So this one here actually started off with a fairly recent Silver Surfer fan art piece by Greek artist Kapandais Nikoloas. I took into photoshop on a day where I had some spare time on my hands and played around with it and started added other characters from separate fan art pieces from his gallery. It took a little time to get them to all blend in so that the finished piece didn't have too much of a "patch work" look to it and I think I was fairly successful in that endeavor.
Also recently, I was reading through a bunch of back issues online of Marvel Age Magazine. I came across this letter in issue 19. I remember back in the day when I got my hands on that copy of that Marvel Universe Handbook (issue 15) and thinking the exact same thing. I dunno why I never wrote any letters to comic book publishers back in those days I really regret it now.
Sabra by Kapandais Nikoloas (2022)
May 22th Update: I have to admit for years now every time a ROM fan would wish for a omnibus collection I used to snicker to myself because it seemed like such a pipe dream. Well, not any more so I guess the laugh is on me this time. This is definitely the coolest thing to happen for the ROM spaceknight character since that action with several points of articulation came out some 5 years ago. I don't know if this will open new doors for MARVEL and Hasbro when it comes to all things ROM but this certainly comes as welcomed news just the same. After more then 2 decades it's nice to see MARVEL finally show some degree of respect to the ROM fan base. Would be really interesting to see what went on behind the scenes between MARVEL & Hasbro to make this happen.
Well it certainly wasn't all good news today. Actor Ray Stevenson passed away at only 58! As I was going through his filmography I realized all these years I had him mistaken in the movie Book of Eli for Sex and The City actor Chris Noth. Ain't that some shit!? Not seeing much about his time on Dexter in his acting credits which is a shame because he was good in that to. Now I find out he's supposed to be this bad ass in the upcoming Ashoka series so now I'm looking even more forward to that. Rest In Peace Ray.
May 24th Update: I don't know what the Hell is going on this week. But now we just lost the legendary Tina Turner who I think most would agree was a national treasure. Among other things, I've got so many great 80s memories from Turner especially when it came to her music videos on MTV. It's too bad she didn't do more acting work back in the day, she had great on screen presence in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
June 14th Update: Just heard the sad news about the passing of John Romita. I don't have much to say that hasn't already been talked about by the millions of fans out there on social media about his epic and legendary career. On an interesting side note, his son (John Romita Jr.) penciled the ROM sales pitch art as seen above and some years later penciled Uncanny X-Men issues 184,185,187 and 188 which were some of the most pivotal ROM spaceknight-wraith war tie-ins of the 80s.
It's been a while since I "book ended" one of my postings with recent photos of local public displays of solidarity with Ukraine. Here we are now well over a year into this shit. Fu#% russia, & the same goes for the regimes in iran and china to.
There's a good chance you've seen this already but I feel like opening up this blog post with this awesome Sabra commission piece by Brazilian artist Adrianna Melo. This one is a version I colored in photoshop but you can see the original here
And you may have seen this awesome one to, it's by Greek artist Kapandais Nikolaos. Yep, the same guy who's work I featured in the previous blog posting. The guy's got a knack for great fan art for both Sabra and ROM.
On a fun side note, here I am in The Old City of Israel's capital of Jerusalem (2017) near The Jaffa gate with my copy of Incredible Hulk 256 which was the first full appearance of Sabra.
Speaking of which, issue 256 has been much in the spotlight for many months now but fans of Sabra and supporters of Israel in general should also the final panels of Incredible HULK 255 of some interest to. Kinda funny to actually. The Hulk wants to get away from fighting and have some peace of mind so he ends up stowing away on a ship bound for The Middle East, Oy Vey.
Now I just learned about these Captain America New World Order production photos of Shira Hass as Sabra like only a week ago even though they surfaced online at the tail end of March. But I think I may know why. Unlike September of last year when the Sabra MCU debut was first announced it appears as if the voices of the leftist antisemitic cry babies on social media was pretty muted this time around. I don't know if I should or shouldn't be surprised about that. Nice to see Liv Tyler reprising her role as Betty Ross. She was really good in what was a criminally under rated HULK film. It's too bad Ed Norton didn't continue to play The Hulk he's an all around great actor and I fucken hate that leftist antisemitic piece of shit mark ruffalo.
Not seeing Sabra in anything resembling her classic blue and white costume on the big screen certainly comes as no surprise. That aside, I do still have some reservations about the MCU's live action interpretation of the Sabra character given that the comic book version is older and much larger in stature then actress Shira Hass. But hey ya know what? The positive take away still is that the MCU is on track with getting it's first Israeli character next year. And that's despite all those antisemitic losers out there with their threats of boycotts, online propaganda and even public vandalism. If any of you are reading this I want you to know just how truly pitiful and pathetic you all are. You idiots have a big BDS fail waiting for you in 2024.
Where as the online antisemitism was fairly toned down with the most recent Captain America movie update I'm disappointed to see this "Not my Captain America" sort of sentiment still being pretty pervasive on social media. And this goes especially for those who are still saying that after having seen the Falcon & Winter Soldier Disney plus mini-series. That series did such a great job of analyzing what does Captain America represent as both a symbol and aspirational idea. And ofcourse, how that relates to racial matters both past and present. So I'm gonna call it out for what it is if even now you still just can't handle the idea of Sam Wilson as Captain America. In most cases when it comes to Americans, the hang up has it's roots in racism (subtle as it may be) rather you can admit it to yourself or not. Yes. many of you will scoff at this statement. But it absolutely does in every bit the same way that pathological Israel bashing has it's roots in antisemitism.
I love Marvel Comics of the 1980s, but by today's standards they were a bit socially problematic here and there. It's time for Sam Wilson to ascend to something far beyond what amounts to a supporting side kick type character he's certainly earned it by now. This is an excellent analysis video of the sociopolitical aspects of The Falcon Winter Soldier mini-series it's worth fifteen minutes of your life. Check it out . . .
May 9th update: In more news of pop culture hate mongering, what the Hell is going on with all this online hate these days? Star Wars fans having a difference of opinion about various aspects of the franchise is nothing new. Those differences and the resulting debates have been literally going on for decades. But in recent years it seemed like we could all pretty much unite under the common understanding that The Mandalorian was fucken awesome. Well apparently as of the conclusion of season 3 that's no longer the case. I cannot believe all the idiotic belly aching on social media I've been seeing since the season finale. An epic finale at that. I mean seriously, how was season 3 so different from 1 or 2 in terms of quality!? What a sad state of galactic affairs.
May 15th update: Since the theme of this posting seems to be all about unhappy people (cry babies actually) with the decision makers of their favorite pop culture media entertainment I figured I might as well include this to. This fan letter came from Marvel Age Magazine 34 (1986). But in this case, the anger is entirely justified.
