#FanArtFriday GLADIATOR

Check out this fan art I drew this week of X-Men villain and Superman knockoff GLADIATOR.
 

This alien warrior-turned-emperor of the Shi'ar has all the powers of DC's flagship hero: Limitless strength, speed and invulnerability... but without the humble farm-boy alter-ego. 

The Shi'ar Imperial Guard was a team created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, as Marvel knock-offs for the popular DC team the Legion of Super Heroes, a massive assemblage of alien heroes from different worlds bound together to fight evil in the universe.  Gladiator is the analog of Superboy (a teenage version of Superman who time-traveled to the future). 

In the Marvel Universe, we meet the Shi'ar Imperial Guard when they are confronting the power of the Phoenix, which was at the time embodied within founding X-man Jean Grey. In defending the empire from the threat of the Phoenix as part of  Claremont & Byrne's much-celebrated Dark Phoenix Saga, the Imperial Guard hand the mighty X-Men an iconic ass whupping. But I didn't read that until I was an adult.  I learned about the nigh-invincible leader of the Imperial Guard when he showed up in Fantastic Four #249-250 and handed out an even more glorious beat-down to Marvel's first family all by himself...

Before Gladiator can completely tear the earth apart looking for the shape-shifting aliens he was chasing, the FF's resident very stable genius Reed Richards wakes up from his beating to figure out that the key to Gladiator's power is largely mental.  If his confidence can be broken, his body will fall. 

Maybe you can relate...


I definitely needed to channel my inner Gladiator this week, so I colored this drawing after getting back from taking my mom to her fourth (but not last) doctor visit of the week.  Even though he is generally portrayed as a bad guy, Gladiator is a fun example to think about, because his confidence and dedication are actually the funnel that enables him to access near limitless power and possibility.

Anyways, I drew Gladiator on a 110lb cardstock paper with Microns and a Pitt Brush marker, and colored it with various water-based markers.  If you want it, you can click the button to buy it for $30.25 (includes free domestic shipping).
  

Have a GREAT weekend!
-"someAX!"

Samax Amen is a professional Content Developer, Illustrator and Cartoonist. He is the artist of many great comics you never heard of like Herman Heed, Champion of Children, The Brother and The World As You Know It. He even writes and draws his own comics, like Dare: The Adventures of Darius Davidson, Spontaneous, and Manchild when he gets around to it. Because making comics is hard and stuff, he started GhettoManga as a blog in 2006 and as a print magazine in 2008.



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