Here’s Andrew Charipar’s take on Stallone as “Cobra” and a humorous story that goes with it.  I got this sketch from Andrew at the 2009 FX con.  Although I regularly visit Andrew’s blog, I’d never met him.  A few weeks before FX, Andrew posted that he’d take requests for sketches to have ready for anyone attending the show.  I put in for the Stallone character of his choice.  A few days later, Andrew posted the Stallone piece you see here and said I could pick it up at FX.

The weekend of the show arrived and I found Andrew’s table.  He had art available for sale, his sketchbook, and comics spread out.  A small group of folks were around his table ordering or picking up sketches.   I waited my turn, stepped up and said, “Hi.  I think you have a Cobra for me.”  A puzzled look crossed Andrew’s face and he replied, “I don’t think so.”  Now I was the one looking confused.  Andrew asked, “Are you sure you requested a Cobra from me?”

Now I know that he’s drawn the piece — I’ve seen it on his website, but I can tell by the look on his face that he has no idea why I would think that he’s drawn me a Cobra sketch.  I go on, “My name is Craig Zablo.  I requested the sketch through your website and you decided to do Stallone as Cobra.”  It’s like a light went on and Andrew replied, “Oh, a Stallone Cobra!  My buddy and I were just talking about GI Joe and we thought you were referring to ‘that’ Cobra.”  Andrew then proceeded to pull out the piece you see above.

Andrew’s a cool guy with very reasonable prices for his sketchbook and originals.  Check out his blog and give him some props.

Did you know that there was a bootleg “Cobra” comic book adaptation that was widely sold in Hungary in 1987?  I didn’t either, but CannonFilms.uk has posted the entire comic.  Although the art and story-telling are pretty bad, it does give us an indication of how cool a legitimate Cobra comic could have been.

Thanks to JoBlo for the original link.

Mark from Hollywood Collectibles checked in with the following:

Hi Craig,

I hope this finds you well!

I wondered if our latest offering, a totally accurate reproduction of  the knife used in Cobra, would be of interest to your website users?   It is my all time favorite movie knife!

This is the link; http://www.hollywood-collectibles.com/cobra_knife.html

I have also organized a 10% discount as before for your guys using the  following when ordering;

Discount Coupon: COBRA

Oh, and it is available in limited numbers right now!

Best,

Mark

+++++

Thanks for the SZoner discount, Mark.  You guys do great work at Hollywood Collectibles.  Please keep us informed about new Stallone items as they become available.