Latest news with #comic
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Write a funny caption for this child in a crowd of blue creatures
Have you met the Smurfs? These small, blue humanlike creatures are the main characters in a Belgian comic of the same name. This month, you can meet them in cinemas in Smurfs, an animated and live-action musical film reboot. The all-star cast is led by pop singer Rihanna and sees the Smurfs heading into the real world to save the beloved Papa Smurf. Staff writer Send us a funny caption by emailing us at editorial@ or filling out this form . The deadline is at 12pm on July 30. We'll publish the best ones next week. Last week's top caption Two people wearing hotdog hats line up to watch Nathan's Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York City. via AFP Hayley Sum, St Paul's Convent School: Looks like some people forgot their plates!
CNA
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Singaporean comic artist teams up with Archie Comics for exclusive SG60 cover
At first glance, his illustrations may seem like digital compositions or even paintings. But look closer, and you will discover every detail is meticulously rendered in pencil strokes. From as young as six, Kang Jing, 31, had a natural flair for drawing. He would spend hours sketching his favourite anime characters. And in 2021, the self-taught artist took the leap of faith and launched his comic brand, Chiral Comics. What started as an Instagram page to showcase his work soon evolved into something bigger, opening doors to work on characters from major franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. He has also illustrated comic covers for Power Rangers stars Catherine Sutherland, Nakia Burrise and Brennan Mejia. Now, Jing has collaborated with American publisher Archie Comics – he has illustrated a special Singapore-themed cover in celebration of SG60. Priced from S$25 onwards, pre-orders are open from Saturday (Jul 19), 12pm, on Jing's website and through select comic retailers in Singapore – Kalibak Komiks and 1 to 3 Comics. ARCHIE COMICS: AN SG60 EXCLUSIVE In January this year, an idea struck him: What if he could blend his favourite pop culture icons with something local for Singapore's 60th birthday? 'SG60 marks a big milestone for us as a nation,' he shared. 'I wanted to find a way to celebrate it through the lens of something I love – by bringing together something iconic from Singapore with a franchise that many of us grew up with,' he shared. In April, he pitched the idea to Archie Comics and landed an opportunity to design a variant cover for one of their editions. A variant cover, Jing explained, is a term used in the comic industry, where the cover design is not related to the contents of the book. While some might assume designing the cover is a minor role, Jing pointed out that cover designs are one of the key driving forces for revenue in the industry. 'To boost sales, publishers [often release] various cover arts of the same story to appeal to collectors with interest for different art styles and artists,' he explained. He reimagined the original Archie characters as tourists exploring Singapore, with Gardens by the Bay as the central backdrop. He also added local touches: Archie in a SG60 T-shirt, Jughead munching on a durian, and Reggie wearing a Singapore football jersey. Jing completed the rough sketches in a day before transferring his ideas to an 11 by 17-inch artboard, the standard size used for comic covers, before moving on to inking. 'Inking involves going over the penciled artwork with ink to enhance and finalise the lines,' Jing explained. To bring the artwork to life, he worked with a colourist from Italy to digitally add the colours. Everything was completed in a month, and it was approved with no revisions needed. STAR WARS TO STARDOM When he was first starting out, Jing spent months cold-emailing organisations, sending out his portfolios, and taking on commission work for small businesses to get his name out there. His big breakthrough came in March 2024, when Jing received a reply from Topps, the American trading company well-known for producing licensed collectibles for franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. 'I still remember waking up one morning to an email from Topps inviting me to work on their upcoming Star Wars project and that they will be sending me 50 sketch cards to illustrate,' he said. For the uninitiated, sketch cards are hand-drawn collectible cards created by licensed artists for trading or display purposes. For Jing, each card was a labour of love. Unlike comic covers, he had to add colours himself using alcohol-based markers meant for comic illustrations. Before the cards could be released, the final artwork had to be approved by Lucasfilm, the company that is home to the Star Wars franchise. To date, he has worked on seven Star Wars-themed projects with Topps. One standout was his fifth project, titled Star Wars: Hyperspace, which required him to illustrate planet-themed sketch cards. 