Linus Loves Mankind

I was commissioned to recreate this iconic PEANUTS panel (from the strip dated November 12, 1959), one of my all-time favorites (and oft-quoted, along with SEINFELD's "People... They are the worst!"). The person who requested this wondered if I could do some kind of tweak along the lines of my Sluggo panel redux, but I said that there are some things I consider sacrosanct, and PEANUTS is one of them. I did move Linus up a bit in the art, so that his feet are not cut off as in the original comic strip, but other than that... how do you improve perfection? The most you can do is hope to pay tribute. 

Wonder Women

This is a recreation of a detail from the cover of WONDER WOMAN #142 (1963) by the classic team of Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, featuring Diana, Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot (ugh), and Queen Hippolyta. 

Sluggo is Bored.

I've been redrawing some of my favorite comic strip panels, sometimes giving slight tweaks. Now, let me say, there are some comic strips that I consider sacrosanct... my ire is stirred by appropriations of PEANUTS and CALVIN & HOBBES that place those characters in a context that I don't think Charles Schulz or Bill Watterson would ever choose. As you will see in another post along these lines, I did a commission of one of my favorite PEANUTS panels of all time, and the person for whom I did it asked if I could maybe give it some kind of modern update, to which I demurred. You don't mess with the Schulz. 

Now, Ernie Bushmiller, on the other hand... don't get me wrong, I love NANCY. I confess, I was one of those who dismissed the strip as bland toast UNTIL I read a whole bunch of strips collected. Suddenly, the crazy genius of the strip became evident, and I was a converted fan. Still, I don't think that Bushmiller's rather conservative mindset is necessarily something that needs to be preserved in amber, so I have no issue messing around with his stuff a little bit. There are two words added to Sluggo's word balloon in this recreation. I'll leave it to you to figure out which two (hint: "Beatnik" is not one of them). 

Firepit!

George Carlin

STOP TREATING POC LIKE POS!

Here's a protest sign I did. Message me if you want a free hi-res version. And stay safe. 

Not Grace Kelly, Not Anne Randall, Not Ann-Margret

As I mentioned, I've been doing some small pinups and illustrations during the Coronavirus quarantine, and here are three of the former category, based on (but not looking like) photos of Ann-Margret, Grace Kelly, and Anne Randall. In the second image, I put pants on the lady! Whee! All of these originals (all measuring between 5x7" - 6x8" are available for sale, email me with any inquiries. 

DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER!

Hey, during this quarantine, I've been doing a bunch of commissions, including (for the first time ever), PET PORTRAITURE! Which actually, it turns out, is kind of fun to do. As you can see from the various images below (belonging to various friends), I have a format: 5x5", straight on, face only. Also, I'm much better at cats than dogs. Which makes sense if you know me. 

Springtime for Batman No.1

This drawing of Lewis Wilson as the first live-action Batman in the 1943 Columbia Pictures serial was originally done in 2015 for an installment of Prince Street News about the history of the Caped Crusader's outfits, newly hand-colored in non-traditional hues. 

The All-New Adventures of Batman with Batgirl

This Covid-Commission combined elements from a number of 1960s Batman products (including one of many crazy-cool Japanese Batmobiles) along with my own tweaks. 

Go, Dad, GO!

Based on the cover for Sonny Criss' 1956 album, GO MAN!

Count Chocula reads Richie Rich

Another Covid-Commission, this mashup of 1970s icons was requested by my friend Robyn, who thought she was asking for a still life of a bowl of Count Chocula and a stack of Richie Rich comics. What's the fun in that? I love drawing this character (here's a link to a 2013 piece of the chocolate vampire, along with Boo Berry and Frankenberry), and doing comic book cover recreations is rapidly becoming more of a thing. 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #66 Cover and Splash Recreations

Two more Covid-Commissions of Spider-Man recreations (for a different person!). My pal Jon Ames (no, not that one) and I enjoy debating the merits and lack of same on different versions of ol' Webhead (his favorite live-action Spidey is Tom Holland... mine is, let's just say, NOT). A big fan of Mysterio, Jon asked me to re-do the cover and final splash page from THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #66 (1968), original art by John Romita (Sr., of course), with assist by Don Heck on the splash. It's fun doing these recreations, tweaking them just enough to make them my own (plus, you know, I'm a fraction of the artist John Romita is, so a 100% faithful repro not only isn't possible, but really, what would be the point?). More coming soon! 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 & 6 cover recreations

