Draw #17 by TwoMorrows Publishing

NUMBER 17 SPRING 2009

THE PROFESSIONAL “HOW-TO” MAGAZINE ON COMICS AND CARTOONING

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SCOTT PILGRIM’S

BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY INTERVIEW & DEMO

HOW

GUY DAVIS

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WORKS ON B.P.R.D.

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SPRING 2009

CONTENTS

VOL. 1, NO. 17 Editor-in Chief • Michael Manley Designer • Eric Nolen-Weathington Publisher • John Morrow Logo Design • John Costanza Proofreader • Eric Nolen-Weathington Transcription • Steven Tice Front Cover Illustration • Bryan Lee O’Malley

DRAW! Spring 2009, Vol. 1, No. 17 was produced by Action Planet, Inc. and published by TwoMorrows Publishing. Michael Manley, Editor, John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Address is P.O. Box 2129, Upper Darby, PA 19082. Subscription Address: TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Dr., Raleigh, NC 27614. DRAW! and its logo are trademarks of Action Planet, Inc. All contributions herein are copyright 2009 by their respective contributors. Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing accept no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. All artwork herein is copyright the year of production, its creator (if work-for-hire, the entity which contracted said artwork); the characters featured in said artwork are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners; and said artwork or other trademarked material is printed in these pages with the consent of the copyright holder and/or for journalistic, educational and historical purposes with no infringement intended or implied. Envy Adams, Lost at Sea, Scott Pilgrim, and all related characters ™ and ©2009 Scott Pilgrim • B.P.R.D., Hellboy and all related characters ™ and ©2009 Mike Mignola • Red Raja ™ and ©2009 Guy Davis • Metropol ™ and ©2009 Ted McKeever • Batgirl, Batman, Dr. Sivana, Mary Marvel, Supergirl ™ and ©2009 DC Comics • Captain America, Daredevil, Nova, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, The Thing, Wolverine, X-Men ™ and ©2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Flash Gordon, Johnny Hazard, Secret Agent X-9 ™ and ©2009 King Features Syndicate, Inc. • Conan ™ and ©2009 Conan Properties International, LLC • Tarzan ™ and ©2009 ERB, Inc. • Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser ™ and ©2009 Fritz Leiber • Pan’s Labyrinth ™ and ©2009 Picturehouse • This entire issue is © 2009 Action Planet, Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing and may not be reprinted or retransmitted without written permission of the copyright holders. ISSN 1932-6882. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

The Super-Awesome BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY Interview!!! Interview with the creator of Scott Pilgrim

GUY DAVIS Marquis of the Macabre

The Super-Awesome BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY Gallery

COMIC ART BOOTCAMP

Interview with the artist of B.P.R.D.

Full color gallery

“Breaking Down the Masters” by Mike Manley

FROM THE EDITOR pring has sprung here at DRAW! central, and life renews itself all round us. I have visited several museums recently and renewed my spirit in the waters of many great artists, from the Wyeths to Cézanne. I encourage every reader to do the same, to get out and explore the art world beyond the panel borders of our four-color medium of comics. Take in the local galleries in your city or town and visit the art museums to study, learn, love, and be inspired. I always feel so charged up when I come back from the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA, just a 30-minute drive from my home. It’s the museum and home of the Wyeth family collection of art featuring the entire Wyeth clan— NC Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth—as well as many important illustrators such as Howard Pyle.

Figurative interpretation by Bret Blevins

Many of the formal elements I talk about in analyzing the art of the great cartoonists in my Bootcamp article this issue are the same elements you see in all great art, and seeing how great artists use, bend, twist and sculpt these principles to their will is both a learning experience and sometimes just what the doctor ordered for the slagging artist. We can also see how comics as a medium is connected directly back through the work of each proceeding generation to the great illustrators and the great masters of fine art as well. I’d like the thank Eisner Award-nominee (for “Best Penciler/Inker” for B.P.R.D.) Guy Davis for his time and inviting us into his studio to talk about his work, as well as Philadelphia brother Jamar Nicholas for his great interview with Eisner Award-winner, Brian Lee O’Malley. A hearty shout out as always to my publisher John Morrow and my man of action-scripts and page layouts Eric (Modern Masters) Nolen-Weathington for making this issue look so good. Now get out there and DRAW! something!

Mike Manley, editor

E-mail: mike@drawmagazine.com Website: www.drawmagazine.com Snail mail: PO Box 2129, Upper Darby, PA 19082 DRAW! • SPRING 2009

THE SUPER-AWESOME BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY INTERVIEW FOR WORLD SUPREMACY!!!

Interview conducted by Jamar Nicholas and transcribed by Steven Tice

ith the latest graphic novel of his hit series, Scott Pilgrim, selling out, and a film underway of said character in Hollywood featuring all the rock ’n’ roll, 20-something slacker lifestyles, and super-ex-boyfriends it’s known for, it seems the world is going BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY’s way.

JAMAR NICHOLAS: What kind of material were you reading as a kid? What influenced you? BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY: As a kid I was really into Calvin & Hobbes. I always tell the story of how I got into comic books because we didn’t have cable, so I couldn’t watch Transformers, and I discovered the Marvel Comics version and the rest is history. I was really into Marvel comics through my youth, then jumped to Image when that happened, and eventually got disillusioned with that stuff in the mid’90s and got really into manga and anime. From there I branched out to a lot of different stuff. Jeff Smith’s Bone and Zander Cannon’s Replacement God were a really big help in that department. The other thing was video games—I was always pretty deeply into them when I was younger, and that probably helped the Japanese aesthetic creep into my system.. JN: How old are you? You’re under 30, if I’m not mistaken. BLO: Yeah, I’m turning 28 in February. JN: Wow, man. That’s pretty neat. You seem to be really far ahead in your career at a young age. BLO: I think I just got lucky, hit at the right time. JN: Tell us a little bit about your background. Where were you born? Do you have siblings? Is anyone else in your family artistically inclined?

electric guitar, painting, bookmaking and stuff. We used to play music together, but now I live pretty far away from them. My dad is French-Canadian and my mom immigrated from Korea when she went to college, which is where they met. JN: All of you are creatives—you don’t see that a lot. BLO: Uhh... yeah. They’re both collegeaged, so I can’t really tell you what they “do” yet. JN: Were your folks artistic? BLO: Yeah, my parents always encouraged that stuff. My dad used to paint a lot and he likes to sing. My mom isn’t too artistic. When she was in teacher’s college I remember she had to create a children’s book for a project, and she got my dad to draw it for her. JN: Did you want to be an artist when you were young, or was there something else? BLO: Nah, I always wanted to draw. There was a brief, pretentious period, maybe in senior year of high school, where I wanted to be a writer, but I gave up on that pretty quickly, probably because I couldn’t stop doodling in class. JN: Was your family supportive of your art?

BLO: Yeah, you know, they kept all the little scraps of paper I ever drew on, which is kind of impressive. They recently brought all that stuff BLO: I’ve lived my whole life in Canada and I was born out to my house so it wouldn’t be cluttering up in London, Ontario. I have a younger brother and sister, theirs anymore, which is nice both of whom seem like they’re going to become teachand also kind of overwhelmers at this point, but they’re still in school. They’re ing. And annoying. Anyway, at both musically inclined and my sister, Stacey, most there were gentle prodalways did a lot of painting and stuff, but I guess dings from my parents to get a real they’re not “going pro” with it or anything. My job, to finish college, to have a backbrother (the youngest) Eddy is a great up plan, etc., but I didn’t feel like wastdrummer and has taught drums to kids Bryan’s somewhat mod take on Batgirl. ing my time on a backup plan. BATGIRL ™ AND ©2009 DC COMICS since high school. My sister dabbles in

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

JN: Did you go to art school? If so, where and what kind of experience was it for you? BLO: I didn’t go to art school. I went to university for Film Studies, which I thought might be applicable to my studies of comics, but it didn’t really pan out for me. I couldn’t stop doodling in class, so I failed all my tests, and I wasn’t interested in the college social life, so eventually I left. The way I look at it is, I gave up on everything else except drawing comics. I’ve been drawing comics since I was a really little kid. I always finagled it so I could do comics for projects in school, instead of whatever. I remember filling an entire notebook with a long fairy-tale comic in third grade, and I was still substituting weird art-comics for film projects in university. But I was a bad student in university, and I dropped out after less than two years. I actually quit after my first year, then I tried again a year later and only lasted three months or so. JN: How was your family about that? Did they support that? BLO: They’ve always been supportive. After I dropped out the second time, I told them I was going to California to hang out with my comics-making friends, and they were okay with that, too. I stayed there for about six months in 2001 working on

Last Shot and some Udon stuff. JN: Seems like you were spared the “you'll be eating dinner out of the dumpster,” hard-luck horror tales that most families have in those situations. BLO: Yeah, I had a good family to help me out along the way. They helped out with the tuition and stuff even though I dropped out, and I tried not to lean on them much during my starving-wannabe-comic-artist years.

BREAKING IN JN: So when did you officially start doing comics work? 2001? BLO: Yeah, I lettered Last Shot, which came out through Image, and I did some mostly-uncredited ghost work for Udon, and then I got introduced to the Oni Press guys and started working my way up. JN: You were lettering at Oni too, right? BLO: Yeah, I still am! I’m lettering Local. I think that’s the last one, though. Brian Wood asked for me and Hope [Larson] to do DRAW! • SPRING 2009

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

it. She did the first few issues, and I’m on it now.

work, but he’s the guy I roomed with down there.

JN: I remember a story that you were hanging out on their forums and you started doing work with them.

JN: I think I know his work. I always get him confused with this book Locke and Lode that Jeremy Haun did back in the day.

BLO: Not me, man! I was on the Warren Ellis forum back in the day, but not all that active, I think. I don’t remember how it went exactly. I know I talked to James Lucas Jones [Editor-inChief of Oni Press] online a few times because he was a friend of a friend, or a few friends. Chris Butcher introduced me to James officially at Wizard World Chicago in 2001, and that fall he started giving me work at Oni. JN: Ha! One thing about comics is that everybody knows everybody else. It’s a small pool we’re in. It pays to be nice to everyone in it. James is a good pal. So were you coming into the States to do cons as an amateur? Between your Udon stuff, were you ever trolling for work, lugging a portfolio? BLO: Nah, I was pretty lazy and fickle about my comics work until I started sweating at Oni. I was doing my own stuff, and talked to some WEF [Warren Ellis Forum] guys about collaborations, and I almost did a Brian Wood book at some point, but I didn’t get serious until later. JN: That’s real interesting. Your work has a very pure look to it, like you weren’t trying to be a Marvel zombie, and you did your own stuff. BLO: The thing is, I was an anime guy first. I was in the anime fandom in the late ’90s. JN: It all makes sense talking to you. BLO: I was an anime guy and a club kid! JN: Ha! BLO: Everything changed. Dropping out and going to California had a big impact on me. JN: What kind of stuff were you really into then? I know I loved anime, but I put it down. Sketches of Scott and Knives in preparation for the big breakup. SCOTT PILGRIM ™ AND ©2009 BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY

BLO: I don’t know if you know Locke’s

BLO: Yeah, I gave up on it after a few years. Locke was all about comics, not necessarily just Japanese stuff, and that plus the WEF influence helped me to branch out a bit. Well, he and the other Last Shot guys quit comics after I moved back up here, and they started this website called Gaia, and now they’re all millionaires. I’m achieving the comics dreams we used to have, but those guys are seriously rich. JN: What’s Gaia about? BLO: Gaia is this anime site. It’s kind of like the MySpace of anime fans. JN: Oh, wow. See, I’m not in that world, so I don’t know. BLO: Yeah, I wouldn’t either, but I know the guys who started it. It’s a big deal now. They have a big office, a hundred employees or something. Five years ago we were living on ramen and sharing a bed, you know? I’m doing great for indie comics, but those guys got out of the game and started their own game. JN: Well, you’re definitely doing your own thing, man. It’s pretty obvious, even with the content in the Scott Pilgrim series. BLO: Yeah, I just came back to Canada and had some life experiences and read a lot of different stuff, and then I started putting it all back together, I guess. JN: Without pressing the fan button, one of the things I really dig in SP is the gaming references—rather, incorporating gaming “conventions” into this world. Are you a big reader? BLO: I’m kind of on and off about reading. I have a million graphic novels and manga on my shelf. This year I’ve been buying a lot of book-books, though, which is nice. We have these huge built-in bookshelves in our house and I wanted to fill them up. I worked in libraries all through high school and college, so I have an affinity for books. JN: I tell kids that I teach that it’s okay to not read comics all the time. It can only help your imagination. BLO: Yeah, you have to read other stuff. Fiction and non-fiction both.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009 7

JN: I haven’t finished a book-book in years. I always stop and put them down. BLO: There’s a lot of other stuff to keep you busy these days. I don’t play video games so much anymore, so maybe that gives me more time. I tend to f*ck around on the Internet a lot, too, which is bad. JN: Yeah. I’m totally plugged into the net. I keep toying with the idea of having a “no net Wednesday” and just turn the computer off from the back. But I can’t commit! BLO: I was computerless for a few weeks, which was pretty nice actually. I tried to use that time as a sabbatical, but of course I kept going on Hope’s computer when she left the studio... JN: [laughs] Addicted. I love gamer culture. I used to be a really big gamer, but as I get older and busier, I just don’t even have the interest to play the stuff. But I love looking at it.

