Zatanna by David Michael Beck

Click To Enlarge


David Michael Beck made a big splash with his work on the Devil's Due G.I. Joe comics about a decade back, but he seems to have moved on to more lucrative commercial art outside our field. This Zatanna piece was posted at Comic Art Fans in 2009. Check out his website here.

More Beck
DC Powerhouses (Trinity + GL)
Martian Manhunter
Wonder Woman

1984 The Vixen "Wanna Good Time..." Sketch by Chuck Patton

Click To Enlarge

"Got this at a friends little comic convention at his store in 1984."

God, I love vintage stuff like this!

2009 Heroes Convention Zatanna Commission by Eric Canete

Click To Enlarge

"I did commissions at the show and the above image of Zatanna is one of them."

Other Canete Zees to catch:
2006 Commission
2009 Mirrors Commission
"Art Bomb" head shots

Easter Canete Weekend

• Martian Manhunter
• Vixen
• Wonder Woman

Vixen: Return of the Lion #3 (February, 2009)

1. Predators
2. Prey

Superman, Batman, Black Canary and Arsenal were in flight over the Atlantic Ocean, while Jefferson Pierce was “already on the ground, gathering more intel.”

Mari woke up on a mat on the floor of a stone hut. Various native creatures like the lion and monkey lounged in the same room, as well as some sort of memorial to the dead. Brother Tabo, keeper of this Shrine of Saint Amica, brought Mari some milk in a wooden saucer. Brother Tabo explained that “St. Amica was a slave in a Roman house. She became a Christian in secret, and was executed for abandoning the Roman gods. A monk brought her body here to Zambesi-- the country of her birth.” As for the animals, “They are Lady Amica’s miracle. They seek this place out, and while they are here they live in the brotherhood, without aggression. You are lucky Zaki found you when he did. You would not have lived another day with those wounds.”

Meanwhile, former United States Secretary of Education Jefferson Pierce had thrown on a dashiki and grabbed a walking stick, so of course he was totally indistinguishable in color and facial features from native born Africans. Pierce also managed to walk right up to Sia, Kwesi’s good-hearted henchman, and ask about his relative with “hair like the Ajnabi.” I assume that since Pierce decided to only pepper his dialogue with Zambesi, all the natives spoke English, which must have been handy. Sia delivered a recap of the last issue, and then pressed a fight to get answers of his own, but the plainclothes Black Lightning kicked his ass. Pierce finally shocked Sia unconscious to insure his silence while he set out to find Vixen.



Only the white heroes get to wear costumes in this mini-series, so Dashiki Pierce joined the Justice League in raiding the Ridge Ferrick mining facility. Two present were struck by bladed weapons with “black junk on the spikes.” Within, Black Canary found plans that revealed that the “mining facility” was actually a weapon unto itself, employing seismic energy to potentially produce “a shock wave stronger than a megaton bomb-- anywhere within a thousand-mile radius.” Unfortunately, she had been poisoned with the voodoo concoction datria and collapsed, soon followed by Superman.

While all that was going on, Mari whined about her lack of an identity with the Brother on the Dagombi. Vixen felt like a third wheel among all the more competent, experienced heroes within their own incestuous little hierarchy. Amazing observation, considering it took nearly a year into Brad Meltzer’s run before the new League actually formed, and that she was serving with no other members of her previous League team after a two decade publishing absence. Anyway, Mari recognized that she was always planning to leave Zambesi, “there were so many things I wanted to do that I couldn’t do here,” but now felt selfish for abandoning her people in their time of need.

Brother Tabo tricked Vixen into calling upon the animal spirits without the Tantu Totem, because it’s now a law enforced by the Comic Code Authority that all super powers must be internalized (just ask Jefferson Pierce.) “I thought that without it, the Red would overwhelm my mind…” A boy named Antoine ran up, announcing that his sister had been killed by a rogue lion, and Brother Tabo thought Mari should handle the problem without the Tantu Totem. “I believe that Vixen owes nothing to totems or gods. That she was born to play this role, with or without help. Now you must believe it too.”

“Return of the Lion Part 3: Sanctuary” was by G. Willow Wilson and Cafu with colors by Santiago Arcas. Zambesi, not M’Changa! Why did M’Changa get the works? That’s nobody’s business but Wikipedia… M’CHANGAAAAA!!!! Also, G. Willow Wilson, not Chris Claremont, but not for her lack of trying. This whole mini-series reads like an episode of that intermittent series of special Uncanny X-Men issues Claremont did with Barry Windsor-Smith called “Lifedeath” where Ororo would return to Africa for some mystic crystal revelation and the mind’s true liberation—Aquarious! Aquaaaarrrious! Cafu’s art is nice, but it kind of looks like an ethnic motivational poster. The book looks soft and somewhat static, while the flimsy plot plods along. The story is Mari being introspective and finding herself, while the rest of the details are illogical and obligatory contrivances.

2007 Zatanna Commission by Chris Stevens

Click To Enlarge


Tekcubotohp segami raeppaer no golb!

Presto! A second weekly helping from Chris Stevens!

Chris Stevens Commissions

• Doctor Fate (2010)
• Manhunter Paul Kirk (2009)
• Wonder Woman (2007)

2009 Morbidly Obese Vixen Commission by Derrick Fish

Click To Enlarge


As you can probably tell from the jacked up background, past posts and link images, the Photobucket account I rely upon for three of my blogs is having "a little work" done "right now." As in, they've been useless all day, and for an indefinite period of time to come. Therefore, I decided to run somebody else's embed-abled Vixen image, and chose one I would never want to actually host myself. Fetishists enjoy, while the rest of us feel like my upset blog...

2010 Zatanna Commission by Chris Stevens

Click To Enlarge



Be sure to check out the awesome and well stocked Chris Stevens deviantART gallery, or try the following spotlight posts:

2010 Chris Stevens Commission

• Golden Age Wonder Woman
• Captain Marvel

2010 C2E2 The Vixen Convention Commission by Eric Canete

Click To Enlarge

"That said, here's a commission I did at last weekend's C2E2 in Chicago of DC Comics' PETA rep, Vixen. And I know she's not very Vixen-y without her trademark claw necklace. So... maybe she's not Vixen and instead she's just some random lady who has animals growing out of her back? Yes. Let's say that instead."

Also, be sure to check out Caneta's warm-up sketches for "the 'JLU' show I did storyboards for in its latest and last season." Included are the animated incarnations of Vixen, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern John Stewart, Big Barda, Deadman and Heatwave. The gallery is here. There's also a series of "art bomb" head shots involving Bats, Zee, and many others here.

April Fool's Day Blogging

I've been kind of peeved at Google lately. A recent update screwed up my March Madness polls, my scheduled posts keep resetting to unpublished drafts, and even the words I type right now are the result of some coding snafu destroying my first draft of this paragraph. I'm going to go study this weekend, and offer this post recapping holiday shenanigans that never came up on my own Google Reader.

The Irredeemable Shag is usually the ringleader of these April Fool's goofs, and first suggested a 2011 edition in January. His mailing list then promptly forgot all about it, Shag included, or bowed out early. Out of the blue on March 19th, Boosterrific announced that he was going ahead with the plan, and several of us ostriches pulled our heads out of the sand and went, "Oh? Well, okay, I think I'll join you."

The premise this year was to convert your entire blog into something different, devoting it to some obscure property that you have an affection for. Shag of course went the most gloriously nuts by converting Firestorm Fan into B'wana Beast's Blog, dedicated to the curious prevalence of a virtual nonentity for forty years into an enduring cartoon guest star (Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.) Shag created ten entirely new posts, including Why a B’wana Beast Blog?, B’wana Beast in Who’s Who 1985, B’wana Beast gets animated!, Best B’wana Beast Covers of All Time, B’wana Beast Action Figures, POLL: B’wana Beast or Freedom Beast?, B’wana Beast Cosplay at DragonCon 2010*, B’wana Beast Temporary Tattoo, Napoleon Dynamite’s Liger – B’wana Beast’s Greatest Achievement? and my personal favorite, the fan fictional B’wana Beast and Beta Ray Bill – Marvel vs DC Amalgam.
*Caution: May require Kleenex after viewing, regardless of gender

Boosterrific was the one bringing this back, so he sure as heck brought it, with Red Star Fire, the most famous Communist at DC Comics replacing the capitalist running dog Booster Gold. I adore old Soviet bloc propaganda imagery, so the design of the blog alone had me drooling. I don't know how long it will be up at 100%, but it should be accessible through the weekend. If not, the direct link to the permanent content is here.I very much approved of his offering the people a weekly poll to explain what their correct opinion should be, as it was pre-rigged.

Kelson's Speed Force briefly turned Cobalt Blue over: Cobalt Blue, Classic Rogue?, The Flash vs…Barry Allen? The Bronze-Age Origin of Cobalt Blue, “Seeing” Blue: TV’s Cobalt Blue Prototype, Flash Facts: Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Blue T-Shirt Available Exclusively At VA Comicon, Who Is Hot Pursuit, REALLY?

Liquidcross briefly lost the reins to the Indigo Tribe blog to Flash rogue Roscoe Dillon, who tried to prove Nobody Tops the Top. That is, until he found himself Dead and loving it.

Always handy as a bulking agent, I converted five of my own blogs, like Diana Prince as the New Wonder Woman into Wundercar Valkyrie!, dedicated to the Nazi aviation from '40s Hillman, '80s Eclipse, and '00s Moonstone comics. That one was mostly pin-ups and pieces from aborted coverage of one of her mini-series.

DC Bloodlines became Marshal Law's San Futuro Police Blog, revolving around synopsizes of the very mature and anti-superhero first six issue mini-series, plus a few extras. It's actually relevant, since DC (of all places) will be reissuing the series.

Power of the Atom was given over to Dreadstar & Company, a childhood favorite creator owned science fantasy series by Jim Starlin. That one was stocked with remembrances, pin-ups, and crudely glued together custom Overpower cards from when I was younger and even more poor.

I had already planned a fan fiction 1995 Manhunter from Mars Annual #12 and some new icons for the sidebar, but The Aviary of the Osprey kind of laid an egg in terms of raw material in replacing The Idol-Head of Diabolu.

I was running on fumes by the time Vibe's Beat Street Blog spun off from Justice League Detroit. That one was cobbled together, like many of the other blogs, from old crap on my ...nurgh... blog from when I did more there than comic book and movie review. Since I already cover Vibe's stories there, that one descended into music videos, pop-lock educationals, and a look back at 1983's D.C. Cab. Apologies for scrapping the bottle of the barrel on that.