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SwanShadow Gives Thanks, Volume 15: Crystal Turkey Edition

November 22, 2018

As unlikely as it seems, this post marks the 15th anniversary of my yearly Thanksgiving Day blog entry. Given that crystal is the traditional gift for a 15th anniversary, I will attempt herein to be as transparent, sparkling, and multifaceted as possible.

Those of you (and you know who you are) who’ve kept up with these posts over the years know that I have many, many people and things in my life for which I am thankful. I don’t take that responsibility of gratitude lightly. I earnestly, honestly appreciate how blessed my life is.

When I roll over the side of the bed every morning, even when that effort comes accompanied by the creaks and crackles of advancing age, I am grateful that I have two feet to stand on, and legs that support the standing. I know there are millions of people in the world who can’t get out of bed and would give anything to do so. And, as I go about my day, I am thankful that I have a comfortable home, clean clothes, abundant food and water, work I enjoy, the entertainment of a companion animal, and the love of a life partner. I know there are millions of people who have few, or none, of these, and would sacrifice anything they do have to possess that which they do not. I am not better, or more deserving, than they. I am merely more fortunate. Again, I don’t take that for granted.

And especially when I find myself living in a state where entire communities have been consumed by disastrous wildfires over the past year-plus, robbing people of every material possession and a lifetime of treasured memories…

I take none of this for granted.

Because I have far more things to be thankful for than I can enumerate, on Thanksgiving Day it’s been my custom these past 15 years to focus my gratitude on a list of just 26 items, one for each letter of the alphabet. Some items on the list are trivial (indeed, some are literally that). Others are profound. All stand in the place of many, many others that I simply haven’t time in one day to name. It’s just my way of acknowledging how deeply moved in soul and spirit I am when I pause to consider how rich my life is, even in those countless moments when I feel poorly within.

With all that said, on Thanksgiving Day 2018, here are the things for which I’m giving thanks.

Air. In our part of the world, it’s easy to forget about air — we have it fresh and without limit… until an event like the fire that destroyed Paradise, California clouds the atmosphere with toxic fumes and ash for days on end, even for those of us living a couple hundred miles from the event. After breathing soot for two weeks, today’s clean air (courtesy of our first rains in months) gives us NorCal residents something extra special to celebrate.

Bob Almond. My comic art collection began in earnest almost simultaneously with these annual posts, 15 years ago. During that time, one artist’s work has come to be represented in my galleries far more frequently than any other — more than 50 times, at last count. It might be easy to miss that, however, because Bob Almond toils as an inker, an embellisher of other artists’ pencil drawings. Bob’s unique ability to meld his ink lines with a broad variety of styles — always enhancing, never imposing or interfering — gives me the confidence to keep putting projects in his capable hands, knowing that the art will always return to me better than when it left. And, as founder of the Inkwell Awards, Bob labors tirelessly to gain recognition and appreciation for other practitioners of his craft — artists whose work often goes unnoticed, but is indispensable to the art form we call comics.

Confetti. I play quite a few online trivia games (although fewer all the time, it seems, as some of the upstarts have gone or are going out of the picture). I have the most fun playing the Facebook-based Confetti every weeknight. Confetti’s distinction is that it allows one to play in concert with one’s Facebook friends, seeing their responses to each question in real time and benefiting from their collective wisdom. Assuming, of course, that one has smart friends. I just happen to be lucky that way.

Doctor Who. Until this season, I haven’t been a regular viewer of Doctor Who, the venerable BBC science fiction series, since the days of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker in the 1970s. When the show was revived several years back, I sampled an episode or two of each new incarnation of the Doctor, but was never drawn back into steady attendance. Then came the Thirteenth Doctor, played with charm and spunk (and a goofy-to-American-ears Yorkshire accent) by Jodie Whittaker, the first female actor to be cast as the Time Lord. In the Doctor’s own phrase, “Brilliant!”

Egg foo young. Yes, I know, it’s not real Chinese cuisine. But sometimes, I just gotta have it. It’s probably the gravy.

Freddie Mercury. I have yet to see Bohemian Rhapsody, the recent biopic starring Rami Malek as the legendary front man of Queen. Part of my reluctance is the reviews. The greater part, though, is my fear that nothing could compare with the reality of Freddie, perhaps the most uniquely talented performer in rock history, and one whose music and memory means so much to me.

Garlic. Can’t cook without it. Okay, maybe breakfast. But not after that.

Hawaiian Airlines. Truly the friendliest airline in the skies. You’d be friendly too if every one of your round trips ended in Hawaii. At the Pirate Queen’s insistence, I got a new credit card this year that earns Hawaiian Airlines flying miles. Maybe one of these years I’ll earn enough miles to just stay.

