"Running Of The Bulls" ("Iron Man")
Astro Boy (c) Osamu Tezuka
Bender and VICKI (c) 20th Century Fox
ED-209 and Johnny 5 (c) New Line Cinema
Pencil Marks: For those unfamiliar with the Ironman Triathlon (because Tony and I have known a few). it's a race of endurance held in Hawaii comprised of three checkpoints. First, the contestants swim for 2.4 miles in the ocean, followed by bike riding for 112 miles, and finishes with a 25-mile marathon along the coast.
As for who the little girl in the picture is; it's not Strawberry Shortcake. It's my feeble attempt to draw V.I.C.I. from the mid '80s sitcom "Small Wonder". Again, for those unfamiliar, it was a low-budget syndicated series on Saturday mornings about a man named Ted Lawson who designed a little girl robot to live with his family posing as his daughter. The series was on the creepy side because Ted's real son Jamie was kind of smitten with V.I.C.I. who lived in the cabinet in his bedroom. Oh, and for a while there was a myth the actor who played Jamie was Smashing Pumpkin's lead singer Billy Corgan (it's not true). Yep, they just don't make kid shows like they used to.
But the most important element of this illustration isn't who's on it. where it takes place, or that once again the season had to begin with a Marvel Comics film. "Running with the Bulls" marked Tony's triumphant return to the gallery after a long two-year hiatus / meditation / retirement. I'll leave it to him to talk about that more in depth, but I have to say the feeling I got when I first saw his collaboration on my pencils? It felt good! It felt right. - Jake
Ink Smudges: Like my buddy explained it had been a long time since I picked up a pencil let alone used my favorite editing program to color, so there was quite a bit of rust to work out of my system. But darn it, I felt well enough and frankly, I plain missed participating. Seeing the last few summer galleries succeed, then fail (no fault on Jake's part), made me realize how much I enjoyed it. So, when the summer of 2008 started rolling in, I got off my kiester and once again contributed to my adopted website.
Like every inker, there were a few minor things with his pencils I had to correct, and there are a few things I made worse. But all in all, it felt like a complete pin-up. A great way to begin a new season! - Tony