That Time Frank Borth Drew Spider-Man

Yeesh.
I even leave threads dangling when i'm picking up dangling threads.

As you may recall, a few months back we went back to see when Frank Borth had the Spider Widow meet the Spider-Man. I was supposed to follow that up with that time, decades later, when Borth drew our more familiar Spider-Dude...

Yet, not quite The End.
In that same issue, Frank also did this two-page spread -

We leave you with this lovely piece done for Monsters Attack (obviously, since they spammed it) the previous year, in 1990 -

Fighting To Die

Our incompetent administration has decided, as usual, to attack reality as the enemy when it's inconvenient to their delusions. No longer able to pretend that the Trump Flu isn't there, and having been forced to wear a mask in public after ranting on the evils of mask wearing (though the lying wimp is so damn weak he can't even admit that he was against them previously). So now they're out attacking the medical experts, and Dr. Fauci in particular, by boldly lying once again.

Though, maybe they're not actually lying. When they talk about things like Fauci 'flip-flopping' on masks, maybe they're just too damn stupid to understand things like qualifiers and transitory conditions. Phrases like "that may change" and "Under the current conditions" are just too much for their feeble minds to grasp?

Nah - they're frelling liars, twisting the truth because they know that anybody that'll march along behind them at this point is either too stupid to understand or simply doesn't care as long as they continue to hate the 'right' people.

Oddly enough, contemplating the herd lumbering along behind fake pres, i was reminded of an old Fringeworx short story - I, Marik. Fringeworx, as you may or may not recall, is the web series i did way back in the mid-90s that was recently folded into The Third Colony. And, heck - it's even a prelude to an episode that heavily featured Frag, the character now wandering around in the T3C game whom we saw in the promos.

So, what the frell. It's quite short, so i'm going to run it this morning.

Now, as a matter of fact...

 I, Marik
by -3-

(This is a prequel to "...Of Darkness And Glory" These events take place just prior to Frag's arrival on Lancer's Reef.)


He rubbed his wounded shoulder as he tried to quiet his ragged breathing and draw back deeper into the shadows. He tasted the blood in his mouth and wondered what his name was. His heart racing, head pounding, blood singing in his ears; he wanted something to cling to. To steady himself. He knew he had a name. could almost remember...

This morning. This morning he had another life. He remembered energy. Energy... NRG! He had been an NRG Tech. Clutching at quicksilver thoughts, he name slipped away and his life came to him instead. For a moment, it was all clear in his mind - the intricate details of stopping atomic motion and releasing the energy from inert matter.

Then he barely stifled a laugh. He knew nothing of the energy hidden in an inert body. Now. Now he knew. Energy flooding every cell of his being. Primal energy unleashed from deep within. The screaming might of the wave that carried him through the streets. More than energy - energy lust. The heart and the mind and the spirit all screaming his personal power in perfect unison. The Howl...
He was lost again, any thought of his name, his life, swept away unnoticed. Someone approached on the street beneath him. He felt fresh again, ready to continue. He checked the growl in the back of his throat before it alerted his competition. When the light glinted off her metal jacket, he leaped. He landed with his knee in the middle of her back, driving her into the ground as one arm snaked around her neck and the other hand grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back. Her. face, twisted in anger, was beautiful...green eyes and Celtic features. it was a face he knew well - eyes he remembered.

Last Night - staring into those eyes as sweat dripped into his own. Feeling the pounding of her heart pressed to his; the wet heat of her wrapped around him. Their sex had always been good, but last night had been more than great. Like on an animal level they had known something was coming. They were consumed by passion - lust - something ancient and primal. Something that connected them in a more than physical way. Something eternal.

He sank his teeth into her exposed throat, the taste of blood fresh in his mouth again. He chewed savagely and twisted his lover until she stopped twitching. Then sprang to his feet and howled his twin victory. Not only had he eliminated another competitor, but she was his forever now. A part of him. With a gleeful bound he continued on, sprinting toward the colony center. He wanted to howl again, but he held it in, saving it, losing himself instead in the joy of running. Revelling in the power that was his to command.