Infinity War. Every time I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone about as far as it can go, Kevin Feige and company find a whole new way to turn things up past 11. Coming in hot on the heels of Black Panther — quite possibly, the greatest superhero film ever made, and one that could have dominated this Thanksgiving list had I not decided not to be quite so obvious — Avengers: Infinity War raised the stakes and broke our hearts by taking our Panther (and several other Marvel headliners, including Spider-Man and Doctor Strange) away. The sequel can’t get here fast enough. (Also, Black Panther 2.)

Journalists. I’ve never practiced the trade — the closest I came was my years as an online film reviewer — but I trained at university as a journalist. I value the talent and commitment of those who tell the true stories within our world, and deliver the news even when those in power would undermine and even physically thwart them. Now more than ever, we need legitimate journalism, and we all need to support those outlets and individuals determined to publish the truth.

Kansas. This summer, the Pirate Queen and I spent a weekend in Central California centered around a concert by the classic rock band Kansas. This was the fourth time I’ve seen Kansas live — the first was on my 19th birthday, at the Cow Palace — but the first time in more than 20 years. I still love the music. Kansas is the only significant American band to focus largely on progressive rock for the majority of its career (yeah, I know, Styx — but they were only prog-ish, and at that, only sometimes). Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Maybe not… but who cares? All we are is dust in the wind.

Lutron. One of the many things I love about our little abode here at Pirates Cove is the auto-dimming LED light fixtures, manufactured by a company named Lutron about whom I know nothing. Great lights, though.

Marriage. In the words of a certain Impressive Clergyman, “Mawwiage is what bwings us togevvah today.” In May, The Daughter entered into vows with The Son-In-Law. It was a beautiful day, and they still seem totally happy together six months later. I’m glad she found someone special to share her heart and her life with (and he does indeed seem like a great guy). I’m glad that the Pirate Queen and I found each other, too. Ain’t love grand?

Notability. An essential tool in my everyday working life — I import all of my scripts into it, where I can annotate and mark them up as I will. I also use it for note-taking in workshops and sessions, and for general brainstorming. If you can use a high-quality document markup / notation tool with a wealth of functionality, I highly recommend Notability. (Not a paid endorsement. Just a satisfied customer.)

Outrigger Reef Waikiki. We stayed here on this year’s trip to Oahu, and it immediately became our new favorite hotel on the island. Centrally located on Waikiki Beach, the Outrigger Reef offered a ton of features that we liked: unmatched location, warm hospitality that personifies aloha, first-rate beach access, a reliable breakfast venue, super-convenient layout that minimizes walking (something that can’t be said of many large resort hotels), great pool, live music nightly, and a Starbucks. I almost hate to mention it here, because now you people will fill it up the next time we want to stay there.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco has presented a couple of exhibitions in recent years featuring the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an association of 19th-century British artists and writers. This year’s show afforded the opportunity to see a number of stunning paintings by the Brotherhood’s leading lights: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais. I’m always impressed by art that keeps me thinking about it for days after I’ve seen it. The Pre-Raphaelites and their acolytes accomplish that.

Quizmasters. Having written a few quizzes for LearnedLeague and elsewhere, and played thousands more, I’m acutely aware of how difficult it is to compose top-shelf trivia questions and answers. I’m in awe of people — including LearnedLeague Commissioner Thorsten A. Integrity and newly inducted Trivia Hall of Fame member Paul Paquet — who manage to do it consistently over long periods of time.

Radio. As some of you know, I was a radio disc jockey in a previous life. Thanks in part to the SiriusXM subscription that came with our new Subaru Forester, I’ve been listening to more radio of late. It’s a format that I hope never goes away.

Stan Lee. Some idolized Marvel Comics writer/editor/publisher “Stan the Man” and gave him perhaps more credit than he deserved. Others in their zeal to counteract Stan’s penchant for self-aggrandizement were perhaps too quick to denigrate his contributions. All I know is this: Stan Lee co-created (we can disagree as to what percentage) several of the most iconic characters and stories of my lifetime, including some that had a tremendous impact on my youth and beyond. I can’t say this about many people whom I never met, but I would be a dramatically different person today were it not for Stan Lee. Rest in peace, and excelsior.

Taarna. I don’t like to talk myself up, but for some years, I was among the primary resources online for information about the 1981 animated science fiction anthology film Heavy Metal. I compiled and maintained the Squidoo lens spotlighting the movie, contributed significantly to its Wikipedia entry, and wrote material about the film for several (mostly now defunct) websites. My art collection reflects my obsession, with its gallery of commissioned artworks featuring Taarna, the lead character in Heavy Metal’s concluding segment and star of its iconic poster. When Sideshow Collectibles announced early this year that they were releasing a statue of Taarna, I knew I had to own one, even though I’m not a statue collector. The Taarakian defender now upholds The Pact from a shelf in my office/studio.

