The State of Texas seems to really like me, and I really like it a lot right back. One of my best friends and his family live there, 
and I try to go out a couple times a year to see them. I've also worked for a few companies out there, including the Fort Worth Weekly and Houston Press. Oddly, both of them decided they needed some Thom Zahler eye candy on their covers the same week. No problemo, I'm enough of a style chameleon that I can do two covers and have them not look too similar. And besides, Texas is a big state and there's a lot of space between them.
The Ft. Worth Weekly cover is for a story about Texas Governor Rick Perry, who seems to have flipped his lid lately. I make no actual political comment here. I really don't know everything he's doing, and I would have drawn Perry as Superman if they'd wanted. As long as their check clears.
My Art Director there was on vacation when the editor decided she needed this cover, so she called him and asked "Who do I get?" Without missing a beat, I'm told, he said "Get Thom Zahler." In my head, he spoke in the same urgent tones as when someone says "Get me Jack Bauer" on "24."
If you click and look at the larger image, you'll see a little bit of an Easter Egg for people who watch the same shows as me, too. I'll post the Houston Press image when I get the final cover back from them.