Harley Quinn Pencils by Loston Wallace

I love how word gets around so quickly on the internet!  Over the weekend, Loston Wallace, who drew the sketch I featured the other day, sent me a note of thanks along with some hi-res scans of his Harley Quinn art.

I love seeing art before it's been finished, either inked or pencilled, becuase I feel as though it's a window to the artist's process.  Stare as I might at pencilled or inked comic art, though, and I think maybe I'll learn through osmosis how to draw like that.

Loston says he used a B pencil on Bristol board (a thicker, smoother kind of paper) to draw this sketch, which was later finished and colored in Photoshop.  I love how clean the lines are.  I'm a sucker for some nice line weights, what can I say?  If you'd like to see more of Loston's art, you can check out his website or his DeviantArt page.

Characters!

Since this blog isn't character-centric, I thought I'd list the characters you'll see appearing on this blog.  Just so you have a little heads up.  Also, I needed another tab up there besides my Pull List, and I'm having fun with Blogger's tab feature.

So here's my favorite characters, in no particular order:

• Martian Manhunter
• Two-Face
• Booster Gold
• Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)
• Adam Strange
• Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns (yes, even Guy Gardner)
• Batman
• Harley Quinn
• The Phantom Stranger
• Fire and Ice
• Just about any other Justice League International character
• The Atom
• Just about any Bat-villain
• Rip Hunter
• The Flash (Barry Allen)
• Huntress
• The Metal Men and Dr. Magnus
• The Rocketeer (okay, I know, not DC, but still)
• Vril Dox
• Magnus, Robot Fighter (also not DC)
• The Spirit

Okay, I lied.  They're definitely in some kind of order.

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: Batman

I was poking fun at Batman in my post from last night, and Frank took that as a sign that Batman was destined to be covered on this blog.  I am a pretty big Bat-fan, after all.

First off, a shoutout needs to go to Tom Hartley, who sold Frank his Mayfair RPG card set for a very fair price, I'm told.  I didn't get to thank either of them yesterday for their part in this.  So thanks, guys!

Now let's take a look at the Batman card:

Batman looks pretty spiffy in his blue-and-gray Batsuit.  I hadn't realized until recently that Golden Age Batman wore gray and black and that the blue was (correct me if I'm wrong, folks) a Silver Age addition.  Though modern Batman runs around in gray and black today, kids Batman still sports the blue and gray.  I guess gray is too boring to children.  (Can you tell I'm looking through toy catalogs for my nephews?)

Let's take a look at Bruce's stats, shall we?

Never one to miss a stray detail, DC made sure Bruce's stats reflect even his most eccentric hobbies, like his stint in Gotham Community Theater when he once danced Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  You don't get an Actor stat of 8 without a little greasepaint.  The folks at Mayfair also made sure to factor in Bruce's time spent as a juvenile deliquent immediately following the death of his parents by giving him a Thief stat of 10.  Yes, he swore to avenge them, but not without keying a few Studebakers, hassling a few soda jerks and knocking off a Walgreen's here and there.  What, you think a rich, privaleged, well-balanced guy like Bruce Wayne doesn't commit crimes and act like a jerk in his spare time?  Oh, the evidence is here, my friends, and it is hilarious.

Let it also be noted that the Bat Rope (TM) is only the length of 4 A&P stores put end-to-end, and that could be a drawback when chasing Man Bat up Wayne Towers, which is about 6 A&P's in height.  I guess that's where an Advantage like having Superman (TM) as your personal peon comes in handy.

And, like I predicted yesterday, Bruce Wayne's Wealth stat is indeed 5,000,000.  That means he'll win any battle, becuase money always trumps intelligence, brawn, and sheer brute strength in any fight.  Don't you remember that part in Final Crisis where Batman dropped a couple hundred Ben Franklins in front of Darkseid and said, "Dance big man, dance!" and then Darkseid sent Bruce on a lovely little vacation back in time to show his appreciation?

That's also the reason why Darkseid is such a pimp.

