Art Department Weekly | Issue 107 Vol. 13

ADW ART DEPARTMENT WEEKLY ISSUE 107 VOL. 13

What ?!

KAL AND WRESTLING FIGURES BEFORE AND AFTERS

BLOWOUT

KINDERGARTEN’S ALMOST OVER

MCU

REVIEW & HOPES

PROFESSIONAL, ENTERTAINMENT, OR SIMULATED— SPORTS HAVE US

captivated

MINI BOARD

SERIOUSLY? TRYING TO BE NORMAL I don’t remember coloring Easter eggs last year. It was the Tiger King phase of the pandemic, back when we weren’t sure how to make masks or how school would ever resume. This year we colored eggs and didn’t worry the Bunny wouldn’t show.

—MV

NEVER ENDING This bingo board in response to how predictable tweets were after a woman suggested a female Joker could be an anti-hero was supposed to go in the previous issue, but it ended up being one of many things cut. Did you know 64 people were killed by police in 20 days of the Chauvin trial? New York Times analyzed a number of reports to come up with that number. Meanwhile, Advancing Justice AAJC is fighting for human and civil rights for Asian Americans because, even if not everyone believes AAPI are discriminated against or the victims of hate crimes, the super white pro-America stance has added to the harms non-white people suffer. Join the fight at https:// advancingjustice-aajc.org because ordering takeout is not enough and they have a huge list of ways to help.

—MV

The Target I like usually has “hard to find” toys according to accounts Luis follows. But then one day there were way too many Jar Jar Binks, like a stock person had held onto them, expecting The Mandalorian to reveal Binks really was a Sith lord. Binks was a Sith the way Officer Potter meant to draw her taser. The toys were all marked for clearance the next week. Meanwhile, Representative Maxine Waters’ government page includes links to a range of legislative issues. Reach out to your representatives to demand better.

Art Department Weekly is published by Dinosaur Girly Productions, 184 Bay 26th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11214. The entire contents of ADW are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without expressed written consent of the publisher. ADW accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts and/or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. ADW reserves the right to edit, rewrite, refuse or reuse material, is not responsible for errors or omissions, and may feature same in other mediums for any and all purposes.

D R A HE

MOM HUMOR

T R NA

R E V O

Referencing other accounts in captions is an old game, but, now that we’re more than a year deep into the pandemic and full-time remote schooling, I have too much time to scroll. I’ve begun clicking every referenced account to see if I can fill my feed with more random observations.

It looks like all the screenshots of what I think are funny now come from accounts with some reference to being a mom in the handle. (@kiss_my_memes is a mom of four, so a bunch of her posts are ragging on her teens.) A year ago I used tags to start following accounts like @TamikaDMallory and more people fighting for social justice. Now that we’re in a state of going to the playground and possibly interacting with people socially again, I’ll keep scrolling mom accounts to remember how to laugh at being a white mom stuck at home.

—MV

I

“It’s like there’s a bowl of Rice Krispies in milk in my head” -Madeline

“I make a living being right” -Luis

“I still have time for snacks. I’ve had a granola bar and a banana.

I’ve basically had nothing” -Ryne

“When you’re as good as I am, you don’t have to be so humble” -Luis

“Was that ʻhumble’ or ʻso humble’?”

WHICH CAME FIRST? All the ads on Madeline’s phone are targeted to tell her how to remove hair and lose weight. One ad that played while she was streaming live TV was for wax strips ready to pull out of the box and slap on every part of your body. She was cooking dinner, but then she heard the commercial say, “Shop Flamingo.” What?

She watched as a squiggly line grew up next to shopflamingo.

Did they draw a hair that looked like a flamingo or just a body hair?

-Madeline

A flamingo or a hair?

“Wasn’t Hideki Matsui a pitcher on the Yankees?”

-Madeline

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DREAM TEAM Fans are casting The Fantastic Four now that its sale is complete. Many people online seem to be onboard with Luis’ insistence that John Krasinski and Emily Blunt should be Reed Richards and Sue Storm, but the rest of the cast is debatable.

