Bad Guy and the Gamble Universe!

One of the more interesting character odysseys in the Megaverse has been that of Bart Gamble, the all-purpose villain known as Bad Guy! Quickly evolving into a combination of Marvel's Kingpin, a notorious New York real-estate developer, and a generic gangster, Bad Guy has bedeviled the Man of Molecules in fight scenes, land grabs, underworld schemes, android takeovers, comics publishing, and other evildoings! You name it -- Bad Guy is probably behind it.

Bad Guy first appeared without origin or secret identity in a two-page fight scene that turned into a dream sequence involving World War III in Megaton Man #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, April 1985).

The opening splash page for Megaton Man #3, wonderfully colored by Ray Fehrenbach.

Batholomew Gamble (named, finally) next appeared in Megaton Man #6 (October 1985), having “served nearly five years of [his] ten-lifetime sentence—for countless murders, robberies hijacks, and world takeover attempts as the Mega-criminal Bad Guy.” He is dressed as inmate #613123 at Megatropolis State Penitentiary.

Spread from Megaton Man #6.

Because he was a “model inmate,” he was forgiven “seven-eighths lifetimes” of his sentence. He recalls his last battle with Megaton Man in Radioactive Tales #326 as a “Fiasco.”

Gamble is described by the liberal bleeding-heart Green Mellow thus: “Bad Guy has had a very lucrative career in crime… he’s managed to sock a lot dough away in investments in all sorts of capitalist enterprises. He plans to tear down this entire neighborhood to build a munitions plant to handle big Pentagon contracts! Churches, homes, schools, businesses…a whole world swept away for the sake of corporate tax write-offs and weapons in outer space!” (page 4).

In the following issue (#7, December 1985), Bad Guy appears in a limousine with another elegant gal, apparently a real-estate developer and arms merchant, tied in with the nefarious Arms of Krupp. (At the time, a certain New York real-estate developer was beginning to make headlines--wonder whatever became of him?)

Spread from Megaton Man #7.

He appears only in civilian clothes until his next appearance (Megaton Man #9, April 1986), when he has been drafted to become the "Presidential Hero" Good Guy at the landing of the Partyers from Mars in Central Park.

Tier from Megaton Man #9.

After flattening Manhattan in a fight scene in Megaton Man #10 (June 1986), Bad Guy is raptured into heaven by Mars, God of War while Megaton Man loses his powers, becoming Civilian Trent Phloog. It is promised that a "parody" of a certain New York real-estate developer will rebuild Manhattan.

From Megaton Man #10.

When next they meet (Return of Megaton Man #2, August 1988), Megaton Man learns that he is under contract to Bad Guy and the Gamble Comics Corporation, and a bullpen of insufferable, self-indulgent, pretentious creators!

From Return of Megaton Man #2.

In Return of Megaton Man #3 (September 1988), a labor revolt ensues, led by a writer (who will much later in the Megaton Man narrative be identified as Bad Guy's son Paul Nabisco, creator of Gower Goose).

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

After another thrashing, Bad Guy again decides to retire from Megavillainy, but not before signing the Original Golden Age Megaton Man to a binding contract.

From Return of Megaton Man #3.

Bad Guy teams the revamped Original Golden Age Megaton Man with the Uncategorizable X+Thems in Megaton Man vs. the Uncategorizable X+Thems #1 (April 1989). When that team falls apart, Bad Guy introduces a juiced-up Yarn Man teamed up with the Y+Thems.

Bad Guy continued to bedevil Megaton Man (and Paul Nabisco and Gower Goose) in the Megaton Man Weekly Serial (from the late 1990s) and subsequent adventures as the leader of an army of android replicas, including that of the See-Thru Girl. He continues to play a role in current Megaton Man continuity that is being prepared for publication, including The Return to Megatropolis graphic novel. Who knows? With his background in New York real estate, he may even make a bid for the White House! See other posts on this blog for the further exploits of Bart Gamble!

