Saturday, February 25, 2012

Volunteers #1 Cover

Welcome to VOLUNTEERS #1, May 2004.  The germ of this idea came in the shadowy days after a bad migraine, when I was thinking about "found art"--making art out of whatever flotsam and jetsam happened to be lying around.
Thus, all of the dialogue in VOLUNTEERS #1 was chosen at random from old comic books I plucked out of an overflowing box, with the following caveats:  the comic book must be at least 15 years old, and preferably an obscure title or one no longer in print.
I wrote each one on a post-it, and kept re-arranging and re-arranging them until they made sense.  As you might suspect, I threw out a lot.
One might recognize the stalwart Volunteers from their guest-starring role in my prior comic book experiment, BAD EGGS #1, a 24 Hour Comic Book.

Volunteers #1 Page 1

TIGER-MAN #2, Atlas, 1975
SGT. STRYKER'S DEATH SQUAD, Atlas, 1975

Volunteers #1 Page 2

ALL-STAR WESTERN #1, DC, 1970
GHOST STORIES #18, Dell, 1967

Volunteers #1 Page 3

GHOST STORIES #18, Dell, 1967 (Continued)
WENDY THE GOOD LITTLE WITCH #91, Harvey, 1975
SON OF DRACULA #1, Atlas, 1975

Volunteers #1 Page 4

The issue's title comes from a text fiction story written by Gerry Conway in ALL-STAR WESTERN #1.

Volunteers #1 Page 5

G.I. COMBAT #158, DC, 1973
THE TOMB OF DRACULA #30, Marvel, 1974

Volunteers #1 Page 6

HOWARD THE DUCK #3, Marvel, 1977

Volunteers #1 Page 7

CAPTAIN ATOM #89, Charlton, 1967
O.M.A.C. #4, DC, 1975

Volunteers #1 Page 8

THE MAN CALLED NOVA #23, Marvel, 1979
RICHARD DRAGON, KUNG FU FIGHTER #12, DC, 1976
CLAW THE UNCONQUERED #12, DC, 1978

Volunteers #1 Page 9

SUPER HEROES #3, Dell, 1967
ARAK, SON OF THUNDER #38, DC, 1984

Volunteers #1 Page 10

ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #55, Archie, 1978

Volunteers #1 Page 11

ROCKY LANE WESTERN #29, Fawcett, Undated
BLACK FURY #12, Charlton, 1958

Volunteers #1 Page 12

THE CHAMPIONS #11, Marvel, 1976
KICKERS, INC. #2, Marvel, 1986

Volunteers #1 Page 13

MARVEL PREMIERE #46, Marvel, 1979
TARZAN #10, Marvel, 1978

Volunteers #1 Page 14

RED SONJA #8, Marvel, Unlisted
RED WOLF #6,  Marvel, 1972

Volunteers #1 Page 15


Volunteers #1 Page 16

KARATE KID #7, DC, 1977
RIN TIN TIN #11, Dell, 1956

Volunteers #1 Page 17


Volunteers #1 Page 18

BUTCH CASSIDY #2, Skywald, Date Unknown
JONAH HEX #69, DC, 1983
POWER MAN #35, Marvel, 1976
BILLY THE KID #88, Charlton, 1971

Volunteers #1 Page 19

INDIAN CHIEF #11, Dell, 1953
STRANGE TALES (Featuring Brother Voodoo), Marvel, 1973

Volunteers #1 Page 20

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #4, Marvel, 1973
FLY MAN #38, Mighty, 1966

THANKS TO:  My wife and kids, as always, for their support; my brother Eric, who always wants me to do more comics; Trent and Tom, who looked on with stunned surprise when I tried to explain this project; but this one is especially for Joe's kid, Son of Squid, who got excited when he saw BAD EGGS.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Black History Month Covered!

I submitted this to Rejected by Covered, where people more talented than me riff on classic comic book covers.  Here is my Black History Month Avengers line-up, with Captain America, Giant Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Submariner and Thor replaced by Battlestar, Black Goliath, Captain Marvel, War Machine, Storm and Brother Voodoo.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

I Was Feeling Kinda Seasick; But The Crowd Called Out For More

Well, it's February, 1st, it is 60 degrees in the midwest, Indiana is going to start teaching Creationism, and Don Cornelius died. 

There is apparently also going to be a prequel to the milestone comics series Watchmen, but I will withhold judgment on whether this is the Fourth Horseman in what is obviously the long-awaited End of Days.

I have been afraid to talk about this unusual winter.  I guess I knew that all that Aqua Net my mother's beauty salon sprayed in the 70s and 80s would one day take its toll, but we have had two very hard winters in a row.  Last year we had terrible ice and snow, including a frostquake, which is an actual thing, and not a D&D spell, or a Superman villain. I also fell off the roof chipping ice out of the gutters on the second story and still pause in wonderment that I landed unbroken.

After last winter I vowed I would never complain about heat again, so we were tested with a boiling hot summer.  Now this unusual weather makes people superstitious, thinking that our winter will somehow get tacked on to the end; I think it is just shaving days off of what we would have had.


But what I really think is that the Earth will spin on and doesn't care about our little part in it, a February kind of thought.

In other news, I am once more going to try to read 50 books in the calendar year, but will try to change it up a bit this go-round.  This year I am going to offer up my favorite book of the month and invite loyal readers to follow along.  If you have been reading this humble blog for a while, I guarantee you will like it.  For January:  The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Until later, you can catch me at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.