Before I remembered the existence of Ma-Mutt on the Thundercats show, my initial sketch had a Scottish Terrier, which feels like an old-fashioned dog to me because they look like old men with mustaches. Or is that just me? OK, they look like your mom.  Zing!

Hope you enjoyed this series.  It was a lot more work than I’d intended to take on before Comic-Con, but I really got a kick out of the idea and have plans for more images somewhere down the line (including Black Canary, Zatanna, Wonder Woman, and Sue Storm), and I’ve gotten some great suggestions, too.  I’ll have the original art for these at the show, so visit me at Booth #1322 if you want to check ‘em out.

This pinup originally started as a gag involving Princess/Jun getting tangled up with her yo-yo weapon, but in the end I chose to go for a more elegant hood ornament pose that would play up her costume. There’s something about the colors and lettering that evoke vintage Japanese toy box art, which of course only reminds me of all the money I’ve blown on eBay trying to recapture my youth. When will it end? How many Superfriends lunchboxes does a person need? (Answer: three.)

The last pinup goes up tomorrow.  Any guesses?

Another classic pinup we’ve all seen is the girl riding the bomb, but I wasn’t able to find any mid-century bomber nose art that actually featured the motif. I guess all those images came after Dr. Strangelove. I replaced the bomb with Supergirl’s original rocket from Krypton (peep the purple and green!), and played up the Silver Age comic feel with the halftone pattern in back. This may be the most wholesome thing I’ve ever drawn, and afterward I went on a 3-day bender where I came back with a pocket full of pesos and wearing someone elses’s clothes. Ahh, New York…

Yo Joe! This piece originated with the Cobra Commander helmet gag, but some late additions, like the foot locker, the bullet hole and the last-minute camo pattern, made me pretty happy. It’s funny — as a kid I never had many GI Joe toys, but as an adult I now have an arsenal of illegal semiautomatic weapons, combat knives, and heavily modified military vehicles. Go figure!

Last time I was in LA, I painted this on my ese’s lowrider.* I started out with the idea of the Venus Flytrap and the Lana Turner hair, but when I added the big flower and the tattoo-style lettering it finally came together. I almost put a teardrop tattoo by her eye, but I decided to rein it in and keep it in the realm of 40’s glamour. If I were to revisit this, though, I’d have the tattoo and put some stars and light rays around her head.  Big ups to Bill Maio for the Ivy request! Vatos Locos forEVER!

* Ese and lowrider may not exist.

At the recent New York show, Jennifer Stewart of Dragon Comics asked me to draw any Masters Of The Universe character I wanted, so I picked Teela.  While I remember the toys and cartoon pretty fondly, I was a little stumped; I needed an angle, some kind of hook that would make it memorable. I squinted a bit at the costume reference and realized that it had the silhouette of a crazy 40’s style bathing suit (albeit with ram horns and a tiara, but that almost makes it more Hollywood), and that even her hair kinda fit the time period. Then it all snowballed in my head and became bomber nose art.

This is the first in a series of 6 pinups that I’ll be debuting this week, leading up to San Diego.  Taking inspiration from Elvgren, Vargas, and even modern guys like Ragnar and Bawidamann, they’re all pretty tongue-in-cheek and self-aware, which should elevate it from your standard cheesecake.  Come back tomorrow for another one!