Hoofnar's Return?

Since I'm in such a comic book mood lately I really ought to dust off this guy and actually draw this comic book. I keep threatening to do it year after year. Will 2024 be the year it actually happens? Mayhap by Marduck's steely bill it will be so!

 

Cara

You probably heard there's a new social media game in town called Cara. Now, I'm very cynical about these things. But I tend to use all the major socmed doodads such as Twitter, FB, Insta, etc. I also use Bluesky and Mastodon. But I'm inconsistent. I probably post the most to FB because that's where most of my pals are and I get more interaction there. It's a hell world, I just live in it.

Anyway, Cara is all for art. Specifically, it is all for non-AI art. And I appreciate that, so I post there. Not a lot of interaction yet, but it's got potential. Lots and lots of artists over there, so go check it out. 

Artists I Like: Frank Thorne

Another entry in this series... this time a man whose famous rendition of Red Sonja strongly influenced basically my entire artistic journey. And yet I know very little about this guy.

I'm talking about Frank Thorne.

This guy got started doing comics in 1948 at the age of 18 and drew comics basically until his death at age 90. Talk about a life of comics! The first time I saw his work and knew his name was with the 1970s Red Sonja series, which he drew most of the issues of. Striking covers and beautiful interiors, lush with fantastic imagery and the bodacious chainmail bikini itself. This iconic image stuck in my head as part of my DNA.

It is strange to think that Thorne spent the first 28 years of his comics career drawing things like Tomahawk and Perry Mason... good solid work, but not the kind of bombastic stuff I know him for. Something happened in 1976 when he took over drawing Red Sonja. After that... it was GAME ON and the rest of his life was spent drawing beautiful women kicking ass. And we're all richer for it.

Artists I Like: Philipe Druillet

Philipe Druillet is now 80 years old. That's amazing. I hope I live to see 80.

I did not know of Druillet when I was younger, though having some access to Heavy Metal Magazine means I most likely saw something of his work without actually knowing it. Once I finally actually looked at his work and paid attention, of course I was wowed and blown away.

This French artist was famous before I picked up my first funny book. He was one of the founders behind the French adult comics magazine Métal hurlant (Howling Metal!). The success of that magazine lead directly to the American version we all know and love, Heavy Metal.

It was only very recently (this week) that I actually picked up my first Druillet books. I got the hardback editions of Vuzz and the first three Loan Sloane books from Titan Comics and Statix Press. These are nice books, roughly 9.75" x 12.75" inches... which isn't an American standard and it's not a A size either (A5, A4, etc.). So maybe it's a European thing.

So I sat down and said "Let me read a Druillet for the first time." And I popped open Vuzz... holy fuck.

Vuzz is a single volume about a single character, Vuzz. It opens with a series of 8 pages tales, often silent or nearly wordless. They are all done in exquisite line art... perhaps with a dip pen and/or brush. I'm not sure. The printing is dark blue, not black. Looks great.

Later in the book we get La-Bas, which is a much longer narrative, perhaps 48 pages or something. Then the book ends with a short gallery of covers from the original comic series.

Ok... Vuzz is fucked up.

This is a rather ugly character, both in appearance and attitude. Roughly described, he is a loner warrior/rogue type... a Conan but weirder. He is not smart. He is not eloquent or wise. He seems handy with a sword, but the stories don't describe or depict him as having any greater prowess than other warriors, though he does come to lead a large gang of them in La-Bas, so it is inferred that he's a cut above the rest.

Vuzz is one nasty, amoral motherfucker. The back of the book sums up his character: he needs to fight, eat, and make love. That's it. And by "make love", they mean rape the shit out of women. Because that's what he does... over and over. Eats, rapes, kills. Usually in that order.

He dwells in a savage post-apocalyptic world of magic and weirdness. I would describe the aesthetic as very "Heavy Metal" but... ouroboros and all that. Anyway, Vuzz is the scum of the earth.

SPOILER ALERT...

Vuzz kills a lot of people, many or most of them not necessarily deserving, he rapes a lot, he steals. He's nasty. Then he dies in the end (he chooses death, actually... felt like Druillet said "enough of this guy, I want him dead").

OK, enough about Vuzz. It's a beautiful book, visually, as are the Loan Sloane books that preceded it. Well worth checking out. This guy is a legend. I don't need to sing his praises. His comic pages often look like psychedelic posters.

Get That Label Off Me

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson, but you knew that already.

I strongly dislike labels. And yet I recognize their incredible utility.

If I go into a video store (in the past..) and I know I want something cool and fantastic, I can go to the sci-fi and/or fantasy and/or horror sections to find it. I won't find it in the drama section. This is very useful because I'm not in the mood to watch 2 hours about a fucked up romance. I wanna see monsters and shit.

But it's also unfortunate because those labels are boxes that we put ourselves into. Without them, we might explore more territory and be more wildly creative. If I know I'm doing a sci-fi thing then I know I need to check off a few boxes. Maybe that alone is enough to stifle my creativity a little bit.

I dunno.

Here's a label I hate: Gen X.

