If H.P. Lovecraft Wrote SHAZAM?

SHAZ-THULU!

OK, this was idea that came to me a while ago, but **FINALLY** got around to working on it.  While looking at some of the origin stories of SHAZAM, I came across the panel talking about Elder Gods, which immediately makes me think of H.P. Lovecraft:

I've always been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's stories and the idea of a cosmic horror-based mythology (one that was more-or-less Open Source--with other authors adding to it, which delights me even more).  So, it was just a matter of plugging in the Outer/Elder Gods from the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos into the acronym/initialism of S.H.A.Z.A.M.:

S - (Yog) Sothoth, the Key and the Gate
H - Hastur, the Unspeakable
A - Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God
Z - Zhar, One of the Twin Obscenities
A - Abhoth, the Source of Uncleanliness
M - Mordiggian, the Charnel God

Yes, Yog Sothoth is a bit of a cheat for "S", but Yog Sothoth is a far more well-known Outer God and has more cultural cache.  Besides, the other name in contention, Shub-Niggurath, is... problematic.  And a bit too long to fit properly into the scroll, so that bullet was dodged due to lack of space.

As a side note, I was considering doing this as a full 4-6 page pastiche of the original origin story with subtle changes here and there, but I guess they say brevity is the soul of wit.  Or, in my case, half of the wit.  Maybe I'll come back to it.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done on a blue line layer in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas.  It amused me to mix together the cartoony drawings of Billy Batson from the original origin in "Whiz Comics" and a slightly more realistic drawing.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  I thought it would be more of an in-joke to have Cthulhu's symbol as part of the lightning blast to transform Billy Batson into SHAZAM.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the colors, done with a series of Multiply and Normal layers.  When it was finished, it was exported as a .jpg at 1,000px x 1,500px.

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Done digitally in Clip Paint Studio.

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May the Fourth Be With You - 2020

May the Fourth Be With You!

OK, sure, it's really a day late, but I won't tell anyone if you don't!  And, once again--against all common sense--I have decided to hitch my wagon to Jaxxon, the 6' tall green rabbit who is now... semi-canon (he has made appearances recently in various comics within the past couple years, so "Mission Accomplished" on my mad quest to make him canon?).

Anyhoo, 'cuz I am nothing if not a one-trick pony, for the past several years I've used Jaxxon as part of "May the Fourth Be With You"/"Star Wars Day"/"Revenge of the Sixth".  Of course, it is also one of those things where you kinda begin to regret starting something, then feeling like you must keep it going.  So, I guess my one-trick pony died and I will keep flogging it.

That said, I'm not entirely displeased with this cartoon, and will no doubt use use Jaxxon again in the future.  For better or worse, I remember reading about him wayyyyyy back in "Star Wars" #8 (1977/1978), when anything related to "Star Wars" was eagerly consumed by myself.  I remember him fondly enough to keep bringing him up on this Blog at least one a year; I'm not entirely sure what that says about Jaxxon, or myself for the matter. 

In this case, I managed to merge a cartoon of one of the least popular Star Wars characters (Jaxxon) with one of the most popular Star Wars characters (Baby Yoda).  And you assume Jaxxon is just trying to jump on that bandwagon?  YOU'RE the one trying to get popular copying Baby Yoda!  And how dare you suggest he is just projecting?  Tsk!  Have you no shame?

See?  Totally and completely different!  I guess you must feel pretty foolish, now!

Speaking of foolish... Below is the work in progress that absolutely no one has been clamoring for.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas at 600dpi.  Sure, it's complete overkill as far as resolution goes, but better too much than too little, I guess. 

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks, done mostly with their standard ink brush.  Although, I have begun to play around with their brush creation tools, so that may be fun in the future.

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STEP THREE:  And finally, the coloring, done over a series of layers.  I had the inks on the top layer, then did each color on it's own layer.  So, the backgrounds on one, Jaxxon's skin/fur tone on another, and the robes on their own layer.  Each layer was a color flat, then alpha locked so only the areas in which I colored would be able to be painted.  Basically, I do it as a quick and dirty mask area.  It works for me.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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