My very first comic book pal was my friend Allan, whom I met in fourth grade. For years, we engaged in that now-extinct fanboy kid ritual of trading comics (over the phone!). Al was more of a Marvel kid, while I was a DC guy (although not exclusively). Recently, as I'm quarantined and furloughed, he commissioned me to do a couple of Spider-Man cover recreations, for The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964) by Spidey's co-creator, Steve Ditko, and The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #6 (1969) by Ditko's successor, John Romita. Both covers feature The Sinister Six, a super-team of Spidey foes! And you know who's really hard to draw? Spider-Man's rogues gallery, that's who!!! Okay, The Sandman's pretty easy, but Kraven, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Electro, and The Vulture all have costumes that can drive ya batty! Still these were really fun to do, and led to two more Spider-Man recreations for another friend that I will post tomorrow (or, before this post if you're looking at this any time after today, so why the heck am I writing this in a time-sensitive context, that makes zero sense!). 

The Wienermobile!

The Grady Twins

While furloughed from work (I pay the bills as a bartender) and locked down in quarantine, I've been doing some commission work and will be posting some of those pieces here (with the kind permission of the people for whom I did the work). First up! Those oh-so-adorable and popular Grady Twins! The original version of this had a hand-drawn background that just didn't work out, so it became a collaged piece, giving me the opportunity to bust out the ol' rubber stamps for the nigh-mandatory accompanying quote.

Art + Autonomy Salon Presents...

I was hired to design a retro 1980's style punk show flyer for imaginary bands to be used by NYC's Art + Autonomy Salon on merchandise. You can check out this (and much more fun stuff) at their Threadless store. The style of the girl was inspired by Diane Lane in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, a 1982 movie that I have never seen! Thanks to Haven and everyone at A+A for asking me to do this really fun job. 

Romel Hits 50 (postponed)

Hey, cats & kittens & punks! So, a few months back, my pal Romel asked me to put together a rock-themed invite for his 50th birthday party, which was supposed to be held today at Jersey City's fantastic Low Fidelity bar... sadly, of course, thanks to the current pandemic, ain't no bars and ain't no parties. Hopefully, Romel will get to reschedule this milestone celebration sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, here's the invite, obviously (hopefully anyway) based on the artwork for The Clash's debut album.

Prince Street News: Eternal Costume Conundrums

The new BACK ISSUE! (#119) is an in-depth look at The Guardians of the Galaxy! Characters for whom I have no affinity! So the PSN in this issue is what we call "off-topic" (there will be more of these going forward)...

In this issue, I take a look at Eternal Costume Conundrums, examining some ongoing head-scratchers such as, "how does Spider-Man's wall climbing power work through boots and gloves?" or "Why can you see every single hint of muscle through costumes but no sign whatsoever of any genitalia?" This is one of those strips for which you don't need to have deep fanboy knowledge, so enjoy, normal humans!

Prince Street News: The Replacements!

Hey! In the hectic rush of the holidays, I neglected to post the latest Prince Street News upon release of BACK ISSUE! #117, so here it is a bit late! The theme of this issue is Superhero Stand-Ins, featuring a phenomenal Beta Ray Bill cover by the great Walt Simonson (rumor has it that Bill may be popping up in the next Thor movie, we'll have to wait and see).

For this issue, I take a look at the various kinds of "Replacements," using song titles from the band of the same name (but you knew that, right?). There's some fanboy inside gags here, some that work for the layperson, and a super self-indulgent inclusion of a 2012 submission to the late, lamented Covered blog, utilizing character designs from a childhood update of the Justice League of America (most of which are silly, a few of which I still think aren't that bad, mostly the Atom and the Flash). As always, any questions can be asked and answered in the comments section.

Next up! A look at the inherent ridiculousness of superhero outfits and some Eternal Costume Conundrums (such as, why isn't the Incredible Hulk naked all the time?).