RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books CAVEWOMAN by Bud Root

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The Budd Root variant cover for CAVEWOMAN ONE-SHOT SPECIAL.
https://viewcomiconline.com/cavewoman-one-shot-special-full/

The interior contents are all by artist Devon Massey, the first of many he has done, and I think this issue was his best. There's another cover by Massey as well.

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The double-page splash from BUDD'S BEAUTIES AND BEASTS 2, Feb 2007, pages 2 and 3, with color added.

I actually posted the page that preceded it in my opening post to the topic.

Updated image.

Updated, with a relevant pin-up linked from the back of CAVEWOMAN: PANGAEAN SEA 7.

Plus similarly themed pin-up pages by Root in many other issues of the CAVEWOMAN:PANGAEAN SEA series.
And CAVEWOMAN JUNGLE TALES series.
And CAVEWOMAN: PREHISTORIC PIN-UPS.

Budd Root's primary affections clearly include 1960's, 1970's and 1980's Marvel and DC, classic Hollywood monsters, FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine, Warren's other CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA magazines, the Beatles, and other 1960's pop culture.


Budd Root also did some similar nostalgic pop-culture pages in other issues. The ones that stand out for me are two pages in his 10th anniversary special, BUDD'S BEAUTIES AND BEASTS 1, out in 2005, with two pin-ups of Root's versions of the Thing and the Hulk (with a little Frank Miller DARK KNIGHT RETURNS tossed in). This was also the issue I first discovered Budd Root's CAVEWOMAN work, the first one I purchased off the stands.
All other issues I mail-ordered from Amryl itself.

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A page from CAVEWOMAN: PANGAEAN SEA 7, but here in color.
I think it was reused as a variant cover on a later issue.



in black and white, within the story :
https://viewcomiconline.com/cavewoman-pangaean-sea-issue-7/

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The image in my opening post, but in color. From BUDD'S BEAUTIES & BEASTS 2, Feb 2007.
I like it both ways.

Here's a link to issue 1, issue 2 is not posted yet.
https://view-comic.com/budd-s-beauties-beasts-issue-1/

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I found a larger image of this Budd Root cover from CAVEWOMAN MONSTER DREAMS. I was going nuts trying to recall who the hairy character in the derby hat is in the lower left.
It's "Cousin Itt", one of the fun but creepy relatives on The Addams Family tv series. With some other family members framed on the wall in the background.
https://www.cbr.com/addams-family-members-ranked/

Some might not recognize "Rat-Fink", the signature character of Ed "Big-Daddy" Roth, who did cartoons for t-shirtss that evolved into hot rod monster trading cards in the 1960's and 1970's, and spray-painted similar stuff on actual hot rod cars, and built hot rod cars. I love the way Budd Root inserts these bits of nostalgia and popular culture in his interior art and covers.

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One of Bud Root's variant covers, used as a limited cover for CAVEWOMAN: RIPTIDE..
https://amryl.com/index.php?pagename=masseybrothers#riptide

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I love it !

One of those blank comic book covers, that you can have an artist draw in at a comics convention.
And someone had Budd Root draw a one-of-a-kind FF cover (despite that Root has never worked for Marvel).

And a great rendition he did, of an excited and very happy looking Thing, with an always sexy Cavewoman in his arms.

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Another of my favorites, with Frankenstein, "Hide the Frauleins, he's back !"
I think I first saw a version of it in black and white, in PREHISTORIC PIN-UPS 5, July 2007.
The captions and color added in a later version.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Prehistoric-Pinups/Issue-5?id=124489
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-prehistoric-pinups-5/



Updated links to Budd Root's other CAVEWOMAN series :


CAVEWOMAN: RELOADED 1-6 ( reprint of first 1994 series, with 10 pages of expanded new material per issue)
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Reloaded
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/cavewoman-reloaded/
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-reloaded-1/

