Mark Sarmel

My name is Mark Moreno, but much like the super heroes I grew up with I have a secret identity. As Mark Sarmel I work out of a deep undergeround basement creating pictures born of comic books, anime, high fashion, and hip hop.

[marksarmel]

It's the last day to preorder my Los Demonios Amigos Talavera t-shirt! Get in before it's over. https://marksarmel.com/store/talavera-shirt

[marksarmel]

I'm running a pre-sale for these brand new Talavera style t-shirts I designed. It runs through Wednesday, May 27th. Drop into my website to grab one for yourself! https://marksarmel.com/store/talavera-shirt

[marksarmel]

Another piece from my past show at La Galeria.  This particular demon is named Black Tongue and is someone you would call upon when you need to spit some fire! Black Tongue is the perfect companion to someone looking to win a rap battle, argument or a debate. Also works on fighting off catcallers, hootin’ n hollerers and wanna be shot callers.

The patterns on Black Tongue are inspired by Mexican tiles referred to as Talavera Tiles. (Swipe to the third image to see an example of one).

This is part of what I would call Generation 2 of the Los Demonios series. While Generation 1 focused on the initial creation of the demon characters and what I would refer to as more commonly understood depictions of demons, Generation 2 leaned more into textures and patterns to create more unexpected depictions of demons. This piece, as well as many others, is available as a 17x22 print in my store. 

marksarmel.com/store

[marksarmel]

Deshi Floral Variant - From the Los Demonios collection.

[marksarmel]

Menagerie - An art show with Mark Sarmel and Lurk & Destroy

On Saturday, September 6th join us artists Mark Sarmel and Lurk & Destroy at La Galería in Mexicantown - 2835 Bagley St. Detroit, MI. Each will be presenting numerous new works; Mark will be showing works from his Los Demonios Amigos series and Lurk & Destroy will be presenting works in his usual bombastic style of exploding colors, retro inspired creatures and modern psychedelica.

Both artists are coming together with a collection, nay a menagerie of beauty and brain melting eye burning art! This is a show not to be missed. Check out the discussion for previews of the show, but be warned, no lowly electric screen can convey the true power of these images. They must be seen with your own thirsty eyeballs. Now, scribble in your calendars, set your reminders and make haste, for the opening will be here all too soon.

This visual donnybrook is free and mostly kid friendly (Ok, the occasional middle finger may be depicted and cartoony demon faces will be in abundance, but rest assured your kid's psyche will remain intact!) Music will be played, laughs will be had and memories will be made. Doors open at 6

[marksarmel]

The newest edition of What I've Been Consuming is now up on my site. In it I review seasons 2 of Andor and the Last of Us.

Reviews of Andor and the Last of Us season 2. One of these is great, the other is the Last of Us. — Mark Sarmel Moreno

Reviews of Andor and the Last of Us season 2. Also reviews of Warfare and Thunderbolts.

[marksarmel]

What I've Been Consuming 04/31/2025

I'm back, a little late (ok a lot late), but I'm back with the April edition (look I said I was a little late ok?) of What I've Been Consuming. For April I review Bad Bunny, Celeste - a beautiful hybrid of Adele and Amy Winehouse, that shocking episode of the Last of Us, the new animated series Lazarus and more! Here's a sample: "I cannot stop moving and dancing and shaking my hips like Shakira running from the tax man. "

Read on below!

What I've Been Consuming is back! Are you gobsmacked by how much I watch and listen to in a month? Are you hungry to add to your unending list of things you must also consume? Then read on you ravenous teet sucklers of media. For you know as well as I do that none may resist the urge, that irresistible interminable unquenchable urge, that urge that leaves us forever unsatiated and forever searching for that next big hit, the urge to consume!

TV

The Last of Us episode 2 reminded me of No Country for Old Men. 

Wooooooo! Fucking unbelievable. How many times is HBO going to do this sort of shit to us? Was that a gut punch mixed with a dirty sanchez or what?  I played the first Last of Us game, but did not play the second and I WAS NOT prepared for what just happened. Even after he was stabbed in the neck, when I saw that wide shot of Jesse riding up to the house, I still held out hope he would be saved, but then the show hit us with Joel, Dina and Bella dragging Joel’s body back to town. He’s gone. And I’m still not over it. He’s gone. Pedro no! Piper no!. Joel no!

