Here Comes--The Spider-Mobile? Look Out For The Captain Americar? 1976 Madness!

As a kid, I was often inspired by not only the comic books themselves, but also the myriad merchandise that was constantly lobbed at us hardcore superhero fans! The leading juvenile juggernaut of the era, was, of course, the madcap Mego manufacturers, who lead the way with an expansive line of Marvel and DC Comics-based toys and figures, encompassing a large variety of superheroes and super-foes from the two combative companies! Below is my high-octane illustration spotlighting two oddball creations from Mego in 1976: custom vehicles made for Spider-Man and Captain America! Sure, these two swinging superheroes never needed any form of four-wheeled transportation (tho Spidey did have an irony-drenched "Spider-Mobile" for a bit in the mid-70s comics), but these dragsters sure looked swell to my 11-year-old eyes! Click below to enlarge!

Nope! Tho I immortalized these double diesel-powered doozies
in pencil and crayon, I never actually owned them as a kid!

BONUS! Gaze below to see the actual titanic toys that inspired the above drag-racing drawing!

The Batman Strikes! 1977 Albert Bigley Original Art! DC Comics?

Another "gem" from my vault of childhood drawings! This time, take a look at this 1977 pencilled piece, a shameless cop of the then-current (and very exciting) Batman as seen in the pages of DETECTIVE COMICS! The great new art team of Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin was beginning their still-heralded run on the Dark Knight, adding a ton of mood and mystery to the strip, and it certainly wowed a 12-year-old me! Click below to enlarge!

Above: The indelible inspiration for my pencilled pin-up, from DETECTIVE
COMICS #468! Art by Marhsall Rogers and Terry Austin (who would one day
 ink my own pro comics work)!

Batman! Violent and Out of Control! 1976 Albert Bigley Art! DC Comics?!

Let's take a look at not one, but two terrific (?) images drawn by me (age 11) in 1976! These twin powerhouses (attempt to) depict an angry version of the Batman, swinging into full violent action against some very unfortunate thugs and crooks! I was trying to emulate the work of artist Neal Adams, who had fairly recently brought the "Dark Knight" back to his more vicious "street-level" roots in the comics, which meant tons of grunting, straining, hollering, and hitting (from Batman, not me)! Click below to enlarge and wonder why!

What exactly is Batman doing to that poor thug in
the upper left? Did he also tear off the guy's shoulder?!

POK-A-CHOC! The Caped Crusader seems darned 
casual in that pose to the right, no? 

Above: The inspiration for my 1976 bat-drawings,
an example of Neal Adams' 70s Batman!

True Tales of a Young Comics Fan! "The Great 1976 Marvel Steal!" Bronze Age Mayhem!

And now for something completely different! Here is an all-new custom comic strip, detailing an emotional encounter I had in 1976 (at age 11) with a stack of (what then seemed like) very old Marvel comic books, a heap I had to own! Read about my reaction to those still-treasured comics, and my conscience-tossed final decision, in this fun and frivolous funny fumetti! Click below to enlarge!

Almost every comic Miss Serpico (yes, that was her name) had stowed in 
that rear cubby all came from late 1972! She said they once belonged to her 
brother, so he musta went on a one-month comic-buying kick...

It was actually fun trying to fit the 4-year old books into then-current (and 
fairly new to me) Marvel continuity ("There was a 1950s Captain America and 
Bucky?! The Vision has issues with the Grim Reaper? Neal Adams drew for Marvel?!)...
I had also never owned comics with the famed (and short-lived) Marvel "box design" 
covers, and loved that look then and now!

BONUS! Peer below to see the exact comics involved in the above loopy love story!

Batman vs. Dracula?! The Custom Aurora Kit You Never Saw! DC Comics!

Fresh from the pages of SHADOWLAND magazine, here is one fan's very creative imagining of a meeting between those two cape-wearing creatures of the night--Batman and Dracula! This feverish fan (using the moniker "Davey Horror") used both classic 60s Aurora model kits to produce a dynamic diorama that joins these two terrors in blistering battle! He was also inspired by the famed 1976 issue of DETECTIVE COMICS #455, from 1976, an incredible issue that depicted Batman meeting a voracious vampire (whom artist Mike Grell modeled on horror actor Christopher Lee)! A great job all around! Click images below to enlarge!

BONUS! Click below to see another custom Batman Aurora kit, from the same mind-blowing magazine!

This talented customizer created his own "Golden Age" Batman kit, using the
early black-and-gray costume color scheme, the plain "moon-less" bat
chest logo, and overall subdued color scheme!


BONUS BONUS! Glance below to see yet another colossal custom kit, using the same basic Aurora Batman kit! 

Of course, this diorama re-creates the famed "Batman vs the shark" scene from the
1966 BATMAN theatrical movie, with Adam West as the Caped Crime-Buster!

Ring Around the Rhino! 1976 Albert Bigley Artwork! Marvel Comics?!

Another great one (?) from my archives! Here is my "fact sheet" on the famed Spider-Man foe, the Rhino! Drawn by me in 1976, at age 11, this was to be the start of a massive fact file on such sinister and sordid super-villains! But, alas, this (and a few other drawings) was as far as I got, before being distracted by other awesome (and unfinished) artistic matters that also involved cramming my artwork into an electric typewriter! The brain-teasing question still remains--for whom exactly was such a voluminous file intended? Click below to enlarge, art lovers!

Have fun counting all the typos and misspellings above! Long-time fans will note that
my synopsis of Rhino's life and times above bear no relation to his actual origins in
the comics! I had no access to his first appearance then, and made up my own story!

Spider-Man Unmasked?! 1976 Albert Bigley Comic Art?! Marvel?!

Look at what my vast team of researchers has just unearthed! Here's another one of my meticulous comic cover re-creations, drawn by me at age 11, in 1976! My love for the fabulous artwork of John Romita, Sr. was, even then, firmly entrenched in my heart and mind, and you can sure see that in this drawing! Using the cover to this Spider-Man reprint as my guide, I just had to imitate the way JRSR drew Spidey, Peter Parker, his pals, and even their snazzy (tho very dated by '76) clothing! Romita excelled not only with high-flying superhero action, but in drawing "real people," folds, locales, and backgrounds! Everything drawn by him seemed wonderfully perfect! Click to below to enlarge!

Note how often I erased and re-drew Spidey's "sad" eyes, and the clothing
on the characters! I also couldn't resist changing (gasp) Stan Lee's snazzy
cover dialog! I also recall hating drawing on graph paper!
But, when that was all ya had...

FANTASTIC FOUR?! 1976 Albert Bigley Art! Human Torch! Marvel Comics?!

Presenting yet another attempt, by me, to draw the ever-fabulous Fantastic Four! Sure, this ain't bad for an 11-year old in 1976, but how wobbly can ya get? Where is the Thing's thumb? To what is Mr. Fantastic anchored? What's the deal with the Human Torch's sqishy hands? And--is that the Invisible Girl or the Invisible Man?! Sheesh! Click to enlarge!

I was going for a 3-D feeling of depth here, hence the quartet stepping out of (and overlapping) their "frame..."

Spider-Man vs. The Sandman! Huge 1976 Albert Bigley Comic Art! Marvel Comics?!

Dig this huge (11 by 17 inches!) pencil drawing I did at age 11, in 1976! Here we have a harried Spidey facing off against the sinister Sandman! Looks familiar, does it? That's right, I lifted it unashamedly from the cover of the then-spanking-new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #154! I simply wanted a large poster of this cover, another stellar example of the art of the incredible John Romita Sr., and it was up to me to make that poster a reality! This gem even has tape on it, from when I had displayed it! Click to enlarge!

You can tell I really struggled with the heads and faces, wanting to capture
Romita's perfect renditions fully!  He's still the Spider-Man artist to me!

BONUS! Look below to see the actual 1976 cover that inspired my own incredible (?) re-creation!

Robin, the Teen Wonder! 1976 Albert Bigley Art! "SOFFK!" DC Comics?!

Another blast from my past! This time, it's a riotous Robin pencil illustration, done by me in 1976 (at age 11)! I was trying to imagine and design a group of possible scenarios that would look swell as model kits, complete with nice 3-D dioramas and backgrounds, much as the fine Aurora hero kits were presented! Alas, it was all simply wishful thinking, as the Aurora folks had already made (and re-issued) their one and only Batman and Robin kits by then, but...Dig those speed strokes and ghost images! The "Teen Wonder" is belting that poor thug (or is he supposed to be the Joker?) so hard, his gun (or smoking candy bar) is being sent flying! And, is that blood coming offa Robin's left glove?! Yikes! Click to enlarge!