Yesterday. Yesterday the command came from the Power Core. No more heavy minerals. With no native heavy elements, he was supposed to expand the operation to full planetary broadcast power, on the original schedule, with no more offworld shipments. Bastards! He knew why. His bonuses. He made too many of them, and they were doing some cost cutting! If he could get his hands on them...

He squeezed, crushing the windpipe of the stranger in his hands. He tossed the corpse off to the side near a few older ones, and moved on. Trotting at a slower pace, careful not to slip in the ever more frequent goreslicks, he started looking for a suitable weapon. He was getting closer now, his competition more frequent. And soon there would be packs. He must be prepared. Within a few blocks, he spotted a walker mech, attacked and abandoned. Cautious of a trap, he circled toward it, and smiled when he spotted what he was looking for - jutting like the spines of a porcupine, a lateral array of cooling pins. A meter and a half long, only a few centimeters in diameter, and easy to detach. They were probably one of the hardest objects on the planet. Proud of his new battle rod, he stared into its ebony surface. Shiny enough to belie its lightsucking appearance...looking for all the world like a piece of night fallen to his hands. Too black.

This afternoon he was tired. Not from last night's incredible sex, but tired in spirit. It was with weary resignation that he suffered through the inspection tour by the same Home Office nullard that brought yesterday's new orders. Weary in the knowledge the his one year contract had just been tripled in length and quartered in money... This afternoon. Night came 3 hours early this afternoon. And with the dark came glory. Glory and Power and Freedom. And Primal Joy. He felt it and turned to the corp and smiled. The rover felt it , and it knew what was coming; looked like it wanted to run, but frozen in fear. When he pounced on the corporate slug, it screamed. Screamed his name! What was his name?

He could see it now, glittering in the center of the colony plaza. The Web of Stars. It beckoned to him, sang its call over the roar of the crowd. That was all there was for him now - the song and the web stretching into the sky. His rod whistled with the song as it cut through the air, clearing space before him. This was all he had ever wanted, his every unknown desire gloriously fulfilled.
Closer now, his rod striking as fast as his heart was beating. He was Power! He was pure energy! No one could stop him. Hundreds swarmed around him, clawing and clubbing each other. So many that often the dead had no room to fall, carried along by the mob in a danse macabre. But for him they didn't exist - only those in the remaining meters between he and his goal had meaning. They were the fiercest, having fought this far, but that slowed him not at all. Part of him regretted being unable to feast upon them and give them the respect they deserved, but now there was only blood. The stars were his, not theirs, and he would have them. Oblivious to the pain of his now useless left arm flopping at his side, he struck down the last obstacle in his path.
With a roar of triumph he dropped the cooling pin and started to climb the Star Web. His heart sang with victory, his spirit shining like stars on which he climbed, he finally allowed himself his howl. It was a sound from the depths of his soul; a primal song to all who could hear, proclaiming his mastery of them. Telling them that Marik was their better. The best!
Marik! That was his name! The joy in his system reached new heights. He felt complete and refreshed, climbing ever faster. He could see them now. Almost. They had no edges, no boundaries, receding off into more than just three dimensions of space. He looked below and screamed.
"Marik! Marik is your better! Marik is more than any of you - more than all of you!!" Laughing, he continued climbing up to join them. To be with them for all time. Now close, he stopped and joyfully announced himself. "I am here, oh lords. Marik has proven he is worthy. Please, I beg of you, accept me. Please, Oh Lords!" Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as they shifted forward. He thought his heart would burst, unable to contain his pride and happiness as they drew close to him. The ecstasy left him trembling.


"Thank you..." he whispered as the jaws closed over his head, just before his heart did burst.

...and it worked out for Marik about as well as it's working for the USA.

stuff by -3- (199x)

Trump Flu Blues Prevention I - Colouring C'thul'hu

Yesterday we notioned collecting some art for colouring pages to help keep folks entertained while hunkered down to avoid Trump Flu. The ol' wandering brain seems to have liked that notion and much gathering has occurred. So we'll make it a series. 

