There’s no real nudity, but its subject matter makes it possibly NSFW, so we’ll put the picture below the jump.

[Update: A commenter points out below that this is part of the Comic Rockstars Toilet Seat Museum at Isotope, which includes other lids from artists like Brandon Graham, Darwyn Cooke, and Ben Templesmith. Thanks, Brian.]

Sci-fi fan and space shuttle astronaut Janice Voss

Vertigo artist Philip Bond started drawing portraits of women astronauts and cosmonauts a few years ago. “Working for months at a time just penciling a comic book I started these portraits to get a bit of inking and colouring out of my system,” he writes. Although his original plan was to do one a week, his output has ended up being more irregular. No matter. He just added a few more, which is as good an excuse as any to take a look at the whole series of 25 drawings.

Via the Forbidden Planet blog.

It Is

Designer and letterer Todd Klein continues his artistic trek through the alphabet with another art print, as he and Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons team up on one called “It Is.”

“Dave has written a poem focusing on the ever-changing nature of our internal perception, that which makes up our own personal ‘I.’ I’ve designed and hand-lettered it,” Klein says on his blog. The print can be purchased from his website for $20 plus shipping.

From "Heist," by Keron Grant

Superhero movies are certainly nothing new, but director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis are taking a different approach to the genre. Described by some as “Paranormal Activity meets superpowers,” the “found footage” film Chronicle follows three high school friends who gain superhuman powers only to find their lives spinning out of control.

In anticipation of Chronicle‘s limited release on Feb. 3, the filmmakers asked several artists to interpret the movie’s central question: What would you do if you had superpowers?

Artist Keron Grant (Iron Man, Fantastic Four) was one of those asked, and he shared one of his illustrations exclusively with ROBOT 6. Titled “Heist,” it came about from Grant dreaming up a bank robbery if he had those powers. “Wonder what that says about me?” he said with a laugh.

Grant created several illustrations for Chronicle that will be released shortly, adding they will be “a bit more noble.” Some of the other commissioned art also cropped up recently on Bleeding Cool.

Check out Grant’s “Heist,” and the film’s trailer, below.

Bleeding Cool noticed that just last week the company submitted two versions  of a new logo to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The design, which you can see at right, depicts a D flipping back to reveal a C below; one version includes the words “DC Comics” below, the other “DC Entertainment.”

Although the “flipping” aspect of the logo may not be obvious in its static form, it’s likely designed with animation in mind, for inclusion at the beginning of movies, television shows and video games. How that design might translate to comics remains to be seen.

Comic Book Resources has contacted DC for comment but received no response.

The publisher’s current logo debuted in May 2005 as part of an effort to emphasize the DC brand across all media. Designed by Josh Beatman of Brainchild Studios, the “swoosh” replaced the Milton Glaser-created “bullet” the company had used in one form or another since 1977.

from Matthew Petz

It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re winding down here at Robot 6 to go spend time with family and friends. Before heading off to celebrate, though, you’ll find a collection of holiday-themed links after the jump, along with this year’s collection of holiday cards we received.

On behalf of all of Robot 6, have a great holiday and stay safe. We’ll see you next week.

(Above: a Christmas showdown by Matthew Petz)

*****

Stories | Cullen Bunn offers a four-part Sixth Gun Christmas tale on his website.

Stories | J.M. DeMatteis shares a Christmas tale, “The Truth about Santa Claus.”

Webcomics | Mike Maihack presents one final Batgirl/Supergirl comic, this one with a holiday theme.

Webcomics | Jon Adams has a Santa comic only he could offer.

Webcomics | Mike Hawthorne’s Raising Crazy has several holiday-themed comics up right now.

Classics remixed | Medium Large offers some alternate takes on A Christmas Carol.

Classics remixed | John Martz and Graham Roumieu update various Christmas specials for the modern era.

Nightmare style | Dan Hipp pits Tintin against Jack Skellington.

Faux comics | Chris Sims and Kerry Callen give us a glimpse at a comic that never was–The Santa Squad.

Holiday art | Anthony Vukojevich redraws the Glory and Friends Christmas Special cover from back in the day.

Holiday art | Brendan Tobin corners Christmas Spider-Man.

Good cause | Ross Campbell shares a Shadoweyes drawing he did for a multi-artist snowball fight for Comic Creators For Freedom.

Podcasts | Timothy Callahan and Chad Nevett’s Splash Page returns for a special holiday episode.

Music | Fred has the yearly Venture Bros. holiday single available for download.

Holiday cards:

from DC Comics

from James Turner

from Dark Horse Comics

from Tyler James

from Archaia (outside)

from Archaia (inside)

from Ilias Kyriaszis

from Dean Haspiel

from Devastator

from Arcana

from Kevin Colden

from Broken Frontier

from Neil Kleid

You can find more cards out on the web, from Atomic Robo, the Perhapanauts team, Jeff Lemire and a whole bunch of Marvel-themed cards from Agent M.

Here’s a video holiday greeting from Akira the Don:

Have a great holiday!

The Marvel 100

Earlier this month artist Ilias Kyriazis shared a 52-inch long image of his favorite DC characters that was filled with all sorts of fun details.

Well, Ilias is back, this time with his top 100 favorite Marvel characters and with the same level of detail and humor displayed in the DC image. For instance, in the sequence up top, you’ll see multiple Madroxes, one being eaten by Venom, who is having a bad reaction to Banshee’s sonic scream. You’ve also got Nightcrawler “bamfing” in for a moment before he lands at No. 3 on the list. Elsewhere you’ll see Silver Surfer stealing the Infinity Gems from Thanos, Dead Girl showing up in two halves and Mystique bringing a little DC flavor to the mix.

You can see it in its entirety over at zoom.it, which will let you scroll through it from 100 on.

Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | An editorial in the Lewiston, Maine, newspaper praises a local school board’s decision last week to leave the 2007 comics anthology Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School library following a parent’s complaints about “objectionable sexual and language references”: “American culture can be graphically sexual and explicitly foul and it’s important that young people learn how to navigate that world in a responsible way. The best possible way, of course, is for parents to steer their children through that process, but not every parent does and many children are left adrift. So, the next-better place to learn is the school library, where a responsible adult can help educate children about their hormone-charged emerging feelings in a confusingly sensual culture.” [Sun Journal]

Business | Wizard magazine founder Gareb Shamus, who resigned earlier this month as president and chief executive officer of Wizard World Inc., will sell most of his shares in the company to his successor, who’s expected to be named next month. [Bleeding Cool]

Creators | The Korean American Experience asks, “Why Are There So Many Good Asian American Cartoonists?” and highlights the work of Jason Shiga, Gene Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Hellen Jo and more. [Korean American Experience]

Art by Sharon Moody

Creators | Author and comics writer Scott Edelman takes issue with paintings by Sharon Moody that depict photo-realistic images of comic books. (Honestly, when I first saw the images, I thought someone was just tacking a comic to the wall and calling it art). The paintings don’t credit the creators of the comics. “You might ask, but what’s wrong with this? Aren’t these just still-life paintings like any other? Aren’t there many trompe l’oeil paintings that can pass for photographs? Why should an artist be allowed to paint a bowl of fruit but not a comic book? My issue is this—an apple, once you set aside either a Higher Power or human hybridization (depending on your belief system), has no creator, but the pages of art apparently reproduced here line for line do. What’s going on here is at the very least a collaboration with Kirby, Buscema, Novick, and others without those artists’ permission, and at the very most … well … I’ll let others decide whether they want to go there.” [Bleeding Cool]

Alex de Campi

Creators | Laura Sneddon chats with Alex de Campi about her Kickstarter-funded project Ashes, and women in comics: “The only reason the majors don’t have more women creators is they expect the creators to be in their face begging for jobs. Most women creators just don’t care that much (and also the female way of working socially is different), so they’re all sitting on their piles Eisner nominations and critically-acclaimed indie books waiting to be asked to dance by DC and Marvel … but DC and Marvel are too busy doing keg stands with the freshmen boys.” [comicbookGRRRL]

Creators | Paul Gravett translates a paper he presented for a conference on war and totalitarianism in comics, contrasting Joe Sacco’s Palestine with his Footnotes in Gaza, completed 16 years later and under very different circumstances. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | John Allison discusses the event that sparked his webcomic Bad Machinery, his frustrations about the strip’s progress, and more. [12 Books in 12 Months]

Creators | Sean Kleefeld interviews Frank Page, creator of the long-running webcomic Bob the Squirrel. Page recently announced in the comic, which is based on his life, that he is considering ending the strip. “I think it was a combination of everything… the early mornings, the volume of work, my looking back on 3000+ strips and wondering what the next 3000+ would look like… I’ve made it very clear that I haven’t decided one way or another if the strip will end. Bob has become my best friend, he’s very real to me. And, after reading the considerable amount of emails I’ve received, he’s real to a lot of other people as well. How do you say goodbye to your best friend? Would you be any better off doing something else?” He still hasn’t made up his mind, though. [MTV Geek]

Digital comics | Margaret O’Connell gives the online manga site JManga a thorough test drive and finds it promising but a bit clunky. [Sequential Tart]

Commentary | Bill Kartalopoulos writes a lengthy, thoughtful essay on Daniel Clowes’ The Death-Ray. [Brooklyn Rail]

Awards | Clay Bennett, the editorial cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has won the 2011 Lurie UN Award, which is given by the UN Correspondents Association and the UN Society of Writers to promote excellence in political cartooning. Hit the link to see the winning cartoon, an M.C. Escher-like take on the Mideast peace talks, read how Bennett came up with the idea. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Chris Schweizer just read True Grit, and as often happens with Chris, it has inspired him to pick up his drawing materials and start doing his own version. Check out the character sketches at his LiveJournal, and stay tuned for more: He just saw Sherlock Holmes …

Over on his blog, Teen Titans artist Brett Booth shows us some of his early designs for the character who eventually became Bunker. Originally the character was “going to transform into a monster,” Booth says, and the character went through several other iterations before they landed on Bunker and his bricks. “Scott wanted to do bricks so we did bricks.”

