Monday, March 22, 2010

The Captain & Shelly - Kabuki Style!

Recently, I commissioned my friend Kabuki Katze to create a piece of artwork depicting my characters Captain Satellite and Shelly Ericson with a touch more skill than I can manage. I have rhapsodized about Kabuki's pure awesomeness in the past, but here we have another example of it.



(Click that image for a much larger version of the pic at deviantArt!)

Isn't that nice? Comic book nerds among my readers may note the authentic-type details like the 12 cent price tag, the modified Comics Code seal, and the ragged edges. 'Twas Kabuki herself who elected to do the picture as a mock comic book cover - I merely pointed her in the right general direction. That direction, by the way, was the layout of DC Comics' covers from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. The Captain's world is actually the 1990s, but that decade as it would have been imagined through the prism of the Fifties and Sixties.

Yes, there are some variations from my original designs. I like to give artists freedom to interpret my basic sketches into something a little more developed. One amusing sidenote is the headband that Shelly wears. This has become a staple of her design, and it all owes to an early misinterpretation of my shaky artwork. It worked out for the best, I'd say.

Thank you, Kabuki, for your amazing work in bringing my characters to life!

4 comments:

  1. that is just a great cover, and makes me wish I could read the comic.

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  2. She did a really great job on it, with minimal input from me.

    You might get to read the story someday, anyway. No promises, though.

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  3. I love how little bits of her outfit have become canon because of how some artists have reinterpreted your designs. It's a bit like a character-stew. You put a little something in every time you take something out . . .

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  4. Kabu, things like that are the most gratifying to me, because it allows the characters to grow organically and find their own identity. Makes them a little more authentic when people bring their own unique ideas.

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