Feb 07 2009

The ‘Nancy’ Weird Comic Strip Generator

So I was cleaning out my browser bookmarks today and among the things I encountered was this old post over at Blog Flume about a Wendy’s kids meal toy that allows you to generate a Peanuts comic strip by inserting pre-printed panels into a little “frame.”

I bookmarked it not just because it’s cool (which it is), but also because it reminded me of something I made many years ago when I was teaching at the North Carolina Governor’s School and had access to lots of  “real” art supplies: a mix and match Nancy strip generator.

The genesis of this item was a weird piece of cardboard I’d found with an ocean image printed on it.  I just started messing around with it and among the things hanging around the studio that caught my eye were a bunch of photocopied Nancy strips.  (I can’t remember why now, but having a bunch of Nancy strips around requires no justification in my opinion.)  Anyway, what emerged was this item:

nancy_1

Each of the “panels” is made of some cut-out images from a comic strip glued to a clear acetate sheet which can be pulled up and out of the frame by the black “handles” at the top (the one on the left has fallen off) and rearanged.  It’d have been nice to have more “panels” to use other than just these three, but hey, what can I tell you–I was working on this on the taxpayers’ dime!

Here’s another possible combo. You get the idea…

nancy_2

Jan 25 2009

Thor Pinup

Here’s yet another pinup I’ve done to send along with my art dealer up to the New York Comic Con in a few weeks.  This piece is based on a panel from Thor #337, the first Walter Simonson issue.  Simonson’s run on Thor was one of my absolute favorite series when I was a young comics-reading kid in the ’80s–and, unlike a lot of the stuff I liked back then, it actually ages pretty well.  It’s still a great read.

thor

Jan 22 2009

Pinup: Alpha Flight

The New York Comic Con is fast approaching.  Alas, I’ll not be going in person; however the good folks from A Cosmic Odyssey, who sell my original art work, will be attending.  I sell at least a page or two of original art from my graphic novels at each “indie” convention, like SPX, but at big mainstream cons like Heroes Con in Charlotte, for example, I seem to have better luck with superhero stuff.  Consequently, I try to drum up three or four superhero pinups–albeit, drawn in my rubber arm/button eye style–to have on hand for events like that.  Here’s one I just wrapped up–a pinup of the classic ’80s John Byrne Alpha Flight:

alpha_flight

Jan 20 2009

Obama’s Spider-Man Reference?

While the current Obama/Spider-Man buzz making the rounds is Marvel’s (supposedly pretty ham-handed) “guest appearance” by Obama in a current Spider-Man issue, here’s something a bit more subtle that recently caught my eye.  Last Sunday’s Parade Magazine newspaper insert contained a contained a letter/essay from Obama to his children entitled “What I Want for You — and Every Child in America.” In that essay was the following passage:

“…with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.”

Maybe it’s just the fanboy in me, but the first thing I thought of was, of course, this:

spiderman

Or, as it later often appeared both in the comics and in the films:

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Jan 15 2009

Ricardo Montalban R.I.P.

It’s been a grim week or so: first Ron Asheton, now Ricardo Montalban.  As slashdot remarked, “The voice of Rich Corinthian Leather is silenced, but we still have the memories.”

khan