A MARVEL OF DISNEY+

Luis would cast Zac Efron as Johny Storm, but after seeing someone else’s suggestion of Dacre Montgomery I love that idea, though no one would really know the difference.

Luis would cast John David Washington as Thing. Looking for a picture of him led me to Zendaya.

What if we got crazy and they were Reed and Sue? —MV

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WandaVision was the most emotionally relevant content the MCU has ever released. When Vision tells Wanda “What is grief but love persevering” it was like Vision was talking to all of us in the midst of a global pandemic with unparalleled loss. While The Falcon and The Winter Soldier has been more straight-forward in its strolling approach, it has been just as emotional. Episode 4 was hands down the best episode in the series. (I’m writing this before watching Episode 5.)

John Walker’s issues of inadequacy and obvious PTSD lead to his over reaction at the end of the episode, taking the life of a Flag Smasher.

Wyatt Russell’s portrayal as John Walker is ripped right from the comics. His performance is spot on and nuanced . I’ve never seen Russell in anything so it’s come as a bit of a revelation to me. Daniel Bruhl also returns as Zemo, the main villain in Civil War. They’ve added new layers to round out his character, and he has been nothing short of brilliant. I hop to see more of Zemo in the MCU. Sebastian Stan’s tortured Bucky is always spot-on. Anthony Mackie’s Falcon helps ground us all in even more humanity as he struggles to get a loan for his sister to keep their family business afloat. These real world problems wrapped in the tight spandex of super heroes really helps develop these characters far greater than they were ever developed on the big screen.

The Captain America trilogy of movies have always felt more grounded in the real world. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is no exception. It strikes a perfect tone of realism while still including over the top super hero action. Disney+ continues to knock it out of the park with its weekly content. I can’t wait for the further expansion of the Marvel Universe with both the Loki and the Hawkeye series.

There has been a lot of social media chatter and coverage over creators like Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting and their feelings over the perceived lack of credit being thrown their way for creating Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, I agree with Marvel on this. Bucky/Winter Soldier was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941. While Brubaker and Epting reintroduced us to Bucky as the Winter Soldier in 2005, it doesn’t change the fact that they did not create the character.

They may have reskinned and reinvigorated James “Bucky” Barnes but they didn’t create him.

Rob Liefeld recently covered Creator Credit and Ownership on an episode of his brilliant Robservations. I urge everyone to give it a listen as the March 23, 2021, episode does a deep dive into Marvel’s creator point systems and the changes it has gone through over the years.

Rob’s podcast has been a great way to pass time—almost 90 episodes in less than a year!

Everything from how his passion for comics was ignited to his family life to the origins of Deadpool. Rob recently announced that he would be taking a break from the podcast.

Hopefully this break will be short as it has quickly become one of my favorites.

—LV

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ARTISTS WE LOVE: DREW STRUZAN If one of his posters was outside the theater, you knew something good was coming One of the most influential artists in my lifetime (and probably the artist who most inspired my style) is the incomparable Drew Struzan. His photo realistic illustrations have graced more than 150 movie posters. A constant collaborator of both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Struzan’s work is synonymous with blockbusters.

A master of composition and design, a Struzan illustration is instantly recognizable. His likenesses are spot-on. His layouts paint a picture of the main characters and plot points. Hands down, when it comes to movie posters, Struzan is your man.

Struzan is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He has said this about his early life: “I was poor and hungry, and illustration was the shortest path to a slice of bread, as compared to a gallery showing. I had nothing as a child. I drew on toilet paper with pencils—that was the only paper around. Probably why I love drawing so much today is because it was just all I had at the time.”

In his early career he started a small company known as the Pencil Pushers. This firm lasted eight years, working on numerous B movie posters and multiple album covers.

(Struzan’s illustrated cover to Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare was named one of the top 100 Album covers.)

The biggest break for Struzan’s career came when he illustrated the 1978 re-release of Star Wars. His portraiture work wowed George Lucas, leading to a lifetime of collaboration between the two.

