The Cover Parody Art Challenge

Judging

Our most recent challenge asked participants to come up with art pieces parodying comic book covers.

"The Awful Anger of Alfred" by Brian Haughwout

How many times can even the most faithful manservant throw out a perfectly good roast just because his master can't come home for breakfast, much less dinner? This time it's the Bat's turn to fall, at the hands of a butler abandoned once too often... Based on "The Final Fate of the Flash" (Crisis on Infinite Earths #8). The drawing was pencil and india ink, with colors and effects added in Photoshop 6.

We really loved this one...especially the little touches like the use of Crisis logo above the door. Parody or not, it's a great and funny work of art.

"Superman vs. Osama bin Laden" by John Torrisi

We've included a copy of the original Action issue which John has parodied here. One initial problem with it is that terrorist leaders don't often get into wrestling matches with anybody...let alone giving Superman a run for his money! But there's something cathartic about this one.

"Yankee Poodle" by The Brothers Grinn

We've included a copy of the original New X-Men issue which the Brothers Grinn have parodied here. There's a lot to like about this entry, like the cool logo...and as always, the Brothers are great at drawing attractive females. However, aside from posing a character in the same pose as another character, it doesn't strike us as a strong parody. It's a bit of a larff that it's Yankee Poodle doing this sexy cover, but the Grinns always draw a sexy Yankee Poodle so in a way that actually works against them. It doesn't really seem funny when she looks "normal". (As a contrast, Captain Carrot doing the Superman pose on the cover of Fanzing #3 is humorous because we never see Cap looking like that.) And as a minor quibble (which wasn't counted against them in the judging), this character is only recognizable as Yankee Poodle to the segment of our audience who are familiar with the Brothers Grinn redesign of the Zoo Crew.

"Implosion Crisis" by Phil Meadows

This piece took an immense amount of work and creativity. Phil has hunted down covers to many titles from the DC Implosion, created over a dozen character drawings in poses similar to the cover of Crisis On Infintie Earths #1, and did it all with a good deal of humor. (Check out the detailed text, the logo and the alternate version of the DC 50th anniversary bullet!)

And the winnah is... Phil Meadows for Implosion Crisis! Phil's entry works on all levels. It's a humorous parody, a good replica of the original and excellent in artistic detail.

Congratulations, Phil, and thanks to everyone who entered.

Now onward to the new Swimsuit Challenge...