"The Midnight Starr" comic for...The Midnight Star

Here's a new, strange comic strip that I recently put together with my friend and Bulwark co-creator Andrea Schiavone! Read it, look it over, and then wonder what in the world is happening in it! It's okay to be a little confused, because, honestly, that was part of my intent. Why? Well, I have a blog, and I guess I can use it to spend some time explaining. IT'S A BLOG, GUYS. That's what we do here.

A few months ago, I purchased some original art from the "Brenda Starr" comic strip, from all the way back in 1981! I can't say that I'm a big fan of Brenda Starr, but I am a big fan of artist Ramona Fradon, and this strip is from her long run on the syndicated series. I'm really excited to have some more original Fradon art, as she's nothing short of a legend.

Anyway, I like the strip and have been thinking about making one of my own as something of an homage to not just Fradon and Brenda Starr, but to newspaper comic strips in general. The opportunity presented itself just recently (and I, on this blog, will elaborate on that), so I contacted my friend Andrea and we put together the above.

I had a few goals that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted the strip to have a worn feel to it, as if it had just been found in a filing cabinet or something after decades in obscurity. I wanted it to be melodramatic, kind of like Brenda Starr. And I wanted it to be very weird. I think I accomplished all of those goals, but just to put it over the top, the first version I made was written in Italian:

Now, I do not know Italian, but Andrea not only does, but also IS Italian, so he was able to translate the text into what you see above. Andrea also added in the aging effects, which include yellowing, ink splotches, a coffee ring, and some creases along one corner. The original inks looked like this:

I added a Hawaiian pattern to the shirt in the first and third panels...so if you were asking yourself if that is supposed to be "Weird Al" Yankovic in the strip...well, to start, this must be the first time you've seen any of the work I do, because OF COURSE it's Weird Al, but further...yes, it's Al.

Giving this comic the title "Midnight Starr" served to pay homage to both Brenda Starr as well as Al, because "Midnight Star" is the title to one of Al's classic original songs from the album "In 3D". It ALSO serves as the name of the premier 1990s Weird Al fanzine, which, in a very roundabout way, brings us to this: for the past few months, I have been working on a one-issue revival of the fanzine, and I put together the Midnight Starr comic strip to include in the issue.

The issue itself has a lot of different things in it - articles, pictures, interviews (I got to interview Al for an "Ask Al" segment!), but as comics and artwork will always be special to me, let's look at a few more highlights in that category.

Here's a one-panel comic from fellow Al fan and Planet Comics contributor Kelly Phillips! Kelly went above and beyond with this comic, which features just a ton of inside references to the Midnight Star song! 

The back cover was meticulously drawn by my friend Ethan Harper. Ethan is a storyboard artist on a number of productions, and I met him earlier this year in Los Angeles for Al's New York Times Magazine photoshoot. Ethan drew a whopping 27 animated characters, each of which is voiced by Al himself.

Here's what the finished product looks like! This is kind of an "I guess you had to be there" thing, as the design is in line with what the magazine looked like during its run from 1993-98. If you'd like to read the thing, I've got a PDF that anyone can view for free, right here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hfkj1r62xmsz3c/The%20Midnight%20Star%20-%20November%3ADecember%202020.pdf?dl=0

I've also got physical copies for sale in my Etsy shop! In 2020, this counts as a new publication for me.

"Black Terror: Social Insecurity" campaign on Kickstarter

I've got a new comic that is currently up and running on Kickstarter - Black Terror: Social Insecurity!

A few years ago, Rafer Roberts and I created the short story Black Terror: Wednesday at the Diner, and the basic concept was this: old, Golden Age superheroes meet up at a diner and talk about their problems. It was a lot of fun (and Rafer is really good at drawing old people), and I've wanted to do more with the concept for a good long while now.

While "Wednesday" was a short story, "Social Insecurity" is a full-length story that follows all of the Diner crew into a new adventure in geriatrics, such as the Black Terror's quest to keep his government benefits without giving up his secret identity.

Rafer helped us out with a new cover (the first image in the video at top), and artist Ryan Howe has jumped in to do the art on the new story, with Tomas Marijanovic on colors.

Ryan brings a classic style and some smooth lines to these 80-year-old characters. I'm very excited with what he's been able to do so far! The book collects the Wednesday at the Diner story, in addition to the new, full-length story, plus some other material that I'm hoping to add if the campaign is successful.

I've also got some rewards lined up for the campaign. Let's take a look at one of 'em:

I'm really happy with how these enamel pins turned out - they're big and shiny and really high quality. They're designed by my friend Dani Grew, based on the original cover icon that showed up on a lot of early Black Terror covers in the 1940s. This pin is about 1.5 inches big, which is hefty for a pin.

I've also got stickers, prints, and bookplates set as reward for various tiers in the campaign.

I'm trying to raise enough money to make it possible to print the books and pay our various artists for their work. Kickstarter is a way to make that happen and I hope that it's successful. If it's REALLY successful, well, more books will follow, but right now I'm just hoping that we can get this one book (and various rewards) finished and printed.

If you're interested in a the book, I hope you'll take a look at the campaign and pledge if you'd like! You can get to the main page by clicking...well, almost anything that's clickable on this post, but here's a direct link, too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeffmcclelland/black-terror-social-insecurity?ref=creator_nav

Lastly, I'll leave you with a Black Terror commission that I got from Ramona Fradon, one of my favorite artists, who has been working in comics since 1950 - almost as long as the Black Terror has been around!

The Black Terror by Ramona Fradon and Duane Redhead

Perhaps you recall my Black Terror: Wednesday at the Diner webcomic/comic strip/mini comic/whatever that Rafer Roberts and I worked on a few years ago. It's been a while, but I'm slowly putting together some new material on that front for an eventual book, and two cool pieces of that recently came together from two great artists, so I thought I'd share them here!

The first is an image of the classic Black Terror from Golden Age artist (and personal favorite) Ramona Fradon. Fradon is an underrated legend in the comic book industry, and I'm kind of stunned that I was able to commission her in the first place. She's been drawing comics for almost 70 years and might be best known for co-creating Aqualad and Metamorpho for DC Comics. What a thrill it is to work with her in even the slightest capacity.

Our next piece is from a familiar source, Mr. Duane Redhead! Duane took some time from drawing the Tick to pencil and ink this lovely image of an elderly (but still muscular, check out those biceps) Black Terror and Mr. Q. The backdrop for this image is the city of Cleveland, because Cleveland is just kind of a funny place.

I'll update this page with more info on my take on the Black Terror in the future. For now, I'm excited to see these images.