The second Angel, from Grant Morrison’s run on X-Men, played by Zoe Kravitz in X-Men: First Class, and one of the weakest parts of an otherwise excellent movie.
375. Angel
374. Night Thrasher
I dunno a thing about this character. Skateboard! 90s!
373. Cyborg
My list for this month is a little Marvel-heavy, so I’m trying to break it up with other characters when I can. Cyborg was a character I first “found” from the Super Powers cartoon back in my childhood. I always liked him, Firestorm too. Eventually I discovered Wolfman & Perez’s TEEN TITANS and continued to enjoy him as a character. The less said about Cyborg in the New 52 and as a member of The Justice League is for the best. I think you can guess which version I prefer.
DC Comics. Ruining everything since 2011.
372. Nick Fury, Jr.
This may be the one character I draw this month that I actively hate. Classic Nick Fury is awesome. Even Ultimate Nick Fury is awesome. Samuel L. Jackson as Movie Nick Fury is double plus awesome (I just listened to the 1984 audiobook). But holy crap is Nick Fury, Jr. a turd and a half.
1st of all, he is a character in a genre where space aliens are a thing, dudes get bitten by radioactive animals, or folks become gods via gamma radiation. I have a massive ability to suspend my disbelief, and for one second do I not buy the origin of Nick Fury, Jr. Classic Fury’s illegitimate son – Marcus Johnson – who, after discovering his heritage, gets the exact same wound as dear old Dad, shaves his head, grows a goatee and changes his name to Nick Fury, Jr. after, what? 30 years of the having a different name? All so that the 616 (original flavor) Marvel Universe can have a Nick Fury that matches the wildly popular movie version?
Ugh.
Listen, I totally get why Marvel wants a Sam Jackson-y Fury playing around in the comic neighborhood. Absolutely I do. Holy shit, though. The hoops that they had to go through to be able to reach the sloppy level of corporate synergy to get there is fucking horrendous.
Hell, bring Ult. Fury to the regular universe. Have him team up with Classic Fury, Classic sacrifices himself to save Ultimate, and unfortunately in the process destroys the way back home for Ultimate who is now stuck in 616. OR, clone Ult. Fury and have his doppleganger travel to 616. The possibilities were endless!
Yay corporations.
371. Michonne
If I had any foresight, I would have saved Black Panther for today’s entry. 20 years ago today, we lost Jack “King” Kirby, creator of B.P. (originally Coal Tiger). But I didn’t, so I decided to go against type and put up my one non-superhero entry for this month, Michonne from The Walking Dead. I’ve given up completely on the show. Not that I think it’s bad, I just… lost interest. I’m certainly keeping up with the comic in Trade Paperback format. I still enjoy it. And of course, Michonne is awesome in both versions (I will admit this: there’s a scene in the third season where Rick – after Lori dies [spoiler]- goes nuts and clears out an entire wing of the prison full of zombies with nothing but a hatchet. Basically, the one defining moment of the comic that Tyrese had – before Tyrese had even been introduced into the show. It kind of pissed me off that TV Rick “stole” that one badass moment. It may have influenced my decision to not watch the show anymore).
370. Chapel
So I made this list of black superheroes with help from my friend Jason. When we were brainstorming characters, he kept asking who the guy from Youngblood was. Jason is – shockingly – a huge Rob Liefeld fan. I kept saying “Chapel”. He kept saying “no, the other guy”, as if he was dismissing Chapel altogether, the most Rob Liefeld-y Rob Liefeld character ever. The only thing that would make him more Rob Liefeld-y would be if he was old and white. I was honestly stunned that he kept disregarding Chapel – the first character to be featured in a key crossover role amongst the original Image Comics. The character that basically “created” Spawn! And then the pouches and the guns! What is wrong with you, Jason?!
So anyway, here’s Chapel.
369. Black Panther
I’ve talked about my weird admiration of Black Panther before, I think. This also makes the 6th time I’ve drawn him for the blog. Anyhoo. If Marvel is reading, when you make the movie: A) Wakanda is a high-tech utopia & the most advanced civilization on Earth. No straw huts, loincloths or spears, please. B) Chiwetel Ejiofor. Accept no subsitutes.
Also, Day 369 was when Sketch-A-Day 1.0 ended two years ago. Because “69”. My brother! Up top!
368. Shadowman
Having recently read an old Valiant comic for Gutter Trash, I got some Valiant on the brains. If you choose to believe the wikipedia page, Shadowman is the mostest popular character in the history of all comic books from all time. I get that he was indeed popular, enough to launch a video game franchise (is two a franchise?) and have a reboot from Garth Ennis and Ashley Wood. But seriously? Shadowman Day in New Orleans? Really? Someone’s fucking with me.
He does have a nicely designed chest emblem, though.
367. War Machine
James “Rhodey” Rhodes. I just read his wikipedia page and now my head and heart hurt. Anyway, I think he’s now the Iron Patriot in the comics as well as the movies, but to me, he’ll always be War Machine. Mostly because that is also the name of the last good KISS song.
366. Luke Cage
So yeah. Hi.
Thus begins Year Two of The Sketch-A-Day 2.0.
February is going to be a theme month, coinciding with Black History Month. I am going to draw 27 black superheroes and 1 non-superhero. I was initially going to include black supervillains, but much like Marvel and DC, I am too afraid to present any black characters as villains. So yeah, I’ve already got my list of characters, and I apologize if your favorite one won’t be included, but if at the end of the month I didn’t get to them, let me know and I’m more than happy to draw any character any other time. Some will be traditional representations, some will be redesigns like this here Luke Cage. Sorta. He sorta works as a “costumeless” superhero, but y’know, you hang with the Avengers, you should have a costume. I’m looking forward to Marvel’s Netflix series, I hope it’ll be good. I also hope they choose Aldis Hodge to play him, mostly ‘cuz that guy is awesome on the show “Leverage”.
Last night, I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. Ever. Well, I’d seen parts of it before. Basically the first and last 20 minutes. Multiple times. But never the rest or in one sitting. It was screened as part of a thing called Nite Owl Theatre starring Fritz the Nite Owl, a horror host from Columbus, OH. Once a month, he presents some classic film (uncut, unedited) with host segments spliced in and vintage commercials. Even for a first time viewing experience, it was pretty awesome. If you’re in Columbus or Dayton, check out the site for upcoming shows. Next up is Labyrinth. But oh, Raiders was pretty good. I can see why people are into it (it is also no better or worse than the other three).