No, we’re not April fooling.
Come Saturday, April 1st, and starting at 10 A.M., Damian will be selling off ten pieces of rare, hand painted Radical Rick art.
You’ll find this Ten at Ten at our usual hangout: Radical Rick BMX - Artwork
We know what you’re wondering—and the answer is YES.
Every drawing is signed, sealed, and one hundred percent rad certified.
As you probably know, these things sell faster than hyper jets… if you want in on the action, get there early and when the clock strikes ten, hop right on it.
We hear that Damian’s also selling off two Radical Rick snowboards for good measure.
Good luck rad fans.
May the odds of bringing a one-of-a-kind painting or snowboard home be ever in your favor.
Damian’s Rad Influences
We all love Radical Rick… and the luckiest among us grew to love him one month at a time, when Damain’s comic strip was rolling off the presses at BMX Plus Magazine.
In fact, when the mag reached newsstands, mailboxes, or our school library, some of us went full Black Friday Shopper. In fact, public safety data shows that more than a few librarians sustained injuries during the peak BMX Plus years.
Not really… but you get the idea.
By the time we devoured Radical Rick, the ink had barely dried.
What made our thirst for Radical Rick insatiable? Of course, there were the tricks, antics, and nonstop action—leave it to the Radster’s aerial moves to tap anyone’s rad gland. Of course, the characters (Radical Rick, Spike Speedwrench, and the dastardly foursome of Mean Inc). Add to that a good number of Easter Eggs, star-studded cameos, Damian’s coded messages, and multi-issue cliffhangers.
Like notes in an orchestra, all of those things played their part. But in the feng shui style of the Dude’s rug, something tied the room together… and made it all stick in a wholly rad way.
The more we think about it, that secret sauce has to be Damian’s one-of-a-kind, artistic style.
Back to the Source
To pay homage to that style, we asked Damian who influenced the sketching, drawing, story building and ongoing creation of Radical Rick. Which artists, sources, and pop culture icons came together over time, and gave us the MX Mug, the Attackilac and the World Peace Bomb?
Like the soundtrack of Forrest Gump, Damian’s answer is a voyage through the decades. What (and who) he came up with reminds of a creative reality; every artist draws from a melange of influences.
In our best attempt to play art history professor (if something’s on the final, we’ll let you know…) here’s our mostly visual breakdown of Damian’s rad inspirations.
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Speed, plot reversals, visual gags… and tons of action. Clearly, the Looney Tunes ensemble left their stamp on Radical Rick. If we can sympathize with poor Wiley when that blasted Roadrunner beep beeps by, maybe there’s a tender spot in our hearts for the equally hapless Mean Inc. Try as they may, (and while MX Mug is usually an easy catch…) in the end, Radical Rick just zips on by.
Then again, Wiley coyote just wants some wild game for his dinner. Unlike some baddies we know, he hasn’t tried to destroy BMXdom multiple times.
Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth and Rat Fink
Ten points if you know this one.
From the Radillac (later, the ‘Attackilac’) and wheeled monsters like Skuzzer Switchblade, Radical Ricks’ sizzling blend of flaming hot rods, gleaming chrome, and bug-eyed characters owes a lot to Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth.
If you haven’t heard of Big Daddy and Ratfink, then you’re missing out on the original SoCal look and attitude. Screaming color, tongues flapping in the breeze, in your face attitude—Roth’s graphics were among the first to blow your middle school teacher’s hair back.
From Big Daddy to Radical Rick, and on to Damian’s surf shredding paintings (‘The Three Amigos’ comes to mind)... the killer attitude just keeps coming.
Universal’s Classic Monsters
Look closely at Radical Rick’s notorious villains, and you’ll see nods to the classic cinema monsters who once haunted your parents (or even your Grandparents’) dreams.
Purin Flashin’s pale, ghoulish skin reminds us of Bela Lugosi’s shiver-inducing Dracula.
In the scene where Purin Flashin straps Radical Rick and Skuzzer to two tables for a ‘radectomy,’ Damian takes into Boris Karloff territory.
Look closely at Radical Rick’s notorious villains, and you’ll see nods to the classic cinema monsters who once haunted your parents (or even your Grandparents’) dreams.
Purin Flashin’s pale, ghoulish skin reminds us of Bela Lugosi’s shiver-inducing Dracula.
In the scene where Purin Flashin straps Radical Rick and Skuzzer to two tables for a ‘radectomy,’ Damian takes into Boris Karloff territory.
Of course, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the original Werewolf don’t close to the Kingly Skuzzer Switchblade—a loincloth-sporting porcine with bulging muscles, chains and leather, and a Texas-sized ego.
Talk about the truly monstrous.
Lest we forget… the one and only Mad Magazine
Political satire. Celebrities. Drawings within drawings. Spy versus Spy.
Peel back a layer of Radick Rick’s zany, street-smart world and you’ll find Alfred E. Neuman peeking right back at you. From the high-octane action, the snarky, offbeat side comments, and the endless cornucopia of plump, lively background characters, Damian, like Mad’s fabled illustrators, doesn’t waste an ounce of space.
But while Mad Magazine may be the biggest influence behind Radical Rick’s look, pacing, and snarky humor, one thing runs the other way—the Radster’s pure, untainted heroism.
Where nobody (real or imagined) makes it through Mad Magazine without being laughed at, we can breathe a sigh of relief over the fact that in Crushed Crank Canyon, some heroes never topple.
Or fall off their bikes mid-trick, for that matter.
Rad enough?
We hope so.
Counting off Damian’s influences (before we forget, Zap comics, and the original Batman and Superman are also way up there…) leaves us thinking about one thing—how many artists, and future cartoonists has Radical Rick inspired?
If you’re one of the them, then post a comment (or heck, send us a picture). How does Radical Rick continue to shape your own artwork? Riding? Dating strategy?
Until next time, rad fans.