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) 

Prince Street News: The Great Unseen Batman Artists of the '70s

The new BACK ISSUE Magazine (#150) is a look at the (slightly) lesser-known Batman creators of the Bronze Age (mostly meaning everyone aside from Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Jim Aparo!). It's a must-have for any fan of the Darknight Detective BEFORE Frank Miller (who's also in this issue, albeit focusing on his first Batman story) turned him into the Dark Knight. 

This issue's PRINCE STREET NEWS was super fun to do: "The Great Unseen Batman Artists of the '70s" imagines what the character might've looked like as rendered by some of the few cartoonists and illustrators who DIDN'T ever draw Batman (and believe me, it's not easy to find a lot of them)! So you've got Harvey Comics' Ernie Colón, Gahan Wilson, Jules Feiffer, DOONESBURY's Garry Trudeau, Cathy Guisewite of CATHY, Marvel's John Romita, Arnold Roth, underground cartoonist, Skip Williamson, PEANUTS' Charles M. Schulz, B. Kliban, MAD Magazine's Dave Berg, and graphic designer Milton Glaser. Below the full strip are detail on a few of the pieces. 

It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything here... part of it is a lack of productivity, but also, I gotta say, nobody ever looks at blogs anymore. The Tough Guy Instagram page is primarily where I'm posting stuff these days. This page will remain as basically an online portfolio, but man, it sure feels like a lot of work anymore. 

PRINCE STREET NEWS: More Characters Go SUPER!

 The new BACK ISSUE is a "Super Issue," focusing on the bronze age adventures of Superboy (the first of which was my very first comic book, so I have a fondness for this topic). Other features include pieces on Frank Thorne's super-rare promotional comic book, The Far-Out Super Green, interviews with the syndicated ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY stars Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk, and articles on superhero versions of Richie Rich, Dagwood, and Goofy. Plus more! Including me! 

This installment of PSN was really fun to do, and it's hard to figure out comic book / strip characters who WEREN'T turned into a superhero at least for one story or gag (and some of these indeed have been, notably the Harvey girls). 

A few of these are "inside fanboy" gags ("Super Slam" is Slam Bradley, a detective created by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, so he looks just like their far more famous creation). The Phantom Stranger (a character I love) bit is a nod to a brief period in the 1960s when Marvel Comics gave Doctor Strange a more superhero-ey costume. 

Next issue: A tribute to Neal Adams. This one was personal. Stay tuned. 

Prince Street News: The Lost Oddities of the Bronze Age of Comics

BACK ISSUE #134 may be one of my favorite issues, focusing on comic book rarities and oddities of the Bronze Age (being the 1970s and '80s). While the issue's content (as always) is strictly for the longbox crowd, this issue's installment of PRINCE STREET NEWS features, along with the usual nerdy chuckles, a handful of gags that even civilians can get (that is, if you were into New Wave or Russian Soviet dissidents of the 1970s). I've posted some of the individual elements after the complete strip, but a few of these will get their own posts just so I can slip into someone's Google search of George Carlin or the B-52's a little quicker.... 

Next up: Another one-pager, lamenting some beloved extinct elements of old comic books. 

POSTSCRIPT: It was almost a month after posting this that I realized I put TWO conflicting issue number / months on the ARCHIE / X-MEN Mashup piece... that's what I get for mixing trade dress from two eras! Apologies! 

Agent Jeffries Stardust

A mashup of David Bowie's character from TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME, Agent Jeffries, with his character Ziggy Stardust. 

 

PEPNUTS (or, The Peanuts / Archie Mashup)

As someone who loves both Peanuts and old Archie Comics (up through the late '70s), I wanted to pay tribute to both with this mashup, based on the cover of PEP #287 (March, 1974) originally by Dan DeCarlo. It's semi-successful, I think. I mean, let's face it... Reggie and Shermy are one and the same.