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.