Oh, no you di'n't!!

Yeah.

Yeah, I did.

I got about halfway through this before I realized I'd have to have balls of steel to post a drawing of the Flash on my blog. I had so much fun with the Hulk drawing and post that I decided to do another post about a fondly-remembered TV superhero show. It didn't even occur to me until I was well into it that Mike was so closely associated with DC's FLASH comic that I was inviting a lot of comparisons I'd rather not face. I thought about it long and hard and two facts made my mind up for me. One, the Flash was my favorite DC character long before Mike got the assignment. (Imagine how excited I was when he did...then double it.) Two, this drawing is not of DC's version but of the character in the TV show.

The Flash TV adaptation was announced around the time I graduated from college. Mike was on the five-year plan so he was still in school. I was bunking with some college friends in the same apartment complex Mike was living in. Right across the parking lot, in fact. I'd gotten a terrible job working in the office of a catering company on the VCU campus and spent most nights over at Mike's and his roomie Ron's place. (They were using my TV so if I wanted to watch something I'd have to do it over there.)

It was a miserable time in my life. I'd just been unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped by my longtime girlfriend who'd then moved into the same apartment complex (maybe to torture me?) I had a job I hated. And I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I'd studied film in college mostly as a way to create an identity separate from Mike (Iong story) and after graduation, I realized I had no talent for it and didn't like the lifestyle. Besides, I had no idea how to get started. So, having next to nothing going for me, having no self-esteem and spending my days dodging an office full of horny women hellbent on grabbing my ass at every opportunity*, THE FLASH came along at just the right time.

I was very excited and Mike and I both looked forward to it with great anticipation. It was hot on the heels of Tim Burton's BATMAN film, which I was obsessed with at the time. Judging by the character design, lighting and theme music (by Danny Elfman), the producers were trying to capitalize on BATMAN's success. CBS made the unwise decision to put the show on opposite FOX's SIMPSONS and NBC's THE COSBY SHOW. I guess they were hoping it would be their tentpole show. Unfortunately, those two ultra-popular shows pretty much crushed THE FLASH right out of the gate and, despite a promising two-hour pilot movie, the show ended up being preempted most of the time and finally cancelled.

I think part of the downfall of the show (besides lousy scheduling) was the fact that the producers decided to go at least partially campy with it. That's too bad because the show really had a lot going for it. John Wesley Shipp was excellent as Barry Allen/The Flash and really looked the part. The guy was built like a tank which makes the Flash costume design so baffling. They added all these weird padded muscles that were completely unnecessary considering Shipp's impressive physique. And it was made of an odd foamy-textured material that looked almost like red felt and had an inconsistent color to it. Still, most of the time Shipp looked pretty cool in the suit anyway. The supporting cast was also excellent. Amanda Pays as Tina McGee and the baby-faced Alex Desert as Barry's lab assistant Julio were a lot of fun. And Mark Hamill turned in a memorable if campy performance as the Trickster. Unfortunately, after a few episodes, it seemed the writers weren't quite sure what to do with the character and the expectations set by the pilot movie started to drop. The show was dropped by CBS with completed episodes still unaired. You can find the complete series on DVD. I got mine the minute it hit the shelves.

Around the time THE FLASH was heading toward cancellation, I quit my job at the catering office and got a job working for VCU and it was there that I met Suzanne. So all was not lost!



I don't know if it was the significance of the character dawning on me or all the memories of what was going on in my life around the time the show was airing or if it was just because I was busy and didn't have a lot of time to focus on the drawing. But I'm really disappointed in how it came out. I liked the Hulk drawing so much, I was hoping I was on a roll but I ended up rushing the inks. I tried to cover up the bad quality by coloring it but that didn't work so I've posted both versions in the interest of full disclosure. I think this drawing also showcases my lack of anatomical knowledge. VCU used to have a weekly life-model drawing session for anyone who was interested, but I've lost my contact there and haven't been in years. I desperately need it. Anyway, that's all for now.

Later!

__________________

* I'm not kidding or exaggerating. I've never exactly been what you'd call a chick magnet and I was very young at the time so I'll admit the first few days it was very flattering. But after a few weeks, it got downright annoying. I don't believe sexual harassment is the quite the same thing when it's reversed as it was in my case but it's still a problem and I probably should have done something about it. But, as I say, I was young, naive, missing my girlfriend and so, unfortunately, I guess I was grateful for the attention.

The Incredible Hulk!

Are there any shows on for kids anymore? I don’t watch as much TV as I used to but it seems to me that most, if not all, of primetime television shows are geared toward older teens and adults. I certainly wouldn’t want my kids (if I had any) watching my favorite shows like LOST, PRISON BREAK, HOUSE or THE SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES until they were in, say, high school. Even Saturday morning cartoons are going the way of the VCR and dial telephone. The FOX network has plans to do away with their kids programming block in favor of paid programming (infomercials.)

What the hell happened?

When I was a kid, there was a wealth of programming suitable for my age group that also played well with adults. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN was probably my favorite. (I remember “running” around the yard in slo-mo, picking up empty cardboard boxes and throwing them, making the obligatory “nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” sound.) But there was also PLANET OF THE APES, STAR TREK, DUKES OF HAZZARD...and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

I remember how excited I was when I saw the first promo for the pilot movie. Even then, I knew how difficult it could be for Hollywood to adapt a character like the Hulk as a live-action show. But, judging by the previews, they’d pulled it off. And once I saw the movie (Mom let me stay up late, as she often did when something “special” was on.) I wasn’t disappointed. Obviously, they’d made some changes. I was baffled as to why he didn’t talk and why bullets actually hurt him. But I was mesmerized by the huge green guy with the white irises. Lou Ferrigno instantly became my idol. I wasn’t stupid. I knew there was Hollywood trickery afoot but for that one hour each Friday night (once the series was picked up) I completely bought into the idea that he and Bill Bixby were the same guy and that Ferrigno was actually seven feet tall and green. Ferrigno is about 6’ 5” tall so, with some creative camera work, this wasn’t hard to pull off. And, at the time, we didn’t have a color tv (just a 13” black and white) so I couldn’t really see the seams in the makeup. Or the spots where it would come off on whatever he picked up. Usually, a damsel in distress.

Mike’s friend Carlton wasn’t as appreciative of the character design as I was. He hated the eyes, the large nose they gave him (as did Ferrigno, I’ve heard) and described the wig as looking like something they found dead on the side of the road, dyed green and perched on his head. Looking back, he was right. Over the five seasons the show was airing, the makeup was slowly refined and improved but they never quite got the wig right.

But the show was really very good. The writing was good for it’s time and Bixby took the show seriously, grounding the show with his heartfelt, earnest performance. Obviously, it’s a little dated now. For budgetary reasons, the writers had to follow a strict formula of two “hulk-outs” per episode (at :25-after and :10-till) that never lasted more than a few minutes. The one time I can remember them breaking this formula was in one of the best episodes produced: “Married.” (SPOILERS!!) This featured one of the most heart-breaking scenes in the series in which Banner has to chase his new (and terminally ill) bride through a hurricane and becomes the Hulk from the stress. The creature finally tracks her down and she dies in his arms. When he changes back, she’s gone and he never got to say good bye. It was an incredible (n.p.i.) moment and, if I’m not mistaken, that episode won an emmy.

When I was a kid, I waited impatiently for each hulk-out to see Lou in all his glory, smashing walls and bending pipes. But I’ve been watching a few of the episodes on Hulu.com and now I can see that Bixby really was the star of the show.

Also slightly dated but really, surprisingly good is the music by the late Joe Harnell. Everybody knows the music played over the end credits called “The Lonely Man Theme” (referred to by Stewie Griffin as “the sad, walking away music from THE INCREDIBLE HULK...” but Harnell provided quite a few wonderful cues for the series. Each character, even the annoying but noble reporter Jack McGee had one. Harnell really doesn’t get enough credit for the work he did on the series. Since most of the Hulk’s scenes were shot in slow motion, really slowing the pacing, he used his music to add an element of excitement to the proceedings. I loved how, as Lou would emerge from wherever he’d just “changed”, Harnell’s familiar Hulk theme (bum...bum...BUMMMM...bummmm) announced the creature’s arrival. And, as he was chasing down frightened bad guys and pitching them into stacks of empty cardboard boxes or gingerly picking up Papier-mâché rocks with his fingertips (so as not to smear his makeup), this would be playing.

