One of my favorite DC Comics science-fiction heroes is Adam Strange -- an archaeologist zapped away to the mysterious planet Rann by an errant "Zeta Beam". Part Indiana Jones, part Flash Gordon, the character has endured in part because of Carmine Infantino's Atomic Age character design (one which made a shark fin on the helmet look amazing). I put this together as a fun palate cleanser after the hustle and bustle of Free Comic Book Day. The moon is a brush I downloaded from deviantArt, and the clouds are also downloads I heavily modified and blended with my own photography. Enjoy!

A long time ago, I was preparing to run -- with a group of like-minded friends -- a roleplaying game (specifically, a superhero game using the wonderful Mutants & Masterminds game system, published by Green Ronin games). 

 

I had done a detailed design of the setting, and populated it with all manner of nefarious villains and valiant heroes. The setting, "Heritage Falls," was a mash-up of 1950s DC sci-fi comics and 1960s Stan-and-Jack pop art weirdness. 

 

Along the way, I determined that one of the storytelling mechanisms would be the fictional publication history of the "Moxie Comics Group," and I ended up spinning up completely made-up biographical information about the "publisher," Horace "Hoagy" Morgenthal -- a dapper, distinguished gentleman with a quick wit and an eye on developing printing techniques. 

 

Eventually, "Hoagy" passed away and left the business to his son, Roarke "Rory" Morganthal, who pushed for more psychedelic and experimental material, until the line folded in the mid-1970s. 

 

"Moxie Comics" published dozens of titles -- "Vault of the Weird," ".38 Special Stories," and more, but it's flagship title was "Tales of ASTONISHING SCIENCE!," featured here. 

 

(I planned on, for each player, giving them a full-color "cover" of the "debut issue" of their hero. The initial attempts were pretty poor, but I took another crack at interstellar renegade "The Peregrine.")

 

Offered in an "aged" and worn finish, or a clean, "near mint" version. 

Just a goofy experiment (much like the "Rip Rocket: Interstellar Adventurer" stuff). 

 

Digital sketch of "The Bat-Man," inked and colored in Photoshop; some photo montage work as well (retouched images of Peter Lorre, Veronica Lake and New York City), and custom lettering (created in Adobe Illustrator). 

 

Quite a bit of fun coming up with the cast, including Buster Crabbe as "The Bat-Man," Peter Lorre as "The Joker," Basil Rathbone as "The Demon's Head," Humphrey Bogart as "Joe Chill," John Wayne as "Commissioner Gordon," Ralph Byrd (star of numerous Dick Tracy serials) as "Harvey Bullock." Should've listed Sidney Greenstreet as "Cobblepot," Nigel Bruce as "Alfred," and Cagney as "Two-Face. 

 

But, y'know, I didn't. 

 

Enjoy.

I'm a big fan of the first few seasons of "Scrubs," and the Janitor is of particular interest, not least because of his deranged-Walter-Mitty imaginary life. So, the sketch (sort of a palate cleansing exercise after a day of writing) started as Janitor imagining himself as a two-fisted, blaster-slingin' space hero.

 

In my defense? It was late.