A Loving Portrait of Mike Nesmith?! 1976 Albert Bigley Art! The Monkees!

Here we go again, with another piece of art from my wild and wooly youth! I take yet another stab at drawing the Monkees (at age 11, in 1976), this time zeroing in on mighty Michael Nesmith, the singer/songwriter of the group, and the most succesful solo member! Oh, did I mention his mom, a secretary/commerical artist, created a little something called "Liquid Paper?" Sure, most typists and clerical workers now work on computers, but ask any artist how valuable this little item still is! As I did with my other magnificent (if somewhat melty) Monkees portraits, I lifted this nifty Nez image from the cover of the RCA "Laurie House" 2-LP set, offered as a TV promotion that same year! What are you waiting for? Get off your "big dogma" and click to enlarge! How many fans get that inside reference?

Rock and Roll SPIDER-MAN! 1976 Albert Bigley Original Comic Art! The Lizard!

One of my first impressions of the ever-amazing Spider-Man came via the famous (and INfamous) 1972 super-groovy LP, SPIDER-MAN--A ROCKOMIC! This, along with afternoon reruns of the 1967 SPIDER-MAN cartoon, had me becoming a die-hard arachnid aficionado at the tender age of seven! What made it even sweeter were the stellar illustrations by Spidey's best-known artist, John Romita, Sr.! The ROCKOMIC LP came slathered with JRSR's gorgeous graphics not only on the front and back, but also within an eye-popping interior gatefold Spidey strip, too! Plus, the whole pulsatin' package came with a poster of the LP front that still hangs on my wall today! So, it was inevitable that, a few years down the road, I'd try my young hand at drawing much of the art from this audio treasure! Take a glance below, to see my feverish scrawlings based on the beautiful back cover of this rollickin' rock rarity! Altho only eleven years old when I attempted this, I just had to try to master that sense of weight, dynamic anatomy, and lush inking that Romita (seemingly) so easily displayed in his work! How'd I do? Don't answer that, just click below to enlarge..

I can still recall my concerned Mom, eyeing this LP suspiciously in a department store in Cherry Hill, NJ, as I begged and pleaded
for the purchase of this treasure! She thought, based on the exterior of the album, that it was way too "adult" and
frightening for a 7-year-old me, but she relented, and I've never been the same since, God bless her!

Batman! Lord of the Rings? 1976 Albert Bigley Art! Joker! Two-Face! DC Comics?!

Yet another big one from my artistic past! Enamored with a then-novel multi-part story in the BRAVE AND THE BOLD team-up title in mid-1976, I just had to reproduce one of the stellar Jim Aparo-drawn covers from that riotous run! But, an 11-year old me just didn't have the skills of a seasoned industry vet like Aparo then, so this is what ya got! Batman rides a decidedly 2-D paper horse! Green Arrow is threatened by a mere knife on a pole (since I didn't leave room for his would-be executioner)!  And, I tipped the "gimmick" of the story by showing that it was the tiny titan himself, the Atom, who was secretly maneuvering the ring (hung from a limb held by Two-Face?!) so as to allow the Caped Crusader a clear shot at wining GA's freedom! Urk! Click image below to enlarge!

Dontcha just love how the Atom has his minuscule feet hooked 
under the inner part of the ring? Such realism!

All The Way With BOB & RAY! 1976 "Rorshack" Spoof! Who Needs Kojak?

Ah, the 70s. One colorful issue of the young person-oriented BANANAS (school book-club-ordered) magazine yielded articles and pics on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, Burt Reynolds (complete with giant color fold-out poster), recycling, the 1950s SUPERMAN TV show, and--Bob & Ray?! Yep! In those days of varied subject reading material, these mags were a real collection of humor, comics, pop culture, crafts, and just plain fun! And what could be more fun than reading a wonderful transcript of Bob & Ray's own KOJAK cop show take-off, RORSHACK? Well, hearing that gut-busting spoof would be preferable, but just imagine the dry, nasally voices of B&R as you read this, and away you go! Click to enlarge, look, laugh, and love, and remember to hang by your thumbs!

The Monkees and MIKEY Dolenz?! 1977 Albert Bigley Original Art!

Ouch! Here is my own lovingly-rendered 1977 portrait of the Monkees' own dynamic drummer, Micky Dolenz! Of course, I somehow re-named him "Mikey" Dolenz, but I was 12, and my spelling skills weren't quite up to snuff, so cut me some slack! Taken from the cover of the RCA "Laurie House" Monkees 2-LP set that was offered the previous year (great set, but a dreadful and cheap cover), I managed to make Micky look like a distorted version of Chuck Woolery! Click here to see some of his bandmates from the same frenzied drawing session! Click image below to enlarge!

SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN?! 1976 Albert Bigley Artwork! Kenner Toys?!

Lest you think that the mighty Marvel and DC superheroes were all I drew as a kooky kid, take a gawk at this wonderful pencil illo (by me, age 11, in 1976) of sturdy Steve Austin himself! While never a big fan to the slow and dull SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN show, I did like the art as seen in the ubiquitous mid-70s comics ads for bionic-based toys, action figures, and accessories! I even tried hard to capture the likeness of once-major actor Lee Majors, with his dull expression and ever-lifted left eyebrow! In my drawing, he looks like an over-excited peeping tom! Why this was etched onto graph paper is a mystery for the scholars of this and future ages! Click to enlarge!

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!? 1976 Albert Bigley Comic Art! Marvel Comics?!

Yowza! I found just the thing to wet your appetite for this summer's big-screen AVENGERS movie! Here is my swingin' 1976 illustration of the mighty assemblers in mind-bursting battle action! The gang's all here! Not only Captain America, but Iron Man, and those sensational and sexy (?) super-heroines, Hellcat and (a very large) Scarlet Witch! What do ya want from an 11-year-old me?! Sheesh! At least I was quite forward-thinking, adding the high-flying Falcon a full three years before he'd be officially added to the team! Click to enlarge!

Spider-Man Meets Captain America! 1976 Albert Bigley Art! Marvel Comics?!

Back again with more blasts from my past! Here is some brain-blistering artwork, drawn by me in 1976, (age 11), of the simply spectacular Spider-Man, teaming with the ever-compelling Captain America! Completely and shamelessly lifted (on graph paper?!) from the cover of SPIDEY SUPER STORIES #17, I just had to try to capture some of that John Romita, Sr. (the cover's original artist) magic! How'd I do? Don't answer that, just click to enlarge!

"Batman Dies Big!" 1976 Albert Bigley Original Comic Art! DC Comics?!

Another blockbuster from my artistic past! For some odd reason, I was possessed to re-create the 1968 BATMAN tale, "Die Small--Die Big!" I only had the later 1975 "Super Spec" reprint, but that sure didn't stop me from bogarting the awe-inspiring art (originally by Bob Brown and Joe Giella)! Did I feel I needed practice drawing actual comics pages with real storytelling? Did I have a new twist for the story in mind? Who knows, but it's fun to look at these two pages (all I managed to do before moving on to more exciting pastures), drawn by me at age 11! Not even the first time I tried this, either! Click to enlarge!

Odd how I cut out characters and dialog I musta thought were superfluous! Who has time for
all that extra writing?

Here Comes The MONKEEMOBILE! The Monkees' Custom Ride! 1976 Albert Bigley Art!

Ugh. Dig my 1976 drawing of the fabulous custom "muscle car," The Monkeemobile! I was inspired by the then-recent re-issue of the model kit (inexplicably re-purposed as "Fonzie's Dream Rod"--See pic below!) of the famous modified 1966 GTO, but my art skills had a long way to go yet! I tried to capture the sleek curves, the wild exposed engine and blower, and the elongated front and rear fins, but the car ended up looking more like an oddly smashed station wagon! NOT something the Monkees would be seen riding in! Click to enlarge!

Below: The odd re-casting of the Monkeemobile kit it in 1976, into "the Fonz Dream Rod!? FUN FACT: The Monkees' own Micky Dolenz auditioned for the role of "Fonzie" when HAPPY DAYS was first being cast!