Dr. Cool Balls

Jim Rugg's sketch of Dr. Manhattan he did for me at SPX + Pancake Lover in sunglasses + photoshop skills = Dr. Cool Balls...

THE LAST BOY

For James' bday.

squeeek

Birthday Cake Face says

Happy Birthday to the editor of Rowdy Schoolyard. I hope you crap your pants with fun.

bunny demon

This painting was created in an unprovoked attempt to disturb my freshmen roommate during the first few days we knew each other. Success!



And, yeah, that might be another Dave McKean-style Joker demon in there. Can't get enough of him.

badass monster misfit

Fucking RUDY.

How does God let something so boss exist?

(for Oct. 30...only one more...)

Treehouses of Horror

Whenever it was Halloween, that meant Treehouse of Horror, and whenever it was Treehouse of Horror, that meant these guys. There was something about recalling those first few batches of Simpsons specials that just make me FEEL sitting in the living room with candy, autumn, anticipation, and light-hearted spooky entertainment. These and those Roseanne Halloween specials...of which I own the DVD collection.

(for Oct. 29)

VCR poison

It may LOOK like a video tape, but it's ACTUALLY the film that changed pop-horror.

(for Oct. 28)

Mom! MOOOOOM! He's trying to kill me!!!

When/if you become a vampire, don't go outside till you figure out how to use your flight power.

(for Oct. 27)

They're here

This poor little girl.
Sorry, but I love these films. ALL of them.

(for Oct. 26)

Twins

Two of the cutest scariest things from one of the most unsettling scenes in one of the most eerie films ever.

(Supposed to go up Oct. 25)

Spike's last stand

The last few minutes of the final battle in Gremlins is beyond gross when Spike faces sunlight. GREEN SLIME rolls outta his mouth and face sores. Buh.

(Catching up, this was supposed to have gone up Oct. 24)

I hate these guys

But my girlfriend likes them from that movie. So here.

(I'm way way behind and this was to go up October 23)

"Looove that Joker...."

A painting I did a few years ago with [insults to] influences from  Tim Sale, Dave McKean, and from whoever I copied that Mr. Freeze. (?) 

Pancakes in color!

Here are some old Pancake Lover strips colored by RP!

"They Only Live to Get Radical!"




"Party Bomb!"

Grrrrreetings!

Well, hey there! This is Alex Kropinak, and I've been asked to help post some art here, and what better time to do so than Halloweentime? So, here's a spooooooky marker drawing inspired in part by two movies - "Monkey Shines," and "Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders."

I've never D&D'd

This big bastard (called the Beholder) was on an ad on the back of some comics I had as a kid, and when what appeared to be his cousin showed up in "Big Trouble in Little China," I lost it. That comic ad has stayed with me. I'm pretty sure he's in THIS, too.

(for Wed., October, 22)

Mr. Mind

After Kingdom Come's Kahn-ing of Captain Marvel, this little guy gives me an icky feeling whenever he shows up - no matter how much I want to see him in a comic screaming, "Flay-Vor Flayve!!!"

(I JUST missed posting this on time on Tuesday, October 21)

The scariest single issue I've ever read?

Sandman #6. Here's the bottom of page 17.

(Sorry, this was supposed to go up Monday, October 20)

He's Dynaman!

and he's James Robinson's terrifying Nazi Superman.

(This shoulda gone up Sunday, October 19)

Ladies and...

The Gentlemen from the infamous "Hush" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
That simple design, body language and impossible grin are the stuff of nightmares.

skitter skitter skitter

I'm still on a Kazuo kick and remembered how utterly terrified I was when the mysterious, seemingly harmless centipede monster in the wonderfully enjoyable Drifting Classroom Vol. 3 lifted up and revealed its underside and gaping mouth - so I decided to draw it, too. Eeeeeeee.

(Sorry, this was supposed to be posted on Friday, October 17, but I was at MMM and couldn't. Cause I was drunk.)

mew.

I've only JUST discovered manga horror grandmaster Kazuo Umezu in the last couple years, so do yourself a favor and creep yourself out with some of his work including the two beautiful volumes of Cat-Eyed Boy currently available.

(sorry, this was supposed to go up on Thursday, October 16)

Scary cute.

Domo.

The most evil man in comics...

...is the Governor, and he took the business end of a karma shovel to the face in Walking Dead #33 during a sequence that got me so pumped with pure cathartic enjoyment that I was sickened by how pumped I was. It's telling that this rapist fuck is the single worst being in a series ABOUT zombies eating brains. FUCK YOU, you horrifying bastard.

little heck.

They still make my mouth salivate like I'm gonna puke when I see them...

Stuck in a tunnel?

Nobuo fully losing it in DRAGON HEAD vol. 2

Before and after...

...of the male lead in Josh Simmons' horrifying wordless book HOUSE.

(originally supposed to be up October 11, but Sam and I watched Quarantine instead)

The scariest novel I've read?

Yeah.

(Sean, I swear I'm gonna give you your copy back...also, apologies to Jeffrey Brown...)

Twilight Zone bunny

This was the freakiest of the stories in the film, in my opinion.

THE WITCHING HOUR #58

Camp Fear is an amazing story!