'I was provided cards with specific planets labelled on them such as Bespin, Hoth, Kashyyyk, and I had to illustrate characters specific to those planets,' he shared. 'For the planet Mustafar, I illustrated Anakin Skywalker by taking reference from the Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith where there was a climactic battle that occurred on this planet between him and Obi-Wan Kenobi.' Soon after, he struck another deal with Topps. This time, he was commissioned to create 20 sketch cards for the 2025 Topps Marvel Chrome series. "Working on Star Wars and Marvel properties honestly felt like a dream that was way out of reach, one of those things you admire from a far but never imagine happening to you,' he said. The sketch cards were eventually randomised and sold on Topps website in their respective product lines – a place where customers around the world have the chance to pull one of Jing's hand-drawn cards with the purchase of any products from the listing. The Archie comic cover was not Jing's first foray into localised comic art. Last year, Jing teamed up with Boom! Studios, the official comic publisher based in the USA for award-winning titles including Power Rangers, Brzrkr and Something is Killing the Children. He illustrated a Singapore-themed variant cover for one of their flagship titles: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He unveiled the exclusive issue at Singapore Comic Con 2024, where all 525 pieces of the limited-edition copy were sold out. In fact, it was the success of this cover that fuelled his desire to work on the Archie Comic SG60 project. The cover was not just a hit, but it was his lucky charm – one that scored him a backstage pass to work alongside the very stars who ignited his passion for comics. In October 2024, he attended New York Comic Con, where he met the cast members of Power Rangers, Catherine Sutherland and Nakia Burrise, during a fan meet. 'I brought my very first Power Rangers comic cover I did and showed it to them. They loved it and right there they said, 'Let's collaborate'.' The actresses wanted Jing to design a variant cover for them as an exclusive merchandise for their fans, as part of the Power Rangers Prime series, an ongoing title published by BOOM! Studios. Sutherland also went on to post a picture with him on her Instagram following their meeting. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Catherine Sutherland (@catherine_sutherland) The entire process took around two months, and the final copies were published in May 2025. Following the project, Jing also worked with another Power Rangers cast, Brennan Mejia for a variant cover. He also accepts personal commissions, with prices depending on the complexity of the request. Reflecting on his journey, Jing hopes to deepen his expertise in illustrating comic cover arts and eventually venture into comic interiors in the future. '[Looking back] It was really about taking a leap and seeing where my art could go. I didn't want to just sit on my dreams, I wanted to try chasing after them, even if the odds may seem slim,' he said. 'Every now and then, even a rejection letter can feel strangely exciting, because it also means someone actually saw my work.'
CNN
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Natasha Lyonne assures us she has more teeth than her ‘Smurfs' movie character
Natasha Lyonne is recounting her journey to being cast as a rather unique character in the new 'Smurfs' movie. The 'Poker Face' star stopped by 'The Tonight Show' on Thursday and told Jimmy Fallon how she initially received the request to be in the new kids' movie via email and jokingly responded that she sent a 'reply all (saying) sure, who doesn't (want to be in a 'Smurfs' movie)?' Lyonne went on to explain that the filmmakers later informed her that Rihanna plays the 'adorable Smurfette, a hot little blonde number,' who is also rather famously the only female Smurf in the village of little blue creatures originally based on the Belgian comic from 1958. Fallon replied, 'Oh, Rihanna is Smurfette?' by way of confirmation, to which Lyonne responded, 'Turns out, I'm not.' 'I'm a character called Mama Poot,' she continued, adding that the character they showed her was 'a hairball with one bottom snaggle tooth, not even a top (tooth).' 'They're looking at me like, 'Isn't this charming that you guys seem so similar,'' Lyonne said of the filmmaking team. 'I said, 'Yeah, no, it's definitely going to help me get dates, I'm sure,'' she joked. Fallon then showed a picture of Mama Poot, attesting to the character's cuteness, as the audience produced a mixture of 'awws' and befuddled laughter. 'And guys, it's not about this, but I just want to remind everyone that I have a full set of real teeth. And I'm really proud of that,' Lyonne quipped. 'Not Mama Poot, though!' As for Smurfette Rihanna, there are no hard feelings, since Lyonne mentioned earlier in the chat that she 'is a huge fan' of the singer/actor/fashion mogul. 'Do you have her phone number by the way, because we don't seem to be in touch even though the movie is now complete,' Lyonne asked Fallon as an aside. 'We'll talk about that later.' 'Smurfs' is now playing in theaters.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Aberdeen student creates comic to highlight hidden MS symptoms