Christmastime in the Bat Cave isn’t as lonely as you might think, at least as imagined by artist Ulises Farinas. He sent the above print out to his family and friends as a Christmas gift, and he’s also selling it for $25 on his site. And if you like that, you might also like his “Batman is a Hoarder” print or his “Batman Loses” comic that was featured on ComicsAlliance last year.

Comic artist Ilias Kyriazis, creator of the comics Blood Opera and Manifesto in his home country of Greece and, on this side of the Atlantic, Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression and Falling for Lionheart from IDW, has posted a 52-inch (heh) drawing of his 30 favorite DC Comics characters. And there’s a lot of fun stuff going on as the heroes and villains march forward … you have the Flash running in the background to make it to his #7 spot; meanwhile, #10 Alfred Pennyworth has a plate of Oreos and unfortunately found himself wedged between Martian Manhunter and Blue Beetle. And #19 Guy Gardner doesn’t miss the opportunity for a sneak attack on #2 Batman. It’s fun stuff; go check it out.

Gallery Nucleus showcases Graham Annable’s lovely and melancholy watercolor contributions to “The Lovers, the Dreamers and Me,” an upcoming tribute art exhibition to the late visionary Jim Henson.

“Clearly Kermit, Ms. Piggy, and Gonzo don’t know what to make of their beginnings,” the post on the gallery’s blog states, “but what we can decipher from this is Graham’s bold wit for introducing us to an unusual scenario we never expected the Muppets would run into.”

The exhibition opens Dec. 10 with a reception at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, and continues through Jan. 2.

(via Super Punch)

Chris Weston's Rocketeer

Over the past few weeks artist Chris Weston has been working on a Rocketeer painting, his first time using an airbrush, and he shared his progress along the way on his blog. He finished it up last week, so you can see it now in all its glory. Great stuff!

"Peter Parker," by Simon Monk

Daily Design Discoveries spotlights Secret Identity, “an ongoing series of paintings” by U.K. artist Simon Monk featuring plastic figures of superheroes in clear polythene bags.

Monk explains on his website: “Superheroes are icons of male power and potency whose comic book and film adventures see them engaged in epic battles across the universe, yet these mythic figures have another life as consumer objects to be found in commercial and domestic contexts. Placed in carrier bags and hung on a hook in a domestic space they become recently purchased objects, robbed of the enormous power they wield in their narratives, their dynamic energy stymied. Despite this reduction they remain irresistible in their cartoonish rage and pride.”

Check out more from Secret Identity below, and on Monk’s website.

"Clark Kent," by Simon Monk

"Donald Blake," by Simon Monk

If you’re a Spider-Man fan in need of a table and you also have $2,200 burning a hole in your web-lined pocket, allow me to draw your attention to this: a one-of-a-kind Spider-Man sculpture made from recycled metal and old automotive parts. While it is coated to protect the wall-crawler — or floor-crawler — from rust, it doesn’t come with the glass tabletop that will make the sculpture practical; you’ll have to shell out a little extra for that. You’ll also have to cover shipping costs from Thailand, which I imagine for a 110-pound object is probably pretty steep.

(via GreenDiary)

by Giorgio Comolo

The Kirby Museum’s Kirby Vision blog points to a gallery of Jack Kirby-inspired cosmic artwork by artist Giorgio Comolo, and the results are pretty astounding. Click on through to check out several pieces, including some DC/Marvel mash-ups like the Teen Titans vs. the X-Men in the shadow of the Anti-Monitor vs. Galactus, Silver Surfer vs. Orion and more.

Jason drew Robert Smith from The Cure. I just needed to point that out.

"It was nice knowing you, Colonel!"

Sam Hiti (Death-Day) redrew a panel from Tales of Suspense #78 and this is how it turned out. Somebody call that man for the next Strange Tales volume, please.

You can see the original Jack Kirby/Frank Giacola panel at Kirby-Vision.

Following yesterday’s Twitter-thon of artwork from DC’s “New 52″ titles, several more tweets featuring various pages from various books hit today — including another puzzle by David Macho that revealed the above Grifter art by CAFU.

Follow the hash tag #52splash for more, or check out additional pieces after the jump.

*****

Hawkman by Philip Tan

Captain Atom by Freedie Williams

Sinestro by Doug Mahnke

Dc Comics Presents Deadman

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Flash by Francis Manapul

Frankenstein by Alberto Ponticelli

Mr. Terrific