Monday, July 5, 2010

My World : Disco Ball

Disco Ball

Disco never died! At least, that's the premise of the person who has chosen to call himself Disco Ball.

Disco Ball is on a crusade to discover the evil possibilities of disco. Which are legion, as you might imagine. Utilizing weapons powered by his "Discotech Systems," he has racked up some impressive criminal credentials. He made world news with his takeover of the famous Studio 69, declaring that he would turn it into "Studio 86" if he wasn't paid off extravagantly.

Captain Satellite and Shelly Ericson put a stop to that plan. Disco Ball has soldiered on though, sometimes solo and sometimes commanding henchmen he insists on referring to as "the Boogie Knights." The henchmen are why he carries a swagger stick. And yes, it's a "swagger stick." Not a pimp cane.


Disco Ball was originally a character who came to me in a dream many years ago. He was what my subconscious created around the name of the obscure Marvel Comics villain the Orb. I had read about the Orb, but never seen a picture of him. My dream conjured up the proto-Disco Ball to go with the name. I decided to dust off the basic design for that character, and one revamp later, we have Disco Ball - a new villain in the Captain Satellite universe.

It's worth noting that, although I dropped the "Orb" name, Disco Ball still retains some characteristics from that incarnation. For one, although it's been altered in places AND filtered through my unique style, Disco Ball's costume is still somewhat based on that of a well-known comics character. I swear, the original is EXACTLY what was in my dream. I know a couple of you can identify it without even trying. The "swagger stick" was drawn from my memory of the accessory that came with Ideal's Evel Knievel action figure. I checked afterward, and it's not a bad likeness!

Disco Ball has had some patch work done on him, but I think it got incorporated seamlessly. I abused the lens flare tool a lot, but this guy really seemed suited for that treatment.

2 comments:

  1. I think this is one of my favorites so far. I totally want to see a '70s-style crossover one-shot where Spider-Man has to team up with Captain Satellite and Shelly to fight Disco Ball and Hypno-Hustler.

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  2. The Hypno-Hustler is an amazing villain. Actually, I love most of Marvel's second-rate (and below!) villains. There is just something about characters like Steeplejack that just speaks to me.

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