Note: Evan “Doc” Shaner and Jon Morris are back with two more entries into their ever-growing kid-friendly take on Marvel’s Inhumans. This curious creation by Jack Kirby has new life and gives my imagination fuel for all sorts of new stories should Evan & Jon ever received the chance to tell those stories! – Chris A.
Note: Although they say there’s still work to be done, I couldn’t help but showing off what artists Evan “Doc” Shaner and Jon Morris have been working on (and posting on their blogs) for a Project: Rooftop entry. The imagination here is invigorating, and when you factor in that this is unfinished and there’s more characters they plan on doing renditions of, I challenge you not to be on the edge of your seat. – Chris A.
Note: P:R regular Jon Morris has delved into the DC archives and brought back a startling (and spunky!) super heroine. Originally created for the blog 5 Minute Marvels, since he was drawing it for a kid he turned Element Girl into a kid herself. – Chris A.
Note: Bill Walko does it again! P:R readers should remember his work from the frequent submissions he’s done for us over the years, and this newest piece really digs deep into a fondly-remembered 80s cartoon series of mine. Stay tuned for Bill’s commentary below the art! – Chris A.
Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends: “Chillin’ In The Crime Lab”
Ah, the Spider-Friends. One of my favorite cartoons as a kid… probably because Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar were so much cooler and funnier than the Superfriends. And remember how their apartment converted into a high-tech crime lab with the twist of that football trophy? Well, here it is — the Spidey Pals – Pete, Bobby, Angelica and even Ms. Lion – in their civvies. I took the look they had in the show and gave ‘em some more modern looks. Spider Friends…. go for it.
Note: Although school has come and gone for a lot of us, this imaginative illustration by J. Bone really makes me want to enroll. – Chris A.
Here’s what J. Bone had to say about the image back in 2007:
It was originally done as a pitch for an Archie-like approach to the Marvel characters. I’d been drawing a teen version of Tigra for a while and used her as the main character in the pitch (which was written by Brian McLachlan of Princess Planet fame).
Note: Over at my Tumblr blog, today, I posted the character designs and notes from Lois Lane, Girl Reporter, an illustrated young adult novel series pitch Daniel Krall and I worked on for DC a few years ago. You can read my thoughts on it, and see some additional character designs by Rooftop Rockstars Jemma Salume and Ming Doyle at the original post. Here, though, are what I can only describe as Daniel’s perfect designs for the series. Hope you like them. – Dean Trippe
Lois Lane, age 11
Clark Kent, age 12
Bruce Wayne, age 13, and Alfred Pennyworth
Note: Rooftop Readers will recognize the work of our good pal Bill Walko, who’s been sending us fantastic All-Ages All-Star entries for a while now. Today we’re taking a look at Bill’s Teen Titans collection, which, if you follow Bill’s work, you’ll already know, has become something of a magnum opus. His most recent pic, Teen Titans: The Early Years is the one I’ve really been waiting for. That’s my favorite roster, from the original series. Good grief, Nick Cardy ruled. We’ve also rounded up the rest of Bill’s Teen Titans illos, so check ‘em out, with notes and commentary from Mr. Walko himself! – Dean Trippe
Season One: Ginchy Get Together
Robin! Aqualad! Kid Flash! Speedy! Wonder Girl! Get ready for the ginchiest get together ever, daddios! It’s the fab five Titans coolin’ their heels in Titans Lair between missions: Robin-O reviews fan mail, Gillhead raps with his Aquachick, Speedio lays the charm on Wonder Chick while Flasheroo returns with almost all the pizza intact! Dig it.
Season Two: Dig That Spooky Cemetary
Well, we’ve really gotten ourselves into a hairy scene this time,” gulped the fleet-footed Kid Flash. “Yes, I’ve never felt such evil vibes in one place,” echoed Lilith, sensory teen siren extraordinaire. That’s actual dialogue from an early-70s-era Teen Titans comic. In the course of Teen Titans #33-43, the series was largely driven by Lilith’s mysticism, prompting the super-hero team to tackle various supernatural goings-on.
I always liked this era, because it reminded me of those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, where a group of unsupervised teens would tool around investigating mysteries. So in this piece, I drew our favorite ghost-busting teen team supreme [from left to right]: Kid Flash, Robin, Mal Duncan, Lilith, Gnarrk, Wonder Girl and Speedy. Zoinks! Enjoy.