I want to go to camp there AND I want this guy as my bus driver.
(This was supposed to go up October 8.)

The first murderer

According to God and Neil Gaiman.

Thing-y

Spoiler warning?

I want to rent The Boogey Man

Is this even on DVD?
WHY couldn't I have worked at Wizard Video when it was around?!?

it's just a thriller.

I was supposed to post this on Saturday, Oct. 4. But we were making love to SPX that day and just laying around in bed with it, so we couldn't.

Jaaaason

I was supposed to post this on Friday, Oct. 3. But we left for SPX too early for me to do it.

Monster in the Closet

I saw this movie when I was a kid and I've never forgotten the way the monster in it looked.

Anybody else seen it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091544/

TOTAL DESTRUCTION

What ugly clouds, right?

Scary

Each day this month I'm gonna draw something with a horror theme in addition to whatever other blah blah blah I do. I'm starting with Jason from Friday the 13th part 2. But it won't always be movies or slashers or whatever. Prepare to poop your pants.

Postcard for Mandy

Puppy Study

If I could draw one thing for the rest of my life—I think it would be dogs.

box painting

My first gift painting. On a juice container box with cheap craft paint.

The 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs

I know this blog is for sketches, but since this is the only one I'm posting at on a semi-regular basis for the time being, I've opted to post my picks for Tom Spurgeon's 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs meme.

For anyone too lazy not to check the requirements at Tom's site, here's how the coding goes for my entries in 50 categories:

Leave Plain = Things I don't have
Make Bold = Things I do have
Italics = I have some but probably not enough

1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library
I've read Jimmy Corrigan by checking it out from my local library and have read several other issues of the series as borrowed from friends or work, but the only Ware I actually own are clipped pages from his NY Times Magazine strip.

2. A Complete Run Of Arcade

3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics
I don't have a number of the most famous ones, but I've got plenty of great stuff from younger artists who peddle them at shows like MoCCA or SPX.

4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s
Again, cheap me…I've read this at the library, but never purchased any.

5. A Barnaby Collection
See #1, 4

6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary
7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On

8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics
And I'd note that the digests are my preferred format.

9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels

10. Several Tintin Albums

11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books
I have more of the modern versions of these including the RASL preview special and an issue of Cold Heat in the larger size, but those old Marvel ones catch my eye at damn near every show I attend.

12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series
My number is woefully inadequate on this score, but I do have most of Palookaville.

13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste
14. Several "Indy Comics" From Their Heyday
15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books
I've been going through old comics to sell/throw out the past few weeks, and I can't bring myself to part with my Doug Moench/Jim Aparo Batmans.

16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To
I'd nominate Kelly Puckett and Warren Pleece's Kinetic here.

17. Some Osamu Tezuka
18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series
I'm nearly close to having all the English language versions of Cyborg 009.

19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections
20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover

21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped
I clipped Calvin & Hobbes Sunday strips for about four years, the peculiarity of my collection being that I always saved the various Sunday Comics mastheads that the Flint Journal would update every seven months or so as well.

22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can't Explain To Anyone Else
I probably have a number of books that fit this description, but my vast collection of Mighty Crusaders comics from various decades comes to mind. I know they're mostly terrible. I just don't care.

23. At Least One Woodcut Novel

24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand
I can stand a lot more than I own at present.

25. Maus

26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb's Sketchbooks
27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.

28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics
Another library fave from when I was a kid.

29. Several copies of MAD
I don't think I have any of the ones I had in middle school anymore.

30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books
I'm a particular fan of the unfulfilled promise held in Kirby one offs from this period like his issues of First Issue Special or that one issue of Justice, Inc.

31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books
Trades only. I'm poor.

32. A You're-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix

33. Some Calvin and Hobbes
34. Some Love and Rockets
I started buying the bigger Complete Love & Rockets editions a few years ago and refuse to shift course to the digests due only to stubbornness.

35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber
36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue
37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics

38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody's Kid
I'd add Bone singles as an addition to the requisite Harvey and Disney go-tos.

39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics
40. A Comic You Made Yourself
You can read one of my early efforts on this very site!

41. A Few Comics About Comics
42. A Run Of Yummy Fur
43. Some Frank Miller Comics

44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books
Not nearly enough.

45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories
Not nearly enough.

46. A Tijuana Bible
47. Some Weirdo
48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres
I'd add mention of a lot of comics that are definitely in a genre outside of believable fiction yet not fitting into any predefined mold – a lot of the Oni books like Scott Pilgrim and Last Call come to mind.

49. An Editorial Cartoonist's Collection or Two
50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists

Happy Birthday, Matt

Last year's gift.

OMAC for TJ

TJ walked into my room one night when we lived together and just GAVE me a copy of OMAC #1. Right away, I read it. Then I drew him this on an envelope...

LeVar Burton: Rules #1

With apologies to Kiel Phegley.

My loving, respectful rendition of Monster Man.

LeVar Burton: Rules

There are many rules for LeVar Burton. This is Number One in a series.

Forever

Zombie t-shirt art

This is an image I made for a t-shirt for my girlfriend while I was in college. Her fighting zombies.

I colored it in Photoshop like whoa. This was the first thing I think I ever colored in Photoshop. Aaaand the only thing.