BLO: The thing about doing these graphic novels is when you get into the work, everything else you do feels like you’re slacking off, you know? Cooking dinner, leaving the house, going to the gym, watching TV, reading a book, playing video games, whatever, it’s all bad. JN: Yeah. BLO: I’m playing Final Fantasy 12 right now. I knew for a while that it was coming out and I made the decision to buy it and enjoy it. I can’t always get into games these days, but I’m having a lot of fun with this one for the moment. I try to just play it during break times, though. I don’t want to turn into Joe Madureira. [laughs] We started trying to operate on a schedule, which I think is helping, but it’s hard as hell to stick to it. JN: Have you ever freelanced with no safety net—no day job or “steady” employment—for a given period of time? How did that affect you and your productivity? BLO: I moved to Toronto in 2002 and I only briefly had jobs in 2004, after getting married, maybe like eight months of employment total—at a comic store, then later at a restaurant. I did a lot of lettering for Oni Press, and I was doing some fillin stuff for Udon at the beginning there. That stuff paid the bills more or less while I floundered with my own comics work. I think I got pretty good at not spending much money, but I also racked up huge credit card debts during those years. Of course, when you get married the bottom line for expenses is not as mutable, so I had to pick up my bootstraps a bit. I can honestly say that the lettering and inking and whatever else I was doing didn’t help my work ethic at all. I can still turn around a lettering job in 24 hours, but I’m hopeless at being on time with my own comics. Maybe it’d be different if I was doing serialized work, monthly comics or whatever. Doing a graphic novel just requires a whole different universe of time budgeting. JN: Let’s talk about your schedule for a little bit. Take us through a normal working day for you—from hitting the snooze alarm in the morning, to turning off the light in the studio for the night.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

BLO: I get up around 8:00 a.m., theoretically. The alarm goes off and I listen to the news and the weather. Usually the weather is so depressing that I decide to stay in bed for an extra half-hour. After that I have breakfast and I mosey into the studio around 9:00 if I’m being good. The first part of my morning is usually thumbnails lately... for some reason my brain is in the right state. After that I try to pencil a page—or two, or three if I’m extra-good. Then a lunch break. After lunch, I ink for a while, then I try to pencil some more. Right now I’m just trying to power my way through the rest of the art, so penciling is my main thing. I ink in my free time, basically. Inking I can do on autopilot. Since right now we live in

the country and it’s a 45-minute drive anywhere, usually the late afternoon and early evening is errands and stuff. Then I really ought to do some more pages at night, but I usually don’t, and that’s why this book is taking so long. I’m still working on this. I’m really bad at working consistently, which is my main downfall. I always say I’m gonna be better on the next book, so I’m saying right now that I’ll totally be better on the next book. Just you wait.

THE PROCESS JN: I see you’re quite handy with the watercolors. Did your dad ever use those? BLO: I think he mostly did oils and acrylics. He did them a lot when we were kids, but not so much after. He has a big important job. I always was crap with painting, but I decided to pick up the watercolors a couple years ago and I’ve gotten to like them. JN: Me too! I can’t paint to save my life, but I can do nice things with watercolors. BLO: Yeah, there’s no way I could do a painting without the ink lines there. I’m god awful. Maybe someday I’ll try and learn. JN: Is there a disconnect with the materials? I know I don’t like the extension between brush and canvas, and I think creating watercolors is more like the zen of drawing on a table than “painting.” BLO: It might be the materials. I dunno. It’s probably just a combination of things and I’m too lazy to overcome all of them. JN: Speaking of materials, are you a Micron guy, or do you ink with a brush? What’s your drawing battle chest consist of? BLO: Sanford col-erase pencils, recommended by a friend years ago and I haven’t been able to use anything else since. I’m against Microns, for no reason. I use a brush, a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #2 right now. I was using Koh-i-noor ink for a while, but I got a few bottles that were super watery and I had to toss them so I switched to the Pelikan ink that Hope has been using. I use those Faber-Castell Pitt pens a lot, too, for sketching and for various little bits on my pages. JN: They seem to be a young cartoonist standby these days, the Microns. BLO: Yeah, I don’t get how people can ink with them. They’re expensive and they run out fast, and you have to press so hard it wrecks your hand and wrist. I don’t like the way they flow, either. I use the Faber-Castell S pen, or these crappy Pilot pens that I get boxes of at Staples. The Pilot pens have terrible ink, but the tip has some give

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

and I like the line they give me, so I keep using them. JN: I think Erik Larsen uses Pilot Razor pens for linework. I’m also digging those little [Faber-Castell] Pitt pens lately. Recently, I found these jewels in an art supply catalog, Marvy brushpens, that have a disposable tip, but they can’t hold up to real battle. You ever try messing with crowquills? BLO: Yeah, I have some Japanese replaceable-nib felt pens, but they seem so fragile. I use them for things like ruled lines that have to taper. I tried it in high school, but I gave up. Now Hope is addicted to the Deleter G-pen nibs, and she says I’m not allowed to use them right now, so I defer to her. JN: Ha! Are you hard on your tools? BLO: Nah, I’m good, it’s just that she doesn’t want me to be copying her. She’s very protective. I’ll use them in a few years after she’s dominated the field, you know? JN: Remind me later, I’ll get to talking about you two as a working couple. That’s interesting. Anyway, I think I tried those Deleter nibs before. I know I really dug the inks. I got a couple of bottles at some anime con here in the States.

BLO: Yeah, I used to be addicted to the Deleter inks, but I eventually gave up on them because they’re a pain to procure. The Koh-i-noor gave me a similar finish to the Deleter 1 ink, and the Pelikan is kind of along those lines, too. I like a slightly thin, matte ink. JN: Can you explain the numbers on the Deleter ink? I never figured it out. BLO: I can’t remember. There was a description somewhere. The 1 is matte and thin, the 2 was thicker and shiny. I can’t remember what the 3 was like, and I never tried the others. I think I did a lot of kinda dry-brushy stuff with the 3, actually. JN: What are you doing your finished pages on? Plate Bristol? Give us names, too—the process junkies like name-drops. BLO: Just the Strathmore stuff, the smooth in the yellow pads. I’m a cheapskate. They started doing this wind-power envirofriendly stuff too. JN: The green pad! BLO: Yeah, the green with the wind thingy on it. We have a bunch of those, and a bunch of the yellow, too. We actually

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have like 30 pads of Strathmore Bristol in our house because we both use 11" x 14"—but I cut ’em in half, because my pages are tiny. We bought them during a back to school sale and cleaned out two entire stores. We have enough to finish a whole 200-page book each. JN: Well, a topic that always recurs is the “hoarding” of supplies by cartoonists. You have to do it —it’s a survival tactic. BLO: We live 45 minutes from the city’s only art store, so yeah, it’s definitely a thing where we want to stock up. Since there’s only one store, there’s also no competition out here and the prices are terrible—my old sketchbooks are like three times more expensive here than they were in Toronto. JN: Back to that Bristol—is the wind-powered Bristol any different than the normal stuff? BLO: Actually I haven’t even tried it yet! Just hoarding it, that’s all. I’ll get into it once I’m done with my current pad in a week or two. We’re all about the environment, though, so what the hell. JN: Well, yeah, man. Fight the good fight. [laughs] I’m surprised you guys aren’t Internet supply buyers. I know sometimes I hit the art store just to get out of the studio. Is it cheaper to buy it at a brickand-mortar store in Canada? BLO: Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it, we Sketch of Lynette for a just want to get out of Scott Pilgrim back cover. the house sometimes. It’s SCOTT PILGRIM ™ AND ©2009 BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY also a pain to get stuff shipped from the US to Canada because they arbitrarily charge customs, plus the shipping is usually a lot to start with. Anyway, our needs are pretty simple. I know Hope just ordered some G-nibs on the Internet, but I don’t think I’ve ever ordered art stuff online. JN: Yeah, when you sent me your art disc, there were crazy stamps and approval codes all over it! [laughs] Well, there are a couple of good places I can pass on to you. We’ll try to save you some bucks. Mal, please tell us about your studio computer setup. What are you running? Please give us system specs, what’s under the hood—printers, scanners, the works. You’d be surprised how much people want to know about the small details. BLO: I can’t really remember all the specs. I think it’s about 1.6ghz, pentium dual core whatever, 2 GB of RAM... I got it last year after my old machine died. I have a fancy ergonomic keyboard and wireless mouse, but my wrists still kill me when I stay on the computer too long. I have an old Canon LIDE scan12

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ner that I use for small stuff, and we have a Microtek Scanmaker 9800XL large format scanner. We also have a Brother black-&-white laser printer that we got last year that is really handy. JN: For some reason, I thought you’d be a Mac guy. I think I remember reading somewhere that you’re not a big computer person though... is that true? And do you not use a Wacom tablet? If for nothing else than to color your covers and such...? BLO: We do own a Macbook, but we just got it recently and I’ve only used it while on the road. I’ve always been a PC guy. I’m on the computer all the time. I don’t know where you heard that maliciously untrue rumor about me not being a big computer person. [laughs] I use an old 5" x 8" Wacom Intuous 2 that I got back in 2001 when I was working on this Doctor Spiderman kids’ book for Udon. I use it for coloring and also for the screentones and various other things in Scott Pilgrim. When I’m in Photoshop or whatever I tend to pull it out from under my keyboard, because using the mouse just kills me. JN: Did you learn any coloring tricks from the Udon guys? Do you enjoy coloring/toning? I know that we all seem to pick up coloring techniques from here and there—since there’s no concrete system to do this stuff. I know people who swear by channels in Photoshop, and those who won’t touch them—everybody gets to the same result in different ways. Also, I’m wondering if you’re doing your tones for Scott Pilgrim on the computer, or are you old-school, and cutting out letratone sheets? BLO: I learned a few Photoshop tips from Long Vo back in the day, but mostly it’s just been trial and error as the years go by. I’m a layers guy—channels just confuse me. I do the tones on the computer, and that’s also been a trial and error process. I tried something really different in Volume 3—I kind of just did grayscale shading and converted it all to tones in Photoshop. I feel like that was a bit too heavy and labor-intensive, though. In the new book I just made a bunch of screentones myself in Photoshop and have been applying them in a more straightforward way. JN: Give us a rundown on how you do a page, from start to finish. I see that you have a typed script for Scott Pilgrim— then are you doing loose thumbs? Trace-ups, then to board? Also, what size are you doing your final boards at? You said you work small.

BLO: I do loose thumbnails, around an inch and a half, two inches tall. I don’t like to do them any bigger than that. I do pencils from those, no tracing or light boxing or anything. The first three Scott Pilgrim books I was drawing at 7" x 11", and for the new one I moved up to 9.5" x 14". Lately I’m trying to force myself to pencil way ahead of myself, and just ink when I can fit it in. Inking I can do on autopilot. Penciling takes some thought.

JN: That’s really terrible, but I know I stopped trying to hand letter after I felt “the claw” coming on years ago. So on Lost At Sea, how were you lettering? Microns? Old school crowquill nibs?

JN: For your lettering, do you use a Ames Lettering Guide?

JN: How structured are you about preparing for a page? I see in Scott Pilgrim you use a lot of real places, which I’m sure you need to go and take photo ref of—are you doing your recon chapter-by-chapter, or are you doing it as you get to the page? Sort of a, “Man, I need to drive over to the library and take some shots of the lobby so I can finish this page”? Maybe I’m making it more complex than it really is....

BLO: I used to use an Ames guide—like for Lost at Sea—but mostly I just do computer lettering, ’cause I kind of messed up my wrist while doing the lettering for Lost at Sea. JN: If you don’t mind, what happened to your wrist? BLO: I don’t really know what happened to my wrist. Nothing serious or full-blown, but it’s never been the same since. If I overwork it, it gets numb and tingly.

BLO: I was just lettering with the Faber-Castell brush pens. I went through a whole box of them, I think.

BLO: Yeah, I kinda figure it out when I get to it. Right now I’m skipping some stuff because I know I’m going to Toronto in the next couple weeks so I can get some shots I need. I’m a lot more of a stickler for getting reference now than when I started. I mean, I know I can fake it okay, but I also know it’ll be better if I don’t. Usually if I know I have a big scene in a certain location, I’ll get as much reference as I can in advance,

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then I can kind of plan the scene around the angles I know I’ve got down. But there are also plenty of locations that are totally fictional. Most of the characters’ apartments and stuff are kind of cobbled together from various pieces of my old apartments and friends’ places, so that’s half and half. JN: Do you consider yourself a “modern” cartoonist or a traditional, “old school” type? BLO: I think I’m somewhere on the cusp, because I kind of scoff at the kids drawing comics with their tablet PCs, and I’m always talking about how you gotta use a real brush and real ink if you want to be serious. But I don’t know. I’m somewhere in the middle. I use the computer almost all the time, but I generally like having my pages inked on the paper, as close to finished as possible. JN: If you don’t mind, take us through the process of creating a 200+ page graphic novel. Is your procedure the same for say, a 24-page floppy? That’s a lot of pages to juggle, so walk us through that if you could. BLO: It really is too much to hold in your head at one time. What I’m learning now is to break it down into manageable chunks, as if I was actually doing issues. My chapters in Scott Pilgrim tend to be around 30 pages, so that works for me. If you’re looking at the whole thing as one big job, it’s exciting at first, but after 40-50 pages it becomes totally overwhelming and you just start to shut down. It’s like you’re pushing a broom down a hall that goes as far as the eye can see in either direction. I think as more people start doing longform graphic novels we’ll come up with more and better coping strategies, but right now I’m just learning by trial and error. JN: So, are you beginning with a full typed script? Do you work with strips of ideas then begin the writing process? Plot outlines into thumbs? Also, since you said you’re finding yourself working chapters at a time, are you finishing the pages then, or doing everything in stages?

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BLO: I’ve always used a full script. With each book, the scriptwriting process becomes more developed— more thought, more drafts, more editing. As a result, each one has taken longer to write. My current script style is pretty much exactly like a film screenplay, focused on dialogue with pretty basic descriptions of setting and action. On the new book—Scott Pilgrim Vol. 5—I’m breaking down each chapter into pages on a printout of the script, then doing thumbs and pencils for the whole 30-page-ish chapter over a period of two weeks or so. Then I spend another couple weeks inking, then I go back to the script and start again on the next chapter. That’s the theory, anyway. So far it’s working out, but

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deal, so we had no choice. Our second place we had a huge, open room that we put both our computers and both our drawing desks in, and that was really good. In our current place, I started out with my own room, but I eventually moved my drawing stuff in to our “big” studio and we draw side-by-side again. My computer is still in my other studio along with my recording equipment and crap. Hope is a really good worker. She’s very consistent and gets pages done every single day. I’m not like that at all! Some days I get a ton of work done, and some days I get nothing done. For the most part we just work at the same time... we don’t really collaborate much, although we’ll chat about stories and things together. JN: Being in a creative-couple marriage, how has that helped/changed the way you create? BLO: It hasn’t changed that much as far as I can tell, but it’s definitely nice to have someone around with whom you can discuss the craft and the business and all that stuff. JN: How do you archive your work? BLO: Uh, I just have it all piled up in this big plastic Tupperware thing. Pretty much everything I’ve drawn in the past few years is scanned on my computer at a decent resolution, too. JN: Do you keep a sketchbook? If so, what do you do with it? Just for ideas? Noodling?

