Cranboyz 2021: Turtles, Bats, Apes and Snakes!

2021 may have seemed like the Cranboyz strangest theme yet but it was all for good reason! In July of 2020 we lost one of our closest friends, Carl. Carl was like an older brother to most of us and we were all hit hard by this loss. 

Carl was attending conventions, collecting art and reading independent comics while we were saving up lunch money to buy our comics. Like most of us, Carl had diverse tastes in comics and he loved the characters he loved, just because. So we did our best to make him proud by collecting sketches of Turtles, Bats, Apes and Snakes!

Carl was reading the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their original black and white comic books and always continued to love them!

Andy and Carl often bonded over the Turtles and Andy got a few TMNT commissions during the year.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Cover Recreation by Andy Bennett. I had this recreation in mind for several years, and this theme seemed a great opportunity to make it happen. It’s a great homage to the very first issue and appearance of the TMNT in Andy Bennett’s unique style of artwork, and a piece I think Carl would have loved. -Andy

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 Cover Recreation by Drew Moss. Drew Moss had been posting some of his amazing TMNT commission work, including his reinterpretation of the cover to the very first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so I commissioned him for a recreation of my all-time favorite cover, issue #4, originally by Peter Laird, and then again by Michael Dooney. I love a good cover recreation, and this felt like a great way to honor Carl! -Andy

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Soul’s Winter by Dan Govar. Carl was a huge TMNT fan, and when we got to talking about the Turtles, he ALWAYS brought up this story, with writing and art by Michael Zulli, from the original Mirage Studios run. - Andy

 Casey Jones and Raphael by Ian Nichols. Ian Nichols is a fantastic TMNT artist, and when I requested a commission to showcase the friendship between Casey Jones and Raphael, he came up with this wonderful image of the two buddies taking a break from patrolling the city to eat some pizza! Carl was a big fan of Casey Jones, so this turned out to be one fortuitous request that I am happy to add to my collection. This one's for you, Carl! -Andy

Also, a digitally colored "Pin-up" version by Ian Nichols.

 I knew I needed to get all of the Turtle brothers for Carl. I usually have a pretty solid plan when I collect sketches but with these guys, I just went with what looked and felt right. I'm thrilled to have these sketches in my collection and I think Carl would be happy with them, too! -Shane

Leonarado is by Drew Moss and I really love the tones and muted red background. Even the pose of this feels old school while be totally modern. 

Donatello by Chris Campana is a great representation of Donnie's serious attitude.

Raphael by Freddie Williams II was a no brainer for me! Freddie draws some of the best Turtles and he went all in on Raph and his aggressive style! 

 

Michelangelo by Nate Lovett is a perfect example of everything Turtles! It's black and white tones, it's in the sewers, Mikey is playing with his chucks and there's even a pizza graphic on the skateboard! 

 

I also picked up these 2 sketches from our friend, Sean Forney. Sean had them on a live sale online and I thought they looked great and couldn't believe no one else grabbed them up! Donnie and Leo are also my favorites, so that made it easy too! -Shane

Casey Jones by Andy Bennett. This was a huge one to me. If Carl actually was any comic book character, it was probably Casey Jones. Running around, dishing out some street justice, keeping the streets safe from evil, while laughing and hanging out with his buddies. Yeah, if Carl could have gone thru life with a hockey mask on, I'm sure he would have! -Shane

 

 Eric didn't miss out on Turtle-mania, either! Eric was able to pick up this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cover prelim by Ian Nichols!

Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Mike Bowden When the first crossover between Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was announced, Carl didn’t miss an opportunity to tell anyone who would listen that he had the idea for the team-up years ago. With that in mind, I decided to commission the team-up from Mike Bowden, to pay homage to Carl's fantastic idea. -Andy

This is the perfect transition to the Bats portion of our theme! Popa went all in on one of the greatest versions of Batman to exist, the Animated Series! 

 

I knew Carl most of my life, we went to the same schools and had siblings the same ages. Plus, he was a legend in the local comic book scene, even when we were teenagers. But Carl was into Snake Pliskin, Planet of the Apes and Batman - all cool things, but not things I necessarily would buy or collect as original art. One thing we DID have a mutual obsession with, though, was "Batman: The Animated Series." I remember him coming home from (I think) a Chicago Comicon where the opening sequence debuted and telling me all about it. Shot for shot, he was pumped, and so was I! Believe me - if there was a first Harley Quinn fan, it was Carl. With that in mind I reached out to Gene Gonzales to do a different Animated Series character monthly for a little over a year (through his Patreon.) It's mostly my favorite villains, with some of the other regulars at the end. -Popa

I also grabbed this Harley by Paul Pelletier along the way. Who can resist a Pelletier Harley? -Popa

And who doesn't love the Batman!

Karen got a Batman from Marcus Grant! Eric got his Batman from Ian Nichols!

Brian and Brendon Fraim also provided Batmans to Kurt and Eric Osier!

