Welcome to Monday’s Mega Comics Group Updates!

Yeah, yeah.. we’re late! Sorry…(sigh)

The Saints WON!! Wow! What a game! It was a lot closer than it appeared with the final score. The difference was a late scoring drive lead by the Saints QB Drew Brees and a interception from Peyton Manning returned by the Saints Defense for a touchdown. It appeared it would be a very low scoring game until the 4th quarter and until the last 5 minutes it looked like I could be heading to overtime. But in the end, the Saints came marching in and got the trophy! Congratulations to the Saints and their fans! Better luck next year, Colts. We have a feeling we’ll see you making another run next year.

KnightPriest Update: Freazie White Jr., creator extraordinaire of such titles as Humants and the soon forth coming Epoch 2012 A.D. sent us some previews of the KnightPriest story he is working on with artist Fernando Gabriel Sosa. Fernando turned in, not only the sketches you see here, but also a couple fully inked and colored pages which look awesome! Sorry to say we can only show you the prelim character sketches for now. Freazie has forbidden the preview of the other art on this news blog at this time. But we’re working on getting that, so stay tuned. For some reason Mr. White wants to keep everything secret until the last minute. No, we don’t understand that either. Keep this up, Freazie, and we’re going to start playing the Secret Agent Man song you hate so much around the office in an endless loop!

Epoch 2012 A.D news! We showed you a little of the 44 pages of Epoch 2012 A.D art Shawn Decker has turned in so far, but of course Freazie does not want us showing much more of that either! *($*#@)!!! editors! Hmmph! Anyway, we can tell you we got the first 7 pages of the lettering from Legacy Comics Ace Letterer, Billy Leavell, on that little Graphic Novel Jewel! Soon as we nail down a cover from Secret Agent Man and a certain Publisher-In-Training, we’ll start to get this on schedule so we Mega Minions don’t have to make up stuff to fill space on this blog for lack of comic pages to post! Hint, hint!

See you Wednesday, Mega Maniacs!

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Click the sketch image to view a larger image in a new window.

Welcome to Friday’s Mega Comics Group Updates!

Super Bowl Weekend is here! Yep! It’s time once again to determine the best team in NFL Football! This should be a good one! Will it be high scoring as the offenses run up the scores or will the defenses dominate and keep it close? Most everyone expects the Indianapolis Colts to beat the New Orleans Saints, but it really probably will come down to which Defense comes up with the plan to stop the other Offense. We think it will be a close one and the Colts do have an advantage with their Defense over the Saints.

Check out the Super Bowl Online Program Book. It’s 244 pages online, just like the book you would get if you went to the game. At least that’s what they tell us. Enjoy!

Movie Time Double Feature!

The Flash gets a speeding ticket The Flash, the fastest man alive, encounters an angry police officer who is not about to let an excuse like “super powers” allow anyone to break the law…. even the Flash.

Hourman overdoses! Injected with the same poison used in the movie “Crank”, Hourman is forced to triple dose on his wonder pill- Miraclo. But will his triple dosage be enough to help this precognitive hero out live the effects of the poison, or will this be Hourman’s final hour?

See more at the Blinky Productions YouTube Channel.

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Have a great weekend! CUMonday!

Welcome to Wednesday’s Mega Comics Group Updates!

Hot off the email!  Freazie White, Jr., creator, writer, penciler and editor of all things Humants and all around nice guy, just informed us early this morning that finished art pages of KnightPriest are on the way. “On the way” meaning the first 5 pages should be uploaded in the next day or so. Maybe, we’ll have a little sneak peak by Friday! Right, Mr. White?

Public Domain Hero: Captain Atom Real Name: Allen Adam. First Appearance: Space Adventures #33 (1960) Original Publisher: Chalrton Created by: Steve Ditko & Joe Gill. Captain Allen Adam of the U.S. Air-force was caught in an atomic accident which destroyed his body but lucky not his mind. He forms a new body for himself and use his new superpowers to fight aliens, communists, and super villains. His power include invulnerability, surviving unaided in space, supersonic speed and flight, and an atomic powered punch.

While the first appearance of Captain Atom and most if not all of his Silver Age Appearances are public domain, any appearances after 1977 of Captain Atom produced by Charlton, DC, or AC Comics are NOT.

Interesting Captain Atom Trivia: Captain Atom was Alan Moore’s inspiration for his Watchmen character Dr. Manhattan.  Captain Atom was the first superhero to be co-created by Steve Ditko.

