2023 FAN EXPO Chicago The Rocky Horror Picture Show Brad Majors Commission by Andrew Pepoy (signed by Barry Bostwick)

Let me just say that I underestimated Andrew Pepoy. I sort of recognized the name, quick research indicated that he currently mostly works in an Archie style, and I thought that would be quite keen on uptight preppie nerd Brad Majors. I talked to him in Chicago, he was up for it, and turned in a neat, surprisingly detail-oriented take. In the two years since, I've seen his name attached to all sorts of projects, very capably inking some high caliber pencillers (Ivan Reis, Gene Ha, Tom Raney, Phil Jimenez) and demonstrating a range of illustrative styles on his own. I wouldn't change a thing about how this particular piece turned out-- it's perfect-- but I wanted to put respect on Pepoy's name, now that I know better.

I didn't realize when first seeing Barry Bostwick in Rocky Horror that he'd already been a presence for most of my lifetime collecting comics, via a previous artistic rendering of his character Ace Hunter in print ads for the movie Ultraforce ("Deeds Not Words.") It was a very toyetic Mad Max riff, but the dud was not a notable part of my '80s weekend afternoon UHF TV watching. My main Bostwick delivery system was actually the sitcom Spin City, which I watched first run in the early seasons, more fully in syndication, but pretty much not at all after Michael J. Fox (mostly) retired from acting. Bostwick played the mayor Randall Winston in the nominally political city hall-set show. I also kinda ran into him at a convention in 2015, when he approached the comic writer Peter David while I was interviewing him, because PAD's wife had won a charity auction for a signed pair of his briefs. Houston's Comicpalooza hosted a bunch of Rocky alumni that year, the 40th anniversary, and I'd just seen Barry at a panel with Patricia "Magenta" Quinn and Little Nell of "Columbia" fame. Dr. Frank-N-Furter himself, Tim Curry, was also signing at the show. He'd had a stroke, and looked like he was having a rough time of it. I felt icky about him being wheeled out like that, and anyway, I hadn't started doing the art commission/celebrity autograph thing yet. Now that we're at the fiftieth anniversary, and I've at least got the starring couple sorted out, I mourn for a missed opportunity that quite likely won't come around again.

But back to Barry Bostwick, he came off as such a sweetheart while chatting with Peter David that it reminded me of his turn as the amiable mayor. When I brought the Pepoy piece up to him in the Windy City, that held true. He seemed to like the art produced for his character, and was quite cordial overall. After the carnival of the Sarandon booth, it was a relief to just be able to have a nice moment with a good guy that had made a solid dent in the pop culture landscape. I still really wish he'd been available for Shock Treatment, though. I think he could have killed it in the dual role, but I'm sure he considers that a bullet dodged.

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2023 FAN EXPO Chicago The Rocky Horror Picture Show Janet Weiss Commission by Brandon Peterson (signed by Susan Sarandon)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a favorite movie of a lot of people, myself included. My initial exposure was in the early '80s, seeing the movie poster at one of the AMC theaters in Houston. I saw those blood red lips against a pitch black background and the word "horror" in the title, and figured it was too scary for me. We weren't properly introduced until 1990, when the 15th anniversary prompted the first VHS release, which my father rented for my half-brother and I. Before that, it had a lengthy afterlife as a midnight movie in theaters, but had not ever previously been made available for home viewing. Despite my little brother and I being confident heterosexuals (that's a Rustlers' Rhapsody reference-- calm down,) we were still comfortable enough with our sexuality to prance around to "Sweet Transvestite" after multiple consecutive viewings. I dubbed a cassette of the original soundtrack off my father's CD, and my brother bought the newly commissioned Caliber Comics movie adaptation (including lyrics sheets that I would largely memorize with repetition.) I caught at least one live showing with friends at an ornate old Bellaire movie theater while dressed as a no-budget Riff Raff, but opted to be secretly de-virginized rather than brave a stage outing. As a bonus, the full "Super Heroes" sequence that was held from the VHS was in that print. I've experienced the movie live quite a few times since, brought in my own virgins, and have bought the majority of every-five-years disc pressings from its first hitting DVD in 2000. I was never going to join a live troupe or anything, but I'm fairly well versed in and quite affectionate towards Rocky Horror.