Want more Mayfairstivus coverage?  Want to air your grievances?  Go ahead and shout at random people on the street, and then check out these sites:

The Anti-Didio League of America

The Aquaman Shrine

Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog

DC Bloodlines

Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 

Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary 

1989 Mayfair RPG Game Card: The Question

Welcome to Comics Make Me Happy!'s small and meek contribution to the Mayfairstivus, the blogosphere/RPG card enthusiast/comic book fan's answer to Festivus.  I shall now perform Feats of Strength, and then Air My Grievances.  Wait, I do that last one enough as it is.

I am in no way qualified to comment on this RPG game, as I've only played an RPG game once in my entire life.  I have pretty fond memories of sitting down during my best friend's weekend-long high school graudation celebration and playing a Star Wars Episode I Phantom Menace RPG card game with her boyfriend, and any attempts to play RPG games since have ended with myself or one other person swearing at a game manual and yelling at each other.  Really, it doesn't work for me unless there's an experienced player around who can explain the rules.  But I did like making the little spaceships that went along with a recent Star Wars trading card/miniatures game.

Anywho.

Let's file this RPG game under the category of "Awesome Things I Missed Out On When They Came Out," along with The Goonies and The Breakfast Club.

The front of the card shows the original Question, Vic Sage, looking pretty spiffy and all 80's, fresh from his Denny O'Neil run.  Too bad you're dead, Vic, or you'd be happy to know shoulder pads are making a comeback.  I'm not really sure if those awesome elevated shoes would be a success today or not, though.

The back of the card shows his stats.  Having non-powered humans characters in a game with somebody like Darkseid always makes me smirk.  It's pretty indulgent to think even Batman could take on, oh, I don't know, Sinestro.  I don't know what Batman's stats are, but here are Vic's:

These stats are chock-full of suprises.  Like Nike (TM), Hub City (TM) has become a valuable intellectual property, along with Charles Victor Szasz (TM), and I had to pay DC fifty cents just to write this sentence.  Vic ranks a 9 in willpower, and I'm assuming that's a scale of 10, so that means Vic would make an awesome Green Lantern.  Green Lantern Question: oh yeah.  Someone please draw me that fan art for me, will you?

I also never knew having a Secret Identity could be a drawback.  I kind of thought that would be an advantage, but what the heck do I know?  Vic is lacking some initiative, which I'm sure the nuns at the orphanage told him on a daily basis, and apparently all those martial art sparring sessions with Lady Shiva didn't do a bit of good, becuase that Strength stat is still suck at 4.  Too bad whoever came up with these stats didn't count all the Zen teaching and Eastern philosophy towards the Spirit, Mind, and Aura stats, otherwise Vic would be off the charts.

He's also got a Wealth rating of 5.  I'd like to know how wealth plays a part in this game.  Can you buy off Doomsday if you have enough in your bank account?

Check out other blogs participating in the Mayfair RPG Festivus Crossover:

The Anti-Didio League of America
The Aquaman Shrine
Booster Gold: BOO$TERRIFIC
The Continuity Blog
DC Bloodlines
Diana Prince as The New Wonder Woman
Doom Patrol: My Greatest Adventure #80
Firestorm Fan
Flash: Speed Force
Girls Gone Geek
Green Lantern Corps: The Indigo Tribe
Hawkman: Being Carter Hall 
Justice League Detroit
Martian Manhunter vs. The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Once Upon A Geek
Power of the Atom
Subject: Suicide Squad [Task Force X]
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary 

JLA Overload Wallpaper

For those of you who don't mind your desktop a little busy...

Someone had a lot of fun Photoshopping various pieces of Alex Ross art together to make this.  (Which can be downloaded here, in case you're interested.)  I think it's really cool, but my brain would hurt if I had to find desktop icons on top of it.

It would look pretty cool on a wall, too...

Harley Quinn Sketch by Loston Wallace

November is just a crazy, and kind of bleak month, and I can't get my act together, and Frank from the Idol-Head of Diabolu was nice enough to call this to my attention.  So here's just a little something.

Though I'm pretty sure it's digital, I like the brush rendering used for the coloring, which makes it actually look like a sketch and not a scene from a comic.  A nice choice, I think.  And Harley's smile is a nice blend of crazy and sweet.