Read the Secret Origin of Ms. Megaton Man!

Genesis of an Android: Sandra Lights Up Down Broadway!

Two sequences from the current work in progress: the all-new Megaton Man #4 (three issues completed; publication details TBD): In the first, the Stella Android, Sandra, has been left alone in Trent Phloog's apartment, where she has been recharging by the window after a long period of dormancy. But her every move is streaming back to Edie Heidelberg in Megatropolis Office of Public Planning, and to Bad Guy!

In the second sequence, Sandra joins a Memorial Day parade heading down upper Broadway...

See previous posts for more previews of the all-new Megaton Man!

Devengers to Doom Defiers: Inking X-Ray Boy and Stella Android

Inking the remaining eight pages of The All-New Megaton Man #3. No release date yet, but stay tuned. (See previous posts on this blog for pencils and previews of art from issues #1-3.)

Dusk for The Devengers but Dawn for the Doom Defiers: X-Ray Boy and Angela fret over how Colonel Turtle is taking the demise of the New Jersey Megahero team.

The Devengers signage comes down as The Doom Defiers sign goes up; Megaton Man is not welcome on either iteration of the team, and repairs to his abode with the dormant See-Thru Girl Android!

The original pencil roughs, below.

The Purple Perpetrator: Bad Guy!

Some panels from the All-New Megaton Man #3, a work in progress. I have been coloring selected panels from the first three issues for a pitch to a print publisher we'll be making this summer. (See other posts on this blog to piece together the storyline!)

Not Megaton Man, Just Friends: Trent's New Roommate in Color!

Connie Carlyle, Megaton Man's new roommate, is introduced in what I'm currently calling The All-New Megaton Man #3. My plan is to have several issues in the can, to be released either singly or as a graphic novel (to be determined) in 2016 or 2017. Below are some colored selections; to read the entire sequence in line art, click here. More previews of the work in progress than you can shake a stick at throughout this blog!

Moving Back to Megatropolis! Secrets of the Phloog Pad

Megaton Man moves back into his old apartment in Megatropolis, but doesn't know where to stash the inert Stella Android he salvaged from a bout with Bad Guy back at the turn of the millennium. A scene from the third issue of his new (or at least unpublished) adventures that I am currently inking...

(Yes, I realize I am posting pages out of reading order -- and poorly lit to boot -- but whoever said a free sneak peak had to be coherent?! Excelsior!)

Below: The art above, partially inked:

Quiet Time with the Stella Android! A Half-Page in Progress

Here's a new flat-colored page rendered in Photoshop this morning. Below that is the inked linework completed yesterday, the original pencil rough from last fall, and some other shots of me completing the art. Megaton Man has brought along the Stella Android (first seen in Megaton Man: Bombshell #1, Image Comics, 2000) along to his new-old apartment in the city, but has mixed feelings for this (at the moment) inanimate object, since she replicates the See-Thru Girl and mother of his child (the Earth Mother, now leader of the Doom Defiers). Is that enough backstory for an already-talky half-page?!

Here's the colored half-page from May 1, 2015.

Here's the original light blue and graphite pencil rough.

Finishing up the inking yesterday, April 30.

Correcting the "Q" so that it appears to be reflected in reverse in the mirror.

The inked layer on Clearprint Design Vellum and the printout of the scanned layout. The two sheets are adhered with Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick, which then comes off with a rubber cement pick-up. (Using it on the pencil original is messy and tends to destroy the layout, so I scan and print it out for convenience.)

This angle shows the corrections made with Luma Bleed-Proof White. My own homemade combination of old and new technologies to bring you state-of-the-art cartooning!

The Bronx Bombers: The Yankee Street Gang!

No sooner do the Doom Defiers declare themselves a group (see previous posts) than Yarn Man's old nemeses show up! Sneak preview pencils of The New Megaton Man #3 (with inks added as they are completed).