The fine folks at The Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, NY contacted me a couple of months ago to design and illustrate a comix gift for pop star, The Weeknd, who performed at their venue June 6th & 7th, 2017. I was surprised yet impressed to learn that The Barclay's Center had an office dedicated to furnishing custom-made gifts for some of their headlining acts and was flattered that they would reach out to me. My contacts, Courtney and Alanna, told me that The Weeknd was a comic book fan and they wanted me to come up with something that reflected his new "Starboy" album and persona.
A superhero.
So, I came up with the loose idea of an orphaned galaxy roaming the nether-sphere sans purpose and discovering our planets and putting them on as rings, kinda like a mash-up of Marvel's Eternity and the Infinity Gems, and giving our solar system a place to exist among other cosmic life; a Milky Way. Everyone liked my idea and we devised a mute comic poster that, upon print, would be a 16-inch tall by 45-inch wide poster.
Alas, The Weeknd was too busy rocking out and the fine folks at Barclay's Center never got to personally hand the gift off to him but they said they mailed it to him and I hope he got a kick out of what I made.
We saw The Weeknd perform on June 7th, and it was an energizing event. His loyal fans were half the fun of the show. I also discovered another band, an opening act called Rae Sremmurd, which my girlfriend Jen and I quite enjoyed.
Here is an additional aspect of the Starboy gift, a "cover only" version.