#tom mandrake

[bobbole]

Dream - art by Tom Mandrake

[thehauntedrocket]

Man-Thing

Art by Tom Mandrake

[superman-the-secret-third-thing]

Martian Manhunter and Superman

I always thought they should be close friends- there's a deep empathy shared between the two, a sorrow that really only they understand- be even still, J'onn has seen his demons first-hand.

Source: Martian Manhunter #0 "Pilgrimage" (1998) by writer John Ostrander and artist Tom Mandrake

[comicartarchive]

Spectre 17 pg1 by Tom Mandrake

[writing-for-life]

Morpheus meets Matthew—The Rest Is History…

Swamp Thing: Final Payment (#84, March 1989)—Rick Veitch (writer), Tom Mandrake (penciller) & Alfredo Alcala (inker)

I’ve been itching to share these for our community re-read of “Into the Night” (#15).

Some of you might recognise these panels, but not everyone has read Swamp Thing (or watched the one season they gave us), and this is the first and only time Morpheus appears in it. So for those of you who don’t know and always wondered who Matthew was before he became a raven, here comes a bit of background info (spoilery, so skip if that’s not your thing):

Matthew Cable has been part of Swamp Thing since the very first issue in 1972. He was a government agent assigned to protect scientist Alec Holland and his wife (who were developing a biological formula to end world hunger) but failed to save them. He then mistakenly believed the Swamp Thing was the killer of Holland (the Swamp Thing initially also believed he was an altered form of Alec—all very convoluted, partly retconned at some point, too, but in short: When Alec was killed, his body was drenched with the formula, which affected the plants in the swamp. They basically formed a new organism that held his memory).

Lots of stuff happened in the years in between, and I won’t go into it all here, but suffice it to say that when Matthew the Raven admits he’s not always been a good person, that’s a bit of an understatement.

The Sandman #15, “Into the Night”

In short: He basically lost his mind, but that also gave him powers (to alter reality no less, ha! No wonder he piqued Dream’s interest 🤣). Unfortunately, Matt didn’t exactly use those powers for good (since he could only really access them when drunk or severely distressed, he had “wonderful” ideas like manipulating reality for creations he could have sex with, and those acts got more and more grotesque as time passed). That obviously wasn’t great for his marriage to Abigail Arcane (or rather: Holland at the time he meets Morpheus). Now you know why he got so excited about strip clubs in Brief Lives 🙈.

Matthew then had a car accident while driving under the influence in 1984.

Swamp Thing #84, cover art by John Totleben

Lots of goings on between this point and issue #84, but again long story short: Matthew eventually ended up in a coma, and since he was an organ donor, a corrupt hospital administrator uses him as an organ farm. Enter first Eve in dreams (ha! again) and then Morpheus, who basically advises him to end his life so his ex-wife Abby can exist in peace after all these years (she is pregnant with… something, which Morpheus also cryptically alludes to here. Plus the hospital administration tries to land her with a nearly 3 million dollar bill for all the years Matt has been on life support). Before Abby can unplug said life support herself, Matthew comes to, gathers all his strength for one final time and destroys the machines that keep him alive to spare Abby the guilt. In his final moments, he asks her to forgive him and move on. Also: He quite strictly did not die in his sleep, so how did that work? 🧐 Dream logic 🤣

Morpheus’ cameo had been agreed upon with NG at the time (he is mentioned in the credits). And since issue #84 has been published in March 1989, you can also tell that we’re pretty firmly in Sam Kieth territory, and that Mandrake & Alcala tried to replicate Dream’s look accordingly. Plus: The first issue in which Matthew the Raven appears in The Sandman (“Moving In” of The Doll’s House arc) was published in October 1989. So they had this cooking for a bit.

Oh, John Constantine also makes an appearance in that issue. They worked really hard at the time to tie it all together…

[vertigoartgore]

1997's The Spectre Vol.3 #49 cover by cover artist Glen Orbik.

[splooosh]

Jason Todd, ROBIN

Tom Mandrake

[artverso]

Tom Mandrake - Blade Runner

[the-gershomite]

X-Men 2 Wolverine: official movie comic book prequel -May 2003-

Marvel Comics (31-46 of 46)

writer: Brian K. Vaughan

artist: Tom Mandrake

letterer: Paul Tutrone

colorist: Dan Brown

[because-batcat]

Batman Vol 1 #390 (December, 1985)

Written by Doug Moench with art by Tom Mandrake and Adrienne Roy

[cardboard-writer]

Talia by Tom Mandrake:

Link

Source: DC Retroactive Batman the 70's by Len Wein Vol 1 #1

[cantsayidont]

February 1986. In BATMAN #392, Batman takes Catwoman out for a romantic dinner — in an alley next to the garbage cans. (Richest man in Gotham, mumble, mumble.) He does have the courtesy to refer to himself as the tramp, at least:

[tomoleary]

Tom Mandrake "Black Mask: Losing Face" Batman #386 Title Splash Original Art (DC, 1985) Source

[cgbcomics]

[low-quality-comic-characters]

X-Men 2 Prequel: Wolverine

Tom Mandrake

[p-c-ba-dcforever]

Batman/Catwoman pt 2