Scooby The Venomous Bat Hound

I may have had a bit too much exposure to Scooby Doo last weekend.

My sons are almost always up for a viewing of a Scooby Doo movie. For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the developments in the Scooby Doo empire since the original television series in the late 60’s and 70’s, there has been a lot more since. 

A whole lot more.

There have been an endless number of films in recent years (and I am not talking about the live action remakes) Scoob and the gang have been paired with everything and everyone from LEGOs to Kiss, to Batman to the WWE. And more movies are coming all the time.

I can’t say we have watched all of them...but perhaps all of them that the kids know about.

It is not exaggerating to say that I loathed the show when I was a kid....yes back when the original series was being broadcast, I am that old. I particularly disliked the munchies-stricken Shaggy and his similarly scraggly chin haired dog. 

As a parent, I have come to mostly amicably tolerate those meddling kids. Mostly because, well, there are much worse things out there to watch. (Although I do detest the contemporary incarnations where Velma is dolled up. Or even worse, where she and Shaggy are a romantic couple.)

But after my younger son watched several Scooby movies back to back last weekend, I felt my old hatred come creeping back.

Thus we have a napkin with a evil looking Scooby (I had already drawn him with three heads as Cerebus, so I had to try something else.) 

I couldn’t just make him look malicious and get away with it, so I dressed him as Batman’s companion, Ace the Bat hound. Ace was my younger son’s obsession during his preschool years. 

I borrowed the composition and style from a

“Batman Venom” cover by José Luis García-López. This is a paperback that collects “Legends of the Dark Knight” issues 16-20 and tells the story of how Batman falls apart physically and morally while taking a performance enhancing drug... kind of like my state after watching too much Hanna Barbera. Just kidding.

(And check out how nicely the shell pattern on the napkin lines up with Scooby’s mouth, or don’t...I can’t reasonably expect anyone else to be interested in that sort of thing...)

If John Constantine Were a Pug

Our younger son is still interested in the Marvel's Constantine character. He appreciates John's seedy, morally questionable nature...and his trench coat. 

We've read a couple comic series and watched the Keanu Reeves movie, but for some reason haven't dipped into the recent TV show yet.

I couldn't decide whether I should draw him in his comic, Keanu or Matt Ryan form.

The obvious solution was to draw him as a pug.

And on a side note, summer camp has started and both kids are taking a packed lunch. This means that theoretically I am on the hook for two napkins a night. We have some napkins left over from the proceeding school year, but they are proving to be strangely unsatisfying to the napkin recipients. So far I have kept up with the demand, despite the fact that I can no longer stay up late to do anything, much less draw on napkins.

But I have fallen far behind on the posting of the napkins.

And, as my sons can tell you, the quality of the output is really suffering.

Batman V Superman Pug Cosplay

The kids are of course looking forward to "The Dawn of Justice" because, you know, Batman is going to fight Superman WHILE WEARING POWER ARMOR.

My husband and I agreed that we could recall very little of the preceding Superman movie, although we were both pretty sure that we had taken the kids to see it.

The appearance of Wonder Woman seems like a potentially pleasant diversion... or a disaster, I suppose.

But Pugs! Always good!
Pugs in power armor? Even better.

As you can see, I did not quite get the pose right.  My younger son said, "What is he doing with that paw?" And the isolated Pug muzzle in the power suit makes the dog look more like a cat... Should have drawn Wonder Woman.... or not

Puppy Pugpool

My sons want to see the Deadpool movie that opened yesterday almost as much as they want a puppy.

Sad to say, this napkin is the best I can do for the moment.

There is a "Dogpool" and a "Pandapool" among others in the rather extensive "Deadpool Corps" in the Marvel universe. But no image comes up when one googles for "Pugpool"...well, nothing beyond a pool for pugs anyway.  The web abhors a vacuum- particularly one that could be filled with a puppy wearing a superhero costume.

