Twelve Days of Awesome!

Looking for the perfect Christmas/Holiday gift to give your comic book loving loved one? How about the gift of Artwork! Over at Darwyn Cooke's "Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog" Darwyn has just announced a charity auction he's running, along with his lovely wife Marsha, over the next twelve days. I love Darwyn's artwork, and he's told me of a few pieces (cover recreations) that I'm probably going to want to bid on myself.
All of the proceeds from the auction will be given to the Hero Initiative!

Also, if you're in a gift buying mood, now is a good time for me to mention that a collection of my Horoscope pin-ups is available from Lulu Press. It includes all 24 male and female versions of my Signs of the Zodiac pin-ups!
Click here or the link on the sidebar for a preview! I have my copy and I'm thrilled with the way the book turned out. :)

j.

Happy Halloween!

My brother asked me to design a tattoo for him -- two actually. A devil and an angel. This is the devil.

j.

Wonder Woman ReBoot!

Perhaps some of you know that Wonder Woman recently got a reboot...and a new costume. I suppose I'm fine with reboots. These things sometimes have to happen to bring a character up to date, refresh a dying franchise, tie in with a movie, or simply because creators don't know what else to do with the character (which is not entirely a bad thing).
Sometimes the new take on a character comes with a new costume (or sidekick, car, gender...) In this case Wonder Woman was given new duds by comic book Superstar Jim Lee. Now, I haven't read the Adventures of Wonder Woman since the Dodsons's run on the book so I can't say much about how this makeover came about -- but anyone who reads my blog semi-regularly knows that I have a special fondness for the Amazon Princess.

When the change was announced and image released I grumped a little, sure. But then I sat down and put ink to paper and came up with a few little re-designs myself. This would be they:
First up is a re-design of an old design I did based on Tura Satana's wicked outfit in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! It's also more than a little like Donna Troy's costume from the Teen Titans run by George Perez. I wonder if he was watching a Russ Meyer movie when he designed it.
The second is what I call the Evel Knievel! I imagine it's a total leather bodysuit with new lightweight Plastex™ gauntlets. Superman and Batman both have a cape and I think it's high time ol' WW had one too!
Third in the series is basically the Darwyn Cooke Amazon Warrior design from The New Frontier! When I drew the knee-guards I thought of Thor -- which led to design #4. This is Amazon Warrior by way of Norse God(dess). The boots need some work still but otherwise I think this one is my favourite. If I were to draw a comic book with the new adventures of the NEW Wonder Woman I'd probably go with this costume.
Ask me tomorrow and it'll be something completely different :)
#5 is basically a black version of #1. It's how I initially planned to color the costume but went white (Virginal) because Wonder Woman just doesn't seem like the type of hero made cooler by putting her in black. But that's just me. I also wouldn't put her in the Black Canary's jacket but that's also just me. :)

j.

Comics are for KIDS!

If you're not reading TINY TITANS by Art Baltazar and Franco, then you should be! It's FUN!

I had a dream that Jonah Hex was in the Tiny Titans. He kept saying "Aw, Hex Yeah!". The Titans' catchphrase is "Aw, Yeah Titans!" Sayin'g "Hex Yeah" is kinda like swearing. Sorta...

:)
j.

Winter in Spring!

Four page Huntress story by J.Torres. This is my take on the story that actually appeared in the 2009 DC Holiday Special.

Covering New/Old Ground!

The Super Friends are kidnapped and forced to participate in a Galactic Olympics. Superman could easily win all the events, of course. But the Friends are all about teamwork. They even win the Olympics together! I can't remember why I featured Flash so prominently on this cover. I think I wanted a large foreground character. In retrospect it should have been Superman carrying the torch (but then Superman already had his feature cover on his Birthday).
One of my own favorite covers. I wanted the bunny to look like the rabbit that appeared on candy wrappers I used to love as a kid (for the life of me I can't remember the name of the company -- but the candies were like 'rockets'. Rolls of candy wrapped in cellophane twisted at either end). AND he's also fashioned after the bunny from Pixar's brilliant PRESTO short film.
I drew the interiors for this issue as well as the cover (twice). My first final (below) just had sinister looking versions of the Flash and Green Lantern. My editor, the always delightful Rachel Gluckstern, asked me to change them to Sinestro and Reverse Flash. No argument from me! Drawing those guys was incredible fun!

