SOME FAIRLY FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FOUR FAN ART.

     Now that this here blog is back in business, I thought I'd post some pretty snazzy fan art of Johnny Storm I drew between laziness sessions during Winter Break. This just so happens to be the specific version that I imagine for my own Fantastic Four movie franchise idea. I'll just leave it at that on account of the all-too-true fact that if I started blabbing about my version, I'd be here 'til I run out of space on this post. And even if you can't run out of space on Blogger, I'd still somehow find a way.

#237: Eyesore the Eliminator

     Hello, 2016! You're much more 2015-like than I was expecting, but what the hey. You're here! Okay guys, time for my new character: Eyesore the Eliminator! Ozotonium is a prized and mysterious commodity in the JC-Verse. One injection/sip/soothing bath of the stuff and you'll be slingshotted approximately 3 to 5 notches up the evolutionary sequence. The population of Animaland was just your average petting zoo selection wandering about on a distant planet before consuming the stuff! So naturally, all you have to do is grab yourself some, stick it in your system, and sit back and wait for your new swaggalicious Superman-esque enhancements to kick in, right? Well, that's what a couple of black market monster-ologists thought when they tried to create their own anthropomorphic animal out of your average toad. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. When they injected the glowing green stuff into said unsuspecting amphibian, they mistakenly used impure Ozotonium, which . . . well, doesn't have quite the same effect. The result? The blobby barbarian you see before you. The monster-ologists were caught in the act and taken into custody, while their creature escaped, later acquiring the nickname Eyesore the Eliminator and coming to blows which such heroes as NightOwl and NunChuck. I think that was a pretty sufficiant lesson on the JC-Verse for one day. Cue "The More You Know":

A POST-HOLIDAY HELLO TO THE MASSES

     A merry belated Christmas Day to all! And happy Boxing Day to all those across the pond, up north, etc. Cheers to all those good ol' boxes. I hope you all enjoyed the 12 Characterz of Christmas! There may have been setbacks, mainly the occasional skipping of days due to schoolwork before break started, but I still managed to finish in time. Thanks a bunch to all of you who read along and participated in the merry-ocity! What will I be doing now that it's finished? Well, currently I'm enjoying the limbo period of laziness between Christmas and New Year's, and using my brand new phone to give all my family members weird personalized ringtones. But once 2016 hits, things are gonna get pretty crazy around here! I have a lot of fun new projects coming up, not all of which I can tell you about. Pinky promise I'm not Illuminati. So, for now, Merry Christmas and I'll see ya in the New Year! Now if you excuse me, I have some more nothing to attend to.

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#235 & #236: Carol and Eve

      Okay, time for the last two characters of the 12 Characterz of Christmas: Carol and Eve! I've already introduced you all to the person that protects the Christmas spirit, and now it's time for you to meet the ones that distributed it around the world. While the Keeper may hold onto the physical imbodiment of the urivaled cheer of the holiday season, he doesn't hold onto it itself. It doesn't just sit there, still,  permeating the December air without assistance - it has to be spread by those who already have it in their hearts. And their just so happens to be two spirits that always make sure that happens: Carol and Eve! Hailing straight from behind the pearly white gates, these sisters are assigned by the big man upstairs himself to disperse the feelings of peace and love that come with Christmastime. Invisible to any living souls, they merrily perform good deeds and mini-miracles from country to country. Because that's how you spread the Christmas spirit, folks. By doing good for others. Not everybody has happiness in their heart, but if you take time out of your day to brighten theirs, through a deed of any size, they might begin to. And who knows, maybe then they'll be compelled to spread the spirit, too, and the cycle will go on. PS, take it from me, you don't need a wagon full of festivity and spiritual powers to do this.

