In early 2004, MMMV member Fujis contacted me about doing some work for the Minimate Headquarters website. One of their main features was a periodic webcomic called "JP1000 & Friends". A typical episode would have a single photo followed by several paragraphs of story. It's a good vs. evil setup with JP1000, Fake Gold Spidey on the heroic side battling Evil Overlord and his minions. I'd give you a link to read for yourself, but MMHQ recently had a site redesign and the old posts haven't yet returned.



Initially I wasn't sure if I could (or wanted to) adapt to a new style so I didn't make any promises right away. I decided to go back in the JP1000&F archive and replicate an existing photo to see if it would work and get some feedback. You can see the results above. Fujis and I both liked how it turned out so we ran with it.


(Click for a larger version)

After sending some design ideas back and forth, and deciding on a logo, this image finally came out the other side. I still like it. It might be a bit too detailed but I don't care. Anyone familiar with the Palisades Muppet Labs playset will see some similarities with the background equipment as I used them as a basis.

At the posted resolution you lose a lot of detail so here are a couple crops to get a better look:



One of the monitors in the background that show just some of JP's damaged areas. I don't know how it can tell the right hand is damaged when the his whole right arm is no longer attached. I guess it's technical. Maybe some advanced form of robotic muscle memory?



The fake Gold Spidey. In the context of the story I can't remember if he painted himself gold for some reason or if it was an outside entity. In real life however, I do believe Jatta Pake painted him gold (poorly) as a joke on the MMMV message boards. The figure was then later incorporated into the story.



This is my favorite part of the image. I just love the way Iron Man looks here and the blow torch flame came out nice as well. With all the Iron Man Minimates we've gotten, I still like this one the most. It's probably just because he was first. You never forget your first Iron Man.