"Bodacious Comics" ("Wonder Woman 1984")
Ghostbusters Logo (c) Columbia Pictures
2020 was the year I was going to accomplish something neither Tony nor myself had ever achieved. I vowed if there was going to be another season of the gallery, every picture would have to be finished by the time the first film, "Black Widow", debuted in theaters the first weekend of May. We had always flown by the seat of our pants with deadlines in the past. This year was going to be different.
I even set a sensible goal: ten homages spread over the course of twelve weeks. No delays. And if I managed to complete everything ahead of schedule, there was plenty of opportunity to draw more if the inspiration hit me.
Coming into March, things were looking great. Five homages were already in the can and after busy eight-hour shifts at the hospital, I still came home with energy to illustrate. It felt like after so many years, my artistic stride was back. I was overwhelmed with confidence.
But then a rapid global pandemic called the coronavirus stuck and the world suddenly went into lockdown.
Within the blink of an eye, everyone's lifestyle changed. People were forced to work from home. For everyone else, they were either granted furlough or pink slips. Children continued their education by attending classroom conference calls online. All outdoor events were cancelled for the foreseeable future. If you had to go outside, you were required to wear a mask covering the lower part of your face and needed to stay at least 6 feet away from one another. No large gathering of more than 5 individuals. If a restaurant was open, they were only able to do pick-up or drive thru.
As a health care professional, I suddenly found myself working long extended hours. Even more frightening, the hospital was taking care of 17% of all the positive reported cases in the entire state. One of my primary tasks was to clean and sterilize the dirty instruments used on those patients. It was a scary time to live in.
Naturally, for the safety of the public, another type of business forced to temporarily close were movie theaters. It would be extremely dangerous and foolish to have groups of people gather in an enclosed area while a deadly virus spread rampantly. So, many films scheduled to be released in 2020 either got pushed back an entire year or went directly to streaming services.
And I already had five illustrations in the can.
"Wonder Woman 1984" was one of the films Warner Brothers refused to wait until theaters reopened. Instead, it debuted Christmas Day on HBO Max. The reviews were less than stellar. Most felt the first hour was like watching paint dry. But it was something new to consume in an otherwise barren year of new media. And at that point, nobody wanted to nit-pick.
As for this piece, it was a joy to create. A homage to the cover of Wonder Woman's first appearance, giving Kari a '80s style makeover, making everything a throwback to something iconic during that time... as my teenage self would have said back then, "It's totally wicked!" - Jake