I'm part of Gen X. But nobody called us that until at least the 90s and I honestly don't remember hearing that term until much later. Nobody talked like that back when I was young. Today... that's all the fuck you hear. It causes us to divide up into boxes based on the year we were born... which smacks of some kinda astrological bullshit if you ask me.

Social mores and pop trends change over time and we can broadly classify them into categories if we want. But there's no bright line between Gen X and Millennials and none between Millennials and whoever comes next. The overlap is staggering, huge.

Until you TELL people which category they belong in. Then suddenly some of them start modifying their behavior to fit it. Suddenly we're being sold products and ideas created by corporations, based on the definitions they've carved out for us. We're corralling ourselves into these dumb, stupid, silly boxes that are useful only for data mining, not for living fulfilled lives.

Here's a label you might know: OSR.

This one is very useful for one big, shiny, obvious reason. It's because Dungeons & Dragons is a trademark. We can't go around putting D&D on the cover of our RPG books, even though they are 100% part of that lineage. So, for better or worse, this label "OSR" has become the stand-in. And that does serve a handy purpose. But it still means we box ourselves in.

And yeah, I know, I know. OSR doesn't just mean D&D. But cool your heels... look around at all the game books with OSR labels on them and tell me how many are NOT part of the D&D lineage, in many cases being entirely compatible with that game. Just because you use OSR to just mean "like older games" doesn't mean the rest of the fuckin' world isn't using it to mean "this is off brand D&D".

Anyway... I feel this boxed in lack of air lately. It's probably why I've slowed down to a crawl with Black Pudding, which has always been an explicitly B/X D&D-based RPG zine... OSR. I'm in a creative head space right now where I don't want to make stuff for D&D. Not at this moment. I have other things I wanna do.

Speaking of... I do have the entire Heavy Helping Vol 2 completed and have had it completed for months. The only stumbling block has been some issues with getting it ready to go up on DTRPG. I'll try to focus and sort that out soon. I know I've promised it to a lot of people. 

Artists I Like: Mark Bodé

I probably saw Mark Bodé's work for the first time in an issue of his 80s comic Miami Mice. But I'm not sure. I know I saw his work later in his 90s Tundra comic Cobalt 60, which was a massive expansion of his father's original 1960s comic Cobalt 60.

His father. So, for most artists, you can talk about their influences and maybe they draw a lot like so-and-so. In the case of Mark Bodé, he is in fact carrying on a family tradition. His father, Vaughn, died far too young in 1975 while Mark was still a child. Mark would very soon become a great cartoonist in his own right, taking up the mantle of the great cartoon universe started by Vaughn.

But it isn't correct to say Mark is just doing what his dad did. He's doing his own thing, just in that strong and unique Bodé tradition. He is the Bodé.

He got started early doing comics like Miami Mice, working with Kevin Eastman and others, and becoming both a tattoo artist and a graffiti artist. An amazing life of art. If you can get your hands on it, I recommend his Big Book of Bodé Tattoos.

Paper Again

I posted about paper here. I didn't re-read it, but I wanted to do a follow-up because I got some new paper.

For all my drawing life I've used Strathmore Bristol*, when I use Bristol at all. Strathmore pads come in smooth and vellum (vellum is toothy... not as smooth, duh). Smooth is nice for markers, pens, inks, etc. Vellum is nice for pencil... and charcoal, I guess. Come to think of it I've only used it a few times and I don't know what you vellum weirdos get up to but you keep on rocking that shit.

So anyway, Strathmore pads come in sheets of 20. Now, I'm not so god damn poor that I can't buy Strathmore. But they are more expensive than many other brands. And I wondered... is there a reason?

As I got further into this new comic project, I needed to get some more paper. I settled on 11x14 smooth Bristol and I went with Canson instead of Strathmore. Because Canson comes in pads of 25 sheets and they cost less. Not a ton less... but less.

I've drawn 5 or 6 pages on Canson now and I gotta say the differences between it and Strathmore are negligible at best. I can barely tell the difference. I do think Strathmore FEELS just a tiny bit better. Just a tiny bit more substantial. But that might be an illusion caused by the higher price point. I don't know.

My honest opinion is if you want to save a little money, go for the Canson. If you don't care about that and you want the best, go for the Strathmore. You won't be able to tell, but you might get that psychological bump from it. I dunno.

*Side note: It always bugs me that you can't type "Bristol" with a small "b" without spellcheck going "no no no". I thought that was dumb. Then I finally looked it up and learned that Bristol board is called Bristol board because it's a type of paper that used to be primarily produced in Bristol, England. Who knew?!

Artists I Like: Lee Gatlin

Lee Gatlin is an Alabama artist. I found his work randomly on IG, if I remember correctly. His comics are what caught my attention first, but his sketches and general cartooning really captured me. Loose lines, almost chaotic. No... totally chaotic! Yet somehow cohesive, coming together to form an image that we recognize or resonates with us. It's a skill I'd love to have, being so damn loose and tight at once.

 

Ghoul Prince

I drew this in a sketchbook and meant to include it in Black Pudding 8... but I forgot. Doh!