Art Department Weekly | Issue 99 Vol. 12

ADW ART DEPARTMENT WEEKLY ISSUE 99 VOL. 12

ROYAL FAREWELL

GOOD-BYE TO CHADWICK

SNEAK PEEKS

FROM THE VIRTUAL CON

BEFORE SPORTS RETURN

MUST BINGE TV

MINI BOARD NOT HERE Pulling all the weeds and dead flowers now to plant bulbs for next spring sounds great, except there are spider webs big enough to ensnare Betty and the raccoons are tearing up the yard in search of bulbs or anything that is not a cucumber.

TRUTH TWEETS The Rockies didn’t pull any punches with a recent tweet about their performance

In the previous issue, Percy had his eye on a squirrel that liked to get into the bag of bird seed. Then the bag was ripped, seeds everywhere. I put seeds in plastic containers. Something tore open boxes to get to the seeds, flipped a garbage can, and dug up my strip of grass. This is more than some fat birds breaking their pole...

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CLEAN SWEEP

Watch Cobra Kai on Netflix or order your own copy of Season 1 on Blu-ray. (If only it were VHS...)

I don’t know if I ever watched the second or third Karate Kid movies. Say Ralph Macchio and I think of My Cousin Vinny.

Luis announced Cobra Kai was out, and I thought he was talking about Snake Eyes again. I was not expecting a show about a washed up drunk—or that I would enjoy watching it so much.

Throughout the first season, I could not stop thinking of how Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) on How I Met Your Mother declared Johny (William Zabka) was the real karate kid. Cobra Kai seems to be a show based on the premise that Daniel (Macchio) was the bully. It’s extra fun because everyone is kind of an asshole.

The writing isn’t very good, but the way it alternates between making fun of itself and trying to recreate moments from the first Karate Kid kept me happily bingeing.

I don’t normally talk about the writing on TV shows. There are things I definitely prefer to watch with captions so I don’t miss anything. Cobra Kai does not require captions... Before this, we were watching Umbrella Academy, GLOW, and The Boys—three shows where I was afraid to miss any clues of what might happen next. Our current mystery is what to watch next: finish the second season of Cobra Kai or start the second season of The Boys. Johnny wins.

—MV

D R A HE

T R NA

R E V O

I

“Anyone else worried about Robert Pattinson?

The Spanish Influenza got him last time” -Madeline

“ME, I AM WORRIED” -Carly

“You need a hundredth issue haiku, obviously” -Luis

“It wasn’t a pandemic because the government functioned properly” -Madeline

I HEAR THAT “Hannis Brown also wrote our theme music, and it was performed by the Outer Borough Brass Band” is a phrase I think I’ve heard Kai Wright say a hundred times at the end of “The United States of Anxiety, a podcast about the unfinished business of our history and its grip on our future, produced by WNYC Studios” (that I listen to at *not* double speed). Brown is a composer, focused on scoring and sound design for radio. “WNYC” appears 28 times on his select bio. I think Trump, Inc. was the first place I heard his name, but to really experience the magic of his ability to set the tone, go listen to the series Caught or the episode The United State of Anxiety: Juneteenth, an Unfinished Business (at not double speed). To jump straight into Brown’s music, visit https://www.hannisbrown.com/selected-music--multimedia.html —MV

“She was basically mentally retarded” -Luis

“I need to know who her cellphone provider is”

September 8 , 2020 • Art

-Jemele

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CHADWICK REMEMBERED Luis explains why cinematic King T’Challa was so important The technological prowess of Iron Man, the fighting skills of Captain America, the noble heritage of Thor—Black Panther is a perfect mix of the founding members of the Avengers. Unfortunately, he has never really been treated as such.

This all changed in the Marvel cinematic universe when Chadwick Boseman brilliantly played King T’Challa. With a humble, understated grace, Boseman stole the scene every time he appeared on screen. Elegant and powerful, Boseman shined. He single-handedly changed the trajectory of a character who debuted more than 50 years earlier. Often an afterthought in the comics, T’Challa was now a star on screen. Black Panther quickly became Marvel’s highest-grossing solo film (over $700 million domestically far outpaces second place Captain Marvel at $426 million domestically).

Prior to Black Panther, the Marvel cinematic universe was not known for its diversity. The only significant characters of color were supporting players Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle). That all changed significantly when Ryan Coogler—previously of Creed and Fruitvale Station—was hired to put together Black Panther. The movie turned into a celebration of African culture that was never before so accessible on film.

