And speaking of Prince...

This super dope illustration came through my Facebook feed a few days ago. 

Can you guess the song? Of course you can.

"Lady Cab Driver - Prince feat. Jill Jones"

Artist: Pablo Alcade

Harley Quinn #59 (Variant Cover Edition)

Hey Puddin'!

'Memba when I mentioned back in January that a sweet Harley Quinn fan art piece done by singapore-based artist Derrick Chew, that I'd given the top spot in the fan art listicle I published to geeks.media, was used by DC Comics for the cover of Harley Quinn #58?

Well, I'm very happy to announce that another piece he did – that I'd also used for my listicle – will be featured on the cover of Harley Quinn #59 (street date: 3/6/19)! As stated previously, I'm not going as far as to presume that my article had anything to do with its selection by DC, but I'm beyond thrilled for Chew...and I hope that it did.

Harley Quinn #58 (Variant Cover Edition)

Hey Puddin'!

Yours truly gave the fan art piece by singapore-based artist Derrick Chew (seen above and below) the top spot in a short Harley Quinn fan art listicle that I published to geeks.media sometime back (give it a peep by clicking here). So it was super effin' cool to learn just now that it's gonna be used by DC Comics as a special variant cover for Harley Quinn #58 (street date: 2/6/19). I won't go as far as to presume that my article really had anything to do with its selection by DC, but I'm tremendously happy for Chew...and I low key hope that it did.

'Hey, Miles' by Catrie [Fan Art]

"The moment the credits rolled for [Spider-Man:] Into The Spider-Verse, I immediately envisioned this piece. This movie was so inspiring to me, and I hope someday I get to work on a movie like that." – Catrie Art

The above work by Catrie Art is a very sweet image I ran across on Facebook a few days ago. With regard to the color arrangement and composition, it speaks to me on several levels that have already been discussed. So I had to share it.

I also hope she gets the chance someday to work on a movie like this too.

SP

'Graffiti Miles' by Marcus Williams [Fan Art]

"Graffiti Miles hittin' that note. I definitely had to show some love for this amazing film, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. There's so much 'good' in the character building of this movie that makes me want to render scenes of the aftermath beyond the film." – Marcus Williams

X-Men / Shazam: Clash of the Multiverse [Fan Art]

X-Men / Shazam: Clash of the Multiverse mash-up by Paco Taylor

Respects (and apologies) to Alex Ross, the artist whose beautiful imagery was taken from two different comic book covers to create this mash-up idea that zinged me like a baby lightning bolt on Halloween eve. (See: Sugar rush) 

What you see isn’t the original idea that hit me, calling for a Storm Halloween cosplay mash-up of some sort. But I’m very happy with the more organic place the creative process took the original idea and what came out of it. 

As you can see, Storm of the X-Men stands in for Mary Marvel (aka Black Mary, circa 2007), striking an electrifying pose in front of Black Adam and Mighty Isis. The lighting bolt on the torso is a perfect complement to the little gold lightning bolt earrings that Storm was given in the early 90s, when her look from the previous decade was given a makeover.

If DC and Marvel were ever to revisit their Amalgam Comics imprint of the 90s, which saw heroes from both comic book universes merged to create new ones, Storm–as is quite apparent here–would be a natural (and gorgeous) fit for the Shazam comics universe. 

I'll leave it up to someone else to come up with a cool name for the new character. I needed a creative distraction from my writing duties, but now I've got to get back to work. 

Oh, yeah! And shout-out to AsylusGoji91 for the Clash of the Multiverse logo. It was a perfect fit for this comic book cover-style fan art.

Paco 
pacotaylor.contently

––––––––––––––––––––––

Original art: Alex Ross 

Digital composite: Me 

Storm and Uncanny X-Men ™ & © Marvel Comics • Black Adam and Mighty Isis ™ & © DC Comics

Uncanny X-Men NOW #29 (Variant cover by Alex Ross)

Justice Society of America #25 (Regular cover by Alex Ross)

Forged From Air Jordans: This War Machine Mask Takes Both Fan Art And Cosplay To A Whole 'Nother Level

'No. 117: 5Lab3 Iron Man Helmet Mask and Gauntlet' 

[Credit: @freehandprofit]

In M. Night Shayamalan's late '90s thriller The Sixth Sense, a young boy with a supernatural talent for seeing something that others can't whispers the now-famous phrase: "I see dead people." Similarly, and almost just as astonishingly, the San Francisco-based artist Freehand Profit has revealed — by way of his senses shattering artwork — his own preternatural gift for seeing in the seams and folds of athletic shoes what no mere mortals can: he sees superheroes.

[Credit: @freehandprofit]

Not only does the curiously monikered Freehand Profit (born Gary Lockwood) see comic book superheroes. He sees the faces of anime heroines, the helmets of Star Wars shock troops, the heads of robots and sci-fi inspired gas masks. But it’s his production of wares based on the Marvel Comics character War Machine — forged from the deconstructed husks of pairs of Air Jordans — that gives the most fitting glimpse into another dimension we never guessed existed.

The world of Freehand Profit is a realm of an imagination gone buck wild, where the contemporary subcultures of comic book geeks, hip-hop heads, cosplayers (costumed role-players) and sneaker freaks collide. It's a world where the stylish, logo-branded future is right now and where lowbrow fan art is the highest art. Best of all, it's a world where our materialism can become creative fodder for a recycling program unlike anything the world has ever seen.

'No. 117: 5Lab3 Iron Man Helmet Mask (Profile)' 

[Credit: @freehandprofit]

Embracing The Past, Present And Future

This sneaker mask spotlighted here is the 117th such piece in a senses-shattering series of masks produced by Freehand Profit using the leather and rubber of high-end sneakers. The artist says that he’s always found himself intrigued by masks, whether those used in the ancient rituals of various cultures or those donned by crime fighting superheroes. And Tony Stark, the wealthy industrialist of Marvel Comics' Iron Man comics provides a rich source for mining.

In the comics, the War Machine armor created by Tony Stark first made a brief cameo appearance in the closing pages of Iron Man #281 (June 1992). The armor was made to be used by Tony's friend Captain James Rhodes, who has appeared wearing the suit not only in comics, but in cartoons, video games and live-action Hollywood films like Iron Man 2, Captain America: Civil War and next year's much-awaited film Avengers: Infinity War.

[Credit: Marvel Comics]

Studying The Art of War

Remarkably, the War Machine helmet was crafted from four pairs of black and gray Jordan 5Lab3 sneakers. In addition to headgear, a glove or "gauntlet" was also produced, which boasts working mechanics and lights. Topping off the ensemble is Iron Man's arc reactor, the round technical marvel that keeps the injured heart of Tony Stark beating. True to amazing form, it was also created using the sole of a 5Lab3 sneaker with LED lights added.

If you would like to see more of the "No. 117: 5Lab3 Iron Man Helmet" and more mind-blowing "sneaker head" productions of Freehand Profit, please check out his Instagram page. If you think the mask featured here is amazing, just wait until you see an earlier incarnation of the other Iron Man mask ("No. 45), and the Wolverine mask in the colorway of the classic yellow and blue uniform. If you're lucky, true believer, you'll never see your Air Jordans the same way again.

'War Machine' [Credit: @freehandprofit]

Wonders Never Cease: Nubia Fan Art Echoes 40-Year Love Affair With DC's Most Underrated Character

Believe it or not, it's really much closer to 45 years that Nubia — DC Comics' shamefully underused Amazon warrior — has existed. For more than half that time, I myself have viewed the character as being the biggest missed opportunity in the history of DC, a publisher that once lagged noticeably behind its rival Marvel Comics, in terms of a racially diverse roster of heroes.

It's somewhat dumbfounding when you consider the fact that Nubia was one of the very first black super-powered characters when introduced into Wonder Woman, Issue 204 in 1973. This was two years after the first appearance of the Green Lantern John Stewart, and two years before Storm of the X-Men. Today, those latter two characters are among fandom's most popular superheroes.

[Credit: DC Comics]

With so early an introduction into the pantheon of the super-powered, Nubia was perfectly positioned to someday ascend to a place of prominence in comics history. But sadly, in a country where the two big "isms" still rear their puss-filled heads almost as much today as when the character was created, that was never to be. Nubia wasn't given much of a chance at all, really.

And Yet She Persisted

WonderWoman's fraternal twin, formed of dark of clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta — in contrast to the light clay from which Diana was formed — essentially vanished after the three-issue story arc in which she was introduced. In 1974, the year after her creation, she had a small role in Supergirl Issue 9, but was then quietly ushered into the blank pages of obscurity.