We had an extensive series of super dogs in mostly DC outfits back in 2013 when our younger son was suffering from more acute feelings of pet deprivation. You can see some of those napkins at this link. Or more exhaustively (63 napkins and counting) at this link

Milo The Dog From "The Mask"

The entertainment at an 11 year old's birthday party over the weekend was a screening of "The Mask."  My sons initially found the movie far too slow and impossible to watch.  After a lot of whining and wandering in and out of the room, we finally arrived at the money shot of the movie as far as they were concerned- the wacky masked dog.  Suddenly, the entire thing was redeemed.

I was horrified to realize that "The Mask" is now 20 years old.  I mentioned this disturbing fact to our 7 year old, Ansel, and he argued with me that Jim Carrey, the star of "Mr Popper's Penguins" could not possibly be old enough to have been in a movie 20 years ago.  I added that while I am old enough to have been an adult 20 years ago, Mr. Carrey is even older than I am.

Ansel was quite certain that this was not possible.

Spawn Dog

Ansel was somehow reminded yesterday that he likes "Spawn."

I feel I should point out that this affection is not based on any actual exposure to the comic or movie.  His older brother has filled him in on the highlights of Spawn's powers and background.  Archer hasn't seen or read it either, but his comprehensive authority on all things pop culture is rarely derived from primary sources.

I think Ansel's interest is mostly about the costume and less about the powers or the references to Heaven and Hell.  I had a lot of trouble doing this costume with all of its animated red drapery justice late last night.

There hadn't been a super canine napkin for a while, so here we have Dylan the dog in the Spawn suit.  My apologies to Dylan's family. 

Axe Cop, Battlepug and Dr. McNinja

 

"Why must I be plagued by these ridiculous animals?'

We've been catching up on several web comics that we follow during bedtime reading over the last couple of nights.  

Axe Cop, Battlepug, and Dr. McNinja all embrace the ridiculous and often include "inappropriate" content... making them particularly delightful as far as our sons are concerned.

Le Brusier From Guarding the Globe

Reading the latest issue of "Invincible" last night, Ansel saw an ad that reminded him of the coolness of Le Brusier, the french super-powered canine member of the Guardians of the Globe.

Le Brusier has been shown smoking a cigarette and apparently is known for passing out in bars, so he is not exactly a role model for Kindergarteners....  But this only increases his appeal with my sons.

I left the cigarette off and did my best to make a french bulldog look focused and menacing, unfortunately at the expense of the breed's characteristic walleyed look. 

Connor from Assassin's Creed III As An Irish Wolfhound

When in doubt, draw a dog wearing a costume. 

I'm not sure why I thought an Irish Wolfhound was the right choice last night.  My knowledge of dog breeds is rather poor... although it has improved a bit recently thanks to the super canine series.  Maybe something incongruously cute would have been a better choice for the remorseless killer.

Beast Boy as a Yorkshire Terrier

I had been avoiding Garfield for the canine superhero series as I thought picturing Beast Boy as a dog was redundant.  But the question of the mysteriously disappearing costume made me think I should give it a shot.  As my kids would point out: sure he can transform from a single cell organism to a whale in moments, but where does the costume go?  That makes the whole thing implausible.

I don't think Beast Boy is on record anywhere as a Yorkie.  I'll admit that my brief research last night turned up several dog breeds from comic and televised appearances, including one in the contemporary "Teen Titans Go!" but there was not really enough source material to go, so I thought I would just go elsewhere.

Ansel always likes an insipidly cute dog, and I thought the contrast between the fluffy face fur and the spandex costume might be nice.  This is the sort of profound thought that I have at midnight.

And pie....of course.  My kids favorite part of the latest TV show was the song about pie.  And they don't particularly like pie.  It doesn't have enough frosting.

Teen Titans Raven as a Weimaraner

Both kids are eagerly anticipating the new "Teen Titans Go!" series airing tomorrow night.  Even when they are disenchanted with Batman, they are usually still interested in the Titans.

