Steve Mannion - Fearless Dawn Hostess ad parody

When describing Steve Mannion, I always say that if you were to take all the stuff I adored when I was growing up (Mad Magazine, EC comics, Looney Tunes, good girl/pin-up art, Heavy Metal magazine, the Three Stooges, etc.) and threw it all in a blender, Steve's work is what would come out as the result. He's an unparalleled talent in my eyes, has a fantastic sense of humor, and is the rare guy these days who can draw, ink and letter.

With this in mind, about four years ago I had an idea for a commission piece I wanted to attempt: a creator doing his take on the old Hostess ads that used to run in comics back in the late 70s and early 80s. Obviously this required someone capable of composing a single panel page that told a story, someone who could letter, and someone who had a good enough sense of humor that they actually got the idea and could do it justice. Steve is the rare artist who ticks all those boxes and was the obvious choice for the project. So I reached out to him about it and found that while he was intrigued by the potential of a Fearless Dawn take on the Hostess ads, he was too busy at the time to tackle it. The next few years were one of those balancing acts of trying to be persistent without being a pest, with me checking in with him a couple of times a year to see if he had time to fit it in. We finally met in person last year at Heroes, and after we chatted for a while he decided to wanted to give it a try.

The end results were well worth the wait. I love the way he caught the corny feel of the original ads, included a couple of great poses for both FD and Helga, and fit it all in on a single page (and the Dino Guy cameo at the bottom is brilliant). Plus the panel layout is fantastic and the piece has a great balance of black and white. Even better, he had a lot of fun with the idea and will hopefully be tackling a follow-up in the future.