Struzan became the go-to artist/designer for movie hits working on everything from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises to Coming To America, Goonies, Risky Business, and An American Tale. Drew was averaging close to 10 movie posters a year throughout the ’80s. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, a younger generation was introduced to his immense talents when he rendered the Harry Potter series posters.

One of the most impressive things about Struzan’s creative process is that he prefers to work in 1-to-1 scale, meaning each of his works is done on a 27” x 40” sheet. Struzan starts by sketching out drawings on gessoed illustration board, then tinting the draftsmanship with airbrushed acrylic paint, finishing up the highlights and other details with colored pencils and more airbrush. The gessoed foundation allows Struzan the luxury of being able to accommodate any requested changes to the work. He is known for working very quickly, typically one to two weeks to finish a painting.

Even though he retired from full-time work in 2008, he continues to inspire a generation of artists.

—LV

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OUT OF HIS COMFORT ZONE KAL HAS HAD LONG HAIR FOR AS LONG AS HE CAN REMEMBER

By Madeline Strum Photography When quarantine started and there didn’t seem to be a reason to worry about haircuts, I kept saying that Kal would donate his hair when quarantine ended. And then I realized how long a donation needed to be and how much Kal didn’t actually want to get a buzz cut. It started to feel unlikely. But Children with Hair Loss was accepting 8-inch braids and, if I cut Kal’s hair in April, it could feel long enough again by the time in-person school started.

The sections I cut ended up being 12 inches.

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March 20, 2020 vs April 10, 2021 It might have been the normal half-inch of growth every month for a year, but it was huge.

Kal takes a moment to measure and embrace the coming change.

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Playing with Scissors

“I honestly didn’t expect to like it.

It’s much easier wash and brush and all that stuff I get yelled at the same amount about needing to brush it.

I am gonna grow it out.”

—Kal

Kal hands the first braid to his dad. “It was mind blowing. I wasn’t expecting to receive a slab of hair. It was lunacy,” said Luis.

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reach his The last time Kal’s hair didn’tyear . collar he was probably 2 tos olshdake.

His hair had to be long enough

The sight of all his hair no longer on his head was a lot to take in, but then we finished up the cut and there was no looking back.

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Boom and Betty played with Kal’s braids then declared that they each want to have his haircut. Boom has the best hair for donating because it’s straight as can be. There’s no mystery to which way it should go into a wig or what will happen if it gets wet. His hair isn’t long enough to donate yet, though, even if we buzzed it. Betty meanwhile has been asking for a super short bob since last summer. All the donation sites seem more skeptical of curly hair than they do of gray or dyed hair, so she’ll probably just get that super short bob she’s been after.

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Delta Zakuro is no longer Kal’s favorite character from Beyblade Burst, but he was the inspiration for this cosplay

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It was easier to talk Kal into short hair when we said it would be like Beyblades.

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POWER WASH LUIS LEARNS ABOUT THE MAGIC ERASER

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Macho Man Randy Savage (opposite) is not in the before shot (below left) because he is not for sale.

FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE A PASSION FOR COLLECTING, figures see wear and tear even when they’re in a bag and not being played with because their paint is rubbing off on each other. But these LJN wrestling super stars saw a lot of Avon sample lipsticks turned into fake blood and other regular playtime action. Madeline has been saving two bottles of three-in-one baby shampoo/ conditioner/bodywash that were basically finished years ago because she knew one she would fill those bottles with water and run a fig bath. What she didn’t know was that she’d have to bust out a Magic Eraser to scrub away—gently!—what an old baby toothbrush couldn’t handle. Big John Studd was so dirty... The trick to cleaning old rubbery toys is to focus only on the parts that are actually dirty and not rub any parts where paint is peeling.

—MV

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The Killer Bees, Ricky “The Steamboat” Dragon, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan were almost as good as new once the dirt was washed away.

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Tito Santana, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper were well loved.

WRESTLING SUPERSTARS If you were located in the northeast and a fan of wrestling in the mid-’80s, it’s more than likely that you were a huge WWF fan. As the promotion was getting ready to gobble up local territories and make a nationwide push, wrestling’s profile was higher than ever. If you were a young fan, you were obsessed with collecting the LJN Wrestling figures.

I was blessed to have two older brothers, one of whom was a huge wrestling fan who passed his love of wrestling on to me. When I showed an interest in wrestling and the figures, he was more than happy to indulge me and help me start collecting them.

While the rest of the country went gaga over Hulk Hogan, my flag was firmly planted in the Macho Man camp. His figure quickly became the favorite figure in my collection. As the months became year, and the years added up, my collection grew. I probably had close to 20 LJN Wrestling Superstars.

We recently uncovered a bunch in the basement and after giving them a good ol’ fashioned fig bath (thanks MWF Podcast) and finding an eager buyer (via the CheapHeat podcast), I decided to part ways with some of my childhood favorites.

These figures will always hold a soft spot in my heart as they were really were my entry point into wrestling figure collecting.

—LV LJN figures soak in baby shampoo before better pictures are sent to potential buyers.

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André the Giant, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and Big John Studd

SUPERSTAR SHOWCASE

Biance Belair with her SmackDown title, Rhea Ripley with her Raw Women’s title that they won at Wrestlemania 37.

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Every year for the past 37 years Wrestlemania has taken place.

It’s an event that has been dubbed the showcase of the immortals. After more than a year playing to the sterile Thunderdome crowd of video screens, 25,000 fans were in attendance at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay (the sports capitol of the world now with the NHL and NFL Champions both hailing from Tampa Bay, and let’s not forget the Tampa Rays playing in the World Series) on both nights of the event, and they were treated to an absolute spectacle.

The highlight of each night was the coronation of the young women who are now champions, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley.

Bianca and Sasha put together an instant classic that is already being hailed as one of the greatest women’s matches of all-time. Rhea continued her huge ascent as the flag-bearer of the Raw Women’s division in pinning Asuka. I can’t wait for the return of Becky Lynch (hopefully sooner rather than later) to put on classic matches with each of these woman. Also, not to be forgotten, is Charlotte Flair who missed Wrestlemania due to COVID and pregnancy scares but now seems to be raring to go.

The men’s matches saw the continued dominant reigns of Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns. Reigns has never been better.

Sheamus and Apollo captured the midcard titles, but the male match that drew the most attention featured Bad Bunny. In the lead up to Mania, all the attention paid to Bad Bunny had been much maligned. Little did everyone know that Bunny had moved to Tampa to train round the clock over the past few months to really hone his craft. He (with the help of Miz, Morrison, and Damien Priest) put on an absolute show. It was the best celebrity wrestling match ever. Bunny was surprisingly tremendous.

The two-night Mania was an excellent showcase of the huge talent on the roster. Hopefully they can keep up this momentum as they have a stable of young stars that’s poised for stardom.

—LV

The Hart Foundation, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart

Cheap Heat Podcast Ever since the early days of David Shoemaker and Peter Rosenberg on Grantland, I’ve been a huge fan of Cheap Heat. The weekly podcast covers all the current events happening in the squared circle while mixing in brilliant pop culture references. Even though the cast has changed, the additions of Stat Guy Greg and “The Majent” Bryan Diperstein (purchaser of my LJN Killer Bees and Hart Foundation) have kept the content feeling fresh. It’s my favorite wrestling recap show for fans with a life.

—LV

Major Wrestling Figure Podcast Matt Cardona, Brian Myers, and “Smart” Mark Sterling share stories of their collections, weekly purchases, and upcoming figures, along with phenomenal tips on how to clean your figures (like the fig bath on Page 17) to get them ready to sell make this weekly podcast one of my favorites. The reverence they have for wrestling figures is so infectious that you’ll want to “Scratch That Figure Itch” and “Let ‘Em Breathe.”

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A WHOLE NEW SEASON Luis was full of hope when he wrote the first draft of this piece There is nothing like the crack of the bat, or the pop of a glove to get you excited for the sports journey you are about to embark on. With fans being allowed back into stadiums nationwide, the typical murmur of crowd activity has returned and I think the MLB season will be one of the most exciting in years.

