How to Annoy People

A few years ago, I wrote four comic strips appearing in the Kansas City Star, which a friend of mine, Rich LaPierre, drew. I wanted to throw some random thoughts out there without having to work them into a Halo & Sprocket story. Here's one of 'em. Click to enlarge.

Spider-Man: Things you didn't know.

Before the first Spider-Man movie hit the theaters in 2002, the Kansas City Star newspaper asked a few local artists to create short strips about Spider-Man to celebrate its release. I did the one shown below, which was later reprinted in the Comics Buyers Guide. Click to enlarge.

Since I drew it before the movie was released, I had no idea the story would include a joke about things sticking to Peter Parker's fingers. (I should also point out the shampoo commercial I referred to was much too old to use...)

This strip is a bit similar to my cruder The Truth About Superman.

Magneto the Magician

X-men 2 is one of my favorite movies. As I was watching it recently, I realized something odd as Magneto was preparing to escape his prison. Since he can only control metal, how did he...

Well, I'll let the guard explain...

Silly Rabbit

I thought of this idea a few days ago and it amused me. I couldn't think of a comic book application for it, so I drew it and submitted it to Threadless.com. (If you don't know about Threadless, designs are voted on and scored. If the scores are high enough, it gets turned into a shirt and sold on the site.)

(Edit 2/14) Hmm, it didn't score well. Maybe people didn't "get it." Yeah... that's probably it.

Verily, if you don't read comics, you won't understand this doodle.

The Greatest Super-Villian Weapon Ever?

I've been watching 1967 cartoons on the DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures DVD. I believe I have stumbled across the most nefarious weapon ever created. It appears in the Green Lantern episode, Sirena, Empress of Evil.

Sirena fires the magnificent Magno-Beam, which is somehow "attuned to Green Lantern's brain waves."

Oh! It also contains a bird.

The bird follows the fired beam directly to Green Lantern's head, knocking them both unconscious.

It's genius in it's simplicity.

Spider-Man Tablecloth Art

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite pieces of art in my possession. A Spider-Man sketch by John Byrne and Mark Bagley on a piece of textured, plastic tablecover. It was a gift from friend Anna-Maria Cool.

Anna-Maria was a guest at DragonCon back in 1997. She had recently stopped drawing Barbie comics for Marvel and was currently drawing Elvira for Claypool. At some point, Mr. Byrne scribbled a ballpoint pen drawing on the table to Mr. Bagley, who then inked it with a Sharpie.

I love the fact that it's a spontaneous drawing done only for fun!

Click on the image below to clearly see the texture of the plastic tablecover. It's one of the things that make it cool.

While I'm sharing art, I'll also post some of Anna-Maria's work. This piece, which is framed and hanging on my wall, is from the profusely illustrated novel Toto of Oz, written by Gina Wickwar. Besides the beautiful illustration, I love how quirky it is as a single piece of art, taken out of context.

Okay, I can't let just one (quirky) piece of Anna-Maria's art represent her work. I'll scan in another, from the same book.

Wow, this post is all over the place with art images. Here's another one. My version of Anna-Maria herself, from Halo and Sprocket: Welcome to Humanity.

Okay. I'm done.