Benedict Judas Hel

I got in an 8” x 10” Vega commission today by J D Covey: He also included the digital preliminary as well:

I just got in this 11”x17” Baroness commission by John Rhodes:

I got in this 8”x10” Baroness watercolor commission today from Anthony Wheeler: And because he was a bit late in getting the above commission to me, he also threw in this 5”x7” Vega watercolor piece:

No problem. I did not take any offense in your question as I gathered it was in earnest. I know that the field of comics covers a vast array of genres (sci-fi, horror, crime, comedy, superhero, etc.) and just because a person collects or is interested in comics in general, it cannot be assumed that he/she will know every single thing about comic books. For example, even though I am a collector of comics, I personally know nothing about one of your favorite subjects, The Phantom Stranger only that I think he’s a DC character? But no worries. It’s all about good communications.

To answer the first part of your question, The Baroness is a character from a 80's Hasbro 3 3/4" toy line called G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero which itself was a re-imagining of a 12" 60's toy line with roughly the same name (G.I. Joe: America's Movable Fighting Man). In fact, it was the 60's G.I. Joe toy that helped coin the term "action figure" as toy executives wanted young boys not to think of these items as "dolls". And like the vast majority of 80's toys, a cartoon by Sunbow Productions and a comic book by Marvel were released at the same time to help build interest in the toy line. During the first couple of years of the toy line, toy commercials about cartoons were still prohibited by the FCC so Hasbro got around this regulation by advertising the comic book (using animation by the same studio that produced the cartoon). The Baroness is a member of the evil terrorist organization known as Cobra who want to rule the world and thus, the sworn enemy of G.I. Joe. She is an European aristocrat and highly educated. The reason she wears the glasses, I believe, is an artistic choice to help convey this background information visually. Glasses are usually used as a sign of education and sophistication. I don't think the practicality of said glasses were a big concern to the toy designers as much as the aesthetics of the figure. If that were the case, I'd say a bigger problem would be going into a live battle situation in stiletto high heels. A little suspension of disbelief is needed when it comes to these properties. We could start questioning everything if we begin thinking about everything from a rational/practical point of view. For example, why would superheroes wear capes? If you saw a person wearing a cape walking down the street, it would look really dumb and would get in the way if you were doing any physical activity.. Plus it wouldn't inspire any sort of feeling of respect but in actuality it would be the opposite. They'd be laughed off the street. Don't get me started on wearing their underwear on the outside, vision restricting masks or wearing gloves all the time. So, in summary, I think it was a stylistic choice that was meant to look good on paper or in toy form, not for practical real-life application. Thanks for the question and I hope I answered your query satisfactorily!

I just received the Tower art from his entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition: And the art as it appeared in the comic: It looks like Tower’s arms were adjusted as to not have such a wide space in the comic...

Mais oui, mon ami!

I just got in this 12”x17” Baroness from French artist Marine Cegalerba (aka Jahyra):

Just got back my first original comic page back from the framer:

I am barely starting out but I have bought the published comics on 2 of the pieces I have obtained so far (for framing purposes) and 2 more for future pieces I am in the process of procuring.

Those are pretty freaking awesome! I have a poster I had framed as well. While it may not be original art, I thought it was pretty cool for a propaganda piece: P.S. I see that you have the Arcade 1Up Marvel Super Heroes cabinet. My Juggernaut, Mephisto/Blackheart and Shuma-Gorath were fairly unbeatable at the arcade. In fact, Juggernaut almost became the character I chose for my commissions motif...

Well, being a villain aficionado, I always gravitated towards Cobra during my G.I. Joe days as an 80’s youth. My Cobra toys vastly outnumbered my Joes and while I never had The Baroness toy as a kid, she was the quintessential vamp: black attire, dark hair, light skin. It didn’t hurt that she wore glasses and had an accent. And growing up, it’s those physical characteristics that I find attractive in a female. As for Vega, being a teen during early 90’s, I immersed myself in the fighting video game craze and Capcom’s Street Fighter was the first game that hooked me. When the Champions Edition came out and Vega became a selectable character, I chose him because he was a bad guy, wore a mask, had a claw and won me many a battle on my college campus. He was arrogant, handsome, vain, slim and loved beautiful women. I could see a little bit of his character in myself. Not too much! Just a little. Not enough to make me psychotic like him. So he was always my go-to character. Fast forward to my commission collecting, I knew that if I didn’t choose a theme, my personality would go all over the place and not have a focus. I would jump from character to character and have to get many characters from a certain artist instead of just 1 or 2 preset ones like I’m doing now. It helps keep my spending down to a minimum plus not to overcrowd my already cramped living quarters from my different collections (toys, lunchboxes, cartoon glasses, video games, movies, music, costumes, comic books). Thanks for asking and I hope I answered your question! Love the villain name by the way! I have a Blastaar Marvel Universe 3 3/4 figure in my collection next to Black Bolt...

Here’s my modest collection of Vega/Baroness commissions I have framed on my wall. Hoping to add more in the upcoming months (on the adjacent wall) and a framed comic page or two...

I got in an 11" x 14" Vega and Baroness commission piece from Howie Noel. I love the Cracked/Mad Magazine art style of this commission:

I got in an 9" x 12" Baroness commission by Monte Michael Moore today: