Last minute sub...

Welcome back everyone.

This week I can announce who’ll be stepping into Ka-Zar’s place in the running order.

Drum roll please…

We’ve decided to go for Snowbird!

The reason I choose Snowbird is that as some people have pointed out we need a few more female faces in the collection and I also think it’s time to have another Alpha Flight member in the roster.

Destiny came a close second in my eyes (being a female X-villain) but looking through our reference, I found that there were more and better images of Snowbird. So sorry Destiny fans but I think she saw it coming! If we get another extension then Destiny will be top of my list.

Anyway…

I also wanted to stick-up the most recent running order 100-140. We’ve had to make a few shifts due to sculpting issues and hopefully to balance it out a little more.

101 War Machine
102 Hobgoblin
103 Baron Zemo
104 Taskmaster
105 Doc Samson
106 Madrox
107 Union Jack
108 Man Wolf
109 Ikaris
110 Machine Man
111 Shang Chi
112 Black Knight
113 Hellcat
114 Viper
115 Dazzler
116 Chameleon
117 X-23
118 Tigra
119 Son of Satan
120 Beta Ray Bill
121 Jack of Hearts
122 Crimson Dynamo
123 Jocasta
124 Gladiator
125 Sunfire
126 Titania
127 Gorgon
128 Jubilee
129 Ant-Man
130 Snowbird
131 Grim Reaper
132 Annihilus
133 Pyro
134 Prowler
135 Drax the Destroyer
136 Nomad
137 Enchantress
138 X-Man
139 Black Heart
140 Wasp


And finally a figure that no-ones seen yet:



I give you Zabu work in progress. And no he won’t be on the same base as Ka-Zar they’re going to be separate.

Enjoy.

Custom Comp winners

Welcome back to another blog update. This week I thought I would put up a few images of some custom Marvel Figurines.

Each of the figures below one their respective category on the superherofigurineforum, with Zombie Sue Storm chosen by the guys at Eaglemoss as our personal favourite.

Category 1 – REPAINT
The original CMFC or DC figurine has been repainted. NO original material has been removed, NO material (fimo, Das, clay, plastic etc) has been added…..just paint.



Category 2 – REMODEL
The original CMFC or DC figurine has had additional material added or original material removed (capes, weapons, wings etc)



Category 3 – RESCULPT
The original CMFC or DC figurine has been substantially altered to create a new interpretation. This will include all aspects of Categories 1 and 2 with the addition of limb/torso removal and repositioning, additional non-cmfc accessories added and / or complete re-sculpt from scratch using CMFC or DC as the “idea”.



Eaglemoss Winner:




To the guys who made these and ran the competition, thanks a lot and my apologies for taking a while to put them up.

I can also reveal some news on the Specials front this week. We have another double pack lined up after the Kingpin Special. The characters we've chosen for this double-pack are Ka-Zar and Zabu. I know we previously had Ka-Zar in the regular running order but it just didn't seem right that he wouldn't have his big sabertooth cat with him. I think the pair make a fantastic addition to the collection and are one of the most natural double-packs we could have put together. Lets face it, Ka-Zar simply doesn't appear without Zabu.

I hope to have some images of the sculpts ready in the next couple of weeks.

Obviously that means we have another free space in the collection, and I plan to have this sorted out by next week. I'll be looking at the recent character polls and discussing with all the guys who work on the project.

Right, have a good weekend everyone.

Questions, answers and the Kingpin

Hello again,

As promised, this update I'm going to do my best to answer some of the recurring questions in the comments section, while also giving you a figurine update.

But first, I just want to address some of the comments that have come up due to the characters that made the extension.

My goal as editor of the CMFC is to try and put as many characters from across the Marvel Universe in the collection as possible. I need to balance the different 'aspects' of Marvel (Spidey characters, X-foes etc...) with the modern characters, the old characters, the popular, the niche and the more bizarre characters. It's absolutely fantastic that this collection evokes such passion from its collectors and I'm thrilled that choosing which characters to immortalise in lead is such an exciting process. However, what we do all have to remember is that it's impossible to tailor make the collection for each and every fan. Some characters you may feel deserve a place in the collection, another fan may think are a waste of space. So it comes down to a delicate balance when choosing new characters for the magazine and I genuinely hope that everyone can look forward to at least one figurine from the recent extension.

