By request, Lobo the Duck, which was a hell of a lot of fun to draw. Makes me want to tackle the main Main Man hisself, as well.
Fraggin’ a world he never made
J’onn J’onzz: The Manhunter from Mars
A redesign of Martian Manhunter.
Moon Knight
Inspired by the new Moon Knight series, Vengeance of Moon Knight, by Gregg Hurwitz and Jerome Opena (who is fucking amazing, by the way).
First of all, I’ve always liked Moon Knight in a way. So a few years ago when the series was being relaunched, I was excited. I checked out Charlie Huston’s novels to get a feel for his writing, and I set myself to tolerate David Finch’s art. The novels I read by Huston were excellent, especially the Joe Pitt vampire/noir series, so my excitement escalated. However, the Moon Knight comic sucked. One of the most boring, awful comics I’ve ever read. Dropped after 4 or so issues, burned so bad that I never even checked it out after Huston and Finch left.
I’m not really sure why I picked up the first issue of the new one. But I’m glad I did, holy fuck was it good. Maybe it was the low expectations, but I was blown away for certain.
As for the drawing, the intent for it was something completely different for a) my usual style and b) how it actually turned out. I was going to go for a sorta very simple, indie-comics sorta style, but not in a mocking way. I failed completely, and wound up with a bastardized Frank Quitely (but if Quitely were brain dead and had broken hands) style.
Believe it, or not.
Recently, thanks to Netflix, I’ve been renting the Greatest American Hero on DVD. I remember loving the show when I was a kid, but as with most things, those cherished memories usually come crashing down as we come across them as adults.
Well, while certainly dated, G.A.H. holds up to a certain extent. It’s got a lot of charm and wit, and the concept still works, and Robert Culp is great. I think an update of the show in either movie form or even still on television would be great, as long as care could be taken not to “CW” it up, or load it with pop culture references. And it’s certainly too bad that the recent comic was as terrible as terrible can be, as that’d be a fine place for a revival as well.
Vampire Peeper of Greene County
A friend of mine (Matt Brassfield of Bloodline Video) asked if I’d draw a cover for a DVD he was putting out, Vampire Peeper of Greene County – a part of his “Bad Movie Night Collection” of videos. Because I’m a pussy who has a hard time saying “no”, I agreed. Then it took him over a month to get me photos of the characters, or a copy of the movie. When he finally did, I only had the weekend to get a full-color illustration – with logo design and banner design – done.
The vampire in the movie is a cheap child’s Dracula mask, with Freddy Krueger glove and Superman hoodie. Who is also played by the same guy playing the “hero” of the film. Obviously, I made the vamp a little more menacing than a plastic mask, I made the claws real, and the Superman symbol makes a nice ‘V’ for vampire. The two “heroes” of the film played by Matt Hoffman (the character with the ballcap) and Adam Eckley (the other guy) were the only memorable characters with any dialogue, so they get the cover treatment. My friends Jason and Pat were also in the movie, but fuck those guys.
The movie itself, kinda fun. It’s definitely bad on every possible level, but I laughed out loud a few times, chuckled throughout. It’s entirely improvised, so check out the Bloodline Video website to support local (to me) independent movies.
Puddin’
Is it a cliche to say that Joker is the best comic book villain ever? Sure. But it’s also true. Played out a bit? Also true, but still will always be awesome. Except when played by Heath Ledger as Al Franken.
Iron Lantern
A Post-It Doodle done at work in red and black gel pens, scanned and inverted. I never read the Amalgam comic, but like most of them, the idea seems neat…
Shadow of the Colossus
Drawn a few years ago in pencil, finished in Adobe Illustrator. There are some things I’d like to go back and tweak, but can’t find the original AI file. Colossus was always one of my favorite X-Men characters when I was growing up, probably third after Nightcrawler and Wolverine.
Sandman
I’ve had a fondness for the Golden Age Sandman for a long time, only reinforced by the criminally underrated Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle and Guy Davis. There’s just something great and timeless about a guy in a suit, trenchcoat, fedora and gas mask. I have a smattering of SMT issues, but not the whole run. They are difficult to track down. Someday, I’d like to get the trades collecting the series, but someday I’d like to get a lot of trades collecting a lot of series. So there you go.
Incidentally, I’m a terrible inker. Looking at this piece, while I dislike it in general, I find a cleaner line that I am capable of when I ink something. I’ve always had a problem inking, but it’s really something that’s been bothering me more and more lately. There’s just more control in the pencils, but I am definitely not an admirer of comic art that is reproduced from pencils only. Ink is necessary. I just wish I could do it.
Madman Monday
My pal Jason and I were drawing on Saturday, and he mentioned that he was going to draw a Madman picture for his blog. At the time, we were watching the show Mad Men, and that’s what I thought he said. It’s not too odd, he’s drawn characters from other TV shows before. But when I saw him pull out some Mike Allred’s Madman reference, I got a little disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing his renditions of Don Draper and Co. Then he gave me the brilliant idea that’s too stupid, I can’t believe someone hasn’t done it yet.
So anyway, for uninitiated to either Mad Men or Madman, here’s a key:
Bold = Mad Men character; Italics = Madman character
(left to right)
Joan Holloway, Bonnie
Roger Sterling, Dr. Gillespie Flem
Don Draper, Frank Einstein (Madman)
Betty Draper, Joe Lombard
Bert Cooper, Dr. Egon Boiffard
Peggy Olson, Gale
Pete Campbell, Astroman
I thought about other match-ups too. The only definite one was Paul Kinsey as Mott, and then various Atomics characters as Sal, Ken, Harry, and some of the secretaries.
Anyway, go check out Jason’s Blog to see the Madman drawing he completed.
UPDATE: Jason couldn’t scan his drawing in. Go to his blog and berate him.