Nubia's lasting place in the minds of many fans is more largely owed to a doll made by the Mego Corporation in 1977, when the Wonder Woman TV show was at the height of its popularity. The 12-inch Nubia action doll, outfitted in silver armor and a purple skirt, with a sword and shield accessories, looked as if it had sprung right from comics and into the toy isle.

Meet Mel Milton

In the first week of June, I had the pleasure of wrting about the internet-breaking fan art of Marcus Williams. Today, I am just as pleased to introduce you to the gorgeous, Nubia-centric illustrations of artist Mel Milton, who has been producing a variety of Wonder Woman drawings that every fan just needs to gawk at.

Milton, by the way, is a former artist/animator for Disney — and it shows. His vivacious cartoon women echo many of the distinctive style elements that one might associate with the protagonists of modern-day animated Disney classics, like Mulan, Atlantis, Lilo & Stitch, and The Princess and the Frog.

Sketch No. 5: Nubia [Credit: melmade.blogspot.com]

On June 6, 2017, in anticipation of seeing the justifiably much-hyped film about the amazing Amazon, Milton sketched out a portrait of Wonder Woman. The next day he produced another sketch of the character, and over subsequent days, the work expanded into a series of wonderful art pieces dedicated to the heroic princess of Paradise Island.

Milton has described the series as his "personal Wonder Woman challenge." Along with an assortment of drawings of Diana, the fifth, 13th, 16th and 22nd sketches are illustrations offering the artist's wondrous interpretations of the Amazon warrior Nubia. I won't waste a single keystroke trying to describe 'em. The pictures themselves paint a thousand words.

Sketch No. 13: Nubia [Credit: melmade.blogspot.com]

To Infinity And Beyond

Fans of Milton's work have been understandably wonderstruck by the full series of Wonder Woman illustrations. So much so that they've been requesting the opportunity to purchase the original drawings, prints — anything at all. And fortunately for us, Mr. Milton has decided to collect them into a keepsake sketchbook that, when ready, should take our collective breath away.

Sketch No. 22: Nubia [Credit: melmade.blogspot.com

For those who don't follow comics much, it's worth mentioning that in recent months, DC has introduced an "all-new and all-different" fraternal twin for Diana who's not brown-skinned, but white and male. That's right, as if there's anything out of the ordinary about a character fitting that description anywhere at all in the nearly 80-year history of comic books.

Nevertheless, it was the true uniqueness of a character in comics like Nubia — and with some extra help from a groundbreaking toy — that DC's other Wonder Woman made an impression on geek culture that has resonated out of the old school of Generation X and into the new school of the millennial. And if nothing else, Nubia's enduring (and still expanding) fandom just goes to show that you can't keep a good character down.

Sketch No. 16: Nubia [Credit: melmade.blogspot.com

Suffering Sappho! This 'Wonder Women' Fan Art Is Breaking The Internet

[Credit: @marcusthevisual]

As the hit DCEU movie Wonder Woman was in its fourth day of breaking the US box office this past weekend, Atlanta-based illustrator Marcus Williams (Tuskegee Heirs) started breaking the internet — or Facebook and Twitter, at least — by posting a spine-tingling tribute to WonderWoman and her largely forgotten fraternal twin sister, Nubia.

And as you can see, the artwork is wondrous.

Due to popular demand voila. Wonder Women Nubia & Diana
Posters are available  Also Shirts. https://t.co/8rwRHr1Qf9 pic.twitter.com/PuMYA0J3Ht

— marcus williams (@marcusthevisual) June 4, 2017

On June 2, a pulse-pounding preview of this now full-color work was shared in the form of a pencil sketch of Nubia and Diana. That piece showed off the pure form of fine line work for which Williams is becoming well known, especially due to his remarkable renditions of fan favorite comic book heroines like Storm, Captain Marvel, Psylocke, and too many others to name.

At the time the sketch was posted, Williams was just showing his enthusiastic support of the then-upcoming Wonder Woman film. Fans of the artist's work were quick to show their enthusiastic support of his enthusiastic support!

Yet, there were also many new school comic book fans who weren't aware that Diana had ever had a sister, aside from Donna Troy of the Teen Titans, let alone a black fraternal twin. But, once upon a time, she did indeed have one.

I offer a sketch of two Wonder Women (Nubia and Diana) to show my support for the film. Peace ya'll.#WonderWoman pic.twitter.com/L5Vg9WLeQ1

— marcus williams (@marcusthevisual) June 3, 2017

In February of 1973, during the rise in popularity of blaxploitation films like Shaft, Coffy, Black Caesar and many others, DC Comics showed themselves as "hip to the times" by introducing the Amazon warrior Nubia, with whom Diana duels in issue #204 of Wonder Woman. But Diana — who'd just recovered from amnesia — had no idea who her tall, dark and lovely adversary actually was. The same was also true of her book's readers.