The emotional anchor of the film was the awe-inspiring performances of Boseman and Michael B. Jordan. Two sides of the same coin, T’Challa and Erick Killmonger played off each other perfectly.

This filmed proved once and for all that diversity matters in every genre.

For even more evidence of this look at Marvel’s upcoming slate of releases, Black Panther 2, Blade, The Eternals, and Shang-Chi, all centered around non-white leads.

With last week’s tragic and sudden passing of Chadwick, the Marvel cinematic universe will never be the same. He blessed us all with a careerdefining turn as the regal king of Wakanda. Robert Downey Jr. recently said, “Black Panther is hands down, it is the crowning achievement of the Marvel universe... It was the one where people got to vote with their ticket sales and say we require this overdue diversity.” He also remembered Chadwick as “humble, hardworking, and always having a smile on his face.”

Rest well, King. Wakanda forever.

WAKANDA FOREVER

If he had the space, Luis says he would totally display these Hasbro Marvel Legends figures from the Black Panther movie series.

Especially if he had an M’Baku figure. “The Lupita likeness is uncanny,” he says. “It might be the best likeness in a Marvel figure.” The level of piping and sculpting are impressive.

“It’s a handsome, handsome figure. I wish the Chadwick figure resembled Chadwick as closely.” The unmasked head is so unlike Mr. Boseman, we didn’t even bother to photograph it as an option.

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ARTISTIC TRIBUTES With the shocking and sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman at the age of 43 to a very private battle with colon cancer, the comic art community came out to pay tribute to the fallen star who inspired so many.

The great Bill Sienkiewicz painted the work of art on the left.

“Such an incredible loss of an inspiring human being and gifted artist,” Sienkiewicz wrote. “This was one of the most difficult portraits I’ve ever done.”

I found the likeness on Rob Liefeld’s sketch below to be spot on. Liefeld is not generally known for his accurate likenesses, so I was blown away.

—LV

Bill Sienkiewicz

Rob Liefeld

PAINTING PROCESS

Visit Nikkolas.art to order prints

I don’t know if I’d seen many of Nikkolas Smith’s viral pieces before his Chadwick Boseman. I randomly flipped to CBS This Morning and caught their interview of Smith in a story about protest art. “As an illustrator of color, Nikkolas is focused on creating captivating art that can spark important conversations in today’s world and inspire meaningful change,” according to nikkolas.com. He painted Martin Luther King Jr. in a hoodie after Trayvon Martin was murdered and has been working through headlines on a regular basis. Smith was a concept artist and theme park designer for Disney, so his style is friendly compared to the grotesque stories that inspired some pieces. Check out nikkolas.art for a better way to survey the range of his recent work.

—MV

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WW84 panel

FANDOMONIUM

Millions of people like Megan were glued to their screens for DC’s first virtual con

T

he first installment of DC FanDome took place August 22 for 24 hours of all things DC Comics. After hearing DC would livestream exclusives for the fans, I immediately signed up and created a schedule. I was most excited for the Wonder Woman, Multiverse, The Flash Movie, Zack Snyder’s The Justice League, The Flash DCTV, Titans, and the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League panels.

For a majority of the 24 hours, I sat in front of my laptop and watched this livestream like my life depended on it.

There were no “commercials”, but there were snippets of fan art and photos and cosplayers adorned in the costumes of the featured panel that served as interstitials.

FanDome kicked off with a Wonder Woman 1984 panel where they presented a new look at the movie and discussed the importance of having a woman be the lead in a superhero movie directed by a female director (Academy Award nominee Patty Jenkins returned for the sequel). The panelists were in awe at surprise inclusion of original onscreen Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. Gal Gadot praised her for laying the onscreen groundwork for her to follow.

This panel was followed by a trailer for the new Batman game, Gotham Knights.

I found it exciting that you choose from Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood instead of just Batman and Robin. The game is set to release in 2021.

After that, there was a Multiverse 101 panel with Jim Lee, Walter Hamada, and Greg Berlanti—all of whom helped create the multiverse both in the comics and on

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screen. Nine years ago, they started making DC shows on The CW with Arrow and didn’t expect for it to be a success.

They then created The Flash as a spin-off after Barry Allen had a two-episode origin on Arrow.

Following the Multiverse panel was The Flash movie panel with Ezra Miller and director Andy Muschietti. I knew Ezra from his work in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, so I was super hype when he was announced. When I first talked about movie Flash with my best friend Richie, we hoped that they would use Grant Gustin. However, we were just as excited when we heard that Miller was going to be Barry because he has the personality to play him. Viewers were able to receive an exclusive first look at the new streamlined Flash costume through artist renderings.

