Prince Street News: Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon (or Maybe Not)

 The new BACK ISSUE (#167) highlights "Girls, Woman, and Ladies," which sounds a bit wide-ranging, but it actually refers to characters who have those gender descriptors in their name. So this episode of Prince Street News discusses both the dichotomy between a female character's age and their appellation as well as other aspects of naming female heroes and villains (I mean... Mongal? C'mon)... 

I'm also posting an all-hand drawn version of the SHE-BAT faux movie poster used in the strip, which is available at the Tough Guy Etsy Shop! Or maybe it will be... I may not have put it up there yet. I guess I should check. 

Heh. 

Mr. Inferno's Girls, Betty and Veronica

 I did this for my pal, Steve, who periodically sends me amazing care packages of Archie Comics doubles he's accrued (he buys lots of lots). He mocked up a cover for an issue of BETTY AND VERONICA (#75) that highlights a story with a character named Mr. Inferno (ahem). Archie published a facsimile edition of that infamous comic book, but the cover doesn't feature this one-time character. What, Jingles can come back every year, but Satan can't? Sorry, sorry, Mr. Inferno! 

Prince Street News: The Logo!

 The new BACK ISSUE Magazine (#166, April 2026) is thematically about comic book partners and couples, but the Prince Street News is another off-topic one, a sequel to the piece about lettering that ran in #162 (scroll down a wee bit for that one). There's not a huge amount of drawing in this one, something I felt guilty enough about to draw small characters to add to montages for many of the panels, something which in retrospect is mostly distracting. 

This episode also allowed me to place an old piece, a redux of BATMAN #42 into which I placed a groovy Batman design I did as a small child (augmented with my attempts to replicate that esthetic onto Robin and Catwoman). The original version of this piece had Catwoman drawn a bit... larger... than she should've been (prompting a comment of "Catwoman thicc" by one online observer), so I did some Photoshop shrinking for this version (see below). 

Super Juice Cartons!

 I redrew these two 1960s Batman and Superman juice cartons in fluorescent inks because that's the kinda crap I do now! 

Hey! Animals!

 Some holiday pet portrait commissions for 2025. Want one? Message me! $100, unframed, 5x5."

It's an INSULT!

 A Wonder Woman panel recreation originally by H.G. Peter (of course). 

Swing, Gate!

 A Golden Age Batman and Robin #POOC (panel out of context) originally by Charles Paris from BATMAN #42 in 1940. Man, I love that lingo. 

Batgirls

Prince Street News: Let's Make a Trade!

It's another off-topic installment of PRINCE STREET NEWS, from BACK ISSUE's "Monkeying Around" issue #163. This month I'm yapping about (mostly) Silver and Bronze Age trade collections of comics (and comics-related material) that I wish would be published, including Superman Christmas stories, Dan DeCarlo pinups, Best-Of collections for Charlton and Atlas, stories from Harvey Comics featuring hippies (yes, there's enough for a book), and more. 

Now, here's the irony... between the time that I completed and sent in the strip and its publication, almost a full year had passed, and a lot can happen in a year! Such as not one, but TWO of these books becoming actual things... well, sort of. THE BEST OF DC'S HOUSES OF MYSTERY was sort of realized as DC FINEST: HORROR: THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY, which reprinted consecutive issues in full of some DC Silver / Bronze Age mystery books. It's not an editorially-selected "Best of," which would've been far preferable, as those books contained more chaff than wheat, but it's still a step in the right direction. Still forthcoming is a book collecting Alex Toth's DC work, but whether or not that'll be what I call for herein remains to be seen. 

Regardless, it's fun to put together wish lists like this, and makes me wish I could get the job of putting them together! I'm posting the strip along with the full covers that I mocked up for each one. Hey, DC! Marvel! Archie! IDW! Fantagraphics! Whoever! Let's do these! 

A humorous footnote: Initially, I laid out, drew, and lettered the strip with a redundancy: I'd put the DC ON SALE NOW book on both pages! It wasn't until I went to scan the artwork that I'd realized my mistake, so I had to go back and come up with another book (it was the SPIRE collection). Here's both panels as originally drawn. Eep. 

Prince Street News: Let Me Spell It Out

BACK ISSUE #162 is an all-MAD issue, but the Prince Street News is another off-topic episode, as it's a look at the nigh-dead art of hand-lettering in comic books! One of the (many) aspects of modern comics that kinda leaves me cold is the fact that almost all lettering is now digital, leaving actual calligraphy primarily left to indie cartoonists and old farts like myself. I get that digital lettering is cleaner and easier, but it lacks the spontaneity and fluidity of putting pen to paper. Some of my favorite comic book artists ever also did their own lettering, adding to their distinctiveness. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

As I post this strip, I'm currently working on the sequel strip, as teased at the bottom of the final panel (which almost had a different balloon, which I swapped at the last minute... by hand!)

 

Superman Nr.13

 This cover redux of a Danish Superman comic book from 1951 (see original at the bottom) shows the issues with doing artwork in fluorescent inks. Pictured are three different images of the same piece, the top one is from a scan, the second from a photo, and the third a photo under black light. NONE of them properly capture the colors of the original (even after adjusting levels and saturation), but the second one comes the closest. When I sell pieces like this online, I always hope that the buyer is happier when they open the package than when the saw the image on my Etsy page (or wherever). 

Shrouded

 Based on a photograph I saw online (unsure of provenance, anyone know? Tell me, I'll give credit!)