TRIP

Armed with an array of body paint and brushes, Kay Pike can transform into any superhero or villain. The incredibly talented designer and model from Calgary, Canada paints on her own body to make herself look like 2D characters from TV and comics, including Marvel’s Spider-Man and Cheetara from ThunderCats. Previously a fan of dressing up for cosplay events, Kay discovered she could put her artistic skills to use in transforming her appearance - and only started bodypainting in December last year. The 28-year-old uses a water-based face paint and a special makeup to help it stick. She says she needs 10 to 15 bottles of paint to create just one character, which runs between $80 to $150. And some of her designs can take up an entire day to recreat superheroes and comic book villains on her skin, but she says she plans it that way and fully enjoys the experience.  After posting the results of her work on the Internet, she soon found her wo

Scott Snyder wrapped up his run on “Batman” only three months ago, but the high-powered intro to “All-Star Batman” #1 feels like his long-awaited return. With fan favorite artist John Romita Jr. illustrating the title’s kickoff, it’s an all-star title indeed, as the two acclaimed creators unite for the first time to deliver an intense opening number with an in-your-face, caffeine-driven road trip packed with familiar but surprising characters. The confines of Gotham are left behind as Snyder takes Batman out on the open road, although the reason for this trip is grimly revealed in a flashback sequence where the city and its people have once again been victimized by one of Batman’s foes. Snyder isn’t afraid to take Bats out of his element and does so with full confidence; he knows you can take the Bat out of the city, but not the city out of the Bat, and many of his foes aren’t far behind. “Initially, my idea was to do stories with villains I hadn’t used yet,” Snyder said when asked

The exciting second volume of the wondrous wall-crawler’s long-running newspaper strip by Stan Lee, John Romita, and Larry Lieber, with all Sundays in color and integrated with the dailies-just as they originally appeared in newspapers worldwide. Edited by Bruce Canwell, this book includes more than 700 sequential comics-the complete run from January 1979 through the January 1981!

John Byrne’s “Triple Helix” #4 continues to unveil a new universe of characters from Byrne, beginning with the inhabitants of Polinax IV. A band of super-powered characters called the Conclave is battling a mess of plants and a giant humanoid mass. That fills up the first six pages of this issue before Byrne returns readers to Earth and the events surrounding Triple Helix and Trio, already in progress. As this series matriculated out of Byrne’s efforts in the “Trio” series and continued that band of characters’ adventures, so too does it fail to reach a decisive conclusion. In between the scene on Polinax IV and the final page of “Triple Helix” #4, Byrne continues to match the costumed crusaders of the Byrneverse against mechanical terrors in a conflict that might seem familiar to some more seasoned readers of Byrne’s work. Rather than completely retread old ground, however, Byrne adds in a significant amount of unpredictability and oddity. In mixing in those ingredients, Byrne st

IDW’s “Byrne-verse” continues to grow with “Triple Helix” #1, the latest offering from longtime comic book creator John Byrn. Tightly tied to the story from last year’s “Trio,” Byrne brings Rock, Scissors and Paper from that title into this adventure and also introduces Apex, Cataclysm, Dart, Javelin and Pylon. The latter quintet should be the stars of this issue, but Byrne really spreads the love around, giving everyone a chance to shine, especially the villain of the piece. That villain is Golgotha from Byrne’s previous work, which adds a nice, traditional visual for the villain and provides a rallying point for the other characters while adding connective tissue to Byrne’s various creator-owned works. Stepping out further, Byrne expands the cast beyond the eight super-powered heroes and adds in some supporting characters, including reporter Liz Lanning, that come with potential for growth. Byrne doesn’t fret over expansive exposition for his characters, choosing instead to dive i