Valentine's Day Aftermath with Wonder Woman and Spider-Man

 

How Reed and Sue spent Valentine's Day

Today, we present a very special pictorial about how Reed and Sue Richards (of the Fantastic Four) spent Valentine's Day. 

The day began with a message from their sworn enemy (and Reed's old college roommate) Dr. Doom in which he stated, "Doom shall not threaten you on this day, because I respect the love and dedication you have shown each other through the years. Tomorrow is soon enough for my revenge."

And then it was off for a day of fun and romance, without the chaos that seemed to follow their teammates Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm around. (Johnny and Ben watched the kids while Reed and Sue relaxed.)

But it was the night that was truly eventful... and Sue may be announcing another period of maternity leave from the FF in a few months.

 

Happy Fourth of July!

We got flag-waving pin-ups of a slightly different sort for this year's Independence Day celebration!

  
 

Some art by June in June!

June Brigman is perhaps best known for being to co-creator of the excellent 1980s/1990s series from Marvel Comics, Power Pack. She has been gracing covers and interior pages of American comic books of pretty much all genres since her first foray into comics as a penciler during the early 1980s.

Here's a small sampling of artwork from Brigman's pencil over the past three decades, starting with a very nice illustration of the original Black Cat.

Welcome to Black Cat Friday!

It's the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., and it's nicknamed Black Friday because it's the day when many merchants turn their balance sheets from red to black (turing a profit for the year) and customers are out looking for deals/steals.

A friend of Shades of Gray recently pointed out something we had not considered, despite it being obvious: Felicia Hardy aka The Black Cat, expert sneakthief and Spider-Man's long-time frenemy, it a great spokesperson for all that Black Friday is about!

We hope you find deals that make you feel like you're the Black Cat while shopping today. And we offer a few more portraits of Ms. Hardy, who may well be the patron saint of Black Friday (from a consumer's perspective at least).

 

In Preparation for 31 Nights of Halloween!

For a number of years now, there has been at least one post every day during October at our sister blog Terror Titans for the 31 Nights of Halloween! This year, the 31 Nights of Halloween will also be taking place here at Shades of Gray! There will be at least one post every day shortly after Midnight... and you can then check out Terror Titans later after darkness has fallen again around 5pm! (Shades of Gray is on Pacific Standard Time, by the way.)

As a warm-up/preview to the creepy festivities, here's the evolution of a drawing, which shows Vampirella meeting Simon Garth the Zombie, from sketch to final. The artwork is by the great Pablo Marcos.

It's a Fantastic Friday with She-Hulk

During John Byrne's excellent run on "Fantastic Four" during the 1980s and 1990s, She-Hulk joined the team (covering first for the Invisible Woman's leave of absence, than the Thing's). Today, we bring you few illustrations in memory of those days (and in celebration of the new show on Disney Plus, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law").

 

 

It's a Fantastic Friday!

Why? Because we've got four more portraits of the Fantastic Four, the First Family of Comicdom!

In memory of Tim Sale

Seattle-based comic book artist Tim Sale passed away on June 16, 2022. Here are some of the great drawings he created.

Fantastic Friday

On Thursday, June 16, 2022, artist Tim Sale (perhaps best known for his work on "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" from DC Comics) passed away after being briefly hospitalized. We're dedicating this Fantastic Friday to the memory of Mr. Sale by presenting a trio of portraits that arose from direct commissions from Dr. Victor Von Doom, King of Latveria.

It's a Fantastic Friday...

... and we dedicate it to honoring the work of George Perez, one of the most fabulous artists to ever draw portraits of the First Family of Comics!

 

Can you name the FF's friends behind them in this picture?

Can you name the FF's foes and frenemies behind them?