Bryan’s pencils for an Oni Press holiday greeting card.

BLO: I’ve been using these Canson recycled sketchbooks for probably close to ten years now. I do all my thumbnails and visual planning for the comics in them. The current one is probably 95% Scott Pilgrim Vol 4. It’s been going for over a year and it’s not quite full. I try to use up every bit of space on each page.

I’m only on the second chapter of the book. After I’ve done the majority of inks for a chapter, I go back and redraw trouble spots, rethink certain page layouts, stuff like that. But generally I want to do all the scanning, toning, lettering and have the files finalized before I call the chapter finished. I’ve been trying to do that stuff on the side while penciling the following chapter. JN: Let’s talk about your studio space. I know you share with your wife, Hope. How is that working experience? There are maybe a handful of “working couples” in the business right now, and I never hear any complaints—or maybe they’re afraid to! BLO: Yeah, we’ve been sharing a studio on and off for a few years. Our first apartment together was kind of an open concept 16

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JN: I see that you sell your original pages. How do you feel about selling your originals versus saving them for prosperity? BLO: I try to save the ones I really like, but often selling pages has been the line between paying rent and not, you know? Last year my pages started fetching a decent price, a hundred dollars or whatever, and I did the occasional eBay auction, and that was how I survived for a while. If I draw as many pages in my career as I plan to, my house would be completely filled with pages, so I better start selling them early, right?

The interview may be over, but there’s a whole gallery of Bryan’s color work on page 38!

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GUY DAVIS

Marquis of the Macabre

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Interview conducted by Mike Manley and transcribed by Steven Tice DRAW!: What are you working on today? GUY DAVIS: Today I’m inking the first issue of the new B.P.R.D. storyline, “The Garden of Souls” and it’s turning out to be my favorite B.P.R.D. series to work on yet—but then I always say that with each new storyline. DRAW!: Tell us a bit about growing up and how you became interested in drawing comics for a living. GD: I guess I was always scribbling and drawing when I was young. My father did painting and sculpture as a hobby so I grew up with artwork being done around me, and my parents were always very encouraging and supportive of me drawing all the time. When I graduated in ’84 I wasn’t really sure of what I wanted to do with myself—just that I wanted to do something with my artwork. I thought about looking into storyboard work or film design, but around that time I started working on a local fanzine (Fantastic Fanzine) and they became Arrow Comics which led to my first job penciling a fantasy comic called “The Realm.” So I just sort of fell into drawing comics, and each company and project sort of opened doors for another and I kept at it for 20 years now professionally. DRAW!: Did you go to college or have art training or art-related jobs before comics? GD: No, there was no outside schooling or art-related jobs before I started doing comic work. I’m pretty much self-taught; the only art classes I had were in high school and they were all useless. I learned the most just by jumping into doing comics from start to finish and then learning by seeing my mistakes glaring back at me in print. DRAW!: Our mutual buddy—and your writer on B.P.R.D.— John Arcudi, tells me you are a really fast artist, churning out several pages a day. Is this true? I know maybe you won’t want to really truthfully answer, as an editor might be reading this interview. [laughs] GD: John’s a great guy (and writer), but I can’t really churn out seven finished pages a day. I can pencil comfortably four pages a day and in a pinch anywhere from six to eight, but I pencil for myself, so it’s loose work. Inking takes me longer and I like to try to do at least two finished inked pages a day, more if deadlines are knocking. But these are on separate days, not all in one! Penciling one day, inks the next.

I’m sure there are a lot of faster artists out there—and I'm in no race. I just try to get done what has to be done for deadlines. I actually have slowed down a bit, but I can’t spend too long on a page or I feel the art gets stiff or overworked if you know what I mean. DRAW!: So what B.P.R.D. are you doing right now? GD: Right now I’m working on The Black Goddess. I’m finishing that up, which is the one that starts this month, so I had a pretty good lead-time on it. This starts next week, actually. This week was the first of The Wild Hunt #2. I did a back-up in that, which Mike wrote. And then I’m doing two other back-ups in issues #3 and #4. DRAW!: And that’s for the Hellboy miniseries that Mike’s drawing now? GD: No, it’s for the Hellboy that Duncan’s drawing, The Wild Hunt. DRAW!: Duncan Fegredo. The first issue of that miniseries is coming out, so, since we’re conducting this in January, it will be out in January. GD: Yeah, that’s coming out on the 14th, so I guess you want me to mention what I’m working on; it would be finishing up Black Goddess. DRAW!: I’d like to talk more specifically about your working methods. You pencil, obviously, more pages in a day than you ink. I was just wondering if, when you did that, if you tried to break it down, like, “I’ll do this sequence this day,” or, “I’ll do this sequence or section this day”? GD: Yeah. Y’know, I always jump around when I pencil, and when I ink. In laying out that I do it in the order of pages. I mean, if I take too much time at the beginning, it’s going to look rushed at the end if I’m running out of time, whereas, if I start or end with the middle, or this or that, it sort of all mixes

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together when it’s finished. I actually don’t sit down and say, “Okay, this I’ll pencil.” A lot of times it’s just whatever page I seem inspired by to draw. Like, “Oh, today I feel like drawing apes, so I’ll draw a couple of ape pages,” or, “I’m getting behind, so where’s Johann? He’s easy. I’ll do him real quick.” DRAW!: Do you do this because John is giving you a full script, or is it Marvel style where it’s a plot, and you go through and break the whole book down as little thumbnails, and then jump through to doing pen or pencils? How do you go about breaking that down?

GD: Thumbnails first. Whether it’s a plot or a script, I work the same way. I go through John’s script and read it through once, and then the second time I read it through I’ll make really small scribbles for me saying this is what I’m seeing as far as the breakdown in my head for this page. And then I go on to the cheap, lined notebook paper and basically pace out the pages based on the script. “This is where parallel would be horizontal, Abe will be on this side, Johann’s on that side, and we need this much room for dialogue.” It’s really rough, because a lot of times, when I actually get to the actual page, and the dimensions are different than the little squares I was just scribbling out, I’ll rework things. DRAW!: Oh, because the proportion of your design then changes from your initial— GD: Yeah. DRAW!: So you read through the script, and then you do quick, little thumbnail notations on the script that you later take to another stage—or do you go right to the full page? GD: No, I take it to the second stage. The first scribbles are just, like, for the second read-through. The first read-through is sort of like feeling out what’s going on in the story, just reading it for the enjoyment, and the second read-through is visualizing in my head what each page should look like, and that is when I make the quick, like.... I mean, these are, like, one-inch high doodles, just saying, “Okay, three horizontal panels. This page needs to be broken into ending on this page and beginning on the next page.” And then from there I go on to the lined paper, the notebook paper, with thumbnails that show just, like—I mean, they’re crude. It’s stick figures and scribbles. I put notations above everybody’s heads. The scribble with the A above his head is Abe and things like that.

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DRAW!: So would I be correct in saying this is almost like a beat breakdown of the

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Guy’s inks for page 1 of B.P.R.D.: The Black Goddess #1. Guy tends to leave a lot of the detail work for the inking stage to keep the work fresh.

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script, so X amount of pages, X amount of panels, this is who is in the panel, who has to speak first? GD: Yes. And then that’s always approved through everybody. I send those notebook sketches to Scott Allie, Mike and John. And they go through it and they say, “Well, maybe take a look at the layout for this,” or, “This is fine.” It’s pretty straightforward. DRAW!: How much feedback do you get from Mike on the book? GD: On B.P.R.D. proper, I mean, Mike looks it over, but usually he gives more feedback on the pencils and inks. Scott and John will give feedback on actual layouts and stuff. But Mike sees everything. If he sees something, “Make sure that you do...,” like for The Black Goddess we have these monsters that we’ve seen before. “Make sure they match the cover that I did for The Warning,” and this or that. So he’ll chime in. And, obviously, when he sees the inks, if I missed a detail, he’ll let me know. A lot of times something that Mike and I go back and forth on is the initial design, because

when I get the start of a series, I get to have a breakdown of what happens in the five issues. With The Warning, there were the giant robot monsters that destroy Germany. I knew those were coming up, so I’d start sketching those out, and then I’d send them to everybody, and some to Mike, and Mike will say, “Oh, maybe go this direction with it.” He’ll send me these scribbles through a fax. I’ll do these designs, and I’ll be, like, “Brilliant!” And then I’ll throw them to Mike and he’ll go, “Well, how about this direction?” And it’s a totally opposite direction, or it takes my designs in a different direction. And they’re perfect. He’s got such a great imagination. I just hit myself in the head, “Why didn’t I think of that?” DRAW!: How is that? I mean, you’ve been in comics for a while. How is it working on a property that was created by another artist? Mike’s a great artist, and he’s still active and involved in the property. It’d be like if you took over the Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are no longer writing or drawing the book, but you’re sending them your layouts. How does that affect your process or your thinking? DRAW! • SPRING 2009

GD: You know, I don’t know how it affects my process from the beginning. I don’t do things thinking, “Okay, this has to be....” It’s not like there’s pressure, “Okay, I can’t screw this up. This will just have to be something that Mike will love.” I just go through and, when I read a description of something that needs to be done, I give it what I think it should look like. I try to keep it, obviously, in the realm of Mike’s universe. I’m not going to treat it like The Marquis as far as monsters, because I know how his designs and stuff have that Hellboy Universe feel. I think it’s great that he, obviously, goes over all this and chimes in, because it makes it stronger and it gives it his stamp of approval. I give it his look, which it should have. Mike’s great to work with. He’s very open-minded about the direction of certain things. And if he doesn’t like a certain thing, then he’s right. It’s usually wrong, and then we work it out, and it’s always a stronger design. But I like the fact that he’s hands-on with these designs and the book. DRAW!: That must be gratifying—I mean, it’s always gratifying as an artist to have another artist look at your work, because it’s great to have a fan appreciate your work, and it’s great to have editors appreciate your work, but I know I always feel like, when another artist really appreciates those little things that you really tried hard on, you really feel like the hard work paid off. 24 DRAW! • SPRING 2009

You know what I mean? That person’s really connecting in a way that, I don’t know, with some background or something that the average person might not have seen that little battle won. They read it and enjoy it, but they don’t necessarily notice those little nuances that go into it. So, yeah, I would imagine it would be gratifying to have the guy who created Hellboy like your stuff. GD: Oh, yeah. Like I said, he’s got an amazing imagination, because if you even look at, like, in the back of the trade paperbacks, we start putting out all these design sketches for stuff. I know with Garden of Souls with the Victorian cyborg, that was one of the designs that went through the most that we’ve ever done back and forth, where I’d do a sketch, and he’d say, “Well, try this.” And I would try something else, and it goes back and forth. Just like evolution. You can see when you start seeing Mike’s sketches, it’s just, here’s something of mine, if it’s tapping into that well of imagination that you just then run with. You’re like, “Okay, now I see what you’re saying as far as the shape,” and then I can just pick it up from there. DRAW!: Right. Well, it’s pretty obvious is that your creative process working on this book is a collaborative one—it’s really very liquid—whereas, very often, if you’re doing your standard

comic story for someone, you get the script, you draw it, you send it in. Sometimes you hear something, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you don’t hear anything until you see the book in print. This seems like it’s very liquid, and things are constantly being, “Add a little bit of this,” or, “Take a little bit of this out.”

GD: Yep. I’ll go through and I’ll actually take the pages, put in the panels, and rule them out. I draw on the backs of them because I can’t stand all the ruled lining work on stuff.

GD: Yeah. Once it gets to the pencil stage, that’s where we do any sort of fixes, and it’s rare that I have to redraw a lot. And there are some of those things where, okay, a page needs to be reworked—it’s never a problem. You know what? It doesn’t take that long to rework it loose, and if it’s going to make the book stronger, I’m not going to complain. And here’s the thing, too, Mike, John, and myself and Scott are all really committed and feel part of this series. There’s a lot more... I don’t want to say effort, because everybody puts effort into what they do, but there’s a lot more desire to put more of yourself into it, whereas if I’m working on a fill-in for Batman or something, it’s like, y’know, that’s one issue out of 5,000. No one’s going to particularly care, and they just needed someone to pick up the slack on fill-in issues. It’s just more like a job.

GD: I use Dark Horse paper.

DRAW!: After you go through and everybody’s seen the work and given their feedback, do you go from the lined paper layouts and straight to the board?

DRAW!: Do you use Dark Horse paper?