Ukulele. I decided a while back that I wanted to learn to play the ukulele. This decision did not come without trepidation — I took years of guitar lessons as a youngster and never got very good at playing the guitar. (Which is a charitable way of saying that I totally sucked at playing the guitar.) I’ll probably never be very good at playing the ukulele either. But even my clumsy fretting and strumming brings me joy. That’s something, yes?

Victoria Coren Mitchell. One of the world’s best female poker players, and the presenter of one of my favorite quiz shows, Only Connect. Is there anything she can’t do?

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. I fell in love with the Tiki Room on my first visit to Disneyland, way back in 19[mumble][mumble]. When I visited with the Pirate Queen in February of this year, I found my love unabated. It’s cheesy yet classic, dated yet timeless, silly yet charming. The performances by the lead voice actors (Wally Boag, Thurl Ravenscroft, Fulton Burley, and Ernie Newton) remain engaging, despite their broad (some might say stereotypical, and some might not be wrong) accents. There’s always at least one Audio-Animatronic character that doesn’t function quite perfectly. And yet, the moment the Tiki Room show concludes, I want to queue up again for another round. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Also, Dole Whip.

Xenon. It’s the noble gas used most frequently in film projection lamps. When you go to the movie theater and look at the brightly lit screen, you’re seeing xenon at work.

Yacht Rock. It’s not just a musical genre — it’s a way of life. The smooth, studio-crafted, jazz-inflected sounds of such late-’70s/early-’80s acts as Steely Dan, Toto, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Al Jarreau, and the Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers are my jam. (One of my jams, anyway.) Please don’t confuse true Yacht Rock with that stuff that gets played on the SiriusXM channel of the same name — most of it’s Nyacht Rock. (Hint: Jimmy Buffett is Nyacht Yacht Rock.) For the real deal, check out the pioneering 2005 web video series Yacht Rock, and Beyond Yacht Rock, the subsequent podcast hosted by connoisseurs JD Ryznar, Dave Lyons, Hunter Stair, and “Hollywood” Steve Huey.

Ziploc bags. I don’t know who invented them, or how that individual came up with the technology. But how did we ever live without them? The ones with the slider sealing mechanism? Pure engineering genius.

And as always, friend reader, I’m grateful for you. Thanks for stopping by on yet another Thanksgiving. I hope you’ve found much to be thankful for today. If you have, share some with someone who has a little less.

Peace.

Categories: Aimless Riffing, Celebritiana, Cinemania, Dead People Got No Reason to Live, Disney, Food Glorious Food, Hawaii, Hero of the Day, LearnedLeague, Listology, My Home Town, Reminiscing, Ripped From the Headlines, Sexiest People Alive, Soundtrack of My Life, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, Thanksgiving, That's Cool!, Trivial Pursuits

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Comic Art Friday: It’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey

August 17, 2018

Moonstone_Darna_Santamaria

If you’re a regular here, you know that I grew up as a military brat. My adoptive father served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, and I was around for the last 15 of those years. As a result, I spent a fair chunk of my childhood living on islands — specifically Oahu, Crete (that’s Greece, but you knew that), and Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.

During our two-year stay in the latter island nation, I became acquainted with Darna, who is to Filipino komiks what Wonder Woman is to the American genre. I didn’t understand much Tagalog, but even without knowing the language, I could appreciate the character. Darna is a young girl named Narda who swallows a magical white stone and transforms into a superpowered woman warrior. (And to answer the question I know you’re thinking: She regurgitates the stone when she wants to change back into her normal self. It’s like Mary Marvel or Isis, only kind of gross.)

Since her debut in 1950, Darna has enjoyed a significant presence in Filipino pop culture even beyond komiks, starring in numerous films and TV programs. When we lived in the Philippines in the mid-1970s, Darna was being portrayed on screen by a popular actress named Vilma Santos. Posters and pictures of Vilma in her Darna costume were everywhere. Vilma became so well-known that she parlayed her show business success into a prominent career in politics.

Darna_Vilma

I’ve long wanted to feature Darna in a Common Elements scenario, and was fortunate to commission a talented Filipino artist, Michael Sta. Maria, to do the job. Michael pairs Darna here with Dr. Karla Sofen, a.k.a. Moonstone, another character who obtains her superpowers from a rock… albeit with less swallowing and upchucking. Which, you know, is probably a good thing.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Celebritiana, Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Reminiscing, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Death Race Infinity

July 27, 2018

Black Racer and Silver Surfer, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Bob Almond

It’s fair to say that no single individual had a greater impact on the medium of comics — specifically, that species of fantasy comics into which superheroes and their related subgenres fall — than Jack Kirby.