In 1990, I already knew Susan Sarandon from The Witches of Eastwick at minimum, but she was in a lot of stuff that I'd have at least brushed against, like Bull Durham and White Palace (the latter more from trade coverage, as I was a big fan of Premiere magazine.) I was thus primed for Thelma & Louise (Geena Davis certainly helped,) but I can't say that as a young man that her tendency toward older-skewing dramas kept my attention. She was still a familiar Hollywood figure, plus her politics became somewhat notorious, though I've drifted in the same direction the older I've gotten. She took a stupid amount of heat for an improbable sway that supposedly led to the 2016 presidential results, probably from a lot of people who liked blaming women for a rot that has yet to be properly addressed in this country, including the implied misogyny that fingered her in the first place. Whatever-- no one can take away Sarandon's extraordinary acting career, and I'm a fan of her work.

As with Sigourney Weaver, I was finally spurred on to begin collecting commissions featuring the Rocky Horror cast by the recognition that the odds did not favor my getting another chance to meet an actress of that caliber. Ironically and as kind of a bummer, numerous members of the cast were at a local con in 2015, the year before I started doing this sort of thing with Aliens. Sarandon was one of only two such actors in Chicago when I visited a couple of years ago, and I'm not sure waiting eight years (with performers now pushing into their 80s) qualifies as better late than never, but it's still a major luminary to check off in the bid. The actual mechanics weren't much to speak of, though. The actress was available for signings intermittently throughout the weekend, which was better than the very few chances with an extremely huge line involving a tiered preference system (glad I sprung for a V.I.P. pass) that left a lot of Ripley fans disappointed. I just had to brave a medium-long line and a few tries before finally making it to her booth. This being the 2020s, there was a whole tent system to prevent anyone from snapping a picture from afar, and also a plastic partition to prevent transmission of COVID. It was kind of like interacting with a bank teller with a Cone of Silence engaged. There were a lot of utterances of variations on "what?" and some general befuddlement, but I did eventually communicate that I was getting a signature on an original piece of art, and to please be judicious in signature placement. Also, in the moment, I gave up on getting a sloppy lipstick red sig in favor of pale pink, which suited the character of Janet Weiss, and assuage my fear that I might get my first and only Brandon Peterson piece mauled.

I'm not entirely sure that Sarandon found the likeness flattering, but I think Peterson did an extraordinary job representing the actress. A lot of folks I get work from freeze up at the thought of being beholden to accuracy, and I assure them that I only need the character, but I have to admit that it's a bonus when you can 100% recognize the actor's face, without it being a slavish photocopy. I especially love the dark (maybe mad) eyes, and the crazy amount of detailing in the hair. The "DAMMIT JANET!" is the cherry on top, and I have to say that I really like his hand-coloring, as well. I can't wait for another opportunity to get something else from Peterson, and I really hope that I still get a chance at a Frank-N-Furter, while that's still a possibility.

2019 Connecticut TerrifiCon The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. Professor Albert Wickwire Commission by Rafer Roberts

Follow me down this rabbit hole. I started doing the Aliens 30th Anniversary commissions because much of the cast and many notable creatives were gathering at a local con, I for once was interested in collecting signatures/chats from celebrities, and Aliens remains a favorite movie/franchise. That was such a great experience that I started casting about for other subjects to replicate it. I landed on another all-time favorite, George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which has dwarfed the Aliens one in scope, and has also been rewarding. 

So I ventured further... with mixed results. I'm not as motivated to go to conventions for stars over creators, and I need a piece at the ready to get signed by said star, and most of the things I like aren't popular enough to get big gatherings, so it's all collected piecemeal. Then my interest in blogging and commission waned, COVID deferred everything, and inflation/gouging really went nuts thereafter. With exceptions, I'm not so sure that I want to do this sort of thing anymore, especially because the bigger the star, typically the worse the interaction or value overall. 

