The writing is on the wall

Here's some fan art that came my way recently. Unfortunately there's not much I can tell you about it other then that the artist's name is Frankie B.Washington and even though Rom's right foot is a bit overly large I over all really like this piece. Rom is drawn really well here in terms of figure composition and body proportions which gives this fan art a very non-amateurish look. Also, you can't help but be intrigued with that giant maw he's facing and is he summoning his analyzer or sending it back into subspace in exchange for his neutralizer? Now it sounds like I'm talking about a Choose Your own Adventure book.

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I recently picked up for a couple of bucks a beat up but still readable copy of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine 27 (1976). It has White Tiger (or El Tigre Blanco if you prefer) story by Bill Mantlo in it. I liked that character from what I've read of him in a couple of Human Fly issues that I have which he guest starred in. Anyways, it looks like Bill had some fun with this story. Aside from what you can clearly see it also says Bill + Karen which is partially hidden in this panel but can clearly be seen in another with this wall. I haven't read this just yet I'm saving it for a road trip to Monterey (CA.) this weekend which is a couple hours south.

Virtual Marvel superhero figurines and new fan art

These virtual figurines are based off those really nice and detailed 3" metal statues they've been carrying in comic shops for a couple of years now. It seems like this guy's online gallery largely consists of figurines that haven't been produced yet or won't ever be. The Rom figure was obviously made by "contorting" the M.Helder statue in Photoshop. I recognize The Torpedo from a custom figurine I've seen before and I'll wager the same goes for White Tiger and Darkstar. There's at least a few other figurines from characters that were co-created by Bill Mantlo in that virtual figurine gallery along with some 80s characters I bet you forgot about. Check it out let us know what you think: http://virtual-cmfc-a-z-gallery.blogspot.com/


And next up we have the latest bit of Rom fan art that's recently turned up. This one comes from Deviat Art by the artist who goes by the handle of Stalk. Very distinctive style with a dynamic action pose all around good stuff here. Did you know I usually come across 2 - 3 new pieces on a given month?

And the Rom fandom just keeps coming! There's already quite a few Rom custom figures out there but as of a couple of months ago there's now one more: http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigure.php?FID=46808  For any Rom curators out there I recently found a Dire Wraith and Rom reference in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 5 of 12 (same issue that had Hybrid) entry for Immortus in the power/abilities/stats section. There's a cool Immortus addition in that Virtual Figurine gallery.

Darkstar of the Soviet Super Soldiers. First appearance Incredible HULK #258 (Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema). I found this nice heromorph of her and I thought it could use some dialogue added to it.

Next up, the power of a spaceknight verse the power of the pussy (it's not quite what you're thinking ;)

Bill Mantlo stacking the deck

Today I was looking at a back issue review of Avengers 76 vol.3 (2004) at Mr. Morbids House of Fun http://dbsuniverse.blogspot.com/2013/03/back-issue-spotlight-avengersvol376.html It turns out this is the issue where the Jack of Hearts dies. I'd heard a while back that he had been killed off but I always wondered how exactly that happened so this was a cool find. I hopefully I'll come across the issue in a back issue bin some day. I have to say I really like the updated look he had at the time. I really prefer the more streamlined less detailed costume/armor design and I also think he looks cooler with out his head being covered too. I wonder if Bill Mantlo ever saw the new look and if so what he thought of it?
 http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2012/11/grooves-faves-jack-of-hearts-by-mantlo.html

So look what I found from a photo of some of the wall art at Floating Worlds Comics for the Bill Mantlo benefit auctions. Unfortunately this is the best I can do as far as pulling a decent image off the net but as you can see this is one nice piece of art. It really sucks how so much of the good stuff from those auctions is no where to be found except in poor formats like this where as many of the less then stellar pieces seem to be every where.

Speaking of which I finally finished reading Bill Mantlo A Lifetime In Comics. Boy that was good! I especially liked the behind the scenes information about why some of the projects he worked on like The Human Fly didn't last as long as others such as Rom and The Micronuats. I was a bit saddening to find out that it was creative differences with Sal Buscema and Bill that prompted Sal to leave Rom giving way to the Ditko era which displeased me to say the least. And then of course there was the Micronauts and all the artists that came and went during it's 58 issue run because of again creative differences with Bill. In some ways that was the most interesting part of the book. But let's not forget about his rather tenuous relationship with Jim Shooter. It seems Jim Shooter may have been as big of a dick as the rumors suggest.

Spectacular Spiderman 72 with Rom doll guest appearance

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I want to thank Gary Martin Jr. for supplying me with clip art from Peter Parker Spectacular Spiderman 72. What's going on here is that there's a toy shop that's being robbed by some over grown Dr. Octopus wannabe named Olie Osnick. I totally dig how you can see some G.I.Joe packages as well as the Rom doll. This Spiderman issue was written by Bill Mantlo so that pretty much explains the Rom doll but who knows about the G.I.Joe stuff. Plus there's other panels that included other sci-fi/comic genres such as one where a tie-fighter can be clearly scene. I'm sure this was a pretty fun issue to work on since any number of the production staff probably had a chance to work in a reference of their favorite toy line. The Spiderman photo you see there was just some random cool thing I found recently. Notice anything about it?

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More Rom likeness appearances were seen at Rick Jone's apartment in the form of a bust sculpture. The clip art presented here courtesy of Gary Martin Jr. again comes from Captain Marvel #1 Volume 3 (2000). Issues 4 and 6 offer views of the statue as well but their not as good as the views seen in the first issue.
Also, it should be noted that Incredible Hulk #467 features a full page of an older Rick Jones in his home in which in the back ground on a shelf a portion of Rom's "helmet" can be seen. It's one of those things where it's kinda cool that's it's there but it's a pretty obscure Rom likeness cameo compared to the other stuff out there that I've featured on this blog.

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Just this past weekend I made some more great discount back issue finds from Bill Mantlo's past career with Marvel. In San Francisco I found issues 1-3 of Sword of the Swashbucklers in oh so rare 3 for $1 boxes. Check out this portion of some fan mail in the letter column of issue 3. Now this dude was one hard core Bill Mantlo back when that name hardly meant anything to me.
And for just a bit over a buck each I also found The Human Fly 8 and 9 guest starring El Tigre Blanco! White Tiger just sounds so cool in Espanol doesn't it? The first Puerto Rican super hero (but born in NYC) White Tiger was created by Bill Mantlo and George Perez.