CAVEWOMAN: RAIN 1-8 (2nd series, 1996-1997)
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Rain
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/cavewoman-rain/
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-rain-1/

CAVEWOMAN:PANGAEAN SEA series, 1-11 (re-booted new 3rd series, and Root's best series, 1999-2009 )
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Pangaean-Sea/Issue-1?id=94184
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/cavewoman-pangaean-sea/
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-pangaean-sea-_prologue/

CAVEWOMAN JUNGLE TALES series 1-3 (1998, 2003, 2006)
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Jungle-Tales-of-Cavewoman
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/cavewoman-jungle-tales/


BUDD'S BEAUTIES AND BEASTS 1 and 2 (2005, 2007).
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Budd-s-Beauties-Beasts/Issue-1?id=105480
https://onemillioncomics.com/budd-s-beauties-beasts-issue-1/
https://readallcomics.com/budds-beauties-beasts-1/


and
CAVEWOMAN: PREHISTORIC PIN-UPS issues 1-7 (2001-2010)
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Prehistoric-Pinups/Issue-5?id=124489
https://onemillioncomics.com/category/cavewoman-prehistoric-pinups/
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-prehistoric-pinups-5/



To buy these issues directly from the publisher :
https://www.amryl.com/index.php?pagename=budd

and other series, with Budd Root variant covers, but interior art by others :
https://www.amryl.com/index.php?pagename=cavewomanmain

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UPDATED yet again, 6-11-2025.

In 2019-2021, ReadComicOnline was the best site. Then it became inundated with possibly dangerous pop-up ads, that my Antivirus constantly gives warnings of attempted malware and worm viruses it prevents from loading on my computer, constant interruptions, to the point of unusability.

Then ViewComicOnline became the best, but then that broke too. The links are still here, but nothing ever loads.

Then I figured out about a year later that OneMillionComics was the replacement site for ViewComicOnline, and for a while I was loving it.
And then about 2 weeks ago THAT site stopped working too, that I hope is repaired and back online at some point. Like ViewComicOnline, you can still visit the OneMillionComics site right now, the main pages for every series are still there, just none of the scanned comic pages work.

And now... ReadAllComics, that had previously been down for a while, now works again
I hope permanently, but as these other sites have gone down repeatedly, I say enjoy it while it lasts. They all seem to host the same scans, just on different sites, and each seems to struggle to stay up and running.
Other online libraries, like 12comic and ComicOnlineFree, seem to be permanently down, and I recall when I searched for them in the past, the domain names were available to buy.

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A pin-up page from CAVEWOMAN:PANGAEAN SEA 10, Oct 2007, on the inside back cover, where it appears exactly as shown.
Bud Root, at his teasing good-girl art best !
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Cavewoman-Pangaean-Sea/Issue-10?id=94185
https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-pangaean-sea-10/

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This one is Bud Root/Arthur Adams art.
I love how she's riding the diosaur like a wild bronco.


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EDIT: I looked to find this elsewhere to identify it. On Arthur Adams' own website, it's titled as "Jonnie Future", and (my eyes were bleeding, to try and read print that small) done maybe in 2001.
I thought it might be a John Carter:Princess of Mars variant cover, but from what I could find it's not, and is apparently a new character by Arthur Adams.
On Adams' own site, I also saw nothing to indicate it's a Budd Root/Arthur Adams collaboration, just Adams by himself, apparently miscredited where I first saw it.
Here's a slightly larger image, to see the detail :
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/6a/8c/936a8c7f97774e8427f275876e790d0c.jpg

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( From Budd Root's 2013 convention sketchbook. )


Channeling the 1933 King Kong movie. And maybe a bit of "Little Annie Fanny" from PLAYBOY.

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( Also from Budd Root's 2013 convenion skechbook. )


Budd Root does a lot of pages and pseudo-covers of Marvel, DC, Warren and characters of other publishers. It would be nice to see him do actual covers or interior art for one of those publishers. But after 30 years of comics work, at this point I don't see it happening. I think Budd Root makes a lot of money just doing covers and commission pages, and doesn't have the incentive at this point to even do another CAVEWOMAN story.