Having said that, this was still a crazy ass commission. Basically, I'm fond enough of a '90s TV weird western to start a podcast about it, but only get four episodes out. I'm also enough a fan of the character actor Bruce Campbell to want a commission of him, but I thought Ash Williams would be a tired subject, with Bruce and I both preferring the unsung Brisco County, Jr. That said, Campbell was also technically Darkman, so I have that option covered. I still want a Brisco, but the piece got increasingly complex, as I realized that I wanted him featured with his partner Lord Bowler, and probably his horse Comet. Heck-- maybe even his arch for, John Bly. Because you see, Julius Carry and Billy Drago have both passed on. Hell, even if any of the five horses that played Comet are still around, what am I gonna do, get a horseshoe stamp? So that would be a complicated piece, certainly a mail order deal, and I've yet to figure out the right artist. Expanding further, I've never noted Christian Clemenson announced at any show, but I think maybe Kelly Rutherford has, just not any that I've been to. But see, I did gather a bunch of reference, and I had it with me on a road trip through Eastern Canada and the U.S. seaboard, including two comics conventions. 

I handed a batch of that reference to Rafer Roberts, who'd drawn The Human Falcon for me the previous year, and he picked Professor Wickwire to draw. Now see, he was played by John Astin, most famous for being the first actor to play Gomez Addams, but I knew and loved him best as Buddy Ryan, Judge Harry's estranged father on Night Court. He's great in most stuff, and I certainly dug him as Wickwire. It's just... he's 95 years old, he retired from public life before I got this piece, I've never heard of him doing cons, and he most recently trended on social media as someone everybody thought had already died. Wickwire doesn't even have the distinctive Astin mustache! Why did I get this!?! Well, because it's a darn nifty piece of art, and I was really glad Roberts included The Orb, the main component that put the weird into the western. Anyway, I sat on this piece instead of showing it all these years because... I'm a bad patron, clearly. I mean, I don't like my odds at scoring a signature from Brisco County, Sr., y'know? What was I waiting to get done?

Rafer Roberts

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2023 FAN EXPO Chicago Howard the Duck Beverly Switzler Commission by David López (signed by Lea Thompson)

I'd always wanted to visit the Windy City (The Blues Brothers is a lifelong favorite,) was hot to get commissions again after COVID restrictions cooled, and there were also a bunch of artists and celebrities that I was interested in at FAN EXPO Chicago. One of my first VHS rentals was Howard the Duck, which I adore because it's such an... odd duck. Others will pick at its flaws, but I was instantly smitten with its offbeat approach, Thomas Dolby soundtrack, the surprisingly good special effects (smirk at the suit if you must, but not the Dark Overlords of the Universe,) and of course Howie's best girl Bev. I'm not sure whether I had yet seen Back to the Future, but it was this movie that made me first take note of Lea Thompson, who would become a forever crush through her continued work on BTTF, the frankly traumatizing AIDS panic comedy Casual Sex?, and just under a hundred episodes of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City. I'd been using art commission as a rationale to meet celebrities since the Aliens 30th Anniversary project, so why not do the same for Lea via Bev.

I only had a few months to plan for the trip, and would have get most of the commissions at the show itself, which put time pressure on. Out of the artists attending, I figured the best bet for this one was David López, who I knew best from the DC Comics run of Fallen Angel by Peter David (who eventually moved it to IDW.) That was a rather dark and moody series, but in my research, I came to appreciate his run on Captain Marvel especially. He was able to offer waterpainted color, which meant a seriously warped piece of paper that proved difficult to scan, but also a wonderful array of colors and tones. You might not believe me, but my favorite part is the hip '80s geometric patchwork on the shirt. He may have ultimately regretted that choice, because he had to commit to the bit across a lot of long-sleeved material, but you couldn't tell by the finished outfit.