Batman: Year One by Tom Reilly. Technically, this one arrived in late 2020, but we were gearing up for the 2021 theme when this became available, so I bought it as a pre-emptive entry for the theme. An homage to Mazzuccheli’s Batman from the seminal Year One story seemed a no-brainer to honor Carl, one of the biggest Batman fans I know. -Andy

I did a re-watch of the Batman Animated series this year and I was convinced I wanted a Batman and Robin piece, I just couldn't decide who to have do it. When I saw Scoot McMahon at the first convention of the year, he had this for Sale in his portfolio! It's not in the Animated Series style but hit all the marks of what I was looking for! -Shane

I've always been a Dick Grayson fan and I collect Teen Titans sketches, so a Batman theme seemed like a great time to visit All of the Robin characters! To start off, the original Robin, the Boy Wonder, by Romeo Tanghal Sr! -Shane

 

Shane got 2 sketches of Tim Drake as Robin, by Marcus To and Marcio Fiorito!

 

Shane also got Jason Todd as Robin by Brendon and Brian Fraim! Damian Wayne as Robin is by Brandon Franklin!

 

Shane moved onto Nightwing with a commission of the beloved George Perez designed costume by Pat Quinn! Travis Mercer provided Shane with the 90's version of Nightwing, complete with Starfire and Titans Tower!

 Carl was a little different in his art collecting than most of our group, in that once he got a piece from an artist, he didn't normally go back. There were exceptions to this and the biggest one had to be Scott McDaniel! Carl loved Scott's work on Batman and Nightwing and had multiple sketches and a few pages from Scott! Shane and Andy both being fans as well, picked up a couple of commissions from Scott, in honor of Carl! 

Deadshot is my favorite Batman villain, even though he isn't considered one of his main rogues. Deadshot was introduced in this costume, in Detective Comics drawn by Marshall Rogers (Who Carl also loved on Batman!)! I came up with this idea after the last commission I got from Scott but wasn't sure when I would get around to getting it. After losing Carl, I knew I had to get it!

Carl would have loved this and I'm bummed about missing the long debates we would have had about who's winning this fight! (Sure, it's probably Batman but don't tell Carl I said that!) -Shane

 

 

 

 

As much as I enjoy his Batman, I could look at new Nightwing drawings by Scott McDaniel, every day! A Nightwing versus Deathstroke seemed like a great companion to Batman versus Deadshot, especially since Carl was such a Deathstroke fan! -Shane

Nightwing & Robin by Scott McDaniel. The 25th issue of Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel’s run on Nightwing, featuring Nightwing and Robin running a gauntlet through Bludhaven while catching up, is a favorite of mine. Carl loved Scott McDaniel’s take on the Bat-Family, so I decided to commission McDaniel for this Bat-Family piece as a nod to Carl. -Andy

 

I'm not sure how much of a Batgirl fan Carl was, past Yvonne Craig from the 1960s Batman TV Series, but she is one of my favorites! Batgirl prelim by Ron Frenz! Batgirl commission by Tom Grummett! Batgirl commission by Joe Pekar! -Shane

 

 

 Batgirl by Landon Franklin Not much story to this one, other than I love Cassandra Cain as Batgirl from the No Man’s Land era, and I thought it a fine addition to the theme. -Andy

 

I immediately knew I needed to get a Commissioner Gordon this year. Carl was definitley a Gordon fan and he liked the interaction between Gordon, the Gotham City PD and Batman. That plus with me being in law enforcement, I had to get the Commissioner for Carl! Gavin Smith did this as part of Inktober/Batober and it's everything I could have wanted in a Commissioner Gordon piece! -Shane

The Cranboyz are going Ape! We didn't get any Planet of the Apes art but we still collected our share of Apes! 

Eric had Brendon and Brian Fraim draw the Blood Brothers for him! Kurt went all out with the Red Ghost AND his Super Apes!

 

Shane had Ian Nichols draw a savage Gorilla Grodd! Shane also got the Flash, making a monkey out of Gorilla Grodd, by Scoot McMahon!

 

And finally, why did it have to be Snakes! 

Kurt got a Master of the Universe, Snake Face, by Brendon and Brian Fraim!

Jason wasted no time in getting the Cobra Water Moccasin driver, Copperhead, from Brendon and Brian Fraim! This is perfect because Carl loved trash-talking the GI Joe team to Shane!

And finally, the main man himself, Snake Plissken! 

I'm not sure if Snake Plissken had a bigger fan than Carl! Carl has to have the world's greatest collection of Snake Plissken art. And he had this little "test" he like to give artists. Being a smoker, Carl would say they "passed his test" if they drew Snake with a cigarette! I always wanted Carl to get a Snake from Brian Level so when the time came, I went for it! Brian not only delivered an epic looking Snake, he passed Carl's test! Who could ask for more? -Shane

Hopefully this little post leaves no doubt how much we not only cared about Carl but what a huge part of our lives he was and how much he means to us. This little collection was a nice way for us to honor and remember our friend through the hobby we enjoyed together. There's no doubt that any time we get together, fun-filled stories of Carl will be shared while we remember some of the important life lessons Carl taught us.

Leave the water on in your hotel room, it's free. If the room floods, it's a free water park!

They want you to throw your tray away, it's how they get new ones. 

Eat someplace nice, like Wendy's.