Great Art: Rocketeer by Tom Grummett!

Since Diamond just debuted a huge array of merchandise for Cliff Secord at San Diego this year, it felt like a fitting time to share some truly great Rocketeer art. I still feel like the sky's the limit for this character's future if a publisher and a creative team really set out to write an entire series of grand adventures for him. Here's hoping someone makes that a reality. And when they do, it might be great to get Tom Grummett to draw the dang thing. Because as you see here, the man draws Dave Stevens's character with finesse and panache.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art in the Super Powered Fiction Facebook group!. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff from me this week!

Kickstart the Week 72: Flying the 1959 Hellride to Section Zero!

This time around I wanted to shine the light on a couple of Kickstarters that have both fully funded but that are excellent comic projects by some truly cool talents.


Jim Lawson has been a favorite artist of mine since the 90s when I first discovered him as a regular artist (and later writer/artist) on Mirage's original version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He's got a unique but shockingly deep art style that I will always enjoy whether it's in black and white or color. He's produced a couple different books on Kickstarter, but right now he's got two new projects I'm excited about in one great Kickstarter.

The first is the complete edition of Dragonfly, the first part of which he funded on Kickstarter several years ago. It's the tale of a turtle like being, a woman, a dog and some aliens on a strange island where everything is pretty much not quite right. The first volume was fun and now this edition will finally bring the story to completion.

Hellride is the second title, and while Lawson is a bit more vague on the subject matter, it sure looks like the description is in the title. Our protagonist in on his motorcycle for a ride straight through Hell!

Both books look superb and you can help fund one or both at the same Kickstarter.


The second project of the day is the long awaited second volume of Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett's Section Zero. After funding the completed version of the original six issues as a book, they've got the new book on the market both as a Kickstarter exclusive and as an upcoming series at Image. (I'm enough of a fan that I'm supporting both.) Now they're going back in time with the series to explore the early days of Section Zero in Section Zero: 1959.

If you're wondering what it's about, think Challengers of the Unknown meet Area 51. I'm not trying to spoil anything else for me with this book though, so anymore details you will have to find at Kickstarter.

Kesel and Grummett are two of the finest comic creators still going. They've both been at it since the 80s and together are probably best known for creating the Kon-El Superboy. They had two amazing runs with the character in his original series and Section Zero is the continuance of one of the best creative pairs in comics. Head over to Kickstarter to support it!

Coming Continuing Comics 1: a look at cool new super-comic solicits in February 2019

I've been reading comics for somewhere around a billion years now. And one of my favorite parts of buying weird and wonderful comics from a variety of publishers. This new feature will spin out from my own monthly adds to my pull list as I take a look and share comics I think look promising. These are comics I'm commenting upon with only covers and perhaps a few preview pages to look at. It does not serve as a full endorsement of anything, just a sampling of what I think looks interesting.

As a reminder, my definition of super powered fiction continues to cover a whole plethora of characters and stories, not just costumed superheroes. Be prepared to see several non-costumed characters with powers featured in these columns.

Punk Mambo

One of the best original creations of the modern Valiant is Punk Mambo, the voodoo practicing walker between the Louisiana bayou and the Shadowside. The character was already visually interesting but with Sixth Gun writer Cullen Bunn writing this new limited series, we can expect an amazing story with a major horror bent. With Adam Gorham on interiors, Dan Brereton absolutely kills it on the cover.

Brereton knocks this cover out of the park. 

Great Art: Invaders by Tom Grummett

Tom Grummett is one of the greatest talents in comics, a criminally under-rated talent in modern comics. The fact he's not regularly drawing a book for either of the book two is sheer insanity to me. It does mean he's working on Section Zero however, a graphic novel I cannot wait to see.

His rendition of the core three Invaders seems like an apt choice this week, with Memorial Day only days away.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on the site this week!

Great Art: Starfire by Tom Grummett

I have been thinking a lot about the Teen Titans of late. I am not quite sure why. I am sure edits on F.O.R.C.E. have definitely influenced me. That series has its own alien out of place in the form of Ophidian, but he is a far cry from the always amazing Starfire.

This image is by one of the most prolific artists of the New Teen Titans / New Titans, Tom Grummett. Though he's probably known better now for Superboy and Robin, he had a fifty+ issue run on the book back in the late 80s, plus a few more fill-ins during the Geoff Johns era. This mock Starfire cover makes me wish he would draw a few more issues.