As an artist and storyteller, Kirby created the foundation for what we would today call the Marvel Universe. Most of the classic Marvel heroes from the Silver Age — including the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, the original X-Men, Iron Man, Black Panther, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, as well as the Avengers and Inhumans — were all created or co-created by Kirby. (Not to mention Captain America, whom Kirby co-created with Joe Simon in 1940 and revived at Marvel in 1964.)

After a falling-out with Stan Lee and Marvel in the early 1970s, Kirby moved on to DC Comics and created a whole raft of new characters in what came to be known as the Fourth World saga. Prominent among these were Mister Miracle, the Forever People, and the New Gods.

I could go on naming characters Kirby dreamed up, but we’d be here all day. The man was that prolific.

Today’s featured artwork spotlights two Kirby creations who are, in a way, different spins on the same general concept. On the right, we have the Silver Surfer, whom Kirby introduced as a minor character in a 1966 Fantastic Four story, but became — due to Stan Lee’s enthusiasm (for years, he refused to allow other writers to use the Surfer in their stories) — one of the icons of classic Marvel. On the left is the Black Racer, who zoomed onto the scene in New Gods #3 (July 1971).

The Surfer began his career as the herald of the planet-eating space giant Galactus; the Racer is the avatar of Death in the Fourth World tales. And, yes, both guys fly through space on what looks like sporting equipment. (I never understood why the Black Racer needed ski poles to steer. In space, what would he dig them into? But I’m not going to argue with The King.)

Black Racer and Silver Surfer, pencils by Keith Pollard

The base image here was penciled by Keith Pollard, one of the finest (and in my opinion, most tragically underappreciated) artists of Marvel’s Bronze Age (the 1970s and early 1980s). Inking superstar Bob Almond took Pollard’s pencil sketch and embellished it to a whole other level, adding a gorgeous deep-space background in addition to enhancing the characters themselves.

About Keith Pollard: During his career with Marvel, he proved himself a workhorse of titanic proportions. Pollard drew lengthy runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four (twice), and Thor — for a time, he was working on all three titles simultaneously — as well as penciling issues of numerous other titles. Frankly, I don’t know how the man slept or ate during those years. Perhaps he didn’t.

In the early 1990s, Pollard penciled (with Joe Rubinstein inking) dozens of character model sheets for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition. I own a couple of these, having purchased them from Keith via his art representative more than a decade ago.

Misty Knight model sheet, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Joe Rubinstein

Here’s the Misty Knight page. If you’ve watched Luke Cage on Netflix — and if you haven’t, what are you sitting here for? you have two whole seasons to catch up on! — you know all about this hard-hitting police detective who acquires a bionic arm.

Battlestar model sheet, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Joe Rubinstein

And this is the profile of Battlestar, who was Captain America’s partner for a short while in the late ’80s. Lemar Hoskins began his career as the newest iteration of Bucky (a sidekick role originally assumed by James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, now better known as the Winter Soldier). When legendary writer Dwayne McDuffie pointed out to Cap scribe Mark Gruenwald that the name “Bucky” took on problematic connotations when applied to an African American man, Gruenwald took a suggestion from artist Kieron Dwyer and renamed the character Battlestar.

Back to the Silver Surfer for just a moment. If you love great comic art — of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have read this far — you owe it to yourself to check out the two-part Silver Surfer: Parable, a 1988 collaboration between Stan Lee and the iconic French artist Jean Girard, a.k.a. Moebius. The story is classic Lee, and Moebius’s visuals combine beauty, grandeur, and emotion like no other.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Can’t touch this

July 13, 2018

I’m just going to put this out there:

I don’t think the Human Bomb gets enough love.

Rogue_HumanBomb_Derenick

Sure, there are many factors that contribute to the Human Bomb’s unfortunate situation.

  • He’s got a dorky name.
  • He wears what might be the least sexy costume in the history of superheroes.
  • He hearkens back to comics’ Golden Age, when heroes often had gimmicky, poorly thought-out superpowers — like those of the Human Bomb.
  • He was created by a second-rank publisher that went out of business 60 years ago (Quality Comics, also the original home of such characters as Plastic Man, Blackhawk, and Phantom Lady), and has been used only sporadically by the company that now owns his rights (DC Comics).
  • In the modern world, the term “human bomb” conjures up unpleasant associations with terrorist violence.
  • For a while during his original run, the Bomb had a comedic sidekick named Hustace Throckmorton, who made things explode with his bare feet. I kid you not.

Despite all of the above, I always thought the Human Bomb was kind of awesome. After all, who hasn’t fantasized about blowing up everything you touch?

Okay, maybe that was just me.

