I’ve got a ton of work to get done these next two days– so the words that accompany the sketches today are going to be a bit light (not that anyone comes here to read words anyway….)– so to start off, here’s yet ANOTHER FANTASTIC FOUR cover sketch that didn’t make the cut. I really liked this one– but I did it just as Marvel decided that generic covers MIGHT not be a great thing for ever issue…. Ah, well.

The second sketch made me go “What the f…..?” when I came across it. It was giving me that “Whutchu lookin’ at, fool…?” stare– and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why I even drew it. After a bit of an uncomfortable stare-down, it started to come back to me that the sketch was the result of a conversation I had with a friend of mine named Chris Kemple who works at RED STORM ENTERTAINMENT— you know, the cool video game development company that makes such great games as RAINBOW SIX and GHOST RECON…? Now, what the coversation was and why this sketch ended up happening as a result– well, those details are lost to the mists of my ever more frazzled and dim mind. But anyway, here’s the little dwarf with the bad attitude anyway.

Time to get to it….

Mike

Back in what seems an eternity ago now, when the Mac was really starting to increase it’s computing power exponentially, one of my then studio mates Chuck Wojtkiewiscz had a brand new POWERMAC G3. He was gracious enough to bring it to the studio for everyone to use. I had a large 12×17 inch flatbed scanner that I brought from home and WALLAH…(!) we had a sweet new graphics setup. I was going through an old CD of files of mine that I had burned from Chuck’s computer and came across the turnaround art for a SERRA vinyl statue that DYNAMIC FORCES produced some years ago when the TELLOS comic was in full swing. I had done the line art for the sculptor– and Chuck, who had become a MASTER of marker toning, suggested that he would be happy to tone the piece to make it even more dimensional for the sculptor to work from. So, here’s the wonderful results– and Chuck… thank you again after all this time.

I just came across a sketch that I did for a VAMPI cover for HARRIS COMICS years ago. I had done a few different versions, and this one was my favorite, but they went with another sketch that was a bit more action oriented. After Augie De Blieck over at COMICBOOK RESOURCES pointed out that he couldn’t remember what the final printed FLASH AND IMPULSE cover from the SINS OF YOUTH event that were the subject matter of yesterday’s post– I hunted around to see if I could find a printed file version of the VAMPI cover, but alas, I could not. And I searched the web for the FLASH AND IMPULSE cover YESTERDAY– and couldn’t find one. Oh, well– I tried. But here’s the sketch anyway….

Steven Grant’s new PERMANENT DAMAGE column (ALSO at COMICBOOK RESOURCES) has his impressions of COMICON INTERNATIONAL– which frankly, surprised me. Steven usually takes a very pragmatic (or cynical, depending on your interpretation) view of the comics industry– but he left this year’s con with a sense of high optimism and enthusiasm coming from the publishers at the show. I hope that this is truly the case– and that the kinds of things that I’ve been hearing about folks seeing the beginnings of a big turn around in the industry’s fortunes– as well as a greater acceptance of comics OTHER than superhero comics are really on the horizon. Perhaps the massive successes of books like the huge BONE COLLECTED EDITION from Jeff Smith and FLIGHT from IMAGE COMICS as well as the promising start to MARVEL’S MARVEL AGE line of books in both the Direct Market as well as the digests they’re selling at stores like TARGET are heralds of a return of younger readers– and a return of more open, reader friendly comic books. I think that what has begun to be called the “BENDIS-IFICATION” of comics — and the publication of the IDENTITY CRISIS event (try showing your kids THAT one) have taken us so far away from the colorful superhero characters as characters that can be entry level subject matter for kids as we can get. Darwyn Cooke, the writer and artist of the incredible DC: THE FINAL FRONTIER was lamenting recently online the co-opting of the greatest childhood comics characters by folks like Bendis and Meltzer, who have turned them into characters no kid could fathom anymore– and he was lambasted for it. Personally, I couldn’t agree more with Cooke. So– hopefully there will be a new, brighter age of comics that will be welcoming to younger (AND OLDER– comics don’t HAVE to have rape and long boring “psueudo-Mamet” dialogue in them to be enjoyable to adults) readers. I think that things like FLIGHT and others being done by some smaller publishers can help that happen.

OK– enough editorializing. I’m back to work.

Mike

I’m looking forward to hearing the many COMICON reports I will (HOPEFULLY!) be getting from my various comics buddies who made the show. Parker at MYSTIFYING ORACLE always teams up with Steve Leiber for great ones– so I’ll let you know when they get theirs up and running. Hopefully I’ll be getting phone calls from some of the others, like Scott Kurtz, Robert Kirkman, Scottie Young and others soon. If not, I’ll call THEM! I gots ta live vicariously through others…!

Not much by way of links and such today– but I’m throwing up a few more cover sketches that didn’t make the cut, so to speak. The first one is another FANTASTIC FOUR sketch that I originally did for issue #509. They wanted to go with more of a total group shot– so here’s the rejected sketch.

