MAKING A MARK: Nina Levy - The Mum Who Drew 2,000 Different Napkins For Her Sons

Making A Mark gives an insanely talented artist some IADW brag-space. Today goes to a very loving Mum, Nina Levy. Nina drew 2,000 different images of her sons favourite characters on napkins, to include in their lunchboxes. What's even cooler is on many of the posts, the artistic mother tells you the reason and response she got for each piece. Enough talk - onto the art!

Amazing stuff huh? I feel an instant kindred spirit with her children, in that the biggest chunk of the gallery is devoted to Dick Grayson, one of the key characters in my fan-childhood too) in all his forms; Robin, Red Robin and Nightwing above there. In many drawings, weapons are replaced or strawberries added to help with teachers comments that many napkins are based on video games and "violent graphic novels".

Alvin The Treacherous, Luke Skywalker, The Joker and Skips may make you worry what the galaxy's best Jedi would do with The Joker wispering in his ear, but Nina says "My sons are just not quite willing to accept that so many of their favorite characters are voiced by one person, Mark Hamill." And fair enough - it is one of life's harshest truths!

"Hosting the "Going Home Bear" for an evening is a major Kindergarten event at my sons' school. Each child has a turn to take the bear along for his afternoon and evening activities, copious documentation by a parent with a camera phone is strongly encouraged. Ansel and Archer carefully tucked the bear into his own bed in front of our wood stove, but we imagined that he had an exciting evening out with a poorly drawn Dark Knight." 

If that's poorly drawn on a tricky paper stock such as a napkin, I'd hate to see brilliant!  There's only two problems I can see; 1) they are all too good to wipe your mouth on, and 2) prints need to be for sale!

If there is any subject Nina masters more than heroes, it's canines. Here, after commenting "Ansel was a big fan of Wonder Woman in the days before he received the message that boys should not like female superheroes in flashy outfits", Nina turns the powerful and tenacious Diana into a Pitbull.


 What do you think?  To see the amazing full range of completed napkins, featuring everyone from Hellboy to Invincible to Pokemon, visit Nina's very own blog right after the jump!

THE UNSTOPPABLE JUGGERNAUT: NBA Star Wilson Chandler Reveals X-Foe Back Tattoo

When it comes to sports, few comic characters make such a statement (or intimidating threat) as 'The Unstoppable Juggernaut'. Charles Xavier's step brother and Onslaught's infamous punching bag, Cain Marko has been an unbeatable force in comics for years.

Wilson Chandler may not have the Juggernaut's bulk as he storms up courts of the NBA, but that doesn't mean his mantra has to be any different. Just look at his back;

Now that's some heavy-duty punishment! Speaking to Denver Stiffs about this mammoth back tat, Wilson states going 1-for-naught wasn't his first thought when getting his tattoo artist Reggie Tatz to do a Marvel character.

"I was a real big fan of X-Men. Growing up I used to watch it a lot. I was trying to think of a great tattoo that I could get and mix it in with basketball. At first, I was thinking Wolverine. The idea [of the Juggernaut] came from my tattoo artist. This was when I was healthy and before all the surgeries; I used to go to the rack pretty hard. He was like, "You should get the Juggernaut" because they called me Unstoppable Juggernaut, so I thought that'd be kind of cool."

 What do you think?  For more of Wilson's tattoos, including Kenny, He-Man and more, click here. To visit Reggie Tatz's gallery, click here.

NOW THAT'S A SPLASH PAGE: John Bryne's Batman Decks The Joker

Splash pages, you gotta love 'em. A blank canvas where the artist can hit you with a large dose of illustrated 'wow'. This week, as Bats was top in sales and has had a few other posts to himself this week, I thought I'd post one of John Bryne's first shots at the character, from Untold Legend of The Batman #1, where he's doing that most Batman of Batman things, decking The Joker.

While Robin being used as a prop is one of my key gripes over 'old DC', what you really have to love here is the almost watermark effect of Batman's other rouges looking on! Two-Face especially seems to look pretty decent under John's craftmanship.

 What do you think? 

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO: Legion Of Super-Heroes Cover To Back Issue #61 By Alex Ross

I can't believe with big creators like Jim Lee and Grant Morrison stating how fond they are of The Legion of Super-Heroes, DC's 31st century umm well legion of super-heroes still fails to get the foothold in sales that it so richly deserves. Do fans not care about the coolness of Cosmic Boy and Timber Wolf? Or Dawnstar's outright awesomeness?

Well, today being the 16th of May is my birthday and as DC have used their August solicits to reveal the final issue of the Legion's latest series, I wanted to use this post to mark the date I first blessed this globe (and probably your un-birthday), by gifting your eyes this somewhat unknown wrap-around cover of the cosmic teens, by one of the biggest names in the biz, painter Alex Ross (click to enlarge).

A homage to Mike Grell's cover for Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-49, suddenly, all seems right once more. Happy un-birthday to you all!

MURPHY IS THAT YOU? Detroit's Robocop Statue Ready For Casting

How do you attract heaps of sci-fi fans to visit your city? Create a Kickstarter campaign for a giant statue of the hero who protects said metropolitan area in a major feature film, then two years on, have Frank Barton sculpt the hero to life. Then take a picture like this, so the net can see what it looked like, before it was sent to Venus Bronze Works for casting and manufacturing.

Watch out Facebook - goofy poses with a Robocop statue in Detroit are coming your way...

 What do you think? 

COVER SHOTS: The Best From DC Comics' August 2013 Solicitations

Well that moment all Legion fans are familiar with has finally rolled around. In August the latest Legion series comes to a close, along with Etrigan's Demon Knights, Dial H and Threshold. While we wonder how long it will be until we see the magic of the 31st century again, looking at the rest of their August 2013 solicitations, these are the best covers.

COVER OF THE MONTH:
ANDREA SORRENTINO - GREEN ARROW #23

If the composition is clean and the angles are working, sometimes that's all it takes for a cover to work. While Green Arrow and his buddy may have each other's backs to ward off DC's cancelation team, with a hit TV series in the works, I think they're pretty safe.

DC says:  Ollie learns the secret origin of Shado, and Count Vertigo attacks!

CLOSE CONTENDERS: (Click to enlarge)

Earth 2 #15
Juan Doe
Maybe the reason why the folks from Apokolips like to rule so much is it gives them a great opportunity to display their graphic design super powers in a range of domineering posters? Is typography Darkseid's true super power? Seems like it!

Superman/Batman #3

Jae Lee
Says Batman 'Hey, I usually stand infront! I'm Batman!' Replies Superman 'Yes, but now I have a cool movie coming out' 'Okay' admits Batman 'You stand infront'.

 What do you think?

Sound off below. For DC's full August line-up, follow the jump!

RANDOM WORK OF WOW: Logan Pack's Daredevil - The Man Without Fear

Sometimes you stumble across a portfolio where the artist only has a couple of comic based pieces, other times there can be just one work so brilliant, you'd risk being stoned to death by fellow art lovers for putting something else beside it. These are Random Works of Wow and illustrating the point this week is Logan Pack with Daredevil.

I don't know what it is, but there's something very Lenil Yu meets Gene Colan about this shot of Marvel's 'Man Without Fear'. The Kirby dots seem to pop in a bit too, and while a static portrait shot, it still conveys all the grittiness and tragedy associated with Matt Murdock's life!

 What do you think?  Sound off below. View more Random Works of Wow here or to see more of Logan Pack's art, click here.