Ansel had neglected to put in a napkin request last night, so I thought Raven as a dog might be a safe bet.  We already have Robin as a Pug, Cyborg as a Bulldog and Starfire as a long haired Dachshund.  Beast Boy seemed problematically redundant.

But Raven was a no-go this morning.  Too girly.

Skull Brothers Dogs

Another canine version of characters from "Gladstone's School for World Conquerors":
I'm not sure what breed of dog they might be, it was another late night.

Kid Nefarious from Gladstone's School for World Conquerers as a Terrier

Today Kid Nefarious joins the canine superhero series.  Archer pointed out that his scarf should have "D" and "N" for "Dog Nefarious."  That sort of sophistication was clearly beyond me late last night.

Ansel has instructed me to give all of his friends copies of Gladstone's for their birthdays to get them up to speed.
And of course, we have contributed to the Kickstarter campaign for future issues.

Dark Pug

A rare untrademarked superhero image: 

Ansel requested a "dark Pug with glowing red eyes."

I decided to interpret the glowing eyes as goggles. This seemed to be acceptable to the 6 year old art director this morning.

Darkwing from Invincible as a Boxer

Darkwing is the Batman analog in the "Invincible" universe.  Despite not exactly being a good guy in his second incarnation, he is one of Ansel's favorites.  Here he appears as a perspectivally challenged boxer.  

Invincible Doberman

We are still working our way through the complete "Invincible" series.  Ansel was surprisingly pleased with this image of Invincible as a Doberman, our latest- and first non DC addition to the super canine series.  

Superman Beagle

It seemed like the DC super canine theme would be quite incomplete without a Superman, and a Beagle seemed like the right sort of clean cut all American breed to wear the red cape.

Ansel did not reject the napkin this morning, so perhaps my bad earth background was ok with him.

Green Lantern Toy Terrier

Green Lanterns have not been among the favorite DC heroes at our house.  The boys will grudging watch the current show on Cartoon Network as it falls before "Young Justice" and the Lanterns are included in "Justice League Unlimited" so they are certainly not entirely disinterested in the characters.

And Ansel did offer up that he would like to see a Green Lantern in the super canine series.  I imagine he was mostly trying to deflect me off the idea of doing a Batman dog.  (Infringing on Ace's territory, perhaps?)

I think the big goofy ears were enough to sell this one today.  Ansel did ask why the dog was carrying a lantern, but otherwise he did not offer any protests.

Wonder Woman Pitbull

Ansel was a big fan of Wonder Woman in the days before he received the message that boys should not like female superheroes in flashy outfits.

There was even a Halloween somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age where we discussed the possibility of a him wearing a boy version of a Wonder Woman costume. (There are plenty of female spin-offs of male heroes- Batgirl and Supergirl to name the obvious, but not so much in the other direction.  Where is "Wonder Boy"?)

I thought Diana ought to be represented by a pitbull as she is more physically powerful than many other  supers.  And her disposition is sometimes rather on the tenacious side.  That said, I am no authority as we don't follow her very closely around here because that would threaten our collective masculinity.

Looking at the napkin this morning, both boys chuckled uncomfortably.  Ansel told me that my choice of a Pitbull was inappropriate.  It took me a while to determine that his concern was that the word "Pitbull" sounds too much like "nipple"....and I guess when we are talking about Wonder Woman, breast related words naturally come to his mind.

Teen Titans' Starfire Dachshund

I finally pushed the super canine series past Ansel's comfort zone:  This one was just too girly and lacked a masculine mask.

I gave careful consideration last night to what sort of dog was going to do the Teen Titans' Starfire's flowing orange hair and tawny complexion justice, but the kids were not impressed.

I decided to use the Teen Titans television show design of Starfire's costume rather than the sublimely-ridiculous-on-a-dog (and just plain ridiculous on a human) comic book version of her costume.  While it would not be particularly sexy on a dachshund, the reference seemed a bit strong for Kindergarten.  

I find I am suffering from an urge to draw Wonder Woman as a Pit Bull, but I know that will not go over well.

Ansel took an old napkin to school this morning.