SUPERMAN is a character that I have never been able to be comfortable drawing. It’s one of the reasons why I only lasted (I think) 8 issues on ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN some 5 years back or so. I was thrilled to be asked to work on an iconic character like SUPERMAN at first. He was the FIRST superhero– and the greatest. His history is almost 70 years of constant publication– and he has been written and drawn by some of the most legendary talent in comics. There’s a lot to try to live up to when working on the Man of Steel….and I quickly learned that for me, it was ‘wrong time– wrong place’ with my run on AOS. What made me think of this was that I recently was flipping through a stack of old sketches of mine, and I came across many sheets of studies of the character I had done in preparation for my work on AOS. I’m struck now by the sheer amount of attempts/takes I was trying with the sketches to get a feel for ‘my’ version of the character. Nothing looked like it was working, and seeing them, I am reminded of the vague feeling of frustration I had in not being able to come up with my own ‘definitive’ look for the character. Part of that frustration was also that I felt like I was in Ed McGuinness’s shadow during that time. He had set the bar for drawing SUPERMAN at that point…. and I felt like I was being brought in to further that look– to perhaps be a ‘poor man’s’ Ed on AOS. I made the mistake of actually trying to play in to that feeling… and that didn’t work. By the time I’d finally started to feel a bit more comfortable drawing the character (and his supporting cast, natch)– I was at wits end with the quality of stories that I was being given to draw, and so I quit the book as soon as I could.

Part of me would like another crack at SUPERMAN some time in the future– but I think a bigger part tells me to stay away. All that history and all those expectations weigh too heavily on my mind with this guy. Chances are, I might never even get that opportunity– but I think that even if I did…. I’d have to think long and hard about whether to revisit that underlying weight and frustration. Perhaps some artists just aren’t meant to– or are right for– certain characters.

This is Entry 231.

Mike

Just a quick one today….. I felt like drawing some TELLOS characters. And I hadn’t drawn HAWKE or RIKK in quite a while, so I thought I’d revisit that nutty duo again after so long. I think that of the 10 full issue and ‘Prologue’ and ‘Prelude’ issues of TELLOS that Todd and I did, issue #4–which introduced these two guys– is my favorite. I remember talking with Todd about his ideas for the story, and the breakneck ride down the water system of the floating city of LUFTHOLDE– and feeling a little less than enthusiastic about having to draw it. It was going to be very difficult to pull off… and I wasn’t really looking forward to it. But when I sat down and actually started to draw the scene, it was an absolute blast. I fell in love with these two characters immediately, and TELLOS #4 was a real thrill to draw from cover to cover.

Of course, I love all the TELLOS characters…. but the kinetic nature of issue 4 was probably the most fun I had during the whole series.

This is Entry 230.

Mike

To round out the week, I decided to draw the response/answer to the last post with J. Jonah J-APE-eson– and so today’s post is of Peter Parker– drawn as a chimp. I always liked the fact that as Jonah’s freelance photographer, Peter had to put up with a fair amount of abuse and derision from his boss. He could get a bit of payback, though, by showing up in Jonah’s office from time to time as SPIDER-MAN and web his mouth shut, or web him to the wall, or hang him out a window. Jonah’s character is a good man at heart– but he gets what he deserves when SPIDER-MAN gives Peter a little bit of revenge. That was one of the things that was so very appealing about Peter Parker (and SPIDER-MAN) early on– that even though, in his costumed identity, Peter had all this power and could do almost anything, he still had a ‘normal’ life that required working, paying bills and generally trying to get by– and he had a lot of trouble in that normal life. He was always broke, worried about his Aunt May’s health and financial situation– and like most young men, he had romantic troubles. Peter Parker was an everyman– and fans could identify with his struggles. It’s what made him so appealing to readers– that this guy had so many of the same problems that they did. And yet, he was also secretly one of the coolest super-heroes in the biz, which served to feed the power fantasies that kids all go through growing up. Unfortunately, I feel as though the character’s lost a lot of that appeal over the years… he’s married to a super model, he’s living in a posh high-rise tower and he’s got no money troubles. He’s kind of lost his core appeal….

But he’s still, even with all that, one of the greatest comic book characters of all time.

This week, Marvel released the solicitations for their books shipping in August– so for those of you who might not have seen it yet, here’s the cover image for FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #11.

Have a great weekend, folks.

This is Entry 229.

Mike

Back in the Silver Age of comics, there was a list of things that, if they appeared on a cover, were considered to be sure-fire attention-grabbers/sellers. The entire list escapes me at the moment…. but one of them was the color purple (oddly enough)– and another one was Apes. It was said that Carmine Infantino, when Editor-in-Chief at DC, would have a gorilla or monkey worked onto the cover of any comic he thought needed a sales boost for that month. That philosophy seems to work for this blog as well. The comments on sketches recently had dwindled (not that I’m obsessed about that– but I’m obsessed about that) recently– but over the past couple of ‘gorilla posts’ things have really taken off. And so I announce here today that from now on, this is a ALL-GORILLA-ALL-THE-TIME blog……! From here on out, nothing but gorillas… gorilla superheroes, gorilla fantasy characters, gorilla……

Just kidding. I could actually see this getting old pretty quickly. I’ll probably do one or two more and then drop it for a while. There’s the saying about ‘too much of a good thing’.

In the mean time– good ol’ Jonah is intimidating enough just as he is…. can you imagine how he’d be as a Silverback Gorilla….?

This is Entry 228.

Mike

I had so much fun drawing the ‘gorilla SENTRY’ the other day that I started thinking about which superhero characters I could do that weren’t ones that Art Adams had already given the ‘ape treatment’. I’ve been a huge fan of INVINCIBLE since the first issue came out some 31 issues ago. Co-created by Robert Kirkman (writer) and Cory Walker (artist)– and now, since issue 8, drawn by the amazing Ryan Ottley– INVINCIBLE is a true independent superhero success story. In a market that is resistant to any comic that isn’t a Marvel or DC comic, INVINCIBLE has made wonderful inroads into the fan consciousness. If YOU haven’t given to book a try, I highly recommend it. There are 5 trades out so far, as well as an oversized hardcover collection– with a second volume on the way. So there’s no reason why, if you’re into fun, intelligent superhero books, that you shouldn’t at least give it a try.

Now…. who else could get the ‘gorilla’ treatment….?

This is Entry 227.

Mike