simontm

DC 75: Knight and Squire

2010-05-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

The Squire first appeared in Batman#62 and created by Win Mortimer and Ira Schnapp. Became the Knight in Batman #62 in 1951

DC 75: 1948

2010-05-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

Merry Pemberton appeared in Star Spangled Comics #81, created by Otto Binder and Win Mortimer

DC 75 - 1947

2010-05-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Black Canary - Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino, the character first appeared in Flash Comics #86 (August 1947).

DC 75 - 1946

2010-05-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Crazy Quilt, first appeared in Boy Commandos #15 and created by Jack Kirby

DC 75 - 1945

2010-05-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

Superboy, first appeared in More Fun Comics #101, although drawn by Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel had no imput in this version, his first appearance was written by Don Cameron, hence the current legal problems

DC75 - 1944 bonus

2010-05-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist this one...

Terrific Whatzit - DC's first funny animal superhero, the Terrific Whatzit first appeared in Funny Stuff #1 (Summer 1944), and was created by Martin Naydel.

DC75 - 1944

2010-04-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Solomon Grundy, first appeared in All-American Comics #61, created by Alfred Bester and
Paul Reinman

DC75 - 1943

2010-04-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

Alfred Beagle, Batman's original Alfred, created by Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson in Batman#16

DC75 - 1942

2010-04-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

Womder Woman created by Charles Moulton(William Moulton Marston)and H. G. Peter in All Star Comics#8

Kid Eternity created by Otto Binder and Sheldon Moldoff in Hit Comics # 25

DC75 - 1941

2010-04-23T01:24:00.001-07:00

Starman, created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley in Adventure Comics #1

DC 75 - 1940

2010-04-22T03:20:00.001-07:00

Captain Marvel, first appearance in Whiz Comics #1 in February. Created by CC Beck and Bill Parker

Hawkman, created by Gardner Fox and first appeared in Flash Comics #1 in January that year.

DC 75 - 1939

2010-04-16T02:31:00.001-07:00

1939 saw the birth of another enduring superhero, the Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in Detective Comics 27.

One of my more favourite characters, Wesley Dodds, The Sandman, created by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman in World's Fair Comics #1

DC 75 - 1938

2010-04-16T02:24:00.001-07:00

Action Comics #1, June 1938 where DC really started kicking into its stride

Superman and Zatara both appeared but of course Superman changed the world of US comics

DC 75 - 1935

2010-04-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

Doctor Occult, created by Siegel & Shuster and one of the ones that really started it off!

75

2010-04-16T02:19:00.001-07:00

DC Comics is 75 this year so I have decided to do 75 DC characters...

I'm going to try and do a character per year (where appropriate) but there appears to be huge chronological gaps so sometimes I will do two per year.

I will also use characters that DC later bought into their company such as Cpatain Marvel.

Group illos

2010-04-06T01:59:00.001-07:00

I helped out a local church's Youth group with some illustrations recently. They chose the names and I did the pics for them

Catwoman

2010-04-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, been a while.

Here's a Catwoman pencil sketch I did for someone

Little Red Riding Hood

2010-02-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah, been a while but hopefully am getting my mojo back...

Here's Lil' red

Nightcrawler

2009-12-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

And an inked sketch of Nightcrawler.

Doc Manhattan

2009-12-11T06:29:00.002-08:00

To make amends, here's a quickie pencil sketch of Doc Manhattan

Oops

2009-12-11T06:29:00.001-08:00

Haven't drawn a lot recently. Apologies!

OLD SCHOOL: CAPTAIN AMERICA

2009-11-15T02:11:00.000-08:00

Captain America, first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

OLD SCHOOL: SUPERMAN V FLASH

2009-11-10T04:12:00.001-08:00

OK I didn't strictly do this for Old School but what the hey...

OLD SCHOOL: SKYMAN

2009-11-10T04:09:00.000-08:00

Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Ogden Whitney, the character first appeared in the Columbia Comics omnibus title Big Shot Comics #1 (May 1940).

Badgers

2009-10-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some illustration commissions recently and this one is for a parents evening - date and area redacted!

OLD SCHOOL: THE SPECTRE

2009-10-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

The Spectre first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 (January 1940) and received his first story the next month, #52 (February 1940). He was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily.

OLD SCHOOL: THE SHADOW

2009-10-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the William B Gibson.

OLD SCHOOL: SHAZAM

2009-10-20T07:37:00.001-07:00

Captain Marvel,originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940).

OLD SCHOOL - Doctor Mid-nite

2009-10-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

Doctor Mid-Nite, Dr Charles McNider. Created by writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Stanley Josephs Aschmeier, the original Doctor Mid-Nite first appeared in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941).Was a member of the JSA

OLD SCHOOL: THE DEATH DEFYING DEVIL

2009-10-16T07:04:00.001-07:00

This original Daredevil was created by Jack Binder for an eight-page backup feature in Lev Gleason Publications' Silver Streak #6 (Sept. 1940). Editor Jack Cole, who would create the classic Plastic Man a year later, revamped the character in the next issue and pitted him against Silver Streak's lead character, the villainous Claw, for a five-issue battle that made Daredevil a star. The final installment was written by Don Rico, who would write the character through Silver Streak #17 (Dec. 1941).

He is now back with a name change in Project Superpowers by Alex Ross et al.

OLD SCHOOL-THE SPIRIT

2009-10-14T01:45:00.000-07:00

The Spirit (Denny Colt) is a crime-fighting fictional character created by late and great writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared in Spirit Section #1 (June 2 1940), a seven-page insert into American Sunday-newspaper comics sections.

OLD SCHOOL: JSA

2009-10-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

First up: Justice Society of America

The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940).

This pic is of the last surviving original members: Hawkman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Wildcat.

OLD SCHOOL

2009-10-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

OK, new challenge for me: Old School. Any character created before 1956 - Generally considered the beginning of the Silver Age.

If anyone would like to suggest a character, feel free! (Sensible suggestions Mr Sharp!)

Z is for Zatarra

2009-10-05T07:31:00.000-07:00

Father of Zatanna, died in Crisis On Infinite Earth, sacrificing himself for his daughter.

...

And that's it - A-Z of DC characters.

Hmmm, what next?

Y is for Yellow Peri

2009-10-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Would be Superheroine, first appeared in Superboy and drawn by Kurt Shaffenberger. A comic book I still have somewhere at my folks!

Dracula

2009-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Since it's October, The Drawing Board are doing a universal studios Horror challenge.

Here's Bela

X is for Xombi

2009-10-01T02:10:00.000-07:00

"It's in my hayy-yed, in my hay-ay-yay-ed, Xombi, Xombi, X,X,X..."

Ok don't know a lot about Xombi except for he recently appeared in The Brave and the Bold!

Besides which, you seen what X's there are for DC? Sheesh... ;)

W is for White Witch

2009-10-01T02:07:00.001-07:00

The White Witch, former resident of the Legion of Super Heroes, now heads up the Sorcerers' World as the Black Witch

V is for Vibe

2009-10-01T02:04:00.002-07:00

Yo vibe!

The hero from the barrio, or whatever, Detroit actually.

Part of the Detroit JLA - I kinda like that series meself tho loads didn't! He was meant to be a Hispanic hip-hop street guy with a lame costume (I mean a heart of Gold!)

OK

2009-10-01T02:04:00.001-07:00

Been a bit slack, almost like a marathon runner coming up on the 20th mile! Above, V-X!

U is for Uncle Sam

2009-09-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

And it's the return of A-Z

Green Lantern

2009-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

I did a quick blue pencil sketch and decided to have a play on photoshop with it

BFR

2009-09-14T04:06:00.000-07:00

Something completely different

BFR stands for Big Fu**off Robot

The Defenders

2009-09-14T04:05:00.000-07:00

The original Defenders

Silver Surfer

2009-09-14T04:04:00.001-07:00

Norrin Rad, doomed to roam the stars

The Joker

2009-09-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

quick one today and I will get on with the alpahabet shortly!

Mash up 2

2009-09-07T03:20:00.000-07:00

And a couple more!

With one quick and crap photoshop I present to you...

High School Mutant Call!

And the Eater of Worlds, Gawsh, Gooficus!

Disney Mash-up

2009-09-07T03:18:00.001-07:00

Iron Piglet or Iron Ham

Winnie the Punisher or The Poohnisher

There's a Disney Mash-up challenge over on Drawing Board and here's a couple of my contributions!

Spidey v Goblin

2009-09-07T03:16:00.001-07:00

Oops, been away for a bit, here's Spidey!

T is for Tellus

2009-08-17T03:13:00.000-07:00

Member of the Legion of Super Heroes

S is for Salaak

2009-08-17T03:09:00.001-07:00

Back to the A-Z and I've spelt Salaak wrong doh!

More Cornwall

2009-08-12T07:06:00.001-07:00

An underground lake

A photo diversion

2009-08-12T07:01:00.001-07:00

Some pics from Cornwall this summer

R is for Raven

2009-08-12T05:51:00.001-07:00

The Raven, Teen Titan, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez

Q is for Question

2009-08-11T02:09:00.001-07:00

The new Question - ex-alcoholic, lesbian cop Montoya!

P is for Pariah

2009-08-10T06:02:00.001-07:00

Pariah, sole survivor of an alternative Earth, doomed to travel to where disaster occurs (a bit like Gordon Brown!)

Dead, could get better

O is for Omac

2009-08-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Untapped my inner Kirby for this One Man Army Corps - aka Buddy Blank! B)

N is for Northwind

2009-08-10T05:57:00.001-07:00

Northwind, Godson of Hawkman and half-human, half-Feitheran.

Always liked the character when he was in Infinity Inc - not sure about evolving him along the lines of Kingdom Come.

M is for Madame Xanadu

2009-08-07T03:30:00.001-07:00

Last for the day and currently on a quite successful revival, Madam Xanadu. When I have more time I was toying with the idea of photo-shopping some tarot cards or images onto the upturned cards

L is for Looker

2009-08-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

From the Outsiders

K is for Kamandi

2009-08-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

Back in the Wednesday comic, this pic was inspired by Ryan Sook's version of the last boy on Earth

J is for Jester

2009-08-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

Annd we're back.

How's this for obscure. Created in the 50's but retroed into the All Star Squadron by Roy Thomas

GUEST APPEARANCE

2009-08-07T03:21:00.000-07:00

Before I return to the A-Z, my five-year-old daughter wanted to share this gem.

It is a picture of me and Blue Beetle under a rainbow!

Star Trekking

2009-08-03T01:32:00.001-07:00

A wee break from the A-Z. This was an A3 pic I did for my mate Pete's 50th.

I is for Ice

2009-08-03T01:30:00.001-07:00

Ice Ice Baby...
Member of the Justice League, was dead...got better

CORNWALL

2009-07-29T03:18:00.000-07:00

Am in Cornwall at the moment but normal service will resume at the weekend with the letters I to L B)

I was thinking of doing a marvel and a villains a-z as well!

H is for Hawk

2009-07-23T03:00:00.001-07:00

Part of Hawk and Dove. A bit further right than Genghis Khan. Became a super villain Extant and is now dead

G is for Geo-Force

2009-07-23T02:58:00.001-07:00

Geo-Force, member of The Outsiders, prince of an imaginary Eastern European country

F is for Firestorm

2009-07-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

Firestorm, created when Professor Stern and Ronnie Raymond were "fused" together in a nuclear accident. Ronnie is currently on his way back as one of Black Hand's undead Black Lanterns in Blackest Night

E is for Elasti-Girl

2009-07-22T03:26:00.001-07:00

Elasti-Girl, member of the Doom Patrol. Former model

D is for Dr Occult

2009-07-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Siegel and Shuster's first hero and the very first to wear a cape some two years before Superman's arrival!

Roy Thomas retconned him into the All Star Squadron and he was also in Neil Gaiman's excellent Books of Magic taking Harr...I mean Tim Hunter around fairy.

C is for Comet

2009-07-21T07:24:00.001-07:00

Captain Comet. 1950s hero born a thousand years early (!)

Been pottering around for a few years and had a role in the Rann-Thanagaran War series

B is for Beetle

2009-07-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

Yeah I know, I've done Beetle before but hey I like the guy!

A is for Animal Man

2009-07-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Animal Man was an obscure hero that found his zeitgeist under the pen of Grant Morrison and is currently in "The Last Days of Animal Man" mini-series

A-Z

2009-07-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

I have decided to do an A-Z of DC heroes inspired by the brilliant work by Steevo

My rules were to do characters I don't necessarily draw that much so look above!

The original Green Lantern

2009-07-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

Alan Scott the original Green Lantern.

He was initally called Alan Ladd (Aladdin!) but his name changed to avoid confusion with the film actor of the same name.

GL was created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell and will be 70 next year!

Jockstrap prt 2

2009-07-10T02:25:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately I have had to put moderation on the comments and delete some purile nonsense from Mr Sharpe.

Normal service will resume eventually

Star Trekking

2009-07-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

So over at drawingboard.org they have monthly challenges and there was a Star Trek one.

I decided to try a cartoon of Spock and Sisko and as befits a somewhat serious Worf!

London Winter 07 pt3

2009-06-29T04:41:00.000-07:00

Sunset at the wheel

dirty old river

London Winter 07 pt2

2009-06-29T04:39:00.001-07:00

Down the embankment to St Stephen's Tower

The Liberal club

Photography - London Winter 07

2009-06-29T04:33:00.000-07:00

I don't just draw soopes I also like photography.

This set is from Winter 07!

Trafalger Square

Hyde Park

John Sharpe

2009-06-29T03:17:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed there are a lot of strange comments in the Space Siren posting.