While there are many Game of Thrones similarities with how shocking this death is, I’m actually more reminded of a different unexpected death and it’s from a movie. That death is Llewelyn Moss in No Country for Old Men. That death was so shocking to me as it occured off screen and I just couldn’t accept it. I kept thinking there’d be a scene showing how he escaped, but it never came. Now that shock isn’t the only similarity I’m speaking of. As I write this I’ve also seen episode 3 of the Last of Us and I realize now that our point of view is shifting, just as it did in No Country for Old Men. We will from here on out see the story from Bella’s eyes and it will I’m sure be a very different journey. Again, remember I haven’t played the game so I’m blind here, but I do think there may be another point of view shift so we shall see. Now excuse me as I wipe the tears from my face.

Common Side Effects (season review) - Man this show was good! I am normally one that has a hard time getting into something if I don’t like the art, I’m like this with comics and animation too. I was put off by the style right away, but the story really hooked me pretty quick and I actually came to love, I mean really love the style of this. What the animators are doing with some of the lighting and little touches is really outstanding.

Now onto the story! Our main character, Marshall, has discovered a miracle mushroom, that when ingested, cures all known bodily harm, this means diseases both mental and physical, physical injuries and even death. Now Marshall is a hippy earth loving type and wants to share this with the world, but soon a major pharmaceutical firm becomes involved because we can’t have this hippy and his fungi cutting into our profits! Along for the ride in this show are some competing hippy types, some rednecks, an old high school friend, the DEA and also a tortoise. This show is jam packed with some really great characters that feel ripped from true life corporate crime stories, comedic caper movies, and a dash of Big Lebowski mixed with something I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s all here and it all works.

Jump into the quirky fun, but actually pretty serious series on HBO Max.

Lazarus - (first episode review). Features Chad Stahelski (he of John Wick fame) with some great music by Kamasi Washington, Bonobo and Floating Points.

Right away one will notice the near shameless influences from Cowboy Beebop and that’s for good reason as Shinichirō Watanabe, director of Cowboy Beebop is the director of Lazarus as well. Now that we have all that out of the way and also now that our expectations are sky high, because people love Cowboy Beebop, how is this show? It’s pretty good so far. You see a Dr. Skinner created a drug that banishes any feelings of pain in the user. As you can expect the drug, called Hapna, is a huge hit. After releasing the drug Dr Skinner disappears only to reappear via online video three years later to reveal that anyone who took the drug will die three years after their first dose. Yikes! Just say no kids.

It quickly becomes apparent that Dr Skinner must be found and that’s when the team is put together. Five agents, each with a different skill, are pulled together to find the doctor and find a cure.

For me the story is secondary. I’m here for the great action and the cool music. And so far I’m getting what I want. If you love anime then you will probably get into this.

MUSIC

I’ve been having a really fantastic music month with some totally new stuff I discovered, some stuff I’m late to the game on and some old nostalgia stuff too. First out the gate is…

Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS - I had some friends recommend this and I put it off as I just never was really grabbed by BB before, but one day I threw it on and man did this album just move into my house and put itself on repeat? Did we just become best friends? I cannot stop moving and dancing and just shaking my hips like Shakira running from the tax man. This album is a rump shaker and hip breaker! Put it on now.

Also, if you haven’t checked out his Tiny Desk performance supporting this album, do it!

CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso - Papota - Thank the YouTube gods for this one. I was watching the aforementioned Bad Bunny’s NPR Tiny Desk concert and these guys' performance was served up to me afterwards. Man was it an experience from the start! These two are just wholly and completely themselves and we are all just blessed to be living in their world. Their Tiny Desk performance got me hooked and high and I’m happy to say that their album has that performance on it! It’s a banger through and through and it has also been on multiple plays throughout my house.

Something a little smoother and softer that was served up to me was an album from someone I’d never heard of before from back in 2021 and that is…

Celeste - Not Your Muse (Deluxe) - As I said I’d never heard her music before, but I felt like I had. As I listened to her album I was like,”Oh, is this an Amy Winehouse outtake?” And then I listened further and I was like, “Who is this Adele soundalike?” Truthfully she’s a bit of both and mostly her own thing, the influences are there, the music is there too, it’s boozy and smoky and sultry and sexy and it’s just damn good. 

