Honestly, there's so much to say about this particular piece of art that it's hard to try and say it all. Joseph Caesar was one of the first artists I ever followed at DA, and one of the first I commissioned. I asked him to create a piece depicting PinUp Girl fighting the evil Fifth Column, who had once captured and tortured her mother. Needless to say, PinUp bears a grudge against those Nazi scum, so I knew this would be a kickass piece. Joseph sent me a great WiP and I waited happily.

As it happened, Joseph had a lot of real life stuff come up, and additionally, he became dissatisfied with the WiP he'd created. And so, he asked if he could take more time and add some things. And so he did, and the resulting piece is so huge, so epic, so astounding, it simply blew me away.

That's how I ended up with this brilliant piece showing PinUp Girl, Masked Shrike, Scarlet Specter and Ms. Afterburner (my level 50 City of Heroes characters) battling it out with the Fifth Column.

Just look at the detail. Joseph went and studied up on my characters by his own volition, and incorporated tiny details from their backstories in the picture. For example, the experimental wardbird the Shrike is flying is by Stiles Aircraft, the company she is a spokeswoman for. That's attention to detail for you. The Fifth Column baddies look fantastic, and the loving way Joseph has drawn the airplane and the ship reveal his talent for drawing intricate machinery and vehicles.

There's so much about this that I love, I can't write it all here! Scarlet half-materialized in the propeller(!), Afterburner's poised fist, PinUp hanging onto that gun barrel and the chute she's wearing...but I have to say, my very favorite thing is the Shrike's expression. I can totally hear her yelling at her fellow heroines as she gets ready to wrestle that bird off the carrier: "Hurry up and take care of these ugly mugs, willya? I got an airplane to fly!"

Thank you, Joseph, for your total professionalism and your amazing talent, and for never giving up even when the going was tough. My hat's off to you, sir.

Art by
Characters of Pinup Girl, Masked Shrike, Scarlet Specter and Ms. Afterburner by me