Long before the Brad Meltzer mini series that set the tone for supervillain anal-rape and murder at DC, there was another event entitled IDENTITY CRISIS. Back when I was drawing SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN in the mid-to-late 90’s, crossovers and SPIDER-MAN line-wide events were the norm… and they still are, so I suppose that for the major flagship characters at the Big Two things never really change. Events and crossovers sell, no matter how much uproar that might be heard from a vocal minority. I was a bit frustrated at that time with all the events being foisted on us that kept us from getting any personal creative momentum on SENSATIONAL…. but there was one thing– or PERSON, I should say– that made it tolerable and even fun: Todd Dezago. Todd and I had become fast friends working on the book together… and we had gotten to the point where we were talking on the phone just about every day about SENSATIONAL and comics in general. Todd was very generous with allowing me to have as much input as I wanted on the book… and so even though the event stuff was a bit of a pain, we always talked it out and found a way to make it fun for ourselves. That’s a situation that I’ve rarely– if ever– found myself in on any of the other major icon crossover events I’ve been involved in…. and that’s the biggest roadblock to having any enjoyment for me with those events. Having a rapport with the writer and being able to have a modicum of input makes all the difference.

I don’t recall all the specific details as to why– but SPIDER-MAN had to dump his red-and-blues for a new super-identity.. and he chose to take on four different guises (one for each monthly being published at the time…. natch). Todd and I got THE HORNET. That was it… no other specific parameters, just the name. So we started working out the details of the character and his costume. I had always been a big fan of YELLOWJACKET…. so I used that as a springboard/inspiration for the HORNET design. Since SPIDER-MAN can’t fly, we had to come up with a winged jet pack for him, some stinger gauntlets for a weapons system and a helmet that would allow for concealing his identity but allow for maximum visibility in all directions since he would be flying around at high speeds. In the end, I was kind of happy with the design I came up with. He ended up being half spandex, half mech. I don’t know what color scheme I had in mind for him at the time (if I even thought about it), but when I saw the purple-ish hue they gave him… at first I hated it. It grew on me quickly, though. In the end, the story was a fun one, and there were so many great scenes that Todd came up with for THE HORNET (as well as the wonderful characters stuff and sub plots we had going at the time) that I ended up enjoying the event quite a bit. Still– I was happy when Peter dropped the HORNET persona and went back to wearing his SPIDER-MAN costume.

It never gets any better than that classic red and blue outfit.

This is Entry 386.

Mike

I’ve been wanting to get my web site redesigned for a while now. After somewhere around 4 years of the original design, I had been thinking it was time for a change. That opportunity came a few months back when my buddy (and SPIDER-MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR writer) Jeff Parker forwarded me an email from Steven Gettis, who was interested in buying three HARRY POTTER sketches and a DON QUIXOTE sketch I’d done. Steven collects sketches of literary figures– writers and their creations… and he’s got a wonderful online gallery of these pieces you can find here. I knew that Steven had redesigned Parker’s site and did a really terrific job, and so I asked him if he’d be willing to do the same for me in exchange for those sketches.

Fortunately for me, he went for it.

I absolutely LOVE what Steven has done with this site. We decided on a ‘blog as main page’ format since that’s what most folks frequent the site for. For the sketches in each post, you can click on the image and it will open to a larger version of the sketch. If you’ll look around a bit, you’ll see that there’s now an archives section of all the posts I’ve made from the beginning of my blogging. I’ve had people asking me about that for a long time now… and it’s great to have that feature finally. I’ve gone through my files and uploaded the sketches from the past couple of years. Some of the older stuff I’m going to have to find and rescan as I can’t find them on my hard drive… but I’ll get it done relatively soon. Another function people have been asking for is a ‘trackback’ feature and/or an RSS feed for the blog… and now both are available. There’s also a search function that will allow you to search for posts/sketches by subject matter (SPIDER-MAN, for an example). I’ve got an extensive list of links to sites I frequent and artists whose work I love. In addition, there’re links to my DeviantArt gallery, which has more than 160 pieces up for you to see any time you’re so inclined, as well as my MYSPACE page and the folks at MOTHCOMIX.COM who sell some of my art. You’ll also notice if you refresh the page a few times that the site banner changes randomly. There are three versions now… and I may add or subtract from the group from time to time. The vertical row of image tiles in the middle randomly load as well to add to the fun. That’s the thing I love so much about this new design– it’s colorful, fun and much more functional and interactive. So Steven– thank you so much for this wonderful design… it far surpasses anything I imagined. You’re my hero, buddy….! This really feels like home, and I hope you’ll all feel the same way as well.

So take some time, look around… and I’ll see you here again on Wednesday.

This is Entry 385.

Mike