The Chinese might say we've entered the year of the Rooster, but I strongly disagree. It feels like 2017 is the year of pop culture resurrections. A few years ago it was hard to believe we'd have new "Star Wars" films up on the big screen or new episodes of "The X-Files", "Mystery Science Theater 3000", "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and "Twin Peaks" to watch. No one expected to see an eighth Harry Potter novel see the light of day or that Billy Corgan would reunite with his former Smashing Pumpkins bandmate James Iha. All the things we were sure was never going to continue in our lifetime is happening. What's old is hip again. And now we're adding another thing to that ever-growing list of properties arising from the ashes: this website!
Okay, maybe Plightsite.com's resurrection isn't going to thrill a lot of people. In fact, it's probably going to take a long time for word to get out there's finally an update in here after years of no activity. To be honest, in this date and age of Facebook and Instagram, I wonder if any art websites get the same amount of traffic they once did. But be that as it may, the itch to illustrate has slowly been coming back to me. An urge not to just draw again but to get this place back up to speed.
Of course I've said all this before. I've made plenty of announcements of Plightsite's grand return. How things are going to change. How there will be more frequent updates going forward. How the comics will finally become a reality and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I know. The ball's been dropped so many times it's difficult to put even a sliver of faith into what I'm saying. And frankly, I don't blame anyone for feeling that way. So why should anyone believe this time will be any different? Because I told myself the only way I would publicly announce another year of the Summer Blockbuster Gallery is if the whole thing was completed ahead of time.... which is what I'm doing right now. That's right. The 2017 Plight Summer Blockbuster Gallery IS ALL DONE!
Over the course of the next 3 months we'll be debuting at least 9 new illustrations. They're already completed and, if you'll permit me to say, a few of them even came out decent enough. 16 years of doing this gallery and this is the first year when it's not going to handled week by week on the seat of our pants (barring any unforeseeable troubles). I got to be honest, it feels really good not having the pressure of a deadline.
Since the summer movie season usually begins with a superhero film, we're kicking things off with a homage to the 15th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2" starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, the voice of Bradley Cooper, and Vin Disel sucking on helium. And while we're on the subject of me apologizing, this illustration also addresses another statement which came out of my mouth the last time I attempted to revive the gallery. So give it a look and tell me what you think.
Now while the 2017 gallery is a guarantee lock, it doesn't mean I'll be taking it easy this summer. Aside from possibly including even more films, I'll be revising and updating other sections of this website which have long gone unchecked. Pin-ups, the Holiday gallery, Tony's GFC page, guest artists, and more importantly, comics. I'll be posting new and unseen content, updating the banners... in short, I'm going to renovate this website to be with the times. Who knows - maybe even break some records.
Well, I've rambled on enough. I hope you decide to continue coming back now you're aware new material is going to be posted. Again I know how I let this place to rot for far too long. But as I said, at least that won't be a problem for the foreseeable future. So thanks again for stopping by and I promise I'll see you next week! - Jake

As they say in the comics and sci-fi television shows: "Not a hoax! Not a dream! Not an imaginary tale!" I promised last week there would be regular updates and behold, I actually made good on my word. I know! Even I'm surprised! Who would have thought?
All joking aside, I do want to express my thanks to everyone who was supportive of me dusting off the Blockbuster Gallery to do another year. It might sound silly but my biggest fear was dishonoring Tony's memory by returning to it. This was our collaborative effort; something to make each other laugh and inspire us to grow as artists. Even now with these new entries I've done, I can't help but wonder each time "What would Tony have said about this piece?" Would he have laughed and patted me on the shoulder? Would he have groaned and told me to stay away from my niece and nephew? Or would he have called me a [CENSORED] and decide to one up me and show how a real artist would handle it? As much as I'm thrilled with all the compliments (and constructive criticism), that's the one thing I'm not going to receive from continuing with all this: Tony's validation. I miss my pal's reaction to every drawing I finish. But then again that's easy to believe since I just really miss my pal. Hopefully I'm keeping the same level of spirit and fun going seen in our last twelve seasons.
Anyhow, enough bringing the room down. Today I'm debuting a homage to a film director Guy Richie and Warner Brothers has dreams of making into a 6-picture franchise. Unfortunately for the rest of the world it looks like a complete bomb. That movie is "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" starring Charlie Hunnam, Dijmon Hounsou, Jude Law, and Eric Bana. As always, click on the link and feel free to let me know how I did.
That's all for today but next week I'll have not one, but TWO new entries to debut. Those being "Alien: Covenant" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul". So until then have a great weekend and be sure to call your mother on Mother's Day and tell her how much you love her. Later! - Jake

"I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way." - Ian Malcolm ("Jurassic Park")