In a way I also like to think that we (the guys working on the mag) can act as ambassadors for each and every character in the collection. So you don't like X-Man/Jocasta/Son of Satan etc, well it's our job to show you that these are great Marvel characters with a rich history (whether that be 50 issues spread over 40 years or 100 issues in the '90s) and that they make great looking figures. Hopefully it's something we can achieve and something we'll always aim to do.

So moving on, I want to break down answers into a few segments.

Magazine:

The images we use in the magazine come from a number of sources. First Marvel have a database that we can download hi-res images from. These images tend to be from more recent or recently re-printed comics. The second method for getting images is to buy the comic and then scan artwork.

For scanned artwork the resolution it is scanned in at varies depending on the size and quality of the artwork, and the size we want to use it at. In general, we scan in between 400-800 dpi and then resize in photoshop to the standard 300 dpi print size.

All scanned artwork is cleaned up in photoshop using many different techniques including: recolouring, boosting blacks, as well as different types of blur and sharpening effects.

Figurines:

I'm very keen to put up shots of the sculpting and figurine process, discussing techniques, materials etc... but as I'm not a sculptor myself I want to get the guys who do the work on board. I'm currently discussing it with them and we'll see what we can do.

Main site:

I know we're a little behind schedule with the main site updates but we've had a couple of the Internet guys leave recently. I'm sure it'll be sorted very soon and we'll get back to regular updates.

Specials & double packs:

So far, I can confirm that (as previously mentioned) the Watcher and Kingpin will be the next two specials, after that I'm hopeful to get a Cloak and Dagger special out followed by another double pack. We're also looking at producing a figurine to tie-in with the Wolverine movie the details of which haven't been decided upon. Perhaps a Blob figure (as he'll be in the film) will work but I can't promise anything yet.

Looking further ahead to later specials, the characters that are on my 'working list' (but by no means definite and NOT in a running order) are:

Blob
Northstar & Aurora double pack
Odin
Omega Red
Onslaught
Power Pack (special double pack)
Sasquatch
Sauron

Plus a nearly unlimited list of other double packs.

We don't have a fixed schedule for the type or number of specials that we're going to produce this year but I'm looking to get the correct balance so that we can get as many characters into the collection without it costing the world and without the specials becoming regulars.

As far as double packs go, I believe Prof. X and Lilandra was successful (and the demand is there for more) so I will be sitting down with our marketing dept. and bosses in the next few weeks to discuss schedules.

Right, I hope that's answered a few questions so I'll move to the figurine update: the Kingpin painted!




As you can see we've gone for the classic white jacket costume with purple pinstriped trousers. The pose was adapted from a number of different sources with the sculptor producing a final sketch. I hope you'll all agree it captures the ruthless essence of the character and looks fantastic.

That's your lot, have a good weekend everyone.

The complete line-up to #140...

Welcome back to another update.

This week I've got two pieces of news, the first of which is that we've finally picked all the figures for the latest extension (121-140).

The final eight figures were chosen on the superherofigurineforum and are:

Annihilus
Crimson Dynamo
Drax the Destroyer
Gladiator (Daredevil Foe)
Gorgon
Prowler
Pyro
Sunfire

They join:
Ant-Man
Black Heart
Chameleon
Grim Reaper
Jack of Hearts
Jocasta
Jubilee
Nomad
Son of Satan
Titania
Wasp
X-Man



So with those chosen, I just want to say a big thanks to the admins and mods on the message board for running the polls and making sure they are cheat free, and of course thanks to everyone who voted.


So with the extension now decided, I can begin work on the costume/pose choices and I promise to keep everyone updated as the figures go through development.


On to my second piece of 'news': with the overwhelmingly positive response to the Warlock image I put up, I thought I'd show you how we put together some of our front covers.

