Hey, folks. This is Mafus. Mike asked me to let you know that his computer just died on him. He’s deep into finishing up his last issue of FANTASTIC FOUR and can’t stop to get it fixed. Besides making it difficult for him to get his pages sent in (Look out, Kinko’s!) it also, unfortunately, means he’ll be unable to post blog entries for a while.

Keep coming back, though. His computer may miraculously spring back to life and he could be back tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve volunteered to post for him if he has anything especially urgent or interesting to pass on and I can pass on to him any messages you folks would like to leave.

Thanks for your patience…

Mafus

I’d like to thank my brother Matt (also known as Mafus in certain circles…) for graciously offering to send me a scan of this NOVA piece I did for his birthday a couple of years back. I don’t know why I never scanned it in myself before sending it to him, but it’s probably because it went to the wire to get it finished along with my deadline commitments and I had to rush it out to him without getting the opportunity. I’ve always had a big soft spot in my heart for THE MAN CALLED NOVA. He was the SPIDER-MAN for a new generation when he debuted back in 1976, even down to his similarly alliterative civilian name, Richard Rider. But as much as I liked him, I don’t think I’ve EVER met another person who is as fanatical about the character as Matt. It was love at first sight with Matt– much in the way it must have been for all those fans back in 1963 when they got their first glimpse of that Friendly Neighborhood SPIDER-MAN as a kid. And Matt’s been rather obsessed ever since.

Unfortunately, NOVA hasn’t had nearly the success or respect that his older, webbed counterpart has. Marvel has made several attempts through the years to revive him after his first series was cancelled with issue 25 in 1979. He had a good run as part of the NEW WARRIORS book that was very popular for several years, as well as two quickly aborted attempts at new series in 1994 and 1999. But it just didn’t stick. I hava a personal dream that one day, Marvel would let das brudders Wieringo write and draw a new NOVA series for them, and that it would be successful and allow Matt to die a happy man (at a ripe old age, of course…).

It’s nice to dream.

Mike

I realized that it’s been over a week since my last post….! I’m not doing a great job of following through with my New Year’s resolution of spending more time on my blog here– but I’m into the last half of my final issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, and the deadline’s looming large. So I’m going to post a quick one today– this is a Christmas gift I did for Mark Waid this past holiday.

So– my apologies for the long time between posts, and for having to fall back on something already done like this. When I’m finally finished with FF, things will get much more interesting, I promise.

Mike

It was suggested in the comments section that perhaps it would be fun to see a more action oriented sketch when presenting these “revisitings” of the old characters I created as a kid. I thought it was a good idea, so this post reflects that addition to the fun. In an attempt to prove that not ALL my old characters were based on birds (although it seems as though most of them were based on ANIMALS, if NOT birds….)– I present a battle scene in which one of my characters called THE SILVER FOX is rumbling with a couple of bad guys known as THE BULL and THE RAM. The SILVER FOX character also had an incarnation/alternate version that was known as THE ARCTIC FOX, because I thought it would be fun and easy to draw adventures set in the ice an snow. I soon realized that not many folks (good guys OR bad guys) live in the Arctic area, and so I dropped the idea quickly.

Although, like most of the vast number of characters I created all those years ago, I never did any real comics stories with the SILVER FOX character. I DID, however, use the BULL and RAM baddies in an UNCANNY OWL story. Like most kids, my attention was fragmented, and so it was difficult to maintain a sustained enthusiasm for all the new characters that were pouring out of my brain. SILVER FOX was a victim of that lack of attention span. So it’s fun to give him a little due now…..

For those folks who might not frequent NEWSARAMA.COM as I do every day, you might have missed a story they did on various artists from the American comics market beginning to do work for the French publisher SOLIEL. I think this is a wonderful thing. I’ve got a great affinity for the comics produced in France (as I made clear in a previous post) because of the wonderful diversity in genre and subject matter that are prevalent in France (and Europe as a whole). It’s something that’s just not the case here. The American comic market it mired in a single subject matter: superheroes. And several of the artists listed in the article are personal favorites of mine– and yet they’ve gotten short shrift from the fans here in the States. I frequent many message boards on comics news sites, creator sites and general fan sites, and I’ve seen some of these guys get blasted simply for having a “cartoony” style. Frankly, in an American market that seems increasingly to gravitate toward artists who trace photographs and call them comics, it’s very frustrating and angering to me to see artists with unique vision and a strong personal style get shunted aside. So, I’m so thrilled to see some of these folks find a wonderful home in a market that really appreciates comics– of every kind, and in every style.

Mike