Art Attack: Ben's 90's X-Men Sketchbook

The year was 1993 (or 1994) and 11-year-old (or 12-year-old) Ben Morse's eyes were glued to either Fox's X-Men: The Animated Series or the epic X-Cutioner's Song crossover. And like a lot of kids my age, lack of formal artistic training (and possibly talent) certainly didn't stop me from attempting to emulate Jim Lee or Andy Kubert in depicting my favorite comic book characters.

I linked up with my buddy Husani Johnson to actually put together a "sketchbook" of our favorite X-Men as well as members of X-Force and X-Factor leader Havok (sadly Captain Britain made the cover alone and in name only).

Cleaning out my room back at my folks' house in Boston over Thanksgiving, I found said artistic treasure trove, and of course I had to share it with the world.

I offer the following with only two comments: I clearly still didn't quite have a hang of what women (or limbs) looked like and I was a friggin' logo master.

(Also, I attempted to only print my work here since I haven't spoken to Husani in years and don't have permission to show his, so I apologize if I got some mixed up by mistake)

We don't usually post press releases, but...

Good friend of the blog Sean T. Collins has unveiled the new digital HQ of his awesome web comic tour de force Destructor! Hopefully we're gonna be speaking to STC himself later in the week all about the Destructive One, but in the mean time, check out our man's origin of the concept here, his official PR below, and a spot of fan art from myself and Rickey following that...

IGNATZ AWARD WINNER MATT WIEGLE AND COMICS BLOGGER SEAN T. COLLINS UNLEASH 'DESTRUCTOR'

November 29, 2010 - Writer Sean T. Collins and cartoonist Matt Wiegle are pleased to unveil DestructorComics.com, the home of their new webcomic series DESTRUCTOR.

Set in a science-fiction-fantasy world that becomes all the more dangerous the second the title character sets foot in it, DESTRUCTOR is the story of the titular tyrant -- an armor-clad immigrant to the sprawling Alpha System who rises to unimaginable power with the help of his brutal Mob of allies. Destructor and his world were first conceived by Sean when he was in third grade, 24 years ago. Ever since -- in copious notes, in crude drawings, and in his head -- he has developed and expanded the story, with the entire arc of Destructor's career as a criminal and conqueror mapped out.

Now that career has been brought to life by Matt Wiegle, 2010 Ignatz Award winner for Promising New Talent. A fan of Matt's ever since he first saw his comics in the school paper while the two attended college together, Sean is thrilled to see the people and places he's known for all these years appear before him, more vividly than he ever imagined, thanks to Matt's bold, thoughtful art.

DestructorComics.com is launching with two previously published DESTRUCTOR stories, "Destructor Comes to Croc-Town" and "Destructor in: Prison Break." Originally seen in black and white on Top Shelf Productions' Top Shelf 2.0 webcomics portal and in the anthologies Elfworld (Family Style) and Murder (Partyka), the strips will be republished in full color for the very first time. New pages, freshly colored by Matt Wiegle, will be posted every Monday and Thursday. And upon the conclusion of "Prison Break," a series of all-new, never-before-seen, full-color DESTRUCTOR adventures will be serialized on the site.

Incorporating influences from Robert E. Howard and He-Man to Fort Thunder and Boards of Canada, DESTRUCTOR is an ongoing adventure-saga exploration of action and spectacle, violence and camaraderie, loneliness and anger.

About the authors:

Sean T. Collins has written about comics and popular culture professionally since 2001 for such publications as Maxim, The Comics Journal, Wizard, A&F Quarterly, Comic Book Resources, Giant, ToyFare, The Onion News Network, and The Comics Reporter. His comics have been published by Top Shelf, Partyka, and Family Style. He has lived on Long Island since 1978, with his wife and their cats since 2002, and with Destructor and his world since 1986. He blogs daily at Attentiondeficitdisorderly and regularly at Robot 6. Email him or follow him on Twitter.

Matt Wiegle lives in Brooklyn and draws things. He is responsible for the minicomics Ayaje’s Wives, Seven More Days of Not Getting Eaten and Is it Bacon? He was presented with the 2010 “Promising New Talent” Ignatz Award for his story “The Orphan Baiter,” which can be found in Papercutter #13. Email him or follow him on Twitter.

San Diego 2010 Novarama Sketchfest

Once again the sketch gods smiled upon me again at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. I already showed off the new additions to Megan's Miss Martian collection, so now here's the dynamic duo I was fortunate enough to snag for my Nova Sketchbook.

