Custom Artwork

Sample Mantra Artwork
Dave Roberts; 1995 (?)

The Dave Roberts marathon continues! These are copies of some of the sample artwork Dave sent to Malibu that landed him the job on Mantra. (Note: These files are rather large, ranging in size from 180 to 220KB.)

Original Artwork for Mantra #11
Robb Phipps (penciller); Jeff Whiting (inker); 1994

Mantra uncensored! This is the original artwork for page 1 of Mantra #11, after Boneyard's wives have stolen our heroine's costume. In the final version in the comic (click bottom image for comparison), Mantra creates a "mystic smoke" to help preserve her modesty, which was obviously added using the digital coloring process later on.

However, it appears that the decision to add this "smoke" wasn't part of the original layout. The last two captions on the page (where Mantra talks about how she created the smoke) were apparently added after the fact; the first box covers up the original caption, which reads:

NOW THAT REACTION'S KICKING
IN AGAIN. CALL IT SOCIETAL
CONDITIONING, CALL IT A SELF-
PRESERVATION INSTINCT, CALL
IT MODESTY, IF YOU LIKE...

In all fairness, the original artwork doesn't show any "naughty bits" either, but it is interesting to see where the standards were set, and—dare I say it—where the line was drawn?