The cover in question is Nighthawk (Issue 96), which surprisingly caused us a little bit of trouble. As I've shown in the past, we do occasionally commission original pieces of artwork for covers, if suitable artwork is not easily available. However, sometimes we come across a character that has a lot of images that look great but none that really hit the mark when it comes to a cover. Sometimes the images don't fit the space well and sometimes we just can't get large enough copies of the images to use on the cover. With Nighthawk the magazine's designer (Dan) decided to make a cover using a number of different images for the background, logo and figure; here's how he did it...


First up we cutout an image of Nighthawk from the Last Defenders #1 cover.



We weren't keen on the background from Last Defenders cover (it highlighted too many other characters) so Dan chose an old Defenders issue for the background. This was knocked back to black and white and then rescaled for the magazine's front cover. A purple overlay was added to the cover to help the main Nighthawk image standout.



The logo we used was taken from a third comic (Nighthawk's miniseries) and placed on the cover to finish the artwork.



And that's really it, when no one image works for a character we tend to search the comic archive to find a few different pieces of artwork that can come together and make a good cover.




Hope you enjoyed the update, more figurine news/previews at the end of the week, and I'll answer some of the questions kicked up in the comments section.

Be-dazzled

A very quick update this week as I am a bit pushed for time.

Below is the paint master of Dazzler.



I also just wanted to remind everyone to go and vote in the polls on Http://www.superherofigurineforum.com (link below)





Time is nearly up with the polls due to end in 9 days. This is your chance to choose a character for the 121-140 extension. Don't worry if your favourite isn't winning, still vote because you never know we may get another extension.

I did say it would be quick.

Have a good weekend.

Patsy Walker: Hellcat

Hi guys,

It’s Friday so I guess that means it’s time for another update.

First, I just want to say thanks for all the positive feedback to last week’s update, from now on I think I’ll try and mix-up the updates so that we show figurine sneak peeks as well as little bits and pieces from the magazine.

So as promised a figurine preview: Hellcat painted.



As you can see it’s the classic yellow Hellcat costume. The only point to note (other than it being a lovely sculpt) is that we’ve gone for a PVC effect on the mask, boots and gloves. This should give a similar effect to the Catwoman figure that our fine friends on the DC Figurine Collection put out.

As well as the figurine update I have a couple of covers to show: Issue 93 – Valkyrie and Issue 95 – Impossible Man.






Both these covers feature commissioned artwork by the fantastic artist Jack Lawrence. Jack is a UK based-artist whose previous work included Lions, Tigers and Bears from Image comics and Darkham Vale (from an independent publisher), as well as many others.

It was a real challenge to find a suitably large image for either of these characters and hopefully you’ll agree with me that Jack’s done a great job of capturing the essence of each character.

Right that’s your lot for this week, have a good weekend.

And now for something different...

Hello,

This week I thought I'd try something a little different with the blog and instead of giving you an update on a figurine, I'd give you some insight into the work involved in the creation of the magazine.

As many comic fans will know, the quality of the printing, and paper that comics have been printed on, has greatly changed over the years. While Marvel does re-print a lot of comics in graphic novel form, there are hundreds of Marvel comics that only exist in their original printing. More often than not the years have not been kind to the original pages with whites turning cream, colours fading and word balloons smudging. To illustrate the magazine we spend hours looking through old comics and lovingly restoring some of the images so that they can be re-printed in the best quality possible.

Below I have an excellent example of the work our designer (Dan) has put into an image from Strange Tales #178, which at the time we couldn't find re-printed. You can see the first image is the actual scan of the comic page, from this Dan knocks the image back to black and then adds a new layer of colour to the image, to match the original as closely as possible.








Obviously not every image requires this amount of work, some Marvel supply to us directly and some are from newer or re-printed comics but each issue we try to make sure that the images we choose best sum-up the character and the article they're in.

There's a lot more to the magazine than just the images but hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea into the workings of the magazine and its design.

And don't worry; I'm not going to bore everyone with a weekly update into how the mag works, apart from anything else Dan's head will end up growing too big to fit into the office if I keep it up.

More figurine news next week.

Have a good weekend.

Rich