Buyer Beware Comics

New Location

2010-01-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

Buyer Beware Comics has moved to a new location on the web! From now on you can find us at buyerbeware.guttertrash.net, also home of the Gutter Trash Podcast, and Fantastic Four No. 9 Project.

All new artwork, comics, updates and merchandise will be posted at buyerbeware.guttertrash.net for your enjoyment. Thank you for visiting! We hope to see you there!

Heroes

2009-11-23T08:30:00.001-08:00

My buddy Eric and I recently watched the Superman Batman Public Enemies dvd and felt inspired to do our own renditions of the characters. Make sure to check out his post at www.shonborn.net

Not My Small Diary #15

2009-11-05T09:15:00.000-08:00

When Delaine Derry Green asked me to contribute something to the latest issue of her awesome mini comic anthology Not My Small Diary I was pleased as punch. Each issue has a theme and this one is "brushes with celebrities". I contributed a three page story about the time I met Kenny Rogers at a Kenny Rogers Roasters Restaurant here in Dayton.
This two volume set is $7 postpaid and features some of my personal favorite mini comics artists including: John Porcellino, Jason Martin, Carrie McNinch and Noah Van Schiver (and sweet covers by Frederick Noland).
If you're interested in obtaining a copy (and seeing a complete list of contributors) visit http://www.mysmallwebpage.com/ or just e-mail Delaine directly at delangel3 at hotmail dot com.

Matt and Bruce's First Time

2009-10-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to post for the last couple'a weeks. OOps! Anyway, here's the cover to a low budget stoner film some friends of a friend made. I did the artwork before having ever seen the film so if you do ever actually watch it... don't judge me. I had no idea.

Jonah Hex vs. Wolverine

2009-10-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

It's a crossover! My friend Joe wanted me to draw something for his brother's birthday and this is what happened. Hope he likes it.

SPX

2009-09-29T06:26:00.001-07:00

Last weekend my pal Pat Kain and I made the trek to beautiful Bethesda, Maryland for the Small Press Expo. It was the first time I'd been there and boy howdy was it swell! Here's a page I filled up in my sketchbook while watching some of the sweet panels that went on during the show. If you dig indy comics at all you absolutely have to attend this show next year. Good times!

Aw Yeah Bad Guys!

2009-09-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights ago I was looking through some of my silver age comics and decided to draw Dr. Doom. I ended up drawing seven more villains after that. Here's my favorite of the results.

Percilla & Emmitt Bejano

2009-09-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a drawing I recently did for my special lady friend of her two favorite freakshow performers. Percilla Bejano (also known as the monkey girl) was covered in thick body hair and her husband Emmitt (the alligator skin boy) had a condition that left him with a scaly feel to his skin from the neck down. Together they toured as "The Strangest Married Couple in the World".

This was, of course, well before the marriage of Michael and Lisa Marie.

McFly Style!

2009-09-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is a piece of art I did for fellow mini-comicist Jason Martin. He does a couple of great mini comics called 'Laterborn' and 'Black Tea'. You can find his stuff on myspace (laterbornzine) or by e-mailing him directly at laterborn@gmail.com for a list of what he's got in stock. Fans of John Porcellino's King Cat, Jeffrey Brown's graphic novels, and Walt Simonson's run on Thor take note.

Madman!

2009-09-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

If you like Madman be sure to check out the sweet rendition of the cast that my pal Eric did last week over at his blog (Shonborn's Carpal Tunnel in the list on the right).

I Need My Own Scanner

2009-08-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well I've just spent the last hour or so trying to scan a piece of artwork into this ancient scanner here at my school but it's so old and crappy that it won't produce a worthy scan no matter how I tweak the scant few settings that were available back in 1946 when this thing was most likely created. So this just solidifies the fact that I need to go out and buy myself a computer and scanner of my own instead of coming down here to school with my fingers crossed that the scanning equipment is both A) available and B) cooperating. So... story short... no new artwork this week. Maybe I'll double post next week or something. But until then do yourself a favor and marvel at the beauty that is Arnold (seriously, click on the photo. It's really something to behold).

