The Recent and Forbidden

It occurred to me this morning that most of what I've spent the last few weeks working on can't be legally shown to anyone just yet. Which of course made me want to immediately show it. Or anyway, clips of it. Let it not be said that I'm in any way brave. Nor let it be said that Rupert Murdoch or Stan Lee can now justifiably kill my family.

Rupert's connection to my schedule of late involves the above two clips. One from a comic strip about Stallone's reprisal of "Rambo," the other from a comic strip about Michael Jackson's re-issue of "Thriller." What does that have to do with Mr. Murdoch? Strangely enough these strips were commissioned by the Wall Street Journal. The "Rambo" strip ran last week, I believe "Thriller" runs today.

Though I'm not sure when it's running, I also had the honor of working on a Michael Kupperman written cartoon for Nickelodeon Magazine. Michael's one of my favorite people in comics, and while this cartoon – "World's Worst Comic Book Heroes That Never Existed" – is great, I don't know how he'll ever top "Mickey Rourke's Pubic Hair Stencils." Perfection!


Then there's the also-can't-show panels I'm contributing for issue six of Omega The Unknown (issue five is now out in stores apparently). I'm drawing the panels of the comic that an incarcerated Omega is reading, within the comic (my pencils are in blue, Farel Dalrymple's finished panels are in black, both will be colored in the final version). I noticed while piecing together the graphics for this post that the framing of the Mink drinking panel is the same as the contemplative, elderly Stallone from the Wall Street Journal strip. Looks like I'm calcifying in my old age too.


The one item I can show without worry of a protracted legal battle or having my knee caps sawed off is this illustration for The Poetry Foundation. Fare thee well, nose.