Lee Adebayor Cover
We received an email from Denis Vural of Adidas Global Sports Marketing in Amsterdam alerting us to three new promotional comics featuring some of soccer/football’s greatest stars portrayed by three ace cartoonists. Here’s the links:

Adebayor by Jae Lee
Stevie Gerrard by JG Jones
Kaka by Ryan Benjamin

We’ve attached some screenshots below, and these are definitely a step up from Rick Barry and Dr. J and Joe Namath’s Dingo Boots. The heroic/mythological angle really works for “the beautiful game.” What’s next Ronaldo by Alex Ross?
Jones Gerrard Cover

Benjamin Kaka Cover

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1 COMMENT

  1. Jack Davis drew that Rick Barry and Dr. J strip. And Benjamin, Lee and Jones aren’t a pimple on Davis’ fanny.

  2. And then there were the “O-Men” comicbooks Oregon produced for high school prospects, showcasing them succeeding as University of Oregon football stars.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/06/19/recruiting.main/

    Of course, the NCAA has since put the kibosh on that sort of recruiting tool.

    My favorite sports bio-comic? Spire Comics’ “Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys”. (Hey, Barbour Publishing! Collect those old stories!)

  3. And then there were the “O-Men” comicbooks Oregon produced for high school prospects, showcasing them succeeding as University of Oregon football stars.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/06/19/recruiting.main/

    Of course, the NCAA has since put the kibosh on that sort of recruiting tool.

    My favorite sports bio-comic? Spire Comics’ “Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys”. (Hey, Barbour Publishing! Collect those old stories!)

    Hmm… First Buster Brown, then Salamander, now Adidas is printing comics. Who next, Manolo Blahnik?

  4. That’s Gerrard power. He changes hair color instead of spewing lightning or music.

    I think he got screwed in the lottery.

  5. Yeah, Barry & Dr. J. were Spalding guys. OJ Simpson was shilling the boots, under the psuedonym “OJ Dingo”…

  6. I hope the guys were paid proper rates reflective of an Adidas advertising budget for their work and not “merely” the standard comic book page rates you’d receive from Marvel or DC for comparable work. This job would’ve gone through a major global ad agency working on Adidas branding, not some small start-up company.

    The Jae Lee one looks pretty hot.

  7. Mr. Pope, a libertarian like yourself should know that in business you rip people off for however much you can get away with. In other words, comic illustrators=perfect targets.

  8. Mr. Harker, this is why we have invented contract/intellectual property lawyers who, if they have years of experience, will be able to fairly negotiate on the behalf of their clients. I am not sure how much experience you have had in this area personally however your sneering is duly noted.

  9. …or the comic illustrators could always take it up with their union.

    ..oh wait, nevermind.

    And for the record, moneywise my experience has mainly been with ripping myself off.

  10. I like Jae Lee well enough, but Adebayor can suck it.

    Also, the gods demand a Lionel Messi comic drawn by his fellow Argentine Eduardo Risso.

  11. I quite like these, most notably the Steven Gerrard one. There must be something in the air with sports comics, as I have (I hope this is not seen as too much of a shameless plug, if so, sorry!) just resumed publishing a football webcomic at http://untitledfeeltheroar.blogspot.com. It will be update a page a week every week for the foreseeable future if anyone is interested!