His Poor Mother

2009-08-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

I was drawing a baby the other night at drawing night and I asked my buddy Eric what superhero I should turn it into. After a few suggestions he mentioned Galactus and I knew that was the one. I figured it'd be fun to see him looking cute since he always looks so menacing. I mean, do you remember that period where he wore those short-pants and STILL struck fear into everyone's hearts? That's what you call badass.

Peaks

2009-08-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

I recently began rewatching the Twin Peaks DVDs and thought I'd do this rendition of some of the characters from the show. If you like this one you'll love my melding of Hagar the Horrible with L.A. Law.

Idiot Box

2009-08-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. My newest and most pretentious publication to date! It's a page by page recreation of a sketchbook I filled up while watching television between August '08 and June '09. It's a limited numbered print run of fifteen copies each featuring a hand screened cover with a drawing unique to that copy (as seen in above photo of all the covers). I'm going to try to sell about ten of them for $10 each postage included so if you're interested write to me at the address at the bottom of this page. Remember, each one sold puts me that much closer to buying a bigger television set so it's for a good cause! Below is one of the 55 pieces contained within.

Fallen Son Sketch Cover

2009-08-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of the Fallen Son: Death of Captain America comic Marvel put out a couple of years ago. They did some with a blank cover so that you can take it to comics conventions and get artist sketches on them... but instead I just did a sketch for myself. What does that say about me? Am I an asshole? Don't answer that.

Wolverine

2009-07-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

Wolverine was my favorite super hero when I was a kid. I had the Secret Wars action figure... and I even pretended that my DC Super Powers Kalibak was the Frank Miller Wolverine from the cover of the trade paperback to the mini-series.
I also remember freaking out when I saw the episode of Spider-man and his Amazing Friends where the X-men appeared. The first time you see Wolverine he's sticking a claw through an orange or grapefruit or something and says, "Wanna piece 'a fruit?"

Ah yes... but now I'm all grown up and Wolverine no longer holds a place in my heart.... or does he???

George Herriman

2009-07-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

The only drawing I've done this week is on the comic I'm finishing up... so I figured I'd just post this portrait of George Herriman I did a few months back. I read about 8 years of George's 'Krazy Kat' strip last year and highly recommend it to everyone. George was somehow capable of fusing slapstick comedy, surrealism, and a sharp literay wit into a weekly strip that was beautifully drawn to boot. 'Krazy Kat' ran from 1913 to the early '30s and hasn't lost any of its innovation or relevance in the last 80 years. I mean... it's no Garfield... but what is I ask you? What is?

Fantastic Four #36

2009-07-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's my version of Jack Kirby's cover to Fantastic Four #36... probably my favorite Fantastic Four cover. I drew most of it while watching 'Groundhog Day' and 'Seven' last week. If you haven't already seen it be sure to hop over to www.fanfour9.blogspot.com to see all the sweet Kirby FF interpertations there... also Kirby Vision too. Jack Kirby rules!

Carl Rodd (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me)

2009-07-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

I recently finished watching the Twin Peaks DVDs and was disappointed to find out that it just leaves you hanging... no closure to the storyline. I guess they planned to do another season or film... but it just never happened. Anyway, last weekend I did this drawing of Carl Rodd, the trailer park manager in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as played by Harry Dean Stanton (one of my absolute favorite actors). I also just found out (while tooling around on e-bay) that they released a cassette of all of Special Agent Dale Cooper's recorded messages to Diane... so if you're a Twin Peaks nerd you might wanna track that down. Should be a pretty fun listen.

Dr. Fredric Wertham

2009-06-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a lino block print I did of Dr. Fredric Wertham. He was the psychiatricist who wrote "Seduction of the Innocent" and basically got the comics code started (and EC Comics put out of business) based on his theory that comic books were corroding the morals of this country's youth.

I just finished reading a book he wrote called "Dark Legend" that tells the story of Gino, a 17 year old boy he was evaluating who had killed his mother. It was kind of written in that old '50's sci-fi movie narration style that seems both naive and overly dramatic... but it also contained 60 pages or so of Gino's own words as recorded by Dr. Wertham that told of his life situation leading up to the murder that was impossible to put down. That section reminded me of a book called "Death On the Installment Plan" that I also found an addictive read.

