The Misadventures of Black Samson & Iron Gauntlet!

Things aren't lookin' too good for our heroes. Black Samson & Iron (Fisto) Gauntlet were hired by the mayor of Central City to find the whereabouts of their local crime buster, the Protector (a pragmatic if not unimaginative name), and clean up the crime wave left in the wake of his mysterious absence. Well, in our usual ass-backwards manor, we rolled into town, beat up some gang bangers, dined at some of the city's better restaurants and took in some of the local sites. While attempting to thwart the theft of a rare snake on display at the zoo, we got our asses handed to us by a pair of snake-themed super baddies, who managed to make off with the snake in spite of our best efforts. But as our luck would have it, while we were at the Dollar General Hospital, Black Samson accidentally found the Protector as a "John Doe" lying beaten and comatose. Iron Gauntlet, deciding we were in over our heads, posted a message on a super hero recruiting message board on the internet, welcoming all would-be heroes to come to Central City to help "clean up the town." Within the first five minutes, there were twenty-five hits on the site. Tonight's "Game Night Monday" should prove interesting.

In the meantime, boppers, enjoy the Black Samson & Iron Gauntlet trading cards.

Three Birthdays Today!

Today has the distinction of being the birthday of three of my favorite people, people who have, one way or another, influenced my life greatly.

The Jaded Minstrel, himself, sadly taken from us only a few years ago, Warren Zevon.

Mister Bad Example also shares a birthday with one of the hardest working, yet greatly under appreciated actors of our or any time, Ernest "Give 'em Hell, Pike!" Borgnine.

Then there's Jeep, born nine years ago today. Where has the time gone?

Tasma Unplugged!

Last Saturday, while watching "Creatures the World Forgot" on Svengoolie, I got the idea for this pin-up upon realizing that, aside from a snake and a warthog, there were no "creatures" in the movie at all. But in true Hammer fashion, there were a couple cave hotties, including Miss Julie Ege. Anyway, it didn't stop me from watching it and inspired the image below, so it wasn't all bad.

Cover Your Ears, Mortals! Black Bolt Speaks!

Last year at S.P.A.C.E. I asked Tom Scioli, whose personal mission it seems is to keep Jack Kirby alive and preserve the pure spirit of comic books, to draw Black Bolt of the Inhumans for me. He said something like, "I was looking for an excuse to draw Black Bolt."

My intent was to ink it when I found the time, but it was almost a year before that happened and by then, I'd misplaced it in the Big Move. Well, I found it at the very bottom of a box marked "art" over this Christmas break, one of the few times of the year when I don't even attempt any "serious" art. Between my kids being home and the Holidays, there's almost no time for that, but I gotta do something just to keep in practice.

And here it is inked by yours truly. I added the background and sparkles coming from that wacked-out tuning fork on his forehead.

Keep it here, boppers.

First Post of the New Year!

First off, Happy New Year! All things considered, 2008 was a pretty good year for my family and me. We had a new baby, now ten months old, and moved into a nicer place over the summer. The kids are in a new school, but their old friends are not too far away. The Serial Squad! Thrill-O-Rama rolled off the printing press and the response to it far exceeded any of my expectations. So, all things considered, 2009 looks like it's gonna be a good year.

With the kids being on Christmas vacation, I haven't done too much "serious" artwork, mostly just sketch cards, images on 4"x6" card stock, which I'll post soon. Below is a concept drawing to the Chimera's vehicle, circa 1978, when the Chimera is actually the daughter of Richmond Kane, Kane being my version of Mike Indovina's brainchild. Confused? Somewhere down the road, I plan on doing something with the 1970s second generation of Squad! members. Richmond Kane (aka The Chimera) and Kay Campbell (aka Tasma the Congo Queen) had twin girls before, on a final Serial Squad! mission, she disappeared. Both girls are mutants (or whatever synonym Marvel Comics will let me use), one with superhuman healing powers due to her mother's exposure to a fountain of youth, the other has the power to generate bursts of light due to her father's prolonged exposure to the radioactive power supply of his Flash Gun. The latter twin becomes the Chimera. Her Chimera Mobile, or "Carmera" is a 1978 Corvette originally designed by George Barris for a TV pilot of some sort that didn't take off, then anonymously purchased by the new Chimera and loaded with Martian tech weaponry for catching bad guys.

I've set the Wayback Machine to 1990 for this next image. About twenty years ago, I entered a contest to create a newspaper daily comic strip. To enter, you had to do a week's worth of an original strip, including a double-sized Sunday edition. My entry, which obviously didn't win, was called "Kwiky" and was based on the stuffed animals of my friends' and my childhood. The first of each month, until July, I plan on posting an installment of "Kwiky." Sorry for the grainy images.

See you soon, boppers.