For the official blog of The Standard this week, I commissioned some original art from series artist Jonathan Rector. Here’s what I got:
For Tuesday, I had this picture of The Black Stripe, a blaxploitation-themed superhero from the 1970s. The initial concept for The Black Stripe came from Jamie Fairlie (who also colored this image), when he decided that a minor supporting character who shows up in The Standard #3 should have a heroic alter ego. I loved the idea so much I had Jonathan Rector draw him up, and this is the badass result. Makes me want to write a whole other comic just for this guy, and give him his own Shaft-style theme tune.
The theme of Wednesday’s blog was supervillains, and I chose a villain close to my heart for Jon to provide an image of: The Skunk. This character has been in my head for quite a while – in fact, this image is a drastic improvement of my original design for the character – and becomes a prominent player in The Standard from the third issue. Jon managed to strike the ideal balance between lame and awesome in his design here: just look at that massive tail!
Thursday’s blog was a spotlight on Zachary Zarthos, the old arch-nemesis of The Standard throughout his 24-year career. I knew I wanted an image of the diabolical villain to go with my blog, but I didn’t just want a regular pinup like with The Black Stripe and The Skunk. So I came up with this idea. I thought it would be funny seeing a mad scientist posing for a police mugshot like some petty crook, and Jon nailed exactly the tone I was going for. I also like the touch of the broken glasses – which was Jon’s addition. This could actually be my favorite of the three images.
You can check out all these images in their full-size versions – and the blogs that accompany them – over at thestandardcomic.com!
