I love Schlock Mercenary.
Yes, I’m addicted. When I was a kid, I was a total geek for anything Isaac Asimov, sciencey things, drawings of mathematical equations (even though I knew nothing about what they meant), Star Trek, Star Wars, space, astronomy, Carl Sagan, the big questions, the “Alien” movies, sci-fi TV shows, the game “Star Frontiers” by TSR (sci-fi version of D&D, basically), cheesey-yet-character-driven-which-means-meaningful 80′s shows, Saturday morning cartoons, old comic strips like Alley Oop, Flash Gordon as drawn by Al Williamson at the time, Buck Rogers, and classic sci-fi pulp magazine covers which I’d find in the antique shop I grew up in. Of course, I was also a total geek for D&D, Conan, Lord of the Rings, comic books, and all sorts of other fun stuff, but we’re just talking sci-fi for now. 
Somehow, Schlock Mercenary makes me think of most all these things, in its way, thanks to Howard Tayler, and likely his similar interests. There’ something about the comic, and the whole Howard operation that’s just… FUN to me.
I had the pleasure of meeting Howard back in 2008, and chatting comics and such, and I admit it adds to the fun because he IS his comic. lol (probably true about many of us cartoonists, which explains why I own a horned barbarian helmet for no real reason). There’s also a professionalism about his approach to his work that I find inspiring, as well as the involvement of his wife, Sandra, both of whom I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with now and again and find them to be graciously good people.
So, I wanted to take a moment and pay homage, in the form of a few sketches, that, incidentally, after seeing a few of them, Howard wound up publishing in his Schlock book “Resident Mad Scientist.” Go get yourself a copy at Howard’s site, you won’t be disappointed.
Anyway, wanted to share. I love comics, obviously, and sometimes ya’ just gotta show the love! Go, Go, Tagon’s Toughs!!