DRAW!: Okay, so you flip it over and rule it on the back, because you don’t like all the crop and pre-printed marks? GD: Yeah. Y’know, it’s one of those things, I understand why they did it. And I did this when I was working on Sandman Mystery Theater. I was doing that, because I was drawing a lot bigger, too. My image area, at the beginning of Mystery Theater, was 12" x 17". DRAW!: Yeah, that was the old, larger size bleed paper; DC used to have that old paper that was much, much bigger. And that was actually really good paper, too. GD: And I was actually using my own paper in the beginning just because I had so much left over from when I was doing the Baker Street series before that. I had this paper cut up, so I’m like, “Well, I’ll just keep using it.” DC hated the fact that I’d DRAW! • SPRING 2009

draw on the back, for some reason. Dark Horse didn’t mind, because, y’know, the image area’s the image area as long as I know what kind of bleed and what doesn’t bleed. But, yeah, I turn it over and I rule it out, and I go through, based on my thumbnails on the notebook paper, and I’ll actually block out all 24 pages, saying, “Okay, this panel’s going to be this big, and this panel’s going to be this big.” Then I go through the script and I quickly put down rough balloon placement, so I go, “Okay, this is a long-winded panel, so we’re going to have a lot of text here. This one is just a scream. This is how much room I have to leave for the balloon.” And from there I just start penciling it with whatever I decide to start penciling first. DRAW!: So you go through and rough the whole book, all 20something pages of it? GD: Yup, all 24 pages. I go through and block out each page as far as the panel borders before I go back and then start actually penciling the images inside them. DRAW!: And do you like smooth paper or rough paper? GD: I like smooth. Dark Horse paper is always... I don’t know what it is. It’s a weird semi-smooth, semi-rough paper. [laugh-

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ter] They’re trying to please everybody, I think, with it. It’s got this tooth of a really rough paper, so it’s not super-smooth. But I like smooth paper because I like inking on smooth better than rough if I start using brush and stuff on it. DRAW!: Each paper surface brings a certain aesthetic to it along with your tools. Like, if you have a really rough surface, it’s great for doing dry brush and things like that, but it sometimes can be a pain with a pen, whereas smooth is great for the pen, but not so great for dry brush or techniques like that. So, once you go through and rule out all 24 pages, you sit down and start going through and penciling in, but out of order, I guess, from what you were saying earlier? GD: Yeah. And usually I like to go through and actually do all the figures first, so I’ll go through and I’ll pencil in the figures for whatever chunk of pages I’m working on, and then I go back through and fill in the rough idea of what the backgrounds are. Details I’ll just put in with the ink, as far as the setting and stuff. And that’s for something that’s real specific, like if the image is reference-heavy. For instance, in Garden of Souls there were shots of Thailand, some street scenes, so I did those a little tighter. But jungles, I mean, I just draw some rough shapes and say, “These are going to be trees,” and put it all in with the ink. DRAW!: Since you’re penciling for yourself, you can work a little bit looser in the pencil stage and allow some more of the drawing to be done in the inking stage. GD: Oh, yeah. And that’s not just to be quick. It’s just drawing the same thing twice tightly would just be really boring, and making sure that my hands aren’t tied, I want to have some enjoyment when I ink it, so that leaves me a lot of stuff to

In the above cover design for B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground #1, Daimio is front and center, but is reliant on a red tone to separate him from the rest of the cast. In the final design (right), he looms large in the background, and while the background remains red and the other cast members are still in tones of blue, Daimio is colored in his normal manner, which not only separates him from the cast but also prevents him from blending into the background. B.P.R.D. ™ AND ©2009 MIKE MIGNOLA

interpret. When I first started doing stuff, I always hated the idea of putting whiteout on a page. Although that’s ridiculous, because who cares? So once I got over the fear of actually making a mistake with the inks and going back and redoing it just to get it right, that was fine. DRAW!: Yeah, some artists don’t like whiteout. I know Al Williamson and Ricardo Villagran, who I’m friends with, both those guys, they would use a razor. They didn’t like to use whiteout. They would take a razor and take off whatever mistake—an electric razor or a straight razor—and they would basically just scrape the surface. But you had to have a really good piece of paper in order to do that. If you used a student grade or something like that, the paper would probably just tear. GD: I’ve seen Dave Cooper originals—I mean, that guy doesn’t even make mistakes. It’s just amazing that there’s all that fluidity to his line and there’s no whiteout. At least on the pages I saw. Maybe a few have whiteout on them.

DRAW!: How long does it usually take you to go through and pencil the whole book once you’ve laid it all out, and you go back and start doing your figures? GD: Usually the notebook thing takes a day, the blacking out and just saying, “This is what the layout looks like.” I’ll do that in a day. The actual penciling, a good pace, I could pencil all 24 pages in four days, five days, at a comfortable pace. If things are tight—I mean, one issue of Garden of Souls I did in two days. That’s not really cutting any corners, that’s just staying up a lot later than I want. DRAW! • SPRING 2009

DRAW!: Right, it’s not like you turn a dial on the side of your head to draw faster, you just sleep less. GD: Yeah, basically. Yeah, I mean, at least that’s a comfortable pace. If I have a couple of weeks to draw it, I’m not going to draw slower. I’ll do other stuff on the side along with it, because it’s just a routine after doing it all these years, and a habit, like, “This is as much time as I can put into it.” DRAW!: Well, I guess whatever works for you. In the end, it seems like you have a system and a rhythm that allows you to sit down and produce the work that you’re happy with. And I know that’s one of the things I always impart to students or younger artists is that everybody uses the same tools, it’s just finding your way of using them, what works for you. So it takes you a few days to pencil it. Do you rough with a blue pencil or a color erase and then use a slightly darker lead to tighten it up, or do you just go straight with an HB or a 2B? GD: It’s just all B lead, the one I use for everything. I’ll rough it in lightly at first, as far as just putting out figures here and there, then I’ll tighten it up with the same B lead, just pressing harder. Some things just come straight out, without even having to rough it in really light. If it’s a close-up of Abe talking, or just certain characters, because I’ve drawn them so many times, I can just start doing it, and there’s a panel of Abe’s head, and then I’m done. But other things— clouds, fight scenes—I’ll first just lightly rough out with a pencil and then tighten it up as I go. DRAW!: When you jump onto inking, what kind of ink do you like, and what kind of pens or brushes are you using?

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GD: Well, I use Black Magic, which is always hit or miss. You never know using it; sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s a bad batch and it’s watered down or it’s gummy. If it’s pretty crappy, I guess, then I do everything with a 22B nib. And I started using that because all the other ones I started using early on, like with Baker Street and [Sandman] Mystery Theater, kept going out of production. But this was a student grade nib, and I figured that was always going to be around, so I started using that. DRAW!: So the 22B, that’s one of the B lettering pens? GD: Oh, is it? It’s been so many years, I always order it just out of habit. DRAW!: And do you order a batch, like a gross at a time? GD: Yeah. Usually I go through maybe two of them per issue, and I’ll buy, like, 30 of them. I haven’t had to buy some in a few years, now. I mean, at first I was using a #56. That’s a little too thick for a lot of detail, so that’s why I like the 22B. I use a brush for certain effects. I think it’s a #3 brush, #3 and #4, depending on what the amount of black area it is that needs to be filled in, and for trees and hair and things like that. I’ve been trying to use more brush just because I like the look of brush. I’m not sure I like the look of it from my hand. But I’ve been using a brush more lately. I’ve seen people going, “Oh, I love brush.” And I’ll be like, “Well, crap. I’ve got to start using it for trees, I guess, to start practicing.” I’m not going to use it on Liz’s face or anything. DRAW!: Well, one of the things that I think is still interesting to me after having interviewed as many people as I have for the magazine, everybody uses the same tools, but everybody has

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such a particular way of working. Some guys use all brush. Some artists use only pen, and if they had to use a brush, it would be like, “Oh my God! What are you doing? Why are you torturing me?” It sounds like it’s a pretty straight shot from you penciling to you inking. And I know you said you work out of page order, so you feel probably like, “Well, if I’m a little off my game today, it’s mixed in with everything else,” so it’s not like you can probably even tell, anyway. Are you then scanning the pages and sending them to Dark Horse, or FTP-ing them, or are you still sending them the originals? GD: For B.P.R.D. it’s still the originals. They want them in-house to do the scanning. I’ve done other stuff where I would add— like, there was a Usagi Yojimbo Special I did a short story in where I had to gray tone it digitally, and the Goon: Noir story I did, I did the same thing. That’s when I scan it in myself, because I’m giving them the finished files with the gray tones on to print from. But for Dave Stewart to then start coloring, no, I send the originals to Dark Horse. I keep saying I should get one of those big scanners, but then I see the cost, and I’m like, “Well....” With The Marquis I’m doing for Dark Horse now, I’m going to have to start doing all the tone work digitally just because toning is such a headache in the time it takes, so I guess I’ll be scanning in the originals again.

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DRAW!: What kind of computer setup do you have? GD: Just a PC—a Hewlett Packard. It’s one I bought last year just to have more speed. I tend to run them into the ground until they’re really outdated and slow, and I just find a new one. I don’t do that much digital work. With The Marquis, I don’t need a huge amount of RAM; it’s just running a tone program. DRAW!: Every single job I do now, I use the computer. I’m either using it to get the material or put the material up. I’m inking a job for DC now. When I’m done I’ll put it into their little page layout, and I’ll pop it up on their server. I’m doing stuff for Warner Brothers for the Batman cartoon. I get all my stuff e-mailed to me, and then when I do my designs, I scan them, and I’ll e-mail them back. So I actually don’t use FedEx at all now. It’s really changed. I think, especially since everybody was raising the rates, people said, “Well, it’s probably cheaper to put an FTP site up and people can just send stuff digitally.” You also don’t have to send the originals anymore, for the most part, and that’s great. GD: Oh, yeah. And if I bought one of those Brother scanners, they may hook me up to do the scanning. I’ll have one more day to get stuff done. I don’t have to worry about the driving time.

DRAW!: Well, the other thing that’s nice about that is that when you scan things, you know exactly how your artwork looks. You know, “Oh, that line’s a little too thin,” or a little too thick. You could even forgo doing any whiteout, and I know guys now who just do the whiteout or correcting stage actually in the computer. GD: Yeah, I did that a couple times on B.P.R.D. where it was down to the wire, where they’ll be like, “Well, you need to change this,” and I’ll just change it in Photoshop and send it back to them. I still like the tactility of drawing on paper, though. I’ve done some stuff on the computer in color—that’s fun, because the bulk of the art is already done. But when it’s just the line art, I prefer to have it on paper. I don’t think I could get used to drawing on the screen or drawing on the tablet. DRAW!: Yeah, it’s a different aesthetic. I mean, now you can buy the Cintique so you can actually draw on the screen. Most animation studios use them now, as it seems everybody there is moving paperless. GD: Do you miss not having the physical art when you’re done? DRAW!: Yeah, I like having the physical art, myself. I still like having the original. I know guys now who do everything digitally, and not that I have anything against digital art at all, because, to me, in the end, if it looks great, it looks great. But I actually like having a piece of artwork. When I’m done, at the end of the day, I like having the artifact. With some people, they like the process, and they don’t particularly care if they don’t have the actual, physical piece of artwork, but I actually like having the piece of art. It’s like being a craftsman, you’ve made your page for the day. And I just also have to wonder what that does to the person’s aesthetic as a creative person when you no longer have an actual, physical original. That has to change your relationship, I imagine, to the artwork. And I imagine to other people’s relationship to the artwork because of that as well. GD: That’s the thing. I’ll find artwork, like, just cleaning out the studio. I’ll be like, “Wow, I don’t even remember drawing this. My name’s on it, so I must have.” If it was all done digitally, would I have the same feeling? DRAW!: So how does your day go? Are you a day person, a night person?

GD: I’m a night person. I just got the habit of staying up nights, working. I work up to between 5:00 or 7:00 in the morning, then I’ll sleep until about 12:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon, then get up and start my day. Around five o’clock or so I’ll start work, and then just work straight through, taking breaks for dinner and whatnot. When I lived in an apartment, I got in the habit of working nights because it was quieter, and I felt like I had more privacy. But then, when we got the house, it’s like, “Well, I have all the privacy in the world,” but it still feels weird getting up early. DRAW!: So you weren’t used to that. I know when you’re on a monthly book it’s really like being on a grind. How do you keep your chops up, keep yourself excited about things while you’re working? DRAW! • SPRING 2009

(above) Illustration done for a featurette entitled, “The Power of Myth,” as part of the 2-disc special edition DVD version of Pan’s Labyrinth. (right) Full-color drawing of the wendigo as he appeared in the final page of the B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground mini-series. PAN’S LABYRINTH ™ AND ©2009 PICTUREHOUSE. B.P.R.D. ™ AND ©2009 MIKE MIGNOLA.

GD: Well, the stories and the characters I get to work on keep me excited. B.P.R.D. has just been one of the best books I’ve ever worked on. I mean, I still have The Marquis and The Five, the creator-owned book that I’m going to start doing for Dark Horse, but that’s a whole different animal because, instead of a book done by a group of people, it’s just self-expression. That, in a way, gives me a nice balance of working in a team type of situation to just drawing whatever I want and putting it out there, so I’m sure that helps me keep that balance, keep me excited about stuff I’m working on. I don’t sketch much for myself anymore. I got out of that habit just because, if I have some free time, I tend to just eat or get away from the drawing board. I’ll sketch for projects I’m working on. DRAW!: Do you miss sketching for yourself? GD: I do a little bit, at times. I started, just for fun, doing my takes on the Dick Tracy rogues’ gallery—I just did it for fun. So I might do some more stuff like that on the side, just drawing an image that I want to draw, and if somebody wants it, that’s fine. If not, it’s in one of those sketchbooks I make kind of thing. But, throughout the day, yeah, I hardly ever just sketch, unless it’s for work. DRAW!: Yeah, that happens. I think it happens to a lot of guys, especially when you’re on the monthly grind. I know that it happened to me, though now I do a lot of different things besides just

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draw comics, so I’m always doing something different, in school and things like that. And I find that that makes comics also a little bit more exciting when I go back, too, having that mix. Do you go to the comic shop every week? Do you stay on top of what’s going on in the business? GD: No, not really at all. I get some comps from Dark Horse, and I enjoy reading those. Once in a while I’ll go to the comics store or I might go to a bookstore and pick something up to read. Yeah, I mean, I definitely haven’t gone to a comic store regularly in a while, so I’m out of the loop as far as a lot of stuff out there. I go to a convention, I’ll see tons of stuff. Like, when I did Heroes Con, there were tons of books that I picked up to read. It’s like living in the Arctic—I’m just going to a convention, stocking up, and then reading through until next convention season. DRAW!: Are you much of an Internet guy? GD: Not really. I mean, I check my website, and I’ll go on eBay and things like that. But it’s the same reason—I mean, I have a computer in one of the studios just so I can keep track of stuff, but I don’t go on it much, because that’s just going to be a distraction from getting the work done. I don’t have a TV in the studio, either, for the same reason. DRAW!: So you listen to the radio?

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GD: No, I listen to TV shows. I listen to a lot of old-time radio shows—I love those. I’ll listen to those constantly while I work, which I think is fun because you get to hear a story, you get to imagine it in your head, and it’s entertaining. DRAW!: You know, there are a lot of guys I know who are into that, who love listening to those old-time radio shows. That seems to be a big thing with a lot of the cartoonists I know. My friend Scott Neely actually collects them. GD: Oh, great. DRAW!: Do you have any advice to pass on to the younger cartoonists reading this, anxious and eager to break in? GD: Draw all the time. That’s all I ever tell people when they come up at cons. That’s all there is to it. You just have to keep drawing, and keep drawing comics if you want to do comics. I’m sure you’ve seen those kids that come up, it’s a couple of pin-ups. They have no idea what it takes to actually draw a monthly book. It’s a lot more work than a lot of people expect. So I tell them—and this was something that I did when I was in high school, even. I drew a full comic on typewriting paper. Wrong dimensions, wrong everything, but I sat down and broke down, and laid out, and penciled and inked a full 20-some odd page book to give myself an idea of what it was. DRAW!: What was the story?