Gore Skate Mix - Spotify - I was feeling nostalgic for some old high school sounds the other day and I happened to remember a band from Texas that had a couple of hits that my friends and I listened to and it brought me back to some of the other songs I listened to back then. The band that popped back in my head was this little known Industrial band called the Skatenigs. These guys had a hit called Chemical Imbalance that opened with this awesome snarky poem about how crazy the Skatenigs were and how they would piss on your moms’ best collectibles. It was all hilarious back then and it hits just as hard for me as it did back then. That’s the opener to this mix and it slides into hits by Ministry, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, Butthole Surfers, Monster Magnet and more. If you’re down for some old school alternative/industrial and want to hear what my teenage ears were consuming then slap this mix onto your wireless earbuds. 

That is all for this month my fellow buffet brats. This month’s consumption collection was late and for that I offer the utmost of apologies, but alas I will return in just a 11 days time with another buffet of music, tv, reading and perhaps even some travel!

[marksarmel]

This lovely lady is now available for purchase, well not her, but rather this sexy loungy thigh hi socks in roller skates illustration of her is. It's 8x10 and is oh so perfect for your home, or office or skating rink. Get it here https://marksarmel.com/store/luscious-rollerskate

[marksarmel]

Another print from my Rollerskate girls series. This one is named Bomb Pop, for the tasty treat she is holding. For this series I really wanted to draw fun sexy women of varying body types and to try to show love for all sizes and shapes of people.

This piece is an 8x10 print on Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper and comes in a matte finish. It's available now on my website and with the code "freeship" you can get free shipping. Get your own bomb pop here: Booom!

[marksarmel]

Remember the days of blacktop and sunshine? Of riding to your best friends house under the big blue sky? Most of us had bikes, but this cheeky lady had roller skates. And she loved them. If you were a trub blue rider back in the day or are one now then this print is for you. Slap your favorite tape into your stereo and get in the mood with these soft pink and blue tones.

This 8×10 print is suitable for framing or as gift that someone will frame later, but not get around to for a few months. Either way it’s something sweet and sexy for anyone.

Pick it up here! https://marksarmel.com/store/radio-rollerskater

[marksarmel]

What I've Been Consuming 02/28/25

We return once again to that most alluring and irresistible of urges. Though we may wander towards the sunlight dappled paths of nature or dare to indulge in the brief respite of slumber and dreams, we inevitably find that we cannot resist that most potent of desires, the desire to consume! 

MOVIES

The Brutalist - Let’s skip all the brutally long runtime jokes and jump straight to the review. At well over three hours and even with a 15 minute intermission this movie, magically, unbelievably, doesn’t feel too long. It is enthralling from the first frame to the last. The acting and the world and the story are so fully realized that I was completely and willingly swept away. This is a modern masterpiece and I cannot say enough good things about it nor will I try. This is a pure cinema in every sense of the word and it feels like something from an older time of Hollywood. A time that gave us huge epics like Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia or perhaps even further back to Casa Blanca. The cinematography is masterful, the score is sweeping and the acting is unbearably beautiful. It is quite simply a movie you must see.

Adrien Brody as László Tóth, is like a tractor beam for your eyes and Guy Pierce continues being one of our generation's most underused and underrated actors. Felicity Jones, who comes in about halfway through the movie, does magic with her smaller role. In truth all the acting here is top notch. Every single person in this movie is magic.

The story itself, separated into three parts, is somewhat simplistic, an immigrant comes to America for a better life, but that is an oversimplification. László Tóth is a Holocaust survivor, an immigrant, a husband yearning to be reunited with his wife (and his orphaned niece), a drug addict, and a gifted architect. It is this last role that is the driving force of the movie. László’s efforts to utilize his talents in order to make a living are at first somewhat fruitful but quickly stymied by Guy Pierce’s wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren. Then, after a purgatory where Tóth works shoveling coal by day and indulging in a heroin addiction by night Van Buren finds him and pulls him back into his wealthy inner circle. Van Buren has discovered Tóth’s talents and commissions him to build a giant community center on his property. It’s here that the toils of Tóth’s life truly come to a boil and that boiling rages throughout the rest of the movie. László fights all manner of impediments in order to see his visions through. Along the way he is reunited with his wife and niece, but discovers she is tragically handicapped due to osteoporosis and his niece is mute. The toiling continues and what unfolds is a tragic and beautiful epic story of love, loss, excess and artistic vision. It’s a magical rare film and I cannot express enough how everyone must see this movie. 

