Recently finished reading an interesting re-imagining of Poe's short story, The Black Cat.

Instead of a man depicted as living in an ordinary house, in this retelling, the main character works in a travelling circus. And his cat has been upgraded from a black housecat, to a panther. The re-telling retains some of Poe's fundamentals.. the man is still drunken, and the man has gone from being a loving pet owner, to mistreating his once beloved feline.

I thought this frame (illustrated by James Fletcher, from Nevermore) was well done. You see the cat-killer's conscience is haunting him.. causing him to see the dead cat everywhere (including in puddles & barbells).

Sort of related, Poe poster I illustrated years ago.

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Lower Learning (featuring Sharpie and College Dad). Posted in it's entirety..

(from old NFL Huddles cast)

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* Received a message recently, this blog service is ending it's relationship with Feedburner.. there won't be any more blog updates e-mailed out (after July). If interested, check in every month or two to see new Natrrain art, etc. I plan on continuing to post, & maybe can find a new bulk e-mail delivery service to replace Feedburner..*

Also want to mention a good read I'm finishing, The Burning Blue (Kevin Cook). Basically the story of the astronauts killed in the Challenger explosion.

All the astronauts' immediate back-stories are covered (including relevant interpersonal family & co-worker relationships), but primary focus is on Christa McAuliffe's transformation from teacher to a Shuttle payload specialist (selected from a pool of over 11,000 applicants). And the unique media attention & public appeal she experienced. Vivid description of the astronauts' experience on the launch morning, as they carried out traditional pre-launch rituals, and dealt with unusual cold that day. It's heavy to read in hindsight, even after 35 years.

Some strange, ominous events leading to launch day (I hadn't heard of) are also covered. Including a school shooting that happened at McAuliffe's school as she was away, training for her mission. 

I think Cook does a good job retelling/honoring how a self-described ordinary school teacher, took on an extraordinary challenge. 

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Some pics from a 1945 issue of LIFE magazine I have. Article featuring up & coming lifestyles of varying socioeconomic classes in the former Golden State. 

Seems strange now, seeing Glendale almost resembling Western frontier.

The working class family living well on $60 a week. SoCal's good ol' days.

I return to the first photo in this post, and wonder did that couple in the futuristic car (and/or maybe their descendants), fulfill their optimistic, Jetsons-like future in California ?

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a Creeps retrospective.

Creeps was basically a drunken, perverted pile of bricks. He was killed off in a comic I illustrated titled 'The Gambler'. Creeps was defined by his frequent drunkenness, uncomfortable directness, & love of late 9os rap-rock.

Recently I've been thinking on how mainstream, contemporary comic book companies frequently kill off popular characters.. then create lucrative resurrections, or alternate timelines, to bring the iconic decedents back into existence. The ill-conceived (almost sacrilegious) killing off of Superman is the one that always stood out to me most. That said, just reminding long time readers of Creeps before I dig him back out.

(Creeps' ill-fated final ride)

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My recreation of the old Pro Sports Marketing lamps' package. I don't think it originally had their logo on the front, but added it as an homage. I also noticed a blank rectangle on the top flap.. I think because the boxes were all the same, the manufacturer (or department store retailer) may have used the empty space to identify (hand write ?) which team helmet was inside. In this hypothetical, the lamp is an old St. Louis football Cardinals. Far left cover helmet is Alabama. They made college & pros.

 

(an old package I retrieved the Pro Sports logo from)

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Second act of Lower Learning (act one posted May 2020). In the near future, I wanna upload the complete comic in a single post, along with a portrait of the ghoulish, alma mater Superfan..

Unrelated, a rare lemon (back) cover of Pumpkin Galaxy. Going thru some junk recently and rediscovered it. I didn't remember this one was released with yellow covers..

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Comic I released in 2010, originally in black & white.. Recently went back and touched up some of the colors.

Crucifixion image, from cover of Natrrain: 3 Years Inside.

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For pointless nostalgic value, I recently re-watched The Glass House. The memory of watching it in the theater always stands out to me, because we watched it shortly after 9/11. We saw it up on Hollywood Blvd, and the Hollywood tourism felt eerily quiet in the day(s) right after 9/11. And in a way, it personally felt kinda crass to be indulging in meaningless activity like killing time in a theater.

Re-watching it tho I noticed something new.. there's a brief theater scene right at the start, that was filmed in a cool old theater in the Valley. It's a spot I always sought as a movie goer in the early 2ooos called the Pacific Theaters (in Sherman Oaks). It's kind of tucked on a side street, and for a long time aesthetically frozen in the early 8os. I used to love watching movies in their empty theaters. And they had unusually convenient parking for LA. I haven't been in there in many years, but hope it hasn't changed too much, it's a really cool, unique relic.

Daytime photo I took of the theater (circa 2005). At the time it wasn't advertised as Pacific Theaters, not sure if it was re-branded for a while..

Have to admit, the movie was an enjoyable re-watch.. it's now a good time capsule of (very) early 2ooos teen culture.

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