Punk Rock Jesus - Egor

Perhaps my favourite mini series from last year was Sean Murphy's Punk Rock Jesus. The story of a Global Media Corporation cloning the DNA of Jesus Christ and bringing him back to life - all for the worlds entertainment. It was a pretty high brow concept and surprisingly, done really well - but what pulled me in was Sean Murphys amazing Black and White artwork. I swear I'll buy anything this guys draws.

Hello 2013, so long Scalped - Egor

Houdinis back after a lot longer break than planned. What can I say - lots happening.

The first handful of posts will be me picking something from my ever growing read pile.
First up.... Scalped - the 60 issue saga written by Jason Aaron and penciled by R.m. Guera.
Scalped is the story of Dashiell Bad Horse, an undercover FBI agent sent to the reservation he grew up on to bring down Chief Red Crow. The story has everything a good crime story should have mystery, sex, violence. The characters are well developed and the story always has a purpose. Theres a sense of destination, not once did it feel like it they were treading water. The art is also a big plus for me. Its gritty dark, with lots of solid blacks - but remains very clear and understandable. Every character is instantly recognisable, no generic easy cop-outs - theres a real caricature feel about them.
Sadly, the story is complete and the series has ended. It has to be one of the best series I've read in a long time - come to think of it its one of the few series I've continued to collect beyond 30 issues.

Enough rambling - I present, Dashiell Bad Horse.

Merry Christmas - Egor

Merry Christmas all! Houdini's Last Escape will be taking a short break over the holiday period, but will return bigger than ever in the New Year - thanks for dropping by!

Gooseman - Egor

Still in a nostalgia mood! This week its Shane Gooseman from the Galaxy Rangers. A test tube government experiment designed to crete the ultimate super trooper. I remember watching this show as a kid - it was awesome, so I drew this from memory. Having only looked at reference material after the pic was done, did I realise I missed a few of the details but overall not bad. FYI Horses are hard to draw.

Freak Force - Egor

Drawing the Xsatixs last few weeks got me nostalgic for another tam of wacky heroes I used to follow - Eric Larsen's Freak Force. A rag bag bunch of characters that first made there debut in Savage Dragon the team went on to get there own title (all be it brief). In my opinion I think the title fell short due its average art. It was flat and uninteresting not horrifically bad, but nothing great. Plus the chicks always looked like men with big ears?
Any way I decided to redraw the team and give them a updated look.
Mighty-man (top Left) is essentially the same, in hind sight id tweak the cape.
Ricochet (top right) I gave her a more pulpy feel and pistols that would shot ball bearing size explosives
Barbaric (back centre) I see more as a WWF wrestler in the 80's.
Dart (mid left) I ditched the super model in high heels and made her more GI Jane, replacing the tiny darts with batons.
Horridus (bottom left)  Nothing new here, Id probably just make her more alien like
Super Patriot (Centre) Im probably most unhappy with this one. In hindsight Id make him more like a giant slinky with guns.
Rapture (bottom right) A former prostitute turned hero (I kid you not). Ditched the puffy hair, gave her some clothes. I see her as electricity leech kinda like a vampire that drains the electricity from people.
And thats my take on the team.

Doop - Egor

Im ending my XStatix stint with Doop. Not really sure what the dealo is with this green, legless alien speaking blob - but he must have appeal since his the only character to pop up in on going continuity.

Phat - Egor

Phat has the ability to change his body mass and shape and because of this ability he was a lot of fun to draw - all the rules went out the door.

The Anarchist - Egor

The Anarachist. My least favourite character on the team. No particular reason, he was just an unlikeable jerk.

Vivisector - Egor

Miles Alfred aka Vivisector. The teams super snotty genius, with a feral exterior.

UGo Girl - Egor

U-Go Girl also known as Eddie Sawyer. Probably my favourite character of the team. A pill popping teleporter. Alas like many of the characters in the series, UGo Girl meet her untimely doom and was killed off mid (?) series to make way for a bunch of second rate characters.

The Orphan - Egor

For the next few posts I've decided try my hand at the core members of X-statix. Begining in 2001 as Xforce but later changed to XStatix this was a crazy comic written by Peter Milligan and pencilled by Mike Allred - one of my all time favourite artist.
First up is Mr.Sensitive, who later changed his name to The Orphan.

Medusa - Egor

Random sporadic posts continue. This time Medusa from marvel comics the Inhumans. Not sure if Im entirely happy with the result but thought Id post anyway, something tells me she should be more curvy an a little older. Oh well. I may draw all the Inhumans at some stage.

Grim Reaper - Egor

Always thought the Marvel Comics villain - the Grim Reaper was pretty cool looking. Keeping the design simple is the key. Also glad that in the recent Avengers cartoons they included GR. but made him a serious bad ass.

Deathlok - Egor

Deathlok 'the Demolisher' created in 1975! I always thought he was from the 90's. I went back and took a look at some of the early covers with him on it and they were pretty cool. depending on how his done I think he could be a pretty cool character.

martian ManHunter -Egor

Been pretty slack with the themes and posts of late, will try and fix that soon. To make up for it heres a quick pic I did of the Martian ManHunter. His an odd character and an odd design to match, but theres something about him that I like.
Regular post coming soon.

Trese -Egor

Im back in Oz. Whilst I was in Manilla I picked up all four volumes of Trese, a local comic created by writer Budjette Tan and artist Jajo Baldisimo. It was really great, good mix of crime, horror & mythology. Great story telling and beutiful black and white art.
So all inspired his my take on Alexandra Trese and her faithful bodyguards the kambal.

Houdini Theme

Houdini's taking a short break for the next few weeks. Stay tuned new posts soon.

She Gremlin - Egor

Creepy. Not exactly seductive, more drunk and drowsy.

Gremlins

I caught the last 20mins of Gremlins2 on tv earlier this week. Forgot what a crazy funny movie it is. This weeks theme is Gremlins.

Darna - Egor

My partner is Filipino so I have a quirky interest in Filipino Superheroes. Darna is probably the most beloved Filipino super hero (aside from Manny Pacquiao!). Created in 1950, spanning a number of comic series, tv and movies - she's arguably more successful than her American counterpart, Wonder Woman!
When everyday plain Jane, Narda swallows a magic rock she tunes into the manifestation of a deceased intergalactic warrior - Darna!
Check out the link below for more info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darna