By way of a flashback in Wonder Woman #206, it was revealed that Nubia and Diana were twin sisters, formed as babes from dark and light clay by their mother Queen Hippolyta, and animated into life by the breath of the Goddess Aphrodite. After their miraculous creation however, the God of War Mars appeared and stole Nubia away from her mother and sister.

[Credit: DC Comics]

In the mid-1980s, DC Comics released the popular but also controversial series, Crisis on Infinite Earths. This complex story would serve as a reset button of sorts for the publisher's then-sprawling, multi-dimensional universe. Many of the plot twists that came about in the ensuing years since Wonder Woman and her peers were first created in the 1940s and onward were erased.

Among those countless casualties was Nubia's audacious origin, which left the character being just one of many Amazons on Paradise Island with no special relation to Diana and Hippolyta. The ripple in Wonder Woman's continuity created in 1973 by writer Cary Bates and artist Don Heck never faded, and the appreciation of this little known Amazon warrior endures.

In fitting tribute to that now classic tale of the "Wonder Women," Nubia and her fraternal twin sister Diana — as they forever remain in the minds of many old school comic book collectors — have been given a picture perfect family reunion in a gorgeous work of fan art by Marcus Williams.

[Credit: @marcusthevisual]

Though Nubia has never really had the place in comics that her character deserves, the vision of this talented artist from Atlanta makes you realize that it would be some kind of wonderful to see the separated twin sisters together again on the silver screen in Patty Jenkins' senses-shattering sequel to Wonder Woman — even if only for a moment.

What say you, Patty J? Do you wanna break the box office again?

After Seeing Killer Fan Art, Wesley Snipes Hints At Jamie Foxx About Potential 'Blade' Team-Up

On June 28, Australia-based artist BossLogic shared to his Facebook and Twitter pages a pulse-pounding new piece of fan art, in which Jamie Foxx is depicted in the role of Marvel's super-cool vampire slayer Blade. The faux teaser poster features a monochromatic and red-accented portrait of Foxx with Blade's trademark haircut, tribal tattoos, tactical vest, Ray-Bans, and his distinctive samurai sword. Check it out below:

BLADE - @iamjamiefoxx @MarvelStudios pic.twitter.com/08dizq17lC

— BossLogic (@Bosslogic) June 29, 2017

First brought to life on the silver screen by Wesley Snipes in 1998, Blade, a once-little-known 1970s comic book character, was recently acknowledged by Marvel's Kevin Feige to have been the House of M's first successful film franchise. Longtime fans of the character are still starving to know if and when the Daywalker will again see the light of day.

Meanwhile, the BossLogic teaser poster has made mouths water by offering an unexpected taste of what a new Blade film could look like with someone like Jamie Foxx in the role. On the morning of July 1, Snipes saw the artwork in his Twitter feed and quickly responded with a playful (and so far unanswered) tweet to Foxx, asking why he isn't invited to the party:

“yo Jamie, how come u don’t invite me to the party?” @iamjamiefoxx 🙋🏿‍♂️ https://t.co/cKOVfgy2Aw

— WS (@wesleysnipes) July 1, 2017

 

Twitter: A Place For Cinematic Dreams To Come True

If Foxx does respond, it will be interesting to see what he says. Magical things happen on Twitter, you know.

In May of 2017, a photo of Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o sparked the imaginations of their fans, who basically crowdsourced the plot for a make-believe buddy movie. It was an idea that Rihanna and Nyong'o playfully indulged in, but it quickly snowballed until the fan fantasy became a soon-to-be very real heist film, staring the aforementioned dynamic duo. With Ava DuVernay now on board to direct, the Netflix series is aiming to start production in 2018.

I don't know about the rest of you Blade fans, but BossLogic has me thinking now that the only thing cooler than a new Blade movie — with Wesley Snipes, of course, returning to the role that he first sunk his fangs into — is a Blade film with Jamie Foxx sharing the screen as a fellow vampire slayer. With the right budget, the right director, the right script, and the right super-villain, a Blade buddy movie would take a ginormous bite out of the box office and leave audiences thirsty for more.

Is the big screen big enough for two super cool vampire slayers? Feel free to lemme know with a comment below.