In addition to being the son of the legendary Neal Adams, Josh Adams is a dang fine artist in his own right and a swell dude as well. I met him at a Ring of Honor show a couple months ago via our mutual friend Christopher Daniels and I gingerly mentioned I'd be tracking him down sooner rather than later for a sketch. At San Diego, neither of us forgot this pact and Josh was more than happy to take some time and do this neat piece for me. Josh went the Magneto helmet route on Nova's headgear, but not in a way that renders him unrecognizable, so I actually dig that his sketch stands out in that way. I also always love when somebody throws in an extra touch like lettering or a gag, and Josh did both; I may not totally understand the Dr. Seuss allusions because I'm, y'know, uncultured, but I certainly appreciate it nonetheless.

For my second piece of the con, I was wandering Artist's Alley and got super-psyched when I saw that Jacob Chabot was in the house. I first got to see Jacob's work when Rickey recommended Skullboy my way and then flipped my lid when he did X-Babies and drew every friggin' X-Men character ever as a baby (it was a thing of beauty)! I worked with Jacob a few times on Marvel.com to promote X-Babies and in fact a series of sketches he did for us ended up being variant covers for the series. I had a nice talk with Jacob and his buddy and X-Babies collaborator Gregg Schigiel about the book and other stuff and was of course overjoyed to get a sketch in the bargain. This sucker is everything I love about Chabot's style, particularly his ability to find the fun in a super hero piece without making it goofy; that's a Nova who knows how to party but is also ready to kick some ass. Factor in an awesome pose and great background and you've got one of my favorite sketches I've gotten in some time.

Thanks guys!

San Diego 2010 Sketch-o-rama Pt. 1

Oh man, I am wiped the heck out from San Diego Comic-Con! I've been to three of these suckers now, and no question this was my favorite so far. Besides the show itself, getting to interact with fans and see what they think of what we're doing, I had the perfect balance this year of seeing my bros, spending time with creators who I love to chat with, fostering some camaraderie with my Marvel colleagues and going on trippy pro wrestling adventures that land me on the top of PetCo Park shaking hands with Paul Heyman.

But right now, as much as I'm still tingling from great stories and better friends, I'm pretty wasted from taking a red eye back and then heading into the office on three hours of sleep (I'm hardcore).

So while if the past is any indication all four of us will be checking in throughout the next little bit with anecdotes, pics, etc., for now I want to show off some of the sketches I was fortunate enough to pick up this year.

I did snag some new Nova pieces, but my sketchbook is actually still in the physical possession of the great Josh Adams right now. However, I did get a very special surprise Human Rocket rendering from none other than pro wrestling superstar and my Marvel.com broadcast partner "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels!

Not bad, eh? Chris may "fall down for a living" as he puts it, but I think he's got some skills! I see a bit of early Jamal Igle in that piece; very nice shading on the musculature. You may have a second career awaiting you Mr. Daniels!

However, Nova aside, I also had Megan's very special Miss Martian collection along for the ride and got two new portrayals of my favorite Martian, first up from Andy Lanning...

Many may know Andy as one half of the supreme cosmic writing duo of DnA along with Dan Abnett or even as a prolific inker, but he's also a hell of an artist in his own right when not working over somebody else's pencils, as this more than demonstrates. I had some very fun times with Andy over the past week as he's one of the funniest dudes in comics or anywhere really; ditto for Dan. Very glad to see DnA get their well-earned props on the Mondo Marvel panel from an appreciative crowd.

I also got Megan a sketch she's wanted for some time as she's always been jealous of my own Chris Giarusso Nova...

What can I say about Chris G's work? The guy is awesome and I don't think he's capable of bad art. His Miss Martian is absolutely adorable, but I'm not surprised. Megan is totally in love with this sketch already, so I owe Chris, also a heckuva nice guy.

So that's it for the first wave, but when I wake up in three days or so hopefully I should have more for you. In the mean time...Kevin, where are you, kid?!

New Nova sketch

One of the cool things about having a sketchbook with even a little bit of a reputation among the comic circuit is that occasionally (like, twice) some artists will even ask you if they can draw in it as opposed to vice versa. This is a rare occurence for me, but after my last few Nova sketch posts, I was fortunate to experience it once more, as my officemate Margarita showed the blog to her boyfriend, Terry, and he decided he wanted to give a shot for himself. The result was this beauty...
Terry works in design by trade, but obviously part and parcel of the skillset required for that means he's got art chops, as you can clearly see here. This seriously vaulted right up to near the top of my list as far as favorite sketches as it includes several things I'm a sucker for, including (but not limited to) humor, color and the use of a Wite-out pen. I think Terry's take on Nova's costumes, with slight but significant alterations to the classic model, is pretty darn badass; I also dig huge on the energy effects he created and, of course, the inclusion of Iron Man in the perfect manner. Can you believe this dude doesn't draw comics for a living, but just for fun?

Anyways, much thanks to Terry as well as Margarita, and for those of you looking on with envy, I will totally pass him your name for a hefty but totally reasonable finder's fee.