Mimi Masters as the Elseworlds Supergirl, and Kevin West is a stand-up dude!

Back in 2003 I commissioned a piece by Kevin West through Raymond Stewart, who was repping a number of artists at the time. Others can tell the story of Stewart in far greater detail than I, but suffice it to say a number of people paid for commissions and did not receive them. When people started to complain about it, Stewart said he’d issue refunds to everyone who’d paid for a commission. A number of people, myself included, never heard anything from Stewart, much less received a refund, before he vanished.

Anoit 15 years went by before I decided to again try for a Kevin West commission, reaching out to him directly to do the lovely Gun Mage piece I have in my gallery. After I received it I sent him an e-mail detailing how much I loved the work, as well as telling him about the commission I’d tried to get through Stewart.

He writes me back and is like “Are you talking about a 80s Suoergirl/Crossgen First mash-up commission?”

It turned out that Kevin, despite not being paid, had made it a point to honor all the commissions Stewart had taken for him. But there was one commission where he had a description, but no identifying information for the commissioner. He’d done the initial layout, but not done anymore due to the lack of information, and had held onto it in the following years.

Once again, Dula Luck was proven to a thing.

Amusingly, over the years I’d forgotten it was to be a 80s Supergirl/Crossgen First commission, having requested it just as I was switching over to the Elseworlds Supergirl costume for my commissions. Since it was only at the layout stage Kevin kindly swapped both costume and character for the piece, even as he refused my offer of payment for it. Five years ago today this beauty arrived at my door, 16 years on from my initial commissioning.

The picture does not do justice on the colors on this piece. I tried adjusting the color on the photo to correct the background, but that messed up her skin tones. I guess if I ever go to cons again I’ll need to bring it along to show off.

Thanks again, Kevin, for being so great on this commission!