Nick Davis's Blog, page 49

Watercolor Sketch of the First Cuddly Superhero SuperTed and his Pal Spotty #SketchSaturday

SuperTed and Spotty by Nick Davis

Today started off with a Sketch Saturday challenge and although it turned into a drawing interrupted I decided on illustrating a childhood favorite from my home county of England.

Meet SuperTed and his Alien pal Spotty, defenders of the innocent, champions of justice and 5 minute cartoon on Children’s TV once a day. But more importantly SuperTed was the first Cuddly Superhero. This heroic duo were finished in watercolor pencils and black ink.

Buy the Art

You can buy this original watercolor sketch of SuperTed and Spotty direct from my Storeveny Store.

Work in Progress

Reward Teddy Bear Army T-shirts for Tristan and the Cuddly Defenders just arrived!

Tristan and Wilma presents the Grand Teddy Bear Army T-Shirt

Just arrived are the T-shirts rewards for the Tristan and the Cuddly Defender Kickstarter, and they look pretty cool.

Archer and Fernando present the Teddy Bear Tales T-Shirt

I am about two weeks out from releasing the book as printed copies of the Cuddly Defenders are now being shipped.

Grand Teddy Bear Army T-Shirt

The Teddy Bear Tales T-Shirt

Buy the T-Shirts

The T-Shirts are unisex soft-cotton and are available in sizes Small, Medium, Large, X-Large and XX-Large on my Storeveny Store.

What is Spooky Writing? Well… It is a comic book about a Witch in Training called Spooky Abigail

Spooky Abigail – Witch in Training

You may have noticed some odd tweets bout me Spooky writing, and in case you were wondering what it is all about I can reveal a little here. I’ve been commissioned  to be the Lead Writer on a comic book about a Preteen Witch named Spooky Abigail, who instead of a cat, has a rat on her hat.

I cannot reveal too many details except I will be writing at least two issues of this comic book published by  a chap called Paul Michaels (Redmoon), and Spooky Abigail is a Witch in Training at MacGiven’s Academy for Witches and Magical Folk, set in the realm of Notorious Odyl, Not (NON), a land of magic, wonder, mystery and leeks. A county of crystal lakes, soaring mountains and if the wind is in the wrong direction a hazy onion smell.

I hope over the coming weeks to be able to reveal a little more about Spooky Abigail and her world and share with you some of the writing, and art – which looks amazing.  I am extremely excited to be able to write about this character and help create her odd, but magical world. Stay tuned for more Spooky Writing updates.

Creator Spotlight – Taking a look at Free Fall Press and Comics United, El Diablo, Inner Beings and more…

Time to return to my semi-regular guest column Creator Spotlight, this is where I hand the reigns of AltWorld to a Comic Creator to talk about their work and to showcase their achievements. The Spotlight is a great place to discover new talent, new stories and new books. But enough of my rambling… This weeks Creators Spotlight is now in the hand of Mike Waggoner of Free Fall Press, take it away Mike…

Hello, I’m Mike Waggoner from Free Fall Press and Comics United. I am a writer, artist, colorist, letterer and editor who has been in this crazy business since releasing my first mini-comics back in the early 90′s. Free Fall Press is the name of my publishing company and was founded in 1991, which is also a part of the Comics United family of books.

Comics United came together last year after meeting David Johnson Jr. when I was asked to color a couple of his pages for Siike Donnally’s Soulstar benefit GN. Soon we were talking about collaborating on some projects and as they say the rest is history. We created Comics United as a way to unify our two studios under one banner. It wasn’t long until the “family” grew to include my good friend Johnny Brown’s Underground Comix, whose Titans book I was coloring and lettering, Mohamad Lubis’ Gallant Force comics, and Edward and Kendra Hales’ All-Hale Studios.

Just Released

Inner Beings Comic Page

Our first comic release is Inner Beings. Written and drawn the extremely talented Mohamad Lubis with colors and letters provided by Mike Montalvo and edited by me. It’s an action packed space adventure about a civil war being brought to Earth with only our heroes standing in the way. You can order a copy on Indy Planet.

Coming Soon

Worlds Edge Coming Soon

After a couple of delays Johnny Brown’s Titans is going to print as we speak. The talented Sean Hill provided the interior art, Grace Meadows provides the beautiful cover and I colored and lettered.  God decides he is going to retire leaving the position open….leading to a war amongst ALL of the mythological Gods and Goddesses .

Phoenix Eye

We also have the Tales of Wonder anthology ready in a couple of weeks featuring works from all of the Comics United family featuring  Ed Hales’ Phoenix-Eye inked by Kendra Hale, Cadet written by me and drawn by David Johnson Jr, Solarhawk by Darren Johnson and Mohamad Lubis and a Diablo story with a jam cover colored by the great Mike Montalvo.

El Diablo Azul

The premier issue of  El Diablo Azul, my Luchador Ghost Hunter who is always looking for action, should also be ready for print in a few weeks.

In the near future we have World’s Edge, the return of Maverick and a Jesse James mini-series, plus a ton of other ideas we are developing.

Like us on Facebook to keep up with all the happenings.

Thanks Nick for the opportunity to be featured on this great site. We are always looking for people to collaborate with so please contact us.

The King of the Kaiju is back, bigger and meaner than ever… Oh.. Oh… Here comes Godzilla…

Godzilla is coming

We’ve had Pacific Rim that brought the Kaiju roaring back to the screen and now here comes the King… Godzilla is back! Check out the new trailer after the jump.