The Suicide Squad panel consisted of the new trailer and squad knowledge.

BAWSE Women of Color panel consisted of the women of the DC Universe sitting down and talking about why it’s important to have women of color on the screen.

Static Shock is set to return to the DC Universe in February of 2021 as a new digital comic and there’s said to be a movie in the works. This is part of DC’s initiative to bring more African American voices to light. Static Shock was originally part of the afrocentric DC imprint Milestone Comics, which will also be returning in 2021.

The Justice League Snyder Cut is set to be four hours long and will be released in episodes on HBO Max. The DCTV panel presented the Season 7 trailer for

Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020

The Flash where they’re using the content from the episode they finished wrapping before the shutdown to introduce the new season. The Black Adam panel was introduced by the Rock (the titular star) and contained concept art that was strung together as a defacto teaser trailer and teases the Justice Society of America. Titans united for their panel to talk about the new season and how Blackfire will be the main villain for the season. Zachary Levi appeared with his costars to reveal the title of the new movie, Shazam: Fury of the Gods.

FanDome concluded with the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League video game trailer and announced that the game is set to be released in 2022.

DC FanDome was all around exciting.

It was a DC fan’s dream come true. I’m looking forward to watching all of the new seasons and movies coming out within the next two years.

The biggest reveal of the weekend was the release of the teaser trailer for the Matt Reeves/Robert Pattinson The Batman. With a real world, gritty feel, it seems to strike all the right tones for the character. Shortly after its premiere, it was the No. 1 trend on Twitter.

This was very different from any convention I’ve been to. All the panels played right after one another and had seamless transitions. It was different from regular conventions in the sense that you couldn’t interact with the panelists. However, I thought that DC did a really good job with presenting all of their new and upcoming shows, movies, and video games, within 24 hours.

SCREENSHOTS FROM FANDOME, including Milestone Comics, Suicide Squad, the Snyder cut, Batman, Gotham Knights, Black Adam, The Flash, DCTV, and Titans

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Black Night

Arms of Toil

KING OF LEGOS BOOM INTRODUCES US TO HIS CREATIONS (AND THE DRAMA) IN THE BASEMENT Rieknight (RY-nite) used to be the second in command, but, after the first Mega War, the king was somehow destroyed. Then I decided to throw Rieknight in the blue bin. Then I couldn’t find his arm, but I found his head. And I found this cape in the blue bin for some random reason, so I decided to put it on him. I made this sword for him. I call it the Blade of Fire. When he was away, Spider Knight was in command, and he used the Line Blade. And he used Rieknight’s old mech, which he renamed. It was RieBot, but he called it Big Spider.

Almost all of my army is based on Lego videos, but I usually get some ideas from the Lego Ideas Book or the Lego Adventure Book. I usually look at the steampunk chapter. There are not enough robots in Lego Ideas. Adventure gives step-by-step instructions.

Arms of Toil is from Lego Adventure. It was supposed to be a lifting bot, but then I made it into a lifting mech, but then I turned it into a full on robot. (Boom was all about mechs before robots.) I really wanted to build the Iron Legs, but I couldn’t.

Then I upgraded Reiknight’s Freedom Staff with two of these axe blades. This was after another Mega War. Now there’s a corruption that seeks on robots, trying to destroy them to rebuild its body. Here’s a little piece of the infection in a bottle. This is how much it’s built up now.

Now that Rieknight came back, he decided to put Spider Knight second in command. He was the supreme leader, but now he’s the king of all of Legoland because he destroyed the two leaders of Kal’s army. But not the mech that one of them had. It’s literally a rip-off of the spider bot! Just a full on rip-off!

Like, why rip off me?

I’m going to try to make something based on a boss, the God Tamer, from Hollow Knight. I’ll build a robot version of the Tamer—not the beast because the beast would be way too hard. It curls into a ball and spits acid. Six arms, a whole bunch of eyes, and surprisingly two legs. And one giant sword!

Rieknight (RY-nite)

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Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020

Crystal Guard (formerly “Mechanical Crystal Guardian”)

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MINI SEEKERS - The one that doesn’t look much like a plane was actually the first one I made. I named him SKYCLOPS because he has one eye. He was built first, then two months later I built the three other ones, and then I found him. The gray one is the leader. That’s why he’s connecting all of them on the combiner called AERIAL KING.

Mini Seekers

Mini Seekers

CRYSTAL GUARD

who guards the leader of my army, Rieknight. He doesn’t transform. (Boom didn’t have more to say about CG.)

