First and First - The Nexus Of The Universe

One of the funniest moments on the TV show Seinfeld (of so many funny moments) is when Kramer gets lost downtown in the episode "The Maid." He calls Jerry from a payphone at the corner of First Avenue and First Street and says he must be at the "Nexus of the Universe." Hilarious.

When Niki and I had visited 2 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in midtown Manhattan (referred to in The Dark Tower series as the "Nexus of Time and Size"), we were continuing our first New York City adventure further south later that same day and we decided to start at 1st and 1st to pay tribute to this other famous "New York Nexus" located in the East Village.

Ironically, shortly after this we traveled west to Greenwich Village, where we had the chance to see 177a Bleecker Street, the fictional home of Marvel Comics hero Dr. Strange, which is also known as the "Nexus of All Realities." So there you have it, one city, one day, three Nexus' . . . or would that be Nexi? Does this mean that Manhattan is the "Nexus of Nexuses?" Or maybe it should just be Nexus³ . . .

Argh, my head hurts.

-DE

A Punk Jacket Fit For A Princess

Some time ago, I began working on another jacket for my (then) two-year-old niece, Mia. Decorating the jacket itself didn't really take much time at all (child's size jackets don't usually take more than a few days to finish), but I had to wait on the delivery of one of the patches before I could truly call it complete. Besides, I've often found it's the labours of love that go by quickest and easiest, no matter how intricate or monotonous the task needed to complete it.

The jacket is essentially the same as the child sized jacket I shared on here a while ago, but with artwork and patches better suited for a girl.

Niki and I had given Mia a Hello Kitty and the Mad Barbarians stuffed doll the year before and it seemed like the perfect artwork to pair up with a jacket designed for a tiny punk princess.

There is another full-sized jacket in the works right now, but it's nowhere near complete yet. Once I do finish it up though, I'll be sure to post pictures of the end result.

In the meantime of course, there's always the other examples in the Apparel section of the DE/VL Design website.

-DE

My very own (sorta) homemade "The Death of Captain Marvel" statue.

A few weeks ago I needed to get the wheel rims replaced on the car and so, literally without any wheels and stranded on Ontario Street for about an hour, I took a stroll down to Value Village to see if I could #FINDtheFIND and, sure enough, I did. For me, "The Find" was a small plaster reproduction of Michelangelo's "Pietà," depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus. Goddam creepy, right? Of course, truth be told, when I saw it on the shelf what I immediately flashed on was one of my all-time favorite comic-book stories, the original cover for the graphic novel "The Death of Captain Marvel" by Jim Starlin. That's why I couldn't pass it up.

My plan? To paint that sucker to be just that, a passable version of the cover image of the personification of Death herself cradling the estranged Kree captain and cosmic protector, Mar-Vell, as he succumbs to his final battle with both the cancer consuming his life from within and a re-animated Thanos of Titan, called back to life to claim Mar-Vell's for his beloved Mistress. While there's already a beautiful version of this cover art in statue form, produced by Art Asylum back in 2002, it goes for about $200 . . . and that's if you can even find it!

So, starting with the faux-bronze statue as I'd found it . . .

. . . first I spray-painted a flat black basecoat . . .

. . . which, once I started applying the primer coat for the parts to be painted, immediately came to life as Mistress Death's cloak.

I threw a second primer coat on to make sure the paint colour would stand out . . .

. . . sketched the features of Mar-Vell's uniform and Death's face in pencil . . .

. . . and, after carefully painting some more definition in the more detailed areas, I quickly filled in the colour for the base and stone portions.

Then, once I'd filled in the larger areas of blue and red on the uniform, the whole thing really came together . . .

. . . and with just a few touch ups to Death's face and the eight-pointed star on Marv's chest, I was pretty pleased with the final outcome.

Of course, when looking at them side-by-side, mine still doesn't compare with the Art Asylum version, but for only a fraction of the cost, it's good enough to sit proudly on my shelf!

-DE