Anyway, here’s the Bomb’s deal. Roy Lincoln was a scientist who created, alongside his father, the world’s most powerful explosive. To keep the family brainchild out of the hands of Nazis, Roy swallowed the chemical — like you would — and as a result, developed the ability (or incurred the curse, depending on your point of view) of causing everything he touched to explode.

To keep from bursting his environment into smithereens, Roy had to live inside a cumbersome suit made from a special material that prevented his skin from accidental contact with things he didn’t wish to destroy (presumably, most everything). He would remove his gloves when he wanted to lay the smack down with his potent barehanded touch.

It’s easy to see the limitations of a character like the Human Bomb. For one thing, you can’t depict him outside of his costume very often, so he’s not terribly relatable — aside from his eyes, visible through the window in his helmet, what does his face even look like? Plus, it’s difficult to have normal human interactions and relationships when everything (and everyone) you come into contact with detonates like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

These very limitations, however, make the Human Bomb one of comics’ most tragically heroic figures — a man doomed to permanent isolation who finds a way to adapt his horrific personal circumstances to the benefit of others.

I can dig a guy like that.

I don’t know whether longtime X-Men guru Chris Claremont had the Human Bomb in mind when he conceived Rogue back in 1981, but the parallel is undeniable. Like Roy Lincoln, Rogue (who still doesn’t have a full name after all these years; we’ve been told since 2004 that her given name is Anna Marie, but her surname remains a mystery) is forced to cover her body to shield the world from her mutant power — she drains the life force from anyone with whom she makes skin-to-skin contact.

Of course, Rogue being an attractive woman and this being the comics universe, she manages to cover herself usually in clothes far more form-fitting and face-revealing than the Human Bomb’s containment suit.

In recent times, Rogue has either developed some degree of control over her powers or found an effective workaround, given that she’s enjoyed a handful of romantic relationships (most notably with Johnny Storm, better known as the Human Torch of Fantastic Four fame, and her X-Men teammate Gambit, whom she recently married).

If only she could have hooked up with Roy Lincoln.

That would have been — wait for it — the bomb.

Sincere thanks to Tom Derenick, who created today’s featured Common Elements artwork. Tom’s classic style represents everything I love about comic art — it’s clear, easily readable, packed with power and crisp in detail. If I were asked to identify an example of a contemporary comics artist whose approach would have been equally at home in the Silver or Bronze Ages, yet is totally fresh and relevant today, Tom’s art would be one of my first stops.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Between rock and a hard place

July 6, 2018

In my previous Comic Art Friday post about this year’s Silicon Valley Comic Con, I noted that artist Ryan Sook had taken ill during the show and was unable to start the Common Elements commission that he and I had discussed. I also mentioned that I hoped to approach Ryan with the same request at a future convention.

As luck would have it, Ryan was in attendance at San Francisco Comic Con (which is now being staged in Oakland, while retaining the previous name — even though “Golden State Comic Con” is not only available, but comes with reflected cachet) in June. He immediately recalled the project we had talked about previously, and quickly set to work creating it.

You can see for yourself that the end result was well worth the wait.

Tesla Strong and Valda the Iron Maiden, pencils and inks by Ryan Sook

While I always enjoy seeing favorite heroes appear in Common Elements scenarios, some of my favorite pieces in the series involve less prominent characters. Here, Ryan Sook brings together Tesla Strong, the daughter of Alan Moore’s science hero Tom Strong, and Valda the Iron Maiden, the companion of Arak, Son of Thunder.

Okay, so, a little background may help.

A pastiche of pre-superhero pulp characters such as Doc Savage and Craig Kennedy, Tom Strong grew up on the island of Attabar Teru, where he was raised to be the embodiment of human physical and mental perfection. Tom and his wife Dhalua, princess of Attabar Teru, have a daughter, Tesla, named for the famed inventor. Thanks to their partaking of the root of the mysterious Goloka plant, Tom and his family age extremely slowly. Tesla, although in her 60s during the time period in which most of the Tom Strong stories are set, still possesses the appearance and attitudes of a teenager. (Similarly, Tom and Dhalua are both well over a century old, but look as though they’re forty-something.) In addition to participating in a number of her father’s adventures, Tesla also starred in her own one-shot book, The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong.

Tesla Strong, pencils, inks, and markers by comics artist Phil Noto

Valda the Iron Maiden was a knight in the service of Charlemagne (and may also have been his daughter) before meeting the Native American hero Arak. Together, they set off on a series of fantastical adventures. Valda and Arak constantly ran afoul of sorcerers and their minions as they battled their way across medieval Europe. Written by Roy Thomas (who was instrumental in bringing Conan to comics) and drawn by Ernie Colon and later by Tony DeZuniga, Arak, Son of Thunder managed to avoid most of the embarrassing tropes assigned to fictional Native American characters, while offering a unique spin on the sword-and-sorcery genre. If you like that sort of thing, Arak is likely to be the sort of thing you like. Check out some back issues in your local comic shop’s discount bin.

