the rocafort files :: the art of kenneth rocafort

. . . the court is in session

2012-02-13T19:25:00.002-06:00

Red Hood and The OutlawsIssue #9 CoverArt by Kenneth Rocafort and Blond

Red Hood

2011-11-14T20:46:00.002-06:00

________________________________________________________________________________

File Number :: 11.14.2011
File Name :: Red Hood & The Outlaws #6
Publisher :: DC Comics
First Appearance :: Red Hood & The Outlaws #1

Red Hood & The Outlaws
Issue #6 Cover // art by Kenneth Rocafort

. . . the fire of a star

2011-09-18T18:43:00.002-05:00

________________________________________________________________________________

File Number :: 09.18.2011
File Name :: Red Hood & The Outlaws #4
Publisher :: DC Comics
First Appearance :: Red Hood & The Outlaws #1

Red Hood & The Outlaws
Issue #4 Cover // art by Kenneth Rocafort & BLOND

. . . the seeker

2011-09-09T20:04:00.002-05:00

________________________________________________________________________________

File Number :: 09.09.2011
File Name :: Lady Mechanika
Publisher :: Aspen Comics
First Appearance :: Lady Mechanika #0

Lady Mechanika
Issue #4 Cover // art by Kenneth Rocafort

. . . the dark wind's daughter

2011-07-19T00:03:00.002-05:00

________________________________________________________________________________

File Number :: 07.18.2011
File Name :: Lady Deathstrike
Publisher :: Marvel Comics
First Appearance :: Daredevil #197 / Alpha Flight #33

Lady Deathstrike :: art by Kenneth Rocafort
_______________________________________________________

Hello,

Above we have the first entry in the "new" entry format for the Rocafort Files -- Lady Deathstrike -- we hope you enjoy the illustration as much as we do.

As always, thank you all for your support of this blog, and your support of Kenneth's work. It is appreciated.

Team Rocafort

[BLOG :: REDESIGN]

2011-07-18T22:49:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to let everyone know that most of the posts have been taken down -- don't worry, the posts shall return, we're just redesigning the blog. It might take a few months, but all the posts will be reposted.

Thanks,
Team Rocafort

. . . the lawless

2011-07-12T22:52:00.003-05:00

Red Hood & The Outlaws
Issue #2 Cover // art by Kenneth Rocafort

. . . marvelous, for Japan

2011-06-29T20:39:00.005-05:00

Well, here she is, Ms. Marvel for our "Kenneth for Japan" charity auction. We'd like to thank the winner, Frank, for his generosity, and patience. We hope you all love this piece as much as we do.

Thanks, and Happy 4th of July,

Team Rocafort

. . . the outlaws

2011-06-06T20:50:00.001-05:00

Red Hood & The Outlaws

Cover to Issue #1 by Kenneth Rocafort

. . . man of action

2011-05-17T21:15:00.004-05:00

Action Comics 904

Cover by Kenneth Rocafort

. . . the steel-ers

2011-04-28T18:50:00.002-05:00

Action Comics 903

Cover by Kenneth Rocafort

Kenneth for Japan: The Final Report

2011-04-09T10:48:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Here is the final bid standings, in order from greatest to least, in our "Kenneth for Japan" charity auction:

1.) Frank - Ms. Marvel
2.) Scorpio - Black Cat
2.) Richard - Wonder Woman
4.) Jaime - Black Cat
5.) Rob - Polaris
6.) Brian - Psylocke
7.) Baxtos - Dark Phoenix
8.) Todd - Roxy
8.) Paul - Batgirl
10.) Byron - Alan Scott
11.) Emilien - War Machine or Bane (Kenneth's Choice)
12.) Alan - Emma Frost
13.) Spaz! - Lobo
14.) Alex - Harper
15.) Yoshi - Guts
16.) John - Supergirl
17.) Rustin - Spiderwoman
18.) Nick - Supergirl

Thanks again everyone, and if you'd like to resubmit your bid, please feel free to do so.
Thank you.

. . . the girl from X

2011-04-08T20:55:00.002-05:00

Another commission from SDCC 2010 -- Psylocke! Hope you like it.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

. . . a princess of mars

2011-04-08T20:51:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately -- hope you enjoy the illustration of Dejah Thoris.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

The Man of Steel

2011-03-17T23:31:00.002-05:00

Superman 709

Variant Cover by Kenneth Rocafort

Kenneth for Japan

2011-03-16T19:43:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Last year, in light of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, Kenneth decided to do his part to help those affected by holding a charity auction. Given the recent events in Japan, Kenneth has decided to once again hold a charity auction to help the good people of "the land of the rising sun" -- up for grabs is one illustration similar to those done for THE ROCAFORT FILES Facebook Group & Blog. The monies raised via this endeavor will be donated to the Red Cross to help with the relief efforts in Japan. One hundred percent of all the funds raised will be donated to the American Red Cross, and the winner will receive, along with their art, a copy of the receipt issued by the Red Cross.

With regards to the illustration, here are the specifics:

1. The illustration will feature one character of your choice, though we do ask, as we did in our "Kenneth for Haiti" auctions, that everyone keep in mind that Kenneth cannot create original characters: he will be unable to illustrate your World of Warcraft character for instance – sorry.

2. The illustration will be rendered on a sheet of 8” X 10” Bristol.

3. The illustration will be rendered in pencil.

4. The illustration will be included as part of The Rocafort Files.

Interested? If so, this is what you need to do to participate:

1. Please email your bid, along with your character request, to therocafortfiles@gmail.com. You will receive an email from J. J. confirming your submission. After receiving the email confirmation please post your character request in the comments section of this post – DO NOT POST YOUR BID AMOUNT.

2. Each night J. J. will post an update to this very post. The post will show everyone’s current position with respect to their bids -- only your first names and your character requests will be made public. You may, after each nightly update, adjust your respective bids.

3. All payments must be made in U.S. Dollars via U. S. Postal Service Money Order – any winners residing outside the US will be asked to make payment in U. S. Dollars via Paypal. You will also be asked to cover any fees associated with the transaction.

4. The auctions will run for seven days – from Thursday, March 17th, 2011 to Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011.

5. No bids will be accepted after the 23rd, of March – the auction closes at 11:59 PM Pacific.

6. Kenneth reserves the right to refuse to illustrate the winning auction request -- images that are deemed to be "morbid," "explicit," or deal with "controversial subject matter" will not be considered.

7. If you are a winning bidder, your illustration will be rendered only after payment has been received.

8. Please be prepared to submit reference -- just so were all on the same page.

Thanks again,

KR & Team Rocafort

. . . it's a bird, it's a plane

2011-03-07T22:05:00.002-06:00

She-Devil, with a Sword

2011-02-16T21:49:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone,
Well here we go, another year of art. Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Believe it or not, life does have a way of "taking over." Anyway, sorry for the wait, hopefully, well get back to posting more regularly, and yes, we know, there are still a few pieces due, before we can "officially" put the first year of the files to bed.

All this being said, perhaps a "taste" of things to come is in order? A preview of the new tenor the blog wants to adopt: posting images of the art Kenneth creates for the fans, and collectors, at conventions and other public appearances. Above we've posted an image of everyone's favorite scarlet barbarian, Red Sonja. Created at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010, the image was one of only a handful Kenneth created at the show. We hope you love the art as much as we do.

Finally, the files is going to go through a major "make-over;" maybe even a move to a new web-address -- things are in "flux" at the moment, but as soon as we have our game plan all figured out, well let you all know "what the deal is." Sorry for all the idioms -- they do tend to alleviate the need for exposition.

Peace,
Team Rocafort.

. . . doomsday

2011-02-01T23:10:00.005-06:00

. . . mite makes right!

2011-01-03T13:35:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone!
Happy New Year, Everyone! Above you have the first entry in the files for 2011. Our apologies for keeping pretty much quiet for the last few months. We hope to post more frequently in the new year. We also that hope you love the illustration as much as we do . . . as always, thank you all for your support of Kenneth's work and your interest in his career . . . they are truly appreciated.

God Bless,
Team Rocafort

. . . twenty - two

2010-12-05T15:51:00.004-06:00

. . . girl, dangerous

2010-10-13T22:22:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone!
We know a great many of have been waiting patiently for this illustration -- Sydney Savage! We sure do hope that you all love Kenneth's interpretation of Andy Hartnell & J. Scott Campbell's creation.

As always, thank you all for your support of Kenneth's work, your interest in his career, and your patronage of this blog. Much appreciated.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

. . . the barbarian

2010-10-13T22:14:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we have the long awaited illustration of Conan, The Barbarian! Our apologies for the long delay, but Kenneth drew this illustration a great number of times, before he felt that he had done the character justice. We sure hope you love this work of art as much as we do!

As always, thank you all for your support! We sure do appreciate it!

Peace,
Team Rocafort

. . . coming soon!!!!!

2010-09-29T21:54:00.002-05:00

. . . the teller of fables.

2010-09-26T19:34:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we've re-posted another previously posted image -- the illustration features Snow White, from FABLES -- and it is the second image in our new series entitled ". . . from The Writer's Notebook." The art is by Kenneth, and the words are by the creator and writer of FABLES: Bill Willingham. The piece is now officially entitled: "The Long, Cold Winter Were The Days Of Endless Snow" -- we hope you like it as much as we do!

Enjoy,
Team Rocafort

. . . with a little help from David Petersen.

2010-09-26T19:22:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we've re-posted an illustration, of Saxon, from Mouse Guard, that first debuted on the blog back in May of this year -- the only difference being that the image now has a few words, written by the creator Mouse Guard, David Petersen, to accompany it. The work is now officially entitled: "Saxon Explores Darkheather."

Enjoy,
Team Rocafort

. . . for Jim Henson

2010-09-12T20:31:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we have posted what is officially the last illustration of the original 52 pieces of the first season of The Rocafort Files. We still have to go back and fill in a few "blanks," but officially, this piece marks the end of year one of The Rocafort Files. We hope you've all enjoyed the ride, and ask that you all continue the journey with us.

This last piece is special to us . . . from time to time, we make it a point to honor certain artists on the blog . . . our last poll, The Muppet Show, was our chance to honor a hero of children the world over, the late Jim Henson. The muppet, chosen by you, for Kenneth to illustrate, was Animal. We hope you love the illustration as much as we do, and a special thank you goes out to Jessica, Kenneth's sister, for suggesting that we end our first year by honoring the work of a master, by remembering, and celebrating, the benevolent genius of Jim Henson.

As always, Kenneth, Jessica, and I would would like to thank you all for your interest in Kenneth's work and career. God Bless you all.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

. . . the pale rider

2010-09-12T19:51:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Above we have posted Kenneth's illustration of The White Violin from The Umbrella Academy by writer Gerard Way, artist Gabriel Bá, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Nate Piekos. We hope you all approve of Kenneth's take on the character. As always, we thank you, the fans, for your support and interest in Kenneth's work.

Thanks,
Team Rocafort

Muppets Poll Closed

2010-08-30T20:22:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Please excuse the delay in posting the results from our most recent poll -- the one asking you to help decide which member of Jim Henson's Muppets that you would like to see Kenneth illustrate? Anyway, the results are as follows:

Kermit, the Frog: 7 votes for 14% of the vote.
Miss Piggy: 6 votes for 12% of the vote.
Fozzie Bear: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Scooter: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Gonzo: 13 votes for 26% of the vote.
The Swedish Chef: 9 votes for 18% of the vote.
Rowlf, the Dog: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Dr Bunsen Honeydew: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Beaker: 9 votes for 18% of the vote.
Camilla: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Sam, the Eagle: 6 votes for 12% of the vote.
Dr. Teeth: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Sgt. Floyd Pepper: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Janice: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Animal: 16 votes for 32% of the vote.
Zoot: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Lips: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Lew Zealand: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Statler & Waldorf: 7 votes for 14% of the vote.
Rizzo, the Rat: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Annie Sue: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
The Muppet Newsman: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Foo-Foo: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Sweetums: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Link Hogthrob: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Dr. Julius Strangepork: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Beauregard: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Crazy Harry: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Robin: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Uncle Deadly: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Pops: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Marvin Suggs: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
George, the Janitor: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Mildred Huxtetter: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Hilda: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Pepé, the King Prawn: 7 votes for 14% of the vote.

The winner, as chosen by you, the fans, is Animal! As always, our thanks to all who took the time to participate in our little exercise in pop-culture democracy.

This will be the last of our polls for awhile. With respect to the first volume of The Rocafort Files, there will be more illustrations coming, we have yet to reach our goal of 52 illustrations, but this will come soon enough though, and then we will proceed to "phase 2" of our little creative endeavor -- and this time, it's all about you! Kenneth will be taking on commission work. The details will be posted soon, so please keep an eye out -- check the blog for updates!

As always, we would like to thank everyone who has show an interest in Kenneth's work. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Peace.

. . . the ghost in the machine

2010-08-21T22:39:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we've posted the first in a series of images honoring characters from TOP COW Comics -- the first character to be illustrated by Kenneth is Aphrodite IX. We hope you love Kenneth's take on the character as much as we do -- she looks fabulous!

At this time, we'd like to apologize for the lack of updates . . . Kenneth is busy with professional commitments at the moment, but don't worry, the blog is alive and kicking. So please, visit often!

As you may have read, Kenneth will be taking on some commission work, but the details still need to be ironed-out. We will be posting a notice here and on the FACEBOOK Group.

As always, thanks for the support: y'all are awesome!

Team Rocafort

Baltimore Comic Con & Beyond

2010-08-21T21:05:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to let everyone that due to unforeseen professional obligations, I will not be attending this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con. I know some of you have made some inquires with respect to possible commissions at the show; unfortunately, I will be unable to do so – I do apologize for this inconvenience, and hope that I’ll be able to render something for you in the not too distant future.

Speaking of commissions, I am happy to announce that J. J. and I have decided to continue with “The Rocafort Files” -- we will be going beyond our original slate of 52 pieces of art, and focus on illustrations commissioned by you, the fans. We are still hammering out the details, but please keep on checking in on the blog for the information. A notice will be posted on the blog as soon as we finalize all the particulars.

With respect, to any other upcoming appearances, I will be at PROJECT COMIC CON 2 on September 18th & 19th. If you are planning on attending, please come by and say, “hello.”

Finally, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to all who have taken the time to visit the blog and or join the FACEBOOK group: THANK YOU. You will never know how truly overjoyed I am by your interest in my artwork.

Peace,
kr

Umbrella Academy Poll Closed

2010-08-16T17:26:00.009-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Above we have posted an image of the winner of our Umbrella Academy poll: The White Violin. Rendered by artist Cameron Stewart, the image was part of a series of illustrations rendered by the artists -- the illustrations can be found on his blog. For more information on The Umbrella Academy and The White Violin, please check out their Wikipedia page by clicking here.

The breakdown for the poll is as follows:

The Monacle: 4 votes for 14% of the vote.
Spaceboy: 12 votes for 42% of the vote.
The Kraken: 5 votes for 17% of the vote.
The Rumor: 10 votes for 35% of the vote.
Seance: 2 votes for 7% of the vote.
The Boy: 7 votes for 25% of the vote.
Horror: 4 votes for 14% of the vote.
The White Violin: 17 votes for 60% of the vote.
Inspector Lupo: 3 votes for 10% of the vote.
Abhijat: 1 vote for 3% of the vote.
Dr. Pogo: 3 votes for 10% of the vote.
Mrs. Hargreeves: 3 votes for 10% of the vote.
Hazel: 3 votes for 10% of the vote.
Cha-Cha: 2 votes for 7% of the vote.

As always, we would like to thank everyone for their continues support of this blog -- and more importantly, for your interest in Kenneth's work, and your support of his career. It is sincerely appreciated.

Thank you,
Team Rocafort

Rocketeer Poll Closed

2010-08-10T19:25:00.005-05:00

Hello there,
Above we have posted an illustration of this week's poll winner, The Rocketeer. Created by Dave Stevens, the protagonist is emblematic of the best of collective nostalgia: a hero who symbolizes an earnest & optimistic vision of who we were, or perhaps, more aptly, who we aspired to be . . . hopefully, this romanticized ideal of ourselves, will one day take root and flourish.

The vote breakdown for the poll is as follows:

The Rocketeer - 24 votes for 58% of the vote.
Cliff Secord - 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Betty - 21 votes for 51% of the vote.
Peevy - 1 vote for 2% of the vote.

As always, our thanks to you, the readers of this blog for your continued support of Kenneth work and career. It is truly appreciated.

Team Rocafort

Danger Girl Poll Closed

2010-08-02T00:56:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Thank you all so much for taking the time to participate in our Danger Girl poll – the results are as follows:

Abbey Chase: 19 votes for 52% of the vote.
Sydney Savage: 20 votes for 55% of the vote.
JC: 5 votes for 13% of the vote.
Deuce: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
Silicone Valerie: 9 votes for 25% of the vote.
Johnny Barracuda: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
Secret Agent Zero: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
Natalia Kassle: 12 votes for 33% of the vote.
Major Maxim: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
Assassin X: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
Kid Dynamo: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Doctor Kharnov Von Kipplor: 2 votes for 5% of the vote.
The Peach: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.
Donavin Conrad: 1 vote for 2% of the vote.

As always, thank you all so very much for your support of and interest in Kenneth’s work and career – it is truly appreciated.
God Bless.

. . . saturday, july 24th, 2010

2010-07-16T12:55:00.001-05:00

. . . the great - grandmother

2010-07-11T20:51:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Born out of the imagination of Alejandro Jodorowsky & Juan Giménez, the Metabarons is the tale of a family dynasty. Spanning five generations, this epic focuses on the individual stories of the ancestors of the current Metabaron, "Nameless." Pictured above is Oda, the Great-Grandmother . . . we hope you love this illustration as much as we do . . . as always, thank you for your support of Kenneth's work and career. it is appreciated.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

. . . for Al Williamson

2010-07-10T20:02:00.008-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Above we have posted an illustration of Flash Gordon. This image was inspired by the work of Al Williamson, and is an homage to the man and his work. We truly hope that you love this image as much as we do.

Thank you, Mr. Williamson.

To listen to an extremely insightful interview with Mr. Mark Schultz, about Mr. Williamson's Flash Gordon, please click here. Thanks to Mr. Bob Andelman for the knowledge.

Peace,
Team Rocafort

VELOCITY #1 - OUT TODAY!

2010-06-30T18:30:00.010-05:00

Run!
Don't Walk!
Okay, maybe drive to your local comic shop and please pickup a copy of Velocity #1 -- written by Ron Marz, with art by Kenneth, and colors by Sunny Gho, we'd love to hear what you all think.

Thanks,
Team Rocafort

HAVE A COW!

2010-06-22T20:19:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone!
Just a heads-up --we are beginning our 5 week countdown to Comic-Con! We are focusing exclusively on TOP COW characters -- so please send in your suggestion -- you can post them directly in the comments section of this post.

Thanks. Hope to see many of you in San Diego.
Peace.

. . . technical difficulties

2010-06-16T19:20:00.006-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Sorry to pull the plug on the Ralph McQuarrie Poll -- for some reason it is not appearing on the blog site. The last time I saw the poll was last night, and the characters that I remember leading the poll were:

Boba Fett
Luke Starkiller (Female)
Luke Skywalker

For the moment, we will leave it as such, and if we can not get the "bugs" ironed out, then Kenneth will have the final say so as to which character to illustrate.

Thanks.

. . . the whirlwind

2010-06-15T19:05:00.006-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Above we have posted the winner of our recent NARUTO Poll -- Rock Lee! We hope you love the illustration as much as we do -- as always, we would like to thank everyone who voted. Your interest in Kenneth's work and career are truly appreciated, as is the time you invest in taking part in our polls: YOU GUYS ROCK! (Okay, bad pun.)

God Bless.

. . . the chosen one

2010-06-15T18:39:00.007-05:00

Hello,
Above we have posted the winner of our recent poll commemorating the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader. For this particular illustration, Kenneth decided to use pencils, inks, and whiteout -- the results, as is easy to see, are stellar! We hope you all love the work as much as we do.

As always, your patronage and interest in Kenneth work and career, and this blog, are appreciated.

Peace.

Al Williamson

2010-06-14T21:25:00.005-05:00

Hello,

Today is a sad day in the world of comics, Al Williamson has passed away -- the images posted here are the best tribute we could think of to pay homage to the man, to the artist. Any words that we could summon-up would fail to adequately do justice to the impact of his work, his legacy, upon the comics industry, but this being said, on a personal note, his depictions of "the future" were and are the stuff of collective memory -- honest, optimistic, romantic, and always exciting: under Williamson's steady hand, the future was fantastic.

Kenneth, and the rest of the "Team Rocafort," would like to extend our sincere condolences to his family.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Williamson, and thank you for your wonderful work.

Metabarons Poll Closed

2010-06-13T18:20:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to notify everyone that our Metabarons Poll has come to a close, the results are as follows:

Aghora: 10 votes for 35% of the vote.
Berard of Castaka: 1 vote for 3% of the vote.
Edna Castaka: 3 votes for 10% of the vote.
Honorata: 11 votes for 39% of the vote.
Zaran Krleza: 2 votes for 7% of the vote.
Lothar: 2 votes for 7% of the vote.
Nameless: 6 votes for 21% of the vote.
Oda: 14 votes for 50% of the vote.
Doña Vicenta Gabriela de Rokha: 9 votes for 32% of the vote.
Aghnar von Salza: 1 vote for 3% of the vote.
Bari von Salza: 2 votes for 7% of the vote.
Othon von Salza: 1 vote for 3% of the vote.
Steelhead: 6 votes for 21% of the vote.

The winner, with 50% of the vote is Oda. As always, our thanks to everyone who took the time out to vote – your interest and support of Kenneth’s work and career are appreciated.

Thanks.

Naruto Poll Closed

2010-06-08T19:11:00.009-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to notify everyone that our NARUTO poll has come to a close. The results are as follows:

Shino Aburame: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Choji Akimichi: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Chiyo: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Deidara: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Gaara: 8 votes for 18% of the vote.
Guy: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Haku: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Sakura Haruno: 15 votes for 34% of the vote.
Hinata Hyuga: 15 votes for 34% of the vote.
Neji Hyuga: 8 votes for 18% of the vote.
Kakashi Hatake: 9 votes for 20% of the vote.
Hidan: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Kisame Hoshigaki: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Suigetsu Hozuki: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Kiba Inuzuka & Akamaru: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Jiraiya: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Jirobo: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Jugo: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Kankuro: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Kakuzu: 0 votes for 0% of the vote.
Karin: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Kidomaru: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Killer Bee: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Kimimaro: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Konan: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Rock Lee: 15 votes for 34% of the vote.
Moegi: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Zabuza Momochi: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Minato Namikaze: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Shikamaru Nara: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Orochimaru: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Pain: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Sai: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Sakon: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Asuma Sarutobi: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Hiruzen Sarutobi: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Konohamaru Sarutobi: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Sasori: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Danzo Shimura: 0 votes for 0% of the vote.
Shizune: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Tayuya: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Temari: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Tenten: 11 votes for 25% of the vote.
Tsunade: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Itachi Uchiha: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Madara Uchiha: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Sauske Uchiha: 12 votes for 27% of the vote.
Udon: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Ukon: 0 votes for 0% of the vote.
Iruka Umino: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Naruto Uzumaki: 9 votes for 20% of the vote.
Kabuto Yakushi: 1 votes for 2% of the vote.
Ino Yamanaka: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Yamato: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Kurenai Yuhi: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Zetsu: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.

As is plain to see, we have three winners -- Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga, and Rock Lee: each character managed to obtain 15 votes; thus, as is the the case in all such instances, Kenneth will make the call with respect to which character will be illustrated.

As always, our thanks to those of you who took time out to vote -- we so do appreciate your support of Kenneth's work and of this blog.

Thanks.

CONAN Poll Closed

2010-05-28T22:12:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Just want to officially close our latest poll -- Which character from the world of Conan, the Barbarian, would you like to see Kenneth illustrate? The results of our poll are as follows:

Akiro: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Bêlit: 8 votes for 18% of the vote.
Conan: 27 votes for 61% of the vote.
Fafnir: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Jenna: 5 votes for 11% of the vote.
Red Sonja: 26 votes for 59% of the vote.
Subotai: 7 votes for 15% of the vote.
Thoth-Amon: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Thulsa Doom: 6 votes for 13% of the vote.
Valeria: 11 votes for 25% of the vote.
Yara: 4 votes for 9% of the vote.
Yezdigerd: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Zenobia: 7 votes for 15% of the vote.
Zukala: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.

As we can see, the vote went down to the wire: it came down to a contest between our favorite barbarian, Conan, and the scarlet warrior, Red Sonja. In the end, Conan proved victorious, but just barely, by one vote.

As always, our thanks to the fans -- you make all of this a tremendous joy!

God Bless.

. . . to infinity, and beyond

2010-05-21T21:12:00.005-05:00

Howdy,
Above we have posted the winner of our most poll, "Which PIXAR character would you like to see Kenneth illustrate?" As you might recall, we had a tie between Buzz Lightyear, from The Toy Story franchise, and WALL-E, from the animated film of the same name, and in all such instances where we do have a tie, Kenneth decides which character to illustrate -- this time around, he selected Buzz Lightyear of Star Command!

We hope you love the illustration as much as we do -- for more information of PIXAR, you might want to click here & here. For the character's "biography" please click here.

As always,our gratitude to you, the fans who take time out of their lives to visit this site, participate in our polls, and leave feedback -- thanks for all your support, of Kenneth's work, his career, and of this blog.

God Bless.

. . . the wildcat

2010-05-21T20:51:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone!
Above we have the character selected by Kenneth during our "Twitter Poll." A special thank you goes out to David Petersen, the author and artist of Mouse Guard, for "tweeting" the character suggestion selected for this poll. For more information on GRIFTER, please check out the character's "biography," as it appears on Wikipedia by clicking here.

As always, our many thanks to Kenneth's fans -- you all make this possible!

