As we grow older, we look back over our younger years. Whether we miss them, or thank God that they're over, is entirely up to the individual and their experiences. A few months ago, as I wound up the pocketwatch my father gave me a few years ago (after I had coveted it since childhood) I got to thinking about life growing up. Despite quite a few bad experiences, particularly where school was concerned, I miss it immensely, and sometimes I feel a longing ache to... well, I don't really know, exactly. Go back to it? I'm unsure. I just know that as times get harder, it's so easy to look back and feel the best times are behind me, regardless of how trying they seemed at the time.

This prompted me to draw the human version of Ernie Grapple (a hyena kid from Disney's Tale Spin) as an adult once more. He is in his father Herman Grapple's study, in their home since Ernie was a boy. Herman is long since passed away, and Ernie inherited his father's light bulb factory and fortune, so he is set for life, rich and in control of a (mostly) successful company. And yet he misses the carefree days of his youth. And he misses his father. And so during a slow day, he simply sits in Herman's old chair at Herman's old desk, and looks back over the years in his mind, remembering... and wishing. For what, he doesn't know. He just knows that he misses being a kid, and that thought makes him feel down.

Soon the phone will ring or someone will knock and he will snap back to the present, and everything will be fine again. But for the moment, Ernie is lost in his daydream. Lost, and wishing.
Artwork © 2011 Bill Hiers

Dr. Zyme, held prisoner in Dr. Viper's swamp lair, attempts to pass the time by playing checkers with Fungusface. However he appears to have learned the hard way that mushroom-cat monsters make very poor checkers opponents: Fungusface is taking forever to try and figure out his next move, while Zyme just becomes really bored.
Artwork © 2011 Bill Hiers
Additional Credits: Dr. N. Zyme & Fungusface are © Hanna-Barbera
Referenced Source: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

The gentle biochemist Newton Zyme (that the "N" is for "Newton" is entirely Ignigeno and mine's invention) is certainly one of SWAT Kats' more underappreciated characters. In his first appearance Dr. N. Zyme was basically just a redshirt with a bad name pun, and treated to an implied gooey demise. Nobody mourned him or wondered whether he even died or not. Why would they?

When he reappeared in a second season episode explaining Dr. Viper's origins however, Zyme, despite limited screentime, revealed hidden depths and became one of the show's most well-developed characters in terms of personality, making it such a shame he was deprived of any future appearances by getting apparently killed off in the earlier episode.

Iggy and I find him adorable and sweet, and dislike his underuse in the show and his underrepresentation in the fandom and so heap as much attention on the guy as we can. Of course, the sadistic, evil Viper will always be our mutual favorite character, but good old Zyme is a close second.
Artwork © 2011 Bill Hiers
Additional Credits: Dr. N. Zyme is © Hanna-Barbera
Referenced Source: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

After the first picture of T-Bone preparing to face off against the henchman, I decided to draw them actually fighting and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Artwork © 2007 Bill Hiers
Additional Credits: T-Bone is copyright Hanna-Barbera
Referenced Source: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

Just a picture of Alex and his father, Benjamin Fletcher. Despite the fact they're both twisted homicidal maniacs, they love one another a lot.


Artwork © 2006 Bill Hiers
Additional Credits: Alex and Benjamin are copyright me!

Maccus, the hammerhead shark dude.


Artwork © 2006 Bill Hiers
Referenced Source: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Just a few random poses and facial expressions of my evil, twisted rabbit villain Alex. Iddn't he cute?


Artwork © 2006 Bill Hiers
Additional Credits: Alex Fletcher is copyright me!

When I drew Toht as a cat I knew I had to do Colonel Dietrich as well, so here's Dietrich from Raiders of the Lost Ark, as a cat, with his head imploding, face collapsing inwards, mouth becoming unnaturally elongated, etc.


Artwork © 2006 Bill Hiers
Referenced Source: Raiders of the Lost Ark

One old, old show from my childhood I've gotten back into during my hiatus from this place as the late-80s/early-90s space adventure cartoon Bucky O'Hare. As per tradition I have of course whipped up a handful of my own original characters, and Renfield here is one of them.

Depending on which version we're talking about, Renfield is either a normal hare who is secretly a spy for the evil Toad Empire (yes, for those of you who have never seen the series, green is a normal fur color for anthropomorphic hares in addition to brown, grey, etc.), or, in a throwback to the character of Arne Darvin in Star Trek: The Original Series, Renfield is a toad who has been surgically altered to look like a hare.

Either way he's definitely a bad guy, but a cute one.


Artwork © 2006 Bill Hiers
Referenced Source: Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars