The first (published) PSM ENDPAGE piece, plus earlier unused DEVIL MAY CRY idea! (Patreon)

After doing a bunch of covers and illos for the videogame magazine PSM in the early 2000s, I talked to the editors about doing a recurring back-page comic feature riffing on various Playstation-related issues. The first piece above, riffing on the crocodile-camouflage headpiece from (I think) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was prrrrrobably the earliest example to see print. 

NOTE: In fact, I'm not 100% sure this is actually the first PSM Endpage, as yet another MGS-related one might've come earlier. (Ehh, whatever; I like this one better.) 

 A few words on the first piece: 

In-game image at upper right: Whops, that so-called "croc hat" is probably a gharial hat, come to think of it.

Panel 3: Emp as a mermaid, three years before her Empowered vol.1 print debut in 2007!

Panel 4: Expect to see a lot of Raiden-bashing in these pieces, as that amused the editors to no end.

Panel 5: A deathless reference to the election-year Presidential politics of 2004, folks! (I'd dig you up a link to the various then-significant references in this panel, but screw that.)

However, this piece wasn't my first attempt at a PSM Endpage piece, as a few months earlier I'd proposed the following page rough based on Devil May Cry's Dante:

I was a big Dance Dance Revolution fan (mainly for the cardio, TBH), so the joke came naturally to me. I was never able to play much Devil May Cry, though, as the endless button-mashing straight-up killed my poor drawing hand.

I'd originally planned to do the final piece as a full-on comic page with conventional pencils and inks on Bristol board, followed by Ryan Kinnaird colors. However, I stalled out midway through the pencil stage...

...because I belatedly realized that just didn't have the available time or energy to do a full-size comic page in this format. (And paying a colorist out of the page rate would've made the exercise even less cost-effective for me.) 

UPDATE: The too-light H-lead pencils above bugged me in retrospect, so I just now darkened 'em up in Photoshop. Enjoy the higher contrast:

Ah, but a few months later, I approached the PSM editors about drawing B&W pieces on my then-beloved medium of linen-finish cardstock, which would be vastly faster and much more cost-effective for me to produce. They agreed, and the golden era of my PSM Endpages had begun!

Note that I'll be posting my various PSM covers and videogame swimsuit illos here as well, along with the never-before-seen work stages for each; just thought I'd start things off by posting an initial Endpage comic, as there's quite a few of 'em available.

TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: Time for another dose of Vintage Con Sketches, folks!