Design sketches for the Jaguar Spirit-possessed form of Captain Daimio in B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground.

GD: Oh, it was awful. It was called Quanto, who was a little space Martian/alien guy. Yeah, it was awful, but at that age I think everybody draws something awful. But it gave me an idea of, this is what it’s like to break down. Even if it’s wrong, it gave me an idea of what it is to break down and produce a full comic. I took a lot of time to do it, too; it wasn’t like I was doing it in a week. But, yeah, I tell people, even if you don’t have a job lined up, at least try to draw a story, whether it’s eight pages, ten pages, or going for a whole 22 pages, see if you can do it, see if you want to do it. See if you can draw the boring scenes plus the fight scenes. It could be like a two-page fight spread, plus some talking and stuff. DRAW!: Yeah, the worst thing to do is to draw all the exciting stuff and leave 22 pages of just drawing backgrounds or something. GD: That’s right. Although nobody listens to me when I tell them that, but I think that’s the price to see if you can do it. I mean, I didn’t know there was a lot of work involved in actually doing a comic before I started doing it, either. 34

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DRAW!: Actually, it’s kind of hard to know how much work is involved until you actually do it. You can imagine it, and most people, when they’re starting out, do, “Oh, here’s my five-page story,” “Here’s my three or four pages.” They’ve gone ahead and blown their wad on a three-page story. But when you’ve got to do it for 22 pages, multiple months, you really—and it’s not always just getting to draw Wolverine stabbing Sabretooth over and over. [laughter] You’ve got to draw him going into the bank, and you’ve got to draw the hard storytelling stuff. Which is one of the things I really admired about your work right away is that I always thought you were such a good storyteller and always had such a great sense of flow to what you’re doing. And it makes sense when you tell me how you work, but I think that comes across, that sense of working on several pages at a time, your work connects really well in that way, and maybe you’re getting that flow. I think guys like Kirby did that. He did several pages a day. Buscema did several pages a day. I think a lot of times the guys from the old school who did several pages a day always had the storytelling flow working. You really get into a flow of what you’re

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(above) Even the Thing knows that rock beats scissors. (next page) Guy created this character, the Red Raja, for an FACA online tournament. In the tournament, different artists’ characters would go up against each other one-on-one, with the winner of each round chosen through an online voting process. Needless to say, the Red Raja came out on top. HELLBOY ™ AND ©2009 MIKE MIGNOLA. THING ™ AND ©2009 MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC. RED RAJA ™ AND ©2009 GUY DAVIS.

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doing, and I think that’s why their work was always so easy to read, and there was always a dynamic. GD: I always tell people it takes you five pages to get your flow, because it always seems to be, at least with me, if I start drawing, I’m kind of stiff until I get to the fifth page, and then it just goes so smooth. It’s like going from walk to run or something. DRAW!: So you feel like, by the time you’re at your fifth page, you’re starting to connect and flow with that story? GD: Yeah, and just with the work itself. Because I think when you’re sitting in a nice, comfy chair doing layouts on a notebook, you’re like, “Well, this is nice.” And then the penciling comes and I’ll be going, “Oh, Jesus, I’ve got to sit in that chair.” So once you actually get comfortable doing the job, it’s an easy flow. The same with inking. It’s a different chair, but it’s like, “Oh, okay, I’ve got to get used to that.” DRAW!: Well, it sounds like you really enjoy working on each step of the process. GD: Oh, yeah. Each set feels different. That’s what I said about if I actually penciled tight I probably would hate inking more because it would be like, “I’m just doing this again.” But if that works for somebody else, I’m not going to hold that against them. I’ve seen some really beautiful pencils, and beautiful inks, too. I mean, Duncan does incredibly tight pencils, and his inks are just as beautiful. That works for him. I wouldn’t say anybody should change that. DRAW!: Yeah, Al Williamson would pencil very tightly. GD: Really? DRAW!: Yeah, very, very complete. GD: I would have thought he was more of a loose person. DRAW!: No, he would do these fantastic loose sketches, but he would pencil very tightly, and then, when he inked it, he would just give that flow to it. Villagran would pencil very loosely, and do most of his drawing when he inked it. He said the exact same phrase that you did, that if he penciled it tight he

would feel like he was doing twice the amount of work for the same amount of money. If he was going to ink it, he would just draw when he inked it. And, of course, he drew so well that he could actually do that. He could draw something very loose, and then sit there and draw a soldier with all the gear and everything just perfect in the inks. He really had that kind of mind. Well, I think it also allowed him to have all those details, so he could just kind of go. I’ve always really liked your storytelling, and the gestures of your characters are always really good, so there’s a lot of acting. It’s funny, because, in a way, you are a very different artist than Mike Mignola, but there’s a lot of similarity, too, I think, in the feeling. And I really like that aesthetic that you bring to the material. I guess I feel that there’s two types of artists sometimes. There’s the type of artist who will sacrifice some little character bit to do a really cool drawing, and then there’s the artist who will make the whole job really cool because he told the story, and it’s all working together; it’s not just a really cool drawing, a bunch of stuff, another really cool drawing. I think some artists work that way—their stuff is more about the really cool bits. GD: Flashy bits, then there’s filler. They’re geeked about, like I said, the one page of the book, and the rest is just like, “Well, I’ll just fill it in.” To me, it’s like a lead-up to it. I know this big scene’s coming, I might be looking forward to drawing it, but, well, there’s that lead-up to it. That Hitchcockian suspense before you get to that part, and that type of thing. So I enjoy it all about the same. DRAW!: I imagine, too, by this point, since you and John are so used to working together, there’s a real rapport there, too, because you know what he does, he knows what you do. GD: Oh, yeah. Working with John’s great. I think we have just all around a good team—everybody seems to respect and like everybody else’s work. We knew each other before we worked there, too, which I think helps a lot of the working dynamic, too, since it’s not like you’re just thrown into this house with somebody else, you know, “Okay, now, get along. Work.” John had been wanting to work with me on something, and I wanted to work with John on something, but every editor wasn’t for it until Mike brought him onto B.P.R.D., so that was great, too. DRAW! • SPRING 2009

THE SUPER-AWESOME

BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY ART GALLERY!!!

DRAW! • FALL 2008

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

(left) Bryan’s watercolors for the previously mentioned Oni holiday greeting card (below) Pencil sketch and finished color for a drawing of Scott Pilgrim’s Ramona. SCOTT PILGRIM ™ AND ©2009 BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY

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DRAW! • SPRING 2009

BREAKING DOWN THE MASTERS elcome to another installment of “Comic Art Bootcamp.” In this visit to our basic training camp we are going to study the work of some Master Cartoonists to analyze formal aspects and fundamentals of their approach to the art and craft of cartooning to see where they have commonalties and differences in the way they approach their work. The hope and purpose of this exercise is that we will begin to be able to take apart the work of these great cartoonists, find out why what these artists have done works, and learn how to take what they do and add it to our work to make it better. This is something I did as a young artist, though not in as clear and cut a fashion at times. Several years ago I read an interview with Jack Kirby, the Godfather of comics, These Kirby layouts were done for other artists to finish. Here we have (left) a page of the and in that interview one thing he said real“Captain America” story from Tales of Suspense #70, done for George Tuska, and (above) a ly, really stood out to me. He said, “One page from Daredevil #13, done for John Romita. man can be a school for another.” What a great and true statement; it rang so true to me as a young cartoonist, as I was always studying other cartoon- hunting in the old comic shops, used bookstores, and libraries around Ann Arbor, where I grew up, in search of any kind of ists, like one would study subjects like math or English for book with info on how to be a better artist, drawing lessons, etc. school. I was very serious about it; I really tried to pick apart the As I began to very seriously study artists, I came to see how work of the artists I admired—my “art heroes,” as it were. They they fell into very clear camps or styles, and how one artist were really my main education, along with any good book on used the same sort of way of drawing or inking, etc., or was cartooning or drawing I could find, such as the long out of print clearly influenced by another, though I had never thought to put books on drawing by Andrew Loomis. I had no real art teachers it in such a succinct and crystal clear statement as Kirby’s. For to teach me anything about comics or even figure drawing, so it was the self-study course of hard knocks. I spent a lot of my time instance, it was very evident to see how the artists working at

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By Mike Manley

Marvel all worked in a way that tried to emulate the energy that Kirby had in his work, the clear staging and dynamic acting and figure work. One would never confuse Gene Colan’s work or Gil Kane’s or John Buscema’s for that of Kirby, but you can clearly see that they were also sort of speaking the same language. I think Buscema spoke the closest to Kirby’s voice, though with much more naturalistic drawing, and he was coached by Stan Lee to do so. In fact, he worked over Kirby’s layouts in his early return to Marvel in the ’60s. In this article I have picked artists I really admire and in some cases continue to learn from to this day. Comics, like any popular art form, is not immune from the fashion of the day, the flashy current style or new wave of what’s hot. In the ’90s it was the Image style which came in and in many places unseated the styles of drawing and storytelling which had been standard since the ’50s and Marvel’s rise to popularity in the ’60s. As a commercial artist it’s impossible to totally ignore the waves in the pool. You have to navigate the choppy commercial waters. The danger is that one can lose one’s sense of direction and base, then you operate in the fickle current, pulled along chasing this way or that. The result is usually an art disaster and burn-out for most—or worse, that uncertainty of how to do the job, how to proceed. As a young cartoonist I had to navigate these choppy waters and often chased and grasped at false things in my quest to be a professional and earn my way—make my bones, as they say. But I always came back at the end of the day to the artists I admired, as they seemed to be able to tackle every problem. And then there were a handful of new artists coming up, contemporaries who also seemed to be drawing from these same root sources. My hope is that you will be able to use this article as a way to start your own quest of discovery of the roots and fundamentals in your work and the work of the artists you admire and study, using them as Kirby stated, as a school for your own education.

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The X-Men panels (left) done for issue #12, were finished by Werner Roth from Kirby’s layouts. The X-Men #17 page (below) shows Kirby’s layouts, Alex Toth’s finished pencils, and Vince Colleta’s inks. Toth was unhappy with this process, as he felt that he and Kirby were incompatible.

ALEX TOTH AND FRANK ROBBINS Alex Toth and Frank Robbins were both cartoonists from the Golden and Silver Age of comics and comic strips. In fact, I wouldn’t really call Robbins a comic book artist, though he did do a lot of comics in the ’70s, co-creating Man-Bat, writing some great Batman comics, doing a stint on The Shadow at DC, and then doing books like Captain America and The Invaders at Marvel, where I first became aware of his work as a kid. Robbins was one of the all-time great comic strip artists, both writing and drawing (as well as lettering) his Johnny Hazard comic strip from 1944-1973. His previous stint was on

the strip, Scorchy Smith, originally drawn by Noel Sickles, the long-time friend and one-time partner of Milton Caniff. Sickles and Caniff were major influences on both Robbins and Toth, with Sickles being an especial influence on Toth. In the two examples I have chosen, you can see both artists employing the heavy chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) brush style of heavy blacks with little rendering or middle value drawing. Both artists here used mostly a brush, with the pen reserved for the contour and smaller details. The idea was to sort of emulate the way of seeing things you’d get in a high contrast photoDRAW! • SPRING 2009

graph, and it was a way of giving the figures weight without having to render the middle value or turning of the form. Toth uses a really dead line with his pen, only using the brush to give a variety to the contour or do any rendering. This is what I call an open form approach to cartooning, as not all of the contours of the figures are closed. This opens the forms up and allows there to be a sparkle or air in the drawing. Toth excelled at using big, massive black shapes in his design to force the eye to focus in a certain place or to cause the viewer’s mind to complete some of the drawing. Toth worked very hard to make his drawings elegantly simple through great draughtsmanship and design.

Notice how the commonalty of mark-making, or style, is similar between these two artists. The root language they are both coming from was that of their influences such as Caniff and Sickles, but each artist employs his own twist or voice, has his own take, or spin, on the language. It is only because they understand these things so well that they can speak (draw) so wonderfully, an approach, which some 30-40 years after these two pieces were drawn is still marvelously fresh and contemporary. Toth was long held in high regard for his work and his essays on the craft and medium. Robbins is now being discovered by a new generation of comic and animation artists, which is great. Good drawing or cartooning never goes out of style.

It would be hard to get a better example of the open versus closed inking styles. The spaces between the nose, mouth, chin, etc., on the face of Johnny Hazard create a sense of air and openness in the drawing even though Robbins does employ a heavy use of blacks in his work. This keeps the vitality of a sketch in the finished work. By contrast the face of Wolverine inked by Risso has the entire form closed, though through his sculptural way of drawing and restraint in rendering the drawing feels very volumetric without relying on a heavy contour or rendering.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

MIKE MIGNOLA

There is not much to say about Mike other than Hellboy, his crowning creation to date. Mike has always been on my short list of contemporary cartoonists whose work I must buy, and I admire his work greatly. His work, like that of Toth, might seem so easy to some, but that ease also comes from hard work. I remember bumping into Mike at the DC offices one day back in the ’90s just after his latest book, Gotham by Gaslight, came out, and he was showing me a bunch of great pages. I was really struck by this one page and a pose of Batman, and Mike told me, “I drew that damn cape 20 times to get it right.”

One of my favorite jobs Mignola worked on was the series of back-up stories he did in the Metropol series at Marvel. I think Mignola was really working here stylistically towards what he world perfect later on Hellboy: the heavy chiaroscuro balanced against the white and the thin pen line and very little rendering or turning of form. The work was very open, yet full, and if we can look at it in some regards as being similar in line language to what Toth was doing—thin contour, bold blacks. For instance, though the hand firing the gun in the second panel is closer to us than the figure’s face, Mignola didn’t alter the line weight by making it bolder to push it closer to us as one might conventionally in comics. Instead he took a more graphic approach and eliminated the blacks from within the gun flash. Though the black patterns are bold and powerful, it’s the white that makes this page. Mignola didn’t think of the white as simply empty space—his white areas or space have just as much weight as the black. The white space is “filled” space. That is design taken to a higher level.

