Pitt & Friends finished art by Evan Dorkin

Okay, let's be real. I asked Neal Adams to draw Pitt in the closing hour or so of HeroesCon. To my surprise, he said yes, for the relatively low price (for him, at the time) of $200-250. I got a very rough outline, and I would have paid more for a tighter piece, but I'm still proud to have gotten what I could under the circumstances. I then took it to Evan Dorkin, and asked how he'd like to ink Neal Adams? Not so much, actually, since he didn't feel that he could ape Adams' style, and didn't exactly have the warmest regards toward the man himself. I explained that there wasn't much identifiable as Adams in the sketch, and I certainly wouldn't ask an artist of Dorkin's caliber to mimic another artist. Again, frankly, there were other guys at the show who'd either trained under the heavy hand of Adams or were known for being able to impersonate other artists (hell-- Joe Staton contributed here already, though in his own style.)

We'd already agreed that he would draw the Savage Dragon, and that it would require his taking the piece home. So what we discussed was maybe filling out the space... Specifically, we set down the two main characters, and then toss in a bunch of Isz from The Maxx, plus some foreground/background elements. It took a little time after the show for Dorkin to get started, and then as he worked on it, we talked about adding some additional cameos into the mix. Late in the game, I requested Eric Stephenson & Richard Horie's Infiniti, since she was an obscure early Image heroine co-created by an integral person, who eventually became their current longtime publisher and a partner in the company. I don't think that quite happened, and I'm pretty sure some properties that were eventually sold to DC accidentally ended up in a piece meant to honor those still with Image a quarter century in. But we're also talking about '90s Image b-listers, so they're a tad less than iconic, and I figure some creative coloring could "correct" for that.

Anyway, Dorkin was checking in with me and sending photos of the process. I think I recall his needing some nudging to more or less obliterate what Adams had laid down, but those emails are locked up in an account that Yahoo! isn't allowing me access to without handing over my Social, passport, and their preferred testicle. I'd hate to break up the set for a simple clarification. Eventually, Dorkin absolutely went to town on Pitt, to a degree that I think surpasses his Dragon. It feels like he was trying to exceed the detailing of Pitt's own creator, Dale Keown, and I'm here for it. Pitt went from being questionably salvageable to maybe the coolest bit on Dorkin's already extraordinary build-out of the jam. I hope you enjoyed seeing the progress of Pitt, and if you're so inclined, hit up Dorkin for a piece all your own?

Evan Dorkin

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2019 Fandemic Tour Huntsman colors by Daniel Dahl

Not to diminish the efforts of any of the other color artists on this jam, but I have to say that Daniel Dahl truly did exceptional work to elevate sometimes very loose art to match the standard set by Joe Linsner's Spawn painting. Half a dozen years on, I still marvel at how much depth and texture he added to the characters, and mourn that I haven't had an opportunity to work with him again. I wish that I could have gotten even more of these Image heroes enhanced by him, especially one in particular that he specifically wanted to do, and I wish that my scans did his efforts better justice. Anyway, we've exited the valley of the Dahls, as Huntsman finishes out his trio of contributions.

Daniel Dahl

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1990s Image Comics Jam Void detail art by Jim Starlin & Pablo Villalobos

With the Starlin layout, the level of detail was highest to the fore, at the bottom of the page. Aside from some loose figure work, he'd spent the most time on Void's face and left hand. It wasn't a lot, and he'd gone into greater detail on other characters in her proximity, but this was still recognizably Starlin. That's clearly a Starlin woman's face, which is where the embellishment comes in. Pablo Villalobos asked me a couple of times who this artist was, and I'm not confident he recognized Starlin's name. When I enquired about his willingness to ink a figure, he fairly promptly picked Void from Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s, whom he knew well and did not require reference for.

I don't keep up with modern comics, especially Marvel, especially the X-Men family. I did not know of Pablo Villalobos work until I was doing last minute reference for the 2025 Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con, which I was aware existed for several years via antique mall fliers, but had never attended. I was told about the Saturday show on Thursday, and mostly went on the false hope of getting something from Kevin Nowlan. But once I saw Villalobos art, I was totally blown away. Adam Hughes is an obvious influence, but he has darker and more textured elements to his art, recalling-- I dunno, the late Nick Manabat? It's an unusual but delightful combination, as I'd never expect Higer elements mingled with the more cheesecake elements of the Majik. I'm not sure if this Pablo Villalobos is the same guy who did some turn of the century work at Penny Farthing Productions (he didn't look old enough,) but the artist who signs as "Lobos" exploded onto the scene in the past few years with very striking cover work (that demands serious money on the aftermarket.) I figured getting him to do a modest ink job was a long shot, and was gob-smacked when he said "yes" for a relative pittance.

While the Starlin fan in me had hoped for greater fidelity to his line on one of the few characters in the piece that he'd rendered enough to actually look like a Starlin drawing, Lobos was a get who knew the character of Void and his way around a gleaming metal smokeshow way better than Jim. I love what hev did here, and I think this work will task future embellishers with living up to his example. A sweet start to this project!

Pablo Villalobos

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Image Comics 25th Anniversary Jam Savage Dragon & Friends detail by Evan Dorkin

It's been nearly two years since our last post here, and I'm sorry about that, but we just haven't been able to get it together to produce new episodes of the podcast. Since that's not getting updated, these art posts also fell by the wayside, plus the jam still isn't completely colored yet. But Frank was working on a bunch of art posts on his blogs to clear out a bunch of un-shared commissions, and figured to give the old Spawnometer a little love.

We all love Evan Dorkin, so he was always a lock for contributing, but it ended up in "take home" capacity. At one point, he was asked about drawing Shadowhawk, but he begged off because he never could figure out the physics of that damned helmet. Ultimately, the plan was for him to finish over Neal Adams' Pitt breakdown, and then draw Officer Dragon entirely in his own style. You can see his rough layouts in previous posts. We both wanted to fill in empty space, which is how Bomb Queen, Trencher, She-Dragon, & Boof and the Bruise Crew ended up in the mix here. Unfortunately, FedEx Express copiers could not fit full 11x17" scans, so the uppermost portion of this image was cut off. In the actual art, you can see the point and first scallop on Dragon's fin, and the lowest hanging portion of She-Dragon's Mohawk to its tip. I can't do a new scan, because this is one of the ones that I did get colored. Anyway, all of these art great fun to look at, and you've gotta love the battle-damaged uniform. Keith Giffen was still with us when this was done, and I always dug how Dorkin adapted to that wiry Trencher style, but it's especially meaningful to me today.