AMELIA RULES AND FOOLS AROUND WITH BUBBLE FOX AND MARY VIOLET!!!

Well CRAZIES, we've come to the end of it all.  The end of it all for may 2024!  What?  You thought I meant something else?  I mean, we are ending our fan art celebration this week, but something super cool will be kicking off VERY soon, but more on that later!  For now, it's time to scroll down and see one of the coolest things I've ever received!  Enjoy...

I have long been an admirer of the artwork and comics of Jimmy Gownley, something I professed fairly recently even!  So when he opened up commissions on Twitter last year, I just couldn't resist getting some art of Amelia wreaking cartoony mayhem on my favorite character, Mary Violet, much to Joan's chagrin.  Jimmy certainly went above and beyond with the piece and I'll tell ya, the timing of its arrival couldn't have been any better as last April, I was sidelined with a torn knee ligament and missed three months of work as a result.  Getting this delivered just days after my birthday while still on the shelf was a real moral boost to say the least.  Still, I felt a little guilty asking Jimmy to draw something so outrageously silly involving his characters as it is a pretty wild gag.  I swore if the chance rose again, I'd ask for something simpler and sweeter.  Luckily, opportunity knocked a second time, leading us to the incredible piece below...

A dream come true: Bubble Fox meets Amelia and Mary Violet!  It really is such a sweet piece.  Mary Violet is absolutely adorable showing the CRAZY fox some love and letting him wear her hat while Amelia's in true form goofing on Bubble with some bunny ears!  I was hoping to commemorate ten years of Bubble Fox with something truly special and I'll be eternally grateful to Jimmy Gownley for helping me make that happen!  Thanks again Jimmy for helping Bubble not only turn 10, but show everybody how he looks facing forward! (Seriously!  Ive never figured out a good way to draw that until I got this art!)  You'll always be one of my cartooning heroes and I can't wait for your Tanner solo book!

And that's a wrap on the merry month of May CRAZIES, but don't get sad.  If you're a longtime visitor of this blog, then you know full well what's starts next week!  If not, I'll go ahead and spell it out: THE CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN RETURNS!!!  That's right folks!  Starting next week, I'll be diving deep into the CRAZY archives as we relive past Comic Con fun while counting down to the biggest week of the year!  I'm excited to share these pictures with you fine folks, so do come back and check it all out!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

GASP!!! IT'S G.A.S.P.!!! WATCH OUT FOR SNEEZE BARFS!!!

Welcome to May CRAZIES!!!  Summer is almost here!  Man, I can already smell the BBQ and lemonade!  But enough about that!  We''ll have plenty of time to celebrate the season of fun in the coming weeks.  Right now, we are celebrating the fun that fellow comic creators bring us!  And this week is a particular treat as we honor one of the greats of all ages comics!  Who is it you ask?  Well scroll down and see for yourself!  Enjoy...

Evil doers beware!  G.A.S.P. is on the scene!  Who is G.A.S.P. you ask?  Why, the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals!  Though, they aren't acting very super at the moment.  There's their fearless leader, Captain Amazing, also known as Reggie, whose name coincidentally rhymes with "Wedgie" which is exactly what Ultra Violet, aka Mary Violet, is giving him right now!  Kid Lighting, aka Pajamaman, would help, but he's in a bit of a jam himself right now after being plowed through by Ms. Miraculous, aka Rhonda, who herself has just been bowled over by a medicine ball!  Meanwhile Princess Powerful, aka Amelia at dead center, seems to have taken all that she's willing to take at this point.  'Course, there are quite a few other members of G.A.S.P., but I only had so much room on the paper!  These colorful kids are the creation of Jimmy Gownley, one the cartoonists that really inspired me to quit hiding behind my sketchbook and start getting my comics out there.  His artwork is so appealing with a real Jack Davis quality in that he can be very detailed and realistic and yet still come across as silly and cartoony without it being jolting.  When I came across his Amelia Rules! series at SDCC my senior year of college, it was a defining moment for me.  That there was somebody else out there doing humor and kids comics and without the banner of MAD Magazine behind him, it gave me the confidence to give it a shot myself.  Jimmy's also just a heck of nice guy.  The first time I met him, I fanboyed hard, but he was patient and assuring and gave me advice.  It's because of folks like Jimmy and Phil Yeh, Stan Sakai, Sergio Aragones and late great Batton Lash that I'm still here and still creating and having the most fun I've ever had doing it.  Jimmy's also done a couple of commissions for me, but those are for another day.  Thanks for letting me play in your sandbox Jimmy!  And thanks keeping the sneeze barfs to a minimum!

Well, that's one week down in the Merry Month of May, but the merriment will continue as more Fan Art is coming next week!  So be sure to come back and see who will be next to get the CRAZY honors!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

 

OH MARY VIOLET...

Well, we've come to the end of another month, this time April.  With any luck, I'll be fully vaccinated by now and looking to possibly head back to work soon.  Much is still left uncertain, but hopefully, things are still looking up.  Wanna know what gives me a sign of hope?  More silly fan art of course!  And today I'm honoring one of my heroes of cartooning, the brilliant Jimmy Gownley!  So scroll down and see what's in store for today!  Enjoy...

Oh dear.  I don't think the Pork Chop Express stands a chance against Mary Violet with mystical powers.  She's formidable enough without them!  Today's honoree comes from the wacky world of Amelia Rules!, Jimmy Gownley's awesome comic that celebrates childhood and all its wonders and complexities, especially the more surreal aspect of it.  And no character from the series is more surreal than Mary Violet, the mousy, pale and constantly trodden upon little girl who has a knack for bad timing.  Whether she's being slammed, burned, run over or flattened by medicine balls, this kid could give Wile E Coyote a run for his money in a cartoon survival contest!  At one point, she joins a super hero club where she finally just lets out her pent up frustration and the results were some of the funniest panels ever drawn.  When I was thinking about which comic character would make a good Lopan, the villain of the 80's cult classic Big Trouble in Little China, Mary Violet was the natural first choice.  I've long been a fan of Jimmy Gownley's work.  I came across it by accident at Comic Con one year when one of his book covers caught my eye.  It was a hilarious image of the AR cast careening off a cliff in a go-cart that had me cracking up.  I picked up the book and fell in love with the series immediately.  I myself was a very young cartoonist at the time, not sure what direction I wanted to go in.  Kids and humor comics weren't getting much traction, so I was afraid to show my work, but when I came across AR, it gave me the confidence to throw caution to the wind and make comics for all ages.  It's been a fun ride ever since and I'll always be grateful to him for that.  I've been lucky enough to meet Jimmy a few times and he was very nice and courteous and his wife Karen has become a very good friend on Twitter.  They're proud union folks like me and I can't wait to see what they have in store down the road.  I'm also thankful their kids finally forgave me for that pony thing!

And that's a wrap on April 2021!  I hope you all enjoyed the fan art this month.  With no cons happening again this year, it's been fun putting together themes based on past art I haven't posted past Twitter yet.  Be sure to come back next week for some more CRAZY fun!  Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!