Obviously this is a fake tattoo applied to the arm of hunky Channing Tatum from the horrible movie Stop-Loss. (It’s not a horrible movie because its a military movie staring these 2 lunkheads , it’s a horrible movie because the song “let the bodies hit the floor” is playing in the background during this particular scene.)

So knowing that it’s fake automatically makes you assume the make-up/tattoo “designer” or whomever applied it, applied it wrong. Again, not true. It actually is placed facing the correct way, when it’s worn on the body that is.

Army Regulation 670–1 Uniforms and Insignia Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia states: “The flag patch on the left sleeve of a uniform should have the union to the viewer’s left while a patch on the right sleeve should be displayed with the union to the viewer’s right so that, in both cases, the flag is facing forward and is streaming to the back as the person moves forward.”

So even though it looks backwards, it’s really forwards.

And now you know.

And knowing is half the battle.

Ghost B.C.! 5.13.13, 9:30 Club, DC

Real Metal is back with a vengeance. Here are some pics I took at the show with my iPhone 5. Good camera on this phone. Real good. Caught all the evil going on tonight perfectly. There was no flash or filters used. Just the camera.

I wasn’t able to change shooting positions because it was nice and crowded, so all if these are stage right

And below is my favorite shot of the night. No filter at all on this one, it was very low light with just a slight zoom… It gave it a nice vintage look to it. Old grainy photos are always cool to view

Go buy their new album Infestissumam now!

Here’s some men with hats

He’s still opposed to it I guess

Finished up a cool half sleeve that consisted of a tremendous rework on the front. Oh and covered up a tiny Punisher skull to boot.

Speaking of cover-ups

Only panthers cry tears of blood

And added a few filler things around the original piece I did

Started a new sleeve of the Fall of Phaeton

And a slew of healed stuff came in so I snapped a few pics

Ska8 or die

And this little cutie…love those female Sailor Jerry bodies…

Before there was the Marvel U, there were monsters.

And Jack Kirby was the undisputed king of the monsters. In the early 60′s, before Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Marvel (then known as Timely) was in the business of romance, teen, western and of course monster comics. They had such titles as Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense and Amazing Adventures.

These monsters were the precursor to the super heroes that were soon to follow a few years later, boasting familiar names such as the Thing, the Hulk, Elektro, Magnetor, Cyclops, Van Doom, Thorg, Colossus and of course Fin Fang Foom.

Yes, these were the comics your parents warned you about. Each story was only a few pages long, and each story was meant as a precautionary tale not to mess with things you don’t understand. Every parents worst nightmare, every little kids dream come true. And all this for only the cost of one thin dime.

So in tribute to Mr. Kirby, I decided to create something I thought kids of that time era (or this era for that matter) would enjoy. A set of (un cut) Jack Kirby Kollector Kards. I decided to paint each card 4 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, about 2″ larger than the standard size. This way, if I ever decide to make prints…or even REAL trading cards, they can be shrunk down accordingly. So far I’ve completed the first 20:

#01-”X” #02-”Monstrom”

#03-”Lo-Karr” #04-”Rommbu“

#05-”the Hulk” #06-”Goom“

#07-”Gigantus” #08-”Sserpo“

#09-”Spoor” #10-”the Glob“

#11-”Cyclops” #12-”Gruto“

#13-”Fin Fang Foom” #14-”Rorgg”

#15-”Orrgo” #16-”Vandoom”

#17-”Monsteroso” #18-”Monster“

#19-”Gorgilla” #20-”the Green Thing”

And in case you were wondering about the creative process, as shown below, I would first work out my sketch and use a light box to lightly trace the image. Then I would go old school, the same way guys like Dick Ayers would, and inked everything where possible with a brush. I definitely honed some brush skills completing this piece.

Thanks again Jack. You will now and forever will be The King.

And the message looked like this:

Rockseia XII saw the message and asked the question, “Why do you excite me. Why.”

The answer was the Magic Walnut.

