Hm. How best to explain this thing?
Periodically online, you see that age-old question pop up again: “Where do ideas come from?” Just speaking for myself, they can strike at very odd times. This one hit me as I was driving up I‑5 one day to go visit a friend. Just, “boom,” there it was in my brain. And as I’ve mentioned before, sometimes an idea will just lodge itself in my brain, and I can’t get it out unless I actually do it. So here it is.
Some of you will know that Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp was a live action Saturday morning show where they put a bunch of chimpanzees in costumes and filmed them. I think I read somewhere that they gave them food or some kind of chewing gum to get their mouths moving, and then the voice actors would later dub in their parts, trying to get some semblance of lip sync. I’m pretty sure it’s not exactly a show you could do today, for a number of reasons.
Many will also realize that this is a re-creation/reinterpretation of the cover of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6, by Jim Steranko. Apologies to Mr. Steranko, whom I have nothing but respect for, but I had to get this out of my brain!
It’s a Gold Key cover, and not Marvel, because Gold Key was the company who held pretty much all the comics licenses to all the Saturday morning shows at this point. They actually published Lancelot Link comics back then. Those who’ve seen the show might be wondering, “What’s with the red hair? He didn’t have that on TV.” The artists drew him that way in the comic (I’m guessing to make him more visually identifiable among all the other chimps in the stories), so I followed their lead.
This image ended up being a lot more complicated to execute than I had originally envisioned in my mind. Sometimes I think I must have some kind of a masochistic streak as an artist. Often I’ll get deep in the midst of things like this, find it more complex and involved than I expected, and think, “Why do I always do this to myself?” I’m sure I can’t be the only artist who does this.
Hope you enjoy my silliness here!
Fun. I know absolutely nothing about this character. I am going to have to find an episode to view. Wonderful interpretation of a period cover. With all the chimps trying to run the world these days, it is great to see a hero arise to clean up the mess. Lots of opportunity for fan fic with this one. The red hair gives the sort of Kookie Burns after glow to the character. Nice touch. I will look for a comb in the tool kit. Thanks.
Glad you liked it, Joe. The show is kind of an odd remnant from my childhood Saturday mornings. Reportedly created by writers who worked on The Carol Burnett Show, who quit to do this.