Fabien M's flurry of action packed Street Fighter battles continues! After kicking some old Oro behind, Balrog continues his boxing rampage! (second part of Fabien M's Street Fighter battle royale)

As with most of the Muttpop art team, Gobi has a huge soft spot for Street Fighter. Gobi regularly proclaims his undying love for Street Fighter III 3rd Strike's eccentric cast. For Gobi, this incarnation of the Street Fighter series is the ultimate evolution of the Street Fighter character design. It's a grand mix of classic characters and quirky new contestants. Most of all, Gobi feels that the new characters are perfectly designed to visually represent their distinct fighting styles; a balanced matrimony of visual, style, and animation.

I have to admit, Street Fighter III went over my head when I first saw it. As a traditionalist, the newer characters were too bold for my tastes. But after talking to Gobi, I had a newfound appreciation for SF3's wacky inventiveness.

Below is Gobi's amazing contribution to Castuka Forum's "combat de art street fighting" section. Based on Gobi's tastes, his choice of competitors and victor come as no surprise! Images can be seen in sequence below:

A comic book reading buddy is letting me borrow her copy of the X-MEN: AGE OF APOCALYPSE mini-series from 1995-1996. Overall, it's got a nice epic feel... but suffers from the variety of writers and artists associated with the project. Since then, many of those artists have become Comic Book powerhouses but they hadn't quite grown into form when the miniseries originally came out. The artist of the moment in the mid-1990s was Joe Madureira. His work on X-MEN:AOA made him the "hottest" X-men artist since Jim Lee touched the book. Using a style that was heavily influenced by Japanese manga and the Capcom artists, he revolutionized the way mainstream comic artists approached character design and human anatomy. Mad's art isn't nearly as polished as I remembered; his designs are strong but you can see him cheating a lot in the way he creates environments and the inconsistent level of detail he uses from panel to panel. His style is cool, but it'd be even BETTER get some Capcom artists to do their take on Marvel superheroes... in a strike of good fortune, many fanboy dreams came true when Capcom licensed the Street Fighter and (later) Marvel characters in a series of 2D fighting games from 1996-2000. Madureira's work was good, but the Capcom games took things to a whole 'nother level! Just remember to ignore that awful music (yeah, I know... some of you guys actually dig the tunes!).

Some of my favorite character art from MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2 is below. More art can be found HERE.

I'm super looking forward to the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE film opening tonight. I'm a huge Spike Jonze fan. It seems like forever since we've seen something from him. I'm also a big fan of the immaculately designed monsters from the Wild Things children's book. I'm probably in the minority of kids that never owned a copy of the book... but I remember being captivated by the illustrations whenever I'd see it's oversized spine sticking out of a stack of children's book at the school library. I wasn't much of a children's book reader. But there was something very magical in those drawings that resonated with me from an early age.

Obviously, the book has resonated with kids and creative types for generations. I wanted to create an informal hub of many of the more interesting interpretations of Maurice Sendak's wonderful world of Wild Things:

CLICK HERE for a collection of large image files of Maurice Sendak's WILD THINGS illustrations on the Monster Brain Blog.

CLICK HERE for Vice's wonderful WILD THINGS blog with 24 artists interpretations (the Rege Jr and Harkham art below comes from here).

CLICK HERE for a look at McFarlane Toys beautiful WILD THINGS action figures from 2000.

CLICK HERE for Newsweek WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE interview with Author/Illustrator Maurice Sendak, Director Spike Jonze, and screenplay co-writer Dave Eggers.

CLICK HERE for an in depth NY Times interview with director Spike Jonze regarding the creative process behind the WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE film.

1983 John Lasseter Disney WILD THINGS ARE computer animation test:

WILD THINGS ARE 1973 Gene Deitch animated short:

Rafael Grampa is a force to be reckoned with! Few cartoonists or illustrators have impressed me or inspired me as much as Grampa! His intense linework manages to strike a balance between kineticism and grotesque detail. Everything he illustrates becomes his own. Even the most recognizable designs (like Batman or Daredevil's costume) becomes something refreshing through his interpretation. For more from this Brazilian cartoonist, be sure to look at his MESMO DELIVERY graphic novel. You can also find more information and artwork on Grampa's BLOG and FLIKR account.

Here are some dope illustrations from our good man Gobi (the illustrator behind our fabulous Tequila, El Panda, and Mini Gobi characters). You can't go wrong with some savage-lookin' scissor blade action and a majestic white owl ninja! As always, you can peak at Gobi's infrequent but always entertaining French mumblings over at the Goblog. Gobi's mind works far quicker than his hands. He's got universes in his head that he's just screaming to let out. It's scary to think that as great as the stuff he produces is... there's plenty more waiting anxiously to be unleashed.