Peace.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK POLL CLOSED

2010-05-21T20:29:00.011-05:00

Hello Everyone!
Just a quick note to say that our poll commemorating the 30th anniversary of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK has officially come to a close. The winner of this week's exercise in pop-culture democracy is everyone's favorite Lord of the Sith: DARTH VADER!

The results of the poll are as follows:

4-LOM: 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
Wedge Antilles: 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
Bossk: 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
C-3PO: 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
Lando Calrissian: 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
Chewbacca: 11 votes for 17% of the vote.
Dak (Luke’s Gunner) : 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
Dengar: 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
IG-88: 8 votes for 12% of the vote.
Janson (Wedge’s Gunner) : 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Major Derlin: 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
Boba Fett: 24votes for 37% of the vote.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: 7 votes for 10% of the vote.
Princess Leia (Hoth Outfit): 12 votes for 18% of the vote.
Princess Leia (Bespin Outfit) : 9 votes for 14% of the vote.
Lobot: 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
General McQuarrie: 3 votes for 2% of the vote.
Captain Needa: 1 vote for 1% of the vote.
Emperor Palpatine: 6 votes for 9% of the vote.
Admiral Piett: 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
General Rieekan: 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Luke Skywalker (Dagobah / Bespin Outfit) : 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
Luke Skywalker (Hoth Outfit): 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Luke Skywalker (Pilot Outfit): 5 votes for 7% of the vote.
Han Solo (Hoth Outfit): 8 votes for 12% of the vote.
Han Solo (Pilot Outfit) : 11 votes for 17% of the vote.
Hobbie: 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
Admiral Ozzel: 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
R2-D2: 9 votes for 14% of the vote.
Darth Vader: 30 votes for 46% of the vote.
General Veers: 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
Yoda: 14 votes for 21% of the vote.
Zev: 3 votes for 4% of the vote.
Zuckuss: 5 votes for 7% of the vote.

As always, thanks to all of you -- Kenneth's fans for your support of his work, his career and this blog.

Mil Gracias!

PIXAR Poll Closed

2010-05-16T15:36:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone!
Just a wanted to “officially” close our latest poll – “Which PIXAR character would you like to see Kenneth illustrate?” The voting was quite frenetic for this contest – we had 90 votes cast; unfortunately, we did not have a clear-cut winner. We had a tie for the top spot – with a total of 23 votes respectively, our top vote getters were Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story franchise, and WALL-E, from the film by the same name. The breakdown is as follows:
Princess Atta (A Bug's Life): 7 votes for 7% of the vote.
Randall Boggs (Monsters, Inc.): 7 votes for 7% of the vote.
Boo (Monsters, Inc.): 18 votes for 20% of the vote.
Sally Carrera (Cars): 8 votes for 8% of the vote.
Crush (Finding Nemo): 13 votes for 14% of the vote.
Dash (The Incredibles): 11 votes for 12% of the vote.
Dory (Finding Nemo): 10 votes for 11% of the vote.
Dot (A Bug's Life): 6 votes for 6% of the vote.
Dug (Up): 12 votes for 13% of the vote.
Anton Ego (Ratatouille): 6 votes for 6% of the vote.
Elastigirl (The Incredibles): 17 votes for 18% of the vote.
EVE (WALL-E): 12 votes for 13% of the vote.
Flik (A Bug's Life): 6 votes for 6% of the vote.
Carl Fredricksen (Up): 13 votes for 14% of the vote.
Frozone (The Incredibles): 10 votes for 11% of the vote.
Guido (Cars): 7 votes for 7% of the vote.
Auguste Gusteau (Ratatouille): 6 votes for 6% of the vote.
Hopper (A Bug's Life): 8 votes for 8% of the vote.
Doc Hudson (Cars): 5 votes for 5% of the vote.
Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles): 14 votes for 15% of the vote.
Jack-Jack (The Incredibles): 12 votes for 13% of the vote.
Jessie (Toy Story 2): 17 votes for 18% of the vote.
Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story): 23 votes for 25% of the vote.
Alfredo Linguini (Ratatouille): 8 votes for 8% of the vote.
Luigi (Cars): 7 votes for 7% of the vote.
Marlin (Finding Nemo): 5 votes for 5% of the vote.
Mater (Cars): 5 votes for 5% of the vote.
Capt. B. McCrea (WALL-E): 4 votes for 4% of the vote.
Mike (Monsters, Inc.): 7 votes for 7% of the vote.
Mirage (The Incredibles): 17 votes for 18% of the vote.
Charles F. Muntz (Up): 11 votes for 12% of the vote.
Lighning McQueen (Cars): 5 votes for 5% of the vote.
Edna Mode (The Incredibles): 18 votes for 20% of the vote.
Nemo (Finding Nemo): 9 votes for 10% of the vote.
Remy (Ratatouille): 9 votes for 10% of the vote.
Russell (Up): 14 votes for 15% of the vote.
Sulley (Monsters, Inc.): 21 votes for 23% of the vote.
Syndrome (The Incredibles): 17 votes for 18% of the vote.
Collette Tatou (Ratatouille): 10 votes for 11% of the vote.
Violet (The Incredibles): 14 votes for 15% of the vote.
WALL-E (WALL-E): 23 votes for 25% of the vote.
Woody (Toy Story): 13 votes for 14% of the vote.
Emperor Zurg (Toy Story 2): 16 votes for 17% of the vote.

It goes without saying, but it bears repeating – thank you all for four continued support – of not only Kenneth’s work and career, but this blog as well.

Thank you very much.

. . . brother blue

2010-05-13T18:50:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone,
A few weeks back we held our HELLBOY poll -- the final tally showed a tie between Hellboy and Abe Sapien -- in such instances, Kenneth makes the final call as to which character will be illustrated. As you can see, he opted for Abe Sapien! Created by Mike Mignola, the character made his first appearance in "Hellboy: Seeds of Destruction."

For more information on the character, please visit the character's "biography" as it appears on Wikipedia.

As always, many thanks to you all -- the fans of Kenneth's work. Your support of his career and this blog are appreciated.

Peace.

. . . the swordmaster

2010-05-13T18:19:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we have posted the winner of our Mouse Guard Poll -- SAXON! Kenneth and I hope you all approve of his efforts -- especially, David Petersen (yikes!), we hope he approves of Kenneth's interpretation of one of his characters. For a quick character description, please check out Saxon's character entry at the official Mouse Guard site. For an overview of the world of David Petersen's Mouse Guard you might consider checking out the Mouse Guard Wikipedia entry by clicking here -- beware though, it does contain "spoilers."

As always, Kenneth and I would like to thank everyone who takes the time to visit our little corner of cyberspace -- your support of Kenneth's work, career, and blog are truly appreciated.

Thanks!

. . . daddy's little girl

2010-05-13T17:50:00.009-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we have posted Kenneth illustration of Hit-Girl from KICK-ASS! We hope you love the work as much as we do. For more information on Mark Millar & John Romita, Jr.'s prepubescent assassin, please check out the the KICK-ASS Wikipedia entry.

As always, Kenneth and I would like to thank everyone for their interest and support of Kenneth's career and work, and of this blog . . . you all KICK-ASS!

Peace.

. . . enjoy

2010-05-09T17:49:00.002-05:00

Saw this posted up on Sidebar Nation -- too good not to share . . . enjoy!
Peace.

Grzegorz Rosinski - Lames de fond from Libertago Ltd. on Vimeo.

Twitter Poll Closed!

2010-05-09T12:54:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Just a small post to say that out Tweet Poll is closed -- thanks to everyone who participated. You all are great!
Peace.

Happy Free Comic Book Day!

2010-05-01T15:01:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Here's a little something to tide everyone over until the next files post. Enjoy.

HELLBOY Poll Closed

2010-04-30T21:06:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to post the results of our HELLBOY poll -- this week's poll came down to two characters: Hellboy and Abe Sapien. Both characters garnered 22 votes for 44% of the total votes cast. The breakdown is as follows:

Astaroth: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Trevor Bruttenholm: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Kate Corrigan: 7 votes for 14% of the vote.
Dagda: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Ben Daimio: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Gruagach: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Hecate: 7 votes for 14% of the vote.
Hellboy: 22 votes for 44% of the vote.
Ogdru Hem: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Ogdru Jahad: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Lobster Johnson: 15 votes for 30% of the vote.
Morgan Le Fay: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Koschei the Deathless: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Johann Kraus: 8 votes for 16% of the vote.
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen: 13 votes for 26% of the vote.
Tom Manning: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Queen of Blood: 8 votes for 16% of the vote.
Queen Mab: 5 votes for 10% of the vote.
Grigori Rasputin: 12 votes for 24% of the vote.
Roger: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Abe Sapien: 22 votes for 44% of the vote.
Liz Sherman: 21 votes for 42% of the vote.
Vasilisa: 4 votes for 8% of the vote.
Herman von Klempt: 3 votes for 6% of the vote.
Baba Yaga: 5 votes for 10% of the vote.

In such instances, Kenneth will decide which character to illustrate. As always, our thanks to all of you, the fans, who make this experience enjoyable, memorable, and interesting.

Muchas Gracias Y'all!

Mouse Guard Poll Closed

2010-04-24T11:05:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to inform everyone that the MOUSE GUARD poll came to a close, and that the the results are as follows:

Abigail: 7 votes for 16% of the vote.
Celanawe: 8 votes for 19% of the vote.
Conrad: 6 votes for 14% of the vote.
Gwendolyn: 12 votes for 28% of the vote.
Isabel: 11 votes for 26% of the vote.
Kenzie: 7 votes for 16% of the vote.
Landra: 7 votes for 16% of the vote.
Lieam: 7 votes for 16% of the vote.
Midnight: 12 votes for 28% of the vote.
Quiggly: 3 votes for 7% of the vote.
Rand: 2 votes for 4% of the vote.
Roibin: 3 votes for 7% of the vote.
Sadie: 12 votes for 28% of the vote.
Saxon: 24 votes for 57% of the vote.

The results clearly show that this week's character poll winner is Saxon -- by a landslide! As always, thanks for your support. It is appreciated.

Peace.

KICK-ASS poll closed!

2010-04-17T09:36:00.009-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Hope everyone has had a chance to go and see KICK-ASS, or is planning to do so; anyway, as you can tell by the post title, our KICK-ASS poll has come to a close, and the winner, as selected by you, the fans, was HIT-GIRL! Below we have the final vote tally:

Big Daddy: 9 votes for 17% of the vote.
Katie Deauxma: 7 votes for 13% of the vote.
John Genovese: 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Hit-Girl: 36 votes for 70% of the vote.
Kick-Ass: 14 votes for 27% of the vote.
Red Mist: 4 votes for 7% of the vote.

Our thanks to all of you who took the time to vote. Much appreciated. Now on to our next poll: MOUSE GUARD!

Peace.

. . . love's divine

2010-04-15T20:27:00.008-05:00

Bon Jour!

Above we have posted an illustration of Belle, from the Disney film Beauty & The Beast. The winner of our most recent poll -- the one showcasing a myriad of characters from most of Disney animated films -- Belle won the vote by a substantial margin. Below, as is our custom hers, you'll find, not only the character's biography, but a measure of the film's production history as well. As always, a shout - out to the fine folks at Wikipedia for the knowledge:

[Created by Linda Wolverton, and voiced by Paige O'Hara,]Belle is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast and its two direct-to-video sequels, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and its several spin-offs, including Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. She is also an official Disney Princess.

She also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character and in various shows and parades. She also makes a cameo appearance in Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Belle also appears in many episodes of the Disney's House of Mouse television series and in the direct-to-video releases Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains. She also appears in the Kingdom Hearts series of video games as one of the most important Disney characters.

Belle is a young woman living in the French countryside with her father, an inventor. She's a lovely free-thinker who likes to read and go on adventures within her own imagination. She is not shy and is not afraid to speak her mind, especially in tight situations, though she can be slightly hesitant when nervous. She is very compassionate and takes care of those in need. She can be stubborn and always tries to protect people she truly loves. She's also very patient towards others.

A true dreamer and a lover of fantasy and adventure, Belle is a shrewd nonconformist for her time in many ways. The most pronounced is her love of books, excitement and knowledge, which the townspeople find odd for a woman. Gaston says to her at one point, "It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and...thinking...". Belle also does not care about appearances, whether they pertain to herself or anyone else. This is highly ironic, considering she is seen as the most beautiful woman in her village. In the song Belle, a woman sings, "It's no wonder than her name means beauty. Her looks have got no parallel."

Through the film, though more apparent in the broadway musical in her solo song, A Change in Me, Belle changes her view of the world. In the beginning she craves adventure and excitement, but after her days with the Beast, she grows to see that she no longer needs her childhood dreams and she sees that she likes life how it is now that she's found her love.

Belle's most common outfit is a blue and white peasant dress with a white apron which she wears throughout most of the movie. She wears a blue bow in her hair and brown shoes. Many fans believe that this outfit is based upon Dorothy Gale's dress in The Wizard of Oz. But when actually, her outfit was based on Maria's dress in the film "The Sound of Music". Sometimes she is featured with her hair down such as when she is attacked by the wolves and at the end of the film.

When she is outdoors, she wears a dark blue cloak. During her time in the castle, she wears a pink dress and a green dress. She also wears a golden ball gown during the ballroom scene in the film. In the Kingdom Hearts games she alternates between her ball gown and her blue peasant outfit.

Disney hired actress Sherri Stoner to portray the role of Belle during development. They filmed Stoner acting out various actions and mannerisms, and used the footage as inspiration for Belle's performance.

When Beast's key animator Glen Keane and one of Belle's animators, Mark Henn, were drawing their respective characters in the same scene, they had to coordinate their work across the country. Henn was at the Disney-MGM Studio in Florida, and Keane was at the animation studio in Glendale, California. To keep the scenes harmonized, the animators had to exchange drawings daily by courier.

Belle is a young woman living in a small French town. Her father, Maurice, on his way to a fair, goes missing while she was reading books and not wanting Gaston to marry her. Belle rides to a mysterious castle in possibility of finding him. She finds her father locked away in a dungeon, and begs the dungeon master to free him, offering her own freedom in exchange for her father's. On the condition that she stay with him forever, the dungeon master, a hideous beast, frees Maurice from the dungeon. However he is deeply moved by her beauty and affection towards her father, and can't help but feel attracted to her boldness and bravery. Belle is originally hesitant to interact with the Beast, but after he develops a more civil manner, aided by enchanted furnishings, a bond is formed. The Beast falls deeply in love with her, but is in denial that she will ever love him in return. Belle is soon granted right to leave on behalf of her sickly father, who tries to rescue her. But after denying Gaston (a conceited hunter) her hand in marriage for a third time, a mob of villagers, led by Gaston, plots against the Beast. After a grueling tussle between Gaston and Beast, the Beast is stabbed. Gaston laughs but slips and falls from the castle roof...Never to be seen again. Belle is able to lay the Beast on a balcony, and he dies in her arms. Belle confesses her love for the beast just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose. Belle's love for the Beast revives him and releases him from the curse, and he, along with his furnishings, return to human beings.

A midquel taking place during the winter segment of Beauty and the Beast, this is the story of Belle's attempt to bring back to the castle the one ritual Beast hates most: Christmas, because it is the very day that the Enchantress cast a spell on him.

Unfortunately, a pipe organ called Forte is determined to do anything necessary to keep the spell from breaking, because he thinks that if the curse is broken then the Beast won't be nice to him anymore. Thus, he proves to be an obstacle in Belle's plans. After several attempts to get Beast to agree, Beast finally approves of the idea of Christmas and allows Belle to prepare festivities, though he still harbors resentment for the day.

With advice from Forte, Belle goes out into the woods to get a suitable tree for Christmas, but she falls into thin ice and almost drowns. Fortunately, she is rescued by Beast, but he is angry at her because of a lie that Forte told him: that she was trying to desert him. Belle is thrown into the dungeon as punishment, but Beast then finds a book in the West Wing that Belle had written for him earlier, and decides to set her free. They both continue to prepare for Christmas.

Persistent Forte attempts to bring the whole castle down with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in order to prevent the spell from ending, trying to end everyone's lives. Fortunately, Beast stops him in time by crashing his keyboard to pieces. Christmas finally comes, and the story goes back to the actual party, which is one year after these events. Belle is presented with a gift from the Prince: a rose.

In this movie, Belle is the only human. She meets her new three enchanted object friends Webster, Crane, and LePlume and is set out to solve problems in all four segments.

In Belle's narration, Belle owns and works at her music and bookstore in France. A group of children walk into the store eager to hear Belle's stories, as she is noted to be a great storyteller. Belle agrees to tell a story, but the gang also play games and learn some simple lessons about life. Belle narrates two classic Disney cartoons, The Three Little Pigs and Babes in the Woods, while the children help Belle clean the bookstore. She also reads The Wise Little Hen and Morris the Midget Moose, but Shawn and Harmony will not help make chili for the group. Along the way, Belle adds music and interacts with the children.

Paige O'Hara reprises her voice cast as Belle, while Lyndsey McLeod portrays the character in the live-action sequences.

In the live-action television series, Belle (portrayed by Lyndsey McLeod) lives in the country of France and owns her own music and bookshop. Helping her at the bookstore are Lewis and Carol, two magical bookworms. Also at the bookstore is Harmony the Cat. The bookstore is visited by local children to whom Belle will tell (and sing) stories, usually with a moral that fit a situation happening in the shop or with the children.

Originally, when the first installment of Disney Princess Enchanted Tales was to be released, it was to feature a new Belle story and a brand new Aurora story. The First chapter was entitled "A Kingdom Of Kindness". The plot of Belle's story featured Chip getting in trouble with the Beast after breaking some of his things. Terrified, Chip runs away. Belle finds him and convinces him to come back to the castle, and teaches Beast what it means to be kind. She also teaches Chip that even when people are mad with you, it still means they love you. All of the original Beauty and the Beast cast returned for "A Kingdom Of Kindness", with the exception to Jerry Orbach.

Only one known song has been written for Belle, this song is called "You'll Never Lose This Love", and is available to watch on the Enchanted Tales Website.

Belle (ベル, Beru?) appears as an important Disney character in the renowned Kingdom Hearts series. Belle is portrayed as one of the seven Princesses of Heart, maidens who contain no darkness in their hearts. These Princesses hold the power to open the door to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds and a reservoir of untold wisdom. In the hopes of taking control of Kingdom Hearts to rule all worlds, Maleficent kidnaps her and has her world destroyed by the Heartless. Belle is then taken to Hollow Bastion where she is held hostage alongside the other Princesses. However, Belle is rescued by the Beast, who escaped their homeworld's destruction, and the adventurers Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy. By speaking to Belle after rescuing her, she gives Sora a new weapon, the Divine Rose Keyblade. Belle returns to her homeworld with the Beast when it is restored at the end of the first game.

Belle appears again in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, this time as a figment of Sora's memories of Hollow Bastion. In this scenario, she is once again captured by Maleficent, who hopes to steal her pure heart and use it to perfect her own dark powers. The Beast arrives to save her, but Belle, hoping to keep her heart out of Maleficent’s reach and to keep the Beast safe, coldly rejects her help. However, she is unable to hide her true feelings for long and sacrifices her heart to Maleficent when the witch tries to steal the Beast’s heart. After Sora defeats Maleficent, Belle is restored and reunites with the Beast.

Back in their world, Belle continues to live with the Beast in his castle, the Beast avidly protecting her and his home from Heartless attacks, as depicted in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. However, in Kingdom Hearts II, Xaldin, a member of Organization XIII, sows seeds of distrust and rage in the Beast in an attempt to transform him into a powerful Heartless and Nobody for the Organization to control. While being manipulated by Xaldin, the Beast locks Belle in her room and his servants in the dungeons. Fortunately, Sora and his friends arrive and bring the Beast back to his senses. Later, Xaldin returns and holds Belle hostage with the Beast's enchanted rose. Xaldin forces the Beast to choose between the two, but Belle elbows him in the stomach and makes her escape with the rose, allowing Sora, the Beast and co. to defeat Xaldin. By the end of the game, Belle is shown to be with the Beast, who has transformed back into a prince.

Belle appears in the Kilala Princess manga as one of the group of Disney princesses.

As always, we save the best part of our post for last, our gratitude to you -- the many who take the time to come and see all the pretty pictures, read the posts, and participate in the polls . . . you all are beyond AWESOME! Thanks for you support of Kenneth's work, his career, and of this blog.

Mil Gracias!

. . . between the shadows

2010-04-15T19:51:00.008-05:00

Hola!

Above you will find Kenneth's illustration of John Blacksad, the protagonist from a series of comic albums published by French publisher Dargud. Created by Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido, the character was the winner of our BLACKSAD poll from a few weeks past. We hope you approve of Kenneth's take on the character -- as is our standard M.O. -- below we have posted the comic album's publishing history along with the character's biography as it appears on Wikipedia:

Blacksad is a comic album series created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist), and published by French publisher Dargaud. Though both authors are Spanish, their main target audience for Blacksad is the French market and thus they publish all Blacksad volumes in French first; the Spanish edition usually follows about one month later. The first volume Quelque part entre les ombres (literally Somewhere between the Shadows, but simply called Blacksad in the US) was published in November 2000. The second volume, Arctic-Nation, was published in 2003 and the third, Âme Rouge (Red Soul), was published in 2005. (An English translation has been delayed as of May 2007 due to the bankruptcy of its North American publisher, iBooks. In 2009, Dark Horse Books announced it will publish all three translated volumes as one collection). The publication of this 184-page collection was set for March of 2010, apparently to coincide with the release of the 4th instalment of the series.

Although it was the creators' first comics endeavour, the first volume was an immense success, selling more than 200,000 copies in France alone.[citation needed] The series has been translated from the original French and Spanish into Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Swedish, and Turkish.

Guarnido and Diaz Canales have received several prizes for the impressive, lavish visualisation and the books as a whole, among these three nominations for the Eisner Awards, and an Angoulême Prize for Artwork.

The story is set in a film noir environment, in the USA of the late 1950s. All the characters are anthropomorphic animals (female characters are often much more anthropomorphized, though it varies depending on the animal.), their specific species reflecting their personality and their part in the story. For example, nearly all the policemen are canid, usually German Shepherds, Bloodhounds, Foxes or Scottish Terriers.

The strip is made with a rather dirty-realist outlook, a dark cinematic style and fairly clean, realistic lines. Coupled with the truly lavish and time-consuming drawing, done in watercolor, the strip appears very realistic indeed despite using animals. The quality of the drawing has improved noticeably throughout the series, with sharper, higher-quality color and fewer grainy lines in later issues.

The series occasionally features anthropomorphic versions of famous people (not always in a good light), most notably so far in Red Soul, where Adolf Hitler is seen in a photograph (though not named) as a cat. It also includes characters clearly based on real historical ones; such as Senator Joseph McCarthy, who appears as Senator Gallo (a cockerel); Allen Ginsberg, who appears as Greenberg (a bison); and Otto Liebber (a German scientist), who bears occupational and character similarities to many scientists involved in the Manhattan Project of Los Alamos.

John Blacksad - The main character, a fairly typical detective story private investigator apart from being a black cat. Part of his stories are flashbacks. He sometimes works as a bodyguard when he is in meager times. He usually wears a dark green suit, a red-and-gold striped tie and a trenchcoat. He uses the alias of John H. Blackmore on several fake IDs (debt collector, FBI agent, and customs officer). He is a WW2 veteran.

Weekly - Blacksad's sort-of sidekick. A brown Least Weasel who doesn't like soap and water and an odour problem (he confesses that his nickname comes from bathing only weekly). He has a near-constant optimistic attitude, working as a muckraker for a tabloid called the What's News. He owns documents of Project Noah, to be published in case of Blacksad's death.

Smirnov - a police commissioner who becomes a fast friend of Blacksad. A brown German Shepherd, Smirnov sometimes helps Blacksad to reach the rich and powerful which he himself cannot touch due to 'pressure upstairs'.

Somewhere Within the Shadows

Blacksad begins investigating the murder of the famous actress Natalia Willford.

He investigates about Léon Kronski, a motion picture scenario writer and her last known lover who disappeared. He finds him to already dead, and buried under a pseudonym. After Blacksad is severely beaten by two hired thugs, the police arrests him. Smirnov, a police commissioner, explains to Blacksad that because of 'pressure upstairs' he himself cannot investigate the matter any further. Smirnov offers him a deal, mutually-advantageous to both sides.

As he returns home, a goanna hitman and a rat goon attempt to kill him and each other. The rat quickly dies, and Blacksad interrogates the dying goanna and finally uncovers the culprit of the whole affair, Ivo Statoc, a frog, the richest and most powerful businessman of the city, who considers himself above any law. Statoc shot the actress himself because her infidelity. After brutally infiltrating the office suite at the top of his skyscraper Blacksad confronts the completely calm, cold-blooded Statoc - who first offers him a job, and later a bribe. Blacksad rejects both on a matter of principle and shoots Statoc in the head. The police arranges it so it appears to be a suicide.

Arctic Nation

This volume deals with inter-racial violence and racial segregation of the 1950s in a pseudo-American suburbia called The Line. The book also obliquely addresses issues of economic depression, sexual repression and perversion, all intended to expose the social malaise and prejudice that exist beneath the apparently harmonious surfaces of communities.

Beginning with a black vulture hanged in a street, Blacksad meets his future sidekick, Weekly. Blacksad rejects him at first due to his unpleasant smell, and because Weekly mistakes him for a fellow tabloid journalist.

Blacksad is working for an old elementary school teacher, Miss Grey (a doe), to find and rescue a young bear girl, Kyle (in some editions Kayleigh), who was kidnapped, quite possibly by "Arctic Nation", a racist political organization similar to the Ku Klux Klan.

After becoming friends with Weekly through the latter's persistence, Blacksad is harassed in a bar by three Arctic Nation goons (resulting in one of them being thrown into the bar counter). Their leader, a white Arctic fox called Huk, turns out to be a close friend of the local Chief of Police, Karup (a polar bear). The pair is taken to Karup and he is shown to have some racial prejudice himself.

Blacksad subsequently confronts Kayleigh's mother, Dinah, about her daughter's disappearance, which she has mysteriously failed to report to the police. He suggests an affair between herself and the son of Oldsmill, a rich white socialite. This line of inquiry was prompted initially by Miss Grey. Dinah takes great offense at the insinuation, casting doubt onto its validity as a lead. In the following scenes, he and Weekly clash with a black activist organisation - the "Black Claws"—themselves originally accused of Kyle's abduction, and similar in their tough reverse racism to Malcolm X's doctrines. They force Weekly to publish a statement denying their involvement in the kidnapping. Blacksad then decides to follow the Oldsmill lead, but discovers that Oldsmill's son is mentally handicapped (the result, it is suggested, of the Oldsmill family's endogamy), and thus unlikely to have had an affair with Dinah.

In the meantime, Weekly investigates the activities of Karup's wife, Jezabel (again, a 'white' bear), discovering her affair with Huk and her emotional meeting with Dinah, in which she appears to blackmail Jezabel by threatening to reveal 'what she knows'. This compounds suspicion on Karup, already rumoured to be a paedophile. Blacksad then returns to Dinah's apartment to find her dead. At this point, suspecting Karup of the murder, he confronts him and his wife, whom he accuses of adultery. In consequence, Karup attacks Huk and argues violently with Jezabel: during their tête-à-tête, it comes to light that they have never had sex, and that Karup is, seemingly genuinely, not a paedophile.

At the violent climax, a black magpie called Cotten (complicit in the abduction and threatened into co-operation) leads Blacksad to an Arctic Nation meeting in a derelict war factory where Kayleigh - and Weekly, also having been abducted - are hidden. Blacksad saves Weekly from a gibbet after Karup is betrayed and hanged himself by Huk, under the (false) pretence of kidnaping and child-abuse. As the factory burns and Cotten is shot dead by Huk, Blacksad rescues Kayleigh, along with Weekly. Later, he finds Huk dead in his garage - with a screwdriver through the brain.

The book's finale sees Blacksad cornering Jezabel after her husband's funeral, proving, through a matching birthmark, that she is Dinah's twin. Jezabel clears up the loose ends: her father was in fact Karup, who had abandoned her black, pregnant mother to die after being turned by the racist doctrines of the Oldsmill set. However, Jezabel's mother lived long enough to raise the twins, and, fueled by revenge, Jezabel ascended 'white society' under a false identity, eventually marrying Karup, but refusing him any intimacy (in a bizarrely platonic Electra complex). With Dinah hired as their maid, Jezabel seduced and manipulated Huk, using him to carry out the fake kidnapping, thus capitalising on the rumours of Karup's pædophilia. Huk also spontaneously murdered Dinah 'to make sure she kept her mouth shut'; and so in the aftermath of Karup's hanging, Jezabel in turn killed Huk by way of vengeance and when Blacksad told Jezabel about the suffering her niece had to go through, she said that she felt ashame. The book concludes by highlighting Kyle's innocence and her ultimate abandonment, but her fate is not made clear.

There are probably some discrepancies between publications. Cotten is also seen as Hewitt, Kayleigh as Kyle, and some versions of the book end with Blacksad scattering Cotten's (Hewitt's) ashes to the wind over Las Vegas, fulfilling his last wish.

Red Soul

Is based firmly shortly before the Red Scare, Blacksad is employed as a bodyguard for a rich old tortoise called Hewitt Mandeline, who goes on a gambling trip to Las Vegas. After returning home, Blacksad's last assignment is to accompany him to an art gallery, where he meets his friend Smirnov with his family. He finds a leaflet for An Energy for Peace, a lecture given by his old school teacher, Otto Liebber (an owl) a nuclear physician and Nobel Prize candidate, supported by the rich, young, dynamic, idle communist Samuel Gotfield (a dalmatian) and his titular scientific research foundation.

However, all is not going well for Liebber and the Gotfield Foundation; the lecture hall is mobbed by anti-communist rioters and Blacksad takes an instant dislike for Gotfield, who makes a mockery of the lecture. He also meets Gotfield's fiancee, writer Alma Mayer, who reacts frostily to him. Gotfield invites him to a party at his luxurious coastal mansion where Blacksad meets the so-called 'Twelve Apostles' - twelve Leftist intellectuals who gather near Gotfield for protection from the Witch Hunt: Greenberg, a beat poet, photographer Dora, Klein the sculptor, actor Bill Ratcliff and scriptwriter Jess Logan, Russian painter Sergei Litvak, accomplished chemist Laszlo Herzl and Ms. Mayer herself. After Blacksad grudgingly saves a drunken Gotfield from drowning, with the help of Liebber's close friend Otero, Herzl angrily accuses Liebber of promoting nuclear weapons, ending the 'party' on a poor note. When Otero gets back home, he is killed by a mysterious gavial assassin. It seems he actually meant to kill Liebber.

Blacksad and Alma - who will soon marry Gotfield, planning on a honeymoon to Niagara Falls—begin to have feelings for each other. Blacksad decides to become Liebber's 'Guardian Angel', following him and observing him. Soon he saves Liebber from a car bomb, planted at a garage entrance by the same gavial, but despite a destructive leap through a pane of glass and brutal hand-to-hand combat, he fails to stop the goon from escaping and Liebber disappears from the scene leaving just a wrecked DeSoto.

From Smirnov, Blacksad learns that the gavial is a highly-regarded hit man known as Ribs, and that his bomb was uncharacteristically chemically complex. Suspecting that Herzl the chemist might have hired Ribs to kill Liebber out of professional jealousy, Blacksad confronts Herzl. To his surprise, Herzl is a Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, who shows him photographic proof that Liebber used to work for the Third Reich. (The story never resolves who hired Ribs.)

Stricken with this new information, Blacksad seeks solace from Alma, but before they can meet, the FBI arrests her and other Apostles as communists, inexplicably betrayed by Gotfield. When the FBI agents visit Litvak in his art studio, they accidentally kill him after injecting him with truth serum to try and find out where Liebber is. Liebber, meanwhile, has returned to his old neighborhood (where Blacksad also grew up), only to find it overcome by poverty and his father's church in ruins. Suffering a personal crisis, Liebber hides at the city aquarium, where Blacksad once hid as a child.

Blacksad intercepts the FBI agents before they take Alma away and rescues her, taking shelter in Weekly's apartment. Falling in love with Alma, Blacksad promises to take her to Niagara Falls, which none of her previous husbands ever managed to do, and which to her is an important act of commitment. Blacksad then finds a fatalistic Liebber at the aquarium. Liebber admits to a lifetime of failure, trying to improve the world and reduce suffering, only to make the wrong choices and leaving the world worse than before. His last sin was to follow Litvak's advice: that to maintain the balance of world peace, both Russia and the United States would need to have nuclear bombs - and Liebber has been supplying Litvak with the information for the Russians.

Hoping to minimize the damage, Blacksad visits Litvak's studio only to find his dead body. Realizing that Litvak had copied Liebber's information onto a canvas and then painted over it to disguise it as a work of art, Blacksad goes to the shipyards, where the painting has been loaded onto a boat bound for an art exhibition in East Berlin. It turns out Litvak had made two copies of the painting entitled "Red Soul", one of which would return to North America after the exhibition, while the other copy (containing Liebber's information) would remain behind for the Russians' nuclear program. Blacksad re-routes this painting to Australia.

As Blacksad prepares for his trip to Niagara Falls, the FBI agents arrest him and plant fake evidence to frame Blacksad for killing the painter. Senator Gallo himself interrogates Blacksad, trying to find out where Liebber is hiding. When Blacksad refuses to cooperate, Gallo points out that his fingerprints were found in Litvak's studio and that he is likely to die in the electric chair if he refuses to cooperate. Blacksad is then released.

Blacksad visits Gotfield to find out what made him betray his friends and move into Gallo's camp. Since Gotfield is rich, Blacksad deduces that Gallo must have offered him something money couldn't buy, and this turns out to be the case. Gotfield is now one of a selected group of people who will be evacuated to a special government shelter in the event of a nuclear war. The main criteria for selection is being a friend or supporter of Senator Gallo.

Finding a list of names along with a description of this plan (called 'Project Noah') in Gotfield's safe, Blacksad uses it to blackmail Gallo. Blacksad is not blamed for Litvak's death, and the government fakes Liebber's death and allows him to leave the country. Blacksad gives the list of names to Weekly in a sealed envelope, with instructions to publish the contents if anything happens to him.

The end of the comic is bittersweet. Liebber writes Blacksad a letter, explaining that he has returned to Germany where he is happy again, helping a community rebuild itself after the war, and is teaching children to read and write. Alma, meanwhile, gives up on Blacksad after she reads the (fake) story in the newspaper that Liebber committed suicide after Blacksad turned him in. In her mind, Blacksad is now as much a traitor as Gotfield. Blacksad tries to find her again, but she has vanished.

A 'behind the scenes' book has already been compiled, with author commentary.

Variety has reported that a movie version is in the works. It will produced by Thomas Langmann and Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk), was scheduled for a 2009 release. Budget could be as high as $90 million-$100 million.

As always our thanks to you all, the fans! You are all truly amazing, and we appreciate your interest and support of Kenneth's work and career, and of this blog.

Thanks.

. . . the wolves' mother

2010-04-15T19:27:00.004-05:00

Hello,
Above we have posted the illustration Kenneth created of Snow White, the winner of our Fables poll. Beautiful, is it not? Anyway, thanks to all of you who voted in the Fables poll of a few weeks ago -- you all make this blog a joy. Your interest, support, and participation are truly appreciated. As always, below we have the character's biography as it appears in Wikipedia:

Snow White is a major character in the comic book series Fables. [Created by Bill Willingham,]her character is based on two myths recorded by the Brothers Grimm, Snow-White and Rose-Red and the more famous Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Snow was born in a small cottage and lived there with her twin sister Rose Red. In their youth, they were inseparable, swearing to each other that nothing would ever come between them. When Prince Charming appeared on the scene, finding Snow alone in an abandoned cottage, however, Snow left with him, leaving Rose behind, upsetting her greatly.

Snow married Charming and the two were happy for a time. He promised her anything she desired as a wedding gift; to his surprise, she asked him for fencing lessons. Feeling that this was inappropriate for a woman, particularly a noble one, Charming attempted to dissuade her, but she remained resolute and he agreed. Time passed and Snow, despite her own feeling that she would never improve, gradually did so. It was at about that time that the first dwarf corpse was discovered, roughly hacked to death. Realizing that the King of the Dwarf Kingdom located under their own would want to know what happened to his subject, Charming ordered an investigation. A week later a second body was located; stabbed rather than hacked. In the meantime, Snow's lessons continued, and she frequently took long rides through the countryside alone.

By the time the fourth body was located, the King of the Dwarf Kingdom was becoming increasingly angry at the death of his subjects in the upper world. He threatened the possibility of war between the kingdoms if the perpetrator was not located swiftly. From him, Charming learned that the four dead were brothers who shared with a number of other brothers, a 'diversion cabin' deep within the woods, where the dwarves could briefly visit the upper world and indulge in certain vices in private, including the abduction of the occasional local peasant girl. Snow, in the meantime, told her husband that she wished to discontinue their lessons; claiming that she'd progressed as far as she felt she was likely to.

Facing the increasing possibility of war, Charming increased his efforts. Finally, deep in the woods, the burned-out remains of a cabin was discovered. Inside were the bodies of three dwarves, the last of the brothers, each killed with a single sword thrust to the heart. The cabin had then been burned in an attempt to destroy the evidence. Charming went immediately to the jail, where he instructed the warden to execute the most notorious villain incarcerated therein. Charming had the head of the dead man delivered to the Dwarf King, along with a faked confession to the murders.

Charming then had a talk with his wife, noting the interesting coincidence that the murderer showed greater proficiency in swordsmanship with each kill; much as Snow's ability with a sword had increased every night she and her husband practiced. He asked about the cottage that he'd found her in, apparently the same one that was found burnt out, and how she'd told him that she lived there alone. She said it was unsurprising that others had moved in after she left. Charming was tempted to continue further, to ask if Snow had known the dead dwarves, but elected not to, noting only that everybody had secrets best kept unsaid. Charming then suggested that Snow might like to invite Rose Red to live with them, observing that she presumably no longer needed to take her long rides alone.

Snow asked Rose to come and live with them, but the damage to their relationship was already done. To punish Snow, Rose seduced and slept with Charming (although given his tendency towards infidelity, it seems quite likely that much of the impetus came from him), ruining the marriage and driving a wedge between the two sisters that seemed insurmountable. Devastated, Snow divorced Charming. Her movements after that point are unclear, although it seems that she remained part of the nobility.

To this day, Snow refuses to discuss the dwarves and gets quite angry whenever anyone brings them up. While the true facts of the case are still somewhat unclear, the fact that she apparently sought out and eliminated all seven brothers would strongly suggest that she may well have been one of the victims lured into the 'diversion cabin'. Something of the story has clearly become public knowledge in the intervening time, as Beauty was unwise enough to refer to it at one point, although her description of the incident as a "tawdry little adventure" would seem to imply that the real details of the case remain unknown by the general Fable population. Even if they did ultimately leak out somehow, there could be no backlash on Snow, as the events took place prior to the Fabletown Compact and thus are covered by the amnesty.

Where Snow was when the Adversary's forces began their systematic assault on the Homelands is unknown. What is known is that she and Rose left their home and journeyed to a distant land, searching for a legendary witch's cave which supposedly contained a passage leading to a distant world that would serve as a refuge. Along the way they came across the burned down gingerbread cottage of a certain witch (of Hansel and Gretel fame), whose charred, skeletal body clung to life within her oven. Taking pity on her, Rose Red (and a reluctant Snow White) nursed the witch back to health and then took her with them on their journey. Unfortunately, the Adversary's troops were aware of the approximate location of the fabled cave and had assigned troops to apprehend anyone trying to escape through it. The pair were captured (and subsequently separated from Frau Totenkinder) and placed in a chain gang, destined to be interrogated for any information useful to the Adversary, then executed.[1]

Fortunately for them, the chain gang was being covertly observed by the Big Bad Wolf, who had appointed himself as the unofficial guardian of the witch's cave (the witch being long gone) and who was the only one who knew its precise location. He attacked the guards, slaughtering them all with ease. While many of the terrified prisoners attempted to flee, Snow and Rose faced the newcomer, Snow taking up a nearby sword to defend herself with. Apparently amused by their defiance, the Wolf explained that he had no intention of eating them and that he found much more amusement in frustrating the Adversary by helping Fables reach safety. His only condition was that he must be allowed to take a small taste of each of them, to ensure that none of them were agents of the enemy trying to sneak through to spy on the fugitive Fables. Coming to the conclusion that she had little choice but to trust him, Snow was the first to allow the Wolf to taste her flesh. Passing the test, Snow, Rose and their fellow prisoners were escorted to the cave and escaped through into the mundane world, arriving in approximately the year 1450.

Snow was part of the Fabletown government from the moment the small community was set up in New York, then known as New Amsterdam. Because of their previous meeting, two hundred years earlier, it was Snow who was sent to Carpathia to ask the Big Bad Wolf to join them, carrying the lycanthropy-stained knife that would give him the ability to shapeshift and come to adopt the persona of Bigby Wolf. She was also sent as an envoy to the Arabian Fables where she found herself having to keep the Sultan amused with various tales (as seen in 1001 Nights of Snowfall). Snow gradually rose up through the ranks of government, until she became assistant to deputy mayor Ichabod Crane. When Crane resigned in the mid-1990s after 115 years in the job, facing accusations of embezzlement and sexually harassing Snow, she took over as deputy mayor, becoming largely responsible for the day-to-day running of the community, assisted by Boy Blue.

Snow dealt with numerous incidents during her relatively short tenure as deputy mayor. Among these were an attempted rebellion by the non-human Fables up at the Farm facility, who, angered by their enforced confinement, revolted, intending to assault the Homelands using mundane weaponry adapted for their own use. Snow successfully stopped the revolt, but was shot in the head by Goldilocks. Her popularity as a Fable saved her, but she was in a coma for six weeks, and walks with a cane to this day. The situation did, however, have the effect of finally clearing the air between her and Rose Red. She appointed Rose as the new administrator for the Farm, a position that the former party girl found herself to be unexpectedly good at, to the point where she even enjoyed it. Snow also masterminded the defense of Fabletown during the attack by the Adversary's wooden soldiers.

Unbeknown to Snow, Bigby Wolf (now sheriff of Fabletown) had developed a romantic interest in her. When she discovered this, during the events surrounding the apparent murder of her sister, Snow rebuffed him immediately, but Bigby remained undeterred. Eventually, after a sequence of events where they were entranced and sent out into the wilderness to be murdered by Goldilocks, she came to realize that she did have some feeling for him, telling him that were he to ask her out for a date, she would be interested. Unfortunately, it quickly transpired that, under the effects of the enchantment, the two had slept together, with the result that Snow had fallen pregnant. When confronted with this, Bigby admitted that he had known that it had occurred (due to his highly developed senses), but that he had chosen not to mention it at the time so that she would be able to focus properly on the crisis at hand. This shook her faith in the Wolf and she refused to discuss it with him for some time. However, after Bigby's last minute return saved the day during the Battle of Fabletown, she realized that she truly did love him.

With the arrival of their children, however, a new problem appeared. Only one of the six children looked fully human, meaning that they could not possibly stay in Fabletown and would have to move up to the Farm, where Bigby was banned from going. Bigby tried to persuade Snow to come and live with him and their children out in the world somewhere, in a deep forest where they could live in complete privacy, but Snow found herself unable to break the rules that she'd followed for so long. Resigning her position as deputy mayor, which she'd been intending to do anyway, as her former husband, Prince Charming, had recently risen to the post of mayor, she moved to the Farm. Bigby left Fabletown, too, going into self-imposed exile.

Arriving at the Farm, Snow began to settle in, but her early time there was marred by a series of unexplained deaths. Bigby's father, the North Wind, who arrived to see his grandchildren some weeks after the first deaths, revealed that the killer was a rogue zephyr, a corrupted form of his kind, generally terminated at birth. This information, combined with a card from Frau Totenkinder making a reference to seven children, gave Snow the answer. The zephyr was Snow and Bigby's seventh child. The child finally came to Snow, who explained that he would have to survive on normal air. Knowing that the child could not stay, Snow sadly sent him out into the world with instructions to find Bigby.

Snow continued to raise the remaining children. The North Wind helped to train them in the use of their abilities: they could take on a fully human or fully wolf form and needed to learn how to walk, as flight was their original default. Snow kept their father in their minds, giving them presents ostensibly from him and creating replies to the letters that they wrote to him.

Finally, after several years, Bigby reappeared on the scene, having made a deal with Prince Charming that made an isolated valley on the edge of the Farm lands his territory. As this was no longer part of the Farm, Bigby would be able to live there. He hoped that Snow and their children would join him. He proposed to Snow, who accepted. The pair were married, with King Cole presiding over the wedding and Rose acting as Snow's maid of honor. On their 5th birthday, Snow and Bigby together told the cubs about their invisible zephyr of a seventh sibling, Ghost, but swore them to secrecy, forbidden from even telling Rose Red as she is not 'a wolf'.

During the war to reclaim the homelands, Wolf Manor become the nerve center of Fabletown's war operations. Because of this, Snow became the unofficial commander-in-chief while her husband, Bigby, ran operations at Fort Bravo, Prince Charming was on the Glory, and Beast commanded the defense procedures at Fabletown. Rose watched after the cubs to ensure that they didn't bother the soldiers, who obviously wouldn't appreciate someone suddenly shouting at them "Bang, you're dead!"

In the aftermath of the war, Snow has maintained a rather peaceful retirement and focused on taking care of her children with her husband, who despite now heading the Homeland Recovery Program remains at home to help raise the family.

Initially she was considered to be something of an "ice queen". She was cold and calculating and despite serving as deputy mayor, she wasn't very informed as to the opinions and feelings of her fellow Fables, as a side effect can be seem dense at times. For example she was completely unaware of the seditious and revolutionary feelings of the Farm. Another kink in her personality was that she isn't above using her power and position for her own ends. This often lead to negative repercussions. For example, when she forcibly inserts herself into Bigby's investigation. It causes him to label her as a suspect. She marries Prince Charming to avenge herself and almost causes a war between his kingdom and the dwarfs. Her personality however masks the fact that she was terribly lonely. After many centuries, she was still angry at the loss of her marriage, and consequently she found herself resenting those in working relationships, particularly Beauty, with her successful multi-century marriage to Beast. As a former aristocrat, Snow had a tendency to associate love and happiness with handsome princes, fairy-tale castles and the trappings of high society. It took her a long time to realize that that really didn't matter to her. Initially, she rebuffs Bigby affections but eventually comes to terms with them. Furthermore after the Revolution, she is able to patch things up with Rose Red and her personality begins to soften considerably. Snow showed a strong emotional dependence on Bigby when he left. Before she and Bigby became romantically interested in each other, she tended to be insecure with her life. She and Bigby have a deeply caring and loving relationship. Living with Bigby and their children in the house built for them on Bigby's land, Snow finally appears to be happy. She is also one of the most responsible, intelligent, and diligent fables, while also the most sarcastic, to top it up she is the only ex-wife of Prince Charming who has children.

As always, our thanks to you all for taking the time to visit, participate, and comment (we love comments) on our efforts -- you all are awesome!

Peace.

. . . the snake charmer

2010-04-15T18:34:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Apologies for not posting in a while -- the blog redesign took up a great deal of our time -- anyway, above we have posted the winner of our G.I. Joe Poll: The Baroness! We hope you love the illustration as much as we do. As always, below we have posted the action figures production history & character's biography as it appears on Wikipedia:

The Baroness is a character from the G.I. Joe toyline by Hasbro, originally appearing in the first issue of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic series by Marvel Comics. The Baroness is a villain, usually associated with G.I. Joe's enemy, Cobra.

Baroness serves as Cobra's intelligence officer and lieutenant to Cobra Commander. With long black hair, black-rimmed glasses, and a black leather outfit, Baroness is a dark, sensual femme fatale whose beauty is matched only by her ruthlessness. In both comic and cartoon incarnations, as well as the 2009 live-action movie for the series, she has romantic relationships with Destro.

Although the character was not part of the initial G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero release in 1982, she did appear in G.I. Joe #1, published by Marvel Comics in June 1982 and was, in fact, the first character to crossover from the comics, into the animated series, and finally into the toy line. She made her debut as an action figure in the 1984 series, wearing a new uniform that was then carried back over to the comic and cartoon.

The Baroness was introduced into the toyline in 1985, wearing her trademark black leather outfit. This was the only Baroness figure created in the 12 year run, reflecting the minimal female representation in the vintage line.

After the line was canceled in 1994 (a year short of the Baroness' second figure, designed for the Battle Corps Rangers series), Hasbro made several attempts to revive G.I. Joe through repaints. In 1997, the Baroness was repainted in blue for inclusion in the Cobra Command Team 3-pack. In 2000, The mold was repainted again, in black, with red accents, as the new character "Chameleon" (a Baroness doppelganger created to sidestep a trademark problem).

In 2002, Hasbro relaunched the G.I. Joe line, and the Baroness was released in the third wave of figures, wearing a uniform heavily inspired by the original action figure.

A second Baroness figure was released in 2004, for the Valor vs Venom line. Once again wearing a blue uniform, hearkening back to her comic origins, this Baroness was better-proportioned, and even more closely based on the Baroness' 1984 figure. The figure was repainted in black before the line ended.

The Baroness was released as a 2.5" figure.

2007 [was] the anniversary of the launch of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, the third major reinvention of the G.I.Joe brand since 1964. To celebrate, Hasbro created two boxed sets of brand new figures, featuring modern sculpt and updated and increased articulation (including the replacement of G.I. Joe's trademark O-Ring construction). The Baroness is included in the Cobra set, along with Cobra Commander, Destro, Storm Shadow, and a Cobra Trooper. Another version with a new head sculpt was released in 2008. This version of the Baroness was made to resemble her appearance in "The M.A.S.S. Device."

Baroness first appeared in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 (June 1982).

Very little is known of the Baroness' past, except that she was on hand for the Tet Offensive in Southeast Asia, 1968. Visiting her brother Eugene, Anastasia is present when he discovers relief supplies have been sold to finance the offensive. Eugene is slain to cover this up, the Baroness blames an American soldier she sees standing over him with a smoking gun.[volume & issue needed] She is escorted from the scene as Destro (James McCullen the XXIII) and his son (James XXIV, the current Destro) enter. Destro discovers that Eugene wore a bulletproof vest, easily capable of stopping shots from Snake Eyes' .45 caliber handgun. He deduces the truth and clears Snake Eyes of the crime; too late for the Baroness to hear, and far too late for her to care.[volume & issue needed]

Frustrated and angered, the Baroness spends years decrying the hypocrisy of the American Government, becoming an active participant in militant revolutionary groups, eventually becoming a member of Cobra. In the time between these two events, she crosses paths with James McCullen XXIV, and the two share a romantic relationship (the extent of which has never been revealed).

The Baroness is instrumental in Cobra's first major offensive against G.I. Joe: Operation: Lady Doomsday. Posing as a reporter, Baroness abducts Dr. Adele Burkhart and brings her back to Cobra’s island fortress. Despite disguising herself as the Doctor, the Joes rescue the correct one and destroy the fortress. Baroness and Cobra Commander escape.

As Cobra's second-in-command, the Baroness is on hand for many of Cobra's schemes, including the Commander's attempt to steal the G.I. Joe MOBAT during a parade in New York City,[volume & issue needed] and a assault on NASA's spy satellite rescue mission.[volume & issue needed] The Baroness is also present when Cobra takes Snake Eyes prisoner, and Dr. Venom subjects him to the Brainwave Scanner.[volume & issue needed] This meeting is significant for the fact that in the years since her brother's death, Snake Eyes has been through so much trauma and disfigurement that he is completely unrecognizable to the Baroness. She remains unaware of her connection to Snake Eyes for a long time after this initial meeting.

When the Cobra Commander first contracts Destro, to salvage a mission in Alaska, the Baroness is forced to reveal her past associations with the masked man.[volume & issue needed] The Baroness is then ordered to Sierra Gordo to oversee the transfer of Dr. Venom's plague toxin, and set a red herring clue for G.I. Joe. Not interested in traipsing through the jungle herself, she trusts the Cobra courier, Scarface, to leave a false transmission embedded with a microdot in Cobra's abandoned forest outpost.[volume & issue needed]

Evading the G.I.Joe assault, the Baroness and Scarface escape in a plane, but the Baroness cannot pass up the opportunity to blow up the small island where Snake Eyes, Kwinn the Eskimo, and Dr. Venom are locked in battle. Just before the bombs hit, Snake Eyes pushes the other two into the island bunker. All three eventually survive, knowing it was her who dropped the bomb.[volume & issue needed]

Confronting Destro about his connection to Scarface, the Baroness is forced to accept her beloved James' new identity as Destro, but also demands proof of his faith in her. In a gesture of love, Destro removes his mask, and the Baroness swoons, overcome by her feelings for Destro, and the situation it puts the both of them in.[volume & issue needed]

Baroness and Cobra Commander discover that Dr. Venom has left out a vital part of the toxin and the microdot points the Joes to the Springfield HQ. This was according to Destro's plan; Scarface is working for him. Destro had not realized the Baroness was with the Commander (she is his personal pilot) and stages a successful diversionary mission.[volume & issue needed]

Cobra Commander has another ally, Major Bludd, look for a chance to kill Destro. This comes during a tank battle; Baroness sacrifices herself to save Destro. Bludd has a chance to free her but flees to leave her to an explosion.[volume & issue needed]

Seemingly killed in the fight, the Baroness is, in fact, rescued after the battle, and brought to Bethesda Naval Hospital where she lays severely burned, and in a coma. When the G.I. Joe Grand Slam takes Major Bludd into custody, the Baroness is moved to G.I. Joe headquarters in Staten Island as well. Luring Cobra into attacking the base after they capture Scarface in Tripoli, Libya the Joes instigate a major skirmish at their own headquarters. During the battle of PIT I, Major Bludd kills General Flagg, then frees himself. Taking the Baroness, he leaves Scarface for dead and escapes in a Cobra FANG.

When she awakens from her coma, Major Bludd takes the Baroness to The Bern Institute in Switzerland. Under the alias "Baroness DeCobray," they hire Dr. Hundtkinder to perform reconstructive surgery on her face. Recovered from the surgery, the Baroness enters into a partnership with Major Bludd to blackmail Cobra Commander with the information they have about Destro's assassination. Meeting him in Lucca, Italy, they are double crossed when the Commander unleashes Storm Shadow on them, and G.I. Joe agents Duke and Roadblock crash the party. Fleeing the scene, the Baroness, Major Bludd, and Storm Shadow manage to evade capture, but Cobra Commander is not so lucky.

Returning to Springfield, the Baroness tells Destro the truth about the Commander's attempted assassination, as Destro reveals a bug he's placed in Storm Shadow's sword, which will allow them to track the ninja. The Baroness recruits Firefly and Wild Weasel to locate the signal, and dispose of Storm Shadow. However, the ninja has already discovered the bug, and mailed it to another Cobra operative: the enigmatic Zartan who lives in the Florida Everglades. With Firefly and Wild Weasel now prisoners, the Baroness and her allies are startled to find the Commander has returned, quickly rescued from G.I. Joe by Storm Shadow.

Placing Major Bludd in Springfield's underground dungeons, the Commander takes Baroness and Destro to meet Zartan in Florida. After a firefight with G.I. Joe, the Commander orders her back to Springfield, to prepare for his return. Immediately, however, she visits Major Bludd in prison, and frees him in exchange for his help in planning the assassination of Cobra Commander.

Recruiting Billy, a young boy who works with the Anti-Cobra Underground (the same boy who helped Snake Eyes escape Springfield after his introduction to the Brainwave Scanner), the co-conspirators begin practicing for the heinous act. She even takes pity on Billy when Major Bludd snaps at him for screwing up at the rehearsal of the assassination attempt, showing her tender side and perhaps, motherly instincts. Another example of the Baroness' tender side is when she tells Doctor Mindbender that she likes some of Major Bludd's poetry. When at last the rally is at hand, the Baroness is confronted by Destro, who abhors the idea of using a child as an assassin. But by then, Major Bludd is committed, and the Baroness finds her loyalties wavering. During the rally, Destro identifies Billy, and frantically rushes the stage. Stopping both the assassination, and Storm Shadow's retaliation, Destro reveals Billy's identity, as none other than the Cobra Commander's own son.

Billy is put on trial by the Commander and Destro, who is overcome with empathy for both father and son, and the Baroness fears that she and Major Bludd may be revealed as his partners. But Billy is much stronger than he seems, and resists even the Brainwave Scanner, successfully keeping their hands clean of the whole affair.

After the assassination attempt, the Commander begins working closer with Tomax, Xamot, and Professor Appel on the creation of Cobra Island. The Baroness and Destro find themselves eager to get back in his good graces. Looking for a new weapon, they contact Dr. Mindbender, offering to help him test his experimental creeper vines, and more importantly, their android delivery system. Although the test is thwarted by Lady Jaye and a group of G.I. Joe recruits, Mindbender, and the BATs are brought to Cobra Island to meet the Commander.

When they arrive, the Island has been infiltrated by Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, while a G.I. Joe rescue team waits in the waters off the coast. While Mindbender attempts to prove his mettle, the Baroness leads a Cobra force to the beach, where she is confronted by an exhausted and badly injured Storm Shadow. Not wanting to take a chance that Billy told him about the assassination plot during their time away from Cobra, Baroness shoots him down, seemingly killing the ninja.

Not long after, G.I. Joe is given the location of the real Springfield and attacks. Thehe Baroness assists Destro in evacuating the town. During the battle, Dr. Mindbender's latest experiment is conducted, and Serpentor is created. Thought dead, Storm Shadow is also "resurrected" in Springfield and flees the GI Joe attack with the Dreadnoks. Destro manages to successfully evacuate the entire town as Serpentor fights a holding action. Although the Baroness suggests they leave, and garner all the glory themselves, Destro chooses to extract Serpentor and his forces.

Upon reaching Cobra Island, Serpentor begins his usurping of the Commander's leadership, and the Baroness is quick to take up with him, seeing the reins of power being passed. When the Commander and Destro are buried alive under Pit II. the Baroness flies a Rattler over the rubble, and drops a wreath to mourn the passing of her estranged lover.

For a time, the Baroness allies herself wholly to Serpentor, and is in charge of the Terrordrome operation in Sierra Gordo when G.I. Joe agent Flint is captured and brought into the base. When Mindbender subjects him to the Brainwave Scanner, and gets no facial reactions, he suspects that the Joe is wearing a mask. Pulling it off, the Baroness confirms the identity of the massively scarred face beneath: it is actually Snake Eyes in disguise. As G.I. Joe attacks the Terrordrome, Snake Eyes is removed, along with the Scanner, to Cobra's new Consulate Building in New York.

As he is subjected to the Scanner again, the Consulate is attacked by Scarlett and Storm Shadow, eager to rescue their ally. Disguised as a late-night cleaning lady, Scarlett infiltrates the consulate while Snake Eyes' ninja brother breaks into the building by using the New York City sewer system. Using an X-ray scanner, the Baroness confronts Scarlet, but she is surprised when Snake Eyes’ wolf, Timber, leaps out at her. While Storm Shadow rescues Snake Eyes upstairs, Scarlett overpowers the Baroness, strips her of her uniform and leaves her bound and gagged in a nearby closet. Fighting their way to the lobby, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are then "captured" again by "the Baroness" and walked right out of the front door.

Later, the G.I. Joe team causes a massive disruption of the Consulate in a successful bid to place a wire tap on the building. Defeated, the Baroness is recalled to Cobra Island where a schism has occurred in the leadership of Cobra: Cobra Commander has returned. With the Baroness able to identify the Commander's real face, she is put in a transport chopper with him, and removes his helmet. Underneath is not the Commander, but one of the Crimson Guardsmen, Fred VII. Claiming that the Commander retired to be with his son Billy (a lie, Fred actually shot and buried the Commander in Denver), the Baroness goes along with the false Commander, and usurps control of Cobra from an embarrassed and unpopular Serpentor.

Now in de facto command of Cobra, the Baroness is forced to take Fred VII on a mission into orbit to destroy a spy satellite threatening to undo Serpentor’s Terrodrome plot. When the Cobra Shuttle is attacked by the G.I. Joe Defiant, Baroness is knocked out cold, leaving Fred VII to lead Cobra to a slim victory. Now cocky, and drunk with power, Fred drags the Baroness' image down with him, and he ham-handedly leads Cobra to defeat in Frusenland, where Battleforce 2000 discovers the truth about the Terrordromes, despite Baroness' best efforts to defeat them.

Returning to Cobra Island, the Baroness is in attendance as Serpentor's lackey, the Star-Viper returns from a mission to infiltrate G.I. Joe's new base, Pit III, in Utah. Looking for a clear victory to win support back from the troops, the ceremony turns into a battle of words that erupts in the Cobra Civil War. As the leader of the first offensive, the Baroness is taken prisoner by Serpentor, and strapped to the front of his HISS tank to deter anyone from firing on him.

Into this all-encompassing war, the G.I. Joe team arrives to bolster Serpentor's ranks, while Destro makes an appearance with his own faction: the Iron Grenadiers. While G.I. Joe, Serpentor, and the "Commander" tear each other apart, Destro takes the airfield, and waits for his opportunity. Just as Fred’s army seems lost, Zartan fires an arrow and slays Serpentor from across the battlefield. With his leader fallen, Mindbender calls for a truce with the "Commander." United against Destro, the reunified Cobra is surprised to find that Destro wants only one thing: the Baroness.

Taking his prize, Destro retreats to his yacht. She reveals the true identity of the current Commander, and together they bear witness to G.I. Joe's unceremonious withdrawal from the Island. After helping the Joes clear their reputation in the wake of the Civil War, Destro and Baroness retire to Castle Destro in Scotland, eager to leave the intrigue and danger behind them. Sadly, the "Commander" wants his enemies routed, and stages an assault on Destro's castle. Turning the situation to his advantage, Destro captures the "Commander", and effectively takes control of Cobra.

Expecting favored status in this new unified Cobra, the Baroness is displeased to discover she has been paired with Zarana to run the Cobra Consulate in New York. The two even engage in a cat-fight which ends up with Zarana pushing the Baroness out of the side-door of a Cobra helicopter in mid-flight. The Baroness, however, manages to catch on to one of the helicopter's wheels just as it lands on top of the Cobra embassy.

Zarana has implanted false memories into G.I. Joe members Clutch and Rock 'n Roll in Broca Beach. Betraying Zarana, the Baroness leaks word that the Joes will be moved to a Cobra submarine off the New Jersey shore where they will "escape." At the same time, Snake Eyes and Scarlett have journeyed to Switzerland to fix Snake Eyes' face. In another moment of fate, Snake Eyes meets with Dr. Hundtkinder, the same surgeon who treated the Baroness. Faxing her a photo of Snake Eyes before his disfigurement, the Baroness realizes that he is the man who shot her brother. Unwilling to let him slip through her fingers again, now that she knows the truth, the Baroness sabotages Zarana's van, allowing the Joes to capture the Dreadnoks, and rescue Clutch and Rock 'n Roll. Locked up in GI Joe Headquarters' sickbay, Zarana is listed in fair condition as, perhap under the influence of painkillers,she tells the Joe's about the Baroness' trip to Switzerland. But it is too late.

The Baroness combat assaults the Bern Institute in an out-of-control spree of violence. Trapping Scarlett and a recovering Snake Eyes, she shoots Scarlett in the head, and takes Snake Eyes back to New York. Holding him in the Consulate's basement, Baroness is ready to watch the Paine Brothers torture Snake Eye to her pleasure, but Destro arrives to get answers concerning Zarana's capture. She informs the brothers to watch Snake Eyes, but she is forced to keep a straight face as Snake Eyes overpowers the Paine Brothers and escapes into the Consulate proper. Meanwhile, Stalker, Storm Shadow, and former Crimson Guardsman (Fred II) Wade Collins have been listening to the proceedings on the G.I. Joe wire tap. Taking the opportunity to rush the Consulate, they manage to get halfway up the building before Snake Eyes detonates a huge amount of C-4, setting the top of the building on fire, and threatening to topple the entire penthouse. The Baroness and a small force of Cobra Troops have barricaded themselves inside, and watch helplessly as Storm Shadow scales the side of the building and prepares to enter the penthouse.

Once inside, Storm Shadow calls for Snake Eyes, who reveals himself disguised as a Cobra troop. The two of them decimate the entire Cobra army, just as the building gives way under the massive damage, caused by the explosions. The Baroness falls, only to be caught by Snake Eyes. Still filled with hate, she pulls her pistol on Snake Eyes when Destro returns in his helicopter and explains to her what he and his father saw that day back in Tet '68. Confused the Baroness is about to pull the trigger when another explosion rocks the building. Snake Eyes loses his grip and she plunges to her death only to be rescued this time by Storm Shadow, who tells her that he is not going to let her take the easy way out with all of her sins she has been carrying.

The ninjas help her onto Destro's chopper, and are rescued themselves by the Tomahawk. Broken by the revelation of her misguided hatred, the Baroness plans to leave Cobra, and figure out where her life is headed which even leaves General Hawk wondering if it is really possible that someone like the Baroness can really change. In a moment of absolute devotion, Destro removes his family mask, and tosses it aside. Together, James and Anastasia retire from Cobra.

After leaving the Iron Grenadiers to Darklon, the couple returns to Castle Destro and enjoys a period of quiet reflection. However, in their absence, Cobra undergoes a dramatic revolution as the original Cobra Commander returns, and buries most of Cobra's High Command in a freighter under the volcano on Cobra Island. After a failed attempt to kill Storm Shadow, the Commander turns his sights on the last two traitors to his cause: James and Ana.

Tipped off to the scheme by Metal-Head, Destro's spy in Cobra, the couple prepares to defend the Castle from a full assault. Destro and the Baroness manage to flee the Castle before it is destroyed, but while fleeing, the Baroness is hit and taken prisoner by the Cobra Commander. Subjected to the Brainwave Scanner, the Baroness is implanted with commands while the Commander wages an all-out Search and Destroy bounty on Destro. When the tables are turned, the Commander not only agrees to return the Baroness, but to give Destro the Silent Castle in Trans-Carpathia, in reparation for the Castle he destroyed.

In a double cross, the Baroness' hypnotic suggestions are activated by radio signal from a Cobra Hurricane. Before the Baroness can overpower Destro, they are attacked by Slice and Dice, who lead the Red Ninjas that dwell in the Castle's subcellars. As they fight for survival, the G.I. Joe team (called for protection by Destro) fights with an advance team of Cobra troops. The G.I. Joe Ninja Force arrives to defend Destro, while the Commander shows up to personally handle the matter, and the fighting escalates on all sides. Destro softens Baroness's hardened emotions by transforming his castle for her.

The two are pursued, captured and escape from Cobra again. This time, the forces against them include Dr. Biggles Jones and the seeming Joe traitor, Scarlett. [4] Destro and the Baroness ally themselves with G.I. Joe and are taken to an abandoned Cobra Island, where they meet Zartan. After revealing Cobra's plans to revive Dr. Mindbender, Zartan returns to Trans-Carpathia with the couple, and takes back the Castle from a skeleton crew of Cobra troops.

Enjoying another short respite from Cobra, the trio is joined by Billy, returned from parts unknown. All too soon, however, the Cobra Commander arrives, and activates brain implants in both Destro and Zartan, bending them to his will. Although the Baroness and Billy utilize the Castle's secret passages to evade capture, they are thwarted by Destro himself. After being tortured for a time, Billy is ready to crack, and the Baroness does her best to keep him together. But Billy turns on his cellmate, ratting her out for trying to escape. When the two of them are brought up to the control room, Billy makes a mad dash to the console and launches an ICBM, alerting G.I. Joe to the goings-on in Trans-Carpathia.

In return for deceiving him, the Commander not only kicks the Baroness in the face, but proceeds to capture Storm Shadow, and reconfigure all three of their minds with the Brainwave Scanner. As Snake Eyes arrives to rescue them all, the Baroness emerges as part of Cobra Renewed, and helps route Snake Eyes and the G.I. Joe extraction force. When the Commander is temporarily taken hostage, the Baroness steps up, and assumes control of Cobra, reestablishing her abilities as a field commander.

The series ends here, with the Baroness still a willing member of Cobra.
[edit] Devil's Due

In "The Mission That Never Was", it is revealed that the core G.I. Joe members were sent on one final mission, which resulted in Cobra's Brainwave Scanner being corrupted by a virus that spread through the entirety of their mainframe. Crippled and defeated, Cobra then fell to a "unified military attack" (this attack is never detailed in a story, but hinted at in various "Battle Files" entries). A side effect of this confluence of events was the incapacitation of the Brainwave Scanner. Without repeated "self-medication" via the Scanner, the Baroness was freed from her artificial loyalty to Cobra. The two returned to Trans-Carpathia and retired from the intrigue and danger of Cobra, but continued to rebuild M.A.R.S. establishing an outpost in Scotland.

When Destro took ill, and his illegitimate son Alexander took over M.A.R.S. and the Destro identity, Baroness was forced to go along with him to keep James safe. Remaining stoically resistant to Alex's plan, the Baroness berates him with unfavorable comparisons to his father. Keeping the Commander in Scotland, along with Snake Eyes and Scarlett, the Baroness is forced to watch Mistress Armada Alexander's strategist, spill secrets to the enemy. When Alexander's plan inevitably fails, the Baroness rescue him and Armada, only to deliver them to a seething, but cured, James Destro for punishment.

Various criminal factions, interested in learning all they can about Cobra Commander, capture the Baroness and Flint. The two are tied together and tortured. Baroness breaks and uses her glasses to cut the bonds and the two work together to escape. Destro and his Iron Grenadiers safely rescue her; as a parting 'gift', the Baroness kisses Flint right in front his love, Lady Jaye.

The Baroness works with Zandar as a plot to track down the Joe undercover officer, Chuckles, they kill four Joe agents, 'Greenshirts' in the process.

When Cobra Commander is captured by Serpentor and his new faction, the Coil, Destro is summoned to lead Cobra in a rescue mission. When the Commander returns to Cobra, Destro takes the opportunity to leave for good. In a shocking twist, however, the Baroness does not join him. After an elaborate scheme is derailed by Duke, Destro is arrested. The Commander leaves it to the Baroness to decide Destro's fate, and she votes to let him rot.

Put on trial by the U.N., Destro turns the tables and offers the guaranteed capture of Cobra Commander to assure his release. Taking his offer, the Joes are charged with transporting Destro by train, to lure Cobra into a trap. When both Cobra Commander and Baroness arrive to free Destro, the Commander and Hawk throw down. Defeating his foe, the Commander shoots Hawk in the back, only to be shot by a traitorous Baroness.

The ruse is successful, and the Commander is in U.S. custody, leaving Destro and his pregnant wife in control of Cobra. This period is short-lived, however, and the Commander soon returns to reclaim Cobra once and for all. During the coup, the Baroness and Wraith (charged with her personal safety) are seemingly killed when the Commander detonates the Night Raven they are aboard.

The Baroness resurfaces, a year after the defeat of the Red Shadows, as a prisoner in the sub-basement of G.I. Joe's new headquarters, the Rock. Her existence is known to only a few, including General Joseph Colton, Duke, and Storm Shadow, who attempts to wrest information from her. But the Baroness is all-consumed by her desire for her baby, which she apparently carried to term, and has been separated from by the G.I.Joe team.

Storm Shadow passed the information about the Baroness' imprisonment to Snake Eyes, thinking he was about to sacrifice himself to save the G.I. Joe team on Destro's sub. The news then travels to Stalker and Scarlett, who take it upon themselves to confront Colton about the heinous act just as the Phoenix Guard attack the Rock. In the middle of the battle, the Baroness' cell is opened, and she makes her way to the roof, where she confronts and thoroughly thrashes Zarana (who was posing as Phoenix Guard member Friday) before escaping the Joe base.

The Baroness is the focal point of the follow-up story arc, "Sins of the Mother". Confronting Scalpel for his misdeeds, she tortures him with his own scalpel, and leaves him disfigured and near death. She then enlists the help of Major Bludd to enact revenge on G.I. Joe. Sending him to Saudi Arabia to distract the Joes, the Baroness then tracks down and kills Wraith herself. Taking his armor, she strikes a bargain with Red Shadows' leader Wilder Vaughn for the location of Cobra Commander. After dealing with Flint (who had been spying on the Shadows), the Baroness finally confronts Cobra Commander, only to be stopped by Destro himself.

The Joes arrive, including Flint, and are forced to lay down arms. Repeating her actions after the Yakuza incident, Baroness kisses Flint, passing him something that enables him to free himself, and throwing the whole confrontation into upheaval. The situation is quelled, however, when Destro offers Cobra Commander control of M.A.R.S. in exchange for his infant son, Eugen.

When World War III begins, Storm Shadow tracks Destro and the Baroness to Japan where Destro agrees to help GI Joe fight Cobra Commander. Appalled that her husband would help "the enemy," Destro turns to her and tells her that it is only a matter of time before Cobra Commander betrays and comes after them. He is right as Cobra Commander has freed Dela Eden from prison and orders her to kill the steel-faced arms dealer and his wife. Storm Shadow then takes the couple to visit the GI Joe team in hiding where Destro informs Colonel Colton that he will need a piece of MARS technology to help GI Joe defeat it. In an uncomfortable moment, the Baroness turns to Scarlett and asks the red-head if her head still hurts.

After Barrel Roll and Recondo, who have both managed to infiltrate Cobra and steal a stealth-cloaked Night Raven, the Baroness travels to England where her husband helps re-engineer the Cobra technology that makes the Night Raven practically invincible. The Baroness then gathers her own army, coded name--ATHENA FORCE--and fights Alexander Destro's Iron Grenadier's in London where they all surrender when they see Destro at the head of his wife's army. After World War III ends, the Baroness lives in humility as she hugs her son and watches Destro on trial for his crimes against humanity.

In IPC's Battle Action Force comic, Baroness was originally Anna von Stromberg, daughter of Austrian aristocrats. She joined a gang of small-time Communist radicals, encouraging them towards violence. Faking her death and assuming control of the group under the new name Baroness, she leads the Muller-Stromberg group in a series of highly destructive terrorist acts across Europe, taking out oil refineries, air bases and dams. While paying lip service to the group's ideology, she only uses them to prove her strategic abilities to Cobra and get hired. Once Cobra Commander contacts her, she wipes out her group and made her way to Cobra's jungle base.

The larger part of Marvel UK's run of Action Force were simple reprints of the American G.I. Joe Comic. Most issues, however, feature an original Action Force story, usually a 5-page installment of a larger storyline. The Baroness' role in these issues was minimal, at best.

Devil's Due created a mini-series based on G.I. Joe: Sigma 6. It follows the style and the content of the cartoon series, spotlighting a different member of Sigma 6 and Cobra in each issue. Baroness appears in issue 4 opposite G.I. Joe Scarlett. Baroness kidnaps a prime minister after using members of the Dreadnoks to distract Scarlett. In the end, Scarlett finds her, and after a few taunts from Baroness, Scarlett beats Baroness and recovers the Prime Minister.

The Baroness made her first animated appearance in the G.I. Joe mini-series, The MASS Device. Her animated incarnation was a master of disguise, even pretending to be a camera man in a film crew. She has since been replaced by Zarana in this field. She is romantically involved with Destro, who often expresses frustration with her. On one occasion, Destro's disrespect for the Baroness led to her destroying his ancestral home in an act of vengeance. The Baroness tends to try and set both herself and Destro up as Cobra's leaders, and shows contempt for other members of Cobra, such as Cobra Commander, Tomax and Xamot and the Dreadnoks. She is not directly involved in the plot to create Serpentor in Season Two, but is later seen loyal to him.

In the episode "Worlds Without End," the Joes encounter an alternate reality in which Cobra rules the United States and G.I. Joe has been all but wiped out. In that reality, the Baroness is a double agent, Steeler's lover, and the only surviving Joe. The episode ends with the Baroness engineering a civil war between Cobra Commander and Destro, allowing most of the Joe team, except Steeler, Clutch and Grunt, to return to their own reality.

She is voiced by actress Morgan Lofting with a European accent that tends to waver between Germanic and Slavic in both series.

In G.I. Joe: The Movie, she is seen to quickly side with Cobra-La, and she apparently escapes their destruction at the end of the film.

Following the events of the Movie, the Baroness finds the organization of Cobra has changed with Cobra Commander gone, Destro has dumped her in favor of Zarana. The Baroness is humiliated and infuriated about this, and has also grown tired of Serpentor's leadership, feeling she had more worthwhile things to do when Cobra Commander was in charge. She joins with the Dreadnok Gnawgahyde and they return Cobra Commander, still a snake kept by Serpentor, to semi human form. The Commander ultimately takes back Cobra from Serpentor, and Destro dumps Zarana to get back with the Baroness. The Baroness and Destro are seen to be back together by the end of the first mini-series and the Baroness was much more loyal to the newly returned leader Cobra Commander. Destro and the Baroness were rarely seen together in the series after this.

In the series G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, the Baroness is loyal to Cobra Commander. In a departure from her previous incarnations, her fingers appear to be composed of metal, suggesting they are cybernetic in nature. If so, how much of her hands and arms are robotic is unknown, since they are covered in long gloves with only the fingers exposed. She is also shown to have the ability to create holographic duplicates of herself to distract or confuse her opponents.

In the miniseries, the Baroness and Destro are part of a subplot in which they have taken a team of scientists hostage. Roadblock, Gung-Ho and Stalker have to rescue them before Destro starts killing them. The Baroness was voiced by Grey DeLisle.

Sienna Miller plays the Baroness in Stephen Sommers' 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

In the film, the Baroness was originally Ana Lewis, Duke's fiancée whom he left out of guilt for the presumed death of her brother Rex. However, she is kidnapped by Rex who uses the perfected nanomites on her, becoming a member of Cobra as a result, and her hair color was changed from natural blonde to raven black. She marries the Baron Daniel DeCobray, assuming the name of Anastasia DeCobray, so Cobra can make use of his research to weaponize the nanomite warheads she acquired. But after capturing Duke and bringing him to Cobra's Arctic base, Ana overcomes her programing and saves Duke, helping him bring Cobra Commander and Destro to justice. However, Ana is detained until the nanomites can be safely removed from her body and then she and Duke share a kiss.

The Baroness is featured in the 1985 G.I. Joe computer game.

As always, we thank you for your continued support of Kenneth's work, his career, and this blog -- much appreciated.

Peace.

Disney Poll Closed

2010-04-09T20:25:00.006-05:00

Hey Everyone!
Hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Below we have posted the final tally of the votes cast in our "WHICH DISNEY CHARACTER SHOULD KENNETH ILLUSTRATE?" poll -- as always, many thanks to you all: the fans who took time to vote! Much appreciated! The results are as follows:

Aladdin (Aladdin): 5 votes for 9% of the vote
Alice (Alice In Wonderland): 7 votes for 13% of the vote
Ariel (The Little Mermaid): 8 votes for 15% of the vote
Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty): 1 vote for 1% of the vote
Arthur (The Sword In The Stone): 1 vote for 1% of the vote
Baloo (The Jungle Book): 7 votes for 13% of the vote
Belle (Beauty & The Beast): 18 votes for 33% of the vote
The Cheshire Cat (Alice In Wonderland): 3 votes for 5% of the vote
Prince Charming (Cinderella): 1 vote for 1% of the vote
Cinderella (Cinderella): 2 votes for 3% of the vote
Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio): 3 votes for 5% of the vote
Captain Hook (Peter Pan): 9 votes for 16% of the vote
Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame): 6 votes for 11% of the vote
Jane (Tarzan): 2 votes for 3% of the vote
Princess Jasmine (Aladdin): 6 votes for 11% of the vote
Lilo (Lilo & Stitch): 11 votes for 20% of the vote
The Mad Hatter (Alice In Wonderland): 7 votes for 13% of the vote
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty): 9 votes for 16% of the vote
Merlin (The Sword In The Stone): 2 votes for 3% of the vote
Mowgli (The Jungle Book): 4 votes for 7% of the vote
Mulan (Mulan): 6 votes for 11% of the vote
Nemo (Finding Nemo): 2 votes for 3% of the vote
Peter Pan (Peter Pan): 5 votes for 9% of the vote
Prince Phillip (Sleeping Beauty): 1 vote for 1% of the vote
Pinocchio (Pinocchio): 1 votes for 1% of the vote
Pocahontas (Pocahontas): 4 votes for 7% of the vote
Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame): 10 votes for 18% of the vote
Simba (The Lion King): 4 votes for 7% of the vote
Snow White (Snow White & The Seven Dwarves): 3 votes for 5% of the vote
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Fantasia): 5 votes for 9% of the vote
Stitch (Lilo & Stitch): 11 votes for 20% of the vote
Tarzan (Tarzan): 6 votes for 11% of the vote
Tinkerbell (Pinocchio): 10 votes for 18% of the vote

The winner of this week's poll is Belle from Beauty & The Beast. As has already been stated, a big thank you to all who participated in this experiment in pop culture democracy -- you all are awesome! Thanks for your support of Kenneth's work and career.

Peace.

. . . better things

2010-04-03T23:09:00.003-05:00

Jeffrey Jones -- does it get any better than this? Hope this documentary comes out soon:

Peace.

. . . from Russia with love

2010-04-03T11:05:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone,
With the debut of the new Iron Man 2 Black Widow character poster at WonderCon, in full swing this Easter weekend, we thought it would be "cool" to share another of the illustrations Kenneth created for the Black Widow post of a few weeks ago.

We hope you all love this illustration of "the widow maker" as much as we do. As always, thank for all of your support of Kenneth's work and career, and the blog . . . It is appreciated more than you can possibly imagine.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Blacksad Poll Closed

2010-04-02T21:54:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to post the results of this week's poll: "Which Character from BLACKSAD should Kenneth illustrate" The overwhelming winner, by a landslide, was the title's protagonist, John Blacksad. The vote breakdown is as follows:

John Blacksad: 21votes for 63% of the vote
Cotten: 2 votes for 6% of the vote
Dinah: 8 votes for 24% of the vote
Dora: 8 votes for 24% of the vote
Senator Gallo: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Samuel Gotfield: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Greenberg: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Miss Grey: 5 votes for 15% of the vote
Laszlo Herzl: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Huk: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Jezabel: 8 votes for 24% of the vote
Karup: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Klein: 3 votes for 9% of the vote
Kyle / Kayleigh: 4 votes for 12% of the vote
Otto Liebber: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Sergei Litvak: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Jess Logan: 4 votes for 12% of the vote
Hewitt Mandeline: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Alma Mayer: 9 votes for 27% of the vote
Otero: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Bill Ratcliff: 2 votes for 6% of the vote
Ribs: 1 vote for 3% of the vote
Smirnov: 3 votes for 9% of the vote
Ivo Statoc: 3 votes for 9% of the vote
Weekly: 2 votes for 6% of the vote
Natalia Wilford: 13 votes for 39% of the vote

As always, Kenneth and I would like to thank all of you who took part in the poll -- much appreciated. We would also like to thank everyone who has visited the blog, posted comments -- we love comments -- and participated in our efforts to make this a must read blog: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Peace.

. . . through 26 sketches: a quarterly report

2010-03-28T16:40:00.008-05:00

Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to give you all an update on where things stand -- we have reached the halfway point in our 52 sketches for the year, and things seem to be progressing well. The FACEBOOK group has 225 fans as of this post, the blog has 42 followers, and our new twitter account is amassing followers at a pretty good clip -- we now have 69 followers: not too bad, when you consider that the account went up a few days ago.

We have hit a few snags, namely the overall design of the blog: does anyone remember that huge nameplate we had for a few days? Still, in all honesty that was a minor hiccup when compared to the overall experience of this endeavor: simply awesome!

Our "shinning moment" has to be our charity auction for Haiti relief -- again, thanks to everyone who participated -- it is good to know that even in these times, when money is tight, that we can still afford the courage of the better angels of our nature.

Anyway, time to look ahead. We still have 26 sketches to go, and the sidebar manages to give you all road map of what's coming-up, but it should be noted that things can change, so please don't "freak out" if they do, but it bears mentioning that the odds of that happening resides more in the realm of the improbable, than in that of the probable, but as it has already been stated: things can change.

The newest additions to our scheduled sketches -- all leading-up to Kenneth's appearance at Comic Con in San Diego, all pertain to our month long celebration of TOP COW comic book characters.

We have a few other "surprises" that are being ironed-out, but we hope that you all continue to follow us on the rest of our journey to 52.

Thanks.

Fables Poll Closed

2010-03-27T14:16:00.010-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to post the results for this past week's poll -- "Which character from FABLES should Kenneth illustrate?" The results are as follows:

Ambrose ("The Cubs") – 5 votes for 8% of the vote.
Baba Yaga – 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
The Beast – 5 votes for 8% of the vote.
Beauty – 7 votes for 12% of the vote.
Bigby Wolf – 16 votes for 27% of the vote.
Blossom ("The Cubs") – 5 votes for 8% of the vote.
Boy Blue – 19 votes for 32% of the vote.
Briar Rose – 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
Cinderella – 12 votes for 20% of the vote.
Conner ("The Cubs")– 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
Darien ("The Cubs")– 5 votes for 8% of the vote.
Doctor Swineheart – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Frau Totenkinder – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Goldilocks – 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Gretel – 2 votes for 3% of the vote.
Hansel – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Jack Horner – 7 votes for 12% of the vote.
Lumi, The Snow Queen – 10 votes for 17% of the vote.
The Nome King – 4 votes for 6% of the vote.
Ozma – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Prince Charming – 6 votes for 10% of the vote.
Rose Red – 15 votes for 25% of the vote.
Santa Claus – 7 votes for 12% of the vote.
Sinbad – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Snow White – 23 votes for 39% of the vote.
Therese ("The Cubs") – 5 votes for 8% of the vote.
Trusty John – 3 votes for 5% of the vote.
Weyland Smith – 1 votes for 1% of the vote.
Winter ("The Cubs") – 7 votes for 12% of the vote.

This week's winner, as voted on by you, is Snow White! As always, a big thank you to all who took the time to participate in our little experiment in "pop-culture democracy," and for your continued support of Kenneth's work and this blog -- much appreciated!

Thanks.

. . . rage against the dying of the light

2010-03-23T20:35:00.008-05:00

"With blood and rage of crimson red,
Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead,
Together with our hellish hate,
We'll burn you all--That is your fate!"
--Red Lantern Corps Oath

Hi Everyone,
Above we have another illustration rendered by Kenneth. Featuring the Red Lantern Atrocitus, the image is the latest addition to the files. Below, we have the character's publication history and biography as it appears on Wikipedia -- as always, our thanks to them for "the knowledge" -- we hope everyone likes the art:

Atrocitus is a fictional character, an alien supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. Created by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, Atrocitus is an enemy of the Guardians of the Universe and Sinestro, their former Green Lantern. He first appears in Green Lantern (vol. 4) #25 in a two-page "War of Light" spread, and made his chronological first appearance in Green Lantern (vol. 4) #29 as a prisoner of Lantern Hal Jordan's predecessor, Abin Sur.

When the rogue Manhunters rampaged through Space Sector 666, Atrocitus was one of only five beings in the entire sector to escape death. He and the other four survivors formed a terrorist cabal known as the Five Inversions, bent on the destruction of the Guardians of the Universe and all who served them, with Atrocitus serving as their leader. The Five Inversions performed a ritual which allowed them to peer into the future and discover the prophecy of the Blackest Night, which decreed that all life in the universe would end. Forming an "Empire of Tears", the Inversions attempted to destroy the Guardians, but were defeated and imprisoned on the planet Ysmault.

Some time later, Abin Sur began making periodic visits to Ysmault, and began to ask questions regarding the Blackest Night. Sur even went so far as to free Atrocitus from his imprisonment so that he could lead the Green Lantern to Earth, the prophesised birthplace of "the black" that would one day end the universe. Taken to Earth by starship, (due to fellow Inversion Qull predicting that Sur's ring would one day fail him when he most needed it) and bound by energy restraints created by Sur's ring, Atrocitus instilled fear in his captor, allowing the yellow impurity to seep into his willpower constructs and weaken them enough to allow him to break free. After slashing the Green Lantern in the chest, mortally wounding him, Atrocitus jumped from a point high in Earth's atmosphere to escape Sur's failing ship.

After landing near an airbase, and killing an unspecified number of Air Force troopers, Atrocitus recited what would later become the oath of the Red Lantern Corps, and performed a ritual that told him the name of the herald of the Blackest Night: William Hand. Atrocitus created a device using stolen gun parts that acted as a cosmic divining rod, and used it to lead him to Hand. Once he tracked down the human who, it was said, would play a prominent role in the coming of the Blackest Night, he attacked, and planned to take Hand's innards back to Ysmault. Before his plan proceeded, however, Sinestro and rookie Green Lantern Hal Jordan intercepted him, spiriting William Hand to safety. Atrocitus used his newly-constructed device to sap the power from their rings, leaving them with only their wits to defend them from the master of the Five Inversions. Sinestro was able to restore their rings' powers through his power battery, but Atrocitus still had the upper hand. Just as he was about to crush Sinestro with a power shovel, Jordan used his ring to blow up the yellow vehicle, which surprised Atrocitus greatly, as he believed Green Lantern rings did not work on anything colored yellow. Defeated, Atrocitus was contained by Sinestro, and brought to Oa. He was later returned to Ysmault by Sinestro, where he prophesied that Sinestro's home planet Korugar would soon erupt into chaos and disorder. Through this act, it was implied that it was Atrocitus who planted the seeds of Sinestro's later fall from grace.

In the aftermath of the Sinestro Corps War, Atrocitus was seen forging a Red Lantern power battery, utilizing the power of rage. He said that his first new victim would be the one who called himself "the greatest Green Lantern:" Sinestro, who had long since abandoned the Green Lantern Corps to forge a Corps in his own namesake. He also murdered Qull of the Five Inversions, a fellow member of the Empire of Tears and the one responsible for telling Abin Sur the prophecy of the Blackest Night (which caused the Guardians of the Universe to continue the Empire of Tears' incarceration on Ysmault, rather than transfer them to Oa's sciencells, closer to the enemies of the Five Inversions), by bludgeoning him with the power battery. In this way, the first power battery was christened with blood.

Atrocitus murdered the other members of the Five Inversions, using their blood to create red power rings, power batteries, and a Red Central Power Battery on Ysmault. Atrocitus soon donned his new red power ring, becoming the first Red Lantern. He recruited many other individuals from across the universe who possessed great anger and hate, including former Green Lantern Laira. Many of them had been wronged by the Sinestro Corps, and Atrocitus promises them that the Red Lantern Corps will eradicate Sinestro himself. He led his new corps in an assault against Sinestro while he was being transferred by some members of the Green Lantern Corps from the Oan Sciencells to his home planet of Korugar for execution.

The Red Lanterns interrupted a deadly fight between Sinestro's forces and the Green Lanterns, killing members of both sides without discrimination. Atrocitus personally slew the long-standing Green Lantern Remnant Nod. Eventually Sinestro was captured and taken to Ysmault for execution, and Hal Jordan, who faced Atrocitus previously, was left for dead in space. After bringing Sinestro to Ysmault, Atrocitus nailed the former Green Lantern to a cross to await his execution at his own hands. However, unlike the Guardians, who preferred a quick execution, Atrocitus wished to make Sinestro suffer first by taking revenge on everything he has ever cared about. His targets included Korugar, and Sinestro's previously unknown and hidden daughter, whose identity Atrocitus had learned through his blood prophecies.

When Hal Jordan and the Blue Lanterns arrived to recover Sinestro, Atrocitus revealed another prophecy to Jordan: that the Guardians will one day take his greatest love, and he will become a renegade once again because of their actions. Although Sinestro believes that Atrocitus's prophecy could be a form of reverse psychology to instill fear in Jordan of his past actions during under the influence of Parallax. After rescuing Sinestro, the Blue Lanterns began to leave, but Jordan wanted to go back for Laira, whom Sinestro killed to save Jordan. In a burst of outrage, Jordan prepared to carry out Sinestro's death sentence himself, against the wishes of the Blue Lanterns. The rage that Jordan felt drew Laira's red ring to him, converting Jordan into the newest member of the Red Lantern Corps. Jordan attacked the Blue Lanterns and Sinestro, until Saint Walker managed to get a Blue power ring onto his finger. The blue ring negated the effects of the red ring, restoring Jordan to normal. Jordan then attacked Atrocitus, using the power of the blue and green rings to make the red one explode in his face. Defeated, the Red Lanterns retreated to the dark side of Ysmault, where Atrocitus performed another blood ritual, seeking to discover the location of the Blue Lanterns' homeworld.

During the Blackest Night limited series the Lost Lanterns came to Ysmault to retrieve Laira's body, but were opposed by Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns. During the conflict, several black power rings descended onto Ysmault, resurrecting the bodies of Laira and Atrocitus's fellow Inversions. The reanimated Qull ripped out Atrocitus' heart; However, because Red Lantern rings effectively replace their wearer's hearts, the attack did not kill Atrocitus.

Atrocitus later appeared on Okaara to steal Larfleeze's power battery. However, Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Saint Walker, Ganthet, Sayd, and Indigo-1, save the two from Black Lanterns and stop Atrocitus. He was then brought back to Ryut, where his rage subsided into grief for his lost world. He agreed to help in the fight against the Black Lanterns, but promised to kill the Guardians when the conflict was over. Following the Black Lantern central power battery to Earth, the Corps leaders combined their lights to form the white light of creation, which, despite Indigo-1's claims, failed to destroy the battery, instead making the force behind it stronger. Ganthet then duplicated the leader's rings, in an attempt to bolster their forces. The duplicate of Atrocitus' ring found its way to Mera, temporarily inducting her into the Red Lantern Corps. When the Corps leaders and their deputies being attack by a Black Lantern Spectre, Atrocitus senses the spirit's true nature despite being influenced by the black ring; an embodiment of rage and vengeance. Atrocitus desires to harness The Spectre's powers for his vendettas against the Guardians after the spirit is free from the Black Lantern Corps. When Parallax frees the Spectre, Atrocitus attempts to convert him into his own rage entity, but fails, the Spectre warning him that the true rage entity is not to be trifled with.

Atrocitus wields a Red Lantern power ring similar to that of a Green Lantern's, save that it is powered by rage rather than willpower. The full extent of a red power ring's powers has not been revealed, but it is stated in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns that the red ring acts as their heart and pumps their rage tainted blood out of their body through their mouth. Hal Jordan proved capable of creating constructs with the ring, but it is unknown if Atrocitus has this capability as well. It is also shown that the ring's red energy corrupts the auras of other power rings and burns them away, possibly corrupting the ring beyond the ability for a Lantern to use. Unlike the other members of the Red Lantern Corps, whose rings reduce them to being mindless raging beasts, leaving them unable to create and maintain energy constructs as do Green and Blue Lanterns, Atrocitus is in full control of his mental faculties while wearing his ring and may not be affected in the same manner. However, the Red Lantern's corruptive energy can be overcome and purified by the Blue Lantern's energies.

Atrocitus possesses superhuman strength and durability; strong enough to toss a construction digger and durable enough to withstand bullets. Atrocitus's association with the Empire of Tears granted him a great deal of shamanistic magic, which he used to forge the Red Lantern rings and divine the location of William Hand.

As always, our thanks to you all for your continuing support of Kenneth's career, his art, and this blog.

Thanks.

. . . the marksman

2010-03-23T19:50:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above we have posted an illustration of Hawkeye from the Avengers. Kenneth and I hope you like the illustration as much as we do. Below, as always, you will find the character's publication history and biography, and as usual, a big shout-out to Wikipedia for the information -- much appreciated:

Hawkeye (Clint Barton), also known as Ronin and Goliath, is a fictional character that appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #57 (Sept. 1964) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck.

Hawkeye was introduced as a reluctant villain in Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964), and after two more brief appearances in Tales of Suspense #60 and 64 (December 1964 and April 1965), joined the Avengers #16 (May 1965). Hawkeye was a perennial member, and has appeared in three volumes.

Hawkeye featured in two four-issue miniseries, published in 1983 and 1994 respectively. The first was written by Mark Gruenwald and the second by Chuck Dixon. This was followed by a one-shot publication, Hawkeye: Earth's Mightiest Marksman (1998), written by Tom DeFalco and penciled by Jeff Johnson. In 2003 there was an attempt at an ongoing series written by Fabian Nicieza, but the title was canceled after only eight issues.

Hawkeye featured prominently in the West Coast Avengers limited series — #1–4 (September 1984 – December 1984) — before appearing in the ongoing title, which ran for 102 issues (including 8 annuals) from October 1985 - January 1994. The title was renamed "Avengers West Coast" from #46 (Aug. 1989). Hawkeye also starred concurrently in almost every issue of Solo Avengers which ran for 40 issues from December 1987 – January 1991 (the title was renamed Avengers Spotlight from #21 (August 1989).
From 1998, Hawkeye featured significantly in issues #20–70 of the title Thunderbolts, written by Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza.
The character appeared in Secret Invasion which also saw the return of his love-interest Mockingbird, and the two are the leads in a new series Hawkeye & Mockingbird.

Clint Barton was an orphan, and ran away from the orphanage as a pre-teen to join the circus as a carnival performer, where he was trained in the use of the bow and arrow by the Swordsman and Trickshot. When he discovered that his mentors were both criminals he rejected them, leading to a beating by Swordsman which left Barton badly injured and hospitalized. Years later, he saw Iron Man in action, and was inspired and decided to become a costumed hero called Hawkeye. However, there is a misunderstanding on Hawkeye's first outing and he is believed to be a criminal, accused of theft.

On the run, the naive Hawkeye meets the Black Widow, a spy for the Soviet Union, whom he falls in love with. She tricks him into helping her to steal technology developed by Tony Stark, Iron Man's alter ego. After several battles with Iron Man — who defeats the pair on every occasion — the Black Widow is injured and Hawkeye flees with her, deciding to go "straight" from then on. Hawkeye later "applies" for membership in the superhero team the Avengers, by breaking into Avengers Mansion and binding and gagging the team's butler, Edwin Jarvis. Hawkeye is accepted, and together with leader Captain America and mutant siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch become the new team when the original members take a leave of absence.

Hawkeye remains a constant in the team for many years, and when his bow breaks at a crucial moment decides to use Pym particles to become the second Goliath. During this time, Barton suffers a personal setback as his brother Barney is killed by the villain Egghead, whom Goliath brings to justice. At the conclusion of the Kree-Skrull War Barton resumes the identity of Hawkeye in a new costume, and after a rift with teammate the Vision over the affections of the Scarlet Witch, he resumes his old costume and resigns from the team. On a whim Hawkeye returns to the Black Widow and briefly battles her current love, Daredevil. Hawkeye then assists the Hulk against the monster Zzzax, and then follows the Hulk back to the mansion of Doctor Strange, where after a skirmish Hawkeye joins the "non-team" the Defenders for a short period.

Hawkeye then drifts for a time, returning briefly to the Avengers to attend the wedding of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. Together with the Two-Gun Kid and Ghost Rider, Hawkeye defeats the monster the Manticore before returning to the Avengers to assist when members of the team begin to mysteriously disappear. The remaining Avengers discover it to be the work of the Collector of the Elders of the Universe. After his teammates are all captured, Hawkeye single-handedly defeats the Collector, and joins the team for the final battle against Korvac. Hawkeye's victory is dashed when the Avengers new government liaison Henry Peter Gyrich, limits the roster and replaces him with the Falcon, in an attempt to make the team more "politically acceptable". After initially failing to find work in his civilian identity, he successfully applies for work at Cross Technological Enterprises as Hawkeye, and then battles the Shi'ar villain Deathbird. Hawkeye returns to Avengers mansion several months later for a brief visit "induced" by the heroine Moondragon before rejoining for a sustained period. It is at this time that Hawkeye inadvertently avenges the death of his brother. The villain Egghead, having been exposed for framing Henry Pym, attempts to shoot Pym but Hawkeye jams the barrel of the weapon with an arrow. The weapon is an energy pistol and explodes, killing Egghead instantly.

Hawkeye then meets former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, codenamed Mockingbird. She is investigating the company Cross Technological Enterprises, which employs Hawkeye as a security consultant. The company is revealed to be owned by the villain Crossfire, who plans to use an aggression-inducing sonic wave against all of New York's superheroes. Hawkeye infiltrates Cross Technological Enterprises with Mockingbird to defeat Crossfire. During this encounter, Hawkeye takes one of his sonic arrows into his mouth to counter the effects of Crossfire's sonic weapon; as a result he suffers major hearing loss and is forced to wear hearing aids. Hawkeye and Mockingbird fall in love and elope immediately after.

At the direction of then-Avengers chair Vision, Hawkeye and Mockingbird establish the team the West Coast Avengers. An adventure through time is significant and brings changes as Hawkeye forges the weapons that the modern hero Moon Knight will eventually use, and Mockingbird allows the Old West hero the Phantom Rider to fall to his death. When Hawkeye discovers this (through machinations of the ghost of Phantom Rider), he breaks off their relationship. Hawkeye then encounters and battles his old mentor, Trickshot and meets and inadvertently encourages a group of minor heroes to form the Great Lakes Avengers. Together with Mockingbird and Trickshot, Hawkeye battles a number of minor villains and then redesigns his costume after being shot by a criminal and battles Los Angeles street gangs.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird reconcile, but soon after the robot Ultron kidnaps Mockingbird and copies her brain patterns to create a "wife" — Alkhema (also known as "War Toy"). Although Mockingbird is rescued, she is killed soon afterwards by the demon Mephisto. Embittered by Mockingbird's death, Hawkeye leaves the team (disbanded almost immediately afterwards) and drifts until forced to stop the villain Viper and old mentor Trick Shot. Hawkeye then returns to the Avengers just prior to the battle with the entity Onslaught, in which the Avengers (including Hawkeye) are apparently killed. Franklin Richards, however, transported them all to a pocket universe where the heroes led altered lives. After several months, the heroes learned the truth and they were returned to the mainstream universe. Hawkeye's hearing was fully restored as, when Franklin Richards recreated the heroes in the new universe, he based them on how he remembered them (also restoring Tony Stark to adulthood following his replacement by "Teen Tony" from an alternate timeline).

Hawkeye then rejoins the Avengers, and after several adventures resigns to assume leadership of the first generation of the Thunderbolts, who have broken away from the influence of Baron Helmut Zemo. Hawkeye trains the team in the fashion of former teammate Captain America, and shapes the team into a cohesive fighting unit. There are two significant events for Hawkeye during this period. The first involves entering Hell and battling the demon Mephisto to try to save the soul of his deceased wife, Mockingbird. He rescues Patsy Walker, but fails to see Mockingbird. This event gives Hawkeye some closure and he begins a romantic relationship with his Thunderbolt teammate, Moonstone.

The team reforms after a series of battles with another version of the Masters of Evil. Hawkeye eventually leaves the team, relinquishing leadership to Citizen V, whose mind was under control of Baron Helmut Zemo. Hawkeye joins the Avengers once more, and has a brief romantic relationship with team member the Wasp. Hawkeye eventually dies during the chaos caused by the breakdown of the Scarlet Witch, sacrificing himself to destroy a Kree spaceship and save his teammates.
When the Scarlet Witch inadvertently alters reality, Hawkeye is resurrected with no memory of previous events. When a young mutant named Layla Miller gives several heroes - including Hawkeye - the ability to remember, he is horrified at the Scarlet Witch's actions. Hawkeye shoots Wanda in the back with an arrow, and in retaliation one of her recreated children wipes him from existence. When the Scarlet Witch's reality is eventually undone, Hawkeye is still presumed dead, and the recently formed New Avengers find his bow and arrows on the site of the old Avengers Mansion, pinning up an article about his death. Hawkeye is also plucked from time by the Time Variance Authority to serve as a juror in a case involving former Avengers teammate She-Hulk. She-Hulk tries unsuccessfully to warn Hawkeye as to his future.

Unknown to the New Avengers, Hawkeye is resurrected once reality was restored, and seeks out Doctor Strange, who offers Hawkeye shelter while he comes to terms with his new life. On the advice of Dr. Strange, Hawkeye eventually travels to Wundagore Mountain and finds the Scarlet Witch living a normal life with no memory of her past and apparently without mutant abilities. The two become intimate and Hawkeye then leaves Wanda to her normal life.

Once Hawkeye discovers that Captain America has apparently been killed, he confronts Tony Stark, who offers him Captain America's shield and costume. As Iron Man, Stark accompanies Barton — now dressed as Captain America — on patrol. They meet the new Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, defeating the supervillain Firebrand. Barton confronts Bishop about her assumption of the Hawkeye mantle. Unaware of his true identity, Bishop berates Barton and states that she adopted Hawkeye's name to honor him, and that if Hawkeye were alive, she would adopt another name. She also affirms that the "real" Captain America gave her the name Hawkeye and his old bow as a tribute to his dead friend. Bishop's words convince Barton to return the shield and costume to Stark, and condemn him for his role in the Civil War.

Barton returns to speak with Dr. Strange, and to protect himself from recognition adopts the identity of Ronin and joins the New Avengers. As Ronin, he accompanies the team on a journey to Japan to rescue the heroine Echo. Echo—the original Ronin—later gives Barton her blessing to adopt her old identity.

The Secret Invasion limited series features an alien Skrull ship crashing in the Savage Land, with Barton battling Skrulls impersonating Mockingbird and himself. He is reunited with the real Mockingbird during a final battle with the Skrulls.
The limited series New Avengers: Reunion depicts Barton's successful attempt to reunite with Mockingbird, who rekindle their relationship.

During the Dark Reign storyline, the character publicly denounces Norman Osborn (and ally the Hood); takes over leadership of the New Avengers and makes an abortive attempt at killing Osborn, being defeated and captured by Ares before being freed by team mates.

While Hawkeye has no superhuman powers (with the exception of the period when using Pym particles to become Goliath), he is a trained athlete and tactician, being at the very peak of human conditioning. The character is a grandmaster marksman, having been trained by the criminal archer Trick Shot, and has been a highly trained acrobat and aerialist since his days in the circus. Hawkeye has been thoroughly trained by Captain America in tactics, martial arts, and hand-to-hand combat. Hawkeye excels in the use of weapons, especially the bow and arrow, and carries a quiver containing a number of customized "trick-arrows" that use sonics, gas, explosives, and flares, among others. In his new role as Ronin, Barton shows great proficiency with the katana and other melee weapons.

The Marvel MAX imprint limited series U.S. War Machine, set in an alternate universe, features a civilian version of Hawkeye. Hawkeye stars in the Marvel Zombies limited series, being one of the first heroes to be infected and "zombified". The character reappears as a head driven insane by the years of inactivity. In the MC2 limited series American Dream, a blind Clint Barton is retired and trains heroes.

The Ultimate Marvel imprint title the Ultimates features a version of Hawkeye who uses a cover story of being a former Olympic archer (although actually has a criminal background) and is the professional partner of the Black Widow. The artificially augmented Hawkeye uses a range of weapons and can turn any object into a precisely-aimed projectile.

Hawkeye appears in the animated television series The Marvel Super Heroes (1966); as a regular character in Iron Man (1994 - 1996) voiced by John Reilly and The Avengers: United They Stand (1999 - 2000) voiced by Tony Daniels. The character also has a brief cameo as Goliath in the Fantastic Four TV series (1994) and features in the The Super Hero Squad Show voiced by Adrian Pasdar (2009). Hawkeye's son appears in the animated feature film Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008).

Hawkeye also appears in the video game Spider-Man: The Video Game (1991); Captain America and the Avengers (1991); Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (1995) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006) voiced by Nolan North.

As always, Kenneth and I greatly appreciate your interest in his work and career, and of this blog!

Peace.

. . . siegfried

2010-03-20T17:42:00.005-05:00

. . . shadowline

2010-03-20T17:26:00.006-05:00

Hey,
If you are an artist, a fan of art, a collector . . . a human being, then you should buy SHADOWLINE by Iain McCaig:

Peace.

G.I. Joe Poll Closed

2010-03-19T23:11:00.007-05:00

Hey Everyone,
The results for our G.I. Joe poll are in. Before posting the results, it should be noted that this was the first poll in which one could cast votes for more than one character. With a 128 total votes cast, the results are as follows:

The Baroness -- 57 votes for 44% of the vote
Breaker -- 6 votes for 4% of the vote
Cobra Commander -- 12 votes for 9% of the vote
Cover Girl -- 21 votes for 16% of the vote
Destro -- 8 votes for 6% of the vote
Duke -- 12 votes for 9% of the vote
Fire Fly -- 14 votes for 10% of the vote
Flint -- 10 votes for 7% of the vote
Jinx -- 38 votes for 29% of the vote
Lady Jaye -- 26 votes for 20% of the vote
Major Bludd -- 10 votes for 7% of the vote
Ripcord -- 10 votes for 7% of the vote
Roadblock -- 5 votes for 3% of the vote
Scarlett -- 51 votes for 39% of the vote
Serpentor -- 4 votes for 3% of the vote
Snake Eyes -- 44 votes for 34% of the vote
Storm Shadow -- 32 votes for 25% of the vote
Zartan -- 8 votes for 6% of the vote

The results show that this week's winner is The Baroness. As always, Kenneth and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote -- your participation is greatly appreciated.

Peace.

. . . the hero

2010-03-17T17:09:00.009-05:00

Hello Everybody,

Well, we have come to the fourth and final post of our "Kenneth for Haiti" illustrations. The final illustration was rendered for Justin, and it showcases Steve Rogers as Captain America -- Kenneth and I would like to thank Justin, and everyone who made our fundraiser such an overwhelming success. Words can not express how honored we both are, by not only your support, but the interests and support of all of Kenneth's fans -- you all are AWESOME!

As in our previous posts, below you'll find the character's biography as it appears on Wikipdia:

Captain America is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books have been sold in a total of 75 countries. For nearly all of the character's publication history Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a sickly young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.

An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character's popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s aside from an ill-fated revival in 1953. Captain America was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4 (March 1964). Since then, Captain America has often led the team, as well as starring in his own series. Steve Rogers was apparently killed in Captain America vol. 5, #25 (March 2007), although he was later revealed to be alive; in any case, the Captain America series continues publication with Rogers' former sidekick, James "Bucky" Barnes, having taken up the mantle with Rogers insisting he continue in that capacity at least for now.

Writer Joe Simon conceived the idea for Captain America, which was refined by his partner, artist Jack Kirby, in 1941. Captain America was a consciously political creation. Simon and Kirby were morally repulsed by the actions of Nazi Germany in the years leading up to the United States' involvement in World War II and felt war was inevitable. Simon later said, "The opponents to the war were all quite well organized. We wanted to have our say too."

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) — on sale in December 1940, a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor but a full year into World War II, showed the protagonist punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the jaw — sold nearly one million copies. While most readers responded favorably to the comic, some took objection. Simon noted, "When the first issue came out we got a lot of . . . threatening letters and hate mail. Some people really opposed what Cap stood for." Though preceded as a "patriotically themed superhero" by MLJ's The Shield, Captain America immediately became the most prominent and enduring of that wave of superheroes introduced in American comic books prior to and during World War II. With his sidekick Bucky, Captain America faced Nazis, Japanese and other threats to wartime America and the Allies. Captain America soon became Timely's most popular character and even had a fan-club called the "Sentinels of Liberty." Circulation figures remained close to a million copies per month after the debut issue, which outstripped even the circulation of news magazines like Time during the period. After the Simon & Kirby team moved to DC late 1941, having produced Captain America Comics through issue #10 (January 1942), Al Avison and Syd Shores became regular pencillers of the celebrated title, with one generally inking over the other. The character was also featured in All Winners Comics #1-19 (Summer 1941 - Fall 1946), Marvel Mystery Comics #80-84,86-92, USA Comics #6-17 (December 1942 - Fall 1945) and All Select Comics #1-10 (Fall 1943 - Summer 1946).

In the post-war era, with the popularity of superheroes fading, Captain America led Timely/Marvel's first superhero team, the All-Winners Squad, in its two published adventures, in All Winners Comics #19 & 21 (Fall-Winter 1946; there was no issue #20). After Bucky was shot and wounded in a 1948 Captain America story, he was succeeded by Captain America's girlfriend Betsy Ross, who became the superheroine Golden Girl. Captain America Comics ended with #75 (February 1950), by which time the series had been titled Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale a horror/suspense anthology issue with no superheroes.

Marvel's 1950s iteration Atlas Comics attempted to revive its superhero titles when it reintroduced Captain America, along with the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, in Young Men #24 (December 1953). Billed as "Captain America, Commie Smasher!" Captain America appeared during the next year in Young Men #24-28 and Men's Adventures #27-28, as well as in issues #76-78 of an eponymous title. Atlas' attempted superhero revival was a commercial failure, and the character's title was canceled with Captain America #78 (September 1954).

In the Human Torch story titled "Captain America" in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales #114 (November 1963), writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby depicted the brash young Fantastic Four member Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in an exhibition performance with Captain America, described as a legendary World War II and 1950s superhero who has returned after many years of apparent retirement. The 18-page story ends with this Captain America revealed as an impostor: it was actually the villain the Acrobat, a former circus performer the Torch had defeated in Strange Tales #106. Afterward, Storm digs out an old comic book in which Captain America is shown to be Steve Rogers. A caption in the final panel says this story was a test to see if readers would like Captain America to return.

Captain America was then formally reintroduced in The Avengers #4 (March 1964), which explained that in the final days of WWII, he had fallen from an experimental drone plane into the North Atlantic Ocean and spent decades frozen in a block of ice in a state of suspended animation. He quickly became leader of that superhero team. Following the success of other Marvel characters introduced during the 1960s, Captain America was recast as a hero "haunted by past memories, and trying to adapt to 1960s society."

After then guest-starring in the feature "Iron Man" in Tales of Suspense #58 (October 1964), Captain America gained his own solo feature in that "split book," beginning the following issue. Kirby, Captain America's co-creator during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, was illustrating his hero's solo adventures again for the first time since 1941. Issue #63 (March 1965), which retold Captain America's origin, through #71 (November 1965) was a period feature set during World War II and co-starred Captain America's Golden Age sidekick, Bucky.

In the 1970s, the post-war versions of Captain America were retconned into separate, successive characters who briefly took up the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers went into suspended animation near the end of World War II. The hero found a new generation of readers as leader of the all-star superhero team the Avengers, and in a new solo feature beginning in Tales of Suspense #59 (November 1964), a "split book" shared with the feature "Iron Man". Kirby drew all but two of the stories in Tales of Suspense, which became Captain America with #100 (April 1968); Gil Kane and John Romita Sr. each filled in once. Several stories were finished by penciller-inker George Tuska over Kirby layouts, with one finished by Romita Sr. and another by penciller Dick Ayers and inker John Tartaglione. Kirby's regular inkers on the series were Frank Giacoia (as "Frank Ray") and Joe Sinnott, though Don Heck and Golden Age Captain America artist Syd Shores inked one story each. The new title Captain America continued to feature artwork by Kirby, as well as a short run by Jim Steranko, and work by many of the industry's top artists and writers. It was called Captain America and the Falcon from #134-222 (although the Falcon's name was not on the cover for issues 193, 200 and 216).

This series — considered Captain America vol. 1 by comics researchers and historians, following the 1940s Captain America Comics and its 1950s numbering continuation — ended with #454 (August 1996). It was almost immediately followed by the 13-issue Captain America vol. 2 (November 1996 - November 1997), the 50-issue Captain America vol. 3 (January 1998 - February 2002), the 32-issue Captain America vol. 4 (June 2002 - December 2004)and Captain America vol. 5 (January 2005 - July 2009 ). Beginning with the 600th overall issue counting these series, Captain America resumes its original numbering with issue #600, as if the series continued after #454.

There were attempts for a second series such as Captain America Sentinel of Liberty (September 1998-August 1999) and Captain America and the Falcon (May 2004-June 2005).

As part of the aftermath of Marvel Comics' company crossover "Civil War", Steve Rogers was killed in Captain America vol. 5, #25 (March 2007). Series writer Ed Brubaker remarked, "What I found is that all the really hard-core left-wing fans want Cap to be standing out on and giving speeches on the street corner against the George W. Bush administration, and all the really right-wing fans all want him to be over in the streets of Baghdad, punching out Saddam Hussein".

The character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon, who said, "It's a hell of a time for him to go. We really need him now."

In August 2007, Marvel announced that the Captain America of the 1940s will travel to the present day in a 12-issue series created by Alex Ross. Marvel also announced that a new Captain America, with a costume designed by Ross, would debut in Captain America #34.

The 2007 mini-series Captain America: The Chosen, written by David Morrell and penciled by Mitchell Breitweiser, depicts a dying Steve Rogers' final minutes, at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, as his spirit guides James Newman, a young American marine fighting in Afghanistan. The Chosen is not part of the main Marvel Universe continuity.

The New York Daily News and Newsarama both confirmed that Steve Rogers would be returning. The storyline began in issue #600. Steve Rogers returned to life on July 1, 2009, as part of a six-book series entitled Captain America: Reborn.

Reborn, by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Bryan Hitch, centered on the resurrection of Captain America. After his return, the final decision of whether Captain America would be Steve or his successor Bucky was decided in a one-shot, Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?

Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1917 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, to Irish immigrants Sarah and Joseph Rogers. Joseph Rogers died when Steve was only a child and his mother, Sarah, died of pneumonia while Steve was a teen. By early 1940, before America's entry into World War II, Rogers is a tall but scrawny fine arts student specializing in illustration. Disturbed by the rise of the Third Reich, Rogers attempts to enlist, only to be rejected due to his poor constitution. U.S. Army General Chester Phillips, looking for test subjects, offers Rogers the chance to serve his country by taking part in a top-secret defense project — Operation: Rebirth, which seeks to develop a means of creating physically superior soldiers. Rogers volunteers for the research and, after a rigorous selection process, is chosen as the first human test subject for the Super-Soldier serum developed by the scientist "Dr. Josef Reinstein," later retroactively changed to a code name for the scientist Abraham Erskine.

That night Operation: Rebirth is implemented, Rogers receives injections and oral doses of the Super-Soldier Serum. He is then exposed to a controlled burst of "Vita-Rays" that activate and stabilize the chemicals in his system. Although the process is arduous physically, it successfully alters his physiology almost instantly from its relatively frail form to the maximum of human efficiency, greatly enhancing his musculature and reflexes. Erskine declares Rogers to be the first of a new breed of man, a "nearly perfect human being."

Rogers' physicality has been quantified in the Official Guide to the Marvel Universe as being 6'2" in height and weighing 240 lbs.

The process he underwent has varied from account to account. In the original 1941 story, he was injected with the formula. But when the origin was retold in Tales of Suspense #63, the Comics Code Authority and its prohibitions on demonstrations of drug use were in force, and the injection was replaced with drinking a formula. In Captain America #109, the Vita-Rays were first introduced, although a dialogue comment preserved continuity by mentioning that he had also drunk the formula beforehand. The retelling of the story in Captain America #255, however, stated that all three were used in combination.

After the physical transformation, a Nazi spy reveals himself and shoots Erskine. Because the scientist had committed the crucial portions of the Super-Soldier formula to memory, it cannot be duplicated. The spy dies, killed either while running away to escape Rogers or because Rogers threw him into live machinery. In the 1941 origin story, he dies when running into the machinery but is not killed by Rogers; in the Tales of Suspense revision, however, Rogers causes the spy's death by punching him into the machinery.

The United States government, making the most of its one super-soldier and to hide all information about Operation: Rebirth and its failure, re-imagines him as a superhero who serves as both a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull. To that end, Rogers is given a uniform modeled after the American flag (based on Rogers's own sketches) a bulletproof shield, a personal side arm, and the codename Captain America. He is also given a cover identity as a clumsy infantry private at Camp Lehigh in Virginia. Barely out of his teens himself, Rogers makes friends with the camp's teenage mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes.

Barnes accidentally learns of Rogers's dual identity and offers to keep the secret if he can become Captain America's sidekick. Rogers agrees and trains Barnes. Rogers meets President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presents him with a new shield, forged from an alloy of steel and vibranium, fused by an unknown catalyst. The alloy is indestructible, yet the shield is light enough to use as a discus-like weapon that can be angled to return to him. It proves so effective that Captain America forgoes the sidearm. Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fight the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders (as seen in the 1970s comic of the same name).

In late April 1945, during the closing days of World War II, Captain America and Bucky try to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launches the plane with an armed explosive on it, with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. They reach the plane just before it takes off, but when Bucky tries to defuse the bomb, it explodes in mid-air. The young man is believed killed, and Rogers is hurled into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Neither body is found, and both are presumed dead. It is later revealed that neither character actually died.

Captain America continued to appear in comics for the next few years changing from World War II-era hero fighting against the Nazis to trying to defeat the United States's newest enemy, Communism. The revival of the character in the mid-1950s is short-lived, and events during that time period are later retconned to show that multiple people operated using the code name in order to explain the changes in the character.

The last of these other Captains was a man who was so devoted to emulating Captain America that he had had his appearance surgically altered to resemble Rogers. Furthermore, he also treated himself and a protege to an acquired Nazi copy of the Super Soldier serum to become the new Captain America and Bucky, but were unaware of the necessary Vita-Ray component. As a result, the raw chemicals administered began to have serious detrimental effects on the pair's minds, rendering them both violently paranoid and regarding even innocent people as communist sympathizers during the height of the Red Scare of the 1950s. After it became evident that the two were insane, they were captured and placed in indefinite cryogenic storage.

Years later, the superhero team the Avengers discovers Steve Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, the Captain's uniform under his soldier's fatigues and still carrying his shield. After he revives, they piece together that Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945, surviving in such a state only because of his enhancements from Operation Rebirth. The block had begun to melt after the Sub-Mariner, enraged that an Arctic Inuit tribe is worshiping the frozen figure, throws it into the ocean. Rogers accepts membership in the Avengers, and although long out of his time, his considerable combat experience makes him a valuable asset to the team. He quickly assumes leadership, and has typically returned to that position throughout the team's history. Captain America is plagued by guilt for having been unable to prevent Bucky's death-—a feeling that does not ease for some time. Although he takes the young Rick Jones (who closely resembles Bucky) under his tutelage, he refuses for some time to allow Jones to take up the Bucky identity, not wishing to be responsible for another youth's death. Insisting that his hero finally move on from that loss, Jones eventually convinces Rogers to let him don the Bucky costume, but this partnership lasts only a short time; a disguised Red Skull, impersonating Rogers with the help of the Cosmic Cube, drives Jones away.

Rogers also reunites with his old war comrade Nick Fury, who is similarly well-preserved due to the "Infinity Formula." As a result, Rogers regularly undertakes missions for the security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. for which Fury is public director. Through Fury, Rogers befriends Sharon Carter, a SHIELD agent, with whom he eventually begins a romantic relationship.

Rogers later meets and trains Sam Wilson, who becomes the superhero the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comic books. The characters established an enduring friendship and adventuring partnership, sharing the series title for some time as Captain America and the Falcon. The two later encounter the revived but still insane 1950s Captain America. Although Rogers and the Falcon defeat the faux Rogers and Jack Monroe, Rogers becomes deeply disturbed that he could have suffered his counterpart's fate.

The series also dealt with the Marvel Universe's version of the Watergate scandal, making Rogers so uncertain about his role that he abandons his Captain America identity in favor of one called Nomad. During this time, several men unsuccessfully assume the Captain America identity. Rogers eventually re-assumes it after coming to consider that the identity could be a symbol of American ideals and not its government; it's a personal conviction epitomized when he later confronted a corrupt Army officer attempting to manipulate him by appealing to his loyalty, "I'm loyal to nothing, General.. except the [American] Dream." Jack Monroe, cured of his mental instability, later takes up the Nomad alias. During this period, Rogers also temporarily gains super strength. He also learns of the apparent death of Sharon Carter.

In the 1980s, in addition to runs from such acclaimed creators as John Byrne, the series reveals the true face and full origin of the Red Skull. Rogers meets law student Bernie Rosenthal, who becomes his girlfriend. He also takes Jack Monroe, Nomad, as a partner for a time. He also meets Diamondback at this time. The heroes gathered by the Beyonder elect Rogers as leader during their stay on Battleworld.[

Long-time writer Mark Gruenwald explores numerous political and social themes, such as extreme idealism when Captain America fights the anti-nationalist terrorist Flag-Smasher; and vigilantism when he hunts the murderous Scourge of the Underworld. He takes D-Man as his partner. Homophobia was also dealt with as Steve Rogers runs into a childhood friend named Arnold Roth.

Rogers receives a large back-pay reimbursement dating back to his disappearance at the end of World War II, and a government commission orders him to work directly for the U.S. government. Already troubled by the corruption he had encountered with the Nuke incident in New York City, Rogers chooses instead to resign his identity, and then takes the alias of "the Captain". A replacement Captain America, John Walker, struggles to emulate Rogers' ideals until pressure from hidden enemies helps to drive Walker insane. Rogers returns to the Captain America identity while a recovered Walker becomes the U.S. Agent.

Sometime afterward, Rogers avoids the explosion of a methamphetamine lab, but the drug triggers a chemical reaction in the Super-Soldier serum in his system. To combat the reaction, Rogers has the serum removed from his body, and trains constantly to maintain his physical condition.

A retcon later establishes that the serum was not a drug per se, which would have metabolized out of his system, but in fact a virus-like organism that effected a biochemical and genetic change. This additionally explained how arch-nemesis Red Skull, who at the time inhabited a body cloned from Rogers' cells, also has the formula in his body.

Because of his altered biochemistry, Rogers' body begins to deteriorate, and for a time he must wear a powered exoskeleton and is eventually placed again in suspended animation. During this time, he is given a transfusion of blood from the Red Skull, which cures his condition and stabilizes the Super-Soldier virus in his system. Captain America returns both to crime fighting and the Avengers.

Rogers reveals his identity to the world, and establishes a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Following the events of Avengers Disassembled, again under the employ of S.H.I.E.L.D., Rogers discovers that Bucky is alive, having been saved and deployed by Soviet espionage interests as the Winter Soldier.

Rogers also resumes his on-again, off-again relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Sharon Carter, who, after his death, believes she is pregnant with Steve Rogers' child.

In the 2006-2007 "Civil War" crossover, Captain America opposes mandatory federal registration of all super-powered beings, which he sees as an erosion of civil liberties for the superhero community, and leads the Anti-Registration faction and resistance movement. He becomes a fugitive and opposes the heroes of the Pro-Registration group, including his former friend Iron Man. He adopts the alias "Brett Hendrick", a mall security guard, to avoid government detection. As the War continues, Cap enlists the assistance of several figures with whom he would not choose to ally himself under normal circumstances, such as the Punisher and the Kingpin.

Captain America battles Iron Man during the climactic battle and has victory within his grasp when a group of civilians attempts to restrain him. Rogers realizes that he is endangering the very people he has sworn to protect. He then surrenders to the authorities and orders the anti-Registration forces to stand down. As Rogers is led away in handcuffs, the Punisher retrieves Captain America's discarded mask.

Following his surrender, Steve Rogers is indicted on multiple criminal charges. As he is brought to a federal courthouse, a sniper shoots him in the back. In the chaos that ensues, he is wounded three more times in the stomach and chest by Sharon Carter. Rogers is taken to a hospital, where he dies. The assassination, orchestrated by the Red Skull, involves Crossbones as the sniper and Dr. Faustus posing as a S.H.I.E.L.D. psychiatrist, who gives Carter a hypnotic suggestion to shoot Rogers at a crucial moment.

The superhero community is shaken by the assassination. The Punisher temporarily adopts a costume similar to that of Captain America, while Winter Soldier and Wolverine seek to avenge Rogers' death. The Winter Soldier steals Captain America's shield, and the Punisher provides him with the mask from Steve Rogers' uniform. Captain America is publicly laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, under a monument built in his honor. The body in Arlington is a fake: Tony Stark, accompanied by Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, returns Rogers' body to the Arctic where Rogers had been found years before. Namor attends the small private ceremony and vows no one will disturb the site.

Stark receives a letter containing Rogers' final requests: Stark should "save" Bucky, and that, despite his demise, the world still needs Captain America. Bucky accepts Stark's offer to take on the mantle of Captain America in exchange for a promise of complete autonomy from Stark. Bucky kept Steve Rogers' trademark shield, but donned a new costume and began carrying a pistol and knife. The Norse god superhero Thor communicates with Steve Rogers' spirit on the first anniversary of his death. Thor grants Steve a minute of silence, by using his powers to cut off all the electronic media in America for exactly sixty seconds.

Captain America: Reborn #1 revealed that Steve Rogers did not die; the gun used on him instead transported him to a fixed position in space and time. The Red Skull tried to use Sharon Carter and a machine created by Doctor Doom to retrieve him, but since Sharon destroyed the machine, Captain America has been phasing in and out of space and time, appearing at events in his lifetime and fighting battles. In one of these event phases, he relays a mission to the Vision, who passes the message to Reed Richards, who concludes that Sharon is the key to bringing Rogers out of time. Reed is too late when the Red Skull gains control of Steve's body and uses it to fight Bucky.