Public Domain Hero: Captain Midnight Real Name: Captain Albright. First Appearance: Funnies #58 (1941) / Captain Midnight #1 (1942) Original Publisher: Dell / Fawcett Created by: Unknown. Captain Midnight, a.k.a. Captain Albright, was a genius inventor who had secret lab located somewhere in Nevada. He wore a skin tight suit that had a “Gliderchute” attached to the sides which allowed him to glide like a flying squirrel. He used other gadgets such as Blackout Bomb and a Doom-Beam Torch. He fought Nazis such as Baron Von Gatz and after the war fought criminals, communists, and alien invaders. He was assisted by his sidekick Sgt. Twilight. He teamed up with Spy Smasher against Yellow Hawk .

Public Domain Hero: Minute-Man Real Name: Jack Weston. First Appearance: Master Comics #11 (1941) Original Publisher: Fawcett Created by: Charles Sultan. U.S. Army Private Jack Weston wanted to do more to contribute to the war effort than just being stationed at Camp Blaine. He decided to put on a costume and fight Nazis as Minute-Man. He also became a member of the Crime Crusaders Club with Bulletman and Capt. Marvel Jr. He has no powers.

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Welcome to Monday’s Mega Comics Group Updates!

The NFL Pro Bowl! Well, who ever came up with the idea of moving the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl did good! Matt Schaub, quarterback for the Houstan Texans was voted the Pro Bowl MVP as the AFC defeated the NFC 41-34 in a game the remained tied until the 4th quarter. The NFL sought to re-package the Pro Bowl as an interesting part of the NFL season by playing it before the Super Bowl for the first time. This year was an experiment and also the first game not played in Honolulu since 1980. Next year it is slated to go back to the Islands and back after the Super Bowl. The NFL might want to reconsider that. Certainly the TV ratings were better and from the standpoint of ticket sales, this year’s new presentation and spot on the calendar was more successful. The crowd of 70,697 was the largest for a Pro Bowl in 51 years!

The Apple iPad! Have you seen it? It’s a big iPhone! Yep, about 10 inches diagonally, or just a little smaller than a regular 8.5 x11 magazine. It will do everything the iPhone will do which means it still won’t play some Flash Videos, but that will be available soon and it will play regular MP4 video. It has some pretty cool accessories including a case that includes a flap to protect the touch screen when in transit and also folds into 2 positions to use as a stand for viewing or working like a laptop. There is also an optional keyboard and docking station to recharge the iPad and use it like a desktop model. Even though it probably won’t be available to order until this summer, it shows a lot of potential.

The curious case of the Blue Beetle! Real Name: Dan Garret. First Appearance: Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939) Original Publisher: Fox Features. Created by: Charles Nicholas.

After his father was killed by a gangster’s bullet, young Dan Garret joined the New York Police Department, but he soon tired of the slow pace and red tape of police work. He donned a blue three-piece suit and a white mask and established a costumed identity, fighting crime as the Blue Beetle. He had no powers, but he used a gun and a wrist-mounted mini-radio to get an edge on the criminals he was fighting. His calling card was a small beetle-shaped marker that he left in conspicuous places to alert criminals to his presence, using their fear of his crime-fighting reputation as a weapon against them.

Shortly afterwords, his friend and mentor, a pharmacist and a drug-store proprietor named Dr. Franz helped Dan acquire bullet-proof armor made out of chain mail-like cellulose material. He still occasionally used a gun, but he mostly relied on his fists from that point on. He added a “BeetleMobile” car and a “BeetleBird” airplane to his arsenal. He also started using a “Beetle Signal” flashlight. In some stories, he was shown with a multi-pouched belt similar to Batman’s.

While investigating a dope ring, Dan Garret was wounded by a gangster’s machine gun and laid near-death in the hospital. He received a visit from Dr. Franz, who had a plan to save Dan’s life. Dr. Franz administered a strange treatment. Dan was given the secret experimental vitamin 2X, a super drug that endows its recipient with super strength and healing abilities, increased speed, heightened senses, and enhanced intellectual capacity. Under the drug’s influence, Dan Garrett rapidly recovered from his injuries and returned to the street the next day. The effects of vitamin 2X were temporary, however (though the effects of healing were of course permanent), and when a serious crime called for super powers, Officer Garret had to rush to Dr. Franz’s drug store, where, in a hidden room, he donned his costume and took a vitamin 2X pill. A super-powered Blue Beetle would then emerge to strike out against evil.