A student has created a new comic to help highlight the "invisible symptoms" of multiple sclerosis (MS).University of Aberdeen PhD student Claire Robertson was inspired to create the comic because her father lives with the condition.A team of MS experts and comic book artists helped her create the book titled Through the MS Looking story follows an Alice in Wonderland-style narrative to help highlight the condition's symptoms. The 27-year-old student said she wanted to create something engaging and to present information about the condition in an "approachable way". She said: "MS is a topic that is quite close to my heart, because my dad has it. He was diagnosed back in 2011. "It is something I've grown up around and I'm very used to. "I feel like there is quite a lot of stigma with MS, so I wanted to visualise the symptoms through a comic using things like visual metaphors."Invisible symptoms of MS are things that people struggle with but are not immediately apparent to others. These include pain, fatigue, brain fog, bladder and bowel difficulties, dizziness and mental health challenges. The story follows two friends - one who has MS and one who does not. "The friend who doesn't have it struggles to understand it," Claire explains. "So they go on a journey to interact with different hidden symptoms along the way and gain a better understanding of what it can be like to live with these hidden symptoms."The artwork was created by Cat Laird and Ashling Larkin, while a team of experts were also involved in making the story to ensure the detail about living with MS was accurate. MS advice 'more approachable' Claire hopes presenting the information through a comic can make understanding it "less scary". She added: "It is more approachable to read health information when there is this kind of interplay between the text and the image. "With the comic it is just trying to get people thinking about health information and engaging with it when you are maybe not looking for it."The story can be found on the MS Trust is hoped a wider physical run will be produced soon. The MS Trust said the comic could help raise awareness about the "less obvious symptoms" and "improve knowledge" about MS."With invisible symptoms, there's a lot of stigma that can come with them, especially from people who don't have an understanding of MS," it said."There can be a lot of misunderstanding surrounding hidden symptoms and a lack of awareness of the difficulties that individuals with MS can face daily."
Geek Tyrant
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
G.I. JOE Resurrects COLD SLITHER in a Wild New Comic One-Shot — GeekTyrant
For fans who grew up on the gloriously awesome G.I. Joe animated series of the '80s, this is the kind of comeback we didn't know we needed… until now. Cold Slither, the fictional hard rock band fronted by Cobra's biker goons, the Dreadnoks, is getting its own comic. G.I. Joe: Cold Slither #1 drops October 1st from Skybound and Image Comics as part of the expanding Energon Universe, the ambitious crossover playground uniting G.I. Joe and Transformers under one chaotic roof. Written by Tim Seeley ( Rogue, Local Man ) and drawn by Juann Cabal ( Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man ), the one-shot dives headfirst into the rise, and inevitable implosion, of the most dangerous rock band to ever shred for Cobra. 'The catchiest song ever to grace a military-themed toy line has lived in my head rent-free for forty years,' Seeley said. 'So I'm happy to drag it out, and write the true story of the scrappy band of miscreants who recorded it.' The band was originally introduced in the episode 'Cold Slither', where Cobra cooked up a plan to brainwash the youth using subliminal messages embedded in a rock anthem. Naturally, the Dreadnoks were the perfect fit to front the band. Artist Juann Cabal is just as fired up to bring this chaotic ensemble to the page: 'My parents met at a Cold Slither gig back in the '80s, so getting to draw this one-shot has been really special for me.' Ben Abernathy, Executive Editor at Skybound, added: 'To say this face-melting issue was a labor of love is an understatement. Getting this motley crew of creators together for this incisive and heartfelt look at the rise and fall of the legendary Cold Slither was a heavy metal dream come true!' This is the kind of fun and unexpected deep cut that makes the current G.I. Joe comics so much fun. They're not just rebooting the familiar stuff, they're digging into the stranger corners of the franchise and treating them with reverence and ridiculous flair. G.I. Joe: Cold Slither #1 hits comic shops on Wednesday, October 1st. Get ready to throw the horns and surrender your free will to Cobra's favorite rock band.