If you simplify this page down to basic shapes, you’ll notice how boldly the design of the eye path is.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

To the right is a page penciled by Mignola and inked by Al Williamson. The same design sense of Mignola is present, but Williamson’s line sense/line language, is more illustrative, and he adds an extra dimension or layer to the work with his textural inking.

EDUARDO RISSO AND JORGE ZAFFINO Okay, by now I hope you all are starting to get the idea of how you can analyze and take artwork apart, break it down into its formal elements. Moving on, I chose two more examples of artists working in a similar visual vernacular: Eduardo Risso and the late Jorge Zaffino, both Argentineans. As a bit of back story it’s to be noted that the Argentine artists, as with both Zaffino and Risso, apprentice to older artists under the studio system, much like what happened here in the Golden Age with Eisner’s studio, etc. The older artists, like Alberto Breccia and the Villagran Brothers, were very heavily influenced by the classic American comic strips more so than comic books, thus they drew more heavily on the influences of Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and Milton Caniff. We can see here ideas and lessons, ways of working, passed down from generation to generation. Most fans reading comics today think of Risso as being a very modern artist—and he is—but much of the language he uses is old, so it’s what you do with the knowledge that matters. It’s the intellect out of which a mature style births. The Risso page is from his recent black-andwhite Logan mini-series for Marvel. Let’s analyze this page, shall we? Here Risso also employs a thin, unbroken, unwavering contour line to delineate the figures, and he spots his blacks in a bold chiaroscuro. The rendering serves as a texture on the figures, such as hair, but he doesn’t employ it as a way of rendering the turning of form—yet his forms still turn. Why? The forms turn because the contours carefully overlap and go in and out and around the forms in a sculptural sense describing the turning of the volumes in space. So, while there is essentially no rendering to turn the form (light to dark), Risso employs what I call form-contour drawing, and, like Mignola, the whites in his panels and pages are as important as the blacks. WOLVERINE ™ AND ©2009 MARVEL CHARACTERS, INC.

To create the illusion of form drawing, the contours accurately give the figure or form a sense of volume turning and a sense of dimension. By correctly drawing the forms wrapping around or overlapping each other, you can prevent the drawing from being “flat” and create a drawing that has a convincing sense of volume in space. Rendering alone will not create a convincing sense of volume if the forms are poorly drawn.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

arranged to lead your eye through the page, and everything feels very heavy and massive. It’s clear to see from the examples I have chosen to analyze that all of these artists have a very common way of working—they speak in similar ways visually, employ many similar ways of describing form in space and in breaking up space, yet each one does so in a uniquely personal way. It’s not as easy as just saying, “Use thin lines, don’t render, and use heavy blacks.” Without the drawing knowledge, storytelling, and design sense, that recipe won’t just lead to success on its own.

This page by Zaffino is from his “Batman: Black and White” story. Zaffino presents us with a page made up of fragmented, bold arrangements of black. Only the very slightest hint of any rendering is indicated, and it’s very rough. Instead, these big areas of black are cut out of the white in the first two panels. In the second two panels the black takes over and forms are only pulled out by streaks of thin white contours, or by highlights, in a very film noir fashion. While Risso’s work has a sensual roundness, Zaffino’s work is very brutal in his application, his very line. The black-and-white patterns are

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

JOHN BUSCEMA AND AL WILLIAMSON While we have been talking about the formal qualities of delineating form or figures and their environments, let’s now switch to a broader view—the page as a whole, as a unit. I have chosen here a few John Buscema page roughs and pages in various stages of completion, some of which he abandoned or redrew. The great thing for me about seeing these layouts

is we get to see Buscema’s thinking, what he thought was important as far as not only how to tell the story, how to break down the pages into panels, or the flow of the panels for the reader, but the breakdown or the priority in his development of the figures and the backgrounds, the gestures and eye path. DRAW! • SPRING 2009

The thing that is hard for the younger artist to see here in this rough work is that this is the most important stage, and the work is just about perfect at this stage. The only thing Buscema or any artist can do from this stage is to make the drawing prettier, but if the page isn’t working here, then no amount of fantastic rendering can save what’s wrong. This is a big hurdle for many artists as they can be so seduced by a style or a certain finish that this stage of development of the page is given the least amount of care in their rush to get to the rendering, to drawing the figures in the cool style they want. These rougher pages were placed under Buscema’s final pages on a light box where he’d go over and do his final, cleaner drawing. The main lesson we can take from this is to pay special attention to this part of creating a comic book page, so that when we get to the final stage we can enjoy the fun part of rendering up things with the confidence that we have laid out a strong page, and that the storytelling and eye-flow will work. Buscema is clearly an artist who draws his inspiration from the great generation of American comic strip artists,

SILVER SURFER ™ AND

INC.

60 DRAW! • SPRING 2009

TARZAN ™ AN D

INC.

In the Silver Surfer #1 pencils (above), you can see that Buscema at one time penciled rather tightly. As time went on, he loosened his pencils dramatically, as with this example from Marvel’s Tarzan #1 (right).

DRAW! • FALL 2008

Here is a great teaming of two of comics’ greatest talents, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. This page is a perfect example of the classic comic book look with its dynamic staging and figures, and Sinnott really pushes the line weights and contours to “pop” the figures in front of the backgrounds. Part of this approach and boldness of brush line on the figures is due to the fact that comics used to be printed on newsprint which dulled everything down. Bolder line work read better and was more dynamic on the page. With today’s better printing an artist can pretty much work in any technique or style and have the reproduction look good.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

such as Alex Raymond and Hal Foster, just like Al Williamson whose work I am including here. If you look at the Rip Kirby daily by Raymond you can see how John Prentice, the artist who was hired to replace Raymond on the popular strip after his untimely death in an auto accident, really followed amazingly close to Raymond’s style—his language of line and figure drawing. Williamson, after his stint at EC Comics, became Prentice’s assistant on the strip before moving on to take over Secret Agent X-9, a strip also originally done by Raymond along with Dashiell Hammet, the famous writer of such hard-boiled detective novels as The Maltese Falcon. This strip was laid out by Williamson when he worked with Prentice, it’s clear to see in the other examples by Williamson from his work on X-9 that he kept developing his signature style along the lines of the Raymond school. Notice how the slashing pen lines, the use of texture and even the way folds are delineated carry down from one artist to the next generation.

(right) Here you can see that an inker like Al Williamson can really add another level to the artwork. Williamson inks this page with great power, yet there is an openness and a sparkle created by the fact that not all of the forms are closed. There isn’t the heavy use of thick-thin inking of the contours, either. This gives the work a more realistic and less cartoony feel. (below) It all started with Alex Raymond and his illustrative approach to inking along with his solid drawing skills. John Prentice inked this strip laid out by Al Williamson. Notice how Williamson’s signature figure style and layouts are evident in the strip below are clear in this one he laid out as Prentice’s assistant. SECRET AGENT X-9 ™ AND ©2009 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

Here Williamson employs all of his strengths in this great page from Flash Gordon—a great figure, a great layout and page design, and a great variety of texture in the inking.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

Here I took a life drawing and added the heavy chiaroscuro blacks to the figure. Notice how the figure seems to suddenly become heavier, massive, dimensional, even though there is no rendering to turn the form.

This splash page (next two pages) is from a new story featuring Secret Agent X-9 that I did for a publisher in Europe. I wanted to keep the style very close to the style Al Williamson had on the strip when he did it (see below), so I kept my figure realistic in proportion, and kept my contours around the figures thin and used the black placement, shadows, cast shadows and textures to add depth. SECRET AGENT X-9 ™ AND ©2009 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

My initial roughs for two X-9 pages. Here is where I work everything out: storytelling, perspective, etc. Next I scan the layouts in, convert them into non-photo blue, and print them out full size on comic book board. The next step is to tighten the pencils before proceeding to inks. To keep the lines thin I either inked everything with a Hunt 108 pen nib or a Micron Pigma .05 or .02, then went in and used my brush to put in the blacks. In studying how Raymond, Prentice, and Williamson all employed a similar line language, I was able to use the same approach in my work on X-9 to keep the same feel while doing my own take on the character.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

In this page from Spider-Man that I penciled you can see the inking by Joe Rubenstein employs a great variety of texture and line weight, but the line weights around the figures, especially Spider-Man, are inked in a bolder thick-thin style. This makes the figures really stand out from the background, but also more stylistic and cartoony.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

This pin-up of Supergirl was done in the closed contour style. I wanted the line to swoop and curve around the forms and keep the feeling sexy and sculptural. The contour is only slightly enhanced around her hips and back to give the feeling of flesh.

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

Though this drawing is very cartoony, I kept the line weights fairly thin, but I really pushed the sculptural contours to describe the forms. This drawing was inked with a No. 3 brush.

My hope is that this article will fire you up and springboard your own ability to clinically look at the work of your art heroes, and to discover, through a close analysis of their work, keys in how to make your own work better and in doing so be better able to appreciate their art and the world of art beyond comics on a deeper level. Till next time, Mike

DRAW! • SPRING 2009

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IT’S FINALLY HERE! The writer/editor of the critically acclaimed KRYPTON COMPANION and the designer of the eye-popping SPIES, VIXENS, AND MASTERS OF KUNG FU: THE ART OF PAUL GULACY team up to explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-byissue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

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CAPTAIN ACTION was introduced in 1966 in the wake of the Batman TV show craze, and later received his own DC comic book with art by WALLY WOOD and GIL KANE. Able to assume the identities of 13 famous super-heroes, his initial career was short-lived, but continuing interest in the hero has led to two different returns to toy-store shelves. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 toy photos, this FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SECOND EDITION chronicles the history of this quick-changing champion, including photos of virtually EVERY CAPTAIN ACTION PRODUCT ever released, spotlights on his allies ACTION BOY and the SUPER QUEENS and his arch enemy DR. EVIL, an examination of his comic-book appearances, and “Action facts” that even the most diehard Captain Action fan won’t know! The original softcover edition has been sold out for years, but this revised, full-color hardcover second edition includes behind-the-scenes coverage of CAPTAIN ACTION’S TRIUMPHANT 2008 RETURN to comics shelves in his new series from Moonstone Books, and spotlights the new wave of Captain Action collectibles. Written by MICHAEL EURY. (176-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490175 • Ships July 2009

MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide

The comic book industry experienced an unexpected flowering in the early 1960s, compliments of Marvel Comics, and this book presents a step-by-step look at how a company that had the reputation of being one of the least creative in a generally moribund industry, emerged as one of the most dynamic, slightly irreverent and downright original contributions to an era when pop-culture emerged as the dominant force in the artistic life of America. In scores of handy, easy to reference entries, MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960s takes the reader from the legendary company’s first fumbling beginnings as helmed by savvy editor/writer STAN LEE (aided by such artists as JACK KIRBY and STEVE DITKO), to the full maturity of its wild, colorful, offbeat grandiosity. With the history of Marvel Comics in the 1960s divided into four distinct phases, author PIERRE COMTOIS explains just how Lee, Kirby, Ditko, and others created a line of comic books that, while grounded in the traditional elements of panel-to-panel storytelling, broke through the juvenile mindset of a low brow industry and provided a tapestry of full blown pop culture icons. (224-page trade paperback) $27.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490168 • Ships July 2009

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Original Comic Book Art And The Collectors GRAILPAGES brings to light the burgeoning hobby of collecting the original, hand-drawn art that is used to create comic books! Beginning more as a novelty, the hobby of collecting original comic art has expanded to a point where some of the seminal pages commonly run more than $10,000 each. Author STEVEN ALAN PAYNE lets you meet collectors from around the globe and hear their passion in their own words, as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to broad, encompassing collections of literally hundreds of pages of original comic art by such artists as JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Balancing out the narratives are incisive interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Fans of comic art, comic books, and pop culture will find in GRAILPAGES an appreciation for a uniquely American form of art! (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 • Ships March 2009

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BRICKJOURNAL magazine is the ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, spotlighting the LEGO Community with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Edited by JOE MENO. ALTER EGO focuses on Golden and Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews and unseen art, plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), Mr. Monster & more. Edited by ROY THOMAS.

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BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, 1980s, and today through a variety of recurring (and rotating) departments, plus rare and unpublished art. Edited by MICHAEL EURY. DRAW! is the professional “How-To” magazine on cartooning and animation, featuring in-depth interviews and step-bystep demonstrations from top comics professionals. Edited by MIKE MANLEY. ROUGH STUFF features never-seen pencil pages, sketches, layouts, roughs, and unused inked pages from throughout comics history, plus columns, critiques, and more! Edited by BOB McLEOD. WRITE NOW! features writing tips from pros on both sides of the desk, interviews, sample scripts, reviews, exclusive Nuts & Bolts tutorials, and more! Edited by DANNY FINGEROTH.

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ALTER EGO #84

New FRANK BRUNNER Man-Thing cover, a look at the late-’60s horror comic WEB OF HORROR with early work by BRUNNER, WRIGHTSON, WINDSOR-SMITH, SIMONSON, & CHAYKIN, interview with comics & fine artist EVERETT RAYMOND KINTSLER, ROY THOMAS’ 1971 origin synopsis for the FIRST MAN-THING STORY, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

MLJ ISSUE! Golden Age MLJ index illustrated with vintage images of The Shield, Hangman, Mr. Justice, Black Hood, by IRV NOVICK, JACK COLE, CHARLES BIRO, MORT MESKIN, GIL KANE, & others—behind a marvelous MLJ-heroes cover by BOB McLEOD! Plus interviews with IRV NOVICK and JOE EDWARDS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

SWORD & SORCERY PART 2! Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM, in-depth art-filled look at Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, DC’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Dagar the Invincible, Ironjaw & Wulf, and Arak, Son of Thunder, plus the never-seen Valda the Iron Maiden by TODD McFARLANE! Plus JOE EDWARDS (Part 2), FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Unseen JIM APARO cover, STEVE SKEATES discusses his early comics work, art & artifacts by ADKINS, APARO, ARAGONÉS, BOYETTE, DITKO, GIORDANO, KANE, KELLER, MORISI, ORLANDO, SEKOWSKY, STONE, THOMAS, WOOD, and the great WARREN SAVIN! Plus writer CHARLES SINCLAIR on his partnership with Batman co-creator BILL FINGER, FCA, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: AUG084454

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C o l l e c t o r

The JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine celebrates his life and career through INTERVIEWS WITH KIRBY and his contemporaries, FEATURE ARTICLES, RARE AND UNSEEN KIRBY ART, and more. Edited by JOHN MORROW.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PRINT EDITION, AND GET THE DIGITAL EDITION FREE, BEFORE THE PRINT ISSUE HITS STORES!

