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). 

Cover Redux International II

 I was commissioned to do another round of foreign comic book cover recreations (see here for the first six pieces), this time all DC characters... I spent almost as much time researching this project as I did drawing them! But it sure was fun. Note that these are photos taken with my camera (phone) rather than scans because the scans cannot pick up the colors properly. So there's that. 

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! 

Cover Redux International!

 Some foreign comic book cover recreations, done as a commission for a friend! 

'60s Ditko Mashup!

 This commission was a fun mashup of DC and Marvel, two Steve Ditko characters, the Creeper and the Vulture, battling each other over the skyline of... which city? I guess Gotham City, since the Creeper gets the masthead! 

Spider-Man Cover Redux Again!

More Spidey cover commissions,  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #72 and #130... I finished these two pieces shortly before the original artist, the great John Romita (Sr.) passed away on June 12 at the age of 93. If you ask me, Romita's name needs to be spoken in the same breath as Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko as one of the architects of Marvel Comics. 

 

Spidey Covers Redux... Again!

 More Spider-Man cover recreations, this time tackling AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9 after Steve Ditko and #121 after John Romita. The cover of #9 was really text heavy, so I adjusted the main image to take up more space and altered some of the text, omitting one blurb and moving other lettering around. 

Spidey Again!

 Three more Spider-Man commissions, this time AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #21 (after Steve Ditko), ASM #148 (after Gil Kane & John Romita), and MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #1 (after Romita). 

World's Finest #36 Redux

 Commissioned for a friend, a few changes from the Winslow Mortimer original (mostly, I took off the heroes' boots because even a superhero has to surf barefoot! Capes are one thing, boots another! 

More Mighty Marvel Cover Recreations

 More Marvel cover redux commissions, mixing it up with some Fantastic Four this time!  The cover of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #38 features some radical alterations to the original. Perhaps having to do with this being Steve Ditko's final issue of Spidey, he did not create an original cover for the comic book, instead Marvel cobbled together images from the interior artwork and added a lot of lettering. While the main image is certainly dynamic enough for a cover, the three panels at the bottom felt kind of randomly chosen (I'll place the original cover for comparison) so I found the full comic book online and chose three different panels I felt were more worthy of cover placement. 
John Romita's cover to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #62 (introducing Medusa) has always been one of my favorites, so it was super fun to redraw this one. Medusa's green-and-orange color scheme compelled me to color it using fluorescent inks, making this another modern Third-Eye tribute. 
Finally, the cover to FANTASTIC FOUR #86, which was also so much fun to do because Jack Kirby's ridiculous genius always smacks you in the face when you have to try to draw it. Try it! It's fun! 

Still More Spidey Recreations!

Another batch of Spider-Man commissions for my pal Al, this round special because it was the storyline begun in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #144 ("The Delusion Conspiracy!") that cemented our friendship back in Elementary School! The ad for SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 is after John Romita, as is the cover of ASM #141 while 144 is after Gil Kane & Romita, my all-time favorite Spider-Man art team. 

Peanuts #10 Cover Redux

My friend Elisa commissioned me to redo the cover to Dell Comics' PEANUTS #10, originally by Charles Schulz. I added Violet and a background to the original and changed some of the trade dress. Sorry, Sparky! 

 

Wonder Woman #10 Cover Redux

After H.G. Peter's cover to WONDER WOMAN #10. You can't tell from the picture, but this is done in mostly fluorescent inks, making it a Golden Age DC Third Eye piece (if you get it, you get it). The original is available at the Tough Guy Goods Etsy shop. 

 

Another Round of Spidey!

More Spider-Man recreations, this time the cover to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #76 (after John Romita), MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 (after Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia), and the splash page to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122 (by Gil Kane, John Romita, and Tony Mortellardo) sans word balloons and captions. 

STRANGE TALES 128 Redux

Another commission, this time a reworking of the cover of STRANGE TALES #128, repurposing a Steve Ditko pinup of Dr. Strange from the interior as the main image for the cover, with the Jack Kirby Thing / Human Torch / Quicksilver / Scarlet Witch piece as a secondary image. Man, those Ditko backgrounds are fun to draw. 

More Spidey!

Two new Spider-Man cover recreation commissions, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2 (repurposing the splash page as the cover) after Steve Ditko, and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #135, featuring the second appearance of the Punisher, after John Romita. 

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). 

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).