Almost... there....

Well, folks, it appears we're nearly at the end of the road. Monday, I'll be tackling "Z" with all my might. Hard to believe I've done 25 illustrations in the past few weeks. Feels like it flew by! Thanks to everyone who's been following the blog and reposting pics. Much gratitude for your support and help spreading the word of the Attack!

To all the folks who purchased original works from the series, stay tuned next week for a special announcement. I've got a treat in store for you!

As for the remaining drawings, I'll still have them offered for sale through next Friday, April 15. After that, they're going off the market for a turn. If there's something still available and you're interested, please let me know by Friday at midnight.

Again, thanks for the support and stay tuned... we ain't done yet.

- King Gum.

"Yoda's Yucks"

Sure, you've got your lightsaber-wielding Yoda in the Star Wars prequels. And you've got your animated Yodas, doing their various whatevers in the cartoon series. But I still hold the original Muppet form of Yoda in high esteem. Especially since, when he first appears in The Empire Strikes Back, ALL Yoda does is clown on Luke.

Young Skywalker hit Dagobah, hoping to discover a Jedi Master. Instead he finds a hobbled, green, swamp-town yokel. And he tests the kid's patience at every turn -- breaks his equipment, ruins his dinner, steals his flashlight and assaults his droid. All the while, knowing exactly who Luke is and why he's there. Now that's truly some gangta-ass old wise man shit, for ya.

9 x 12" / mixed-media on recycled bristol board
Update: SOLD!

"Xerophile"

Of all the creatures who adapted to the arid, road rage-inspiring, Outback Steakhouse hell that was the world of The Road Warrior, none was as fearsome and reviled as The Lord Humungus. His was the true language of a post-apocalyptic landscape -- absolute brutality.

With a gang of vicious bastards to back him up, this behemoth ruled the wasteland highways with a studded codpiece and a scarred-up scalp. If you had something Humungus wanted -- be it gas, food, or simply your life -- you could be sure he'd hit the road and come gunning for you, with your friends' corpses on the grill of his car and murder in his heart.

9 x 12" / mixed media on recycled bristol board
$200 (plus $5 for shipping in the US, or $15 for international)
To purchase, email hiredmeat@gmail.com

"Wantonly Warlike"

Sure, in the Star Trek universe, you've got all sorts of aliens. Romulans and Ferengi, Nausicaans and Vulcans... the list goes on and on. But the original badasses of the intergalactic highways were The Klingons! The Earth-based, mostly human Starfleet met its match early on, in these raucous, tough-as-nails, bumpy-foreheaded bastards!

It's neat that, once humanity reached the stars, we ended up going to war with a species even more prone to violence than we are. But I have a soft spot for Klingons. They've got a samurai-like honor system, a fine appreciation for booze and Shakespeare, and they're into rough sex. If you ask me, they're the perfect adversary for the clean-cut, shiny uniformed, imperialistic space nerds of Starfleet.

9 x 12" / mixed-media on recycled bristol board
$200 (plus $5 for shipping in the US, or $15 for international)
To purchase, email hiredmeat@gmail.com

"Virtual Vixen"

Though it took me awhile to get onboard, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the recent revamp of Battlestar Galactica. Having grown up with the old television series, toys and all (I even broke a model viper, while jumping around to a Van Halen video!), I was super-skeptical of the Sci-Fi Channel's updated take on it. But upon the recommendation of a non-nerd BSG fan, I finally decided to sit down and give it a spin.

Of course, I was instantly hooked, from start to finish. And of all the unanswered questions and unexplained phenomena the show's creators conjured up, one of my favorites was the ghostly connection between Dr. Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six. I was regularly amused by the idea of this seductive Cylon woman haunting the guilty, self-serving, slimy genius. The Six spirit guided and consoled him, tormented and punished him. And the whole "proxy of the One True God" aspect only helped to amp up the creepy mystery. Was she a ghost? Was she an angel sent to guide Gaius? Was she just a figment of his depraved conscience and tortured mind? In the end, I couldn't be happier that the show's producers didn't ruin it all by actually telling us.

9 x 12" / mixed media on recycled bristol board
$200 (plus $5 for shipping in the US, or $15 for international)
To purchase, email hiredmeat@gmail.com

"Unbeatable Underdog"

In Escape From New York, not only does John Carpenter give us a doom generation NYC gone wrong. He also gives us the perfect hero for this twisted, bombed-out backdrop -- S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken. An ex-special forces commando with an eye-patch and a nasty attitude, Snake is a futuristic, degenerate version of Rambo. The resulting brew of anti-hero and simple plot is a sci-fi punk film that's on par with The Warriors. In the span of the movie, Snake escapes roving street gangs, bests a giant gladiator (while nursing a bullet wound!), and survives being in a taxicab that hits a landmine. The man's like a blueprint for Die Hard's John McClane!

Oh, and did I mention that his ultimate nemesis, The Duke, is played by none other than the late Isaac Hayes? So at the end of the movie, Snake goes blow-for-blow with Truck Turner! INCREDIBLE! And you can probably guess who's left a bloody mess, and who struts away with their silken, feathered coif intact....

9 x 12" / mixed media on recycled bristol board
$200 (plus $5 for shipping in the US, or $15 for international)
To purchase, email hiredmeat@gmail.com

"Terrible Twos"

Typically, if you're a hero lucky enough to have a sequel, then you're sure to take ten times the punishment you suffered in your first film. It happens to the Rebels in The Empire Strikes Back. It happens to Marty and Doc in Back To The Future 2. And so on, and so forth.

But no crime-stomping protagonist takes a second movie pounding quite like that lovable cyborg civil servant, Robocop. Sure, in the first movie he gets whooped from start to finish. But in Robocop 2, Murphy is downright brutalized. Fifteen minutes in, he's forced to deny his human side, thus freaking out his grieving widow. Then there's that whole cyborg vivisection bit, that leaves his life hanging in the balance. Once they put him back together, he has to go toe-to-toe with his would-be replacement -- a killer cyborg that's three times his size, and powered by the brain of a ruthless drug czar. Yeesh!

Of course, Robocop handles this like a pro. And unlike Han Solo (frozen) or Marty McFly (stranded), Robo ends his sophomore adventure by seeing his enemy's ultra-violence, and raising him with a Mortal Kombat-style fatality -- ripping out his opponent's brain and smashing it into broken glass-flavored jam.

* It's no wonder Robocop 2 follows this formula so well. After all, it was directed by the late Irvin Kershner, who also directed The Empire Strikes Back.

9 x 12" / mixed media on recycled bristol board
$200 (plus $5 for shipping in the US, or $15 for international)
To purchase, email hiredmeat@gmail.com