Arak and Valda, pencils and inks by Tony DeZuniga

If you’re puzzling over the common element between these two stalwart heroines, both share their names — parts of their names, anyway — with hard rock bands: Tesla and Iron Maiden. I’ve never seen Iron Maiden perform live (they’re not my cup of tea, really), but I’ve experienced Tesla a couple of times, most recently six years ago when they opened for Scorpions. You can read my review of that concert, if you’re inclined.

TeslaBanner

One of the many qualities I appreciate in Ryan Sook’s art is the deftness with which he conveys so much with a few perfectly placed lines. In today’s featured piece, I’m especially pleased with the treatment that Ryan gave Tesla’s hair, and the way her features delicately but clearly denote her biracial heritage. Too often, comic artists draw women of color in exactly the same manner that they draw Caucasian female characters. How many depictions of, say, Storm (to cite one frequently egregious example) have you seen where, if you were looking only at the pencil and ink linework, you’d never know that she’s of African descent?

(Then again, how many comic artists are guilty of drawing nearly all their female characters, regardless of ethnicity, with the exact same facial features? You know who you are.)

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Getting Racial Up In This Piece, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Redheaded queens

May 4, 2018

I have often contemplated the fact that women artists are severely underrepresented in my commission collection. My efforts to remedy this problem — and it is a problem — are complicated by the fact that women artists are underrepresented in mainstream comics in general, and in the superhero genre specifically.

Although this situation is improving ever so slightly — with the advent of such talented creators as Amanda Conner, Nicola Scott, Babs Tarr, Becky Cloonan, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Sara Pichelli, Joelle Jones, and Afua Richardson, among many others — there are still far too few women comics artists, and even fewer who are regularly available to do commission projects.

But I keep trying.

Medusa and Mera, pencils by Cross (Lori Hanson)

I’m especially intrigued by the concept of women artists drawing female characters. Not because I wish to fence women artists into a virtual ghetto where women only draw “girls’ comics” (whatever that implies), but because the objectification and hypersexualization of female characters in mainstream comics is real, and I find it refreshing to see these characters depicted by artists who view them through a more personal filter. (In the same way, I don’t want to see African-American comics creators limited to writing and drawing black characters, but I often find something unique in the mix when they do.)

Which brings us to today’s spotlight artwork. The pencil-wielder behind this beautiful piece is the artist known as Cross (a.k.a. Lori Hanson). When I first saw the graceful, swirling lines that typify Cross’s work, I immediately thought of hair. (The body accessory, not the Broadway musical.) I also observed a certain regal quality in the way Cross portrays people. Putting those two characteristics together brought me to this Common Elements concept matching a pair of royal ladies with distinctive red hair: Medusa, queen of the Inhumans in the Marvel universe, and Mera, queen of Atlantis in the DC universe.

Speaking of Medusa… man, that Inhumans series Marvel ran on ABC last year was terrible, wasn’t it? It was shocking to see a creative enterprise that has succeeded beyond expectations at almost everything they’ve attempted fail so spectacularly. Almost nothing about the show worked, from casting (I felt sorry at times for Iwan Rheon, who was so compellingly evil in Game of Thrones, but here seemed to be constantly looking for the exit) to scripting (did any of the writers actually read any Inhumans comics?) to general concepts (what’s the point of having a character whose superpower is prehensile hair if you’re going to shave her head in the first episode?).

Fortunately for us, we always have comic art to come back to. Cross reminds us of the glory and greatness that Medusa’s hair was meant to embody.

And just in case we needed an additional post-TV-bomb palate cleanser, here’s a nifty portrait of Attilan’s royal family — Queen Medusa, King Black Bolt, and their faithful canine companion Lockjaw — by animator Steven E. Gordon that restores our faith in Inhumanity.

Medusa, Black Bolt, and Lockjaw, pencils by Steven E. Gordon

Hopefully, Mera will fare sufficiently well in the upcoming Aquaman feature film that we’ll have no similar need for catharsis. Then again, it’s a DCU movie, so I’ll trust it when I see it.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: The Mystery of the Suspicious Surnames

April 13, 2018

I didn’t decide to attend this year’s Silicon Valley Comic Con until the week before the event. Having kept an eye on the show’s website for guest announcements, I didn’t see much opportunity to acquire new art commissions. But when artists Ryan Sook and Matt Haley were added to the guest list shortly before the show, I decided to bite the bullet and go, just to get pieces from those two talents.

As it turned out, Ryan took ill on the second day of the show, and didn’t get around to the piece he and I discussed on Friday. (It’s a fun Common Elements concept that I hope to revisit with Ryan at a future con.) But Matt — an entertaining guy I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and chatting with — completed his assignment in the waning hours of the show: this pairing of Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman (there have been three others introduced since Jessica made her debut in 1977), and the modern-era Black Cat, Felicia Hardy.