Let's kick things off with some actual colouring book pages, this batch from Marc A. Damicis and his -

I got rather carried away with prepping these pages. They're all sized to print at 8"x10" at 300dpi. We should probably stick with 150dpi for future batches. 

Yeah, i'll try to go with something a tad less disturbing for the next batch. But the Lullaby Festival was coming up, so the the Sleeper was on my mind.

Y'know - it can be a lot more fun colouring on the computer. Especially with some of the comic book art we'll be running. So i believe i'll put together a quick beginner's guide for those who haven't tried it. There's nothing like using excess free time to learn while you play. (Yes, i'll point to some free software that can do the job)

page art by Marc A. Damicis from Cthulhu Coloring Book, 2nd. Ed (1997)

Brief Oddities

We've got an extra post with a smattering of oddities, as mentioned above, and no real theme beyond having accumulated in the blog files. And, y'know... being Odd.

Here's a beautiful and mysterious first page from Omandu -

You may perhaps wonder where the figure absent from the white space in the middle has gone?

He escaped to the cover -

I admire an artist who is wholly committed to the work over the modern obsession for Branding. In fact, the only way to know that this is the cover for The Little Book Of Inner Space #1 is from the indicia box, hand written at the bottom of the first page -

Sadly, this seems almost completely forgotten today. The Grand Comics Database has almost no info, only the front cover.
Every time i put together a list of titles to update in their database, i lose it.
Somebody remind me after a bit and see if i've entered the particulars on this comic.

Elsewhere in Time and California...

What's this crowd waiting for...?

...the chance to party with Mary Fleener! 
Why me not there?

For a purely odd sidestep in time and space, yet somehow reminiscent of now, here's a one-pager from Look Magazine's second issue, just over 80 years ago...

And buried way down here is the single page comic that started this post going. A simple piece in every way, that works so nicely from the team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito...

Omandu say bye-bye -

pages from The Little Book Of Inner Space #1, Life Of The Party, Look v.1#2, and Get Lost #3 (1937, 1954, 1972, 1996)

I'm A Bit Gravitationally Challenged At The Moment!

Did you tune in to catch the third installment of Lost In (an alternate section of) The Andes this morning?

Nope, not happening.
(It'll be here this afternoon.)

 

I've been running on the assumption that everyone knows who Don Rosa is because... of course they do! Let us pause for the benefit of those who are not "everyone" and peek at a bit of the work that made him famous. Don was (and is) a huge fan of 'the good duck artist' and has carried on the works of Carl Barks. (A part of why i said he's likely genuinely proud of other works in yesterday's post)

Rather than try to describe the work Don has done with Bark's Uncle Scrooge, (among others) here's one of my favorites so you can see for yourself. Don finds a simple, but brilliant, idea from which to bring a novel adventure with fresh visuals and humor naturally inherent in the very concept. From 1997, A Matter Of Some Gravity -

Yep. Donald drove in that position before Deadpool.

That's a glimpse for those who are lucky enough to have all those old stories to discover for the first time. You go work on that and we'll be back this afternoon to conclude the Pertwillaby Papers dailies.

page art by Don Rosa for Walt Disney Comics and Stories #610 (1997)

You Deserve This Crown, Tantri...

Thrice have we visited with Birbal. But, if modern politics shows us anything it's that we're more likely to find evil clowns running the show. So let's look at another figure from Indian comics who's less Birbal and more Black Adder - a court adviser named Tantri The Mantri. Mantri means a Sage (one who thinks and says, from the Sanskrit), for those of you who might be wondering.

Tantri The Mantri was a long running feature in Tinkle, the comic magazine for children at which we've glanced previously. The earliest strip i've seen is from around #50, but i'll have to do some deep digging to try to find when he debuted. I've yet to find a good database that covers comics published in India. For example, the Grand Comics Database has indexed 11 out of 530 issues.

Today we'll look a little later in the run. These strips were scattered between #209 to #289...

I'll go hunting for that first one i saw with the mechanical flying elephant for next time...

page art by Ajit Vasaikar, Asit, Shayam Desai, and Seema Mande for Tinkle #s 209, 254, 275, 283 & 289 (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994)