Heroes!?

When classic, long defunct, Amazing Heroes magazine decided to do a humor issue and asked to have Sam & Max on the cover we joked about what a hard sell humor comics were in general and why a special humor issue would probably be an underperformer.

Somehow I was able to persuade fan favorite Arthur Adams to do an interpretation of two of the most popular mainstream comic characters at the time. The high concept being that when the top third of the cover was visible on the magazine rack, you'd see Batman and Wolverine depicted by your favorite comic book artist of all time! Once revealed, crashing through the image we would see Sam & Max joined by some random frolicking animal pals. Seemed like an excellent idea at the time.
Art's ink drawing was made into an acetate overlay with flat painted color laid in behind it. I assume I asked Lois Buhalis, my official Sam & Max letterer to create the dialog balloons but it's been awhile and some of those memory cells, liked dried-up silverfish exoskeletons, have sadly blown away over time (Lois, help me out here).


Once you had the mag in your hand, our job was done, hoping it would be too much trouble to put it back or maybe in your confusion you'd make it to the cash register before you realize you've been duped. The final cover is pretty noisy. I probably could have done a better job of the "rip through" effect but overall I like the cover and reused the Sam & Max painting as the back cover of the first Surfin' the Highway collection.
Batman and Wolverine by Art Adams - Pencil and Ink on Bristol Board 11X12
Sam & Max half - Gouache - 11X12