SPONGEBOB SUPERTEAM!

Hey there-I apologize for the lack of posts around here of late, but I've been pretty busy working on some projects... that I can't quite talk about yet! I'm pretty excited about them so, when I can, I'll be sure and share what I've been working on. Until then though, I can show you....the SPONGEBOB SUPERTEAM!

The good folks at Nickelodeon Magazine invited me to contribute to their special Spongebob 10th Anniversary Celebration issue which comes out next month. (August cover date I believe). For this special issue, several folks were asked to do various takes and interpretations of Spongebob and his crew! In my case, I was asked specifically to reinterpret the gang as a "Jack Kirby inspired super-team". I had a blast previously doing a comic book cover for them of Alfred donning the famous cowl as the "Bat-Butler", so I was thrilled to take on this Kirby inspired assignment!

For those interested, here are a few of the process steps taken towards the finished Spongebob Superteam piece;

I started off sketching ideas for how the classic SB crew might look through the "Kirby lens".. I knew from the start that I wanted Patrick to be the team's "Thing" type character:

With Squidward I was thinking of an "Inhumans" type;


And with Spongebob, I wanted to have enough cues to his already signature silhouette... initially to retain that large square face, I thought of a Modok/Arnim Zola type... but it was just too creepy for me! So I started thinking that perhaps a large yellow "tech" helmet might do the trick, giving him the recognizable shape, but still keeping a more heroic overall feel;


To sew up the JK homage, I borrowed heavily from one of my favorite Kirby covers= Fantastic Four #49 and did a version with the new SB characters (w/ Sandy as the Silver Surfer and Plankton as a Galactus/Dr. Doom amalgam);


and before the final colors (all in close range to the official SB colors), the inks:

On a sad note, if you haven't heard yet, Nick magazine has unfortunately been canceled. I was very sorry to hear this news, as I not only was proud to be associated with them, and truly enjoyed working for Gordon Whiteside there, but I also thought it was an AWESOME kid's magazine.. I can only hope that someone somewhere takes up this mantle as they were a great patron of independent comics art and offered a wonderful alternative to the very few comic offerings for kids today.
I hope you enjoy the piece I did and if you get a chance, pick up the August issue (which may be their last I'm not sure) and check out all the other takes on this great cartoon.