I could go on and on about how much I loved that show as a kid and how Lou Ferrigno (as the Hulk) inspired me in part to drop all the extra pounds in high school so I could play football and blah blah blah. But this post is getting long and I haven’t even mentioned my sketch at the top. I kind of like how it turned out, though I screwed up on part of the torso. That’s what I get for trying to ink in the dark. (Damn, the sun is going down early, isn’t it?) It reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on it.

Anyway, if you haven’t checked out HULK show lately, do yourself a favor and head on over to the awesome Hulu site and watch an episode. Try to watch it with the era it was made in mind. Obviously, Lou Ferrigno in makeup can’t compete with a 12-foot tall CG creature but he sure did his best. And it was a heck of a lot of fun watching him do it.

If you’re interested in picking up some of Joe Harnell’s music, check out his memorial website and buy one of his CD’s. This site, incidentally, is where I got the music clips.

Later!

Super Human Resources in Color

Proving, once again, that Dave Stewart is safe, here is the color version of my SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES pinup. I haven't gotten permission from Ken Marcus to post it but I don't think he'll mind. Still, I'm posting it in lo-res, just in case. I tried to stick to the books palette of bright but not overly saturated colors. The crazy thing is it took me quite a bit longer to color this than it did to draw it. I have a real respect for guys like Stewart and Paul Mounts. Coloring is effing hard, man! My light source ended up all over the place.

When I drew this, I only had fuzzy black and white lasers handy so I made some errors in the costumes of the heroes Stalwart and Ironclad. I was able to correct a couple in Photoshop so it wouldn't be too obvious. Also, I had some trouble interpreting some of the designs because Justin Bleep has a really cool, unique style. I couldn't tell if the shape of Ironclad's head was supposed to be angular or if that was just a stylistic interpretation on Justin's part. I took the chance that his helmet was round and went for it. Ken seems to like the pinup so I guess I'm okay.

I was surprised at how fast I drew this. I penciled and inked it in one day, starting at noon and finishing around 11:30 p.m. And that was with frequent stops for meals and hanging out with Suzanne. It doesn't quite have the polish I was hoping for but I think that's because I was under the gun and didn't take the time to thumbnail it. When I'm at ease drawing something, as I was with this for some reason, I can see Mike's influence peeking out. This is particularly evident, to me anyway, in the Stalwart character. I often try very hard not to draw like Mike to avoid comparisons that would frankly hurt my feelings. But after spending years as a kid doing the exact opposite, I can be forgiven. Sometimes I just let go and have fun with it. And it wouldn't be the first time someone told me I'm no 'Ringo.

Again, SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES is in this month's Previews, so be sure to tell your retailer to order you a copy. This pinup appears in the fourth issue so hang in there!

__________________________________

If you haven't already, check out Christian's blog for his mash-up of Man-Thing and The Thing he drew for the art contest at the comic shop where he gets his books. For some reason, this one really makes me smile. Obviously, I'm a fan of Christian's anyway, but I love this pic. C-biscuit's sense of humor is really evident here. Check out the blue peepers.

Okay, that's all I got. Have a great weekend.

Thanksgiving

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. Thanksgiving kind of dominated my time since the last one. We took a week off from work and did some work around the house...cleaning, fixing things, and doing yardwork in anticipation of my parents staying with us. Suzanne performed her usual wizardry in the kitchen and whipped up a great meal. Obviously, Mike was on our minds quite a bit. But I thought I'd get into the spirit of the holiday and focus on something we were thankful for rather than just sit around being depressed.

And this is it:



After Mike died, we had so much to deal with, we were making very emotional decisions without the time to really think about them. One of those decisions had to do with Charlie. Mike loved Charlie so much we couldn't bear the thought of him going to live with anyone but us. Unfortunately, we already had Toonces, a 16-year-old cat who'd never spent more than a day or two around another cat in his entire life. We had no idea how he'd react to another kitty coming to live with us. But Charlie was family and we had to try. So we took him home with us and hoped for the best. We got sooooo lucky. We followed Mark Waid's advice of having Christian bring Charlie into the house so he'd "take the blame". Then the two kind of circled each other for a few days and then worried us when they seemed to be chasing each other around the house and jumping on each other. We thought they were fighting. After a month or two, we realized they were playing. It wasn't long before we were greeted at the door each night with this sight:



Though I don't think they'll ever be BFFs (Charlie's taken too many of Tooncie's favorite perches for that), they certainly do hang around each other a lot and I think they enjoy keeping each other company while we're at work. This pairing could have been a disaster (they're feline versions of Oscar Madison and Felix Unger) but I am soooo thankful it worked out. Here are some more shots of the boyz as we all hung out in the den after gorging ourselves on Suze's cuisine and Mom's scrumptious desserts.





Here's Suzanne checking out the sales papers in preparation for shopping with mom on Friday. Unfortunately, Mom caught a nasty bug at some point and got really sick. She spent Friday in bed and so there was no shopping. Suze was sweet enough to stay at the house with her while Dad and I went to his favorite used bookstore across town. Did I ever mention she's the best wife ever?



And, hopefully my friend Ken Marcus won't mind me posting this. I spent the last day of my time off drawing the pinup I've been promising him for months. It's supposed to appear in issue four of SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES. I'm almost done coloring it but it's not quite ready to post. So here's the uncolored version.



The first issue of the book should be on the stands soon and Ken's been pumping the book all over the place. You can find interviews with him on Comic Book Resources, The Pulse, Newsarama and Ain't It Cool News. It's a fun book so if you've got room for another book on your pull list, I highly recommend it.

Okay, that's it for now. I hope you all had a great holiday.

David Wellington

David Wellington is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. Wellington hit the scene big with his novel MONSTER ISLAND during the height of the zombie fiction craze a few years ago. There have certainly been better zombie novels (WORLD WAR Z being my favorite) but Wellington hit at just the right time with a surprisingly well-written, well designed book that made it a must-read for zombie fans. Wellington's different take on zombies (He plays with the tropes a little.) brought freshness (heh) to a genre that was burning out fast. But that's not what makes Wellington stand out. The cool thing about him is that he writes his novels in chapters and posts them on the internet before they ever see print. Then, once he's done, he collects the chapters and tweaks them to read better in novel form and releases them.

Wellington followed up MONSTER ISLAND with a sequel and a prequel (MONSTER WORLD AND MONSTER NATION) and has since moved on to a new subject...vampires. I'm currently reading the third of his vampire novels, VAMPIRE ZERO. In the first of his vampire novels, 13 BULLETS and it's first sequel 99 COFFINS, he introduced us to a completely different kind of vampire. No romantic Europeans in dinner jackets and cloaks here. Wellington's vampires are savage, animalistic and incredibly powerful. And completely obsessed with blood. They're hairless, colorless and all teeth and claws. They're scary.

What impresses me most about Wellington is that never takes the easy way out. He throws his characters into crazy, impossible situations and then finds a logical way out. And in the vampire novels, his central protagonist is a lesbian but this fact is never presented in an exploitive way or used to titillate. It's merely a part of her character. And only occasionally is her orientation reacted to by other characters.

Very rarely, Wellington's prose doesn't ring quite true and sometimes the books feel like the serialized chapters they started out as but he is improving with each and every novel and his books are all compulsive page-turners. I'm really looking forward to what he does next. May I suggest werewolves?

With this drawing, I wanted to see what would happen if I just roughed it in in blue and then attacked it with the brush pen. I also wanted to try out my new whiteout pen. Things got a little sloppy around the legs since that's what I was going for, I guess that's okay.

Peter Cushing

For my movie-viewing pleasure this Halloween, I mostly restricted myself to Hammer Films. (With the exception of the infamous CALIGULA of which the less said, the better.*) As much as I’ve loved their films since childhood, I’d really only seen the “big” ones like DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS or CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN because they were the ones that were shown on TV. As a result, I hadn’t yet been exposed to some really good stuff like BRIDES OF DRACULA or PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES. (Yes, Christian, it was good. I was just sleepy.) So, by adulthood, my exposure to Peter Cushing was somewhat limited and I mostly knew him as the evil Grand Moff Tarkin in STAR WARS. Tarkin was a really bad guy and, according to Princess Leia, had a “foul stench.” This really didn’t endear Cushing to my nine-year-old self at all. Which is too bad because Peter Cushing was the tits.

This year, working through as many of Hammer’s horror films as I can get my hands on, I’ve grown to realize just how incredibly awesome Peter Cushing was. Whether he was playing the noble Van Helsing in the Dracula films or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, the slimy Victor Frankenstein in a multitude of films, he made even the worst of them entertaining. Cushing started with Hammer at a relatively advanced age (in his forties) and so I’m amazed, as I discover my own new aches, pains and twinges each day, that Cushing was able to perform most of his own stunts, even into his sixties! In BRIDES OF DRACULA, he bounds around the set, jumping from ladders to hay bales to staircases with agility and grace. And his performances were never less than top-notch. He obviously took his craft very seriously and brought dignity and class to a genre that sorely needed it. By all accounts, Mr. Cushing was also a true gentleman in every sense of the word, famously apologizing to his female co-star when the studio insisted (despite Cushing’s protests) that a rape scene was necessary in one of the Frankenstein movies.

I’ve been watching a lot of interviews with Cushing on YouTube and he was gentle, humorous and charming to the end. Tragically, he lost his beloved wife Helen sometime in the 1970’s (right before filming TWINS OF EVIL) and was quoted as considering the rest of his life after that point merely “marking time” until he could be with her again. That’s so sad, it breaks my heart. I hope they’re together now, somewhere, and he’s happy again. He certainly deserved it.

Likenesses are not my strong suit but fortunately Cushing had very distinctive features that must have been a Director of Photography’s dream. Every once in a while I see someone and that urge to draw them kicks in. Usually it’s a pretty woman but lately, I’ve been absolutely needing to draw Cushing. I think it came out pretty good and I’m surprised at how quickly it happened. I did this drawing in less than an hour which is fast for me. I think it’s a fairly accurate likeness (I drew from a photograph.) but I think I somehow missed that little twinkle in his eye that you can see in a lot of his films.

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* I don’t really like porn. In all honesty, I find it repetitive, frustrating and eventually downright boring. Unlike pro football, sex is something that’s more fun doing than watching. I’d rather be teased, which is why I enjoy the Hammer films so much. But I’d always wanted to see CALIGULA because the idea of a big-budget, all-star historical epic crossed with a triple-X-rated porn movie was too much to pass up. But it was a huge disappointment because it felt like they shot a genuine Hollywood movie and then, without telling the stars, cut in some barely-relevant boom-boom. Problem is, the Hollywood part was very brutal and gory and, in my opinion, gore and sex are two great tastes that do not taste great together. It was very disturbing and a huge turn-off. (With the exception of Helen (THE QUEEN) Mirren who was absolutely stunning back then.) Funny story, though. The morning after I watched this atrocity, I was flipping channels on the HDTV Suzanne got me for my birthday and when it got to some local religious programming, it froze. The remote wouldn’t work and the controls on the TV didn’t respond. I couldn’t even turn it off. It was as if the TV, feeling I needed redemption, was going to force some proper viewing on me. I was alarmed about the problem but couldn’t stop laughing. I guess the TV felt like it had cleansed itself because it’s working fine now. Hilarious.

