The Ink Stained Wretch #183 4/30/25

Symbiotes, Cover MADness and The Big Three!

Here we go with another of the yappy, yellow-bellied, yawn-inducing collection of yarns that are these newsletters! This week we draw a sketch that could break Batman's back, reveal a little cover MADness, and return to our very occasional but still riveting "Stuff from my Studio" feature with three caricatures of me by some very heavy hitters... on with the 'Wretch!

Sketch o'the Week: Tom Hardy!

Click here if you are interested in this original sketch.

I started drawing and posting a "Sketch o'the Week" on Wednesdays on my blog in late November, 2006. That's nearly 19 years of finding someone different to draw every week, well over 900 sketches! Sometimes I work around a theme or certain subject for a few weeks. Some themes I return to now and again, like classic rock musicians. Sometimes I just pick someone I really want to draw. That's where this week's subject came from.

Technically I've drawn Tom Hardy before... as Bane in MAD's parody of "The Dark Knight Rises", but as his face was covered by a mask the entire time that hardly counts:

I recently watched a few movies he starred in and was fascinated by his face. He's got one of those extremely expressive faces that can convey a lot of emotion in the subtlest of ways. That's part of what makes him a good actor. He also seems to be fearless in the roles he takes, not worrying about doing something that is a straight up action spectacle alongside more nuanced, acting-demanding roles. The "Venom" movies are a guilty pleasure, and I was surprised to find out Hardy does the voice of Venom in those films. Some of their banter is laugh out loud hilarious, and it's all Hardy.

Anyway, I decided to add Venom into the sketch sort of after the fact, so it all looks a little awkward. But, as Venom might say, "Eyes. Lungs. Pancreas. So Many Snacks, So Little Time."

Premium Subscribers can watch me work on this sketch in the exclusive video at the bottom of this newsletter, which begs the question... why would they want to?? If you want to, become a Premium Subscriber!

New (sort of) MAD Cover

Last week this new "Barnes and Noble" special issue dropped at... you guessed it... Barnes and Noble stores. These specials have been an ongoing thing MAD has done with B&N for a few years now. They are square bound collections of classic material, published quarterly. The last run was called "Treasure Trove of Trash", which consists of ten volumes. I did a couple of those covers:

This time around the run is called "Hodgepodge of Humor". "Hodgepodge" is a little tougher term to come up with an associated gag than "trash" was. The Oxford dictionary definition of hodgepodge is "a confused mixture". It's derived from the word "hochepot", meaning a mixed stew. That's where this cover gag comes in. However I was not paying much attention when I did the cover because it was only about two years ago on the cover of MAD #29 where Alfred appeared stuffing gag toys and items into a can of "Chicken Fat Soup"... basically the exact same gag. I even briefly looked at that cover when I did the pencil sketch, which is why I put Alfred in a lunch lady outfit with hairnet rather than a chef's hat, but I never really looked at what he was doing and the gag involved. Oh well.

The pencil sketch

Here’s a bonus! B&N does a modestly animated version of these covers for their social media, which requires me to do the art on layers for them to play around with. Here’s the animated version they did:

The Big Three

Like most cartoonists, my studio is filled with cool stuff that makes the space more creative, more inspirational, and above all a lot more fun of a place to spend countless hours in. A good portion of one wall in my studio is filled by three caricatures of me by three of the greatest caricaturists ever, Al Hirschfeld, Sebastian Krüger and Mort Drucker. There’s a story behind two of them, which I will link to the original tale from my blog rather than reprint here.

The one on the left is by the late Al Hirschfeld. Yes, really. You can read the story of how I got this here, but there really is no story… I just paid him. Hirschfeld readily did personal commissions like this if you simply met his price. I’ll never regret getting it. Pen and ink on illustration board. By the way, there are five “Ninas” in this piece.

The middle one is by a German artist named Sebastian Krüger. If you are not familiar with him he is now a highly respected fine art portraitist specializing in pop culture icons and celebrities. Back in the late 90’s he was an illustrator doing these insane painted caricatures for magazines. Sebastian was the guest speaker at a caricaturist convention I attended in Orlando in 1999, and after the convention I simply asked him if I could commission a caricature of me. He said yes. This was the result… acrylic on illustration board. That’s the whole story behind this one, so no linky binky.

The last one is the most special, and not just because MAD Magazine legend Mort Drucker does rarely ever did personal commissions. It’s no exaggeration to say this piece of art changed my life. The story of how I got this, and what it did for my career, is worth a read. Also framed with the final is the pencil sketch he sent for Anna to approve and the note he sent wishing us a happy anniversary.

Of note: I am sad I do not have a better scan of the art than this one. Back in 1998 I didn’t have much of a scanner, and high resolution anything was non-existent, so I only have this tiny JPEG of the original, scanned when it was fresh. Yes, of course I have the actual original on my wall. It’s matted and framed under UV protectant glass, so I COULD bring it back to the framer, have it removed, scan it, then have it framed back up again. Even if I did that I would still be sad because Mort did this beautiful piece using Dr. Martin dyes, and the lush colors you see in this lo-res scan have faded badly over the last 26 years. This despite it being under UV glass and well away from windows and any natural light source. It’s still a knock-your-eyes-out marvel, though.

Of all the stuff in my studio, these three pieces top them all.

Regular Subscriber? That's it for another lame issue of the 'Wretch! Thank you for being a subscriber! As always, if you liked what you saw please share it with others. Remember I'm always looking for feedback, questions for the mailbag, and suggestions for future Sketch o'the Week subjects. Just reply to this email with any of the above, or leave a comment on Substack! And always remember... it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide!