Super Friends in Oz by Kevenn T. Smith

I participated in my comic book shop's annual auction to raise money for the Cleveland Food Bank. One person won an exclusive edition of my Super Friends in Oz piece that I created for the auction. The illustration is an homage to the Super Friends episode "The Planet of Oz," where Mr. Mxyzsptlk sends a tornado to transport Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman inside of the Hall of Justice to the planet of Oz. Upon arrival, he transforms them into versions of characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book. The three of them have to find their way through many encounters on the planet until they reach "The Wizard" and of course manage to trick Mr. Mxyzsptlk into saying his name backwards, thus forcing him to set everything right.

As an homage, I didn't want to try to create something that looked like an animation cell from the episode. I wanted to inject my own style into it, three-dimensionalize the visuals, and offer more nods to the 1939 MGM musical of The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. That meant adding a "Dorothy" to the piece, and while Jayna of the Wonder Twins actually did appear in the original episode, I decided to use Wendy Harris, a character who regularly appeared in only the first season of the Super Friends show. I thought that Wendy's color scheme and design would better meld with Dorothy's and look better alongside the other characters in the piece. And while I'm a HUGE fan of the Oz books, the makers of the movie musical were not wrong when they decided that ruby slippers would "pop" more against the Yellow Brick Road compared to silver slippers that were in the book.

Prints of this piece are available directly from me. Fill out the "Contact Me" form at the left of this page to contact me regarding a print and inquire about pricing. 
"Super Friends in Oz" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil & Photoshop
©2022 Kevenn T. Smith 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Katana

This is the 24th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Tatsu Yamashiro is a Japanese immigrant to the United States who fights evil and injustice as the sword-wielding Katana. Once, Tatsu was a happily married wife and mother in Japan, until her husband's Yakuza-involved brother killed him with an enchanted sword called the Soultaker, which ended up possessing the soul of her husband, Maseo. Her family killed, Tatsu trained under a samurai master, and took her skills to the United States. She ended up joining a group called The Outsiders, created by Batman as a more proactive team than the Justice League. Katana has been on many teams, including the Justice League, the Birds of Prey, and the Suicide Squad. Her martial arts skills along with her Soultaker sword (which can capture the souls of those she slays with it) make her a formidable member of any team she's been a part of, though the Outsiders is the one she is affiliated with the most.

For this look, Katana has had many costume designs throughout the years. Many of the costumes have incorporated elements of the Japanese national and military flags, so I chose to reflect some of those here. I also really have enjoyed including armor pieces with dresses in this series, and this design was another great opportunity. For her facial features, I used Karen Fukuhara as my inspiration, who played the character in the movie, Suicide Squad, but with a mask that covered the upper half of her face. I'm also really glad to be able to post this illustration during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Katana" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Katana ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Barda of the New Gods

This is the 18th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Barda is one of the New Gods characters created by Jack Kirby in the early 1970's. There were two planets, a nice one called New Genesis, ruled by High Father, and a hellscape planet called Apokolips, ruled by Darkseid. Barda was born on Apokolips and raised in and groomed by the sadistic Granny Goodness in one of her orphanages. Barda became the leader of an elite team of terrifying female warriors called the New Female Furies. However, she ended up falling in love with a man who also grew up in the orphanage and became an expert escape artist, Scott Free. The two of them escaped together, and learned that Scott was actually the son of High Father, traded to Darkseid for peace. The two of them settled on earth and operate as superheroes and Scott also as the escape artist performer, Mr. Miracle. The two of them have worked with the Justice League, and Barda with the Birds of Prey occasionally. It wasn't until her appearance in Birds of Prey that I really warmed up to Barda, when it was pointed out that the weapon Barda uses, her megarod, looks like a golden adult toy. I really fell in love with Barda and Scott Free in the Eisner Award Winning Mister Miracle maxi series by Tom King & Mitch Gerads, which really explores the PTSD and trauma Scott and Barda carry with them from growing up in a brutal and violent and pschologically terrorizing environment.