I love drawing these concept covers when I can. Usually the cover is more literal, though with the Super Friends anything is possible. Maybe they really do get flattened into a puzzle world which falls apart. I want to finish another of my rough sketches for this cover. I riffed on an M.C. Escher image placing the Super Friends in one of his multiple perspective/optical illusion rooms. Lot's of fun!
Oh, the chaos of a Comic Book Convention. This one is full of little Easter Eggs (of a sort). I FINALLY got to draw Batmite AND Mxyzptlk!! When Rachel told me they were the guest villains I just about burst! Awesome. I hid the other imps throughout the image, as well as myself, Rachel, and Stewart (the artist on the book). I couldn't find any photos of Dario Bruzuela (the other regular artist on the book) so, sadly, he isn't there.

j.

Alison Dares Again!

Alison Dare is being re-printed in two gorgeous collections by Tundra publishing. To promote the material the Tundra blog is running a fun contest for Dare fans around the WORLD!! Writer J.Torres and I get to judge the contest -- I promise not to show favoritism but I really hope those of you who read my blog will consider entering :)
I love the covers to the reprints. Sure, I did the drawings but the design, and fabulousness, is due to the gorgeous work of Jennifer Lum!

A Few of My Favourite Gals!

Just a few of my favourite ladies! Dolly Parton wore an outfit very much like that in an episode from the old Porter Waggoner show. She looked like a delicious dessert -- like a Lemon/Raspberry pastry. Yum!
Below her is my equally delicious friend, Mo. I drew this for her recent birthday. I wish I'd made the chair more obviously heart shaped. The bottom doesn't quite curve around as much as I'd like it to. Anyway -- who's looking at the chair!?!

j.

Feeling Super Friendly!

This week another issue of the SUPER FRIENDS hit the stands -- this is the big ol' Mad Scientist issue I mentioned previously! I've posted the sketches for and the cover to that issue already, so I thought I'd throw down some of the cover sketches that never made it to final. And to see the final covers all on one page you can check this page over at the Comic Vine
Above and below were some of my initial ideas for SF#10. The villain was Dr. Light. Not wanting to reveal him on the cover I played with light as a theme. I think it was just too gruesome to have the Super Friends as melting candles! What was I thinking?
This would have been fun to draw up with the high contrast and blast of light but was, again, deemed too serious.
DING! Man, did I ever want to draw Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk for the cover of SF#11. I toyed with floating Super Friend heads or them as Mini-Super Friends (I believe the kids call them "Chibis") In the end issue #11 was one of my favorite covers with all of the Superheroes wearing Batman-inspired costumes.
Pirate Starro was a brilliant idea dreamed up by Sholly Fisch. First out of the gate was a play on the old Justice League cover with the heroes taking down the mind-controlling starfish. Then starfish sized Starro adorably menacing with his hook and peg-leg. I think starfish are one of those creatures who can grow back limbs, no? Am I wrong?
Ah, the Super Pets. Super Friends #14 was wicked fun to draw. I did quite a few drawings of the pets just because they were so much fun. The idea here was to have Topo as the center of an super-pet merry-go-round. Some of these covers should be revisited, I think, and maybe done up as final images!
This is the actual rough for the Holiday issue from 2009 -- SF#22. Sometimes I know right away what I want to do with the cover. This was one of 'em.
The Winter Olympics are about to start up here in Canada. They take place in Vancouver but for this issue of the Super Friends, #25, the setting is Space! I wanted a montage for this cover with the torch taking center stage. Each hero demonstrates his or her own athletic strength. In the end it's not only physical ability, but brains that win the day!
Another one that came out of the brain as a near final. I'm pretty sure the rabbit is inspired by the Pixar short "Presto" -- but also by the rolls of candy I used to get for Halloween, and sometimes Easter, as a kid. I can't remember the brand of candy but there was a bunny head on the wrapper that looked a lot like this fuzzy guy.

In other Super Friendly news, myself and Stewart McKenny were interviewed by Adam Dechanel over at his Superman Homepage. Now, I've put up some of Adam's reviews of my cover and interior work on the Super Friends which was not always the most positive. I'm not opposed to negative reviews in the least. They inspire me to work harder (after I dry my tears :) The thing with Adam's reviews were that they felt to me like he'd missed the intention of the book and especially what I think is Sholly's strength on the series -- that they are accessible to children but can also be enjoyed by adults who remember those ridiculous stories from DC days gone by.
So I was very happy that Adam asked me to take part in the four day Super Friends event currently up at his site. It gave me the chance to explain my thoughts on the book and get to know Adam a little better. Frankly his was the only site I could find reviewing the Super Friends and I was grateful for any attention given to the book! (Besides, the talented Stewart McKenny always made out well and as one of my favorite guys that was nice to see).

Here's my part of the interview.

It was a busy week for gabbing and I was also interviewed by J. Caleb Mozzocco at the Newsarama Blog. I tried not to repeat myself knowing that both Q&A's were coming out at roughly the same time. I swiped Caleb's pun for the heading of this post. ;)

Sincerely yours,
j.bone

Super Friends! Super Fans!

Every now and then I do a cover for the Super Friends book that just makes me really happy that I draw pictures for a living. This one, the cover to issue #24, is one of those covers. Everything came out exactly how I pictured it in my brain. Trust me that is not always the case. Sometimes it's a real struggle to get the image on the board to match the "perfect" picture I've got on the drawing board in my imagination.
This is the cover that marks my two years of work on the Super Friends so I did try just that little bit harder to get it right. Not that I shirk duties on my other covers, mind you :)
Here are the two rough sketches I gave my editor, the incredible Rachel Gluckstern. We both liked the first one so off I went! I love how the Super Friends are barely even on the cover of their own book!

Speaking of covers -- reviews are in on a few of my past covers. Read 'em all just below this!
The cover for Super Friends #21 - and here is the review from my favourite comic book reviewer and a big fan of my work:
"Cover Art - 2: A bit of a rush job this time round. I get the 'storybook theme' but the cover is nothing like the interior and thus it is marked low. I get the feeling this was done before the story..."

I wouldn't ordinarily bother, but I do want to say that Stewart McKenny did an absolutely gorgeous job on the interiors. I knew, after reading the script, that he wasn't going to get the chance to draw a literal fairy tale version of the Super Friends. I took the opportunity on the cover to draw Superman as a literal Man of STEEL (or tin if you want to get all nit-picky ;), Batman as a Dark KNIGHT, Wonder Woman as Amazon PRINCESS, Green Lantern as a man of LIGHT, Aquaman KING of the Sea, and Flash as Hermes God of SPEED!
Hence the difference between cover and interiors.


In all fairness, the same reviewer gave my Holiday cover the following rating: "Cover Art - 4: A Green Lantern powered sled, Superman as Santa, what's not to love!"

Super Friends #23 : "Cover Art - 3: Loved Wonder Woman's awe of space depicted here, but the whole 'Mystery In Space' theme they have going just isn't magnified well enough here. John looks like a robot by the by."

All reviews are ©Adam Dechanel.

best,
j.bone

Music Songs!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. New Years eve was four days ago, it was fantastic. Now the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work, dammit!!
One of the things I loved about last year was discovering Garfunkel & Oates. Two absolutely adorable girls who sing brilliant songs about relationships, sex, pregnant women and ducks.
The girls, Riki and Kate, have appeared in a bunch of tv shows and movies but what I love is their music. I should warn you if you decide to check out their stuff (and you absolutely should) is that the songs contain swears which some people might find offensive.

I think Kid Robot (or someone similar) needs to get making some Blythe-like dolls of Garfunkel & Oates!

best,
j.