Creating Issue Three's Variant Cover...Psychoboy Goes Plastic!

So Lavender Ranger's figure started its life as one of the current Green Ranger figures that's out now. It's a standard 5 inch Power Ranger figure, with the typical bulked-up build they give them in the toys. While they may be inaccurate as hell for the show, it's pretty damn perfect for Psychoboy's build and since Psycho is essentially wearing a recolored Green Ranger outfit, it meant the body just needed a new head and morpher and the rest would be repainting.

So I bought the figure at Walmart and shot it over to Brain Funk of Mad Lab Customs. I saw his stuff at the last Winston-Salem Comic Con and was impressed. His prices were potentially very affordable so I contacted him a couple months ago on Facebook. He said it would be no problem and he thought he could get it to me in the time frame I was hoping for. So I him sent some designs and notes on Lavender Ranger with the unenviable challenge of translating my 2D character into a 3D figure.

I got the figure Friday afternoon. I had already done all the text and logo work on the cover and found an appropriate background that looked like an alien environment (extraterrestrial environments were usually the settings for the old Power Rangers toy commercials). I just needed to put the figure in.

So I opened it and tested the figure's abilities and limitations quickly. Then I did a variety of shots trying to find the right one. He came with a custom painted Chainsaw of Justice (which he's shown  using in one panel of the comic's "show opening"). It looked really damn cool when he held it. But I figured that the chainsaw on the cover might confuse readers (since it's not a very Power Ranger sort of weapon) and give them the impression he uses it in the story itself.


So I narrowed it down to more traditional action figure poses and picked the one I liked best. I cut out the background, put it in and made a bee line to the office to send it off to the printer in time for this Saturday's convention. From receiving the package to completing the cover, it was about an hour and a half.

I'm happy with the results. The cover is like a Power Ranger figure meets Robot Chicken. It's available as a digital comic on Amusedom and in print at conventions. The figure will be in my display at conventions, starting with this Saturday's Winston-Salem Comic Con. Come by and say "hi" to little Lavender Ranger!