The Sprouse Daxes that never were

My friend Brandon recently told me that he had reached out to Chris Sprouse about buying a piece of art from Sprouse. When he was doing so, he asked Sprouse if he had anything from his Supreme days that he might be willing to part with. Sprouse replied:

I finally made it to the post office and mailed your art. Sorry about the delay—again. To make up for it, i threw a couple of extras in the package. I went through some boxes of old art and rejected pages and found two things that i thought only you might appreciate. One piece is my absolute last piece of Supreme related artwork: a loose pencil sketch of a bunch of villains for issues i never got to draw, which i was actually sketching when i got the call that Supreme was cancelled/Rob was going out of business. ... They’re not much, but i hope they go some way towards making up for taking so long to ship art out.

The villains are the Daxes from Supreme: The Return #2, that was ultimately drawn by Jim Starlin. Here's what Sprouse had to say about that drawing in an interview back in the early 2000s:

CBA: Did you get as far as #58?

Chris: Yes. I had gotten the script, which featured a whole legion of alternate Darius Dax characters, but Jim Starlin actually ended up drawing the issue, though I’d actually started to design the characters for that, and I think that’s what I was working on when Rob called and said it was over. I have no pages of actual finished work.

Brandon was nice enough to send a scan of the art to me:

 

Pictured are Darius Dax (the only other time Sprouse had drawn Dax was for a cover to issue # 52A):

...and original Dax...

...and Darius Duck!

Loosely sketched you can also see Delroy Dax (the Daxman) and some other figures. Unfortunately, Sprouse never got to finish the sketch or the series. Here's how Starlin drew the characters for comparison's sake:

 

Still, what a find! You can check out Brandon's new item (and some other amazing Sprouse pages) at his comicartfans page here.

1963 #4 - Part 2

By Derek Mont-Ros

Welcome back readers! Today is a groovy recap, because today, we look at Alan Moore’s version of Doctor Strange…Johnny Beyond! How does his world compare to the good doctor's? What adventure does his magic lead to? You’ll see in…

The trippy…. trip begins with our hippy of a hero, guiding a blonde beauty to some place called “The Laundry.” Though the woman seems to be a little off, even for Johnny.

 

Talking to the mysterious woman reveals that she seems to be acting like every location is where it shouldn’t be. That's an odd sentence that will make more sense as the story progresses. For now, Johnny helps the woman back to her apartment. She points out that Johnny reminds her of her boyfriend.

 

As Johnny examines some of the stranger parts of the apartment, such as a movie that appears in book form, Johnny meets the woman’s previously mentioned boyfriend…HIMSELF!

 

The two go outside of the apartment, only to see the entire building folding and warping on itself, causing some king of magical disturbance in the air. They regroup with Johnny’s friend, Lips, who is the equivalent of Wong in this universe.

 

After speaking to his version of the ancient one, it is revealed that time itself is being rippled. Johnny leaves the building, only to reappear in it in astral form. Doing so reveals that some of the civilians on the streets are from the '30s, proving the old wizard’s theory. Using astral form, Johnny fixes the shifting building for a short time and goes to confront his older self and the room that led to all of this.

 

After a brief fight because older Johnny did not believe his younger counterpart, the horror of this entire disaster is finally shown to the reader in the most trippy of ways.

 

It’s revealed that it is not only time being affected, but earth as well! The older Johnny has been revealed to come from another earth, arriving with no knowledge of the events at hand.

 

All seems normal with the building afterward until it is revealed that Older Johnny stayed, and our Johnny is out there in that warped world we saw earlier. What will happen to the sorcerer of sass? Only time will tell. Until then, enjoy these amazing pin ups!

 

 

Putting the Sprouse in New Jack

My friend Greg, who runs the great Ivory Icon Informer blog, recently put up a post that he's been working on for some time. As an admirer of the great Jack Kirby-tribute issue in Supreme: The Return #6, he has always been disappointed that Chris Sprouse had left the series before #6 was produced. As I wrote about in my Weekly Reading, Alan Moore's plan had been for Veitch to do the background and Kirby characters in that issue and Sprouse to handle all the images of Supreme. But without Sprouse, Veitch drew Supreme and was finished off by Rob Liefeld. It's still great, but it always bugged Greg.

So using Photoshop, he made some fixes. It's not the full issue, but what he made does look great. And as he said, "I for one am happy to see what might have been. Even if it is just a fantasy!" Take a look:

1963 #4 - Part 1

By Derek Mont-Ros

Sorry for the delay readers! To thank you for waiting, we’re going to go over the first story in the fourth installment of this marvelous storyline! This issue is also drawn by Steve Bissette.

Today, we look at the equivalent of the Hulk in Alan Moore’s world, N-Man, who shares a similar, yet very different origin from his green-skinned counterpart. His enemies on the other hand…well you’ll see.

Our story begins when we see our lobster-like protector skydiving down to some odd-looking crater, while he chats it up with Colonel Powers, code named Eagle’s Eye.

 

It’s revealed that N-Man was/is doctor Will Chambers, a scientist who experimented, seemingly on himself, trying to find a way to make humans resistant to radiation. He used beetles for reference, and as a result, gave himself armored skin, as well as super strength, durability and more!

 

After he makes a crash landing, N-Man reveals to the reader that the mysterious, mutated area is a result of their A-bonb tests, which resulted in the animals and land itself mutating to a near unrecognizable state. Code named the Shimmering zone, the radioactive land seems to defy laws of nature and physics alike.

 

As N-Man continues to explore the area more, talking to the colonel, we see three mysterious arms jumping at N-Man to reveal…

 

COMRADE COCKAROACH! Grigor Kokarovitch was/is a Russian scientist who “improved” upon Dr. Chambers’ transformation experiments giving himself similar powers, with the added ability of having more agility and arms.

 

Cockroach knocks N-Man in a lake that solidifies extremely quick, seemingly defeating him. However, N-man is no easy adversary.

As the fight persists, the area starts to have its own magnetic and gravitational pull, sending everything into a portal at the center of the impact crater.

 

Cockroach attempts to head toward the center in order to get a tiny black pearl. Despite N-Man’s warning not to, he persists.

 

As N-Man attempts to save his enemy, Cockaroach is sucked into the portal, disappearing into the void. I guess that’s the end of our roach of a villain…or is it?

 

Our story end with N-Man meeting up with his team, as well as his assistant and supposed girlfriend, Sally Stevens. N-Man received a message from a hero named Infra-Man. Who is this unseen hero and how does he know N-Man? Find out in issue 6. In the meanwhile stick around for the groovy second part of our fourth installment of 1963!