PORTRAIT OF A SUPERHERO

Vernon Hood -- known publicly as Strongarm -- is a major character in The Superhero's Closet. He's devoted to loved ones and doing the right thing. Some of the book's readers don't like what I put Vernon through, but it felt right to me. To take an ordinary man with extraordinary powers and subject him to heartbreak. If Vernon's a real man, he'll survive, right? Be stronger for the ordeal. Right?

My dear friend Erik Secker (of the Austin Seckers) captured Vernon Hood in this powerful portrait, done with oil on canvas.