Old school whisker-mask, small eye-piece Wolverine. Also, I shortened the gloves and the flares on his boots. I went ahead and made his teeth metal, because they would be, right? No one ever mentions this. He could absotively bite the shit out of people. Finally, I’ve always thought that his mutton-chops should stick out of his mask. No mask can withhold those mighty sideburns.
286 – Wolverine
285 – Conrad Lant
Spent the day at Horrorhound Cincinnati with Kurt Dinse, whose cartoon avatar is Conrad Lant, star of Kurt’s comic One Year in Indiana. Conrad is the world’s smartest death metal vocalist who is stranded in Indiana when his band stops touring. It is loosely based on Kurt’s own experiences, and one of the best comics around. Go email him and buy a copy. If Kurt had not been at the show today, I would have had a miserable time. Horrorhound Cincinnati, it’s guests and customers: go fuck yourselves.
284 – Darkhawk
Another non-DC request for Joe G., another character who I am mostly unfamiliar with, having only read a few issues that guest-starred bigger characters.
283 – Sleepwalker
A non-DC request from Joe Grunenwald! I’m fairly certain he doesn’t remember asking for this! I don’t know a thing about Sleepwalker, I think I read maybe three issues of his book in the early 90s, probably because Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider or The Punisher guest-starred.
282 – Flatman
Back in the early 90s, John Byrne did a run on West Coast Avengers (Avengers West Coast?) that I absolutely loved, and part of his run was the introduction of The Great Lakes Avengers, a ridiculous team of Midwestern Superheroes who actually turned out to be pretty competent and powerful. Hawkeye and Mockingbird both left The Avengers to lend guidance to the GLA. They popped up maybe a couple other times, but were subsequently ignored for the most part.
In the mid-2000s, Dan Slott brought the team back for a mini-series and some one-shots that I enjoyed. They were goofy fun heroes, and sadly, I don’t think Marvel or DC has any room for that type of book anymore.
Anyway, the team consisted of Mr. Immortal, Doorman, Dinah Saur, Big Bertha and Flatman (pictured).
281 – Ultimate Nick Fury
At it’s core, I have no problems with Ultimate Nick Fury. But I do have a problem with the fact that he simply exists only to get the attention of Samuel L. Jackson. And hey, it worked! Unfortunately, this is so meta and so twisted in on itself, that there’s now no room for Ultimate Nick Fury to be his own character or have a personality. He is simply Sam Jackson fictionalized. But hey, now Jackson is playing the character in movies, so who cares?
280 – Nick Fury
Nick Fury, Old School, Original Flavor. Y’know the one with an established history and personality that makes him a rich and compelling character.
279 – Odin
By Odin’s Beard!
My friend Stephen Alexander is a member of a group called The Gem City Gentlemen of the Gilded Beard. This is a group of people who are in love with – to a possibly obsessive degree – their own beards.
If my comments seem snide, it is out of pure jealousy and my own inability to grow a decent beard.
But weird beards aside, they are a pretty giving group of folks, and on November 12th, they are holding Ohio’s Second Annual Beard and Moustache Competition and Festival. The event is being held at COSI, in Columbus, Ohio.
This is more than just an odd excuse to look at and possible fondle beards. Proceeds from the Competition will go to the organization Central Ohio Men Against Prostate Cancer, and this drawing of Thor’s father, Odin, will be auctioned off to benefit this charity, along with some other great art, too.
Stephen had asked me last year to contribute a drawing for The Competition, but I was undergoing my artistic nervous breakdown at the time and told him I couldn’t. I hope Odin makes up for it this year.
So, on November 12th, go to COSI early and explore SCIENCE! and then stick around for the Second Annual Beard and Moustache Competition and Festival and buy my art for a good cause. More information can be found at Beard Team Ohio.
That said, it was difficult to find any decent reference on Odin outside of Anthony Hopkins. I definitely knew I wanted this to be a Jack Kirby version of Odin, but he drew Odin completely different each time he set pencil to page. Either that or Vince Colletta did. Also the color palette was pretty awful as well, so I just kinda winged that.
Ok, PANIC!: Do-Over
A re-do of the Star Wars topic.
278 – V
I am no longer a very political person. There was a point in time that I was, but I pretty much just stopped giving a crap. I vote, and that’s pretty much it. My politics currently can be summed up in this manner: You can insult and make fun of Herman Cain and criticize his politics and policies all you want. The second you insult his pizza, you have trouble.
I know that the film version of V for Vendetta has become a rallying point for some politically minded folks, and yeah, whatever, that’s fine. I think it’s absolutely 100% hilarious that Guy Fawkes masks have become a huge seller for these anarchist and Anonymous movements and that they continue to pump millions of dollars into Warner Bros. who own the rights to the image.
I also think it’s absolutely hilarious that throughout all of that, these people are essentially fucking Alan Moore in his financial hole (it’s in the taint). See, Alan Moore was promised all the rights to his books Watchmen and V for Vendetta once they go out of print, which will never happen if folks keep buying the books, movies and other related merch. Good job!
And finally, I think it’s hilarious that the point of the movie is leftist conformity, whereas the point of the book is anarchy and individuality.
As for me, I don’t care. Alan Moore is a pompous windbag full of misdirected bearded rage.
That said, V for Vendetta is a far better book than Watchmen. I made that declaration when I read it the first time 13 years ago or so, and I still liked Watchmen back then. I tried reading Watchmen recently and found it unbearable. I read V again after the movie came out and it still held up.
So anyway, Remember Remember the 5th of November when I declared that your political views don’t matter the slightest, everyone is out for #1, those that claim they aren’t are the ones who are absolutely the most, and I welcome the upcoming race and class wars and the annihilation they will bring.