Lastscionz Gets High On PEANUTS

What, we're overdue on our promise to bring the stylin' lines of Jeffrey Chamba Cruz aka Lastscionz back to the comicsblog? Blame it on the hiatus, dabblers, and worry no more. The deviant artist returns -- and with more than the Super Mario Bros. up his sleeve. Snoopy appeared 04 October 1950  in the third-ever strip of Charles M. Schulz' Peanuts.  When it came to imagination, not even Charlie Brown could hold a candle to his dog, who captured ours more than any of the strip's characters. Lastscionz sends Snoopy - in the  daydream duds of his alter-ego, the World War I Flying Ace - up high and Among The Clouds, to maintain a serene yet vigilant watch for his arch-enemy, Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron. The skies appear clear for now, but will Snoopy's Sopwith Camel survive to fly another day? More Lastscionz art [here].

Let Logan Learn Your Little Mutants

Here's proof that 'Old Man Logan' - Wolverine - has more than four letters in his vocabulary. At least, deviant artist SeanGordonMurphy thinks he does and proves it with The Wolverine ABC's.  We're sure there must be a few teachers out there who know their classroom borders on Boring, so why not print these out big and put a little Marvel fun in  your lesson plan? Even if the illustrations are slightly violent, they'll make teaching Fall of the Mutants in History class that much easier. [via]

Lastscionz Enters The Mushroom Kingdom with SUPER MARIO BROS

Although they're often overlooked as a comic book publisher, Canada's Udon Entertainment Corporation is well-known as one of the premier artists' collectives (studios) specializing in comics based on some of the world's most popular video games.  From their flagship series adapting Capcom's Street Fighter to their more recent Darkstalkers line, the Udon Crew have made names for themselves even beyond the video set.  Marvel's requested they bring their Manga flair to superhero series like X-Men Evolution and the super-popular Deadpool, while DC Direct's tapped their talent to design the company's line of Ame-Comi Girls PVC statues.

Jeffrey Chamba Cruz - Udon Crew member and known among the Deviant Art set as Lastscionz - has become the hot talk of the comicsblogosphere the last few days for his just-completed Enter The Mushroom Kingdom.  The name alone is buzzworthy, but Cruz' line work sends us over the top.  


With so many video game characters popping into comics - most recently, DC/WildStorm's sell-out God of War series - we're kind of surprised that the Super Mario Bros haven't also made the leap.  Then again, they've never looked so good or so...studly! Cruz has packed on the muscle while tossing the Bros some personality where it counts. Hmmm... could the announcement of a new Udon series be in our future?


Cruz hasn't even suggested one way or the other; he completed the 11x17  Enter The Mushroom Kingdom earlier this month, and it's intended to be a convention print.  But that doesn't mean it's not a promo for something the Udon Crew's been cooking up in secret.  Mario and Luigi have kept console jockey's hooked for nearly three decades, making Super Mario Bros one of the best-selling video games of all time.  They might not require it, but they've certainly earned it.  A rockin' comic series with Lastscionz on the art would  likely be a big seller-- and give pop culture's infamous Italian brothers all the extra lives they'll ever need.

Enter The Mushroom Kingdom 

We'll be bringing even more lastscionz art to the comics blog this week! Meanwhile, level up on Cruz's awesome stuff by checking him out on Deviant Art [here] or on his art blog [here].  For Udon Entertainment Corp, go [here].

HALLOWEEN 09: My Little Pony Mod-Party Pointers

Halloween '09 continues on the comicsblog today in pop-culture collision bang. While guys my age spent their 1980's pitting Hasbro GI JOE's against Transformers, Generation X girls kept busy brushing out My Little Ponies in numbers that made Hasbro's 1983 horsey line outsell Mattel's Barbie.

Hasbro's done amazingly well surfing the 80's resurgence wave with so many of their products -- they relaunched My Little Pony in 2003 -- that it's only a matter of time before a live-action Pony finds the trail to the mall movieplex.

If Hasbro and Hollywood do pony-up cash for a feature flick, it's looking like they'll sell tickets to a GenX crowd without GenY kids in tow. Creating custom-painted or "modded" My Little Ponies has become a huge horsey fad lately, and it's as big in Britain as it is in the United States. Who knew, right?

Well, now you do, dabblers. And if you're a teacher or a parent with a Halloween party to plan for the grade school set, we think a My Little Pony Painting Party would really do the trick. While our suggestion probably wouldn't fly if the kids have car keys, younger girls as well as boys should get a kick "dressing up" their Pony in superhero or Han Solo duds or as one their favorite Twilight and New Moon crushes. Plus, we can't think of a party idea that's this much fun that also gives your kids' artistic muscles an unexpected work out.

Halloween Pony-favors shouldn't make you say "neigh", either. Though single My Little Pony dolls are generally priced between $6.50 and $7.00, large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target often carry these dolls for less, and I came across several of last year's Ponies with a three-buck price tag at a local discount store when I was preparing to write this blog. Toys-R-Us probably has the best deal going right now: they're currently running a "Buy 2, Get 3rd Free" on many of their toys, including My Little Pony. And don't forget to check for coupons on-line -- we found a $5.00 off $20 purchase coupon for Toys R Us at Coupons.com here.

Other than the toys, easy-to-get art supplies are all that remains. School art departments should be fully-stocked with everything needed to paint or dress-up a pony, but if not, the dollar store and fabric outlets are great places to start. We recommend acrylic paints for this job -- they dry fast, stay on, and will trick-out every kid's Pony in a glossy, good way. Online art suppliers like Blick have fantastic variety of paints, brushes, paper, and pointers for budding Picasso's are everywhere on the 'net, too. We located great painting advice for beginners here and found some short and handy how-to's on You Tube here.

As you'll see, My Little Pony mods are quite the rage. Comic book illustrator Junko Mizuno (Marvel Comics' Strange Tales) was hired by Hasbro to complete a custom mod, and independent artists like the British deviant-artist Eponyart and Mari Kasurinen are just a few of the expanding Pony-modding community. Here's a few of our favorites:

(L) Rogue from X-Men by Mari Kasurinen & (R) Galactus by Jodi K. Moisan

Acid-mpitting monster from the 1979 movie, Alien

Batman and Robin by Mari Kasurinen

(L) Superman by Mari Kasurinen & (R) The Tick by Ponies of Dooom

Twilight-inspired Ponies from Eponyart

Imperial Stormtrooper (or Ponytrooper??) by Mari Kasurinen

Pussy Galore from Kill Bill and Mattel's He-Man

Receive the Pony-treatment