This illustration is a special entry in this series, because it was created in collaboration with the uber talented Kristina Sunshine, a professional makeup artist and lead singer of the band, Bullseye Womprats. Kristina came up with the makeup design for this illustration of Barda specifically for this look and also served as the model for Barda's facial features. Kristina is one of the most talented and hard-working people I've ever met in my life. Legend has it that Barda was originally inspired by Lanie Kazan from her Playboy Magazine shoot around the time the New Gods were created, so I definitely wanted to give Barda a fuller figure in respect to that origin. The look was a really delicious challenge, because Barda's look is a really BUSY design. There's two shades of blue along with red, yellow, and black. When I first encountered the character, I couldn't tell if the big helmet that she wore was a helmet or her hair. There was SO MUCH going on. In light of that first impression, I knew that for my take, her hair needed to be really big to pay homage to the helmet that she wears. The first costume that Barda appeared in was basically a red bikini with a headband that looked like little strung-together gold coins or disks. Although her hair covers most of them, the red straps from that outfit are incorporated into this design, as well as the disks. Barda's usual costume has a blue scale mail base, and I used it for inspiration for her jewelry, with pieces of scale mail as her earrings, necklace, and bracelets. It was an absolute joy and honor to be able to collaborate with my dear friend on this. I offer a huge THANK YOU to Kristina Sunshine for her invaluable contributions!

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Barda of the New Gods" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
Illustration ©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Photograph ©2021 Kristina Sunshine. Used with Permission
Barda ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Zatanna

This is the 13th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Zatanna is a powerful magic wielding member of the Justice League, currently operating in the magaical division known as Justice League Dark. She was raised by her father, Giovanni 'John' Zatara, a stage magician who actually performed real feats of magic. Her mother was named Sindella, and was from a race of magical humans called Homo Magi, which totally sounds like the name of a bar for gay witches. Since DC Comics hates it when women have a relationship with their mothers if their name isn't Wonder Woman, Sindella faked her death to leave her daughter and husband to go live with the Homo Magi again. (Insert eye roll here.) Zatanna, like her father, is a stage illusionist who usues actual magic. She usually performs spells by saying the words backward (phoenetically, not backwards sentence word order). He stage outfit is usually similar to a stage magician's outfit, a tuxedo (often with a top hat) but substituting fishnet stockings for a pair of slacks. In recet years, her costume has been less formal, and consisting of things like pleather pants, a boustier, and a trenchcoat with some fishnet gloves. Also exciting, the recently announced plans to make a Zatanna solo movie. My hope is that it will rely heavily on the 2003 graphic novel Zatanna: Everyday Magic.

For this design, I wanted to allude to elements of a tuxedo, but instead of short shorts, to include a skirt to dress it up. The skirt shape is inspired by the silhouette of the skirt that RuPaul wore in the Supermodel music video and maxi single cover. And while the tuxedo/fishnets costume is more most well-known look, I've always been a fan of George Perez's "superhero sorceress" costume from the 1980's that was blue, white, and black with red accessory elements. I've borrowed elements from that look to include in this one. For this design, I wanted the boustier to allude to a tuxedo shirt.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Zatanna" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Zatanna ©DC Comics 

Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Dr. Light

This is the 11th entry that I've posted in the series featuring "red carpet" takes on superheroes in costume with masks to promote the pro-social & pro-health practice of mask wearing during a pandemic.

Dr. Light is my favorite DC hero from Japan. Kimiyo Hoshi is not only a brilliant scientist, but a superhero and a single mother. The fact the she is a mother as well as a superhero reminds me of the many women that I grew up around and even worked with who were mothers and also in the military. Like those women, Dr. Light espouses that saving the world is also saving her children. She is a powerful member of the Justice League who can absorb and project light(including light energy beams), fly, create holograms, and even make hard light constructs. She's incredibly powerful, and I wish that she was used more often. In recent comics, she seems to be American, rather than from Japan, or at least lives in America, having been previously married to the villainous male Dr. Light.

In designing a look for her, I wanted to incorporate both of her looks. He original look was a black and white costume. In the 90's, her costume became white and yellow. In my opinion, there aren't many interesting costumes with only two colors. I like to use black, white, and yellow when I depict Dr. Light. In lieu of her wearing a cape, I opted to give her a wrap and a lovely back-skirt. For her facial features, I used Japanese actor, model and singer, Ueto Aya, as my inspiration.

With the recent violent and murderous bigotry that Asian Americans are facing, I hope DC Comics uses this version of Dr. Light more in their stories (check out the recent Generations Lost & Generations Found comics). #StopAAPIHate I also hope she appears in the DC Asian Pacific Spotlight special issue coming in May.

Thank you for taking the time to experience this piece.
"Masks Are Fashion, Masks Are Heroic - Dr. Light" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©2021 Kevenn T. Smith
Dr. Light ©DC Comics