Ben's Free Comic Book Day Art Extravaganza

My Dr. Doom for the Mural. Modak by Craig Worrell and Silver Surfer by Erin Schechtman.

What an amazing time Free Comic Book Day was this year.  Not sure what changed, but there were next to no nerves going in.  The crowd was great and I got to meet a lot of really cool people.  Some from as far as London.  See, people from around the world come to Cleveland.  I thought I would post a collection of some of the art I did AT and FOR the event.  

Sketchcards for the event. Raphael, Hellboy, and Hulk

More sketch cards. Joker and Superman

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Michelangelo

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Pirate Joker and Batman

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Huntress

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Classic 1960's Batgirl

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Winter Soldier

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Raphael

Some parting thoughts on Batman: my 2nd favorite Batman villain

Yeah, he's Solomon Grundy, sometimes he has a dislocated shoulder but does Grundy care? Nope.

When he's not stumbling around, referring to himself in the third person or being the only pants eating zombie ever (as Seanbaby explains here) he enjoys the finer things.

Round 27: The Ventriloquist (Arnold Wesker)

I've been fascinated by the Ventriloquist since first seeing him on Batman: The Animated Series.  A timid man  whose personality split to control an overbearing mobster in the form of a puppet named, Scarface.  Not only is Arnold Wesker afraid of his puppet, but his hired guns and various associates are too.  No one acknowledged Arnold, they only look at the puppet.  Its kind of brilliant.

I wanted to try a lot of different things on this one.  A little bit of line coloring, a dash of perspective, and varying up my textures.  As far as the character, I wanted to make it obvious that it was Arnold doing the killing, but his twisted psyche convincing him that its the puppet.

Go to my personal blog to see the original inks and some work in progress shots: NeedYourDisease

Round 27: Mr. Freeze

My real education in Batman came from, Batman the Animated Series.  Like most around my age I had  met "The Challenge of the Superfriends", gone through a "Superpowers" and 60's "Batman and Robin" phase.  Was blown away by Burton's and Miller's Batmen and glowed with spiteful joy when I first read, "Death in the Family".  This was all immaterial when I found the work of Timm and Dini.  The original animated series was a distillation of everything good about Batman including his rogues gallery.  

My favorite, Dr.Victor Fries*.  He isn't in it for money, glory, a twisted sense of entitlement or even, "...to watch it all burn," he's in it for the love of his wife Nora.  Nothing else matters.  It's hard not to root for him especially in the episode, "Heart of Ice".  Do yourself a favor, if you haven't watched it in a while it's one of the best.

As the illustration goes, it's all vector, it was hard to pass up the pun.  

*Can't get this far into the post without mentioning the character design for Freeze was done by another hero of mine, Mike Mignola.

Round 27: Holy Macaroni Batman!

Woo!! Drawing this made me very happy. F yeah Poison Ivy!