Oddly, and for no reason ever stated, Dan Garret was never shown carrying a supply of vitamin 2X with him. Maybe it never occurred to him to do so, or maybe the strange drug rapidly broke down and had to be prepared fresh every time. Or maybe Dr. Franz was keeping his watchdog on a short leash.

During the middle portion of his career, Blue Beetle was aided by a sidekick named Sparky. He was also occasionally aided by Joan Mason, his on-again, off-again girlfriend. His partner on the force, Mike Mannigan, viewed Blue Beetle as a criminal, which is probably why it’s a good thing that he never caught on to the reason behind Dan’s mysterious absences.

Fox Features’ police officer Dan Garret (one ‘t’) is the ONLY Blue Beetle in the Public Domain. Archaeologist Dan Garrett (two ‘t’s), who gained his powers from a magic scarab, is NOT Public Domain. Dan Garrett (two ‘t’s), and all Blue Beetles thereafter are property of DC Comics.

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Welcome to Friday’s favorite, fan requested, fat free, Daily Mega Comics Group Updates!

Friday! Epoch 2012 News! Wah-hoo! Well, we’ve been beside ourselves this week! We just got a new batch of art from North Dakota! Yep, after we thawed out the package, we got a look at some more art from our pal Shawn Decker. Shawn is up to page 43 of 48 for the Epoch 2012 graphic novel and doing an outstanding job, if we do say so ourselves. And we do! So we thought we might give you a taste of the fun we had this week by showing some of it off.

This work of course is not our usual super hero fare but a more supernatural/detective type story. Shawn is a very good artist. Usually we can spot the artistic influences from all our comics reading of nearly 40 years but other than maybe a little George Perez we don’t see as much influence in Shawn’s work from other cartoonists. He seems to have his own fresh style going on! Way to go, Shawn! Keep ‘em coming, dude!

As you know if you have seen our past 2 Friday Blogs, we’ve become a fan of Chris .R. Notarile So we have another great short film we wanted to share with you. Below is another of our favorites from Blinky Productions. These and much more can be found on the Blinky Productions YouTube Channel.

We’ve been talking to Chris a little and hinting around about maybe getting some of our characters in some of his films. Yeah, that would be awesome! We’re just talking right now but if it works out with Chris’ schedule we might have to break into the ol’ Mega Piggy Bank and hire the guy! Wonder if he takes I.O.U.’s?

Pro Bowl this weekend! Yeah, this year the NFL Pro Bowl has been moved to Florida and a week before the Super Bowl rather than the week after. That might work better to get more viewer’s ratings. Ya think?

The Righteous Path Of Peace. Steven Seagal tries to buy a tank from a ninja store owned by Bruce Lee. Chris demonstrates more of his great sense of humor!

Next week! We’ll have some more Golden Age Profiles, our pick on this year’s Super Bowl and… well, who knows? But we’ll sure do something!

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Click the images for a larger view in a new window.

CU Next Week!

Welcome to Wednesday’s Mega Comics Group Updates!

The Golden Age Profiles… AGAIN!  We updated you a little about the Mega Spectacular title Monday. Today we will continue to look at the profiles of some of the characters which will be featured in the title. 

Profile: The Golden Age Phantom Lady. Real Name: Sandra Knight First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (1941) Original Publisher: Quality Comics. Created by: Arthur Peddy.

Sandra Knight, the daughter of Senator Knight, was waiting for her father in Washington when she saw two criminals try to murder him. Quickly, she foiled the attack with a rolled-up newspaper. Enjoying the experience, she found an invention of Professor Davis, a family friend, that had been sent to her father. She adapted it to help her fight crime and became the costumed crime fighter known as the Phantom Lady. She has no super powers. She is, however, a skilled fighter and uses a blacklight ray (like the Owl) to project darkness and make herself invisible.

Her origin was kept from her Quality stories but both her costume and enemies were changed while at Fox Features. Her rogues gallery included the Avenging Skulls, the Fire Fiend, the Killer Clown, Kurtz the Robbing Robot, the Subway Slayer, and Vulture. Phantom Lady teamed up with Spider Widow and the Raven (Quality) on several occasions in a series of consecutive stories.

Arthur Peddy created the character. Along the way the legendary Matt Baker did art on several of the Phantom Lady’s comics.

Versions of the Phantom Lady were also published by Fox and Ajax-Farrell and reprinted by Star comics and I.W. Publications.

Any questions or comments? All are welcome.

Click the images for today’s web comics updates.