I just stumbled across this preview for Mighty Avengers #12 — out today — which has me jonesing for my guiltiest of guilty pleasures, that 21st-century MacGyver called Prison Break.
Guest artist Alex Maleev did cast the lifeless Dominic Purcell as Nick Fury, didn’t he? I’m not imagining it?
Now, put away your pitchforks: This isn’t a “swipe”; it’s just an apparent instance of an artist basing his depiction of a character on an actor (see Ultimate Nick Fury). I find the practice distracting, because instead of getting into the story I end up scanning crowd scenes for the supporting cast of The Sopranos. Or, worse, I “hear” the dialogue in the voice of the actor.
There’s a third problem with “casting,” of course: that the Nick Fury in Mighty Avengers ends up looking nothing like the Nick Fury in any of the other mainstream Marvel titles. But that’s still preferable to imagining Purcell’s monotone recitation of all of the Colonel’s lines.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Just got my comics and flipped through to that part.
Not to spoil the comic but there is a reason he looks like that in particular. It’s even funnier now that I now why Nick Fury looks like that.
When you read the full book, you’ll really feel silly for putting this up.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
You know what, scratch that, the following preview page explains he’s in disguise as someone Countess would find attractive.
From the women and men that I know who watch the show Dominic is pretty hot guy.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Huh. Since I haven’t gotten my copy yet, all I can say is “Huh.” I’ll take Pedro’s word for it, that there’s a point to all of this, and see.
I don’t watch Prison Break, so I’d never have caught this if Kevin hadn’t posted it. Now, if Maleev starts “casting” actors from Lost… THAT I will notice!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
I say it’s coincidence. Bald guys with goatees aren’t exactly *rare* in Hollywood. Purcell’s face is a bit thin.
Are you sure it’s not Hawk from Spenser for Hire / Deep Space 9?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
Umm… Avery Brooks — and that’s CAPTAIN SISKO to you — is black.
Yeah, I know, he still could’ve been a model for Fury regardless of skin color, but I think he looks more like the Prison Break guy than he does Brooks.
Actually, he doesn’t really look that much like either one… But closer to Purcell than Brooks. How about Terry O’Quinn/John Locke with a goatee? That’s it! “Mirror Universe” Locke!
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
The one thing that bugs me about the current use of actors as models for characters (especially long-established characters). Isn’t someone going to eventually get pissed (and litigious) that their likeness is being used to sell comic books without getting paid. I mean, if Tommy Lee Jones’ face was drawn into an ad in a magazine to sell a product, he’d probably get pissed. Is there that big of a difference between that and his face being used in Thunderbolts?
Especially after the whole David Mack-New Avengers cover mess, I can’t believe that Marvel isn’t thinking about this.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
“You know what, scratch that, the following preview page explains he’s in disguise as someone Countess would find attractive.”
Actually Countess says she was disguised as someone Fury would find attractive, not the other way around. She says she doesn’t like him bald.
I figured him being bald was a poke at Ultimate Nick Fury.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
If Tommy Lee Jones didn’t sue over seeing his bloody vinegar-strokes in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, then he never will.
//\Oo/\\
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Maleev, I’m sure, like Mayhew and Land, has his TiVo set to pause and draws from those stills, or subscribes to US and People magazines for photo reference. It is VERY distracting. Guys like this make me truly appreciate great ARTISTS like Goran Parlov, who use their imagination, knowledge and skill, plus making reference their OWN, rather than directly copying from it. I laughed out loud when I read that this was supposed to be Fury.
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Every panel that Maleev has ever drawn is a swipe - of a photograph, an ad image, whatever. He is completely dependant on photo imagery to produce comics.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:37 am
to 9 and 10:
too fucking bad, this is comics.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:24 am
The book is out, Fury is wearing a mask and looks like his traditional self in every other page in this issue. Thanks for playing.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:38 am
JW: Do you have any evidence to back this claim up or are you just trolling?
April 25th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I was blown away by the art on this issue. I’ve been buying comics for over 40 years now and this may be the best single issue of art I’ve ever seen. If you spend some time with it and let your eyes linger, it is just amazing stuff.
If Maleev is using photos to do his work, then we should be sending packets of the stuff to a lot of other artists out there!
May 12th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I say it’s coincidence. Bald guys with goatees aren’t exactly *rare* in Hollywood. Purcell’s face is a bit thin.