Solomon Grundy was originally the title and subject of a 19th Century nursery rhyme, but in the world of DC Comics, Solomon Grundy is the name of of a giant, swamp-zombie gangster supervillain. He was originally devised as a nemesis for The Green Lantern, but over the course of several decades has been an enemy of Superman, Batman, and the Justice League.

Think about that for a moment and then try to imagine what kind of cult (occult?) following a guy like that would have among the populace. I bet it would be at least as big as that of the late pro wrestler André the Giant.

André the Giant, as you may know, was over seven feet tall and a legendary drunk- a seriously imposing figure if ever there was one. He was also immortalized in street-artist-turned-social-change-advocate Shepard Fairey’s ubiquitous logo for his OBEY design studio. Fairey’s work has been all over Pittsburgh recently in anticipation of an exhibit of his work, so it’s no coincidence that I tap into that inspiration (and draw the perhaps unfortunate parallels) now.

Tags: André the Giant, Art, Batman, Comics, Illustration, OBEY, Rogues’ Gallery, Shepard Fairey, Solomon Grundy

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 4:15 am and is filed under Art, Rogues' Gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.