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), pencils and inks by Matt Haley

I’ve long wanted to match these two characters in a Common Elements scenario because of their surnames, which reminded me of those classic detectives of juvenile literature, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I had always supposed that the names were purely coincidental, but a random conversation at SVCC revealed that they are not.

As Matt Haley was finishing up this artwork, I stopped by the table of longtime comics writer and editor Barbara Kesel, another guest at SVCC. I wanted to show Barbara my recent Stephen Foster-themed Common Elements by Carlos Rafael, which features Ultragirl, a character Barbara co-created. Barbara was intrigued by the Common Elements theme and asked what other pieces I had in the works. I explained the pairing that Matt Haley was working on just a few tables down the row, with its related-surname connection.

At that point, Marv Wolfman, the veteran comics scribe who’s written everything from Tomb of Dracula to Crisis on Infinite Earths — and who happened to be sitting at the table next to Barbara’s — chimed in: “I named both of those characters, and that’s the reason why I gave them those names.”

Which makes this, I suppose, a particularly historic Common Elements.

Speaking of history, when it comes to comics characters named Black Cat, I’ve always had a fondness for the original. Artist Steven E. Gordon had this appealing pencil drawing of the Golden Age Black Cat, Linda Turner, in his for-sale portfolio at SVCC. She somehow managed to follow me home. Cats will do that if you’re not careful.

Black Cat (Linda Turner), pencils by Steven E. Gordon

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Foster children

March 30, 2018

I’ve made the observation numerous times that ideas for my Common Elements commissions are sometimes triggered by the least expected stimuli. Today’s featured artwork makes a prime example of this principle.

Beautiful Dreamer, Jean Grey, and Ultragirl, pencils and inks by Carlos Rafael

Several years ago, I was channel-surfing late one night when I happened upon a documentary about composer Stephen Foster on the local PBS station. Foster, for the benefit of the non-history-buff segment of our audience, was perhaps the first American popular songwriter to achieve major commercial success. Many of his compositions quickly became staples of American music and remain familiar today, more than 150 years after Foster’s untimely death at age 37.

To the extent that I ever thought much about Stephen Foster, it was in the context of the not-terribly-subtle thread of racism laced through many of his lyrics. Foster wrote a considerable number of songs intended for minstrel shows, in which performers wearing blackface presented mocking caricatures of African Americans. These caricatures, and the epithets associated with them, find a home in such Foster songs as “Camptown Races,” “Old Black Joe,” “Old Folks at Home” (more commonly known as “Swanee River”), and “My Old Kentucky Home,” although these elements are frequently altered when the songs are performed today. (One of the most surprising facts I learned from the Foster documentary was that, although Foster’s oeuvre is filled with ditties about life in the antebellum South, Foster was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lived much of his adult life there, as well as in Ohio and New York. He may have actually visited the South only on a couple of brief occasions.)

As I viewed the documentary, though, it occurred to me that Foster also wrote quite a few songs that fall into a less controversial category: romantic ballads. This class includes some of Foster’s most enduring works — i.e., “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Jeanie (With the Light Brown Hair),” and “Oh! Susanna.”

That observation set off a lightbulb in my comics-attuned mind. Legendary creator Jack Kirby appropriated the name Beautiful Dreamer for the female member of his Forever People. One of the most enduring superheroines since the Silver Age is original X-Man Jean Grey. (I know, I know… Jean’s hair is usually depicted as red, not light brown. But that’s nothing a bottle of Miss Clairol couldn’t fix.) I had to ponder a while before I recalled that the adopted human name of Ultragirl, Marvel’s short-lived Supergirl riff, is Susanna Sherman, but with that realization, the picture was complete.

Or would be, maybe a decade later, when I finally got around to commissioning this project from Brazilian artist Carlos Rafael, best known for his work on such Dynamite Entertainment titles as Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, and Battlestar Galactica.

Thus, another Common Elements concept wings in from left field.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Soundtrack of My Life, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Panthers and Tigers and bucks, oh my

March 16, 2018

I’m going to presume that if you have even the remotest interest in comics and comics-related media, you’ve seen the Black Panther film by now. Because, you know, it’s grossed over one billion (with a B) dollars in worldwide box office to date, and I’m guessing that you’ve contributed to that staggering total just as I have.

