154 – The American Scream


Happy 4th of July! Over at Ok, PANIC! we celebrated the holiday with the Patriotic Avenger, Captain America, the spirit of the potential of America. However, America has a prevalent shitty side, so I’m showcasing that here with The American Scream, the villain of the first 25 or so issues of Peter Milligan & Chris Bachalo’s Shade the Changing Man series, a favorite of mine. I’ll put the first 50 issues of that series up against more notable classic comics any day. Also Bachalo was never better than his peak at around issue 35 or so, when the book switched over to DC’s new Vertigo imprint (he carried that style to his first run on Marvel’s Generation X, after that, I have no idea what happened to him).

As a bonus “America’s Dark Side” piece, a drawing I did some years ago of a Bizzaro version of Captain America: Bizarro Amerika.

Ok, PANIC!: Captain America

153 – Venom


I really hate this “character”.

152 – I turned into a Martian


I’ve never seen the original Mars Attacks trading cards, but I’ve seen the Tim Burton movie and heard The Misfits’ song. Actually, it was the first Michale Graves Misfits song I listened to that convinced me to buy the CDs of his era of the band.

Also, I didn’t like the movie when I first saw it. I don’t why. It was actually years later when I worked at the TV station, we aired it one weekend afternoon, and for some reason, it really hit me how funny and good it was. It could be because it distracted me from my shitty job and mostly idiot co-workers (not you guys, who might be reading this that I worked with. The other guys. You remember them).

151 – Huh

150 – Deadman


I don’t know what the flippity-flap is going on with Deadman in the ol’ comical books, but I know he’s got a strong presence in the New DCU, a member of Justice League Delayed and Justice League Dark, plus a solo story as an opening salvo for the New DCU anthology book.

But every time I see Deadman as a buff dude, I’ll do my best to avoid that story. Some artists simply define the way a character should be drawn by being balls-out awesome at it, and Kelley Jones kicked the ever-loving shit out of how Deadman should be drawn. I certainly didn’t do any justice to that here. But Kelley Jones is an amazing artist, and I love it when he works on comics I’d actually want to read.

149 – I Want Your Skrulls


I call the one on the right H’kee C’medion.

148 – Bat-Mite


Another request for Joe Grunenwald (who hasn’t updated his blog in almost two months).

The only comics I’ve read with Bat-Mite in them are the Evan Dorkin World’s Funnest Bat-Mite/Mxyzptlk team-up/battle, and the Grant Morrison Batman: RIP storyline, which was hilarious.

But I do remember him from the old Batman cartoon I used to watch as a kid, and I probably loved the crap out of it. I can guarantee you that I’m too afraid to watch it now, cuz I’m sure it’s terrible.

Look forward to Joe and I reviewing every episode when we’re done with the Justice League cartoon.

147 – Dazzler


One year ago, I posted a cover recreation of Dazzler # 1 for my friend Kathleen, for her birthday. Dazzler is her favorite character, and has amassed a collection of Dazzler sketches and art from different folks. When I saw her over the weekend, she forced me to promise to draw her another Dazzler for her birthday this year.

Definitely not as complex as the cover recreation, though I deeply wish I could redraw most of that. I can’t look at it.

I went with ’80s X-Men Dazzler for a change-up, also, because when I started reading X-Men, this was her costume, and I’ll always associate that with this character.

As an added bonus, years ago, I used to make these little gif things called Microheroes. I animated quite a few of them, and would redesign costumes and whatnot. Here’s the Dazzler Micro, for your enjoyment. I kinda miss making them every now and then.

Happy Birthday, Kat!

146 – Astro Boy


This fulfills a request for Jim Purcell, a guy who has been one of my biggest supporters for a few years now, despite the fact that I am constantly letting him down. We met online at the old Newsarama message boards, and we were both members of the weekly art group there.

I don’t know a thing about Astro Boy. I’ve never seen any incarnation of his cartoon, I’ve never read any of the manga or have seen the most recent CGI movie. The only thing I know about him is from the Frank Miller/Geoff Darrow homage/parody Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. Which is to say, not a lot.

Also Frank Miller has lost his fucking mind, right?