Artists: Tony Fleecs made fun of me

Meet Tony Fleecs ... my new nemesis.
Don't let the beard, the cool hat and the amazing piece of artwork behind him fool you...
It was the end of day two of Comic-Con and our feet, minds and wallets had kind of long abandoned their usefulness.  That was of course about the time when we realized that somehow in our wandering around the convention floor we had managed to miss an entire row!  I don't know how we did this.  This wasn't just a row filled with comic book vendors and their identical boxes of back issues; it wasn't even one of the rows of classic transformers and heroclix that my wife will usher me past like a bouncer shoving a drunk customer out the door ("keep movin, buddy!")
No, this row had some seriously talented and friendly artists.
So with ten minutes left before the end of the con, Rosa waves me over to Tony's table.  I can see she already has a piece of art selected to buy, but flipping through his binder, all I can do is wish we had A) more cash and B) more wall space.  I love when an artist has taken an idea, a niche or gimmick and made it more than that, made it something mindblowingly clever and cool.

Tony Fleecs, whose work you can see here, has an entire series of pulp-style novel covers done with iconic female characters from pop culture.  Not only are there little clever nods in each piece, but the artwork is gorgeous.  I was admiring them when another image caught my eye.

This one >>>

It's part of another series called Adorable Tragedies and may be the one that has the most history with me, thanks to me being 10 years old when the Transformers Movie came out.  It depicts in adorable fashion, the death of Optimus Prime.  But while Manny and Scott and Rosa are "Awwww"-ing, I can't help but remember how actually sad that moment was when i was a kid.  And I point out to fellow Transformers fans Scott and Manny. "Man, I ever remember Perceptor's line in that scene."  (Perceptor being the pinkish-red one at the top of the image who was the "science one" and transformed into a microscope.) 
"Perceptor!?" shouts Tony.  "Man that's the nerdiest thing I have ever heard!"
Really?!
The nerdiest thing?  At Comic-Con?  Which is exactly what I say to my asshole friends who are now laughing and pointing at me.  "You're the nerdiest guy at Comic-Con!  Haw Haw Haw!"
You know, actually I don't think Tony Fleecs is my nemesis.  It's my jackass friends.
We left with this piece of art, from the genuinely cool Tony.

.

His website.  

Oh, and that Perceptor line?  "I fear the wounds are ... fatal..."