In the one-shot comic Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?, taking place after the conclusion to Reborn, Rogers wonders if he should even bother retaking the mantle of Captain America from Bucky. He feels that Bucky has grown into the role and that the identity means "something else" to him now. Going out on patrol, he encounters Bucky and Black Widow, as Bucky spots him and throws the shield up to Rogers. With it, Rogers easily takes down some hoodlums. Afterward, Rogers hands the shield back to Bucky, who does not want to take it back since Rogers has returned, feeling Rogers is the one true Captain America. Rogers tells Bucky that he's not sure he'll be back in the role, and asks him to keep the shield, to which Bucky reluctantly agrees.

Later, Rogers waits patiently in the White House and speaks to President Barack Obama. Obama, feeling the SHRA was "un-American," gladly grants Rogers a full Presidential pardon, saying that he would only risk his reputation by doing so to Captain America. When Rogers explains to Obama that he may not be Captain America again, the President states that he may need Rogers for something "far greater".

It has been announced that Captain America will fight alongside Thor and Iron Man for the first time in several years during the Siege event, which will bring the on-going Dark Reign event to an end.

The end panel of Dark Avengers Annual #1 shows Bucky Barnes as Captain America. He is talking with Steve Rogers, who is in a dark body suit, as they observe Noh-Varr. He welcomes the New Avengers to his base of operations after the Dark Avengers destroy Barnes' apartment. The intro to the Siege storyline ends when Steve sees Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers neutralize Thor on live television. In the second issue of Siege, Steve Rogers makes plans to go to Asgard with a group of heroes including Nick Fury, Spider-Man, and Bucky. Rogers tells the heroes that he doesn't know how the world got the way it did but it is in chaos with madmen like Norman Osborn in control. Before the heroes leave for Asgard, Steve Rogers (in his Captain America suit) is pulled to the side by Bucky. Bucky tells Steve that he needs the shield in the fight against the Dark Avengers. Steve Rogers takes the shield but asks Bucky what he will do, to which Bucky replies "I will do what I do", while holding a large gun in his hands.

Captain America has no superhuman powers, although as a result of the Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment, he is transformed from a frail young man into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning. Captain America's strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability and healing are at the highest limits of natural human potential. It has been established that Rogers' body regularly replenishes the super-soldier serum; it does not wear off.

The formula enhances all of his metabolic functions and prevents the build-up of fatigue poisons in his muscles, giving him endurance far in excess of an ordinary human being. This accounts for many of his extraordinary feats, including bench pressing 1100 pounds (500 kg) and running a mile (1.6 km) in little more than a minute. Furthermore, his enhancements are the reason why he was able to survive being frozen in suspended animation for decades. Rogers is also unable to become intoxicated by alcohol and is immune to many diseases. There have been many attempts to recreate this formula but after the death of its creator the secrets of creating a super-soldier died with him.

Mentally, Rogers' battle experience and training make him an expert tactician and an excellent field commander, with his teammates frequently deferring to his orders in battle. Rogers' reflexes and senses are also extraordinarily keen. He has blended Judo, Western boxing and gymnastics into his own unique fighting style and is a master of multiple martial arts. Years of practice with his indestructible shield make him able to aim and throw it with almost unerring accuracy. His skill with his shield is such that he can attack multiple targets in succession with a single throw or even cause a boomerang-like return from a throw to attack an enemy from behind. In canon, he is regarded by other skilled fighters as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe.

Rogers has vast U.S. military knowledge and is often shown to be familiar with ongoing, highly-classified Defense Department operations. He is an expert in combat strategy, survival, acrobatics, military strategy, piloting, and demolitions. Despite his high profile as one of the world's most popular and recognizable superheroes, Rogers also has a broad understanding of the espionage community, largely through his ongoing relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. He occasionally makes forays into mundane career fields, including commercial arts, comic book artistry, education (high school history) and law enforcement.

Captain America uses several shields throughout his history, the most recognizable of which is a nigh-indestructible disc-shaped shield made from a fusion of vibranium with an experimental steel alloy. The shield was cast by American metallurgist, Dr. Myron MacLain who was contracted by the U.S. government, from orders of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to create an impenetrable substance to use for tanks during World War II. This alloy was created by accident and never duplicated, although efforts to reverse-engineer it resulted in the creation of adamantium. Captain America often uses his shield as an offensive throwing weapon. The first instance of Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss occurs in Stan Lee's first comics writing, the two-page text story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941).

The legacy of the shield to other characters is seen when Cable reveals to Captain America that his shield still exists in one of the possible futures; Cable carries it into battle and brandishes it as a symbol.

When without his trademark shield, Captain America sometimes uses other shields made from less durable metals such as steel, or even a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix.

Captain America's uniform is made of a fire-retardant material, and he wears a lightweight, bulletproof "duralumin" scale armor beneath his uniform for added protection. Originally, Rogers' mask was a separate piece of material, but an early engagement had it dislodged, thus almost exposing his identity. To prevent a recurrence of the situation, Rogers modified the mask with connecting material to his uniform, an added benefit of which was extending his armor to cover his previously exposed neck. Since then, events have forced him to reveal his identity to the world. As a member of the Avengers, Rogers has an Avengers priority card, which serves as a communications device.

Captain America has also used a custom special Harley Davidson motorcycle, modified by the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons laboratory, as well as a custom-built battle van, constructed by the Wakanda Design Group with the ability to change its color for disguise purposes.

Captain America has faced numerous foes in over 60 years of published adventures. Many of his recurring foes embody ideals contrary to the American values Captain America is shown to strive for and believe. Some examples of these opposing values are Nazism (Red Skull, Baron Zemo), neo-Nazism (Crossbones, Doctor Faustus), technocratic fascism (AIM, Arnim Zola), Communism (Aleksander Lukin), and international and domestic terrorism (HYDRA).

As always, Kenneth and I would like to thank you -- the fans for making this a fun adventure for us all -- you all are "da' best!"

God Bless.

. . . the dreamer's sister

2010-03-17T16:35:00.009-05:00

Hello,
Above we have the third of the four illustrations rendered for our "Kenneth for Haiti" initiative. The character illustrated above needs no introduction, but for those unfamiliar with her, her name is Death, and she's one of The Endless. Kenneth and I would like to thank Lenny for his generous support of our Haiti project: Thanks!

Below we have the character's biography as posted on Wikipedia:

Death is a fictional character from the DC comic book series, The Sandman (1988 - 1996). The character first appeared in The Sandman vol. 2, #8 (August 1989), and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg.

In the stories, Death is both the end of life and a psychopomp. Like most anthropomorphic personifications of death, Death meets with the recently deceased and guides them into their new existence. However, unlike most personifications of death, she also visits people as they are born, according to Destruction in the "Sandman Special". Evidently, only she seems to remember these encounters. In the special issue, it is also revealed that Death was known in Ancient Greece as Teleute.

Physically, Death is also opposite to the traditional western culture personification of death (see Grim Reaper). In The Sandman, Death instead appears as an attractive, pale young goth woman dressed in casual clothes - often a black top and jeans. She also wears a silver ankh on a chain around her neck, and has a marking similar to the eye of Horus around her right eye. She is pleasant, down-to-earth, perky, and has been a nurturing figure for both incarnations of Dream. This irony has helped make Death one of the most popular characters from Sandman. Death was named the fifteenth greatest comic book character by Empire Magazine.

Other personifications of Death have appeared in the DC Universe. These altering physical appearances may be rationalized as being completely different characters with an unknown relation (or lack thereof) to the overall Death shown in the Sandman series, or may be explained by a sequence at the beginning of the Sandman series. In the sequence where Morpheus is searching for his objects of power, he appears at Martian Manhunter's door, and for a frame we see him as Martian Manhunter sees him: it's nothing like humans see him. This could indicate that the physical appearance of the Endless (the appearance of Dream, at the very least) is subject to the mind of the person doing the observing. Many references are made throughout Death and the Sandman series which indicate that perception of the form of the Endless is subjective, not objective.

In Captain Atom #42 (also by Giffen) Death appears alongside Black Racer of the New Gods and Nekron (a "god of death" from Green Lantern). The story stated that all three were equal, representing different aspects of death. Gaiman has denied this, however, and his stories make it clear that Death of the Endless is the ultimate personification of Death. It might be assumed, however, Nekron, the Racer, and the Black Flash are connected to her in some way. Alternatively, there may be multiple avatars or gods of Death in the DC universe, besides those claiming to be Death. It is possible that Blackest Night may resolve this apparent contradiction or ambiguity.

A more traditional version of Death, a skeleton in a bluish or purplish cloak, appeared as host in such DC titles such as Weird Mystery Tales, House of Secrets, Ghosts, Weird War Tales (including being in the story in issue #94), DC Comics Presents #29, etc. Weird War Tales typically featured Death as a skeleton in some sort of military uniform relevant to the era and locality of the war depicted. This character appeared as recently as Elvira's House of Mystery #2 (February 1986). How this pre-Crisis Death relates to Gaiman's Death, if at all, is unclear, although her older brother Destiny appeared with the character, and both Deaths have appeared with incarnations of Superman. Superman referred to the earlier Death with the term "Grim Reaper", so perhaps that could be regarded as a distinct character, however, in the pages of Weird War Tales, he called himself "Death." Madame Xanadu's immortality was originally givien to her by a Grim Reaper like character[citation needed], in her new series it's Death of the Endless the one that grants her immortality, perhaps suggesting that the Grim Reaper character has been retconned to be Death.

In Swamp Thing vol. 2, #6, The Phantom Stranger met Death in the form of a middle-aged gentleman, possibly inspired by Death Takes a Holiday. In the story, a young woman, Margaret "Maggie" Brennan, had what should have been a minor head injury and at one glimpse of Death chose to become Death's bride. As someone newly-dead herself, she taught Death that he needs to show compassion for the newly-dead to allay their fears. He takes her advice and they both serve as aspects of Death. This version of Death was created by Mike W. Barr and Dan Spiegle. Maggie is blonde and bears only minor physical resemblance to Gaiman and Dringenberg's version, though her compassionate nature is a similarity.

The current incarnation of Death first appeared in the final chapter of Sandman’s first story arc Preludes and Nocturnes, "The Sound of Her Wings", (issue #8) where she gave Dream direction and a degree of understanding. Death instantly became very popular to readers, and she appears at least briefly in each of the nine subsequent story arcs. However, Gaiman attempted to entice and tease readers by rationing out the number of appearances from Dream’s family, so Death did not appear as frequently as one might expect for such a popular character. At the end of the ninth Sandman story arc The Kindly Ones, there is a lengthy and noteworthy appearance from Death, in which she finally brings her brother peace.

According to Gaiman, the initial visual design of Death was based on a friend of Dringenberg's named Cinnamon. From The Sandman Companion:

"Death is the only major character whose visuals didn't spring from me; that credit goes to Mike Dringenberg. In my original Sandman outline, I suggested Death look like rock star Nico in 1968, with the perfect cheekbones and perfect face she has on the cover of her Chelsea Girl album.

But Mike Dringenberg had his own ideas, so he sent me a drawing based on a woman he knew named Cinnamon — the drawing that was later printed in Sandman 11 — and I looked at it and had the immediate reaction of, "Wow. That's really cool." Later that day, Dave McKean and I went to dinner in Chelsea at the My Old Dutch Pancake House and the waitress who served us was a kind of vision. She was American, had long black hair, was dressed entirely in black — black jeans, T-shirt, etc. — and wore a big silver ankh on a silver necklace. And she looked exactly like Mike Dringenberg's drawing of Death."

McKean also used a series of professional English models for representations of Death on covers of Sandman.

Despite some rumors, Death is not based on Gaiman's friend Tori Amos.

Death's apparent age varies slightly. In the picture above, from Death: The The Time of Your Life, she appears to be teenager. In most Sandman stories she looks to be in her mid-twenties. In the giveaway Death Talks About Life (an AIDS-prevention giveaway), Death appears to about thirty, with wrinkle lines in her forehead that are not usually present.

Death is the second eldest of the Endless, a family of anthropomorphic beings. Death is possibly the most powerful of the Endless (and may be the most powerful being in the universe) having been shown (in a flashback in Brief Lives) to be virtually omniscient and being able to intimidate the Furies, who show no fear of the other Endless, simply by raising her voice in The Kindly Ones. The witch Thessaly mentions that Death is the only one of the Endless who is bound by no rules. In addition, it is mentioned in Brief Lives that she is the only one of the Endless who may survive the end of this incarnation of the universe. Death's realm is not portrayed in detail in the series, except for a brief scene in her 'house' in the Sandman Special, Song of Orpheus, and later in The Books of Magic series. This is where she keeps her floppy hat collection, her goldfish Slim and Wandsworth and possibly her gallery. A brief glimpse of her realm can also be seen in The Little Endless Storybook, when Barnabas visits her, again in her 'house.'

One day every century, Death lives (and dies) as a mortal, in order to understand the value of the life she takes. She does this by becoming a mortal fated to die that day. At the end of Death: The High Cost of Living her Endless self briefly converses with her mortal self.

Death's popularity saw her spun off into two solo limited series, Death: The High Cost of Living (1993), and Death: The Time of Your Life (1996). Both were written by Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Bachalo, and dealt with Death's encounters with various mortals. Death: The High Cost of Living became the first comic released under the newly-instigated Vertigo branding in 1993, at which point The Sandman also moved from the DC to Vertigo imprint.

In 2003, the manga-style graphic novel Death: At Death's Door portrayed Death's activities during the fourth Sandman story arc Season of Mists. It was written and illustrated by Jill Thompson, and the format proved popular enough for Thompson to produce the similarly manga-influenced follow-up Dead Boy Detectives, featuring minor Sandman characters, and "featuring a cameo by Death."

A one-shot issue titled A Death Gallery (1994) was released as one of several art showcase comics spotlighting various Sandman characters released between 1994 and 1995. The Death Gallery featured representations of Death by more than thirty comics artists, including a rough sketch by Gaiman himself. In Endless Nights (2003) Gaiman shows Death several billion years ago, with a markedly different personality — forbidding and joyless.

She also appears in The Books of Magic (first volume, 1991, also written by Gaiman) at the very end of time, where her function is to set things in order and close the universe down. She meets Timothy Hunter and Mister E there after Mister E has taken Timothy all the way to the end of time, because only there can he kill Timothy without fear of interference. Death stops the murder on the grounds that "I took both of you billions of years ago." She sends Timothy back home, but forces Mister E to return the hard way. John Ney Rieber included her in The Books of Magic (vol. 2 #3-4), in which she lets Timothy Hunter hang out at her house and hold her teddy bear, Cavendish, while he is recovering from the venom of the Manticore. Hunter later encounters Death walking in the rain in The Books of Magic #25, and there was later an arc about her in Hunter, The Age of Magic. In Hellblazer #120, Death appears briefly in a pub filled with ghosts.

She also appeared in Mike Carey's Lucifer series when the eponymous main character was wounded and nearly died.

Death has also made occasional appearances in the mainstream DC Universe. To the annoyance of Neil Gaiman, she appeared in Captain Atom #42 (June 1990), appearing as merely an aspect of Death. Keith Giffen used the character in several mainline DC stories, including the Ambush Bug Nothing Special one-shot (Sep 1992), a cameo in the Lobo comic book Lobo's Back #3 (Oct. 1992), in which she slaps Lobo for getting fresh with her. She observes the destruction of the Earth in Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #38 (Dec 1992).

Quasi-canonical appearances

In the AIDS-awareness eight-page comic Death Talks About Life by Gaiman and McKean (which was first included in various Vertigo titles, and later released as a stand-alone giveaway pamphlet), Death demonstrates safe sex by placing a condom on a banana held by John Constantine. Lightening the impact of the underlying message, she informs the reader that when one is through with the demonstration, "you can eat the banana." This was used in high school health classes and is also reprinted as an addendum to the Death: The High Cost of Living trade paperback.

This version of Death also made an cameo appearance in the crossover special Avengers/JLA #2. She is represented in the Grandmaster's home base, alongside Deadman, Hela and the purple-robed version of Death native to the Marvel Universe, which, as the plots of other crossover comics have hinged upon. exists in the same continuum of fictional universes as DC's. (Marvel's version of Death appears alternatively as a coldly beautiful woman in a purple robe or a walking skeleton, again in a purple robe.)

She made an appearance in the Marvel Universe, at the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler in an issue of The Incredible Hulk (handing Rick a hair brush, the joke being Rick's constant 'brushes with death'). Likewise, she and Dream appeared in a recent issue of New Avengers where they lamented the "sell" of Doctor Strange's home.

Death was also the narrator and host of The Big Book of Death (1995), a large format comic in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not "strange but true" genre which came out from Paradox Press, an imprint of DC.

"Death of the Endless" is referenced in the 2009 Young Adult novel, The Suicide Club, by Rhys Thomas. In it, the lead character describes death returning with the sound of beating wings.

Death also appears in a poster in Sam Kieth's The Maxx comic, though, presumably for copyright reasons, a rather altered version in the animated adaptation. Kieth, the first artist for the series, admitted that he felt as if he didn't fit in with the work and may possibly have left with some resentment, as in The Maxx comic, a character states that "death is hard, and cold. Not some cute chick."

The Virgin Books' New Adventures Doctor Who novel series introduced a manipulative and generally morally ambivalent female incarnation of Death (or rather, as later revealed, one of serveral Eternals masquerading as as cosmic principles. In Happy Endings in which she quotes from the original The Books of Magic mini-series. (The section was written by author Neil Penswick, as part of a chapter written in tandem by the authors of the previous 49 novels.)

As always, Kenneth and myself would like to thank all of his fans. Your support and interest in his work, and this blog, are very much appreciated.

Peace.

. . . the beautiful illusion

2010-03-17T16:15:00.006-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Above you will find an illustration of what many would consider Kenneth's signature character -- Madame Mirage, the protagonist of the comic of the same name published by Top Cow. Rendered for Fred, Kenneth and I would like to thank him for his generous contribution to our "Kenneth for Haiti" initiative.

Normally we would have the character's biography, as posted on Wikipedia, but considering that doing so would reveal a major plot twist in the first volume of the series, we are going to forgo this, but for those of you who would like to read the entry, you may do so by clicking here.

As always, Kenneth and i would like to thank everyone for your support and interest in his work and career: you all are the best!

Peace.

. . . the sorcerer

2010-03-17T16:08:00.005-05:00

Hello,
Above we have the first of the four pieces rendered in our recent "Kenneth for Haiti" initiative -- posted above, is Kenneth's illustration of the Dr. Strange -- THE SORCERER SUPREME. Kenneth and I would like like to thank Sean for his generosity -- his contribution helped to make our fund raising efforts a success.

Thanks!

Below we have the character biography as posted on Wikipedia:

Doctor Strange is a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 (July 1963).

Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, the character has featured in several self-titled series and Marvel-endorsed products including arcade and video games; animated television series and a direct-to-DVD film and merchandise such as trading cards.

The character debuted in Strange Tales #110 (July 1963), a "split book" shared with fellow Marvel character the Human Torch until issue #134 (July 1965), and then super spy Nick Fury until issue #168 (May 1968). Strange appeared in #111 and #114 before the character's eight page origin story appeared in #115 (Dec. 1963).

Ditko drew the feature through Strange Tales #146 (July 1966), and during this period he and Lee introduced many of Strange's allies, such as his eventual lover Clea, who debuted, (although was not initially named) in Strange Tales #126 (Nov. 1964)' and enemies such as Nightmare, in #110, and the flame-headed Dormammu, in #126 (Nov. 1964). "Doctor Strange" stories showcased surrealistic mystical landscapes and increasingly head-trippy visuals that helped make the feature a favorite of college students. "People who read 'Doctor Strange' thought people at Marvel must be heads [e.g. drug users]," recalled then-associate editor and former Doctor Strange writer Roy Thomas in 1971, "because they had had similar experiences high on mushrooms. But ... I don't use hallucinogens, nor do I think any artists do."

Eventually, as co-plotter and later sole plotter, in the "Marvel Method", Ditko would take Strange into ever-more-abstract realms. In an epic 17-issue story arc in Strange Tales #130-146 (July 1965 - July 1966), Ditko introduced the cosmic character Eternity, who personified the universe and was depicted as a silhouette whose outlines are filled with the cosmos. As historian Bradford W. Wright describes,

"Steve Ditko contributed some of his most surrealistic work to the comic book and gave it a disorienting, hallucinogenic quality. Dr. Strange's adventures take place in bizarre worlds and twisting dimensions that resembled Salvador Dali paintings. ... Inspired by the pulp-fiction magicians of Stan Lee's childhood as well as by contemporary Beat culture. Dr. Strange remarkably predicted the youth counterculture's fascination with Eastern mysticism and psychedelia. Never among Marvel's more popular or accessible characters, Dr. Strange still found a niche among an audience seeking a challenging alternative to more conventional superhero fare."

From the beginning, stories revealed that Dr. Strange uses magical artifacts to augment his power, such as the Cloak of Levitation; the Eye of Agamotto in #115 (Dec. 1963); the Book of the Vishanti in #116 (Jan. 1964); and the Orb of Agamotto in #118 (March 1964). From the first story, Strange's residence, the Sanctum Sanctorum, was a part of the character's mythos. The trademark circular window divided by three sweeping lines on the front of the residence (actually the protective Seal of the Vishanti) appeared in many Doctor Strange stories. Strange's personal servant, Wong, guarded the residence in his absence.

In keeping with Lee's emphasis on continuity, Strange was also quickly established as part of the Marvel Universe, and guest starred in Fantastic Four #27 (June 1964), encountered the Norse god Loki, foster brother of Thor, in Strange Tales #123 (Aug. 1964), and guest-starred with Ditko's other major Marvel co-creation in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1965).

The series continued with Lee dialoging Ditko's plots through Strange Tales #142, followed by Roy Thomas (two issues) and Denny O'Neil (two issues). Ditko's last issue was Strange Tales #146, with Golden Age great Bill Everett succeeding Ditko as artist until #152, followed by Marie Severin through #160 and Dan Adkins through #168, the final issue before the "Nick Fury" feature moved to its own title and Strange Tales became Doctor Strange.

Lee had returned to write the character in Strange Tales #151-157; followed by Thomas (#158-159), and two writers who did virtually no other Marvel work, Raymond Marais (#160-161) and Jim Lawrence (#162-166). The post-Ditko Strange Tales stories introduced another cosmic entity, the Living Tribunal, in #157 (June 1967) and the evil Umar, sister of Dormammu, in #150 (Nov. 1966) The title, however, was flagging, with Strange encountering such one-off foes such as Nebulos and Voltorg in Strange Tales #162 and #166, respectively.

The now 20-page solo series Doctor Strange ran 15 issues, #169-183 (June 1968 - Nov. 1969), continuing the numbering of Strange Tales. Thomas wrote the run of new stories (Strange Tales #179 being a reprint), joined after the first three issues by the art team of penciler Gene Colan and inker Tom Palmer through the end. Thomas and Colan attempted to boost sales by revamping Strange and making the character closer to being a superhero. Given a form-fitting blue costume, a full-head mask and a secret identity as Dr. Stephen Sanders, the character teamed with the superheroes the Black Knight and Spider-Man,and battled the X-Men foe the Juggernaut. The changes were unsuccessful and the title was canceled with issue #183 (Nov. 1969). The cancellation was abrupt (there was a "Next Issue" blurb in the last issue), and outstanding storylines were resolved in Sub-Mariner #22 (Feb. 1970) and The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #126 (April 1970).

Thomas recalled in 2000 that he eloped in July 1968 to marry his first wife, Jean, and returned to work a day late from a weekend comic-book convention to find that Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky had assigned Doctor Strange to writer Archie Goodwin, newly ensconced at Marvel and writing Iron Man. Thomas convinced Brodsky to allow him to continue writing the title. "I got very possessive about Doctor Strange," Thomas recalled. "It wasn't a huge seller, but [by the time it was canceled], we were selling the low 40 percent range of more than 400,000 print run, so it was actually selling a couple hundred thousand copies [but] at the time you needed to sell even more."

Strange's next appearance was in the first three issues of the showcase title Marvel Feature, appearing in both the main storyline detailing the formation of superhero "non-team" the Defenders, and the related back-up story. The character was showcased in the title Marvel Premiere with one story marking the debut of another of Strange's recurring foes, the entity Shuma-Gorath. To stop Shuma-Gorath entering reality, Strange is forced to shut down the Ancient One's mind, which causes his physical death. The Ancient One, however, assures Strange this was a necessary sacrifice and his soul merges with the cosmic entity Eternity. Strange then assumes the title of Sorcerer Supreme.

The character's adventures continued in a second ongoing series, Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts, which ran for 81 issues (June 1974 - Feb. 1987). During this period Strange also meets allies Topaz and Rintrah. Following the title's cancellation, the character's adventures continued in a second volume of Strange Tales, which was again published in the "split book" format, and shared with street heroes Cloak and Dagger. The title ran for nineteen issues.

Strange again featured in another self-titled series; Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme. The initial creative team was writer Peter B. Gillis and artists Richard Case & Randy Emberlin, with storylines often written as multi-issue arcs. Strange was written as being on the defensive from the first issue, battling a host of supernatural foes including Dormammu, demons Mephisto and Satannish and encounters with the Werewolf By Night; Ghost Rider; Baron Blood and Morbius the Living Vampire. One significant development was Strange's temporary loss of the title of "Sorcerer Supreme" when he refused to fight a war on behalf of the Vishanti, mystical entities that empowered Strange's spells. Despite this and other setbacks, Strange was triumphant and eventually restored to the title.[24] The series ran for 90 issues (Nov. 1988-June 1996).

Strange appeared - together with original regulars the Human Torch and the Thing - in a one-shot publication called Strange Tales.

