Return to Ann Arbor: Clarissa Sketches and Swipe Gallery!

I've been thinking a lot about the period in the Megaton Man narrative when I moved the characters to Ann Arbor in Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1988). I've blogged elsewhere about how a regrettable "nuclear-option" dispute with my publisher, including the dictate that henceforth all iterations of the Megaton Man series be re-numbered #1 for my perceived lapses and transgressions, eventually soured me on continuing with the character, at least at that fabled arthouse boutique publisher.

While I could never reconstruct, story-wise, every nuance of what I might have had in mind in the late 1980s, there are clearly a lot of untold stories from that era, particularly of the early career of Ms. Megaton Man, who gained her powers in the first Megaton Man one-shot, Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1989), and the early childhood of Simon Phloog, result of the union between Megaton Man and the See-Thru Girl. In particular, there are some interesting aspects to the "Civilian" life of Trent Phloog (Megaton Man's non-Megapowered alter ego) that particularly interest me.

Many of the following pencil sketches and studies, for the most part, were drawn recently with that Ann Arbor milieu in mind. Others refer to more recent cultural disturbances, particular a despicable Right-Wing movement among mainstream comics creators. Some of these feature an added layer of referring to various iconic covers from the history of comics or pulp adventure.

Megaton Man™ and the Human Meltdown™ go at it as Ms. Megaton Man stands by. This is an homage to the cover to Philip Jose Farmer's A Feast Unknown (Playboy Press, 1980) by Jordi Penalva, which features a surrogate Doc Savage and a surrogate Tarzan going at a hightly homoerotic tussle. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

The Human Meltdown™, from Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, December 1984), a character who was featured in Megaton Man Meets the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (1989), but otherwise has remained under-utilized. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa James, before she became Ms. Megaton Man, and Trent Phloog, after he lost his Megaton Man powers, re-enacting a scene from Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, July 1988). This shared look has yet to be sufficiently explored. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Getting to know you: Potential licensors of the Megaton Man property balked when they actually read the comics, particularly sequences like the one immediately below showing Megaton Man's secret identity, Trent Phloog, living with the unwed but pregnant mother-to-be of his child, and a slightly salacious young female roommate, in a communal house in Ann Arbor:

Clarissa and Trent meet, from Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1988).™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa and Trent meet, from Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1988). Panel three is the image I expanded upon in the 2018 pencil sketch above. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa James pencil drawing, 2018. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa James pencil drawing, 2018. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa James pencil drawing, 2018. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Pammy Jointly, dressed as she would be as a housemate of Trent, Stella, and Clarissa in Return of Megaton Man. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Pammy and Stella in Ann Arbor. From The Return of Megaton Man #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1988). ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Ms. Megaton Man, backed by Simon Phloog (son of Megaton Man) and Deirdre face off against a Megacontraptoid and an evil ventriloquist dummy. Clarissa James pencil drawing, 2018. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Original pencil sketch of the above. Clarissa James pencil drawing, 2018. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Ms. Megaton Man™, Simon, Deirdre, and Kozmik Kat™ welcome Megaton Man. Tight rough with Sharpie pen over a scanned printout of the original pencil drawing (below). ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Original pencil sketch of the above. The composition is actually an homage (or, in the vernacular, a swipe) of C.C. Beck and Nick Cardy's cover to Shazam #1 (DC Comics, 1972). ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Clarissa clobbers a Right-Winger in a pose swiped from Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America #1 (Timely Comics, 1940). Rough tightened using a Sharpie fine-line writing pen. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Original pencil rough of the above (can't get enough beating up White Apartheid Neo-Nazis!). ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

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Comics-Haters Beware: MsMM is an SJW!

One of the more perverse trends of our time has been the emergence of the thuggish Comics-Hate, a group of disgruntled former mainstream superhero writers and artists whose fifteen minutes of perpetuating corporate-owned trademarks expired before they wanted it to (too bad, too - now we'll never get to see mainstream characters beating up migrant caravans of homeless refugees fleeing persecution at the southern border or extinguishing peaceful candlelight vigils in front of Jefferson's Rotunda on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville).

Social justice? No, Ms. Megaton Man just likes shattering skeletons!
™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

Wrongfully attributing the short life-expectancy of their careers to inexorable demographic trends, Comics-Hate's favorite target for bullying has been those they deem "Social Justice Warriors"  - a tag that forms the conveniently anti-Semitic-sounding acronym "SJW" - a pejorative they apply indiscriminately to anyone who wants comics to move into the twenty-first century and reflect the world we live in. Their faith in the free market is such that they announce boycotts and issue threats of violence to those who've "adulterated" their friendly little hobby.

Clarissa James, who has been around since 1985 (Megaton Man #4, to be exact), has something to say to the Death-Zombies of Comics-Hate: we have already displaced you. You are completely superfluous; please curl up under the rock you crawled out from under (or return to your parents' basement).
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Be a Social Justice Warrior and read the YA prose Ms. Megaton Man™ Maxi-Series! New oppression-bashing chapter each week!
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All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures are ™ and © Don Simpson 2020, all rights reserved.

Taking a Swipe at the Culture Wars!

Proving once again I utterly lack the subtle touch for editorial cartooning of my social betters (although the threshold has been lowered in recently decades), I offer my half-baked commentary on a current controversy in comics. Namely, should we kick the crap out of bigots, or ask for their autographs at cons?

Clarissa socks a White (and presumably) Nationalist penciller as Megaton Man, X-Ray Boy, and Gower Goose ponder the impact a pencil sketch will have on our civic discourse. ™ and © Don Simpson 2018, all rights reserved.

[More on the above drawing here!]

In case you don't recognize the inspiration, it's from an image by a couple of Jewish guys (who can never be replaced), punching the schnozz out of Der Führer (dictators seem to love flowing ties, don't they?!). Maybe the idea would be clearer if I caricatured more Neanderthal comic book creators calling for Whites-Only entertainment, or included more Nazis (is there a distinction?). But I'm too lazy, although I reserve the right to add more Nazis if and when I bother to ink this (you can never show enough Nazis getting beaten up).

Simon and Kirby beat up Hitler before Pearl Harbor, a reminder that cartoons can't always prevent actual war.

Here's another page from the sketchbook. Sorry these are only roughs -- I'm supposed to be grading art history papers this weekend (exploited adjunct is my secret identity when I'm not being a Social Justice Warrior), so two full sketchbook pages is really playing hooky.

Congratulations! If you clicked on this blog, you're not a racist! (If I had posted this same image on the Megaton Man blog, it would get three times as many hits -- sadly, this is no lie.)

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For more on the Culture Wars and Comics!

An all-new YA prose novel - new chapter every week: The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series!

Sketching After Squirrel Hill

I probably know the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill and the surrounding East End (Shadyside, Oakland, Point Breeze, Polish Hill, Friendship, Wilkinsburg, et al) better than any place I've never actually resided. For many years, I taught cartooning workshops at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, bought art supplies at Artists and Craftsmen and other places, footwear at Little's Shoes, and on and on.

I must have walked by and certainly driven by the Tree of Life Congregation countless times between the main drag on Murray and Forbes and PCA - although I didn't know what it was called. I almost walked out there last Friday, before the awful events of last Saturday.

Clarissa James (Ms. Megaton Man) with Deirdre Denton, flanked by Simon Phloog, Preston Percy, and Kozmik Kat. Stella Starlight and Trent Phloog (Megaton Man) are in the background. Rough sketch; I'll pencil something tighter soon.

I keep thinking about how close it is to Halloween, and how awful it must be especially for kids in that surrounding neighborhood. I drew this with that in mind - a quickie before class. I seldom get much time to draw during the school year, as I teach college for two schools. But the thought came to me of my characters walking their children through the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, past the Tree of Life.