I never asked for or expected a likeness, which is a prospect many artists find intimidating. I only ask for them to render the character in these circumstances, which he did very well... but that cleavage was a surprise. In retrospect, I maybe should have given him reference from the Kyle Baker movie adaptation, rather than just photos from the flick, because this was certainly... supple? And then the shy comic nerd with the forever crush also had to work in an explanation to the artist that I didn't mean for her to look like she was painted on the nose of a WWII fighter plane. I do not think that I managed all of that very well, and the encounter was ultimately more awkward than I'd hoped. Ms. Thompson was pleasant enough, but I'm not sure that she knew what to make of me and/or the art. I can't even say "nice piece" without it coming off as catcalling.

2023 Fan Expo New Orleans Darkman Commission by Derec Donovan

If I remembered to ask Derec Aucoin why he changed his last name to Donovan, I don't recall his answer, but that was how I was introduced to him in R.E.B.E.L.S. '94 #2 (I'd technically seen a few of his pages in Green Lantern #55, but didn't take note of him there.) I'd decided to try all of the DC Zero Month comics, and had not taken the art on the first two (#0-1) issues well, but this new guy really impressed me. R.E.B.E.L.S. ended up being an excellent if too short run that I still highly recommend, and remains the artist's second longest stint in a 30+ year career (he did 17 issues of Adventures of Superman with Joe Casey after I'd closed my comic shop and avoided anyone else's.) After that, it was catch as catch can, between some stories in DC's Showcase and Secret Files & Origins books and fill-in work. I'd abandoned Marvel Comics by that point, so I mostly appreciated his progress from afar on titles like Bug, Quicksilver, a Venom mini-series, and the adaptation of an ill-fated animated TV series, Avengers: United They Stand. I've done some back-filling to rectify, like working on a set of his Youngblood run, but Derec Donovan (as credited beginning around 2004) has mostly remained an artist that I wanted on series that he didn't work on, especially in the late '90s at DC.

My frustration at not getting Donovan drawing stuff that I wanted to see him do contributed to my driving from Houston to NOLA for a comic convention. We missed most of the first day, but since he was a top priority, I'm confident that I sought him out during the hour or two we had left. I told him all about my appreciation of his work, and wanting to get something special from him. The director Sam Raimi was also at that con, and I'm a big fan of his 1990 movie Darkman (less so the franchise, but it has its moments.) The cool thing about Darkman is he's not Ash Williams, so Raimi and friends see him fractionally as often, but virtually anybody from the Evil Dead trilogy had a hand in Darkman (even Bruce Campbell played him in the closing moments of the movie.) I don't recall if I specifically wanted Donovan on Darkman, or if it was his choice out of several options, but I knew he'd do something cool.

I can't recall which day it was finished, but the artist ultimately provided me with a glorious 11x17", full painted color, cover quality image. The horrifically disfigured Peyton Westlake, wrapped in gauze and theatrical guise as a brutal vigilante seeking revenge from those who ruined his life. We see Darkman swinging from a crane hook, strongly recalling the final set piece from the first film, where our anti-hero danced across girders on an unfinished skyscraper. No offense to the other creators who've tried to do Darkman justice in four colors, but this is the Darkman comic book that we always wanted and never got! Besides the dynamic pose, attention to costume details, and appropriately deep shadows, I love the deep reds and orange of the swirling inferno that the man of many faces battles against. Honestly, it was simply to beautiful to marr, so all the celebrity signatures are on the back. Like I said, I got the piece to be signed by Sam Raimi, and I probably did get it back on the last day, because I was simply too tired to take it to him before heading back to the H on Sunday. It took me a few tries (who could guess the Army of Darkness director's line at Texas Frightmare Weekend would be huge?) but I finally got Sam and his doctor consultant/co-writer brother Ivan Raimi in Chicago later that year. Both men added Darkman-specific personalization, so I'm curious what Ted will come up with when I send it his way?

Finally, Derec Donovan also provided me with three sheets of thumbnails for the design, which I don't figure rates scanning, but it's still a neat extra. Also, I forgot to mention that I actually got two works from the artist in New Orleans, so this one might not have even been started until Saturday? Click that link below. I haven't gotten around as much in the years since, but I know I haven't gotten my last convention piece from [D]!

Derec Donovan

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