Real world locations you'd like to see more of in comics

[Kid Kyoto]

OK, New York has been used a lot. I'm sure we can think of some places in NY that might be a good location (how about a hero based out of Grant's Tomb, and how come there's never been a super hero on Staten Island!) but let's leave it be.

The Washington Mall has been the scene of more Amazon Attacks and Ultimate Loki stuff than we ever need to see.

Mount Rushmore, the Pyramids, the Great Wall, you can usually count on some villain doing something there.

So what real world places should writers and artists be using more?

I think Tiananmen Square is a good choice, anyone attacking China would hit there rather than the Great Wall miles from the city. I can't remember it ever appearing in a comic.

[stealthwise]

Cleveland, OH. The birthplace/hometown of so many comic creators. I'd like to see Ohio featured more, just for the heck of it.

More Canadian cities. Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary. They have a lot of diverse types of settings in and around them.

Seattle. Portland. Pittsburgh. More American cities.

More rural settings.

I'd love to see Australia. Africa. Asia. But not in the typical, almost stereotypical kinds of representations.

[yo go re]

screwy thing, double-posting for no reason.

[yo go re]

Screw New York. Screw it in its ass.* More Chicago, baby.

Las Vegas. But not the strip, the actual city. The places where people live...



*the Holland Tunnel, of course

[EmeraldCity]

C
Seattle.


The setting for my works right now.. great city for it.. very epic feel..

[Karl H]

New Zealand.
Hong Kong
San Francisco
Rural England
The Midwest
The Netherlands
Scandinavia

[stelok]

Philippines

[foxley]

As an Australian, I'd love to see a depiction of Australia that actually resembles the place it is supposed to be.

Is it too much to ask an artist to find a photo reference of the city he's drawing?

[Kid Kyoto]

You mean there's more to Australian than the Sydney Opera House and Ayres Rock?

[foxley]

You mean there's more to Australian than the Sydney Opera House and Ayres Rock?

Hard as it may be to believe, but yes. And there weren't kangaroos hooping around the Sydney Olympic Village either (as depicted in Young Justice).

[The Mirrorball Man]

Urban Africa is always interesting. I really liked how Mark Waid and Leinil Yu used that kind of location in "Birthright".

[Vlaad II]

I think Tiananmen Square is a good choice, anyone attacking China would hit there rather than the Great Wall miles from the city.
Good point, although it's so spread out that there isn't much to draw. Every panel would have to be tilted to make it look interesting... :p I'd rather see Shangai or even Beijing really.

http://www.destination360.com/asia/china/images/s/china-shanghai.jpg

On topic, I'd say more Europe, but I'm afraid we'd end up with silly stereotypes again. I absolutely hated that FF Civil War fill-in, although it was just a spoof.

On the other hand, my Belgrade's Republic Square turned out surprisingly well in a recent issue of Superman. :)

[Nitz the Bloody]

Hospitals. I get that we will see characters in traction on occasion, and we will see specialists like Thor's alter ego Don Blake, but I'd like to see the hospital setting accessed to its fullest. How about a superhero medical drama, kind of like Grey's Anatomy or House or even Scrubs in a spandex world?

[Gamiel]

As a Swedish citizen I who'd like to see more of the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland). Marvel has over ten heroes and villains from Scandinavia but hove offend do we see them in their home countries?

[Kid Kyoto]

I think for a long time the problem was lack of photo references. One reason all of Marvel's characters were in NY and all of DCs were in fictional cities (that looked like NY) is that was where the publishers and artists were based. Everywhere else was reduced to monuments, Italy=leaning tower of Pisa.

But these days there's no excuse other than laziness. I can find a photo reference for an obscure villiage on Hokkaido in less time than it took to pull a book down from the shelf.

[ultramandingo]

Portland, Oregon
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Richmond, Virginia
Missoula, Montana
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Brooklyn, New York
Tempe, Arizona
Wicker Park, Chicago
Norman, Oklahoma
Austin, Texas
Toronto, Canada
Vermont
.....all visited in Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's amazing LOCAL

http://localthecomic.blogspot.com/

as for my neck of the woods im kinda sick of seeing the golden gate bridge shoehorned in to every comic-movie-tv show based in the bay area -
let the hulk trash the Dumbarton Bridge next time

[sgt pepper]

I'll add another vote for Ohio. But realistically, this is the kind of place where all the superheroes are born, but then just as they start to break out, they move and claim to be from New York or L.A.

