Fighting Yank!

Being a geek, I thought I'd share a part of my comic book collection. Even though I have a lot of comics, I don't really consider myself a collector. The books I have, I have because I'm interested in reading them. But there are some comics I'll actively seek out at cons or scour ebay for (and don't mind paying a slight premium) and those tend to be from the Golden Age, stuff published between the late 1930s and early 1950s. Within that range, I've focused on collecting the books of my favorite Golden Age superhero, The Fighting Yank! Yippeeee, The Fighting Yank, one of greatest superheroes ever, you know, the Fighting Yank! The best patriotic Nazi puncher ever created, you know, the Fighting Yank! The guy with the tricorn hat and buckle shoes, you know, The Fighting Yank! Yeah, the Fighting Yank.... huh, you don't know the Fighting Yank? And honestly, why should you, he's actually quite lame.

Alex Ross can make any character look cool,
that is, except the Fighting Yank :(

Even at a quick glance it's obvious that the Fighting Yank pales in comparison to most other patriotic superheroes of the same era. Captain America, Shield, The Eagle, Uncle Sam, War Nurse, even the Golden Age Unknown Soldier (with his short shorts) all left the Fighting Yank in there dust. So why the heck do I like the character so much? Because they're fun comics! The stories tend to have simple plots and be slightly repetitive, but for me that doesn't lessen the entertainment. There's wacky action, bare knuckle crime fighting, and a tricorn hat, what's not to like!?

It's a shame the stories have never been reprinted because I would be all over that, sure I might be the only person in the world, but damn it'd be cool to have those books on my shelf. Eventually I'd like to collect every Golden Age appearances of the Fighting Yank, obviously, finances permitting. But until then, I'm going to continue reading the comics I do have and enjoy looking at some of the sweetest covers ever printed! Check it!

Fighting Yanks Galore!

A typical day for the Fighting Yank.

Insert purple skin racial joke here.

He'll uppercut a kidnapper & do it with style.

Jumping the shark... with a knife!

Not even scientists can escape the Yank.

Ummmm, no idea.

Now go read some comics!

Pluto Moon Base Character Designs

So it's a new year and I'm hard at work on some new projects! A few are still being written and developed, but I have two that are actually in the penciling stage. The first project I'd like to share is a sci-fi comedy called Pluto Moon Base.

The origin for this comic goes back about 4-5 years when some friends and I (all of whom are in the entertainment industry) wanted to work on a low-budget, high cheese factor comedy in the same vein as Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. We would all be producing and acting in the 10 minute episodes that we planned to release online as a web series or video podcast. We went so far as to convert the unused garage of our rented Burbank house into the interior of the moon base, but alas not a single frame of crappy low-res video was ever shot before we had to move out. We were never able to find another location nor the time to continue working on the show, but a lot of the ideas we came up with have stayed with me. So here I am, years later, giving the concept another go in a new medium.

The artist on the book is Claudio Munoz. He's done an amazing job realizing all the ideas I jammed into the script. I'm especially happy with his great character designs, which came out a heck of a lot better than I had imagined. I hope to have more to show in the coming weeks and months, but until then check out Claudio's awesome character designs!

The crew (+ 1 visitor) of Pluto Moon Base

LA Zine Fest Profile

It's pretty awesome that we're getting some attention outside of our blog. Check out the LA Zine Fest site where we talk about our projects. We'll be sure to keep you posted with news about the event. Mark your calendars for Sunday February 19th because this time we'll have a table with our comics!