Lauren Davis

Truck Torrance, a.k.a. 100% Soft, chooses subversive subjects for his absurdly adorable illustrations. Bill Murray becomes a chibi version of himself in his different roles. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde smile on the cover of Days of Future Past. And movie villains from far and wide gather on a single poster, a demented campout of cutesy evil.

Kat Brunnegraff is on a mission to paint all 151 original Pokémon. But she puts her own spin on their simple shapes, giving them tiny expressions of self-satisfaction, uncertainty or disdain, and painting them against a retro motif of stars.

Many of Eduardo Peña's digital paintings are grand in scale, depicting Earth-shattering demonic forces, cities torn apart by mecha battles, the fearsome sandworms of Dune. But he also captures smaller, tenser moments: Batman and Bane meeting in the murky light, the Joker caught in a rare private thought, a cat watching a robot on a misty morning.

Paulina Ganucheau is the artist behind the magical girl webcomic Zodiac Starforce, so she's no stranger to drawing butt-kicking ladyfolk. Her portfolio is filled with sci-fi heroines, princesses turned powerful and offbeat mythological creatures that look monstrous at first, but couple probably use a hug.

The Batmobile. Kaneda's Bike. Doctor Brown's DeLorean. Nicolas Bannister recognizes that, even if it doesn't play a starring role in a story, an iconic vehicle can be an important supporting character. In his Banncars poster series, he illustrates those vehicles with their tails facing toward us, ready to drive away at any moment.

Matt Fox is the artist half of Wet Black Ghost, a comics collaboration with writer Adam Smith that blends the extraordinary and the mundane. Their comics call for gas station phantoms and sci-fi nurses, and Fox's portfolio contains both carefully rendered scenes from the real world and as well as illustrated flights with jetpacks and monsters.

Jeff Langevin collects objects from video games, books, movies, and TV shows in his weathered posters, evoking nostalgia for all the familiar pieces. In addition to these more design-heavy pieces, Langevin also does figure work, including his romantic portrait of Wonder Woman and Alphonse Mucha-inspired illustrations.

Crime fighting doesn't necessarily pay, especially in a sluggish economy. So the superheroes in Chow Hon Lam's Part Time Job series have picked up some extra gigs to pay the rent. And he has more visually witty imagery running through his designs.

Food is a persistent obsession in Jason Fischer's watercolor art. Sometimes it takes the form of delicious portraits of hot dogs and hamburgers; in other cases, they're visually playful, as with his paintings of meat Mario and vegetable Luigi. Plus, on the less foodie front, he reimagines the punishment of the titan Prometheus using creatures from the film Prometheus.

If you spend a lot of time look through the t-shirts on Threadless, you may have seen Aled Lewis' frequently punny designs—and his charmingly goofball images featuring plastic toys and snarky text. But he has more fun images up on his website, including scenes of Battle Royale, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz reimagined as arcade games.