Art

As you may have heard, nail art is all the rage these days, and its getting more and more ornate. And some ladies are going for comics inspired pieces, such as this, by Brooklyn's Fleury Rose, who created this design for someone going to the Dark Knight Rises premiere in New York, who got to show them off to director Christopher Nolan, even. Who wouldn't want to sport these dark knails?

After a successful roll-out at C2E2—and in light of how artists everywhere are doing it themselves—DC Collectibles is making more than 20 new posters available at their online store, all in the highly designed style that has become so popular with things like the Alamo Drafthouse and so on. Can we say, it's about time? You can see all the prints here—no creators given, alas, in the licensed style of the Warners and Disney stores, but there are some nice items.

Over the weekend, we were hanging out with the local cartooning scene, and the locals were buzzing about last week’s surprise news that The Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art was transferring all of its holdings and activities to the Society of Illustrators, a more venerable New York institution that spotlights already–recognized greats like Leyendecker and Rockwell. While there was much speculation, a MoCCA insider told us that they would not be involved with the new entity, as it had been transferred in total to SoI. What we're looking at is an entirely new operation, in effect. If the transfer has removed New York City's only dedicated comics exhibit space and social center, the new home is definitely a landmark in its own right. The Society of Illustrators itself goes back over a hundred years, and has seen all the greats from Gibson to Rockwell to Peak to Crumb come through its doors—doors of a midtown building which was once a carriage house for legendary kazillionaire J. P. Morgan. The differing paths of the comics and illustration worlds is perhaps shown by the operating budgets of both institutions—SoI's is $1.3 million; MoCCA's was $300,000.

RUN! DO NOT WALK! To Domatile Collardey's Wreckhall Abbey, a new comic about a private school for girls in the proud tradition of St. Trinians and more. Holy crap, this looks AMAZING.

Following the sudden closing of its physical space earlier this year, the fate of New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art was in question. Now its future direction has been announced: MoCCA is transferring its assets to the more than 100-year-old Society of Illustrators. The SoI, as it is known, will install a permanent gallery from MoCCA's holdings, as well as stage special exhibits, the first of which will be 2013's “The Comic Art of Harvey Kurtzman,” which opens in March. The Society of Illustrators will also continue running the MoCCA Festival in its Armory location.

Stately Beat Manor approves of David Aja art. Click for larger images. HAWKEYE #2, written by Matt Fraction with art and cover by Aja, goes on sale September 5.

While you may not be interested in sporting events, the history of Olympic Mascots ties into such familiar Beat territory as licensing and furries. According to the Smithsonian , the Germans, who innovated the pictographs we spotlighted earlier, also invented the Olympic mascot with Wendi, a lovable dachshund who introduced the 1972 Summer games in Munich. It was only the beginning of a parade of characters hated and loved, but most often hated.

Tonight it's an all new episode, by Cole Sanchez and boarded by Rebecca Sugar who offered this charming preview image.

Here's a couple of stories on the evolution of those symbols used for the various sports at the Olympics. They began with the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but attained a cleaner, more Saul Bass-like effect for Munich in 1972, as designed by a fellow named Otl Aicher. These proved to be more lasting and iconic:

Recent record-setting prices for original comics art could just be the beginning as the art world continues to perform.

The creative team behind Marvel's upcoming 'Gambit' ongoing series have noticed an intriguing pattern appearing within the first few issues of the book

Or at least that's what artist Joel Micah Harris shows us.