This is a very rough sketch and on every level a completely inadequate response, but what I have in mind is a time in America that now seems quaintly nostalgic in so many ways - when Rob and Laura Petrie had Jewish neighbors - Millie and Jerry Helper - and I grew up with at least four Jewish families on my block - the Freemans, the Tolchins, the Bornsteins, and the Sandubraes.

That ecumenical mid-century America seems almost a lost utopia now, but it doesn't have to be. Every time I pick up my pencil, I want to make it real again.

Sketchy Swipebook: Clarissa Studies!

Some recent sketches of Clarissa James, a.k.a Ms. Megaton Man, apropos of nothing at all (except the first one, which was inspired by a selfie by Paul Fricke who was holding up his well-read copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, to mark the passing of comics legend Steve Ditko) ...

Update October 6, 2018: Photoshop coloring over the original pencil sketch.

Clarissa hauls Preston Percy over the skyline!

Clarissa in pencil and Sharpie (non-permanent) Pen.

Clarissa in pencil - blue and graphite.

Felicia in a warm-up drawing.

Cape Catch-Up: CJ Soars!

This sequence from the all-new fifth issue of Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis (which I plan to release as a graphic novel, not individual issues, publication details TBD) features Clarissa James, Ms. Megaton Man (who has the distinction of having the most nicknames of any of my characters -- Missy, Sissy, CJ) coming to the rescue of the beleaguered Man of Molecules. I began penciling this sequence in summer 2015, and finished in February 2016. Some adjustments were made, primarily on tier 4A, in which I altered the background. (More previews over on the Megaton Man blog!)

Light blue Col-Erase and graphite pencil (with some Pilot Razorpoint pen) on bond layout, 11" x 14".

Original figure with background penciled in; the action in the background, however, no longer seemed appropriate considered the way the preceding tiers worked out.

New background penciled today!

Foreground and background fused together in Photoshop. The tiers will be inked on Clearprint Design Vellum over printouts of the roughs.

Ladies of the Megaverse Revealed!

No, not the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, or the Playboy collegiate special ... just some more sketchbook poses extracted from several sketchbooks stretching over the past few years, all inked last night (Sunday, June 16, 2014). Although they do start out kind of threadbare, then are "clothed" as I ink them!

Here is the development of a Ms. Megaton Man pose, probably from about 2010, running. Left: light blue Col-Erase and graphite pencil; Middle: a tighter version on Pilot pen and Vis-a-Vis Wet Erase Fine Point on canary yellow tracing paper; Right: ink on Bienfang Graphics paper. The last choice was an accident; I usually ink on Clearprint vellum!

Ms. Megaton Man especially is fun to draw, and I have filled many pages of my recent sketches of her to let off steam during grad school and a subsequent year of college teaching, when I did not want to initiate any large-scale cartooning projects that I couldn't complete in a timely manner.

Here is a more overtly Jack Kirby-ish pose for Clarissa, inked on Clearprint 1000HP Design Vellum. Often as warm ups I doodle geometric shapes; this establishes a sense of volume that carries over when I sketch the human figure.

There is always something added and something taken away in the inking process, but that's the nature of cartooning for print. Of course, in the digital environment, there is not real need to ink any more, but I enjoy the craft and am used to thinking and developing the drawing to its fullest in terms of pen or brush lines.

Again, before and after. Somehow Ms. MM tends to resemble Julianna Margulies a bit here!

This selection especially shows how my conception of Ms. Megaton Man's body type and personality has changed over time, or at least it reveals some interesting contrasts. There are also sketches of the Phantom Jungle Girl and See-Thru Girl Android below.

Here I tightened up the pencil sketch in Pilot pen. Six years later, I inked it! Clarissa is a bit to lithe, if not skinny, here.