Season Three: Saturday Night at Gabriels’ Horn
In the late seventies, DC Comics revived the Teen Titans into the Swingin’ Seventies. Their headquarters was a disco in Long Island and they fought some roller skating thugs. Hey, it was the seventies. The line-up: Herald, Bumblebee, Robin, Speedy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Harlequin (aka Joker’s Daughter) and Aqualad. Speedy and Herald played in a rock group known as “Great Frog,” so here’s the team getting down and funky in between super-heroing. You really can’t make this stuff up! And what was with the 70s and all those adventurous teenagers in bands?
Titans West: Crime’s Down, Surf’s Up
Before the Avengers, Justice League or X-Men, the Teen Titans was the first super-team to franchise itself. In the Swingin’ 70s, Titans West hit the scene. It’s membership: Beast Boy, the shape-shifting green-skinned orphan; Lilith, the teen psychic fashionista; Flamebird, the self-proclaimed Robin groupie; Golden Eagle, So-Cal slacker turned hero-for-profit; and Hawk & Dove, the brothers balancing pacifism and aggression.
I wanted to capture the fun spirit of the team merged with that So-Cal lifestyle. So here’s the crew chillin’ at the beach right after taking down that super creep, Captian Calamity.
Titans: Zero Hour
IN COLOR! Titans: Zero Hour: Here’s the Teen Titans team after DC’s “Zero Hour” event. I always thought it was a pretty cool line-up: Arsenal, Darkstar Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, Supergirl, Terra II, Mirage, Damage, Impulse, Minion and Rose Wilson. I was always bummed we never got a full “group shot”. So here it is, by me. :)
A Titans Tower Christmas
Here’s a sequel to last year’s Teen Titans Christmas party with the new roster (plus a few visiting friends). From left to right: Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Robin (Tim Drake), Ravager, Superboy, Beast Boy, Robin (Damien Wayne), Miss Martian, new Titan Solstice, Zachary Zatara and Raven. I wish Beast Boy a lot of luck trying to get Ravager and Damien in the Christmas mood….
Note: In All-Ages All-Stars, contributing artists put a kid-friendly spin on familiar comics characters. Today we’re looking at Derek Charm‘s cartoonified Seven Soldiers of Victory! – Dean Trippe
Here’s Derek to run down the 7SoV roster:
Frankenstein, The Manhattan Guardian, Zatanna, Klarion the Witch Boy, Mister Miracle, The Shining Knight and Bulleteer from Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers comics done up in the style of a Hannah Barbera cartoon, cuz why not?
Note: In All-Ages All-Stars, P:R contributors put a kid-friendly spin on familiar comics characters. Today we’re looking at Bill Walko‘s awesome X-Men redesign! – Dean Trippe
Bill had this to say about his Teens of the Atom:
Welcome to your first semester at the the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, kids. Hope you survive the experience! As much as I love Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and the rest, I have a special fondness for the original five X-Men. It was like “The Breakfast Club” with eye blasts and telekinesis. It’s too bad Marvel rushed through the team’s high school years, unaware of the group’s future longevity. Here’s my version the the team’s early days, playing up each of their personalities…
There’s sullen Scott Summers (Cyclops), wealthy gadabout Warren Worthington III (Angel), beautiful and brainy Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), boisterous Bobby Drake (Iceman) and brutish yet bookish Hank McCoy (Beast). Now get to class, muties!
Note: Note: In All-Ages All-Stars, P:R contributors put a kid-friendly spin on familiar comics characters. Today we’re looking at Bill Walko‘s awesome Wonder Twins redesign! P:R Pal and iZombie writer Chris Roberson contributed the super-positive review below. – Dean Trippe
The Roberson Review (TM):
I love love LOVE Bill Walko’s redesign of the Wonder Twins. I used to entertain fantasies of convincing DC to publish an all-ages Wonder Twins series through their Johnny DC line, and if I had by some fluke managed to get one off the ground, this is what it should have looked like. He has managed to update the look of the characters nicely, so that they are instantly recognizable as the shape-shifting twins from the old Super Friends cartoon but with a very contemporary look and feel. And I love the fact that the twins are doing a kind of “fist bump,” suggesting that that’s how they would activate their powers, a perfect updating of the concept.
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