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Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020

They transform twice

Aerial King

MOONJUMP is meant to jump really high distances. He’s a scout bot and an airforce bot. He jumps really high and then falls really slowly as if he were on the moon.

Black Night

Bolts

BLACK NIGHT also guards Rieknight because Rieknight is not actually able to guard himself. He stays where Rieknight is and attacks whoever comes near Rieknight, unlike Crystal Guard who always runs away to fight.

BOLTS used to be just a

mechanic building more robots, but now that he got the war lord mini con named WAR TREAD (he’s a mix between a tank and a truck which is why he has treads and a canon with the front of a little car) on his back... He had armor before and could fly.

BOMBER I based him off one of my old bots that would split in half to transfrom. He throws bombs to trap his opponents in pits.

Arms of Toil

ARMS OF TOIL is from Lego Adventure Book

Bomber

because I couldn’t build Iron Legs

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Playful

Guarding

RIEKNIGHT with his armor, including the Golden Shark Tooth Spear that can also be used as a flail. The US Axe. Hunter Arm is actually a cannon. The Burning Blue is a blue flame that’s a blade. In 2019, Rieknight got the Freedom Staff. Then I gave him the Freedom Armor. Then I upgraded the Freedom Staff with two of these axe blades.

CAT-CAT is part AT-AT, part robot cat face

and tail. I had an AT-AT and then noticed this part that looked like a cat face. At some point, I made a mega CAT-CAT. Its eyes were actually pretty big, made of little dome pieces with gold studs to look like little pupils. It turns out it had a way too big mouth. And I put eyes almost everywhere on it so it could see almost everything.

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Angry

Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020

BETTY WANTED HER CREATIONS

The Black Drones for Black Night

included as I was shooting, but the moment I asked her to come write some captions she suddenly had no idea who these people were. She mixes tops, legs, hair, and helmets from different sets.

(Not Dad-approved.) For sure they are all related to the Power Puff Girls, Harley Quinn, and Minnie Mouse. You should definitely notice the shimmery hair on the princess. “Blossom’s little sister has the pink helmet, Bubble’s little sister with short legs,” according to Betty. “That’s a

little droid” she was calling Checkers.

“I am used to building and used to making drawings talk,” Betty says. “Yesterday, I give Blossom and Bubbles’s little sisters their legs.” Betty says she was part of the Mega War. “That means our armies have to fight each other.”

None of these characters were in Betty’s army for the Mega War because she created them the day Mom was photographing Legos

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JUMPER He’s meant to look like a little angler fish with his light to scare off other robots in the water when he’s swimming. He has two missiles. A bunch of them combine to pretend they are a giant angler fish. I’m planning on making more—a runner, a flyer...

OPTIMUS PRIME Driving mode, trailer off mode, transformed mode, and court mode is the taller one.

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Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020

This is based on the Song of the Deep CLOCKWORK SEAHORSE, which you actually have to fix in Song of the Deep.

Kal put gears sticking out of it so it looked more like the actual Song of the Deep one. I wanted to add fins, but he said there are none. There aren’t. I reinforced the face and started making little fins for it. He wanted to put little pieces of coral. I somehow lost the pieces of coral, and then, yeah, we didn’t have anymore coral. I want to build the Rimorosa, a giant angler fish that looks more like a scary octopus.

SPIDER KNIGHT has five shields with different powers, such as

making his sword crazy strong. He can switch out for Fly Wings.

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HAPPY 99TH ISSUE!

BINGO Brought to you by The Decision, Amanda Knox, #Winning, Osama bin Laden, and other headliners

March 27, 2011 would have been the date on this week’s ADW if production had stayed on track. Rather than list 5 Things that jumped out at us, see which boxes you wouldn’t have guessed you could mark as complete in the six months between August 2010 and March 2011 compared to what you can check off now. Help us celebrate the 100th issue by taking our survey: https://forms.gle/wiyeFget9KizRMCW7

Vote in a primary

Pandemic

Book 6 from George R.R. Martin

Cubs win World Series

Get laid off

Earthquake felt in NYC

Have a baby

Get married

Hurricane makes landfall in NYC

Buy a house

Buy a car

Get glasses

Reality star president

Adopt a pet

Move

Get a new job

Totally change your hair

Start a food vlog

Open an Etsy store

Cancel a family phone plan

Turn 40

Start an Instagram account of travel photos

Bake bread

Earn another degree

Plant a garden

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Art Department Weekly • September 8, 2020