But I'd love to be proven wrong, and see it happen.

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( From CAVEWOMAN: PREHISTORIC PIN-UPS 5, July 2007 )


Budd Root seems to have a special affection for classic Hollywood film monsters, the Warren magazines, including Warren's FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine, Silver Age Marvel and DC, the 1933 King Kong movie, the 1949 Mighty Joe Young movie, and 1960's popular culture, including the Beatles.

This is another of many humorous versions of classic Hollywood movie posters he's done, in the pin-ups he includes in various CAVEWOMAN titles.

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The Art of Frank Cho - 20 Year Retrospective book


It was interesting to look through this book on Frank Cho, and how similar Cho's work is to Budd Root's art, a lot of shared spirit.
I've seen Budd Root over the years do collaborative pages with Frank Cho, and Cho has also done several variant covers for CAVEWOMAN issues.

Budd Root has also often mentioned Cho in editorial text pages in his books, they're friends and often cross paths at comics conventions in cities nationwide.
They have a lot of crossover in their playful good girl art, as well as favoring dinosaurs and monsters in their stories and pin-up pages.
Frank Cho's LIBERTY MEADOWS has some obvious shared themes and content to Budd Root's CAVEWOMAN titles and covers.

I guess you could describe them and several other comics artists such as Adam Hughes, Paul Smith, Arthur Adams, and the late Dave Stevens, as representing something of a "school" or a sub-genre of comics illustration. But Frank Cho is, I think, for whatever reason, more prominent and mainstream than Budd Root, though I see them as equally talented.

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An early 2002 example of Budd Root's work.
Not his most detailed, but a nice pose.

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A few years later in 2011, with a lot more detail.

Budd Root variant cover for CAVEWOMAN MUTATION 2, of 2 issues, March and April 2012.
Devon Massey interior art, and other variant covers.

https://readallcomics.com/cavewoman-mutation-2/

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Another fun Budd Root 1960's Marvel parody page, this time of the Lee / Kirby FF run.
With parody elements also reminiscent of Byrne's FF run, of Arthur Adams in FF 347-349, Don Simpson (MEGATON MAN series), and Jim Valentino (NORMALMAN series)

https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-232/
https://readallcomics.com/fantastic-four-v1-347/
https://readallcomics.com/megaton-man-01/
https://readallcomics.com/normalman-001/

Budd Root seems to go back most to parodies and tributes of 1960's Marvel, to the Warren magazines and FAMOUS MONSTERS, to the classic Hollywood films such as Frankenstein, Dracula, King Kong and Mightty Joe Young, and to the Beatles in their prime, with a slice of other 60's, 70's and 80's Marvel and DC tossed in. Probably because these are the things Budd Root has a special affection for, but also because these are things that also resonate for a large slice of his audience, who grew up on the same stuff. Budd Root has carved out a great niche for himself in the comics world.

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One of the covers for CAVEWOMAN SHORTS by Devon Massey, who on this occasion did a cover very consistent with Budd Root's covers on the series.
Still available, with many other variant covers, from the publisher: https://www.amryl.com/index.php?pagename=masseybrothers#shorts

Clear tribute also here to Daisy Duke, and the Dukes of Hazard series.

Devon Massey at this point has drawn at least twice as many CAVEWOMAN issues as Budd Root himself. I still think Massey's best issue was his first one back in July 2000, the CAVEWOMAN ONE-SHOT.
Hard to believe Massey''s been drawing single issues and miniseries of CAVEWOMAN for 26 years now. When he takes the time to, his work on the series is as pleasant as Budd Root's.

For most issues, Massey does one or more covers, and Budd Root does one or more covers.
And sadly for about 15 years now, Budd Root has just been doing covers, no new interior stories..