We’re gearing up for the summer over here in Addanac City. Due to popular demand, I’ve been asked to work on creating some new swimsuit posters for our resident milf. The last set with Mrs. A‘s 2009 bikini (and tan lines) was a huge success, so I figured why not revamp it some. Online schooling has information for people who are looking to take courses in art and design. People often feel like they benefit from extra training in order to become the artist they can be.

I showcased one such poster/wallpaper a day or so ago, and I wanted to try out another concept I had. It all began with a black and white, pen-and-ink drawing of the lovely Mrs. Simone Addanac.

Then I added a great deal of color and a little shading. This is how it came out:

Here is the design fully integrated with a nice beach background. I love how it all works together. What do you think?

I also played around with the previous design and incorporated a different background design. Out of all of them, which one do you like the best?

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

When I first started really reading comic books seriously, one of my favorite titles besides Amazing Spider-Man was The Uncanny X-Men. The monthly tales of this band of misfits with extraordinary powers resonated well with me as a teenager who personally felt out-of-place at times in society. I followed the X-Men comics faithfully and knew the history almost devoutly from issues 94 to 320-something.

I prided myself on being an authority when it came to X-Men continuity. I knew it all, from the Death of Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix) to Rachel Summers to Madelyne Pryor to Rogue joining the crew after making a career of attempting to murder Dazzler every six months. I was there when Angel lost his wings to Apocalypse in X-Factor and when Storm went punk and eventually lost her powers for a brief period of time.

Yep, I knew my X-Men lore probably better than Stan the Man did.

I didn’t start drifting from the merry band of mutants until Marvel began having these super over-convoluted summer crossover spectaculars. Each year around May, the world was on the brink of destruction and every character in the Marvel Universe (particularly the best-selling ones) would jump from title to title battling some seemingly-indestructible villain.

Now, I like a good team-up as much as the next guy, but I couldn’t afford to buy 75 titles a month from one company alone just to complete a story. And comics cost about $1.75 to $2.50 apiece back in the mid-90′s. Something had to give. And for me, that something was comics.

That means that it’s been about fifteen years since I stopped collecting comics. I’ve kept up with my comic news on a purely peripheral level, just scraping the surface of what’s going on lately, but I wasn’t as avid and obsessive as I used to be. After watching the first few X-Men movies, I took notice that Marvel (and Hollywood too, I suppose) had made quite a few changes to the history of their characters.

I witnessed Nick Fury turning African-American. I witnessed certain characters being romantically involved who previously wouldn’t have spit on each other even if they were ablaze. I saw origins being torn asunder and I watched some heroes being gifted with totally new revamped secret identities.

I don’t ever want to say that I’ve become an old fogey, but it irritates me just a little that everything I’ve known, studied, and learned is being disregarded and discarded as if it never happened or didn’t really matter. My Comic Age has been pushed aside for the New Generation.

Oh, well.

There will always come a time when the old must make way for the new. I just never figured I’d get shoved out of the way. I thought I was eternal, kinda. I suppose it’s true when John Mayer sang “I’m invincible until I die”.

When I was drawing comics in the early 90′s, I had plans on changing all the boring crap that occurred during the Golden and Silver Age. I was one of the (then) New Generation who knew how things should go and the old fogeys ahead of me had dropped the ball way too many times.

That’s what the young artists are saying about us now. It’s their time to shine, and I guess I have to respect that.

Awright, enough old-man crying. Let’s get on to the movie.

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X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

According to my knowledge of X-Men history, Professor Charles Xavier‘s first group of gifted youngsters consisted of Cyclops, marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, and Beast. Well, like I’ve said repeatedly, times have changed.

The kids Xavier inducts into his team membership is a mix of well-known characters and a few new ones thrown in. Once I got it through my mind to toss away everything I thought was set in concrete, I began to get into the movie. I had to start from scratch almost and I assume that was the way the director and producer wanted it to be.

In this film, we get to encounter Professor X and Magneto and witness what it was like for them as children growing into young men. They both led vastly different lifestyles which helps to explain why each is passionate about which path they chose as they got older.

Both actors who portrayed Xavier and Magneto did an exemplary job. I easily accepted them as being the younger versions of the characters. I really enjoyed seeing a lighter side of Charles Xavier‘s personality. Generally, he is pretty aloof and doesn’t seem to have a wise-cracking nature, but First Class‘s Charles Xavier was not only funny, he had mad game to boot. I also thought the villains were portrayed quite well. Some I were familiar with and some of them were almost knock-offs of mutants I had been previously acquainted with.

Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw

Kevin Bacon is an actor who always plays an excellent bad guy. Ever since the film The River Wild, I can’t see ol’ Kev as nothing else but a raving madman who will destroy your mind, body, and soul at all costs all the while sporting a maniacal dooky-eating grin.

He pulls it off with such ease. I don’t think he looks anything like Sebastian Shaw (The Black King from the Hellfire Club), the villain he plays in the flick, but man, Kevvy does evil ruler so well that you can forgive him for that.

The time period that the movie takes place in is around 1962, which was an era where U.S.-Soviet relations were at an all-time low and nuclear war loomed over our collective heads and appeared inevitable. Even though it was the 60′s, everything felt right in this movie. I think they pulled off this time period a lot better than the makers of the Watchmen movie. The wardrobe for all of the characters was tasteful and suited the year without being over-the-top and campy. I appreciated that.

I don’t wanna give away too much about the film, but I can say that I really had fun watchin it. My wife can tell you that any movie I can stay awake through two-plus hours and still be excited about has to be a winner.

I believe X-Men:First Class fits that bill. For me it was a more cerebral film with underlying themes of prejudice and drama. I like a good story when it interests me, and XM:FC did just that. Not to mention that the special affects were tres magnifique! I loved watching how everyone’s powers worked.

So, if you’re a movie fan who hasn’t fully decided whether to go see this film or not, watch it. It was very entertaining to me and to my son (who is quite a discriminating moviegoer). If you’re an avid X-Men fan, by all means, go see it, but bear in mind, this ain’t the X-Men you may be used to.

But it is a good story and the basic elements and concepts are still the same as it ever was. Have fun this weekend and let me know what you think if you’ve already seen the flick!

Here’s a little treat for you below. I was so taken by the film that I had to dress my comic character, Hank Addanac, up in his favorite X-Man‘s uniform. What’cha think?

No relation to Ben Vereen, I'm afraid.