This is one of my favorite Clarissa poses of all. I've had a jpeg of the pencil as my background on my laptop through the last year or two of grad school. Often, it would show up in classes before I projected my lecture Powerpoint. Odd to finally ink it just yesterday!

Same deal, with the Phantom Jungle Girl. I began inking this quite some time ago, then set aside, finishing it up only last night. It seemed a bit awkward putting a top on her. Perhaps she's at a clothing-optional beach...

These are a couple of rather Gil Kane-ish poses of an indeterminate figure. It didn't feel like I was drawing Ms. Megaton Man, nor did it feel like the Earth Mother (Stella Starlight).

I scanned the above sketches and printed them out to 8.5" x 11". I decided to make them into the See-Thru Girl Android, a mute and immobile version of Stella Starlight's younger persona, and who has been dormant so far in the current Atomic Aftermath continuity. That will change soon as she becomes reactivated and an ongoing character with a mind of her own. What will the real, older Stella do when she is confronted with her younger self? To say nothing of Megaton Man...

The other pose, tightened then inked. This may have been more of a Ms. Megaton Man pose after all, with her stockier, solid frame.

World of Tiers: From Pencil to Ink

Here is the evolution of a tier of artwork involving Ms. Megaton Man, Preston Percy, Yarn Man, Rex Rigid, and Megaton Man himself. It began in April as a blue pencil sketch in my sketchbook, subsequently tightened with graphite pencil, then expanded with the addition of another panel, then inked and composited digitally. Each step is explained in the images below:

Blue Col-Erase pencil version in my 11" x 14" sketchbook (bonus: the scanner caught a stray piece of paper on Ms. Megaton Man's left lower leg!). Dialogue is added in pencil. In a flashback sequence, Ms. Megaton Man is being tested in the Megatropolis Quartet's laboratory. Judging from Preston Percy's hair, this probably takes place not long after the events depicted in Pteranoman #1 (1989).

Here the blue pencil is tightened with an H or HB graphite pencil.

The figure of Rex Rigid seemed somewhat cramped in the original composition, so I used tracing paper to draw the character independently, and inked it on Clearprint Design Vellum using a Hunt #102 crowquill and India ink.

Here I've lettered (using a 2.5 and 3.5 Rapidograph) and inked the rest of the composition, virtually unchanged from the original sketchbook layout, on Clearprint Design Vellum (actually, I scanned the sketchbook and printed it out at the same size). I used a repositionable gluestick (Elmer's) to adhere the vellum to the printout as I inked, later removing the adhesive with a rubber cement pick-up.

An additional panel suggested itself with Megaton Man entering the scene. Here are the pencil and inked versions.

The final tier is composited digitally. What will the remaining 2/3 of the page look like? Stay tuned!

From Sketch to Splash: Robot Crap-Kicker

During the past decade, when I was in college and graduate school, most of my intermittent drawing activity was confined to sketchbooks, and then often Ms. Megaton Man, a more realistic megahero than the satirical Megaton Man himself. She is dynamic and fun to draw, and I would often fill page after page of her, often fighting robot. In this sketch, dated July 6, 2012, she does a ballet landing on her toes while kicking and punching two robots. Today (June 14, 2014), I finally finished inking the page. Here are the various steps:

The original 9" x 12" ringbound sketchbook page, in light blue Col-Erase and HB graphite pencil. I was too lazy to finish the robots.

Here I've scanned the sketchbook page and printed it out at 11" x 17", tightening up the robot figures in light blue and graphite pencil, and adding dialogue. A red Col-Erase pencil was used on the sound effect.

This is the inked version on Clearprint HP1000 Design Vellum. I use a repositionable glue stick to adhere the material to the pencil layout, and later remove the glue with a rubber cement pick-up. I use 2.5 and 3.5 Rapidographs, Hunt 102 crowquill, and a Speedball B4 to ink and letter.

Here is the image, with some flat coloring thrown on in Photoshop. I'm still too lazy to finish the robots, so a final color version will be posted later!