They had their Magic Walnuts

As did they

Even the frikkin’ robot had a Magic Walnut

Sonny Chiba had the Magic Walnut too

It made Vic Morrow do weird things

He is mad because he doesn’t have one

But remember to look out!!!

Because the Magic Walnut might bust a nut in your face!!!

And that was the

From the John Ford film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962.

Lee Roy Minugh flash

My new tattoo by co-worker Tad Peyton

So as the story goes, the origin of the middle finger came out of the Hundred Years’ War between the French and English. The English had newly invented long bows and they would pluck the string with their middle finger to fire the arrow. Now when the French would capture the English they would cut off their middle fingers to disable then from firing the bow. When the English defeated the French they held up their middle fingers and said “We can still pluck you.”

Pluck you turned into…

Fuck you.

Pluck you. Fuck you.

Fuck you. Next, we cover the origin of the phrase “Fuck The World”.

Art by Tom of Finland

Conjoined twins Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear join Harvey on the DD train in Stuck On You.

The Gremlins are powered by Coors apparently

Steven Spielberg gives his bud George Lucas some free promotion in Poltergeist

And last but not least even Godzilla is for sale

Portrait of Rollo M. By Thomas Woodruff 1992

I first met Mike way back in 1993. That was a big year for me. I won my first “first place” awards (or as some might say “best in show”) that I had ever received for my artwork. And still to this day they are the only ones that have ever mattered.

Apart from the obvious reason, this is also because these awards were handed to me by Mr. Malone himself. And that, to me, meant just as much.

Back before I stared tattooing professionally, around 1987/89 I picked up this Ed Hardy Tattoo Time book calked Life and Death Tattoos.

And within I saw this masterpiece by Mike Malone

When I began tattooing I always remembered this image, and it was the basis for my philosophy of what to do in this industry. If you have imagination, you can make any design look cool. And I think that even to this day it is still the coolest tattoo I’ve ever seen. It was the indirect influence on the first back piece I ever did on a guy named Chris Duncan, and it even won a first place at the 92 Richmond Tattoo convention

And it was directly responsible for me starting this back piece (never finished) on Josh Hoffman back around 94.

Later that same year I believe, I ran into Mike again at another convention. I didn’t know he would be there, and I couldn’t resist thanking him for being such a big influence, and wanted to show him that tattoo I had just mentioned. He took a few minutes to check it out, and told me it looked cool.

That’s all I ever wanted to hear.

At the time, since I couldn’t get a tattoo from him, I bought a few Sailor Jerry stencils instead. I asked if he had any sheets too…and he said yes. But back in Hawaii. A month later I received a letter with xerox copies if the sheets of Jerry flash he had for sale.

The only thing he asked was not to make or share any of these copies with anyone. This is only the second time since then I’ve shown these. Never made copies either, as per his request.

I never ended up buying any of the Jerry sheets, even after I ran into him a third time at another concention around 97/98. I did however purchase a painting of his, one that had been recently published in the Hardy Marks Bull’s-Eyes & Black Eyes book.

I am now the lucky owner of the painting entitled “Fat Eight”

To me this is worth way more than owning an original Sailor Jerry flash sheet, although those Jerry pieces now go for in excess of $5000…but having the Rollo art to me is priceless. I certainly wouldn’t mind having $5000 in my pocket though….but anyways…

Here are a few more shots of collector (and Godzilla fan) Jim Hughes’ Mike Malone bodysuit from the Bull’s-Eyes and Black Eyes book:

I was lucky enough to see these tattoos in person in Austin a few years ago, and I can say they are holding up beautifully and look just as amazing in person as they did in photos back in 1987.

Mike Malone was a master artist and master tattooer. I wish I was able to have gotten to know him better. Thanks for being a big influence on me Mr. Malone, I greatly appreciated it.

Mike “Rollo” Malone 1942-2007. Please read more about him at C. W. Eldridge Tattoo Archive