Marvel Horror

I've been working my way through the second volume of ESSENTIAL MARVEL HORROR and I have to say it's a great improvement on the first. While I love all things horror, Satanism and witchcraft occupy the basement of the genre as far as my personal interest is concerned. With the exception of THE EXORCIST films, THE NORLISS TAPES and that one episode of STARSKY AND HUTCH, I just don't find satanic rituals all that scary. So the SON OF SATAN-heavy first volume was a disappointment.

Not so, Volume Two. I skipped around a bit because I wanted to read the GABRIEL: DEVIL HUNTER stories. I know that goes against what I just wrote but I remember reading these stories from MONSTERS UNLEASHED when I was a kid. The stories are kind of boring and repetitive and terribly derivative of THE EXORCIST. They consist mostly of Gabriel being summoned to banish a demon possessing someone (usually linked to Gabriel's past somehow) and then several pages of Gabriel and the demon of the month hurling insults at each other, usually accusing each other of needing deodorant. Gabriel always comes out on top, often chasing off the demon by a shameless display of affection with his lovely assistant. Typical '70s melodrama. But the art on the majority of the stories was done by the great Sonny Trinidad and that was worth the price of the volume alone. Damn, that guy could draw, just like most of the Filipinos Marvel used in the Seventies.

Also in the volume is the complete run of THE LIVING MUMMY from MARVEL SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS. The art is pretty good, starting off with Rich Buckler drawing the Mummy to look like Lou Ferrigno in bandages then moving on to a long run by Val Mayerik. Mayerik's stuff is kind of wonky but in a good way, perfectly suited for this monster-as-superhero thing Marvel was doing then. Kind of a cross between Neal Adams and Berni Wrightson. The story started off promising, recounting the tale of N'Kantu, an African king leading a revolt against the Egyptian pharaoh who has enslaved his people. He is captured and, as punishment, mummified while still living only to be revived in modern times after spending 3000 years in a waking hell. The time he spent buried and fully aware has driven him insane and he spends the first issue on a rampage, looking for revenge against the descendent of the man who mummified him. By the second issue, the writers had already apparently tired of the insanity angle an decided the electrocution he received at the end of the first issue must have "cured" him. It's mentioned almost as an afterthought. Still, it had the makings of an innteresting story until the third issue in which it takes a weird left turn into Alan Moore territory and the Mummy is recruited by extra-dimensional elementals who what to take over the Earth. Did all Marvel's writers in the Seventies drop acid? Still the art is interesting and I'm looking forward to the BROTHER VOODOO stories. I'm sure the stories will be trippy but Gene Colan's artwork is top-notch.

With two volumes of fairly obscure stuff behind them, I'm hoping Marvel will focus next year's volume on MORBIUS: THE LIVING VAMPIRE. Starting off as an off-beat villain for Spider-Man, he proved popular enough to soon get his own stories in, I believe, ADVENTURES INTO FEAR and benefited from some great artwork by the underrated Frank Robbins. Robbins drew great vampires and though, I believe, he was unfortunately inked in several stories by Vince ("I inked every comic you've ever read") Colletta, Robbins' greatness shines through. The stories suffered from the same new-age hippy-trip stuff that was in all of Marvel's horror books back then but the artwork really brings the books up several notches. Later, Morbius starred in a series of stories in Marvel's black and white magazine VAMPIRE TALES, including one of the most poignant, memorable stories I've ever read in a comic. I won't go into plot details (my fingers are cramping) but the series was drawn, again, by the great Sonny Trinidad, turning in some of the most amazing, horrific visuals I remember from my childhood comic reading.

WIth these stories in mind, I headed off to Legend this weekend with Christian to do one of our infrequent sketching bees. Last time we did this, the waitress sold us out to our models at the bar and they got up and left. So this time, we just drew from our heads and I suggested Morbius. Without reference, I got the collar a little wrong but I think he turned out okay. I drew this in the same sketchbook as the "Old Man Isis" sketch and the paper hasn't grown on me any. It's still like trying to draw on wet sandpaper. I'm considering having some sketchbooks made up of laser printer paper, which is my favorite paper to draw on. Anyway, I hope you like the sketch.

Later.