As a fan of the Panther for nearly a half-century — I don’t remember the first T’Challa-featured comic I read, but it would have been one of his appearances in The Avengers sometime in the late 1960s — I never would have dreamed in my most fevered moments that we’d someday be talking about a big-budget, major-studio, live-action Black Panther movie raking in a billion bucks. Maybe, back in 1992 when Wesley Snipes was pumping the idea of playing the King of Wakanda himself, I might have hoped that we might someday get a modest, in-and-quickly-out-of-theaters Panther flick, something on the level of that terrible Elektra movie with Jennifer Garner that followed Ben Affleck’s pitiful cinematic turn as Daredevil.

But this? I honestly never saw it coming.

And if you’d told me it was, I’d have told you to lie down with a cool compress on your forehead until the demons went away.

Yet, here we are. Black Panther is headlining marquees in metroplexes around the world, the hottest property in motion pictures. People who mere weeks ago couldn’t have distinguished Wakanda from Walt Disney World are tossing words like “Dora Milaje” around in casual conversation, and T’Challa’s super-smart little sister Shuri is America’s sweetheart. And I’ve lived to see it.

Pardon me while I grab a tissue.

So, there couldn’t be a better time than now to showcase a Common Elements artwork starring everyone’s favorite heart-shaped-herb eater.

WhiteTiger_BlackPanther_DiVito

That’s the Black Panther himself stalking another big-cat themed superdoer, the White Tiger, in this jaw-dropping creation by Italian superstar artist Andrea Di Vito, who not exactly coincidentally can be seen at this very moment drawing T’Challa’s adventures in Marvel’s Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury. Check it out at a comics retailer near you (or on your favorite digital device, if that’s how you roll with your comics in this tech-savvy age).

The White Tiger identity has an interesting legacy all its own. The Tiger shown here, Angela Del Toro, is the fourth of five discrete characters to have worn the code name White Tiger in the Marvel Universe. Angela is the niece of the original White Tiger, Hector Ayala, who in the 1970s was one of Marvel’s first attempts at a Latino hero. After Hector was killed, Angela, an FBI agent, inherited Hector’s amulets that imbued the wearer with the White Tiger’s powers. Angela’s adventures formed the basis of a six-issue miniseries in the mid-2000s. (The fifth and current White Tiger is Ava Ayala, Hector’s younger sister.)

Aside from the obvious feline-plus-color thematic element, there’s an additional link that ties the Black Panther and the White Tiger together. Both superhero identities were assumed at different times by the same character — Kevin Cole, better known by his nickname Kasper. Late in his run on the Black Panther comic book in the early 2000s, writer Christopher Priest transferred the Panther’s mantle from T’Challa to NYPD officer Kasper Cole, whom Priest envisioned as a satiric spin on Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. When the Black Panther series ended, Priest moved Cole to his new project, a superhero team called The Crew, and gave him the White Tiger identity.

You know, all this Black Panther talk has me hankering to see the movie again.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Ripped From the Headlines, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Four divided by two

January 5, 2018

By any measure, superheroing makes for a tough lifestyle choice. You’re fighting bad guys all the time, you usually have a secret identity to protect, and the annual cost of replacement outfits alone must be astronomical.

Which is why I’m surprised more heroes haven’t taken up job-sharing.

Of course, having an identical twin would help.

That’s the unifying factor between the two heroines in today’s featured artwork from the Common Elements series — an artwork that is both the last commissioned piece I received in the just-concluded 2017, and the first to land its own Comic Art Friday post in the just-begun 2018.

Ladyhawk and Crimson Fox, pencils and inks by Sanya Anwar

Both Ladyhawk (standing) and Crimson Fox (crouching) are heroic identities shared by pairs of identical twins: the Morgan sisters, Rosetta and Regina, in the case of Ladyhawk; the D’Aramis sisters, Vivian and Constance, in the case of Crimson Fox. Ladyhawk made her/their mark primarily as an ally of Spider-Girl, the alternate-universe daughter of the amazing Peter Parker. Crimson Fox was best known as a member of the 1990s-era Justice League Europe.

Comics aficionados of a certain age will note that Ladyhawk’s costume bears a striking (and non-coincidental) resemblance to the original kit worn by Captain America’s longtime associate Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the high-flying Falcon. Before Sam gained the winged red-and-white uniform in which he’s most familiar, he wore a green get-up trimmed in orange that had no wings, aside from the ones on the falcon medallion he wore around his neck. Ladyhawk’s gear precisely matches the old Falcon design, right down to the medallion, because of course it does.

Sadly, both halves of the Crimson Fox duo met with untimely ends relatively early in their crimebusting career. Vivian D’Aramis was murdered by the supervillain Puanteur; three years later, Constance was done in by the female version of Mist. More recently, another woman (presumably just one) has taken up the Crimson Fox mantle. One hopes that her long-range prospects end more favorably than those of the D’Aramis twins.

Our heroines are drawn in this scene by Canadian artist Sanya Anwar, who — so far as I am aware — is not an identical twin. Although it would be awesome if she was.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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