And now a review of something much lighter!

Captain America - Brave New World - I was excited going into this one as I was hoping for something on par with Captain America - the Winter Soldier; a comic book movie very successfully cosplaying as a spy thriller with some excellent action. And with Brave New World in your title you better come correct. Well, we didn’t quite get there. There are some good things here, but a lot of stuff feels not fully formed.

Early on in the movie we are reintroduced to Carl Lumbly’s Isiaih Bradley character. We get a quick update to how poorly he was treated by the US govt after being given an early version of the Super Soldier serum: imprisonment, torture through medical testing and more. We quickly gloss over that as Sam asks Isiah to accompany him on a White House visit. At an almost whiplash pace Isaiah is mind controlled into an attempted assassination on Harrison Ford’ President Thunderbolt Ross. Isaiah is stopped and thrown back in jail. And it’s here that the movie could have gone down a different path. We could have had some sort of reckoning of the American justice system, especially with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson being a black man. We don’t get any of that. Do I come to comic book movies for that? No, not really, but it could have created some good tense commentary wrapped in comic book colors.

If you don’t want that flavor from your popcorn movies then another route we could have gone down is one of body horror. We see Ford struggling with what we all know will be him transforming into the Red Hulk. The movie does a decent job of letting us know that Ross has issues with anger and flying off the handle. This setup didn’t get a good payoff though. This first transformation could have really seen him struggle with giving in to his worst impulses and embracing a change that finally gives him the pure physical power of the Hulk or conversely it could have shown him struggling to contain those impulses via having an extremely gruesome and painful physical transformation. Not only do we get very little of this we don’t really see much of his first transformation at all. 

Mackie still has charisma to spare and this movie gives us a lot of it through his relationship with Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres. The great Giancarlo Espositio is here as the nefarious Sidewinder and in another world (or a What If animated episode perhaps) Giancarlo and Mackie would have gone head to head and perhaps given us a better movie, but he’s pushed aside to bring back an old plot thread from the second Hulk movie from over 10 years ago. Again it’s not a bad movie, it’s fun, but it didn’t quite get to the heights that other Captain America movies have reached.

TV

Paradise - The great Sterling K Brown leads this Hmurder-mystery-thriller series streaming on Hulu. Plotwise, I won’t get into too much detail here as there’s a big twist at the end of the first episode, but I will say that I am hooked! The premise is something I haven’t seen before and it’s being played out in excellent fashion. Brown is anchored by a solid cast with James Marsden as the President and Julianne Nicholson doing an excellent job as a sort of tech bro. I am absolutely frothing at the mouth for each new episode and Episode 7 - The Day delivers so much intensity and emotion that I was absolutely swerving with emotions. Swerving! Don’t put this on your watch list, start it now! 

The English - I remember seeing previews for this 2022 Western and being super interested. Well, I finally got around to watching it and man oh man did I fall into a slow burning love with this series. Set in 1890, it stars Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman searching for revenge in the American Wild West. It also features a wonderful Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp, an Indigenous Indian she meets along the way who becomes embroiled in her quest.

The rapport between these two holds the series together and I adore the both of them. They are each filled with secrets, but eventually they become an open book to each other. It’s an excellent decision by Hugo Blick the writer and director to give us plenty of time with these characters, both together and individually. Locke is a strange character, she is skilled and determined, but at times, out of her depth. And we also learn she bears a terrible secret. Eli Whipp is a mix of contrasts as well. He carries a dark past that he openly admits to and he has no issues doing what it takes to survive. He could have easily been a hated character, but he is written and acted so well that you really come to love him, if not to completely understand him.

