Friday Night Art Show: Achtung, Squiddie!

Excuse me, Madame



By Jeremy Vanhoozer.

Squiddie



By Kyle Hunter. [Sketchy Business]

Triton



By Monsterpocalypse.

First in the Future



By Frank Frazetta [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Marrina



By Jesse Hamm. Lots more Alpha Flight art in that link. I especially dig his Heather Hudson and Sasquatch.

The Sea Girl



I don't recognize that signature. Anyone know? [Galactic Central]

Aquaman, Anyone?



By Jesus Saiz. [DC Universe: The Source]

Aquaman vs. Nazi Fish



By DC Stuelpner.

Spawn of Space



Artist Unknown [American Pulps & Magazines]

First Wave



By Rags Morales [DC Universe: The Source]

Catwoman



By Alex Ross. This will always be Catwoman's costume to me.

Golem



By Patri Balanovsky. [Sketchy Business]

Play Time



By Sam Hiti. Check this one out too. It's sort of a sequel.

Don't Feed the Bears



By Mel Milton.

Wooden Ninja



By Eric Zermeno.

Odin



By Pere Pérez. [Victor Santos]

Ride of the Valkyrie



By Tony Mayoh. [Sketchy Business]

Zoom Quilt



By lots of people. You have to click through and watch this. It's a Flash animation that zooms inward, taking you deeper and deeper through a continuous series of paintings and eventually looping on itself. Amazing.

Space Lion



By Jeremy Vanhoozer.

Teeth



By Scott Burroughs.

Space Squadron



By Sol Brodsky (maybe). [Collectors Assemble]

Friday Night Art Show: Into the Wicked Beak of the Monster

The Courage of Sir Francis Drake



By Frank Godwin. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Sunken Cities



By Frank R. Paul. [Poulpe Pulps]

Jules Verne



By Scott Campbell [Hey, Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin Time!]

Avoidance Situation



By Mel Hunter [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Not What I Expected



By Jeremy Vanhoozer.

Octopus Attack



I'm not sure who the artist is, but it's from the September 1940 issue of Weird Tales. Sleestak was kind enough to email it to me. Thanks, Sleestak!

Anime Aquaman



By Cliff Chiang. Based on this earlier idea of his.

Marrina



By J Bone. Marrina's one of my Top Three favorite members of Alpha Flight. I like Puck a lot too, so I kind of wish she'd leave him alone, but this isn't nearly as bad as what she did to him in the comic.

I Heart Sharks



By Jess Hickman. I'm totally using this character in the pirate-fantasy comic Jess and I are going to do.

Ancient Jungle Cool



By Frederick Catherwood. [Admiral Calvin of the Tentacle Wars, operating from his Canadian Cave of Cool. And there's way more in the link. Go! Look!]

Concert of the Apes



Artist unknown. [There's a whole Rulah cover gallery at The Comic Book Catacombs.]

Stream of Consciousness



By Robert Conrad [Collectors Showcase]

Penny vs the Cownt



By Jess Hickman from the upcoming Cownt Tales comic. The Bride of Frankenstein kitty is one of three hosts who narrate the comic Tales from the Crypt- or The Witching Hour-style.

Oz Monkey



By Jim Pearson.

Zatanna



By Cliff Chiang...



...and Charles Holbert. [Meagan Van Burkleo]

Alpha Flight: First Class

Marvel's asked some of their writers, artists, and editors to name the comic book deaths that have most affected them over the years. Proving once again how awesome he is, Fred Van Lente chose Guardian from Alpha Flight (presumably referring to the first time from Alpha Flight #12; not the time in the picture above).

That would have to be mine too, but this isn't about me. It's about Fred's being awesome. Over at the Alpha Flight message board, someone's got the right idea: Fred should totally write an Alpha Flight: First Class comic. Enough trying to create a new team of Alphans that people will dig. Why not go back to basics and tell more stories with Guardian, Shaman, Snowbird, Sasquatch, Northstar, Aurora, Puck, and Marrina?

Marvel's Ben Morse likes the idea too and - in most likely an unrelated statement - says that we'll probably have new Alpha Flight news around mid-2009.

Awesome List: Pirates, marine superheroes, sea monsters, a floating city, and... Fish War.

Galveston



Boom! Studios sent me a press release about their upcoming pirate/cowboy mini-series. It's based on actual events from Jean Lafitte's days in Galveston, Texas where he knew and worked with future Alamo-hero Jim Bowie. Boom! calls it "an over the top thriller of blood, guts, and revenge." I wonder if they're going to mention that Lafitte and Bowie knew each other because the frontiersman helped the pirate smuggle in slaves and launder the profits.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

I gotta start reading more Young Adult books. That's where all the action is. Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, for example, is the story of a prim and proper nineteenth-century schoolgirl who crosses the Atlantic to rejoin her family after studying in England. But on the trip she gets involved in mutiny and murder and is transformed into a swashbuckling heroine.

I thoroughly enjoyed Avi's medieval tale Crispin, so I'm going to have to read this too. But maybe I'll wait until after the movie (starring Morgan Freeman and Pierce Brosnan).

Marrina Mini-Bust



Bowen Designs has a new mini-bust featuring one of my favorite Alpha Flight characters. I hate what happened to her in the comics, but the tragic aspect of her story is probably what I like most about her. That and just that she's really, really well-designed.

Man, I miss John Byrne's Alpha Flight.

Did you know Aquaman has a theme song?

Neither did I.

Sea monster wallet



Designed by Mike DiPetrillo.

Tetrapod Zoology's Sea Monster Week

Featuring the Amazing Hook Island Sea Monster, Professor Sharpe's Mysterious Sea Serpent, the Tecolutla monster, sea monster corpses, and two posts on Moore's Beach Monster.

Soon we will all live on giant, floating, lilypad cities.



At least, I certainly hope so.

Fish War



If only it weren't from the people who brought us Dragon Wars. Still, the concept is awesome enough that one has hope.