Cuddly Watercolor Sketch of Captain America the Teddy Bear the First Furry Avenger

Captain America the Teddy Bear by Nick Davis

Captain America is my favorite Marvel character and I keep coming back to him when it comes to Cuddly Sketches because I never feel I do him any justice. This time though I am fairly proud of my latest attempt to draw Captain America the Teddy Bear.

This Cuddly Sketch piece is finished in watercolor pencils and black ink and I feel is my best Captain America (or is that Captain Ameribear) yet.

Buy the Art

You can buy this original watercolor Cuddly Sketch of Captain America the Teddy Bear direct from my Storeveny Store.

First Appearance Rocket Raccoon Benefit Watercolor Sketch Auction to Help Bill Mantlo, A Hero in Need #GotG

First Appearance Rocket Raccoon for the Bill Mantlo Project by Nick Davis

This is a watercolor sketch of Rocket Raccoon from his first appearance in the Incredible Hulk 271. I am auctioning it off on Ebay for benefit the fallen Creator of Rocket Raccoon Bill Mantlo.

I don’t know if you heard of Bill Mantlo, he was a work-for-hire Writer for Marvel back in the late 70′s early 80′s and created characters like Rocket, Cloak and Dagger, the Micronauts, Rom the Space Knight, Lady Deathstrike and White Tiger amongst others.

In 1992 he was hit by a Hit and Run Driver and suffered a traumatic head injury, and was in hospice care ever since. As the work he created was work-for-hire he never received any royalties for his creations and with the Guardians of the Galaxy getting hyped up, his contribution should not be ignored.

My first appearance Rocket Raccoon Watercolor is up on Ebay, the proceeds of this auction will be going to Help Bill Mantlo and pay for his ongoing care.

Bill Mantlo and his sister-in-law Liz, August 10, 2013. Courtesy of Bill’s brother Mike Mantlo.

I know I’m not well-known, just a guy who has written some stories about Teddy Bears, but those Teddy Bear stories most likely would never existed if I never as a kid read Rocket Raccoon created by Bill as a back up story in the UK Weekly Transformers magazine – way back in 1986.

Please bid on the auction even the starting bid would help. Please help me give back to this Creator and I thank you for your time.

View the Ebay Auction

To view and bid on the First Appearance Rocket Raccoon Benefit Watercolor to help Bill Mantlo please click here.

Who is Bill?

To learn more about Bill Mantlo and his legacy please visit Greg Pak’s website.

Work in Progress

End of the World as the Vikings know it! Here comes the Apocalypse it is Ragnorak Time!

Apparently today is the day the world ends according to Norse mythology, and its all going to start when the wolf son of Loki breaks out of prison and the giant Midgard Serpent rose from the sea. Sounds quite pleasant, eh?

That puts on track for an epic throw-down between monsters and the Norse gods Thor, Odin, Loki and their pantheon.  Which according to my home country’s England’s Jorvik Viking Center in York, who are the organizers of the annual Jorvik Viking Festival, this all kicks off on February 22. The Director told the Yorkshire Post:

    “The eyes of the world’s media are set to be on York on the evening of February 22 as our countdown to Ragnarok comes to an end, and if the prediction does come true, we are determined to go out with a bang.

    “The legend of Ragnarok tells of the fall of the Norse gods and the birth of a new world, but, of course, if we wake up to the same old world on the morning of Sunday, February 23, we’ll have no regrets – our celebrations also mark Jolablot, the Viking feast to hail the coming of spring, which to many people is the annual rebirth of the world!”

Oh… So, yeah by about 12pm (EST) USA time the Norse Apocalypse will be upon us all. I would put a lot of stock into the truth of this than other Apocalypse rumors – as Odin once said he would get rid of the Ice Giants, and do you see any Ice Giants? Well do you?

Watercolor Sketch of Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket Raccoon in his Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant Uniform #GotG

Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket Raccoon in his Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant Uniform by Nick Davis

This is a watercolor sketch of Rocket Raccoon in his Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant Uniform. After a week of Guardians of the Galaxy releases, trailers and sneak peeks, I thought it was fitting to finish where it all started for me – in the Keystone Quadrant.

I first read Rocket Raccoon in the back of the UK Transformers Weekly, his adventures in the Keystone Quadrant were the backup story, full of Animorphic action, Toy Wars,  Killer Klowns, Baboon Assassins and Mercenary Bunny Rabbits. It was nuts, it was fun and had this crazy Raccoon lawman named Rocket.

Thinking it was an ongoing series (remember no internet back in1985) I tried searching for more Rocket books, and came up blank. As for Rocket Raccoon he didn’t reappear again until 2006 in Exiles, before becoming a regular in the rebooted Guardians of the Galaxy books. It is good to have the lil’nutty fella back.

Buy the Art

You can buy this original watercolor of the Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant Rocket Raccoon art direct from my Storeveny Store.

Work in Progress Pictures

Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Promotional Poster Released – You’re Welcome #GotG

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Promotional Poster – You’re Welcome

‘You’re Welcome’

Oh… this keeps getting better… Marvel has totally embraced the Ballsy’ness of the Guardians of the Galaxy books and reflecting it in the poster. This movie is going to be a fun pop corn roller-coaster ride on par with Ironman.