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.
For openers, I wanted to repost this fan art that I originally did right after I saw Captain America The Winter Soldier when it came out in theaters. Yeah, it's been almost 8 years now since that movie came out. Yeah I know, where does the time go right? But when I first posted it I only had Sabra and Captain America along with ROM. All these years I never quite felt like the scene was truly complete. So I recently added Iron Man and the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel. There was too much unused space before so now it looks right. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Now here's something new! This awesome splash page style fan art may look familiar to you. But at the same time you're sure you've never actually seen it before. I believe the art work was done by Alan Davis who's easily among the best of the best when it comes to Marvel 80s artists . . . https://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-nova-vs-dire-wraiths-halloween-e.html
With just two months to go before new year's eve I find myself wondering what kind of year 2023 will be for a number of reasons. When it comes to Captain America: New World Order we're not gonna be able to see it next year but you can bet there's gonna be plenty of promotional marketing and leaks for fan boys to discuss and debate all year long. No doubt through out next year we'll also start to get a better idea of the MCU's interpretation of the Sabra character. I can't help but wonder if that will prompt another wave of antisemitic nut jobs on social media acting like a bunch of babies with soiled diapers.
Then ofcourse there are the other questions about 2023. Is covid going to be even further in the rear view mirror? Will there be any progress made on any meaningful steps to mitigate climate change? And then there's the war in Ukraine brought on by putin's insane invasion. I don't even want to think about how many different ways that could get even worse but I'm still so impressed with the gains Ukraine have made and in general with their tactical ingenuity and fighting spirit. I hope putin gets testicular cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease and complications from an enlarged prostate all at the same time next year.
November 15th Update: I managed to see Black Panther Wakanda forever on opening weekend and I enjoyed it for the most part. The cast really raised their game in the absence of Chadwick Boseman's presence and the writing was well done as both a sequel and in regards to paying tribute to Boseman's legacy. I'm still on the fence about the MCU's interpretation of The Sub-Mariner character and there's a few relatively minor aspects of the film that could have been handled better or but like I said overall it was pretty good.
I'm a bit late to the game on this recent bit of sad news from last week about the passing of Batman voice actor extraordinaire Kevin Conroy. In the past few days I've learned a little more about the man aside from his many years of work as a voice actor, he seemed like a really nice guy. I gotta wonder if his volunteer work at ground zero right after 911 had something to do with the damn cancer that ended his life at only 66 years old?
November 29th Update: Just did this latest sketch card over the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend. It's been a while since I've done any fan art with The Torpedo.
December 6th Update:
Truth be told, I'm not really a big fan of Kirstie Alley as a person. But in light of her sudden passing from cancer (which a happened to fall on my birthday of all days) I still feel obliged to give her a shout out for some of her past work as an actress I've enjoyed. That work being her appearances in films like Runaway, Village of The Damned and ofcourse as Lt. Savvik from Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan.
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 