#234: The Good Mage Abe

     Okay, time for the 10th character in the 12 Characterz of Christmas: the Good Mage Abe! Jolliness doesn't just happen, people. Especially not when said jolliness is enough to spread across the globe and still have oodles to spare for next year. So, ol' Santa Clause must've learned his merry ways from someone, right? Well, he did. From a fellow bearded elder by the name of Abe! Back when Christmas was young, so was Kris Kringle, making knickknacks and befriending the reindeer owned by his foster parent, grumpy ranch owner Mr. Grusk. But one day, an old man came to town. Carrying a faintly-glowing pack over his shoulder, he moved his few belongings into a cabin down the road. Day after day, the curious Kringle snuck over after his ranch hand chores were finished and peaked into the cabin, awestruck by the sorcery the man was performing inside. He was stealthy each time - until he wasn't. The man called Abe could have shooed the boy off his property upon discovering him, but what he sensed in him was something truly for the ages. So he began teaching him a few things. Day after day for years, Kris would come over, mastering the magic that makes things fly and learning lessons of giving and such, until he became the grandiose giftgiver we know today. Imagine the looks on the neighbors' faces when he first made a sleigh fly and took it for a spin around town.

#233: Mrs. Clause (AKA The Tooth Fairy)

     Okay, it's the last day of the 12 Characterz of Christmas and I've still got 4 to post. Holiday game face time. Now, for the first of those final 4: Mrs. Clause (JC-Verse version, of course)! You know the Tooth Fairy? The mystical moler-collector of your kid years? The good ol' gal that leaves crisp dollar dollar bills under pillows across the globe? Yeah. That's Mrs. Clause. At this point you're probably thinking I got into some wonky expired fruit cake, but allow me to give you some background. After a few hundred years of sitting by the sidelines, Mrs. Clause got sick of it. She decided she didn't want to just be remembered as Santa's wife, as the woman behind the iconic beard n' belly. So, she decided to become her own fantasy figure and tap into a market about as reliable as kids' constant yearning for gifts: their loss of teeth. After "borrowing" a bit of the same magic dust that makes the sleigh and reindeer fly from the Clause vault, she began her mission to make a name for herself in the childhood whimsey industry. Santa still hasn't found out for sure, although he does have a suspision thanks to the dollars constantly being withdrawn from their joint bank account.

#232: Jack Frost (JC-Verse Edition)

     Tomorrow's Christmas Eve! I am both ready and not at all ready for this at the same time. Anywho, time for a new character of the 12 Characterz of Christmas: Jack Frost (JC-Verse Edition)! You all probably know of Jack Frost. Credited with nipping at the collective noses of the winter masses, he usually comes in the form of a mean ol' mischief maker or an aggressively-shipped Dreamworks protagonist. But it would seem the actual version is much different - well, in the ol' Jacob's Characterz! Universe, that is. The creature known as Frost came into being at the beginning of time itself, at the very center of the North Pole, as planet Earth's first fall was coming to a close. As part of the Grand Cycle, the below-zero being was created with the unquenchable annual desire to spread cold across the globe. Us homo sapien folk came to call this time "winter." Over time, Frost became fiercely protective of his polar lair. So, when Kris Kringle decided to build the Workshop right near it, naturally some tops were blown. Eventually, after trying intensely to fight his jolly invaders off in the Frost War, our bitter ol' ice entity finally let them settle in, but still loses it with them over space intrusion every once in a while. (All who now have "Ice Ice Baby" stuck in your heads like me, say aye.)

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#231: Groggnart: The Terrible Tin Solider

    Alrighty, now for the 7th Character of Christmas: Groggnart, the terrible tin soldier! Sorry, but it was only a matter of time before something extraterrestrial penetrated this Christmas shindig. But fear not, because it still comes in the handy-dandy form of an antique tin soldier! On the western rim of the Glarkan System, for over 200 zhargyears, Groggnart the shapeshifting bounty-bot has been doing all his unsavory bouny hunter activities, and with high productivity. With a single touch, his matter duplication application allows his to take the form of said thing no matter what it is. Those Transformer guys? He eats them up with a side of tapioca pudding and pure badness. Not literally, but still, you know. One day, however, he was assigned by his current employer to go allllll the way to a place called Earth for a job. If there's one thing that Return of the Jedi taught you besides "ewoks don't play," it's that jerky ominous bounty hunters always get their comeuppance. That applies to this, too. After a malfunction in his hovering tech while on said job, he went plummeting down to the surface of Earth below, landing directly on a tin soldier for sale at a holiday garage sale. Now, due to making such intense impact, he is indefinitely stuck shapeshifted as the antique figure, causing shame amongst his fellow criminal folk. I know a collector that would love to get his hands on this guy, but unfortunately he's in a different expanded universe's outer space.