Read "Black Terror: Wednesday at the Diner" by McClelland and Roberts for free!

It's kind of weird putting my own name in the title of one of these posts.  But I do it for the Google.

Recently, Rafer Roberts (he of FUBAR, Magic Bullet and Plastic Farm fame) and I put together a short comic featuring several public domain stalwarts from the Golden Age of comics.  World War II was almost 75 years ago, and the fighting members of that great generation, those who are still alive, are in their 90s at least.  Superhero comics as we know them today owe much of their existences to the WWII era, so I thought it'd be fun to write a story about a few survivors from the first age of superhero comics.

Superman obviously wasn't available, but many comics, now nearly forgotten, feature characters who have since passed into the public domain and are free for anyone to use.  Thanks in part to the Dynamite series "Project Superpowers", some of those characters have made their way back into the public spotlight, at least a little, notably the Black Terror and a few others.  Along with BT, I picked up the Silver Streak, Mr. Q, The Fighting Yank and the Martian Mentalist for this story about some old folks meeting for breakfast at a diner.

Rafer, of course, knocked the story out of the park with his attention to detail and his expressive characters.  The plan is to print this story in the back of an upcoming issue of Teddy and the Yeti, but for now we've posted it, in its seven-page entirety, online and free for anyone to read.

Check it out here: http://plasticfarm.tumblr.com/post/95728114187/black-terror-wednesday-at-the-diner-written-by

Spread the word, please.

Original "Thanos and Darkseid: Carpool Buddies of Doom" art by Rafer Roberts!

One of the highlights of this year's New York Comic-Con was getting one of the few physical copies of "Thanos and Darkseid: Carpool Buddies of Doom" by Justin Jordan and Rafer Roberts.  The book has been selling well on eBay even though you can view the whole dang thing online.  It's a fun story that features Dr. Doom doing what Doom does.

Last week, I browsed Roberts's online store via DC Conspiracy, and I walked (not literally) away with a page of original art from the story, which you can see above.  It came in today, so I thought I'd show it off.  It's a comic book blog.  This is pretty much what it's set up for.

Here's the finished art for the page:

I made the decision to buy the page because of, naturally, Dr. Doom.  Rafer has just enough Kirby in him (that sounds dirty) to draw a perfect homage to comics' greatest super villain.  All four pages of the story feature Doom, though, so I had to choose which one I wanted.

The cameos on page four made my choice for me.  The final page of the story features not only Dr. Doom, along with Thanos and Darkseid, but also two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...in their party van.  And there's Mr. Mxyzptlk, too!

The page also features...okay, I have no idea who these guys are.  Certainly these are deliberate inclusions, right?  Any help from the outside world?  I suppose I could just ask Rafer, but...

While I was shopping, I also picked up trade collections of Roberts's ongoing "Plastic Farm" series.  I got all three volumes for a great price.

This is a great addition to the collection.  The other three pages from the story are still available.  You (you!) should pick 'em up before I inevitably do.

Plastic Farm Tumblr: http://plasticfarm.tumblr.com
Thanos and Darkseid: Carpool Buddies of Doom: http://plasticfarm.tumblr.com/post/67356039004/the-second-thanos-and-darkseid-carpool-buddies-of
on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/THANOS-and-DARKSEID-Carpool-Buddies-of-Doom-NYCC-2013-Mini-Comic-JUSTIN-JORDAN-/131049594259?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item1e832a1d93
Rafer Roberts DC Conspiracy store: http://dcconspiracy.storenvy.com/collections/186424-rafer-roberts