Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Ride it, my pony.

Ben-Hur (1959): The Chariot Race Scene

Watercolor on 12” x 9” watercolor paper

For fun, I’m going through the movies on the AFI 100 list that I haven’t seen yet (40 of them) over the course of the next year and I figured, hey, easy topic for some paintings!

First up is William Wyler’s Ben-Hur, which I knew nothing about going into it and was startled to discover it’s a religious movie kinda sorta. It’s like a Rosencratz & Guildenstern of the Christ story where I guess Jesus is important to the movie but in all honesty I don’t know how much it affects the actual main characters. Besides that and the egregious brownface (you get exposed to a lot of this stuff when you watch older movies), this is an honestly thrilling movie and the chariot race I’d always heard about was even better than what people said.

Because it was made in 1959 everything in this was practically shot and the effects are right there on camera so the chariot race in particular is astonishing to see. There were stuntmen but the actors themselves are often on the chariots and it’s one of the best 15 minutes of action ever filmed. And then there’s the next 45 minutes, which have some interesting character moments but nothing matches the genuine thrill of that race.

It’s interesting to have grown up on about three generations of action movies and shows that were influenced to varying degrees by this. From the speeder bike scene in Return of the Jedi to Gladiator essentially being this story without the Christian stuff to Conan the Barbarian’s opening scenes. Pretty much every race scene owes a lot to it, to the point that I don’t know how the Fast and Furious movies would look without Ben-Hur. Speaking of Jedi, Luke Skywalker’s entire arc from New Hope to The Last Jedi is pretty much Judah Ben-Hur’s.

While I didn’t exactly vibe with the movie overall I can’t deny that it had an indelible impression on Western culture over the past century.

For the painting I chose to focus in on Ben-Hur’s team of white horses because they’re a truly powerful visual. Also: Horses are difficult to paint and I wanted the challenge. I also wanted to get across the sense of speed and motion that made the chariot race so dang thrilling.

Next week: James Cagney’s unreal performance as a song-and-dance man in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Here’s a preview of Thursday’s new Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada Wrestling Landscape painting. On a craft level it’s my best wrestling painting to date and I’m super excited for you to see it! FYI, there will be 75 of these as it’s expected to have a lot of interest.

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

I’ve had a hard time over the past five-ish years reading. Some sort of trauma response from the pandemic, I think. So what I used to be able to read in an hour or two now has to usually be broken up over several days. Thanks to a lot of work in therapy sometimes I’ll have a good week or two and I take advantage of that by reading as much as I can.

I’m breaking these up in categories that makes sense to probably only me, but first up are the non-superhero genre books.

Milo Manara’s Caravaggio biography is naturally fabulous, telling the story of an artist who lived several lifetimes in his brief life. The Knives by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is a welcome return to their Criminal series. I’m not going to rank anything but I LOVED Partisan by Garth Ennis and Steve Epting, a WWII story about a young mother trying to survive the Nazi invasion of Russia. Assorted Crisis Events by Deniz Camp and Eric Zawadzki lives up to the hype. Kid Maroon by Chris Cantwell and Victor Santos is another one that’s stuck with me since reading it. I had read Spectators by Brian K Vaughan and Nico Henrichon as it serialized and had a a different yet equally enjoyable experience reading the hardcover collection.

Next up is the Indy/ Arty category, which was pretty spectacular.

Mothballs by Saul Otero is a deeply personal yet whimsical memoir with some rad art. Again, I’m not going to rank the books but if I did then Life Drawing by Jaime Hernandez would be the very best. I’m not rating though, because Dwellings by Jay Stephens might also be a favorite from its ingenuity and contrasting art and story. As a physical object, Goes Like This by Jordan Crane is a gorgeous book unto itself pushing printing capabilities to their limits. Nocturnos by Laura Perez is a haunting story that felt very David Lynch-infused with how it explores the power of dreams. Shadows of the Sea by Cathy Malkasian is a very moving story about loss and grief and trauma but it stays light and emotionally true. Drome by Jesse Lonergan is a full-on visual experience of a book that I’m still trying to wrap my head around as it felt like a magic trick.

Now we’ve got the superhero (and superhero-adjacent) books, which had a fun year.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor by Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch is a truly epic story, both in the writing but man it’s great when Hitch cuts loose. Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson and friends is a truly fresh reimagining of the characters that takes it seriously and the ‘it’ is fun. I know I keep saying I’m not going to rank these books, but Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theatre by Tom Scioli is a joke taken to perfection, (“Now I am truly THE GREAT GATSBY!”) and I don’t know that I had a better time with a book in 2025. The Avengers in the Veracity Trap! by Chip Kidd and Michael Cho is a gorgeous love letter to the power of superhero comics and the people who make them. I’ve enjoyed the Absolute DC line overall but Absolute Martian Manhunter by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez is the one that I feel like is doing something genuinely new and inventive to my taste. A few days ago I finished up reading Batman and Robin: Year One by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee and it’s a heartfelt thrill ride from the first page to the last.

Finally, the omnibus collections. Gosh, I’m so far behind on these but I’m hopeful to catch up in a few months.

Jon Sable Freelance Omnibus 1 by Mike Grell was my first time reading this excellent series and I look forward to the rest of it (I just started Warlord and I’m so into it). Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse by Paul Levits, Keith Giffen, Larry Mahlstadt and friends collects the post-Great Darkness Saga issues, wrapping up that volume before the ‘Baxter’ series started and it’s my personal favorite superhero comics. Also for the first time I read the first Suicide Squad Omnibus by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell and friends and it’s, sorry for the pun, killer stuff. I had read the first few issues collected in The Spectre Omnibus by John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake and friends but a lot of this was new to me and I couldn’t put it down. Plus the cover glows in the dark! Finally, a few days ago I finished reading the second Hitman Omnibus by Garth Ennis, John McCrea and friends and it was a delight revisiting these foul figures down at Noonan’s bar.

The three non-representational abstracts are me playing around with technique and medium, answering the eternal artistic question of, “What if I try this?” The landscape painting started out that way but then I turned that sumbitch sideways and thought it’d make a happy little lake scene. Finally, the kissy-face one is a sketch for my upcoming painting for The Last Picture Show. Spoiler!

Here’s the finished fine art paintings I made in 2025. Although I’m biased I think it’s a strong body of work. There was a lot of experimentation this year, especially with watercolor. I actually did very little work with acrylics looking back at it. No profound reason beyond having fun with watercolors!

My best acrylic work of the year was right back at the beginning in January with ‘Accepted’ which is among my very best work period. It’s a truly personal painting exploring how I experience the emotion of being accepted. The people in the painting with me are a whole family that have all become close friends and it meant a lot that they helped me out with it.

My friend Lance, sitting to my right, passed away a few months ago. I’m so glad that he was able to participate with this piece and I think about him every day. He was a guy I enjoyed hanging out with and I miss him.

A couple years ago I started trying to get more personal with my work by using it to explore my own self, to communicate my experience, and to find some sort of universal truth. That all seems very touchy-feely and it doesn’t really matter if I’m successful but I’m happy that I’m trying. It’s unlocked things that I use in my day-to-day life and I like to think I’m a better artist for the effort.

There’s a saying that it’s best to show and not to tell. I’m just trying to make sure that what I’m showing has something to say, even if it’s simply a feeling.

Love you more,
Rob