The character features in several limited series, the first being Doctor Strange: The Flight of Bones, with a series of spontaneous combustions by criminals instigated by old foe Dormammu. Strange was the catalyst for the creation of a trio of witches in the self-titled Witchesmini-series and also appeared in the self-titled Strange mini-series, written by J. Michael Straczynski and Samm Barnes, with artwork by Brandon Peterson. The series reimagined the character's origin, allies and enemies in a contemporary setting. A second limited series, Doctor Strange: The Oath, written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Marcos Martin, focused on Strange's duty as Sorcerer Supreme and the nature of his powers.

Doctor Strange also appeared in four graphic novels.

The character has remained a constant in the Marvel Universe over the decades, appearing on a regular basis in three volumes of the title Defenders; Secret Defenders and a limited series focused on the Defenders titled The Order. Strange also featured in all three volumes of the title Marvel Team-Up and other one-off stories in titles Marvel Two-In-One; Marvel Fanfare and the alternate universe title What If. The character also featured in the first issue of the title Nightstalkers, forming a team of anti-heroes in preparation for the return of vampires to the Marvel Universe.

Strange appears as a supporting character in pivotal stories in 2000s. In New Avengers #7 (July 2005), writer Brian Michael Bendis retconned Marvel history and established that during the Kree-Skrull War, several metahumans, including Strange, formed a secret council called the Illuminati to deal with future threats to Earth.

Strange played a pivotal role at the conclusion of the House of M miniseries, as courtesy of his magic several of the mutant X-Men were able to retain their powers when reality was rewritten. The "Civil War" storyline — involving the introduction of the Superhuman Registration Act and a split in the superhero community — found Strange opposed to mandatory registration. He leaves the Illuminati and goes into seclusion in the Arctic until the issue is resolved.

The New Avengers: Illuminati miniseries revealed that Strange and the Illuminati took proactive steps to avoid global threats by finding and isolating the Infinity Gems, with Strange taking possession of the Soul Gem (a condition being that the individuals hide the Gems and never reveal their location to other members). When Strange returns from the Arctic he secretly shelters the team the New Avengers, formed after the events of the Civil War, in his residence and assists on several missions. Strange suffered a setback when his hands were broken during the events of the "World War Hulk" storyline, and he resorted to the use of dark magic to try and stop the Hulk.

Strange's use of dark magic becomes addictive, as he uses it again to repel an attack on his residence by the crime syndicate of the villain Hood (who is in turn backed by Strange's foe Dormammu). After some reflection, Strange seeks out a successor Sorcerer Supreme, and considers several magic-users such as Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch, Magik, and Doctor Doom, while Dormammu attacks Earth in a bid to seize Strange's power. The Avengers aid Strange against Dormammu's minions, with the Eye of Agamotto choosing Brother Voodoo as Strange's successor.

Stephen Strange is a world-renowned but selfish neurosurgeon, until a car accident damaged his hands, preventing him from conducting surgery. Depressed and scouring the world for a cure to his condition, Strange locates a hermit called the Ancient One in the Himalayas. After Strange selflessly attempts to thwart the Ancient One's traitorous disciple, Baron Mordo (who would become one of Stange's most enduring antagonists), he is taught the mystic arts.

As the Ancient One's disciple, Strange encounters the entity Nightmare and a number of odd mystical foes before battling his eventual arch-foe: Dormammu, a warlord from a alternate dimension called the "Dark Dimension". Strange is also aided by a nameless girl, who is eventually revealed to be the niece of the villain and called Clea. When Strange helps a weakened Dormammu drive off the ramapaging beasts the Mindless Ones and return them to their prison, he is allowed to leave unchallenged.

Doctor Strange is a master magician, and was the holder of the title of "Sorcerer Supreme" of the Marvel Universe for many years. Eternity, the sentience of the Marvel Universe, has described Strange as "more powerful by far than any of your fellow humanoids".

The character can use magic to achieve a number of effects, such as energy projection; teleportation; telepathy; astral projection the creation of materials, such as food and water, or creating planet-wide protective shields. When casting a spell the character is often written to be invoking the name of a mystical entity, such as one of the Vishanti (Hoggoth, Oshtur and Agamotto) or the group the Octessence. These entities usually lend their power to a particular effect, such as the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, that Strange can use to entrap foes.

Strange was also schooled in the use of dark magic by one-time foe Kaluu, using it to destroy the entity Shuma-Gorath. The use of this magic, however, is both addictive and corruptive and Kaluu had to purge the magic from Strange before it could take full effect.

Two months before the debut of the sorcerer-hero Doctor Strange, Stan Lee (editor and story-plotter), Robert Bernstein (scripter, under the pseudonym "R. Berns") and Jack Kirby (artist) introduced a criminal scientist and Ph.D. with the same surname (called "Carl Strange"). Making his sole appearance as an early Iron Man foe, in the Tales of Suspense story, "The Stronghold of Dr. Strange", the character gained mental powers in a freak lightning strike.

The character stars in several alternate universe titles: in the limited series Marvel 1602, Sir Stephen Strange is both the court physician and magician to Queen Elizabeth I. The title Spider-Man 2099 introduces a female version of Strange who shares her body with a demon. In the limited series Marvel Zombies Strange is infected with a zombie virus with many other heroes; and reappears in the third installment in the series, Marvel Zombies 3. After being zombified, Strange is only capable of casting two spells.

In the Marvel imprint MC2, an alternate universe future, Dr. Strange is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme, the title being passed to "Doc Magnus". Dr. Strange uses his remaining power to reform the superhero team the Defenders, and to fight the Norse god of mischief, Loki.

The Ultimate Marvel title Ultimate Marvel Team-Up introduces a version of the character called "Stephen Strange Jr.", the son of the original Doctor Strange. The character is eventually killed in battle by the Ultimate version of Dormammu during the Ultimatum storyline.

. . . sabotage galactica

2010-03-16T14:44:00.009-05:00

Kenneth for Haiti: The Final Report

2010-03-16T13:41:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to update everyone on the final tally of our fundraising efforts for Haiti. Kenneth managed to raise a total of $1,335.00 for the recovery efforts in Haiti -- the monies will be donated, in Kenneth's name, to The American Red Cross this week. Kenneth and I would like to thank everyone who participated . . . you all are amazing!

Peace.

Blackest Night Poll Closed

2010-03-12T21:28:00.008-06:00

Hey Everyone!
Well, the results are in, the votes have been cast, and the winner in out Blackest Night Poll is -- we have a tie! Out of the 268 votes cast, 25 were cast for Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern, and another 25 were cast for Mera, the Red Lantern -- in such cases, Kenneth decides which character he would like to illustrate. The breakdown is as follows:

Animal Man / Black Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Aquagirl / Black Lantern – 4 votes for 1% of the vote
Aqualad / Black Lantern – 0 votes for 0% of the vote
Aquaman / Black Lantern – 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Atom / Indigo Tribe – 5 votes for 1% of the vote
Atrocitus / Red Lantern – 2 votes for 0% of the vote
Barry Allen / Blue Lantern – 13 votes for 4% of the vote
Black Hand / Black Lantern – 5 votes for 1% of the vote
Carol Ferris / Star Sapphire – 15 votes for 5% of the vote
Dolphin / Black Lantern – 0 votes for 0% of the vote
Donna Troy / Black Lantern – 2 votes for 0% of the vote
Fatality / Star Sapphire – 8 votes for 2% of the vote
Gathnet / Green Lantern – 0 votes for 0% of the vote
Green Arrow / Black Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Guy Gardner / Green Red Lantern – 16 votes for 5% of the vote
Hal Jordan / Green Lantern – 9 votes for 3% of the vote
Hawkgirl / Black Lantern – 9 votes for 3% of the vote
Hawkman / Black Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Ice / Black Lantern – 1 vote for 0% of the vote
Indigo – 1 / Indigo Tribe – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
John Stewart / Green Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
J’onn J’onzz / Black Lantern – 7 votes for 2% of the vote
Kid Flash / Black Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Kilowog / Green Lantern – 5 votes for 1% of the vote
Kyle Rayner / Green Lantern – 6 votes for 2% of the vote
Larfleeze / Orange Lantern – 25 votes for 9% of the vote
Lex Luthor / Orange Lantern – 9 votes for 3% of the vote
Mera / Red Lantern – 25 votes for 9% of the vote
Nekron / Black Lantern – 7 votes for 2% of the vote
Saint Walker / Blue Lantern – 2 votes for 0% of the vote
Sayd / Guardian – 0 votes for 0% of the vote
Scar / Black Lantern – 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Scarecrow / Sinestro Corps – 10 votes for 3% of the vote
Spectre / Red Lantern – 12 votes for 4% of the vote
Superboy / Black Lantern – 4 votes for 1% of the vote
Superman / Black Lantern – 7 votes for 2% of the vote
Thaal Sinestro / Sinestro Corps – 5 votes for 1% of the vote
Soranik Natu / Green Lantern – 21 votes for 7% of the vote
Vice / Red Lantern – 1 votes for 0% of the vote
Wonder Woman / Black Lantern – 6 votes for 2% of the vote

As always, we would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote -- it sure is appreciated. Our new poll, GI JOE, will be up shortly.

Thanks.

Avengers Poll Now Closed

2010-03-05T19:36:00.005-06:00

Howdy Everyone!

Sorry for the day long delay in posting the results of “Which Member of The Avengers Should Kenneth illustrate?” Anyway, it goes without saying, the poll is now closed – the results are as follows:

Ares -- 4 votes for 2% of the vote
Black Knight -- 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Black Panther -- 4 votes for 2% of the vote
Captain Britain / Lionheart -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Echo -- 2 votes for 1% of the vote
Falcon -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Hawkeye -- 15 votes for 9% of the vote
Hellcat -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Hercules -- 2 votes for 1% of the vote
Iron Fist -- 13 votes for 7% of the vote
Luke Cage -- 3 votes for 1% of the vote
Mockingbird -- 14 votes for 8% of the vote
Ms. Marvel -- 8 votes for 4% of the vote
Namor -- 7 votes for 4% of the vote
Quicksilver -- 14 votes for 8% of the vote
Scarlet Spider -- 4 votes for 2% of the vote
Scarlet Witch -- 13 votes for 7% of the vote
Sentry -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Spider-Woman -- 4 votes for 2% of the vote
Tigra -- 11 votes for 6% of the vote
Vision -- 4 votes for 2% of the vote
War Machine -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Wasp -- 6 votes for 3% of the vote
Wonder Man -- 1 vote for 0% of the vote
Yellowjacket -- 3 votes for 1% of the vote

With a total of 165 votes cast, this week's winner, with 15% of the vote, is the original Hawkeye / Clint Barton. As always, our thanks to all who took time out to vote in this week’s poll -- we appreciate your support.

Peace.

. . . the swan

2010-03-03T20:31:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone!

Three posts in one day -- a record for us. Above we have posted an illustration of Jun from Gatchaman, or as I knew her in my childhood, Princess from Battle of the Planets. Below we have Jun's bio as it appears on GatchOnline -- as always, thanks to all of you: your interest and support of Kenneth's work makes all of this possible.

Thanks.

About two years younger than Ken and Joe, Jun is an orphan. She took Jinpei under her proverbial wing (oops, pun!) when he was young, and the two of them have a sibling relationship that is often played for comic relief, especially in Jun's cafe, the Snack J. Jun is the primary wirehead of the group, fixing technological problems and planting yo-yo bombs in Galactor bases.

She watches out for the others on the team, often playing both mother and sister to her male cohorts. Her need to care for the others and bind the team together as a family are particularly obvious in two parts of the story: When Ken loses his father and focuses on his need for revenge, and when Joe can no longer hide his problems from his friends. The only time she really stands up to Ken is when he's being reckless or stupid and Joe isn't there to do it for her, and Ken slaps her more than once. The team often congregates at the Snack J in their free time (where Ken never pays his tab—maybe she should slap him back?).

She doesn't run off to save the world on her own as often as Joe, and she doesn't end up going solo as often as Ken does, but she's more than capable of taking care of herself in a pinch. She's tough and smart, and although killing is distasteful to her, she does it, and at times she does it with enthusiasm.

Through a modern viewer's eyes, she is too stereotypically female, but modern translations have tried to remedy this to the extent that they can through dialogue. Princess, Jun's BotP counterpart, is a technological genius and codebreaker. She plays the traditional female role of managing the team's emotional state, and managing her friend Jill's restaurant.

Gatchaman I hints so subtly at an interest between her and Ken it might not even be there. Only after the dying Joe tells her and Ken to get a life together does she finally say something to Ken. In the second series, we catch her eyeing Joe more than once, as if she's developing an interest in him (probably in the name of fanservice).

We also see at least one episode that indicates prior romantic relationships, and she likes to disco dance (ah, the 70s) and play the guitar.

. . . hell on wheels

2010-03-03T19:58:00.006-06:00

Hello everyone,
Above we've posted the winner of our 2000 AD poll - Tank Girl! There was some question as to whether or not the character ever appeared in 2000 AD -- truth be told, the characters selected for our that particular poll were obtained from the 2000 AD website -- Tank Girl does appear in their roster of characters. Anyway, we hope you do like Kenneth's interpretation of "Hell on Wheels."

Below we have posted the character's biography as it appears on Wikipedia -- as always we would like to thank everyone who voted in the 2000 AD poll, and as always, thanks for your continued interest and support of Kenneth's work: it is appreciated far more than you know.

Thanks.

Tank Girl is a British comic created by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. Originally drawn by Jamie Hewlett, the strip is currently drawn by Rufus Dayglo, Ashley Wood, and Mike McMahon.

The titular character Tank Girl drives a tank, which is also her home. She undertakes a series of missions for a nebulous organization before making a serious mistake and being declared an outlaw for her sexual inclinations and her substance abuse. The comic centers on her misadventures with her boyfriend, Booga, a mutant kangaroo. The comic's style was heavily influenced by punk visual art, and strips were frequently deeply disorganized, anarchic, absurdist, and psychedelic. The strip features various elements with origins in surrealist techniques, fanzines, collage, cut-up technique, stream of consciousness, and metafiction, with very little regard or interest for conventional plot or committed narrative.

The strip was initially set in a stylized post-apocalyptic Australia, although it drew heavily from contemporary British pop culture.

Martin and Hewlett first met in the mid-1980s in Worthing, when Martin was in a band with Philip Bond called the University Smalls. One of their tracks was a song called "Rocket Girl". They had started using the suffix 'girl' to everything habitually after the release of the Supergirl movie, but "Rocket Girl" was a student at college who Bond had a crush on and apparently bore a striking resemblance to a Love and Rockets character. They began collaborating on a comic/fanzine called Atomtan, and while working on this, Jamie had drawn "a grotty looking beefer of a girl brandishing an unfeasible firearm. One of our friends was working on a project to design a pair of headphones and was basing his design on the type used by World War II tank driver. His studio in Worthing was littered with loads of photocopies of combat vehicles. Alan pinched one of the images and gave it to Jamie who then stuck it behind his grotty girl illustrations and then added a logo which read 'Tank Girl'."

The image was published in the fanzine as a one-page ad (with a caption that read: "SHE'LL BREAK YOUR BACK AND YOUR BALLS!"), but the Tank Girl series first appeared in the debut issue of Deadline (1988), a UK magazine intended as a forum for new comic talent, or as its publishers Brett Ewins and Tom Astor put it, "a forum for the wild, wacky and hitherto unpublishable," and it continued until the end of the magazine in 1995.

Tank Girl became quite popular in the politicized indie counterculture zeitgeist as a cartoon mirror of the growing empowerment of women in punk rock culture. Posters and t-shirts began springing up everywhere, including one especially made for the Clause 28 march against Margaret Thatcher's legislation. Clause 28 stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship." Deadline publisher Tom Astor said, "In London, there are even weekly lesbian gatherings called 'Tank Girl nights.'"

With public interest growing, Penguin, the largest publishing company in Britain, bought the rights to collect the strips as a book, and before long, Tank Girl had been published in Spain, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Argentina, Brazil and Japan, with several US publishers fighting over the license. Finally Dark Horse Comics won out, and the strips were reprinted in color beginning in '91, with an extended break in '92, and ending in September '93. A graphic novel-length story named Tank Girl: The Odyssey was also published in '95, written by Peter Milligan and loosely inspired by Homer's Odyssey, Joyce's Ulysses and a considerable quantity of junk TV, (although Milligan asserts in the preface that the story is entirely based on real events, inspired by the wanderings and adventures of a group of lost friends, all of whom appear in the pages under various pseudonyms). Another graphic novel called Tank Girl: Apocalypse, in which TG becomes pregnant, also appeared in '96, written by Alan Grant after he spent several hours alone in the pitch-dark bowels of an actual tank, experiencing sensory deprivation. Apocalypse was co-authored and drawn by Philip Bond. These last two stories, being graphic novels and not compilations of the strips, are distinctly more linear in nature, Apocalypse having absolutely no involvement from either Martin or Hewlett (and being dramatically less well-received by fans).

- Tank Girl. According to her own history included as a preface to one of the books, her first words were "cauliflower penis." When she was 7, she started a collection of novelty pencil sharpeners (the collection is now housed in the National Museum of Modern Pencil Sharpeners, Sydney). She later became a tank pilot and worked as a bounty hunter before shooting a heavily decorated officer, having mistaken him for her father, and failing to deliver colostomy bags to President Hogan, the incontinent Head of State in Australia, resulting in him publicly embarrassing himself at a large international trade conference. These events resulted in Tank Girl becoming an outlaw with a multi-million dollar bounty on her head. She is prone to random acts of sex and violence, hair dyeing, flatulence, nose-picking, vomiting, spitting, and more than occasional drunkenness. She also has the ability to outrun any ice-cream van.

-Booga: a mutated kangaroo, formerly quite a successful toy designer of "products Santa would've sacrificed a reindeer for," and presently Tank Girl's devoted boyfriend. She met him when he sneaked into her tank one night to pinch a pair of her knickers. He is a big Dame Edna fan and once impersonated Bill Clinton. Booga, often against his will, always does the cooking, particularly the great British institution of tea. He follows TG everywhere and does, by his own admission, whatever she tells him. This includes murder.

-The talking stuffed animals:

-Camp Koala: a stitchy, brown, gay, koala-shaped stuffed toy described as "the Jeremy Thorpe of comics", whom TG sodomizes with a hot banana. Camp Koala died tragically when they were playing baseball with live hand grenades which Camp eagerly caught in the outfield, exploding on impact, resulting in a violent, bloody, and gruesome death. After a tearless and comical funeral service, the other characters go to a toy store and buy a new one. Camp Koala is known for visiting occasionally as a guardian angel. He is the only character TG's ever admitted to loving.

-Squeaky toy rat: a squeaky toy rat.

-Mr. Precocious: a "small Shakespearean mutant" who looks a bit like a mini bipedal pink elephant, though may possibly be a bilby.

-Stevie, a wild-haired blond Aborigine who owns a convenience store and chain-smokes. Being TG's ex-boyfriend, Booga is always a bit jealous of him. He has various familial ties and connections with Aboriginal culture and remote traditionalist tribespeople.

-Barney: busted out of a mental hospital by TG, she is more or less insane. In The Odyssey, she is responsible for killing the whole cast, thereby sending them all to the land of the dead, from which TG was forced to save them by finding the Prince of Farts.

-Sub Girl (real name unknown, although a trading card for the film once listed her real name as 'Subrina'). Described as "like a beautiful flower floating in the loo", she pilots a submarine. A friend of TG's since childhood, she used to come round her house with Jet Girl and try on her mum's underwear.

-Jet Girl (real name unknown), a talented mechanic who flies a jet. All her friends call her "boring" (she has admitted to being a big fan of Rod Stewart).

-Boat Girl. Otherwise known as Jackie. Barney's nervous hairdresser, former figure skater. Her only brother killed by TG and Booga after they stole from a church. She owns a greatly modified WWII Motor Torpedo Boat.

After the 1995 film, Hewlett went on to make his fortune creating Gorillaz with Blur's Damon Albarn. Gorillaz are a virtual band for which Hewlett reportedly received a "big money" offer from Dreamworks for the film rights. Hewlett declined, still soured from his previous Hollywood experience, and opted to wait until he could control things on the project himself.

Martin wandered around for a bit, staying at communes with hippie friends, looking for stone circles and ancient sites before settling in Berwick Upon Tweed in the Scottish Borders with his wife Lou and son Rufus Bodie (named after Lewis Collins' character in The Professionals). Martin has played in various bands, written a Tank Girl "novel" (Armadillo) published in March 2008 by Titan Books, as well as various screenplays and scripts. He wrote the first new Tank Girl limited series in over ten years: Tank Girl: The Gifting with award-winning Australian artist Ashley Wood and Rufus Dayglo. Published by American publishers IDW, the first issue of which was released in June 2007. He is also producing Tank Girl: Carioca with Brit comics' legend Mike McMahon for Titan Books which should see print in summer 2010. On October 24, 2008, it was announced that Alan and Rufus will be doing an exclusive page a month of Tank Girl for SuicideGirls. The first page in the series was posted on November 2, 2008.

"We went to the comics graveyard and dug her up. She's smelling pretty bad, but we're gonna put her in a wheelbarrow and parade her around for all to see, anyway."

Summer 2008 saw Tank Girl: Skidmarks appearing in all-new Nine-page episodes in the Judge Dredd Megazine, again written by Martin, with art duties taken on by Rufus Dayglo, who drew issues 2-4 of the The Gifting, and Visions of Booga for IDW Comics. In an interview Martin revealed that Visions of Booga was the only Tank Girl comic that doesn't contain any major swear words: "It has a "bastard" here and a "bitch" there, but it doesn't have any F-words or C-words."

Alan Martin and Rufus Dayglo have produced a comprehensive Tank Girl website, at www.tank-girl.com which has info, exclusive art, forums, blogs, exclusive sneak previews, as well as links to all Tank Girl material in print.

Titan Books have released The Cream of Tank Girl, complied by Alan Martin, containing Jamie Hewlett art and Alan Martin scripts, starting from her earliest beginning as a pin-up in Atomtan, it features a brand new Jamie Hewlett cover as well as brand new script from Alan Martin.

. . . a prince of avalon

2010-03-03T19:45:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone,

We hope that life has been treating everyone well -- sorry for the "radio silence" of late: work has had me slammed for the past few weeks, and will continue to do so until the second week of April or so; in other words, our updates might be a bit "spotty" from now until then, but I shall endeavor to post updates as my schedule permits.

Anyway, above we have posted our winner of our CrossGen poll -- Ethan. Below we have posted the character's biography as seen on Wikipedia. Our thanks again to Wikipedia for the knowledge and all of you for your input -- as always we do appreciate your interest in Kenneth's work and career: you all are the best!

Ethan is a character created for the CrossGen universe. One of the five original sigil-bearing characters introduced by way of CrossGen's first four flagship titles (Mystic, Sigil, Scion, and Meridian). He is a major character found in the comic book Scion.

Ethan is the youngest son of King Dane and Queen Mariella, the ruling monarchs of the Heron Dynasty, a nation inherent to a continent placed in what is considered the western portion of the planet Avalon. He has two older brothers, Artor and Kai, and an older sister, Ylena.

On Ethan's 21st birthday, as with all of King Dane's sons, he participated in a mock one-on-one battle. The opposition was from the Raven Dynasty, a nation set east across the ocean from the Heron Dynasty. At one time the two great nations were locked in bitter battle but had obtained peace by way of an incident that occurred centuries before on an island. This "mock battle" takes place yearly (as a tradition to stay the current peace between them) on that same island, the Tournament Isle, a small piece of land directly centered between the two nations. Bron, eldest son of King Viktor, was the fighter selected to challenge Ethan in the traditional "mock battle" that year. Shortly before entering the arena, a member of a people referred to by Avalonans as "The Lesser Races" placed his hand on Ethan's arm as a jesture of wishing him good luck but also marking him with a red and gold sigil, unbeknownst to Ethan.

The sigil granted Ethan a measure of power but that power caused him to injure Prince Bron during the battle, inflicting him with an unhealable wound, a scar that stretched centered down his right eye. Avalon, being a technologically advanced world (despite the outward appearance of Avalonans living in a medieval era), had very advanced medical knowledge, tissue repair was usually a simple procedure, but because of the power of Ethan's sigil, this scar would remain. Because of this, the tournament rules were broken and Ethan unknowingly committed a crime. And possibly created a reason for the Ravens to go to war against the Herons.

Ethan was taken to the Raven lands to spend time in a dungeon prison for one year serving justice for his part in the unintentional dishonor he brought upon his family name (an effect stemming from the accident which occurred during the traditional tournament battle) and for unexpectedly breaking the tournament rules (i.e. inflicting an irreparable scar). While in the Raven Keep, Ethan saw a beautiful red-haired young woman walking the halls. Eventually, she rescued Ethan from his dungeon home only to reveal herself later as the youngest daughter of the Raven Dynasty's royalty, Ashleigh.

At first Ashleigh revealed that she was currently leading a revolution to end slavery in her lands, which was a common practice among Raven-born citizens. In both the Heron kingdom and the Raven kingdom genetically-engineered humanoids serve the true humans doing lesser jobs. But in the Raven lands, the lesser races are slaves with hardly any rights at all. The "lesser races" were somewhat better treated in the Heron lands of Prince Ethan. Ethan is drawn to Ashleigh and feels a deep revulsion at how the Raven kingdom treats their subjects but for because Ethan thinks he needs to serve the Heron kingdom, he rejects Ashleigh's plea to help her cause.

As Prince Ethan travels around the Heron kingdom, he meets up with the most feared bounty hunter in the two countries: a huge troll-like creature named Exeter. They fight on several occasions and finally Ethan beats Exeter (using his Sigil-power to create a magic sword capable of cutting through anything, like a Lightsaber. Ethan spares Exeter's life and this changes the mighty bounty hunter. The next time they meet Exeter asks to join the group and from then on, Exeter is a loyal and powerful companion.

After additional adventures, Ethan promised Ashleigh that he would help her cause. However the fact that he was a Heron Prince and she was a Raven Princess and their two nations were at war caused a barrier to their romance. Ethan and Ashleigh's love for each other love did grow over time. They finally admitted their love for each other when they were alone together visiting the underwater city of Haven, deep in the ocean.