They are from the strange and twisted mind of John Sharpe (do you spell it with an "E"?) - pictured above

John is a fragile creature, torn between being Scottish and a Tory, which is why we are launching the JockStrap appeal...

Donate pints of Fosters to him
There is no need to give him your time as he seems to have plenty of it at his "work"
Help a Scotsman bereft of sanity by reading his comments
Before I decide to delete them all >B)

Wonder Woman

2009-06-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

A golden-aged Wonder Woman for ya.

Useless Trivia: She was created by William Moulton who invented the lie detector

Kimota

2009-06-17T06:13:00.001-07:00

Marvelman/Miracleman.

Along with Zenith, this is the one legal quagmire I wish could be sorted out.

It's a long and complicated story which doesn't appear to be finishing any time soon...

Freak Angels

2009-06-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

To the left you can see I've added Freak Angels RSS by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.

It is a weekly 6 page e-comic where The Midwich Cuckoos meet a sunken London and is great!

You can also view the entire series so far here

Space siren

2009-06-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

And finally for today, a take on the mermaid myth...

Oh and yes it's got breasts in it if you're of a nervous disposition about bodies ;)

Avengers

2009-06-14T05:57:00.001-07:00

A bit of love for the original avengers

Zatanna

2009-06-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

blog update

2009-06-12T03:36:00.001-07:00

I've been a bit busy over at my other blog but expect some new stuff over the weekend.

In the meantime: Sometimes it pays to randomly click on other bloggers' links, I have stumbled upon political cartoonist Moorland's blog and site.

More Gaiman

2009-06-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's Death, nuff said

Go go Gogo

2009-05-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

From the dreamy sublime to the...
If you don't have a young child then you may not be aware of one of the latest crazes, that of Go-Goes. These little pieces of plastic have god knows how many in the collection and are a quid for 3.

One wet Sunday recently my daughter asked me to draw her Gogos, 6 at the time (and growing). I decided to put them in an Usual Suspects position for a giggle but it seems to work!

to dream the dream

2009-05-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

So I promised to do some stuff based on Neil Gaiman's work. So I started off with the obvious - the one that really made his name - Morpheus: The Sandman.

If you have never read it then you are missing out! With 75 issues, one special and one annual, readers went to dreams, to Greece, from Heaven to Hell, a serial killers convention and a beach. I'm not putting it into adequate words, just trust me on this.

Update

2009-05-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my incompetance, I didn't realise that comments were a tad difficult so I have enabled all comments (thanks Jo - my IT specialist ;) )

So feel free to comment and pass the word I exist!

Speaking of which I have a new follower TCov, don't know who or where you're from but welcome!

:)

you're thor...

2009-05-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

The God of Thunder Marvel style
I have always been interested in Norse mythology (along with most "northern" myths) and despite the cod-shakespeare language - oh thou dost verily etc - I liked the superhero version but the best imaging of him was Walter Simonson's incredible run in the '80s which hasn't imho been surpassed.

I am the law

2009-05-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Ole Stoney Face himself.

I was at Shepperton Studios as a runner when Stallone did his movie and although it wasn't brilliant I still enjoyed the experience of seeing megacity 1 on a big screen.

Here's hoping the new film carries over the essential humour of the script which was slashed by the studio who feared comparisons with Robocop(!)

Somewhere I still have an original script where Hershey is arrested for conduct unbecoming a judge after kissing Dredd at the end of the movie.

Speaking of Dredd, anyone know how to get past Judge Fear on the PS2 game? ;)

Power!

2009-05-09T03:25:00.001-07:00

Another quick sketch, this time of PG. A messed up history but another great character. Alas the designer of PG, Ric Estrada passed away recently so RIP Ric

2009-05-09T03:23:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch of Blue Beetle. A fun character until Identity Crisis (sigh). At the moment I am listening to Jonathan Ross and Neil Gaiman is on. I adore his work and I must get round to posting some work based on his writing

2009-05-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

Ah Judge Death, scourge of the living and Megacity 1. Originally drawn by Brian Bolland, he is as iconic as Old Stoney Face himself

Rebirths and deaths

2009-05-08T03:44:00.000-07:00

So Hal Jordan came back and Barry Allen had resurfaced. When Crisis first came out I was around 14yrs old. Earths will live, Earths will die was the tagline. However, for those reading the deaths of Supergirl and Barry Allen were the shockers. Bizarrely I always felt that Barry's death was strangely low key but anyway here's the fastest man alive, erm, dying as he chases around the monitor's energy(?) bomb(?). Ach, been a while since I read it!

2009-05-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

Spiderman, spiderman, etc... Thought I'd do Parker getting bitten by the radioactive spider. Spidey is fun to draw as you can get a larger degree of bendiness in the muscles.