Showing posts with label Wizard of Oz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wizard of Oz. Show all posts

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Marvel and DC's Wizard of Oz!

I recently ran across this Wizard of Oz comic from 1975...

Since it was published by both Marvel and DC, I couldn't stop myself from redrawing it with a few substitute characters. Click on it to enlarge...

You won't see this on on Covered Blog like some of my other recreations. It's too much of a parody/mash-up for the purpose of that site, if you're curious why.

When I first thought about what characters to use, I was surprised to realize that there are no Lion-based superheroes! And, very few villains.

Using Tin (who's awkwardly out of step, if you didn't notice) from Metal Men was an obvious choice. Using the Batman villain, Scarecrow, was also an obvious choice. I very, very briefly considered using the Marvel hero named Scarecrow. He was created in the 70's and maybe used only three times.

I debated about who to use for the Cowardly Lion. The most obvious choice would be Leo...

...from the Zodiac, a group of old Avengers villains...

...but he was too obscure, and boring to look at. I thought about the Griffin...

...but he was a griffin, not a lion. Marvel has a whole race of Cat People. I thought about using one of them, like this dude below...

...but, again, too obscure. Even though she's a girl and a tiger, I came close to using Tigra herself. However, my son told me I've already drawn her too much.

As I considered using Kraven, my other son reminded me that "craven" means "cowardly". A winner had emerged.

It's my fondest wish that my thoughtful examination of how to translate Wizard of Oz characters into Marvel or DC characters will be of great use to future generations.

Monday, January 19, 2009

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.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Glinda's a jerk

I've always thought the following Wizard of Oz scene was odd, so I'm reproducing it here with my own bit of dialog at the end...