The dawn of a new Major League Baseball season is always ripe with hope and potential. Everyone starts with a 0-0 record, and for a day everyone is tied for first place. It also gives you the first real look (c’mon Spring Training doesn’t count) at the new faces in new places (Lindor with the Mets, Bauer in LA, Arenado in St. Louis) and if they will live up to their hype.

While the season hasn’t started very well for my beloved Yankees (their 5-9 record has them tied for last place in the American League), it’s hard to imagine them being this putrid offensively for the whole season. While the early returns on Kluber and Taillon have not been great, Gerrit Cole continues to dominate like a true ace. I still fully expect the Yankees to win the AL East and make a solid run in the playoffs. The return of Zach Britton and Luis Severino will be sure to bolster the staff.

And, while I don’t think they are better than the Dodgers (an MLB best 13-2), I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yanks face them in the World Series.

“Their offense is dog sh*t right now.

And ʻdog sh*t’ is putting it nicely” —Luis, who expects the Yankees will pay in September for overuse of the bullpen now

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With the launch of a new baseball season comes the launch of the new edition of MLB The Show. The game in its early access launch weekend has not disappointed. The first edition to truly utilize the power and capacity of the PS5.

Its runs on higher frame rate allowing more clarity and definition. The gameplay path has been streamlined to provide an easier jumping on point for the brand new XBox users (up to 18 million potential new users). The biggest new feature if stadium creator which will excite fans of sandbox-type games like Minecraft and Disney Infinity.

I’m roughly 72 hours into the new game and absolutely loving it. The plethora of legends available at launch have me using players like Roberto Clemente, Kirby Puckett, Hank Aaron, and Pedro Martinez for the first time ever. This game is an absolute homerun.

If you’re a fan of MLB The Show, you must do yourself a favor and listen to the Inside the Show podcast. Leading content creators Koogs and Scuffy McGee go through the ins and outs of the game as well as what to expect from upcoming content drops. They talk to other content creators as well as chatting up MLB players. They even name dropped some of my concept cards a few months back.

During the Show21 season, ITS will be go to place for tips and predictions.

MONTREAL STADIUM Kal explains his creation Our team in The Show is Montreal because there’s no Metropolis. Think of us as the Metropolis Meteors.

I started building the stadium a few days ago. The UFOs go with space and meteors. The only thing I have left to do is lower the stands and fill in gaps visible in the buildings you can see from home plate.

I like building the stadium. It’s like Disney Infinity in that you scroll through different aspects—stands, concessions, lighting rigs, scoreboard options, landscaping (mountains, desert, beach, cityscape), parking, buildings for the background—and there’s limited memory. There are tons of different UFO variations. I have one that’s a giant rotating mothership, hovering over the parking lot. Another is one that is abducting the letters in Meteors. Two more of a third kind are just landed UFOs. There are requirements to be playable online. We used the stadium this morning. Right now the players run into a blank wall instead of the dugout, but I added the scoreboard and Stand Up to Cancer signs. It’s almost done.

Update: The first day XBox users joined the game, the servers crashed, but that’s not really a surprise. Meanwhile, Mets radio was kind of funny to listen to when they were lamenting the Mets blowing another win Jacob deGrom set up, but now Mets radio can’t stop saying it’s the worst Yankees start in 24 years.

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SO BRIGHT

BY MADELINE STRUM PHOTOGRAPHY

Her school year might have started with profile pictures in the basement and learning to log onto Zoom calls, but it’s ending with sunny Step Up ceremony headshots and time to play with other kids at the playground. It wasn’t the typical year of Kindergarten at all, but she had science and played chess. She’s learned to read!

Opening her eyes in full sun is probably way more painful than any reading and math she’ll accomplish this summer.

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FIVE THINGS ON THE MIND OF 9-YEAR-OLD BOOM

Making a third version of BLACK KNIGHT (as seen in Issue 99) Making a WEIRD ROBOT SPIDER out of Legos Getting a 100% SCORE on my tests Getting a SECOND PS5 CONTROLLER Saving up all my money for A PHONE

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