After the resolution of a somewhat overly complicated story our two leads find themselves at crossroads. While I don’t want to give away that emotional punch it’s expertly acted if somewhat convoluted. It doesn’t ruin anything though as again, I love both of these characters. This is just a beautiful series through and through.

[marksarmel]

What I've Been Consuming - 01/31/25

If you're new here I occasionally do a review of all the things I've watched, read or eaten over the past month. Here is the first one for the new year. Read on!

Ah, yes the time has come! Unbuckle your belt and tuck into your favorite couch. Grab your snacks, your remote and your snuggle buddy because it is time to consume!

MOVIES

Nosferatu - I saw this twice in the theatre and it was just as magical the second time around. Not so much a scary horror movie as much as it is a creeping dread horror movie. Nicholas Hoult is his usual steadfast self and Willem Defoe brings his best kooky self as well, even perhaps feeling a tinge Nick Cage-ish in the best way. The standouts here though are Lily Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter and Bill Skarsgard as Nosferatu. These two actors are like tractor beams for your eyes and they are magical together. By the time the movie ends you will be paralyzed by them both.

Be forewarned, this story mixes its vampire lore from books and movies and it confused me at first. If you’ve read the original Bram Stoker’s Dracula a lot of it will feel familiar, but it veers away from that original story and fuses elements from the original movie by F.W. Burnau and the 1970 Werner Herzo classic remake. Many familiar characters exist in this movie, but their names have been changed and as said earlier it threw me off a bit. 

Finally, the absolutely gorgeous cinematography in this movie melted my eyes and it culminated in a final shot that struck me with such horrendous beauty that on my second watch I couldn’t wait for the movie to end, just so I could soak that shot in again. 

The Substance - This movie was already bonkers, but then it got to the final stretch and it stuck its hand out to me and said, “Hold my cosmo and buckle up because I’m about to take you on a one way ride to batshit crazytown” and boy did it ever. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley play two sides of the same coin with Moore playing Elizabeth Sparkles, an aging starlet, and Qualley as Sue, the young fresh faced newcomer. Add in the eponymous Substance and you get a dark and sometimes darkly comedic body horror film that leaves you squirming and writhing just as much as one of the main characters. One final note, do yourself a favor and finish your popcorn before this movie even starts.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (rewatch) - The first time I watched this movie it was far better than it deserved to be and this rewatch brought back all those same feels. It’s just good fun. Chris Pine is hilarious, Hugh Grant is hilariously hammy, Sophia Lillis (from the It remake) and Justice Smith (from I Saw the TV Glow) are both solid, Michelle Rodriguez is perfectly cast and Regé-Jean Page continues to make me question my heterosexuality. Just grab your favorite snacks and put this one on repeat because it’s good goofy fun. 

TV

Culinary Class Wars

It’s hard to express the sheer joy this show gave me. It took a while for this one to get warmed up, but once you get through the third episode things really get humming. It’s not to say that the first few episodes are boring by any means. They’re quite fun, it’s just a bit drawn out and the rest of the show is so fun and so good that it makes the early episodes feel slow. Once you get to the meat of this Korean food series, that is very much in the vein of Physical 100, you will find yourself rooting for your favorite chef, but still loving most if not all of them.

One thing that this show did that I loved, but somewhat confused me is that all of the “newcomer” chefs had nicknames. It was gimmicky, but I loved it. Overall, I loved the spirit of competition in this show and by the end I was rooting for so many different chefs to win because I fell in love with so many of them. Just good tasty fun.

Great British Baking Show Season - Fuck man I love this show. Just put it on and feel good about the world. Just for a little bit. Then you can go back to crying.

The Diplomat Season 2 -  Man oh man was the second season of this show just as fun and engaging as the first one. Season one of this show caught me by surprise with how much I loved it and when it ended the only thing I disliked was that I was going to have to wait for Season 2. When it finally dropped on Netflix I gobbled it up far too fast, but man was it a tasty morsel. Keri Russel is the star here as an American diplomat working in the UK, but she is surrounded by a village of good actors with sharp dialogue and storylines that twist and turn so fast that they demand your attention. Set aside a weekend, put some popcorn on and kick back because you will be binging this one.

Black Doves - A fun breezy British spy series featuring Kiera Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Sarah Lancashire and a dash of Andew Koji. I feel like this series wants to be more serious than it is, but don’t let that put you off of it. It is serious, but it doesn’t get bogged down in the darkness of some other spy shows (for that see the Agency review below). Where this show really hooked me is with its great characters. Some I loved, some I hated then loved, and others I hated all the way through. This is what makes this series fun. You may at first be tempted to have this on in the background, but give it your attention and you will be rewarded. Bonus, this had some unexpectedly good fight scenes.

The Agency - Would it be too cliché to call this a tense and taught spy series? Maybe so, but that’s exactly what it is. Starring Michael Fassbender, Geoffrey Wright, Richard Gere, Jodie Turner-Smith and Katherine Waterston, this series is tightly wound from frame one and it barely lets up throughout its run. While Fassbender is the star here, all the other great actors and great storytelling in this show level it up to something I absolutely could not wait to watch each week. I won’t get into too many details, but Fassbender is a spy juggling the return of an ex-lover, a daughter, some potential PTSD and his day job being a spy. There’s a voice over that feels a bit too close to Fassbender in the Killer, but thankfully it’s not used much. This series is heavy and the stakes feel high and it all makes for a fantastic show. 

MUSIC

Kendrick Lamar - GNX - Here we go with another Kendrick Klassik. It’s on repeat and it’s on non-stop. Kendrick brings all the fire emojis on this one. GNX opener Wacced Out Murals starts with a chorus, a soulful Spanish intro and an ominous beat that leads in to Kendrick absolutely throwing down the gauntlet to anyone who ever picked up a mic. The rest of the album puts an elbow on the throat of the rest of the rap game. Look, Kendrick is just being Kendrick. He can’t help if he’s levels ahead of everyone else. Pay attention, take notes and go home and practice because no one else is doing what Kendrick does.

BOOKS/COMICS Transformers TPB 1 - Daniel Warren Johnson - This series was a jolt of much needed Transformers nostalgia. The various Transformers tv and movies since 2007 have been hit or miss, mostly misses, Bumblebee was pretty good and the most recent animated Transformers One was quite good as well, but other than that the Transformer franchise has been missing some much needed heart. This new comic series by Daniel Warren Johnson runs at full speed and its heart beats fast and hard. The art, as is to be expected by DWJ is electric, but the writing is on point! It’s a modernized version of the Transformers, but without breaking what made these characters so enjoyable and memorable. A definite must read.

[marksarmel]

Another piece from Inkotber 2024. I enjoyed doing this one and it's a bit of a redux on a piece I did many years ago, that I can no longer find.

I think roosters are pretty badass animals and they look come in a lot of super cool shapes that are really fun to draw. Their combs and wattles, the things on the top of their head and below their beaks are just weird flabby things that are so interesting.

There is a breed called Ayam Cemani that is completely black even the meat is black. Pretty cool,

[mspencerdraws]

Watcher in the Woods Painted for Every Day Original last month (December 2024) and still available! as of 1/29/25 Buy this Painting Here

An enigmatic protector, he wanders the Emerald woods- ready with arrows of his own- to counter any who might wish the forest harm.

–

Inspired by folk heroes, memories of summer green, and protecting what matters.

Painted in watercolor, gouache, ink and colored pencil on 140lb Arches hot press paper.

The artwork is framed in a hand-painted wooden frame.

[marksarmel]

A part of a spirit animal sereis I worked on a while back.

[marksarmel]

Some of my digital paintings. For years many thought (and still think) that with digital art you just "push a few buttons", but that was never the case. Digital art such as work made with Photoshop, Procreate or any other digital app takes just as much time and care as traditional art and yet doesn't seem "real" to some people. I'll admit sometimes I devalue my own digital art and I know how long it took to make some of it! I've just always wanted to hold a painting in my hands. Now with the advent of AI you can literally push a few buttons and have an amazing piece of art. It leaves me wondering how people will view digital art that was made by hand, but on a computer, in the coming years. Does the laymen care or not care anymore? If I put a print next to a painting and they were of the same image which would you value more?

[marksarmel]

Mak the Yak. Another piece from Inktober 2024. For me this was one of the highlights of this series. Every now and then a piece just clicks and this was one of those where I was just vibin'!