug. 25, 2012: Martin Gee’s wonderful graphic take on Spider-Man

There’s just so much to love in this Spider-Man illustration Martin Gee drew recently for the National of Abu Dhabi. Click for an extra, extra huge look. Martin calls it a “dream assignment”: I had way too much fun doing this. Art direction and design was by the National‘s Marin Devine. Marin tells us: The Spider-Man page came about because [...]

July 24, 2012: A final few ‘Dark Knight Rises’ features treatments (1)

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post the last few Batman pages that came in while I was in transit to Kenya… — VIRGINIAN-PILOT Norfolk, Va. Circulation: 142,476 The Pilot waited until Sunday — when it had a new review of the movie written by veteran critic Mal Vincent — before running a huge full-page display in features. Click [...]

July 20, 2012: Today’s super-heroic Batman movie feature treatments (2)

Those of us who are fans of comic book movies should pause for a moment and think about the folks who were caught up in the horrible tragedy overnight in Denver. A gunman opened up during a midnight showing of the new Batman movie. At last count, 14 12 are dead and 50 are injured. Many of the victims were [...]

July 19, 2012: Today’s Batman movie treatments

Another small batch of Batman movie treatments from around the country in advance of the Dark Knight Rises movie, which opens Friday. — CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Cincinnati, Ohio Circulation: 144,165 Clay Sisk of the Gannett Design Studio in Louisville, Ky. tells us: I decided to go bold and simple this time out. Yeah, I’m hearing a lot of that this time [...]

July 18, 2012: Two superb feature treatments for the new Batman movie

Are you getting excited yet about the new Batman movie? I’m not. Instead of parking myself in an ice cold theater with a warm bucket of popcorn, I’ll spend my Friday stuffed into a flying metal tube, en route to Kenya for two weeks of teaching and consulting work. As a result, I suspect most of you will see the [...]

July 16, 2012: Today’s six most interesting front pages

Here are today’s six most interesting front pages, as seen in the daily archive at the Newseum… — NEWS TRIBUNE Duluth, Minn. Circulation: 30,606 This picture by staffer Bob King of the Duluth, Minn., News Tribune looks like a matte painting straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Click this — or any image here — for a larger view. [...]

July 15, 2012: It never ceases to amaze me… (3)

…how these two papers manage, every so often, to strike such a similar look on the same day. Both of the major New York City tabloids today ran features on Catwoman, who — of course — will feature prominently in the new Batman movie that opens Friday. The Daily News  claims an “exclusive” interview with the actor who plays Catwoman, [...]

July 13, 2012: Geekazoid Friday: We should all be in San Diego this weekend

In full swing right now in San Diego: The annual Comicon International, where my fellow geeks are gathering to discuss, watch previews and shop for memorabilia for their favorite science fiction, fantasy, action and comic-book movies, books and magazines. And, sure ’nuff, a number of folks dress up for Comicon. Today, U-T San Diego cartoonist Steve Breen focused on all [...]

July 12, 2012: Our first Batman movie feature treatment (1)

The new Batman movie opens next Friday, July 20. And I’m a bit distressed at the timing. That day, I’ll be en route to my next overseas consulting assignment in Narobi, Kenya. I’m not quite sure when I’ll be able to watch the Dark Knight Rises. And this is despite I got to see a little of the movie being [...]

June 2, 2012: Psst. Hey, Casa Grande… Wrong Green Lantern. (8)

Check out the front of today’s Dispatch of Casa Grande, Arizona, circulation 8,458. Do you see the skybox at upper right? Here’s a closer look. The story is about DC comics’ rewriting of the history of one of its characters to make him gay. In comics lingo, this is called “retcon” — a retroactive reworking of the continuity, or history, [...]

May 15, 2012: Print should consider leveraging what print does best (1)

Stephan Pastis of the Pearls Before Swine comic strip takes on the New York Times: Funny stuff. Stephan pokes fun at it. But, y’know, he has a point. Comic strips and panels were invented more than a century ago at a time when newspapers were scratching and clawing to find readers. The Yellow Kid was nothing more than a gimmick, [...]

May 9, 2012: A novel ‘graphic novel’-type approach to a very personal story

Cool, cool stuff today from the Chicago Tribune. The story: A first-person piece from a local 17-year-old 11th grader who suffers from depression. Obviously, he’s had his ups and downs. The kid — T.J. Watson — agreed to share his story with Tribune readers. But instead of a long narrative, the Tribune‘s Phil Geib put the tale — expertly written [...]

May 4, 2012: More fabulous Avengers features pages are rolling in today

Are you getting sick of seeing Avengers movie pages? I’m not. But then again, I’m such a fanboy. As you might have noticed, I took the morning off from blogging and took my daughter to see the movie. Even at 9:40 a.m., it was a packed house. We didn’t bother with 3D or Imax or any of the other gimmicks. [...]

May 4, 2012: Yet more fun Avengers movie treatments (1)

Can you tell I’m excited about this movie? In fact, my daughter and I have tickets to an early morning showing of the Avengers. We’re both excited. And my wife is rolling her eyes. Hey, it could be worse. I could have made a costume like this fellow did: Pretty sweet, huh? There’s nothing quite like a superhero movie to [...]

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