The Last Days of Stan Lee

Just this past weekend my 76 year old father gave me his copy of the October/November 2020 issue of the senior living magazine AARP. He had read an article (By David Hochman) about Stan Lee that he felt I should check out. What I discovered in it was something that was largely unknown to me and very disturbing. The article is several pages long so I'm only going to post a few excerpts from it to at least give you all the general idea about what it's about. It's really heartbreaking to see how this icon and senior citizen appears to have been taken advantage of in the final years of his life by some individuals of questionable character (Keya Morgan, Jerry Olivarez, Max Anderson and Stan Lee's daughter J.C. Lee) who were charged with his well being.

Ofcourse I can't say with any absolute certainty how much truth there is to all this or how much of it is just third party point of view. But I suspect that there is enough truth to it all to give anyone one that was a Stan Lee fan or just concerned about the treatment of the elderly cause for worry.

Adding a little color to your 2021

I've always wanted to see at least part of this awesome commission piece in color so I went ahead and added some. The original was done last year by Ron Joseph, you can see it here...

https://www.deviantart.com/ronjoseph-artist/art/MICRONAUTS-and-THE-THING-in-the-BODY-BANKS-823083250

I recently came across this fan art in deviant art by chance. While looking at the comments section I realized I had seen it before because I had left a comment exactly one year ago. At the time I described it as well illustrated but too "derivitive". But now I kinda feel like I'm seeing it in a different light and felt it was worth while to showcase here. 

 https://www.deviantart.com/dogsupreme/gallery

Good riddance to 2020 and hello 2021

 I have no delusions that the first half of 2021 probably won't be all that much better then 2020. But that's not to say that we have to wait for any good fan art to enjoy till later this year. Here's some of the good stuff from the tail end of 2020...

ROM vs Cobra-La by Ron Joseph

 January 3rd Update: ROM issue 7 tribute envelope fan art

David Prowse, a force to be reckoned with

I actually heard about this while checking out the news before I went to bed last night. We still have a month to go of this shit year and the hits to my cherished childhood memories just keep on coming. Farewell David Prowse you certainly made your mark on cinematic history.

Speaking of celebrities from my childhood who had made their mark on cinematic history we also recently saw the passing of Sean Connery. And then there was Eddie Van Halen who also recently passed away. In a different aspect of show biz ofcourse but those classic rock 80s MTV days are certainly among my cherished childhood memories as well.

I thought I'd use this opportunity to share a number of Star Wars fan art pieces I did back in the mid 90s to celebrate David Prowse's legacy and all things Star Wars. 

 Now this Boba Fett vs Imperial Storm Troopers fan art is actually a joint effort. It started off as a pencil sketch by a good friend of mine and he asked me to add some color to it. 

Now this customized fan art greeting car is actually something I did today because I just love The Mandalorian series so damn much. And it seems like with every new episode it just keeps getting better and better. I did this for a buddy of mine at work who's also a big fan at the cost of stating the obvious.

December 18 Update: Literally only seconds to go before I'm about to watch the final episode of The Mandalorian for season 2 I happened to catch some online news feed about Jeremy Bulloch having just passed away. How fucked up is that!? Especially with David Prowse having passed away not even three weeks ago. 2020 has been such a shit year that can't be put into the rear view mirror fast enough! Seriously.

January 3rd Update: Finally, I was able to get some Rogue 1 fan art done! Not simply the best, but the only good Star Wars movie in the last 22 years. This was long over due. Pardon me for going to what technically was last year with this recent fan art but I feel like keeping all the Star Wars stuff together.

ROM Spaceknight: Election Year 2020

 

Just ask yourself, who would the greatest of the spaceknights vote for in November? Let's make America dire wraith free again. By the way, can you spot the political Easter egg in this fan art?

 

Dec 12 Update: Fans of the original ROM spaceknight series will no doubt recognize this repanel fan art as a tribute to issue 50 in which The Torpedo is among the casualties during the dire wraith massacre of Clarton. Most definitely one of the most tragic, shocking and all around "holy shit" moments of the series.

 

Dec 26 Update:  Now I just want to start by saying that the original Micronauts comic book series was wonderful, especially when it comes to the first year of the title. However, there have been times where I wondered what a Micronauts comic book would have looked like had it been more closely based on the Mego toy line. Back in the late 90s I drew a handful of pages for fun with that concept of mine. I recently decided to put together my favorite panels which I think still hold up pretty well.

 

Chadwick Boseman, you left us too soon wise king. May your after life rewards be great.

The Black Panther is dead at 43? I just don't even know what to say about this bomb shell of a news story today. Right now it doesn't even quite feel real. I want to wake up tomorrow and have this God awful news story be nothing but a bad dream. In recent years I've almost grown accustomed to celebrities from my child hood passing away but this is really different. Just because of his age alone, in a way this feels like more of an emotional gut punch then when Stan Lee passed away. This kinda feels like the real life version of the iconic and classic 80s Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel. Just so sad, I really fucken hate 2020. Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer 4 years ago which means he was still working as an actor while fighting this shit disease. Truly a real hero both on and off screen.

I think we can all relate a bit more to these panels especially from The Death of Captain Marvel (Jim Starlin).

 Chadwick Boseman with vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris who I'm prying will be our next vice president. In a bit of irony here, The Black Panther movie opens up and ends in Oakland California which is where Harris is from. So tragic also that he didn't at least live long enough to vote in November.

One of the best SNL episodes in years!
 

Welcome to Galador

  Some dire wraith infestation perhaps. But no Covid-19 pandemic or IDW at least. Long live the 80s!

"ROM original" accept no substitute

 I posted this from Comic Scene Magazine issue 2 (1982) back in September of 2013. But in honor of Joe Sinnott who recently past away I think it would be fitting to post again.

 July 4th Update:  I recently discovered a number of cool San Francisco murals of Marvel superheroes so I decided to post my favorite ones. They were mostly located in the North Beach district but a couple were also downtown.

Commission art by Steven Butler

  
July 24th Update:  Finally, something has come along worth posting here from an artist other then myself and my friend Nikoskap. This is absolutely every thing I like to see when it comes to fan art (commission or other wise). It's creative, professional in quality and takes me back to the 80s in the way good nostalgia fan art should do. Hats off to artist Steven Butler and his master piece. You've done the ROM Spaceknight legacy justice.

by Jeff Slemons

 And look at this ROM 27 homage piece by artist Jeff Slemmons. Two awesome pieces of ROM fan art in one week, this is truly unprecedented. The Gods of Galador be praised!