Two More Strange Santas

As I said in December of 2006, I hate the holidays, but I get a weird kick out of drawing Santa Claus, (I'm sure it has something to do with those Rankin Bass Christmas specials). I particularly enjoy putting Santa slightly outside of his usual context. Here are two new ones.

The first is a drawing for a Christmas card from The Onion. In this case, the Onion folks approached me with a fully-realized concept. I thought it was a cute idea, and I was thrilled for the opportunity to work for The Onion. The "Stoop Santa" drawing appears on the card's front, and when you open it, the caption reads, "he's real, yo."

I worked with Glenn Severence and Colin Tierney at The Onion's NYC office, and these cards are available for purchase here: http://store.theonion.com/he-iis-i-real,-yobrholiday-card-set-p-282.html





The next one is a concept that was all my own. Sal Canzonieri of the band Electric Frankenstein asked me to come up with a poster for their December East Coast tour with The Damned. Here's the result, with all the type removed for your viewing pleasure.

Four Obamas

Whew. Historically, when I've given money to a campaign, it meant that they'd either lose or drop out, (Dean, Kerry & Edwards). What a pleasure to see things done right for a change!

Here are four Obama illos from the campaign, in chronological order. The first was drawn in September 2007 for Aaron Huffman at The Stranger.



The drawing of a monitor bursting with candidates was for John Elsasser at PRSA's The Strategist in January 2008. A note about this illo: originally, this drawing had Law & Order's Fred Thompson at the top of the group, but just as I was turning in the final art, Thompson dropped out, and Mike Huckabee was on the rise. I did a quick revise, patching in Huckabee's head over Thompson's.





The drawing of Obama painting himself into a corner was a cover illo for C&E Politics, drawn in June 2008 for Jeff Brown. The original concept had Obama and Hillary Clinton engaged in a squabble over who'd slung the most mud. I thought this was a stronger concept, but for whatever reason, the folks at C&E Politics opted for a solo Obama.





Finally, at the close of a Summer laden with cinematic superhero blockbusters, we have Obama and McCain clad in brightly-colored spandex. This was a cover illo for Creative Loafing Tampa, drawn for Jason Hatcher in September 2008. This drawing was a real treat; not only did I get to draw the candidates, but I got to have a crack at few iconic superheroes, which is always fun.

Rudy Ray Moore R.I.P.

To mark the passing of entertainer & Blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore, (aka DOLEMITE) here's a drawing I did of the man from 1996, in the midst of the Clinton/Dole election. This illo ran in Tower Records' Pulse Magazine.

If you look closely at the color, you'll see brushstrokes and all kinds of variations in the color. This was 1996, just before I started coloring my illos digitally. Pre-1997, every color illo I did had to be shot onto a transparency, and then painted with Cel Vinyl animation paint, a process I don't miss one bit. Inevitably, I would end up holding a blow dryer over the art, desperately trying to dry the paint so I could drop the thing off at FedEx before they shut their doors.

I'm kinda bummed about Rudy Ray Moore's death. I figured he was immortal.

TYPHON Volume One now available through PayPal!

TYPHON Volume One is now available online via PayPal!
$24.95 includes free shipping & handling within the continental US
(US orders only until further notice).
Order securely online via PayPal!

TYPHON Press Release and Sample Panels

(scroll down past press release for thirteen art samples from TYPHON Volume One)

DIRTY DANNY PRESS is proud to announce publication of a new, full-color, 192 page comics anthology called "TYPHON," available in Summer 2008.

TYPHON features new work by forty-two talented cartoonists from across the US, Canada, South America and Europe. TYPHON's contributor list includes many favorites of the alternative comics scene, as well as a number of exciting talents who will be new to most readers.

TYPHON is edited and published by Danny Hellman, who brought readers the acclaimed comics anthologies LEGAL ACTION COMICS Volumes 1 & 2 in 2000 and 2003.

“TYPHON is a departure from my previous projects, “ says editor Hellman. I’d initially set out to do a third volume in the Legal Action series, but as the contributions started coming in, I realized that I was looking at a far more ambitious book than what I’d done previously. The work presented in TYPHON covers a wide spectrum of what’s possible in comics, from zany, offbeat humor to unnerving existential angst, and on to chilling horror, all of it brought to life with breathtaking, cutting-edge artwork.”

Hellman comments, “as a comics reader, I’m a big fan of the anthology format. I first came across the work of many of my favorite cartoonists in anthologies like ARCADE, WEIRDO, RAW and DRAWN & QUARTERLY. I’m proud to carry on in the tradition of those legendary titles, and I believe that TYPHON will stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the bookshelf next to them.”
“Anthologies give us the opportunity to enjoy work by talented cartoonists who, for whatever reason, don’t produce enough material to fill out solo books. As an editor of anthologies, I’m excited to provide a showcase for artists and work that we might not see otherwise. Diversity makes for a richer comics scene.”

Danny Hellman is an internationally-published illustrator whose drawings have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, and in countless other publications.


A partial list of TYPHON contributors' credits reads as follows:
Glenn Head- Hotwire, Snake Eyes
David Paleo-House of Twelve, Hotwire
R. Sikoryak- Hotwire, Drawn & Quarterly
Tim Lane- Hotwire
Danny Hellman- DC's Bizarro World & Big Books series, Last Gasp Comix & Stories
Henriette Valium- Zero Zero, Le Dernier Cri
David Chelsea- David Chelsea in Love
Rupert Bottenberg- Cyclope, Real Stuff
Tobias Tak- Hotwire, Blood Orange
Eric Thériault- Real Stuff, Veena
Fiona Smyth- Twisted Sisters, Nocturnal Emissions, Drawn & Quarterly
Victor (Bald Eagles) Cayro- Kramer's Ergot, Project: Superior, House of Twelve
Ken Avidor- Punk Magazine, Comical Funnies, Stop, Weirdo
Gregory Benton- Dirty Stories, DCs Big Books series, World War Three Illustrated, Project: Telstar
Rick Trembles- Motion Picture Purgatory, Sugar Diet
Pshaw- St. Ink, Arthur Magazine
Hans Rickheit- Kramer's Ergot, Paper Rodeo, Chrome Fetus Comics

ISBN: 978-0-9709363-3-2
Price: $24.95 US
For mature readers


For review copies and interviews, please contact Danny Hellman
hellman@dannyhellman.com

TYPHON
c/o Danny Hellman
P.O. Box 901
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113-0901

Complete list of TYPHON’s contributors:
Ken Avidor, Derek Ballard, Gregory Benton, Rupert Bottenberg, DJ Bryant, Mark Campos, David Chelsea, Chris Cilla, Max Clotfelter, Patrick Dean, Bald Eagles, Chance Fiveash, Richard Gagnon, Nicholas Gazin, Robert Goodin, Glenn Head, Danny Hellman, Hugo, Hawk Krall, Tim Lane, Jeff LeBlanc, Pat Moriarty, Cliff Mott, David Paleo, Lorenz Peter, Grant Reynolds, Hans Rickheit, Pshaw, R. Sikoryak, Doug Skinner, Fiona Smyth, Steak Mtn., Takeshi Tadatsu, Tobias Tak, Eric Theriault, Matthew Thurber, Motohiko Tokuta, Rich Tommaso, Rick Trembles, Henriette Valium, Dalton Webb, & Chris Wright,