Scud! the disposable assassin

 

One of my favourite books, comic, or otherwise, is Scud: the disposable assassin. I call it a book because I have the complete story in one big volume, although it was really a monthly comic book title. It's odd that when it was all said and done it came together as well as it did all things considered. The bulk of it was done back in the 90's, and was written in a style that seemed to cater to the fact that writer and artist, Rob Schrab seemed to want to draw whatever he wanted from issue to issue. So he just shifted the story drastically towards whatever subject matter tickled his fancy. I think that's one of the reasons I liked it so much. It was pretty popular in the 90's to the point Oliver Stone wanted to make a movie out of it. As the story goes Schrab was getting pretty depressed on the direction they wanted to take with the movie. Concerned they would fuck up his baby, he pulled the plug on the film and stopped doing the comic. Not before writing himself into one hell of a corner though. Over a decade went by, before he decided to give Scud a conclusion, and somehow it really worked.

 For those of you not versed with the story, the basic premise is pretty awesome. In the near future, after the rapture has taken place, a company called Scudco offers you the service of robot assassins conveniently available out of vending machines. You give the Scud his target, which he kills and promptly self destructs. Our hero, a Scud robot is assigned to kill a a crazy monster named Jeff (it's a girl monster). While on his mission Scud pops into the washroom where he notices in the mirror the warning label on his back about self destructing. Not wanting to blow up, Scud Seriously injures Jeff instead of killing her, and puts her up in the hospital on life support. Now he has to take on missions in order to pay the mounting hospital bills.

I actually drew these a long while ago when I first read the full book. Only found them recently, so I decided to ink and colour them. I drew Scud with his loner arm, that he has while his robot arm is in the shop. That there is his sidekick Drywall. He's my favourite. Wish I'd drawn him with his piranha gun. Maybe I'll do that some other time. He's like this sack dude with zippers all over him with these arms that come up with stuff from this weird storage dimension inside of him.

One other thing that I thought was pretty cool about Scud, that's sadly not included in the big book I've got, was with the issues he used to have "suggested voice talents" for the characters. So if you wanted to, you could imagine that actors voice as you read the dialogue. Recommended voice talent for Scud was John Malkovich.

Yes we Canseco!

So it came to my attention recently that Jose Canseco has expressed interest in the soon to be vacant mayoral position for the city of Toronto left by bloated fat guy, and all around bad person, Rob Ford. The legality of him doing so is in question as he's not a Canadian, but the prospect of it still makes me happy. I'm from Ottawa, not Toronto, so I don't get a vote unfortunately, but I'll do what I can to support the cause.

Figured I'd put him in the 98' Blue Jays jersey, seeing as it's for the Mayor of Toronto. Canseco at his most iconic though was with the Athletics I think. Gave him a Sam Bat too, made just outside of Ottawa. Last year on my birthday, Jose came to town for free and participated in a home run derby against this local guy, Evan Malamud. All the proceeds went to charity to benefit kids with autism. It was a real fun time, and Canseco was class the whole way through. Say what you want about Jose, but the guy's got a big ol' heart, which is way more than you can say about Toronto's last mayor. I hear he's coming back to Ottawa this year for another charity home run derby at Old Lynx Stadium.

Speaking of Lynx Stadium, I'm sad to hear that our Intercounty Baseball League team, the Ottawa Fat Cats are folding this year. Word is it's partly so they can reno the stadium so it's ready for when we get a Double A team, so it's not all bad news. I had a lot of fun at Fat Cats games though. I always thought that was a great name for a team from Ottawa. I would've done the their uniforms a bit different though. First up, a team named the Fat Cats should rock pinstripes, just saying. Logo wise I'd go with the above for the shoulder patch. and either an O or the cats head on the cap. Hopefully they come up with a good name for the double A team.

Phillie Phanatic!

 Now the 1993 world series came to a satisfactory conclusion as far as I'm concerned.  I'm a Blue Jays fan first and foremost, but I've got a bit of soft spot for the Philadelphia Phillies. Partly cuz I still hope for good things for Roy Halladay, but mostly because of the Phillie Phanatic. He's the best mascot in baseball, sports, or anything for that matter, and I'm a fan. Can you name a better mascot? Didn't think so.

So my lady friend's family is from Philadelphia originally, and are pretty big Phillies fans. That extends to their dog, Jake. I'm a pretty big fan of Jake as well. He's a pretty awesome guy. Figured I'd draw up him and the Phanatic hanging out for her for Christmas.

Folks have been saying I should put up the roughs and the concept sketches I do. Doesn't seem like a bad idea. Also just want to point out this is the first thing I've inked and colored using the Ipad. It's pretty sweet. Highly recommended.

Also, here's Jake. Told you he was a Phillies fan.