The next two sketches are for the FLASH and IMPULSE issue of the SINS OF YOUTH 5th week event that DC COMICS published some years back. I was lucky enough to be asked to draw the covers for the entire event (I think some 7 covers in all– plus another one for the eventual trade). I went through many versions of each cover before we settled (well, THEY settled) on the ones they liked. So–here are the ones for FLASH and IMPULSE that didn’t make the grade.

SKETCH ONE



SKETCH TWO

OK– that’s it for today. Just a quickie.

See you tomorrow.

Mike

Not so much about sketches today as about finished pieces. The first piece is again courtesy of Doug Resnick. After he saw my post about the A.C.T.O.R. sketch I did for him here on my blog, he kindly emailed me two MORE SPIDER-MAN related pieces he had acquired from me. I’m presenting one here today– it’s a straight up commission he had me pencil at a show not TOO long ago (I think it was HEROES CON), and he later had my old studio chum Richard Case ink up for him.

This second piece is artwork for an aborted lithograph. Back several years ago, when Todd Dezago and I were just getting TELLOS started, the THEN marketing guru at IMAGE COMICS (his name escapes me right now) had set up a couple of deals for us at ANOTHERUNIVERSE.COM. They were at the time doing exclusive merchandise for their company with select comic book properties– things like limited edition comics and lithos/prints. We did a TELLOS PROLOGUE with them (which turned out really nicely) and we were SET to do a limited lithograph as well. They first asked for a solo piece with the SERRA character because they felt that concentrating on the female cast member would give us the best sales for the print– so I immediately went to work and produce this (with wonderful inks by my buddy Howard Shum) piece. Just as I was finishing it, though, they came BACK to me to insist that I change it to a piece with the entire cast. Since it was just a lithograph and not an actual comic– and since (frankly) I didn’t really enjoy having ANYONE tell me what to draw for my OWN property…. I kind of let the project die. So I’m presenting the piece here– and if I may engage in a tad of hucksterism– you can find it in my section of the MOTHCOMIX.COM website for sale. There, with that out of the way….

Finally today– I wanted to highlight something that has really made my month… MAYBE my year. I recently made a comic book trade with an internet friend who lives in Austria. I’ve been obsessed with the artist DENIS BODART lately. I’ve been seeing some of his stuff at various message boards on the web, and I immediately fell in love with his work. It’s amazingly alive– Bodart’s art is bouncy and cartoony, but it fits in any genre and subject matter. The features of the characters his more serious work border on caricature– but that just brings his work even more to life in my eyes. I’ve only had jpegs to look at– so when my friend told me he was going to France and Belgium on vacation and offered to pick up some of his albums for me in exchange for some Jack Kirby comics, I LEAPED at the offer. I recently recieved two albums in the mail from my friend entitled THE GREEN MANOR. It’s, I believe, the story of a gentlemen’s club where murders are discussed and solved. Bodart’s presentation of the settings, costuming and characters from Victorian era England are amazing. The jpeg I’m presenting here just does NOT do it justice. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a wealth of material on Bodart on the web– but you can see a tiny example of some of his work by clicking on the link above. I’d buy everything this man has ever drawn if I could get my hands on it.

OK– see you back here tomorrow.

Mike

It’s funny how genre comics tend to come in waves. It seems as though everyone who wants to work in the fantasy, science fiction or western genre seem to get the idea at roughly the same time and this creates a wave of those kinds of comics hitting the stands all at once. Recently, it looks as though it’s the WESTERN genre’s turn (although in all fairness, Jeff Mariotte was doing DESPERADOES when it wasn’t fashionable a few years ago. It’s how a certain guy called John Cassaday got his start– maybe you’ve heard of him…?). And it’s funny to ME because I’ve been wanting to do a western for some time now– but I’ve never had the time, always having to do the work-for-hire dance. So, here’s a sketch of the main character from a western story that I still hope to one day tell.

The second piece I want to present today is a copy of the color cover for the TALES OF TELLOS comic that was just solicited in this newest issue of DIAMOND PREVIEWS. The printing was so dark that it looked like mud, really. So just for my OWN edification, because I really like the colors that Val Staples of MV CREATIONS and MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE fame— one hell of a colorist– did, so I wanted to present them in a less muddy fashion.

And for those of us who haven’t been able to make it to COMICON INTERNATIONAL this weekend– the guys over at FANBOY RADIO will be broadcasting live from the show later today. I don’t know exactly how they’re going to pull it off, but hopefully it’ll work out. It would be fun to hear some of the goings on at the show on its last day. The show will be broadcasted at 4PM PST– 7PM EST. There’s a link at the top of the page that will allow you to listen to streaming audio over the web (it’s how I listen to the show every Wednesday and Sunday). You’ll need the REALPLAYER software to allow you to listen.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Mike