The Losers

Over on my Blogger blog, I'm in the middle of a storyline about the Blockade Boy Revenge Squad. They're like the Superman Revenge Squad, only lamer. Much, much lamer. I did head shots for them, converting line art (felt-tip pen!) into an Illustrator file using LiveTrace, and then I laid in color underneath it. I made the color sections "off-register" on purpose, because I thought it gave the cartoons a nice 1950's look. I feel like I'm improving in my cartooning skills, now that I've figured out an expressive way to draw eyes. Most of the Squad members have appeared in Silver or Bronze-age Legion of Super-Heroes comics. Here's a few of the guys on the team:

Calamity King, who wore a space-age Robin Hood hat in the comics. My version is also fond of kooky hats, but is much hunkier, in a Tom of Finland way. Ergo the muttonchops. He's handsome, and he knows it. Smirky bastard.

Polecat, who can emit a stink-cloud from his horns. In his first appearance, he was drawn by the late Jim Mooney as a dork with a bad haircut and an overbite. I didn't realize how much my version resembled Fisher Stevens until after I drew it.

Rann Antar, hapless alchemist. In the comics, he created a formula for turning feathers into lead, and after being rejected for membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes, he was never seen again. I based my version on the old Flash Villain, Doctor Alchemy, who was a mentally-unbalanced alchemist in a turquoise-blue hood. Since Rann didn't have a codename, I'm calling him Intern Alchemy. Yeah, I know. It was the best I could think of.

Green Boy, who in the comics was a pudgy doofus in a lousy costume; with brown, buzz-cut hair and an alarmingly simian grin. Which you can chalk up to the artwork of the simply godawful John Forte (rest his soul). Green Boy's power is the ability to change the color of anything to green! He thought it would be helpful to the Legion as a camouflage technique, until they pointed out that most of the alien worlds they visit don't have green flora. My version is unkempt and gaunt, due to an ongoing depression over how lousy his superpower is. I sincerely hope he finds the help he so desperately needs.