Just a quick post today. My head feels like it’s full of cotton, so I can’t concentrate on much beyond a few sentences. I worked up this odd WOLVERINE sketch Friday as a warm up… and decided to throw some quick colors on it. By Friday night, I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. I came down with a case of the flu. I don’t know where I could have picked it up, since I don’t go out much– but it was probably from one of the grocery stores I go to. Maybe my body was sending subtle messages to my brain– because the colors on this sketch are rather sickly looking. I like the brown and yellow WOLVERINE costume of many years ago…. but these colors remind me of flu when I look at ’em.

I still feel horrible, but I’ve got to try to get some work done. I spent all weekend on my back either in bed or on the couch. Too much lost time.

That’s it for now.

This is Entry 195.

Mike

Once in a while, I’ll look back on my work on the various titles I’ve drawn in my career as a comic book penciler. There are some titles that I worked on that I don’t feel I was ready to tackle at the time I was contracted to illustrate them. I think ROBIN is one of those books. At that point, I was very interested in drawing more ‘cosmic’ superhero action, and a more grounded, urban style book like ROBIN wasn’t something I was all that satisfied with. I won’t say that I didn’t put my best effort into the book, because I always do the very best I can on anything I happen to be working on. But not only was my heart not 100% into the project, but I don’t think that my drawing skills were up to the challenge either. And so ROBIN is one of those books that I look back on and wish that I could have another crack at now– at a time when I feel my work has progressed to the point where I could do that character justice. Chuck Dixon’s scripts were always great– and he kept the action moving forward at all times. Even in the ‘quieter’ scenes, there was always something interesting to draw. They say you can’t go home again (and on some things, ‘they’re’ absolutely right)– but this is one case where I’d like to see what it would be like to have the same team together now on ROBIN.

If only for just one issue.

One recent artist on the ROBIN title who’s work I think is absolutely amazing is Damion Scott. He didn’t have a particularly long run as artist on the book (much like myself– I only did 9 issues)– but his issues were just amazing. He’s got a very unique style. When I first noticed his work, I think he was working on BATGIRL at DC. At that time, he seemed — to my eyes, anyway– to have a Joe Quesada influence to his stuff. But as time went on, it morphed into something much more idiosyncratic. Some people don’t like what he does– many love it. You can mark me in the ‘love’ camp. Unfortunately, Scott doesn’t seem to have a web presence. I would love to drop him a line and tell him how much I enjoy his stuff.

That’s it for today.

This is Entry 194.

Mike

Many years back, Mike Manley put out an open call to interested pros for pinups for his self-published comic MONSTERMAN. I can’t really remember how I heard about it. Perhaps it was posted on his web site. I used to frequent Mike’s ACTION PLANET site to read his wonderful GIRL PATROL web comic. Mike draws some incredibly sexy women, and the strip is a ton of fun. However I found out about the call for pinups, I worked up the posted piece here today and sent it off to Mike after some email correspondence. I don’t know if Mike ever published it– his MONSTERMAN comic was launched during the beginning of the huge downturn in the comics industry. Retailers at that time were afraid to order anything that they didn’t think would be a guaranteed sale. With untold boxes of unsold over-ordered comics in their storage rooms, anything NOT from Marvel and DC (for the most part.. there were of course some exceptions like BONE, etc…) were doomed to die on the vine. And that’s a shame, because MONSTERMAN was great fun… and Mike’s cartooning on the book was brilliant. He also took format chances and printed an oversized edition that featured a MONSTERMAN mask on the back cover that was a real hoot. If you happen to run across a copy of MONSTERMAN in your back issue hunt at any store or show, do yourself a favor and buy it. You’ll be glad you did.

Since then, Mike and I have become pretty good friends. I’ll have to remember to ask him some time whether he ever published the pinup or not……

There’s a wonderful retrospective on the life and work of artist Mike Parobeck by Greg Khoury over on NEWSARAMA. Parobeck was a favorite of my brother Matt’s– and I was very fond of his work as well. He died much too young– and certainly deserves to be remembered. Kudo’s to Khoury for writing such a wonderful piece.

This is Entry 193.

Mike

Someone had asked several times in the comments section about me doing a SPIDER-WOMAN sketch… and since I wrote about my desire to work on some female characters in my last post, I thought I’d carry that over into today’s sketch and draw Jessica Drew in costume. I was always a big fan of SPIDER-WOMAN. I have the entire run of her title from the late 70’s. My favorite period during that run was when Steve Leialoha drew her for a time toward the end of the title. His work is always wonderul… and the odd quirky aspects of the character and stories she was involved with seemed the perfect fit for Steve. It’s truly beautiful work…. and if you’re a fan of the character as well, you should seek out those back issues. But I even loved the odd work that Carmine Infantino was doing when he began the title. By that time, his art had become somewhat… bizarre, I guess you could say– but that made it very appealing to me in a strange way. It took some getting used to, at any rate.

The death of artist Seth Fisher is being widely reported today on the many comics news web sites. Fisher’s work was a sheer delight– a real visual feast. His ability to pack massive amounts of detail with clear, open and concise line work combined with an amazing drawing ability and design sense made him a real diamond in the comics art field. It’s always a shocking thing when someone young like Fisher dies. I’m reminded of Edvin Bucovic’s death from a brain tumor several years back. He, too, was a phenomenal talent just coming into the height of his artistic powers. We’ll never have the delight of seeing the work that Edvin– and now Seth– could have produced had they lived a long life– but we’ll always have the beautiful works they left behind to remember them by. The comics world is definitely the poorer for their passing. You can see more of Seth Fisher’s amazing art on his web site.

This is Entry 192.

Mike

There’s no agenda or reason for the SUPERGIRL sketch today. I just drew whatever came to mind… and Kara flying with Krypto by her side is what popped into my head. I’ve long wanted to work on a book that had a female protagonist as its lead character. Other than the ROGUE miniseries I drew many years back, practically every title I’ve ever worked on has been with a male lead. Sure, Sue Richards counts as one quarter of the FANTASTIC FOUR… but by being that 1/4 of the team, it’s not really the same thing. There are so many great female characters out there… SUPERGIRL, MARY MARVEL, SPIDER-WOMAN, MS. MARVEL (or WARBIRD… I don’t know what her name is right at the moment), WONDER WOMAN, BLACK CAT… the list goes on. It would be a nice change of pace from drawing the muscle-boys all the time to work on a book starring a female lead.

OK…. that’s all today.

This is Entry 191.

Mike