Thursday, November 13, 2014

Fan art that's worth a second look and The Torpedo's movie debut . . sort of


Yesterday this guy over at deviant art left a comment under one of my recent submissions about how cool a Deathlock vs ROM match up would be. Although it seems like the prevailing cybernetic throw down among comic book fans would be between Deathlock and The Teen Titan's Cyborg. Anyways, that got me thinking of this sketch art that was on deviant art for a while there but as far as I can tell it seems to be gone now. Fortunately I knew another source where I could procure this art work.
I think in the past I've resisted posting this because of the unfinished nature of this work. But in spite of that you can tell whoever did this has some serious illustration skills he/she hits all the major points: figure composition, perspective, foreshorting and shadowing it's a real pity they never finished this. If I recall correctly from when this art work was still on deviant art the other fellow in this sketch is Morbius The Living Vampire. I have no idea if this art work is still any where on social media but I'm going to also give it a home here where fans can see it.



So early yesterday morning I got an enthusiastic email from my good buddy Gary Martin Jr. (perhaps you've heard of him?) that included some screen shots taken from youtube videos of scenes from a Disney movie (Big Hero 6) he had just taken his family to recently. As you can see, someone who was involved in the making of this movie seemed to be really intent on showcasing a number of lesser known Marvel characters along with The Torpedo we can also see Orca, Black Talon and Sleepwalker. Although not seen in these screen shots Gary assures us that the actual movie scene does feature several seconds of a more full body view of The Torpedo. Good ol Brock Jones, gone but not entirely forgotten it would seem.

Left click to enlarge

Nov. 16 Update: Speaking of Easter Eggs, most of you know about ROM being scene briefly in that god awful ill fated Silver Surfer cartoon (episode 5) back in the 90s right? Well thanks to the wonders of modern technology (photoshop) we can now have ourselves a ROM easter egg in a good Saturday morning cartoon from marvel . . .
http://csuhsux.deviantart.com/art/Spiderman-and-his-Amazing-Friends-with-ROM-494916285

17 comments:

  1. Big Hero 6 was a pretty enjoyable movie for this comic nut and my 2 kids & wife liked it too. Actually I think that screengrab that you show with the Torpedo suit is the one longest time it lingers...I think there was at least one other angle/very brief appearance of it before I noticed what it was, and I can't recall if the distinctive helmet was shown. Hopefully this post will get the word out & someone'll help verify that, plus if the movie creators ever feel the need to explain the easter eggs & mention "remember that flying guy from ROM Spaceknight comics?", I hope someone'll let us know here. For example, here's something that was said about it: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=56619 (the directors tease that there are some "Z-level" Marvel characters in the movie).

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  2. That fan art is *ahem* fantastic. Wish he'd finish it. I'm starting to get the feeling more and more that the people doing movies are going home at the end of the night with a bag of funions to their old comic book collections. I'm glad. It's about time the fans infiltrated the establishment.

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  3. That's pretty cool seeing those characters in the screen shots. Orca?!! That's quite unexpected!!

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  4. While Deathlok vs. ROM seems like it would be a very one sided fight, thart artwork is nothing short of awesome.

    I was planning on seeing big hero 6 sometime in the next few weeks, it's cool that they threw some love to the lesser known characters. Even more excited to see it now.

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    1. Hey Vis, the scene full of the Marvel easter egg cameos is in the middle of the movie, when the friends all go to Fred's house. Then, you should stay 'til after the credits, there's a long must-see stinger scene.

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  5. i just read the article at the link Gary left in his comment. apparently these easter eggs came from more then one of the artists who worked on the film. that would be interesting to hear from the artist who added the Torpedo easter egg. i wonder if he/she was a ROM fan or just happened to have had some fond memories of The Torpedo character.
    just as a reminder aside from being a long standing character in ROM the Torpedo also has been in the pages Daredevil, Marvel Premier and The Defenders. as just Brock Jones we also saw him a bit in Machine Man and in Marvel Team Up. and ofcourse, let's not forget about Turbo in fact in New Warriors 73 there are several flash back cameos of Brock in the Torpedo armor. the 2012 Marvel Universe Handbook "Strange Defenders" edition featured new art work of the Torpedo on it's cover.

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  6. Fuck yeah! Is that out? -I forgot all about Big Hero Six!
    I'ma have to go see it... The trailer cracked me up.
    So, thanks for the head's up! I'll be looking for those Easter-eggs now. I mean- it IS a Marvel movie, after all. Yay!!! -SLEEPY!!!

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  7. (The entire team of Big Hero Six are lesser known Marvel characters! Well- except Sunfire... who is not in it. *cough*)

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    1. are you making some sort of metaphoric reference? cuz I otherwise don't get that comment.

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    2. Oh, you said: "As you can see, someone who was involved in the making of this movie seemed to be really intent on showcasing a number of lesser known Marvel characters" and I'm just saying TECHNICALLY Big Hero Six themselves are all lesser known Marvel characters.

      You know this is a comic-book-movie, right?

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    3. this'll probably come as a shock to you but until Gary sent me those youtube screen shots i had never heard of this movie. i'm into disney or kid friend family movies in general.

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    4. I thing you forgot a "NOT" there- OR we finally found out your secret!!!

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    5. I fucken hate that when I find out after the fact that I made a type o in a comment for some stupid reason blogger doesn't let you edit your comments even for the moderator of the blog. really annoying! anyways, just the same I hope you enjoy the movie when i saw the Sleep Walker easter egg i thought of you i remember how you used to talk about all the SW back issues you were able to find.

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  8. Have you seen this Rom piece?
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V1nVCVnJ4m8/VGqmzvPL0oI/AAAAAAABjFE/2HrpgSAm9o0/s1600/tumblr_nebz0tVDPL1s0pt79o1_1280.jpg

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    1. thanks for dropping by it's always nice to see somebody new turn up in the comments section. but to answer your question yes i have seen that before i believe it's by some dude named Nick Runge. right away i could tell Runge used the iconic Helder M. ROM sculpture that's been around for several years now http://heldermblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/gallery.html

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  9. That Silver Surfer cartoon COULD have been SO good. I remember being so fucking excited for it (one of my favorite characters) and after it aired I was just like: "What the cock was that shit?!?"
    The Kirbyesque design-work was awesome- but the animation and incorporation of cell-shading and computer animation was awful looking. Not to mention the writing- they changed almost EVERYTHING. No Fantastic Four, Adam Warlock is a Kree super-soldier, and they could not even call Death DEATH! Thanos worshiped "Lady Chaos".
    Absolutely terrible.

    Nice Photoshop though! If only... How different would this classic episode have been if one of them was ROM??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV1cmJhzKMk

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  10. I just seen big hero 6 today with my kid and just knew there would be something on here about Torpedo and Sleep walker (that's the only two who stood out to me. My son said that's him no doubt about it. Nice surprise . Killer fan easter egg with spiderman and his amazing friends. Loved that show in my youth.
    .

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