Thanks to Bendis and Vaughan, Ohio's starting to make a few more appearances.

And I'm pretty sure the JSA's Citizen Steel is supposed to be a former Ohio State quarterback and that the scene where his family was slaughtered by Nazis takes place in Columbus.

[ultramandingo]

.........dont cleavland already have howard the duck and harvy pekar? what more do you want - too bad there wasnt a devo comic !

[ultramandingo]

..........or ghoulardi

[EmeraldCity]

But these days there's no excuse other than laziness. I can find a photo reference for an obscure villiage on Hokkaido in less time than it took to pull a book down from the shelf.

well to be fair, really capturing a location takes more than a photo..

[foxley]

well to be fair, really capturing a location takes more than a photo..

Yes, but it's a start. I have seen such classic blunders in comic books supposedly depicting Australia as the sails of the Sydney Opera House pointing the wrong way.

[ultramandingo]

Yes, but it's a start. I have seen such classic blunders in comic books supposedly depicting Australia as the sails of the Sydney Opera House pointing the wrong way.

.......yeah but doesnt stuff go backwards down there because of the equator or somthing - "planetary spin"

[entzauberung]

As a Swedish citizen I who'd like to see more of the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland). Marvel has over ten heroes and villains from Scandinavia but hove offend do we see them in their home countries?

Muties #5 from some years back has a pretty good Stockholm.

[Gamiel]

Muties #5 from some years back has a pretty good Stockholm.

I didn't know that. Thanks.

[mgs]

and how come there's never been a super hero on Staten Island!

I'm pretty sure there are some from SI. If anything, there's nothing really going on there. That's why most SH and their stories are in Manhattan. And if anyone is likely to hang out on that Garbage Dump it's the Punisher. ;) That place is like one, big mafia hangout!

[Chiasm]

As long as its not in New York city or state for that matter I'm happy.

[The Mutt]

I'd like to see Memphis. It's more a river town than a southern city, with three strategic bridges over the Mississippi. The skyline sits on a bluff above the river. Great visuals. Plus, the city is a real crossroads; of black and white; of rural and urban; of blues and country. Lot's of dramatic tensions.

And it's the Birthplace of Rock n Roll!

[sgt pepper]

And it's the Birthplace of Rock n Roll!

Wrong. Cleveland stole it and they're not giving it back.

[The Mutt]

What a load of crap. By that logic, Huntsville Alabama is the Moon.

[Gamiel]

the Giza Pyramids as they look in the reality

[Jinxer]

San Francisco. It's a beautiful city that gets almost no recognition in entertainment compared with the others. It's not even some ho hum city, it's San Francisco.

[MattShepherd]

Montreal, Quebec. Gorgeous, cultural, diverse, and as close as you can get to European sensibilities without leaving the continent.

[Omar Karindu]

Iceland: Glaciers, volcanos, geysers, and a thriving economy.

[Babylon23]

As an Australian, I'd love to see a depiction of Australia that actually resembles the place it is supposed to be.

Is it too much to ask an artist to find a photo reference of the city he's drawing?

I'm with you Foxley. I'd like to see some accurate depictions of Australian cities, and some acknowledgement of any city other then Sydney. It's not all desert down here.

I remember Melbourne appearing in DC's Invasion series. It looked like New York.

[sgt pepper]

Iceland: Glaciers, volcanos, geysers, and a thriving economy.

I'd love to see a comic play up the economy aspect. Fun!

[Chase]

I hear "Wyoming" is a place. I'd like to see more of this "Wyoming" and, from what I hear, its parakeet dragons and acorn-backed platypuses.

[Magneto X]

Brooklyn, Harlem.

[Kirk G]

Utah, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas,
Rocky Mountains,
Detroit, Michigan
Seattle
Vancouver
Victoria, BC
Yucon, AB
WHitehorse, AB
Ancorage Alaska
Fairbanks, AK
North Pole, AK

[Dan Apodaca]

Salt Lake City's boring when you're standing there. I can't imagine trying to read about it.

I'd like to see L.A. depicted as the huge coalition of towns it is, rather than just Hollywood or Compton. Silverlake, for example, is really beautiful and diverse.