BACK ISSUE #29

BACK ISSUE #30

BACK ISSUE #31

BACK ISSUE #32

“Mutants” issue! CLAREMONT, BYRNE, SMITH, and ROMITA, JR.’s X-Men work, NOCENTI and ARTHUR ADAMS’ Longshot, McLEOD and SIENKIEWICZ’s New Mutants, the UK’s CAPTAIN BRITAIN series, lost Angel stories, Beast’s tenure with the Avengers, the return of the original X-Men in X-Factor, the revelation of Nightcrawler’s “original” father, a history of DC’s mutant, Captain Comet, and more! Cover by DAVE COCKRUM!

“Saturday Morning Heroes!” Interviews with TV Captain Marvels JACKSON BOSTWICK and JOHN DAVEY, MAGGIN and SAVIUK’s lost Superman/”Captain Thunder” sequel, Space Ghost interviews with GARY OWENS and STEVE RUDE, MARV WOLFMAN guest editorial, Super Friends, unproduced fourth wave Super Powers action figures, Astro Boy, ADAM HUGHES tribute to DAVE STEVENS, and a new cover by ALEX ROSS!

“STEVE GERBER Salute!” In-depth look at his Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown, Defenders, Metal Men, Mister Miracle, Thundarr the Barbarian, and more! Plus: Creators pay tribute to Steve Gerber, featuring art by and commentary from BRUNNER, BUCKLER, COLAN, GOLDEN, STAN LEE, LEVITZ, MAYERIK, MOONEY, PLOOG, SIMONSON, and others. Cover painting by FRANK BRUNNER!

“Tech, Data, and Hardware!” The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, WEIN, WOLFMAN, and GREENBERGER on DC’s Who’s Who, SAVIUK, STATON, and VAN SCIVER on Drawing Green Lantern, ED HANNIGAN Art Gallery, history of Rom: Spaceknight, story of BILL MANTLO, Dial H for Hero, Richie Rich’s Inventions, and a Spider-Mobile schematic cover by ELIOT BROWN and DUSTY ABELL!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: MAY084246

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DRAW! #17

DRAW! #18

ROUGH STUFF #10

ROUGH STUFF #11

ROUGH STUFF #12

Interview with Scott Pilgrim’s creator and artist BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY on how he creates the acclaimed series, plus learn how B.P.R.D.’s GUY DAVIS works on his series. Also, more Comic Art Bootcamp: Learning from The Great Cartoonists by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, reviews, and more!

Features an in-depth interview and demo by R.M. GUERA (the artist of Vertigo’s Scalped), behind-the-scenes in the Batcave with Cartoon Network’s JAMES TUCKER on the new hit show “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” plus product reviews by JAMAR NICHOLAS, and Comic Book Boot Camp’s “Anatomy: Part 2” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY!

Interview with RON GARNEY, with copious examples of sketchwork and comments. Also features on ANDY SMITH, MICHAEL JASON PAZ, and MATT HALEY, showing how their work evolves, excerpts from a new book on ALEX RAYMOND, secrets of teaching comic art by pro inker BOB McLEOD, new cover by GARNEY and McLEOD, newcomer critique, and more!

New cover by GREG HORN, plus interviews with HORN and TOM YEATES on how they produce their stellar work. Also features on GENE HA, JIMMY CHEUNG, and MIKE PERKINS, showing their sketchwork and commentary, tips on collecting sketches and commissions from artists, a “Rough Critique” of a newcomer’s work, and more!

Interview and cover by comic painter CHRIS MOELLER, features on New Zealand comic artist COLIN WILSON, G.I. Joe artist JEREMY DALE, and fan favorite TERRY DODSON, plus "GOOD GIRL ART" (a new article about everyone's favorite collectible art) by ROBERT PLUNKETT, a "Rough Critique" of an aspiring artist's work, and more!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 US • Ships Spring 2009

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(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships April 2009

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 US • Ships February 2009 Diamond Order Code: DEC084377

ALTER EGO #85

ALTER EGO #86

ALTER EGO #87

ALTER EGO #88

WRITE NOW! #20

Captain Marvel and Superman’s battles explored (in cosmic space, candy stories, and in court, with art by WALLY WOOD, CURT SWAN, and GIL KANE), an in-depth interview with Golden Age great LILY RENÉE, overview of CENTAUR COMICS (home of BILL EVERETT’s Amazing-Man and others), FCA, MR. MONSTER, new RICH BUCKLER cover, and more!

Spotlighting the Frantic Four-Color MAD WANNABES of 1953-55 that copied HARVEY KURTZMAN’S EC smash (see Captain Marble, Mighty Moose, Drag-ula, Prince Scallion, and more) with art by SIMON & KIRBY, KUBERT & MAURER, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, EVERETT, COLAN, and many others, plus Part 1 of a talk with Golden/ Silver Age artist FRANK BOLLE, and more!

The sensational 1954-1963 saga of Great Britain’s MARVELMAN (decades before he metamorphosed into Miracleman), plus an interview with writer/artist/co-creator MICK ANGLO, and rare Marvelman/ Miracleman work by ALAN DAVIS, ALAN MOORE, a new RICK VEITCH cover, plus FRANK BOLLE, Part 2, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

First-ever in-depth look at National/DC’s founder MAJOR MALCOLM WHEELERNICHOLSON, and early editors WHITNEY ELLSWORTH, VIN SULLIVAN, and MORT WEISINGER, with rare art and artifacts by SIEGEL & SHUSTER, BOB KANE, CREIG FLESSEL, FRED GUARDINEER, GARDNER FOX, SHELDON MOLDOFF, and others, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more!

Focus on THE SPIRIT movie, showing how FRANK MILLER transformed WILL EISNER’s comics into the smash-hit film, with interviews with key players behind the making of the movie, a look at what made Eisner’s comics so special, and more. Plus: an interview with COLLEEN DORAN, writer ALEX GRECIAN on how to get a pitch green lighted, script and art examples, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships May 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships June 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships July 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships August 2009

(80-page magazine) $6.95 US FINAL ISSUE! Ships February 2009 Diamond Order Code: DEC084398

BACK ISSUE #33

BACK ISSUE #34

BACK ISSUE #35

KIRBY COLLECTOR #52

KIRBY COLLECTOR #53

“Teen Heroes!” Teen Titans in the 1970s & 1980s, with CARDY, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, PÉREZ, TUSKA, and WOLFMAN, BARON and GUICE on the Flash, interviews with TV Billy Batson MICHAEL GRAY and writer STEVE SKEATES, NICIEZA and BAGLEY’s New Warriors, Legion of Super-Heroes 1970s art gallery, James Bond Jr., and… the Archies! New Teen Titans cover by GEORGE PÉREZ and colored by GENE HA!

“New World Order!” Adam Warlock examined with JIM STARLIN and ROY THOMAS, the history of Miracleman with ALAN DAVIS & GARRY LEACH, JIM SHOOTER interview, roundtable with Marvel’s post-STAN LEE editors-in-chief on the New Universe, Logan’s Run, Star Hunters, BOB WIACEK on Star Wars and Star-Lord, DICK GIORDANO revisits Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Post-Crisis DC Universe You Didn’t See,” and a new cover by JIM STARLIN!

“Villains!” MIKE ZECK and J.M. DeMATTEIS discuss “Kraven’s Last Hunt” in a “Pro2Pro” interview, the history of the Hobgoblin is exposed, the Joker’s short-lived series, looks back at Secret Society of Super-Villains and Kobra, a Magneto biography, Luthor and Brainiac’s malevolent makeovers, interview with Secret Society artist MIKE VOSBURG, plus contributions from BYRNE, CONWAY, FRENZ, NOVICK, ROMITA JR., STERN, WOLFMAN, and a cover by MIKE ZECK!

Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, his BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, and see original unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, DESTROYER DUCK, and more, including a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING (with lots of surprises)! Color Kirby covers inked by DON HECK and PAUL SMITH!

Spotlights THE MAGIC OF STAN & JACK! There’s a new interview with STAN LEE, a walking tour of New York showing where Lee & Kirby lived and worked, a re-evaluation of the “Lost” FF #108 story (including a missing page that just surfaced), “What If Jack Hadn’t Left Marvel In 1970?”, plus MARK EVANIER’s regular column, a Kirby pencil art gallery, a complete Golden Age Kirby story, and more, behind a color Kirby cover inked by GEORGE PÉREZ!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships May 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Ships July 2009

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US Diamond Order Code: JAN094556 Ships March 2009

(84-page tabloid magazine) $9.95 US Diamond Order Code: DEC084397 Ships February 2009

(84-page tabloid magazine) $9.95 US Ships May 2009

THE ULTIMATE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES! TM

BRICKJOURNAL magazine (edited by Joe Meno) is the ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages. It spotlights all aspects of the LEGO Community, showcasing events, people, and models every issue, with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Edited by JOE MENO. Begun as a digital-only publication in 2005, the NEW PRINT VERSION (Vol. 2) of BrickJournal launched in 2008, and is available in both print and digital form. Print subscribers get the digital version FREE!

DIEDGITIIOTANSL

BLE AVAILANLY FOR O PER $3.95 LOAD DOWN

BRICKJOURNAL #4 (Vol. 2) BRICKJOURNAL #1 (Vol. 2)

BRICKJOURNAL #2 (Vol. 2)

The ultimate resource for LEGO enthusiasts of all ages, showcasing events, people, and models! FULL-COLOR #1 features an interview with set designer and LEGO Certified Professional NATHAN SAWAYA, plus step-bystep building instructions and techniques for all skill levels, new set reviews, on-the-scene reports from LEGO community events, and other surprises!

This FULL-COLOR issue spotlights blockbuster summer movies, LEGO style! Go behind the scenes for new sets for BATMAN and INDIANA JONES, and see new models, including an SR-71 SPYPLANE and a LEGO CITY, plus MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATIONS, BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS, tour the ONLINE LEGO FACTORY, and more!

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) Diamond Order Code: FEB088010

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) Diamond Order Code: MAR084135

BRICKJOURNAL #3 (Vol. 2) Our third FULL-COLOR print issue has LEGO Event reports from BRICKWORLD (Chicago), FIRST LEGO LEAGUE WORLD FESTIVAL (Atlanta) and PIECE OF PEACE (Japan). There's also a spotlight on the creation of our amazing cover model, built by BRYCE McGLONE, as well as interviews with ARTHUR GUGICK and STEVEN CANVIN of LEGO MINDSTORMS, to see where LEGO robotics is going! Plus step-by-step building instructions, techniques, and more! (80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) • Diamond Order Code: JUN084415

FULL-COLOR issue #4 features interviews with top LEGO BUILDERS including BREANN SLEDGE (BIONICLE BUILDER), Event Reports from LEGO gatherings including BRICKFAIR (Washington, DC) and BRICKCON (Seattle, Washington), plus reports on new MINDSTORMS PROJECTS, STEP-BY-STEP BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS and TECHNIQUES for all skill levels, NEW SET REVIEWS, and a report on the recreation of the Chinese Olympic Village in LEGO! (80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) Diamond Order Code: DEC084408

BRICKJOURNAL #5 (Vol. 2)

BRICKJOURNAL #6 (Vol. 2)

FULL-COLOR issue #5 features event reports from around the world, and the MINDSTORMS 10TH ANNIVERSARY at LEGO HEADQUARTERS! Plus an interview with the head of the LEGO GROUP’S 3D DEPARTMENT, a glimpse at the LEGO Group's past with the DIRECTOR OF LEGO'S IDEA HOUSE, instructions and spotlights on builders, and an idea section for PIRATE BUILDERS!

FULL-COLOR issue #6 goes into space, with a look at old LEGO CLASSIC SPACE SETS and a look toward the new with set designers! BRANDON GRIFFITH beams in with a look at his STAR TREK MODELS, and you'll take a tour of the DUTCH MOONBASE courtesy of MIKE VAN LEEUWEN and MARCO BAAS. There's also coverage of BRICKFEST 2009 and FIRST LEGO LEAGUE'S WORLD FESTIVAL as well as photos from TOY FAIR NEW YORK!

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) Diamond Order Code: DEC084408 Ships March 2009

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) Ships June 2009

4-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $38 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($48 First Class, $55 Canada • Elsewhere: $78 Surface, $85 Airmail)

PRINT SUBSCRIBERS GET THE DIGITAL EDITION FREE, BEFORE THE PRINT ISSUE HITS STORES!

HOW-TO BOOKS & DVDs

WORKING METHODS: COMIC CREATORS DETAIL THEIR STORYTELLING & CREATIVE PROCESSES Art professor JOHN LOWE puts the minds of comic artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies of the creative process step-by-step. For this book, three short scripts are each interpreted in different ways by professional comic artists to illustrate the varied ways in which they “see” and “solve” the problem of making a script succeed in comic form. It documents the creative and technical choices MARK SCHULTZ, TIM LEVINS, JIM MAHFOOD, SCOTT HAMPTON, KELSEY SHANNON, CHRIS BRUNNER, SEAN MURPHY, and PAT QUINN make as they tell a story, allowing comic fans, artists, instructors, and students into a world rarely explored. Hundreds of illustrated examples document the artists’ processes, and interviews clarify their individual approaches regarding storytelling and layout choices. The exercise may be simple, but the results are profoundly complex! (176-page trade paperback with COLOR) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905733 Diamond Order Code: MAR073747

HOW TO CREATE COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

HOW TO DRAW COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT DVD

(108-page trade paperback with COLOR) $13.95 ISBN: 9781893905603 Diamond Order Code: APR063422

(120-minute DVD) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905399 Diamond Order Code: AUG043204

BUNDLE THE BOOK & DVD TOGETHER FOR JUST $35.95 (SAVE $8)

NEW FOR 2008

FREE! FREE!

