Third in the Series--Mer-Kara!

How I love the Bronze Age of comics--simpler stories for a simpler time. At least, I think it was a simpler time; I guess it's always a simpler time when you're a child. At any rate, my fondest comic book memories are from the 70s books, and I really miss the days when all comic books could be appreciated by all age groups.  Nowadays the form is divided into uncompromising niches. It's sad to me that I can't buy Batman comics for my niece and nephew.

But, enough of my whining.  Hope y'all digs on Mer-Kara's Aquatic Adventure!

Last one for awhile, y'all. I'm concentrating on a new web portfolio, to be debuted soon. The figure and background illustrations were done in Procreate on iPad with the Apple Pencil. Some of the textured curly bits were done with the wicked-cool fractal generator Frax! The design elements and final layout are pretty much all Adobe Photoshop, with some Adobe Illustrator thrown in for good measure.

TikiMonkeyGirl Coloring Page!

And the latest coloring page for your creative enjoyment--an early version of TikiMonkeyGirl! I'm still deciding on her final character design, but you can color this while you wait.

Master of the Mystic Arts

The Doctor, The Duck, and The Dread Dormammu! Illustrating my love affair with the Bronze Age of comics!

Devil Dinosaur meets Tigra!

Another love letter to the comics of my youth! They just don't make 'em like they used to.

1,000,000 DC Diana

So, who's seen the classic Raquel Welch film 1,000,000 BC?  It shaped my 8-year old mind into the strange and wonderful place it is today.  I love dinosaurs, ape men, iguanas with cardboard fins stuck to their backs, and of course, beautiful and powerful paleolithic cavewomen!  I'm on a roll, combining all that with some of my favorite DC comics layouts from the 70s.  Keep an eye out--more to come!

Age of Ultron

I drew this long-legged Natasha a couple years back.  Included to accompany a word about the new Avengers film--Age of Ultron.  I'm not big on reviews, but I do like to talk about comic-book geekdom.  The first 15 minutes made me downright giddy--this is the kind of hyper-choreographed superhero violence I've been waiting for since I was 8.

Then the pacing began to irritate me.  Superdoubleplusgoodfastcrazyridiculous beginning that came to a screeeeeeching halt for our heroes spend a stupid amount of time hiding out at a farmhouse.  This was time wasted on character development previously established in earlier films.  Why not take more time building Ultron's motivations?  I think, therefore I am, therefore I take out the human race?  All within about 8 seconds of "birth".  What about the Vision?  There was absolutely NO time taken to develop his character.

On the subject of powers--what were movie Vision's?  Controlling his molecular density?  Did he pass his arm through a robot then solidify, or just reach through with this super-strength?  And Scarlet Witch?  She seemed to have some reality-bending powers, some telekinetics, some mind control.  I know these characters from comics, but they don't do much more than resemble the characters I'm familiar with.

The film looked awesome.  It sounded great.  The dialog was snappy and entertaining.  It had bits of everything I love about a superhero movie, but was ultimately less than satisfying.