THE SIMPSONS NEWS

It’s the first week back at work for the new year. It’s been business as usual…sorta. I’ve been asked to work overtime to try to make up for the time lost because of the holidays. So much for our time of rest.  I guess it’s okay.  I really need the money anyway.

MY WEEK

During my time off, I had all the time in the world to work on my comic.  It was the perfect opportunity to  work on my project and get it done faster than in any other time.  So what did I do?  I spent all my free time reading comic books.  I got through about 60 comics or more.  On the one hand, it was a complete waste of an opportunity, but on the other hand, not only was it relaxing, but I was ready to start drawing by the time the holidays were over. It really recharged my batteries.  I got very little drawing done but it was a good trade off.

In case your wondering where I got the comics, they where the ones I picked up at the kitchen at work for FREE.  The ones that Drew Johnson leaves there because he has too many. Therefore, all the comics I was reading where DC comics.

Best thing I read was the New Krypton Superman storyline.  It had me pretty hooked.  I may or may not write more about this. I also read a few Blackest Night preludes and one Blackest Night story so far.  It looks like it will be a fun read.

Reading the comics, I was made aware of the fact that Dick Grayson has taken up the mantel of Batman. More on that below:

COMIC BOOKS

Before I begin, I’ll (very quickly) explain who Dick Grayson is and I’ll give a quick explanation on Robin the Boy Wonder.

Who is Dick Grayson? He’s the original Robin.

There have been four Robins so far: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and now Damian Wayne.

Damian Wayne – He’s the current Robin and Bruce Wayne‘s (Batman‘s) son.  His mother is Talia Al Ghul.  Bruce married her in a story a long time ago called: Batman Son of the Demon.

Tim Drake –  The third Robin. He’s been the Robin you’ve seen in most modern Batman stories.  My personal favorite so far.  You can see Tim as the younger Robin in the Bruce Timm Batman adventures cartoon. He is currently running around as the Superhero Red Robin.

Jason Todd – Better known as, the Robin that died.   Jason was the second Robin and was a huge jerk.  He was such a jerk that when the readers where asked whether  Jason should live or die, the readers voted him dead.  The Joker, beat him with a crowbar then blew him up.  He’s came back to life a while ago and has made the “Bat Family’s” lives a living hell.  He seemed to have died again recently but it’s very unlikely that he’ll stay dead.  He’s still a jerk.

Dick Grayson –  The first Robin. The Robin most people think of when they think of Robin.  He’s the “Holy (insert random word) Batman!” Robin.  In the comics, he had a falling out with Bruce Wayne and went his separate way.  He later became a new superhero called Nightwing. He’s been Nightwing for about 30 years now.  I really liked Nightwing and my brother and I would get into arguments about where or not he was a necessary character.

In a way, my brother was right, Nightwing seemed like he was just a bench warmer character waiting to come into his own.  He was just sitting around waiting for Batman to die so that he could finally become Batman himself–which he now has.

It thinks it’s AWESOME. I was getting tired of Bruce Wayne and I thought he was a bit “played out”.  I wanted him to go and become the Gandalf/Obi Wan Kenobi character, that way, a new Batman could take over and maybe surpass him.  Besides, Dick Grayson is a cool character and it’s pretty much what he was created for isn’t it? To become the next Batman.  It’s about time!  I haven’t gotten to read any of his stories yet but I really want to.  I haven’t wanted to read any Batman comic for a while, until now.

ART 

So when I got back to work I thought it would be fun to draw a new Superhero Versus Superhero drawing , like the ones my friends and I did last year (click on the numbers to see what I’m taking about: 1,2,3,4,5,6). I started the drawing and I even began to ink it.  I took a break from it before it was done.  A few hours later, I looked at the drawing and wasn’t happy with it.  I was planning to finish the drawing at home but as the day went on I disliked the drawing more and more to the point where I was considering abandoning the drawing.  On the drive home I decided to give the drawing another shot. I needed to adjust the characters so that they were better designed and better drawn.  When I got home, I put some tracing paper on it and gave the characters another pass.  I was much happier with the drawing after that.  As of time of this writing, I’m still working on it.  I’ll put the drawing up next week if it turns out okay.

ART

I’ve written about the podcast Big Illustration Party Time.  It’s a podcast where the hosts talk about being freelance illustrators and give tips on how to survive  being one.  Well, both hosts have a passion for drawing comics.  They both have comic projects they’re working on.

One of the hosts, Kevin Cross, has begun a web comic of his character Monkey Mod.  I think the character has a cool look to him so I decided to try drawing him as a fun bit of fan art:

Check out the Monkey Mod web comic.  I highly recommend it.

CLICK HERE to buy an Uncle Chestnut T-shirt with my art on it.

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