I've heard much of Dr. Wertham over the years as the true life comic book villain (as Imentioned he ushered in the demise of all those sweet EC horror comics of the 1950's and even inspired a public comics book burning in New York), so I wanted to check out one of his books. Dark Legend was the book he published just before Seduction and I was expecting him to come across as much more of a douchebag than he did.

I was looking for a mention of Gino being influenced by comic books to commit the murder which was nowhere to be found, although there was a brief mention on page 200 about Gino seeing a violent movie on the night of the murder where Wertham says, "I asked myself whether fiction of that sort can influence people this way. Similar instances are not rare.... It seemed to me just as inexact to say fiction has no influence at all on people's action as to blame crime on such fiction. Apparently anti-social impulses do not originate this way. But when they once exist, added impetus may be given them by way of identification with a fictional scene."

So I'm still not sure exactly how Wertham got on the "comics are evil" kick and I have to admit I did really enjoy reading his book.

Oh, by the way... the print above was done in an addition of 10 before the lino block was destroyed. I have 4 or 5 left which can be purchased for $10 unframed.

Daring Adventures no. 11

2009-06-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a cover recreation I did as a trade with my pal Pat Kain. If you dig this sort of thing I've got a full color Justice League of America cover recreation that just went up today at the awesome cover recreation blog "Covered". Check it out at www.coveredblog.blogspot.com. You could spend hours looking at all the sweet art there... and you should.

The Cowboy

2009-06-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

I always loved cowboys when I was a kid. Mostly the Lone Ranger. Also Roy Rogers (but mostly just the restaurant). And of course the cowboy in David Lynch's Mullhulland Drive is pretty awesome... Anyway, it's been awhile since I've updated this blog but I swear I've been drawing a lot... My pal Eric said if I update it once a week he'd do the same to his blog (check out his Carpal Tunnel blog link at the right)... and if I don't he's gonna punch me. So here's the first of my weekly posts. Not because I think my art's worth sharing.. I just don't wanna get punched.

Veggie Dog Saturn #3

2009-06-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Issue #3 of Veggie Dog Saturn! This issue features yours truly suffering an existential freakout which inspires me to vacation to Toronto for a week with friends. 30 plus pages of Canadian accents, naked octogenarians, and 12 hour bus rides! Printed on newsprint with a color cardstock cover and bonus Gasoline Alley parody comic on the back cover! $3.00 postpaid to the address at the bottom of this page.

Ace

2009-04-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Click on the image above to link to a very short mini-comic that was drawn for an art show that never happened. Jason and his friend Eric (co-host of Jason's podcast, Gutter Trash) put together a mini-comic about KISS for this show. Eric did a three page Gene Simmons story, and Jason did a three page Ace Frehely tale.

This past weekend (April 18 '09) was the Small Press And Comic Expo (SPACE), where Jason took up the copies of the KISS comic to give away, finally.

Eric has posted the Gene pages on his own blog, (Shonborn's Carpal Tunnel).

Click on the thumbnail above to read Ace: Shock Me.

Fired

2009-03-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Orb

2009-03-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Biggie

2009-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Veggie Dog Saturn #1

2008-10-31T10:30:00.001-07:00

This is the first issue of my autobiographical comic series Veggie Dog Saturn. This one features heartbreak, garage sales and drunken bike riding. Printed on newsprint. $1.50 postpaid from the address at the bottom of this page.

Veggie Dog Saturn #2

2008-10-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Issue two is the story of my adventures as a limousine driver. Printed on newsprint with a hand colored cardstock cover. $2 postpaid to the address at the bottom of this page.

Super Friends

2008-10-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is a recreation of the cover to the first comic book I remember owning. I probably read this thing a hundred times.

Self Portrait

2008-10-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

Look, it's me.

A Helping Hand

2008-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

An unpublished comic I did for my school newspaper.

Black Wolf Fight Poster

2008-10-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

This is a poster Jason drew for a friend's band, Black Wolf Fight.

Blue Beetle Art Swap

2008-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

I did this drawing as part of an art swap for my Fantastic Four commissions project. This is page 9 from what was originally supposed to be Blue Beetle # 6, from Charlton Comics. Here's the original page by Steve Ditko:

Previously Back Cover

2008-08-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is a back cover for a friend's comic that unfortunately never happened.