I was feeling pretty confident ladies and gentlemen. In my laptop's hard drive is a nice collection of new artwork for the Blockbuster Gallery to unveil throughout the summer. I've been debuting them on the date of the movie's actual release rather than on Saturdays like Tony and I used to do. I even have the majority of the ramblings of each individual drawing written out in advance. This was going to be the year without a single hick-up. The goal I set back on May 5th was for 100% on-time consistence. And it felt good such a feat was not outside the realm of possibility.
That same buzz was still with me this morning as I was able to sleep in because I'm off today, stayed with me when I drove to Caribou Coffee for a liquid breakfast ala venti Turtle Mocca, and remained intact when I proceeded back my apartment where I was, with a few clicks of the mouse, going to post two new illustrations based on the "Alien: Covenant" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul" films.
When I opened the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" folder (labelled PSBG144), I had all the artwork for Wimpy Kid.
When I opened the "Alien Covenant" folder (labelled PSBG143), I had all the artwork for Wimpy Kid.
Now, this is hardly the end of the world. Not even remotely a first world problem. Stubbing your toe is a greater tragedy than this. Looking at the positives, there's still going to be a regular update today. And it's not like I can't debut the "Alien: Convenant" picture once I rescan and color the artwork again. There were plenty of times either Tony or myself posted a homage weeks, even months, after the original source material premiered in theaters. A few days is nothing. That's not what irks me. I'm just disappointed my 100% on-time consistency goal was broken within the third week. Well, that and the pain of having to rescan and recolor the Alien piece again.
Sorry. The point is today we're going to temporarily skip the grown-up blockbuster movie and debut the one that's aimed for a much younger viewing audience: "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul", the fourth entry in the franchise starring none of the original cast or crew. But it does mark Alicia Silverstone's return to the screen... even if she's playing the mother which makes me suddenly feel very old now. (Still trying to reclaim that good buzz I had going a hour ago.) As always, check out the piece and let me know what you think.
Now this is the part where I say we'll see you next week when we debut the next piece of the gallery but now that's not going to be entirely true. Once my homage to "Alien: Covenant" is redone, I'll be posting it post-haste. So if you're curious, stop in if you're boring throughout the week. Otherwise I'll see you next Friday when we sail the seven seas and hit the beach. Until then, have a great weekend! - Jake

Although I own this website and its domain, I still update it using a file manager taken from another source. It's necessary since I'm not as knowledge about computers. I know it might shock some people but not all middle-age bald white men who wear glasses are computer geniuses. That's an unfair stereotype (although it's true we're all avid comic book collectors). But getting back to my original point, when I use Aabaco's file manager, I'll occasionally receive reports e-mailed to me with the most worthless statistics. Yesterday they sent me another one and, as expected, it was 99% junk. But I did find one fact interesting. There hasn't been these many consecutive weekly updates to Plightsite since May of 2010. It's been seven years since this website had new content posting on such a routine basis. I could be mistaken but I think I can finally stop trying to convince people this latest return is serious.
So let's keep it going, shall we? Today we have two new pictures debuting in the Blockbuster Gallery, although that wasn't originally the plan. For the longest time "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Baywatch" were scheduled separately. And up until a month ago that was true. But both Tony and I learned even during the first year of this project movie release dates are never completely set in stone. You can go to bed thinking a movie is going to premiere in August and wake up to discover it's now been moved up to be shown in two weeks. Likewise doing a homage ahead of time to save you some trouble only to be informed the movie has now been pushed back into November; far past the summer movie season (*cough* "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" *cough*). This is what happened here, only in this case it's a good thing. Dwayne Johnson wanted to run down the beach sooner and Paramount Pictures gave the idea a thumbs up, hence, we now have two new illustrations to show. Of course, one could argue they probably should have picked a better weekend where they weren't going up against a Disney multi-billion dollar franchise.
Speaking of which, we have a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film! This one has the subtitle "Dead Men Tell No Tales" so you know I came up with a completely new idea on how to tackle it. Or not. Okay, I'm not going to lie... it's continuing with what Tony's son has called the Plightsite version of "Peter Versus the Chicken" from "Family Guy". I think he meant that as a compliment. *lol*
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy how I tackled them. Next weekend we continue the path to breaking more Aabaco records when we take a trip to Paradise Island for the long-awaited "Wonder Woman". So until then, have a safe Memorial Day weekend! - Jake

When I was five years old, my family and I went on vacation to South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore. Along with seeing one of the historical monument, we took a detour to Wall Drug; a sprawling tourist attraction shopping mall. While my mother was looking at the handmade crafts and my father tried on sunglasses, my brother and I were occupying ourselves sitting on the ground in front of the periodical rack looking for more coloring books. I don't think we found any coloring books but there was plenty of magazines. There was also a row full of comic books. And in that row were two covers which immediately caught my eye: "Captain America" # 100 and "Wonder Woman" # 257.
Like I said, I was only five years old so making a decision on anything came down to a matter of familiarity. I knew of Wonder Woman because Linda Carter was on the television screen every Friday night in her satin tights fighting for our rights. But I was unfamiliar with Captain America. Who in Sesame Street was Captain America? The cover didn't tell me anything because it just featured a gravestone with a statue of the Sentinel of Liberty in a dark and scary cemetery. But I knew of Wonder Woman. Boy, did I ever! Last week she fought a corrupt real estate mogul who kidnapped a mischievous dolphin from an aquarium to get the owners to sell off the property. So out of those two covers, the choice would be easy, right?
I asked my mother if she would buy me "Captain America" # 100, my very first comic book, because the cover of Wonder Woman had her in the jaws of a dinosaur and dinosaurs really, really scared me.
Now even though I went with Steve Rogers, I've always remembered Diana Prince being a close second. Don't ask me why I've retained all this unimportant pieces of trivia throughout the years. I know they have absolutely no value. But this particular fact does in hindsight. You see, Wonder Woman is about to star in her first live action movie and have her first live action appearance since that classic 1970s television show. That moment I had in Wall Drug to today was nearly 38 years ago! It has taken the Maid of Might 38 years for the character to get the proper respect it deserves. Let me repeat that: I was 5 years old at the time. Now I'm 43.
So it should come as no surprise today's entry in the "Summer Blockbuster Gallery" touches upon that fact along with a few other things. I'm not saying it's the best illustration I've done, but it is one where I felt like I had something to say. Whether I pulled it off or not is debatable. But if the early buzz on the film is to be believed, "Wonder Woman" is going to turn out being one of the best comic book movies of all time. I hope so. I really hope so. Because it's high time Diana Prince stopped coming in second.
I just hope there's no dinosaurs in the movie. - Jake