The inspiration for this comic evolved from three things.
The first and foremost inspiration is my dog, Zeke, who has a penchant for hunting and pretends to be bold, but only attacks prey which he outweighs by at least 10,000 to 1.
The second inspiration is the work of Alfredo Alcala, Barry Windsor-Smith and the rest of the great artists whose works in Curtis Magazines’ The Savage Sword Of Conan Comics in the 1970s were outstanding and inspiring for their technique and draftsmanship.
The final inspiration is the underground comix of Slow Death from Last Gasp for its wacky storylines and over the top violence.
I always wanted to draw a Barbarian comic but it really took until I owned a crazy Jack Russel/Chihuahua mix to finally motivate me to crank one out. I may do more Zeke The Berserker comics in the future if folks dig it and want to see more. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more.
Also I’d like to dedicate this comic to a deceased acquaintance and writer, C.J. Henderson. He was a damn fine writer whose work deserves more accolades than he ever got when he was alive. His work concentrated mostly on Lovecraftian influenced horror but he once told me he was also a big fan of Robert E. Howard who was the creator of Conan the Barbarian.
I got to know C.J. through my good friend Joe Mauceri, renowned genre film critic and horror writer. I would usually see C.J. at various sci-fi or horror film screenings. At the end of the film, as we were leaving the theater, his terse summations of the movies were always amusing. Mainly because they, more often than not, began with “WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!”
This comic is for you C.J. wherever you are.
Let’s hope this meets his approval. Otherwise I’m sure decades from now, on some ethereal plane, he’ll search me out to share his laconic opinion and displeasure with my work.
Enjoy this Comic? Then let me know and please share it.
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Glad Zeke has a hobby to occupy his time. I enjoyed reading your inspiration for this piece. Always good to flex your artistic muscles with a different style.