Betty Phones (panel redux)

After my fave, Dan DeCarlo (with a little nod to Robert Crumb). 

 

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: 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: Super Summer Fashions

The new BACK ISSUE (#160, July 2025) is a "Summer Fun Issue," which gave me the opportunity to return to a theme I've visited a few times in the past in Prince Street News, being the weather feasibility of some superhero costumes. I gave warm weather outfits to Captain America, Batgirl, the Punisher, the Creeper, Betty "Superteen" Cooper, and Wolverine. 
What I didn't know (or had forgotten, as I'd never owned them) is that the 1990s MARVEL SWIMSUIT SPECIALS (covered in this issue) had mined this vein of snark many, many times, so there may be some overlap here. I also acknowledge that Superteen doesn't really need a "summer costume," it was just an excuse for me to draw Betty. 
Here's the strip as it appears in the issue as well as details on each figure (including both hand- and digital-colored Batgirl variations). I'm also posting the sketchbook pages for this installment and a montage of the line art before scanning and cleanup.

Punk Jughead Redux

 My friend Steve is a huge Archie Comics collector, and sometimes he buys lots on eBay, inevitably stacking up piles of duplicates. He's been generous enough to share some of those with me, and as a thank-you, I offered to do a cover recreation for him. He chose JUGHEAD #327, in which Archie's best pal shockingly (and temporarily) goes PUNK! *gasp*

As an old punk rock fan, I tackled this with glee, mostly for the attempt to make it actually a little more punk rock, rather than the "I don't know, what's punk, is it like with headbands and earrings?" look that Stan Goldberg used on the original 1983 cover. Additionally, I swapped "normal" Jughead with his Captain Hero persona, got rid of the weird "Punk vs. Funk" blurb (is Forsythe normally funky?), and used a 1977 JUGHEAD trade dress and issue number to make it more era-appropriate. 

Below are the digital version, the hand-lettered and colored original I sent to Steve, the work In progress, and the original cover. And thanks again to Steve for his generosity and friendship! 

PRINCE STREET NEWS: Muscular Robots, et al...

 The latest BACK ISSUE (#156) is a look at Bronze Age graphic novels, but the Prince Street News inside has nothing to do with that theme! Rather, "Muscular Robots, 3D Paintings, Pristine Footwear, and Perfect Cosplay" is a look at some questionable creative choices that were commonplace among comic book artists of the past. I'm talking about things like costumes looking like they were spray painted onto muscular bodies, with no fabric weight at all, hair that stays in place underwater, and old superheroes looking as fit as when they were in their prime (to name a few, just read the damn thing!). 

The most fun part of doing this one was aping the works of fine artists in delineating comic book characters, in this case Paul Klee painting Green Lantern, Picasso throwing some Spider-Man pottery, Jim Flora drawing Archie, and Henry Moore sculpting Batman & Robin (okay, so maybe Jim Flora isn't exactly "fine art," but you get the point). I'm posting details on those pieces below the strip. Dig! 

Archie Andrews ala Jim Flora (based on a Sauter-Finegan LP cover, 1954)

Green Lantern ala Paul Klee (based on "Error on Green," 1930)

Batman & Robin ala Henry Moore (based on "Two Forms," 1934)

Spider-Man ala Pablo Picasso (based on Moon Face on Blue Ground," 1947) 

New Work Dump

 Rather than do a different post for each of these (especially since some of them are new versions of pieces I've already done), here's a quick dump of some new stuff (most of this slated for an as-yet scheduled show with some friends)....