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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