In her satin tights / fighting for our rights...

Two recent Wonder Woman pieces, featuring two different iterations of the character, both beloved by me!

Prince Street News: More Ben Cooper!

 The new BACK ISSUE Magazine (#131) is a look at Jack Kirby's post-Fourth World DC Comics. Which is nice, but has nothing to do with the Prince Street News comic therein! This is a rare off-topic episode, a seasonal sequel to one of the more popular things I've done, superheroes wearing their own Ben Cooper (et al) Halloween costumes. 

For this installment, I confess to doing some cheating. Previously, I hand-drew the costumes in all their tiny detail. This time, I more simply Photoshopped the screened imagery onto most of the figures (the exceptions being Mr. Fantastic and Supergirl). If I ever revisit this theme, I'm probably going to go back to doing the whole thing by hand. Because, you know... not cheating. 

Nosferatu

 

NERD ALERT!

 My pal, Matt Caputo and I are having an art show at the 313 Gallery in Jersey City NJ, with an opening reception Saturday, October 23 from 2-7pm. NERD ALERT! is a show of mostly pop-culture-inspired art, both originals and prints for sale, many priced to move! So come on out and geek out with us! There'll be snacks! 

Prince Street News: For Sheer Suspense!

 The new BACK ISSUE Magazine (#130) is a super-fun one if you were a comics fan in the '70s and '80s (I mean, they all are, that's the whole gist of the mag, but this one is particularly hoot-worthy), spotlighting Bronze Age Promos, Ads, and Gimmicks (including, naturally, the ubiquitous Hostess ads that appeared in every comic book of the era). 

For this installment of Prince Street News, I did a lot of detail work, completely redrawing entire house ads and covers for some of the things I discuss. Then again, I also used more scans in this episode than in any other PSN strip... so it all balances out!! 

Below is the full strip as it appears in the mag as well as the full redraws. The original art for some of these is available in the ol' Tough Guy Etsy shoppe (note that the Ms. Marvel ad and Captain America cover look different than in the final strip, as they were hand-lettered and colored for the shop). 

Walking and Rolling to School with Buster the Bus

 My friend, the multi-talented Kayt Hester pulls a day gig at the Hudson Transportation Management Association in New Jersey where she works in pedestrian safety for the younglings. She wrote a book for the kids starring the TMA's mascot, Buster the Bus (one of a number of Buster Buses across the land) and asked me to illustrate it.  Sadly, WALKING AND ROLLING TO SCHOOL WITH BUSTER THE BUS is currently only available to Hudson County school children, but it may be given a wider distribution at some point. Here's a selection of pages from the book along with the poster I did to promote it and a photo of the writer and artist in the wild (or, at a bar!). 

Fawnwood

  This commission is outside of my normal purview, but it was also a very personal piece. My aunt (mother's sister) and uncle built this beautiful house in 1979 in the woods and spent the next forty years making it a warm and inviting home for their own family and many, many visitors. In January of 2020, they moved out of the house into a smaller retirement community (which they have already made their own, because that's what they do). For my uncle's birthday, my aunt asked me to collaborate with her on a comic strip style ode to the house they (and I) loved so much. To call this a labor of love is putting it mildly. 

SPIDER-MAN Cover Redux Yet Again!

 More of these! At this rate, I'll eventually have redone every Silver and Bronze Age AMAZING SPIDER-MAN cover by the end of this decade! Sooner, even! Here's my covers (so to speak) of ASM #13 (after Steve Ditko), #39, and #112 (both by John Romita). 

WRAPPER REDUX SERIES III

Some months back, I decided I was done doing Lichtensteinian redrawings of other people's artwork because as much as I enjoy doing it, it wasn't the most creative work. WELL, SCRATCH THAT, HUMANS, HERE'S 13 MORE OF THESE. As with the other Wrapper Redux (or "Wredux," depending on how alliterative I'm feeling at the moment), are available for sale (original art) at the Tough Guy Goods Etsy shoppe.  

Topps Baseball 1972 Series

Topps Batman 1966 (one of many wrappers for this series)

Fleer Official Drag Champs 1972

Topps Frankenstein Stickers 1966

Topps Kung-Fu 1973

Topps Monster Initial Stickers 1973

Leaf The Munsters 1964

Topps Return of the Jedi, 1983

Topps The Six Million Dollar Man, 1974

Topps Supergirl, 1984

Philadelphia Chewing Gum Co. Super Hero Stickers, 1967

Topps Superman III, 1983

Topps Tarzan 3D Picture Cards, 1953

Recent Design Work...

For the five or six of you who periodically visit this page (I mean, seriously, what's more ludicrous than hosting a blog in 2021?),  you'll note that I've migrated the bulk of my design stuff over to Tough Guy II, dedicating this page to my illustration and comics. But I did a handful of fun T-Shirt / Sticker designs during lockdown that I thought I'd put here in one post. If you wanna see more and get ordering information on any of these, please click over to TGII (the link is right there on the right, but I'll go ahead and embed it here anyway).