Wednesday, March 28, 2012

DARK SHADOWS Promo Images Make Me Smile!

DARK SHADOWS: Strange is Relative







The Three Things in Life You Can Always Count On...

This Hap Pitkin editorial cartoon has been making the rounds recently and makes a pretty good point about how politicians (at this time in history -- Republicans) fixate on the little drips and dribbles that polarize the voters rather than tackling the substantive problems.  The finger in the dike metaphor is oft-used by  satirists and cartoonists for these types of situations.  Pitkin's cartoon reminded me of my own editorial cartoon drawn up back in the middle of the "W" administration.  In this case, I'm satirizing the incessant need of political bureaucracy to avoid taking the obvious steps to fix a problem and instead fixate on dragging out the process of coming to consensus.  My issue was the immigration issue.  Rather than draw the dike with holes, I used the metaphor of leaving the water running and skipping the obvious step of first turning off the water.

There are three things in life you can always count on:  Death, Taxes, and Politicians avoiding reality. It never changes.

*disregard the email addy at the bottom of the cartoon because it doesn't exist anymore.

Friday, March 23, 2012

TV's New GREEN ARROW Costume...fixed!


Ever since the release of the first publicity shot of the Green Arrow costume for the new TV series ARROW, there has been something nagging at me about the costume -- something seemed to be missing.  Something very important at that.  It finally hit me, and just like when I went in and added the swastika armband to the Red Skull promo shot, I "fixed" the Green Arrow costume and here it is.  Now it's just about perfect as far as I'm concerned.  There are little changes here and there to costuming that is perfectly reasonable and understandable when translating from comic books to film, but sometimes there are changes for no reason at all...and those are the ones that bug me.




Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Ka-Boom Family (Sneak Peek Sketch)


With DC Comics' recent announcement that Capt. Marvel & the Marvel Family are no more; instead they are establishing a entirely new incarnations of these classic characters, I've gotten the bug to revisit my own original concept, Capt. Ka-Boom and the Ka-Boom Family.  Above is a new pencil drawing of the basic costume designs.  Once I have had the time to layer in the colors and finish it out, I will write up a more in-depth piece detailing the characters and concept.

For now, just know that while they are not at all parodies or direct homages to the Marvel Family characters, the Ka-Boom Family is a super-hero concept that is intended to embody the playful spirit and tone that once was exemplified in the Marvel Family comics originally published by Fawcett.

So, here's a bit of a teaser for you

Who knows.  Maybe I'll get inspired to actually do more with these characters than just design their look and develop the concept.

*Captain Ka-Boom, Kassie Ka-Boom, Kid Ka-Boom, Chimp Ka-Boom, Ka-Boom Family characters TM and © Keith Howell

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Asking the Most Vexing Question of Our Time!


Reblogged: Rush to Judgment

Great column by Zaki Hasan.

I was an early adopter of Rush myself. I started listening to his show in 1988 and listened practically daily for over 10 years.


That was during the time when, if you really listened daily, you knew he didn't take his own schtick seriously. I don't doubt his conservative belief system, but the blustery puffed-up ass he portrayed on the radio was a persona he turned on when the microphone was hot and turned off when the microphone was off.

When Rush started to lose me was when he started the slow process of believing his own schtick and I was evolving into a near absolute individualist (which runs contrary to both the American "Conservative" movement AND the "Liberal" movements).

This pattern of believing their own hype happens too often with populist personalites like this. They go from being brilliant performers (and/or commentators) and slip into full demagoguery before they even realize it. Rush is digging his own grave...and Glenn Beck is surely privately drawing up proposals to offer his show to the stations currently carrying the Limbaugh radio show.

ZAKI'S CORNER with Zaki Hasan | News | Reviews | Pop Culture | Politics

ZAKI'S CORNER with Zaki Hasan | News | Reviews | Pop Culture | Politics: Rush to Judgment: There was a time when I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh. All the time. And not ironically, either. As a junior high student in the thick...