There Goes My Hero
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Nabuo Uematsu's "The Brink of Time" from his score to "Chrono Trigger"
i haven't received our pictures from Nashville just yet, so in the mean time i've decided to post a little Spider-Man collage.

why is every girl i know rolling her eyes as she reads this?

i've been a long time fan of Spider-Man. when i was nine, i began collecting comic books. first it was just Disney stuff like "Uncle Scrooge," "Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers," and "TaleSpin." but then my friends introduced me to Marvel comics and the likes of "GI Joe," "Spider-Man," and "Daredevil."

Spider-Man was the one that stuck.

collecting comics has been an on-again, off-again thing that is currently quite on. i don't collect individual comics as much as i now collect trade paper backs (TPB's), which are bundled collections of particular story arcs. usually about five comics per trade, but each varies.

as a fan of comics and something of an artist (or so i like to call myself), a couple of months ago i decided it would be really cool to collect original pieces of art from comic book artists. so i was rooting around on the Internet and found some artists' websites, and many of these artists are more than willing to do commissions, where you ask them to draw something, and for a (reasonable) fee, they will draw it for you.

i found Joe Pekar's website and connected with his style. i just really dig it. it's a little cartoony but retains a certain amount of stylized sensuality that i just dug. so i contacted him and gave him my idea.

i wanted something in the vein of the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #500, which is my all-time favourite cover (done by J Scott Campbell). i have this cover as a lithograph in my bedroom right now, signed by J Scott Campbell and waiting to be framed. i wanted something like that but a little more personal. with my wedding coming up (December 18th, mark your calender!), i thought it would be really cool to have Spider-Man swinging off with his bride Mary Jane. i told Joe this and he really dug it. he asked what kind of dress my fiance was going to be wearing, and i had no idea. Kelly won't let me see it (and the suspense is damn near killing me). but she described it for me and i conveyed to Joe everything she conveyed to me, so, until December 18th, this picture is the only clue i have to what the gown will look like.

anyway. he sent me an initial sketch, which i approved, and then he penciled it out, coloured it in Photoshop (i think), and mailed it to me. i have the colour version and the original penciled version hanging in my apartment and i thought it was high-time i shared it with you guys -- especially after i found it on another website's board (SuperHeroHype!) and credited as someone's favourite picture of Spidey and MJ. how cool is that?

the picture of discussion: