Public Domain Characters Day 12

Last one! I cheated here and deliberately chose this character to finish off, rather than rely on the random button. It's Thor, of course - the Fox Comics version from the '40s. Put your shirt on, Thor – you're frightening the ladies!

I should be home from my mini convention tour by the time this goes live (I'm writing this a couple of weeks in advance), which probably means I'll be sharing the sketches I did at Baltimore and SPX here tomorrow.

Public Domain Characters Day 11

The Duchess from Alice in Wonderland - supposedly John Tenniel based her likeness on Margaret, Countess of Tyrol, who was supposed to have been the ugliest woman who ever existed. The funny thing is, my brother used to know a bloke who was a dead ringer for Tenniel's picture in Alice. (Only without the enormous wimple, or whatever that thing on her head is.)

Public Domain Characters Day 10

The Bogey Man. As Spirit knockoffs go, I give them credit for not just calling him another name for "ghost", although I suspect Jack Cole's Midnight is the winner for originality in this particular game. If William Powell had played him in the movies him he could have been a smash hit.

Public Domain Characters Day 9

Britannia. The traditional version is somewhat more idealised, but I rather see the old girl as a bit more down-to-earth than that.

Public Domain Characters Day 8

Lion Boy! Apparently he thinks the lion is his brother. Shall we break it to – ? Oh, well, never mind.

Public Domain Characters Day 7

This is Lightning, from the THUNDER Agents. Why does he have lightning bolts drawn on his chest? Because there wasn't room to write "I'm a Boring Bastard."

Public Domain Characters Day 6

Of all the characters that came up, I think this is the only real dog of the bunch. He's a character called Grey Comet. He takes pictures from planes. That's it! He appeared in something called "Camera Comics". 

Public Domain Characters Day 5

Radior? Radior?? Really?

Public Domain Characters Day 4

This is a character called Countess Siroon, and her mount is apparently a beast from Hell itself. Works for me.

Public Domain Characters Day 3

Zeus! This version is the Fawcett Comics version, from Captain Marvel.

Public Domain Characters Day 2

Today's forgotten loser is some dude called The Scorpion. I prefer the way this guy looks to the Spider-Man villain of the same name, personally...

Public Domain Characters Day 1

So I'm on my way to the Baltimore Comic Convention early tomorrow morning (come and say hello!), after which I'll be attending SPX, and will largely be away from computer screens for a couple of weeks as a result. Unfortunately, in a moment of foolishness this January, I resolved to post something every day this year. What to do, what to do?

Well, this. I have been thinking about public domain characters recently for one reason and another, and I stumbled across this jolly little website in my researches. Rather wonderfully, they've got a button you can press that will throw up a randomly-selected public domain character every time you whack it. So I hit it a dozen times, made a note of who came up, and belted out twelve little drawings earlier today which I'll be posting one at a time until I return from the Americas. These were totally random, so the uncanny suitability of a couple of them really took me by surprise.

Anyway, here's #1 - Xog, King of Saturn. I could draw this guy all day...