Sunday, January 6, 2008

NEWSFLASH: Bedbug in "War of the Independents"!

Not only is Bedbug one of the many independently created superheroes appearing in Dave Ryan's War of the Independents from Arcana Press, but he also appears on the promotional art! (top left hand corner) Stay tuned for more on Bedbug's involvement in the War of the Independents. Meanwhile, here's the official press release!

THE WAR IS COMING!!!

DC's 'Infinite Crisis' and Marvel's 'Civil War'...?? It's... SO LAST YEAR! PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE 'WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS'

WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS which pits nearly every indy characters from the comic book world (some known and lest known) to join forces to save the earth against KANE and ORCUS and their undead demonic minions from the gates of Hell!!!

Bedbug will be part of the upcoming milestone melee. WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS due to launch in the summer of 2008 and co-publish by Arcana following a 4-issue 'lead-in' series Penance, by WOTI creator, Dave Ryan along with Scott Lobdell, Richard Kane Ferguson and Peter Palmiotm Gerti.

WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS will feature an impressive list of contributors and characters who will be involved in the mega-project,including Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon), Mike Allred (Madman), Billy Tucci (Shi), Joe Linsner (Cry for Dawn), Jim Valentino (Shadowhawk) and Dave Sim (Cerebus).

For a full list of the incredible amount of Indy characters involved in this project head over to http://www.comicspace.com/daveryan

Random Bedbug Sketch #1

"Daddy Daughter Time"

I've been drawing Bedbug for years (since 2001) and lots of sketches have stacked up. I'll start with one of my favorites - Bedbug and his daughter Elvira. See if you can't spot the Shooting Star Comic character cameos...

Secret Origin File #4: Scrapper


Secret Origin File 003: SCRAPPER
Real Name: Billy Ray Slaughter


After years of tinkering in his father’s junkyard, Billy Ray Slaughter developed an uncanny knack for invention. Slaughter can take any object and turn it into a useful tool or a deadly weapon. Building a suit of strength-enhancing armor from found objects, Slaughter struck out to make his fortune in the big city. After finding crime to be more challenging to his talents than super-heroics, Slaughter adopted the identity of the Scrapper. Currently, Bedbug stands in Slaughter’s way of stealing the one million dollars he (thinks) he needs to impress his hoitey-toity fiancee' Olivia Van Haughten.


Weapons and abilities:
Scrapper's armor gives him enhanced strength and endurance - he is strong enough to lift a car over his head and rip an ATM machine out of a brick wall. Other than the armor, Scrapper doesn't favor one weapon as he prefers the challenge that impromptu item creation provides.

(illustration by Scott Rogers)

Secret Origin File #3: Player One

Secret Origin File 003: PLAYER ONE
Real Name: Reginald Elizabeth Sloots

A sore loser and an even poorer winner, Player One is video-game themed villain who squandered his trust fund to finance his game-themed crimes. His compulsion to “collect them all” drives him to stealing entire holiday shipments of the latest game system to sell on ebay to robbing game show contestants of their winnings (including the home versions!) He has to be the first to own the newest gadget, gizmo and software on the market, and if he can’t have it first, he’ll steal it first.

Weapons and abilities:
His primary weapon is a "power glove" that creates and controls robotic minions and hard-light holograms avatars as well as fires a deadly "photonic blast" of energy.

(illustration by Brian Wanamaker)