Original Work: still untitled werewolf comic by Eric Schuster

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Cover Redo: Fantastic Four #12 by Eric Schuster

Silly Hulk, you're too big to hide.  The original:

Monsters in the Art: Godzilla vs Rembrandt by Eric Schuster

Apologies.

Westerns - Dean Martin from Rio Bravo

 Dean Martin, takin it easy and singing "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me." I really love this song.

Gritty Reboot: Alf, by Eric Schuster

Spoiler alert this is basically the last shot of Prometheus.

Stand-Up Comedians: Reggie Watts by Eric Schuster

 

Reggie Watts is the man.  Almost everything he does is improvised, looping his beatboxing with silly phrases and sound effects to make some remarkable songs.  He's kind of hard to explain, so here's him derpin' around, doing what he does best:

AKIRA: Great Dialogue, by Eric Schuster

 AKIRA is a movie best watched slightly louder than is comfortable.

Pokemon Battles: Nidoking vs Pikachu, by Eric Schuster

Fuck yeah Pokemon.  When I first played through the original Pokemon (Red version), my Nidoking saved my team during the long haul through the cave under Mount Moon.

Big Barda & Mr. Miracle, by Eric Schuster

The Fourth World is my favorite Jack Kirby story, and Mr. Miracle might be my favorite book out of the bunch.  There's so much to love: the main male character is the conscientious objector and the lady is the one who throws hands.  Also, lots of nifty gadgets and a great pair of antagonists in Granny Goodness and that miniature Hitler dude.

After reading a Jack Kirby comic, other comics just seem too refined and tame.

Ketchup: Literally Armagetto Fabulous, by Eric Schuster

 I punted on Rich last time, and I know this idea was one he's been percolating for awhile so Superhero Album Covers is my theme for Ketchup week.  I'm more a fan of East Coast and hippy-hop (mopey underground raps) but Straight Outta Compton's got plenty to like.

Tim Burton: Mars Attacks, by Eric Schuster

I admire Tim Burton for being prolific and getting to pretty much run down a checklist of dream projects.  I'm not a fan of most of his work, but I really loved Ed Wood, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and of course the giant ball of crazy that was MARS ATTACKS.  Mars Attacks was awesome.  Growing up I was unaware of the gruesome series of trading cards that the movie was based on...apparently the work of comic book supergenius Wally Wood.

TMNT: Leo kills The Shredder

I was (surprise!) a big Turtles fan as a kid, on the basis of the action figures and the cartoon.  I didn't read the comic it was based on until much later.  I have no idea how Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird spun their weird, violent parody comic into millions of dollars, but mad respect to them for it.  The first issue is the Turtle's origin story that culminates with a classic rooftop battle against the Shredder and his elite Foot Soldiers.  The turtles kill everyone and Leonardo stabs the Shredder...but leaves him alive enough to commit seppuku afterword.

 Eastman/Laird's version.

My take.

Jimmy Olsen: Rock Star

Daft Punk also count as robots.

Minions of Apokalips: Simyan and Mokkari

These two schlubs largely stood around with a clipboard and watched as Superman, Jimmy Olson, and the Newsboy legion fought off a bunch of monsters.

Obscure Myth: Far Darrig by Eric Schuster

Far Darrig, aka The Red Man, is an Irish fairy who specializes in malicious pranks.  He was a shapeshifter, but his red coat and cap remain constant.

Ketchup: COUPLES, Scott Pilgrim + Knives Chau (and why I didn't like the movie)

I'm gonna rant a little bit here.  I'll try to avoid being spoiler-y about he books but I'm going in assuming peeps have seen the movie.

Scott Pilgrim was my favorite comic for a long time.  I was on board from the beginning, and I say that not to brag that I was there first, but to make the point that I was/am a SUPER FAN.  When I heard the movie was not only going forward but was being directed by Edgar Wright, I thought it was positioned to be the bestest comic book movie ever, SRSLY.  I wasn't expecting it to be note for note the same because it's stupid to expect every nuance from the 1200 page story to fit into 2 hours, but I figured it'd get the spirit of the story at least.  I'm definitely PRO comic book movie (even the not so great ones) because its a great way to get comic creators more paid and who among us isn't for that?

I thought SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD was bad though, and NOT because "it was different from the book!"  It really wasn't THAT different, at least superficially.  It hit the big story beats, sure.  It did a fine job of keeping a lot of the funny jokes and silly hipster spirit but at its core it completely whiffed on the point of the story: Scott Pilgrim is a douchebag in sore need of some growing up.

My biggest problem is how much the movie let Scott off the hook for his dick behavior.  Sure the characters roll their eyes at Scott a lot (ditto the book), but as the books progressed forward and you learned more about Scott's romantic history (with Kim, Envy, and Lisa, whose roles were reduced to non-existent in the movie) and how he wasn't just an endearing but absentminded doofus, he was actually kind of horrible.  The books beautifully show everything bottoming out in slow motion, because of his stubborn refusal to acknowledge that he's being self centered even though he does genuinely care about those around him.  Whether he ends up with Ramona or ANYONE not was not the point.  The fighting the evil exes, that ALSO was not the point.

The movie kind of chucks all that out the window.  Michael Cera plays Michael Cera, lovable awkward doofus, and ends with the message that TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALL blaring with bright colors and indie rock.  It ends up being a personal victory without any of the interesting personal struggle.

The reason I picked Scott and Knives is because it's the difference in the book and the movie in a nutshell.  Scott cheats on Knives and Ramona with each other.  Knives in the book is shown to be immature (for sure), but she's also 17 and struggling with a lot of sadness/longing/frustration with this older jerk who played her emotionally and then unceremoniously dumped her when she stopped being the most interesting thing to him this very minute.  In the movie she's just this cute/annoying groupie who ends up being as feasible a love interest as Ramona in the end.

WWII: Superman cleans up

Another super quick sketch, reproducing a panel from the Siegel/Shuster comic "What If Superman Ended the War?"  It featured Superman whooping wholesale Nazi ass, and then scooping up Hitler and Stalin and dropping them off at a meeting of the League of Nations to answer for their crimes.

The Mighty Thor Annual #2 by Eric Schuster

SOOOOPER quick sketch this week.

Romantic Marvel Cover: Spiderman and Obama Bromance

I only had time for a quick sketch this week, and my memory had somehow omitted the "Kirby" part of "Romantic Kirby Cover" this week and I just went with a Marvel comics cover.

The Pope vs. Godzilla

Yep.