Help Identifying a Comic Character - SOLVED Thanks to the CGC Board Detectives! 0

[Dr. Balls]

This is a piece by Tim Sale done in 2005, and it might have been for a European publisher - I am just trying to figure out who the female character might be (or the googley-eyed monster for that matter). Any help is appreciated!

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Dr. Balls

[Robot Man]

Kind of resembles Elastic girl from the Incredibles?

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/11/2023 at 2:36 PM, Robot Man said:

Kind of resembles Elastic girl from the Incredibles?

That was where I went to first, since I couldn't really remember The Incredibles. That Sale piece has a retro-60s Mod kinda style to the costume, so I wasn't sure if it was an old character or what. I also wondered if this character had "shrinking" power, since she appears to be standing on the monsters forehead.

[Ken Aldred]

Fairly generic costume.

Apart from the hair length, reminds me of this one…

[MatterEaterLad]

My first thought was Medusa as well, but her hair isn't nearly long enough.

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/11/2023 at 9:03 PM, Ken Aldred said:

Fairly generic costume.

Apart from the hair length, reminds me of this one…

She's got some MAN FEET on that cover.

[shadroch]

My first impression is a grown-up version of the girl from Space Ghost.

[ADAMANTIUM]

I think there is a line of thinking that is correct, of all those mentioned. When first posted I thought the "invisibles" as well, and upon a screen shot image search, it came up with Medusa as well. Not definitively enough as an example in a page or a cover, and search terms of "Tim Sale 2005" didn't help me narrow it down. The Medusa image search didn't come as close to the image, but it IS what it suggested.

Right track probably though  

[s-man]

Maybe her hovering over 2 giant olives is a clue 

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/12/2023 at 8:02 AM, shadroch said:

My first impression is a grown-up version of the girl from Space Ghost.

She does have a really similar look to Jan from Space Ghost - the only thing missing is the SG insignia on her outfit.

I continue to look, thanks to everyone for suggestions.

[bronze_rules]

Very tough one. Almost seems obvious I've seen somewhere, but maybe not. Also, with the cat, and the resemblance to Incredibles - strikes me as a cartoon. Out of curiosity, how do you know for certain it is Tim Sale? Is it possibly another TS? I noticed he doesn't very often sign in that box format.

Edited November 14, 2023 by bronze_rules

[masterlogan2000]

On 11/12/2023 at 11:29 PM, s-man said:

Maybe her hovering over 2 giant olives is a clue 

Ah, so that's what those things are.

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/13/2023 at 8:30 PM, bronze_rules said:

Very tough one. Almost seems obvious I've seen somewhere, but maybe not. Also, with the cat, and the resemblance to Incredibles - strikes me as a cartoon. Out of curiosity, how do you know for certain it is Tim Sale? Is it possibly another TS? I noticed he doesn't very often sign in that box format.

The dealer I bought it from had spoken with Tim years ago and that it was likely a publisher comp, as it's 11x17 and Tim said that he doesn't do sketches or commissions that size. He just couldn't remember what it was for, and everyone's guess (which is probably accurate) is that it's unpublished. But, my thinking is that the character is established and hopefully I can figure out who she is (or who the monster is) just to have a point of reference.

From what I can tell, the signatures around that era are stacked initials (no box), stacked last name (box and no box), last name and date across one line, and then you have the piece above which is stacked initials with box. I found an older piece with that same signature, but he's all over the board on how he signed stuff:

[bronze_rules]

On 11/14/2023 at 5:23 PM, Dr. Balls said:

The dealer I bought it from had spoken with Tim years ago and that it was likely a publisher comp, as it's 11x17 and Tim said that he doesn't do sketches or commissions that size. He just couldn't remember what it was for, and everyone's guess (which is probably accurate) is that it's unpublished. But, my thinking is that the character is established and hopefully I can figure out who she is (or who the monster is) just to have a point of reference.

From what I can tell, the signatures around that era are stacked initials (no box), stacked last name (box and no box), last name and date across one line, and then you have the piece above which is stacked initials with box. I found an older piece with that same signature, but he's all over the board on how he signed stuff:

 

Maybe just me, but when I see that black thing under her, I don't think of it as a monster, but more of a cartoon black cat - like a stuffed cat toy cartoon. Also, I think of her face as like a frank miller drawing for some reason. I could find a bunch of costumes like that for generic 'hero' characters, but not any specific known character (boots, gloves, mask etc.). 

 

 

[DougC]

I think this just might be a non-referenced fun drawing and we are looking to much into it for character meaning.

I did take a swing at it from a different angle thinking the below drawing looked familiar but didn't turn up anything meaningful outside of a ton of parody art (not from Tim).

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/14/2023 at 10:02 PM, DougC said:

I think this just might be a non-referenced fun drawing and we are looking to much into it for character meaning.

I did take a swing at it from a different angle thinking the below drawing looked familiar but didn't turn up anything meaningful outside of a ton of parody art (not from Tim).

That very well may be - could just be a generic character costume for the sake of drawing it. 

[habsfan1]

On 11/11/2023 at 3:23 PM, Dr. Balls said:

This is a piece by Tim Sale done in 2005, and it might have been for a European publisher - I am just trying to figure out who the female character might be (or the googley-eyed monster for that matter). Any help is appreciated!

 

For some reason, each time I look at this I want to search Heathcliff or Felix the Cat thinking maybe there was a storyline involving a hero.

[SergeAnt]

On 11/11/2023 at 3:23 PM, Dr. Balls said:

This is a piece by Tim Sale done in 2005, and it might have been for a European publisher - I am just trying to figure out who the female character might be (or the googley-eyed monster for that matter). Any help is appreciated!

 

This is from a UK Batman parody called Brickman. The woman is his partner Tina Trowel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickman_(comic_strip)
In 2005 a digest sized book called "Brickman Begins" was published with new illustrations from artists including Tim Sale. While I don't have access to the interior pages, it wouldn't surprise me if your page is the original art used for the pin-up in the collected book.

[ADAMANTIUM]

The new search terms with Lee stringer art pulled up similar but idk if it's really Alan Moore or Alan Davis 😂.

But that's the closest we've come! Kudos!

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/16/2023 at 11:26 AM, SergeAnt said:

This is from a UK Batman parody called Brickman. The woman is his partner Tina Trowel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brickman_(comic_strip)
In 2005 a digest sized book called "Brickman Begins" was published with new illustrations from artists including Tim Sale. While I don't have access to the interior pages, it wouldn't surprise me if your page is the original art used for the pin-up in the collected book.

Holy cow, I think you're right. I can't believe what I'm seeing. That's AWESOME. I just ordered one on Ebay, I will follow up. In the thread. If you would, please PM me your mailing address - I'm gonna hook you up with a little gift of gratitude. You've saved me many hours of obsessing over this. Published or not, I'm super glad that I can claim - in combination with the limited provenance I had about the piece - that these are the two characters in the art.