COMICS 101: HOW-TO & HISTORY LESSONS TwoMorrows has tapped the combined knowledge of its editors to assemble How-To and History lessons including: “Figure Drawing” and “How To Break Down A Story” from DRAW!’s MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS, “Writing Tips” from WRITE NOW!’s DANNY FINGEROTH, plus ROUGH STUFF’s BOB McLEOD provides “Art Critiques” of promising newcomers! There’s even a “Comics History Crash-Course”, assembled by ALTER EGO’s ROY THOMAS and BACK ISSUE’s MICHAEL EURY! (32-page comic book) FREE! (shipping charge applies) • Diamond Order Code: FEB070050

COMICS GO HOLLYWOOD TwoMorrows unveils secrets behind your FAVORITE ON-SCREEN HEROES, and what’s involved in taking a character from the comics page to the big screen! It includes: Storyboards from DC’s animated hit “THE NEW FRONTIER” (courtesy of DRAW! magazine)! JEPH LOEB on writing for both Marvel Comics and the Heroes TV show (courtesy of WRITE NOW! magazine)! Details on the unseen X-Men movie (courtesy of ALTER EGO magazine)! A history of the Joker from his 1940s origins to his upcoming appearance in the Dark Knight film (courtesy of BACK ISSUE! magazine)! And a look at Marvel Universe co-creator JACK KIRBY’s Hollywood career, with extensive Kirby art! So before you head to your local cineplex this summer, make sure you pick up your FREE copy of this must-have item from your local retailer on May 3, 2008! (32-page comic book) FREE! (shipping applies) or FREE at your local comics retailer on May 3, 2008

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 2

Compiles tutorials, interviews, and demonstrations from DRAW! #1-2, by DAVE GIBBONS (layout and drawing on the computer), BRET BLEVINS (figure drawing), JERRY ORDWAY (detailing his working methods), KLAUS JANSON and RICARDO VILLAGRAN (inking techniques), GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY (on animation and Samurai Jack), STEVE CONLEY (creating web comics and cartoons), PHIL HESTER and ANDE PARKS (penciling and inking), and more! Cover by BRET BLEVINS!

Compiles tutorials and interviews from issues #3-4 of DRAW!, with ERIK LARSEN (savage penciling), DICK GIORDANO (inking techniques), BRET BLEVINS (drawing the figure in action, and figure composition), KEVIN NOWLAN (penciling & inking), MIKE MANLEY (how-to demo on Web Comics), DAVE COOPER (digital coloring tutorial), and more! Each artist presents their work STEP-BY-STEP, so both beginning and experienced artists can learn valuable tips and tricks along the way! Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN.

(200-page trade paperback with COLOR) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905412 Diamond Order Code: AUG078141

(156-page trade paperback with COLOR) $17.95 ISBN: 9781893905580 Diamond Order Code: APR063421

NEW FOR 2008

COMICS ABOVE GROUND

SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS

BEST OF WRITE NOW! Whether you’re looking to break into the world of comics writing, or missed key issues of DANNY FINGEROTH’S WRITE NOW—the premier magazine about writing for comics and related fields—this is the book for you! THE BEST OF WRITE NOW features highlights from the acclaimed magazine, including in-depth interviews about writing from top talents, like: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, WILL EISNER, JEPH LOEB, STAN LEE, J. M. STRACZYNSKI, MARK WAID, GEOFF JOHNS, TODD McFARLANE, PAUL LEVITZ, AXEL ALONSO, and others! There’s also “NUTS & BOLTS” tutorials, featuring scripts from landmark comics and the pencil art that was drawn from them, including: CIVIL WAR #1 (MILLAR & McNIVEN), BATMAN: HUSH #1 (LOEB & LEE), ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #47 (BENDIS & BAGLEY), AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #539 (STRACZYNSKI & GARNEY), SPAWN #52 (McFARLANE & CAPULO), GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1 (JOHNS & VAN SCRIVER), and more! Also: How-to articles by the best comics writers and editors around, like JOHN OSTRANDER, DENNIS O’NEIL, KURT BUSIEK, STEVEN GRANT, and JOEY CAVALIERI. Professional secrets of top comics pros including NEIL GAIMAN, MARK WAID, TRINA ROBBINS, PETER DAVID, and STAN LEE! Top editors telling exactly what it takes to get hired by them! Plus more great tips to help you prepare for your big break, or simply appreciate comics on a new level, and an introduction by STAN LEE! Edited by Spider-Man writer DANNY FINGEROTH.

COMICS ABOVE GROUND features comics pros discussing their inspirations and training, and how they apply it in “Mainstream Media,” including Conceptual Illustration, Video Game Development, Children’s Books, Novels, Design, Illustration, Fine Art, Storyboards, Animation, Movies and more! Written by DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling book PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators sharing their perspectives and their work in comics and their “other professions,” with career overviews, never-before-seen art, and interviews! Featuring: • BRUCE TIMM • BERNIE WRIGHTSON • ADAM HUGHES • JEPH LOEB

• LOUISE SIMONSON • DAVE DORMAN • GREG RUCKA AND OTHERS!

(168-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905313 Diamond Order Code: FEB042700

(160-page trade paperback with COLOR) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905926 Diamond Order Code: FEB084082

NEW FOR 2008

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE DESIGN OF COMICS

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 3

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 4

Compiles more of the best tutorials and interviews from DRAW! #5-7, including: Penciling by MIKE WIERINGO! Illustration by DAN BRERETON! Design by PAUL RIVOCHE! Drawing Hands, Lighting the Figure, and Sketching by BRET BLEVINS! Cartooning by BILL WRAY! Inking by MIKE MANLEY! Comics & Animation by STEPHEN DeSTEFANO! Digital Illustration by CELIA CALLE and ALBERTO RUIZ! Caricature by ZACH TRENHOLM, and much more! Cover by DAN BRERETON!

More tutorials and interviews from DRAW! #8-10, spotlighting: From comics to video games with artist MATT HALEY! Character design with TOM BANCROFT and ROB CORLEY! Adobe Illustrator tips with ALBERTO RUIZ! Draping the human figure by BRET BLEVINS! Penciling with RON GARNEY! Breaking into comic strips by GRAHAM NOLAN! Lettering by TODD KLEIN! International cartoonist JOSÉ LUIS AGREDA! Interviews with PvP’s SCOTT KURTZ and Banana Tail’s MARK McKENNA, and more! Cover by MATT HALEY!

(256-page trade paperback with COLOR) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905917 Diamond Order Code: JAN083936

(216-page trade paperback with COLOR) $24.95 ISBN: 9781605490007 Ships May 2008

Art professor DURWIN TALON gets top creators to discuss all aspects of the DESIGN of comics, from panel and page layout, to use of color and lettering: • WILL EISNER • SCOTT HAMPTON • MIKE WIERINGO • WALT SIMONSON • MIKE MIGNOLA • MARK SCHULTZ • DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI • MIKE CARLIN • DICK GIORDANO • BRIAN STELFREEZE • CHRIS MOELLER • MARK CHIARELLO If you’re serious about creating effective, innovative comics, or just enjoying them from the creator’s perspective, this guide is must-reading! (208-page trade paperback with COLOR) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905146 Diamond Order Code: MAY073781

MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks and DVDs are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each book contains RARE AND UNSEEN ARTWORK direct from the artist’s files, plus a COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW (including influences and their views on graphic storytelling), DELUXE SKETCHBOOK SECTIONS, and more! And don’t miss our companion DVDs, showing the artists at work in their studios!

MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH GEORGE PÉREZ DVD

MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH MICHAEL GOLDEN DVD

Get a PERSONAL TOUR of George’s studio, and watch STEP-BY-STEP as the fan-favorite artist illustrates a special issue of TOP COW’s WITCHBLADE! Also, see George as he sketches for fans at conventions, and hear his peers and colleagues—including MARV WOLFMAN and RON MARZ—share their anecdotes and personal insights along the way!

Go behind the scenes and into Michael Golden’s studio for a LOOK INTO THE CREATIVE MIND of one of comics' greats. Witness a modern master in action as this 90-minute DVD provides an exclusive look at the ARTIST AT WORK, as he DISCUSSES THE PROCESSES he undertakes to create a new comics series.

(120-minute Standard Format DVD) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905511 Diamond Order Code: JUN053276

(90-minute Standard Format DVD) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

Volume 1: ALAN DAVIS

Volume 2: GEORGE PÉREZ

Volume 3: BRUCE TIMM

Volume 4: KEVIN NOWLAN

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905191 Diamond Order Code: JAN073903

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905252 Diamond Order Code: JAN073904

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905306 Diamond Order Code: APR042954

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905382 Diamond Order Code: SEP042971

Volume 5: GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

Volume 6: ARTHUR ADAMS

Volume 7: JOHN BYRNE

Volume 8: WALTER SIMONSON

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905443 Diamond Order Code: APR053191

by George Khoury & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905542 Diamond Order Code: DEC053309

by Jon B. Cooke & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905566 Diamond Order Code: FEB063354

by Roger Ash & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905641 Diamond Order Code: MAY063444

Volume 9: MIKE WIERINGO

Volume 10: KEVIN MAGUIRE

Volume 11: CHARLES VESS

Volume 12: MICHAEL GOLDEN

by Todd DeZago & Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905658 Diamond Order Code: AUG063626

by George Khoury & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905665 Diamond Order Code: OCT063722

by Christopher Irving & Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905696 Diamond Order Code: DEC063948

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905740 Diamond Order Code: APR074023

NEW FOR 2008

Volume 13: JERRY ORDWAY

Volume 14: FRANK CHO

Volume 15: MARK SCHULTZ

Volume 16: MIKE ALLRED

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905795 Diamond Order Code: JUN073926

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905849 Diamond Order Code: AUG074034

by Fred Perry & Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905856 Diamond Order Code: OCT073846

by Eric Nolen-Weathington (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905863 Diamond Order Code: JAN083937

MODERN MASTERS BUNDLES

NEW FOR 2008

Volume 17: LEE WEEKS

Volume 18: JOHN ROMITA JR.

by Tom Field & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905948 Ships May 2008

by George Khoury & Eric Nolen-Weathington (128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905955 Ships July 2008

BUNDLE THE GEORGE PÉREZ VOLUME & DVD TOGETHER, OR THE MICHAEL GOLDEN VOLUME & DVD TOGETHER

ONLY $37.95 EACH (SAVE $7 PER BUNDLE)

MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES ON MIKE PLOOG AND CHRIS SPROUSE ARE COMING IN 2009 SEE OUR SUMMER CATALOG UPDATE!

“HOW-TO” MAGAZINES Spinning off from the pages of BACK ISSUE! magazine comes ROUGH STUFF, celebrating the ART of creating comics! Edited by famed inker BOB McLEOD, each issue spotlights NEVER-BEFORE PUBLISHED penciled pages, preliminary sketches, detailed layouts, and even unused inked versions from artists throughout comics history. Included is commentary on the art, discussing what went right and wrong with it, and background information to put it all into historical perspective. Plus, before-and-after comparisons let you see firsthand how an image changes from initial concept to published version. So don’t miss this amazing magazine, featuring galleries of NEVER-BEFORE SEEN art, from some of your favorite series of all time, and the top pros in the industry!

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ROUGH STUFF #1 Our debut issue features galleries of UNSEEN ART by a who’s who of Modern Masters including: ALAN DAVIS, GEORGE PÉREZ, BRUCE TIMM, KEVIN NOWLAN, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, ARTHUR ADAMS, JOHN BYRNE, and WALTER SIMONSON, plus a KEVIN NOWLAN interview, art critiques, and a new BRUCE TIMM COVER!

ROUGH STUFF #2

ROUGH STUFF #3

ROUGH STUFF #4

The follow-up to our smash first issue features more galleries of UNSEEN ART by top industry professionals, including: BRIAN APTHORP, FRANK BRUNNER, PAUL GULACY, JERRY ORDWAY, ALEX TOTH, and MATT WAGNER, plus a PAUL GULACY interview, a look at art of the pros BEFORE they were pros, and a new GULACY “HEX” COVER!

Still more galleries of UNPUBLISHED ART by MIKE ALLRED, JOHN BUSCEMA, YANICK PAQUETTE, JOHN ROMITA JR., P. CRAIG RUSSELL, and LEE WEEKS, plus a JOHN ROMITA JR. interview, looks at the process of creating a cover (with BILL SIENKIEWICZ and JOHN ROMITA JR.), and a new ROMITA JR. COVER, plus a FREE DRAW #13 PREVIEW!

More NEVER-PUBLISHED galleries (with detailed artist commentaries) by MICHAEL KALUTA, ANDREW “Starman” ROBINSON, GENE COLAN, HOWARD CHAYKIN, and STEVE BISSETTE, plus interview and art by JOHN TOTLEBEN, a look at the Wonder Woman Day charity auction (with rare art), art critiques, before-&-after art comparisons, and a FREE WRITE NOW #15 PREVIEW!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG063714

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV064024

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB073911

(116-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: APR063497

ROUGH STUFF #5

DIGITAL

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ROUGH STUFF #6

NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED galleries (complete with extensive commentaries by the artists) by PAUL SMITH, GIL KANE, CULLY HAMNER, DALE KEOWN, and ASHLEY WOOD, plus a feature interview and art by STEVE RUDE, an examination of JOHN ALBANO and TONY DeZUNIGA’s work on Jonah Hex, new STEVE RUDE COVER, plus a FREE BACK ISSUE #23 PREVIEW!

Features a new interview and cover by BRIAN STELFREEZE, interview with BUTCH GUICE, extensive art galleries/commentary by IAN CHURCHILL, DAVE COCKRUM, and COLLEEN DORAN, MIKE GAGNON looks at independent comics, with art and comments by ANDREW BARR, BRANDON GRAHAM, and ASAF HANUKA! Includes a FREE ALTER EGO #73 PREVIEW!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY073902

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG074137

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Features an in-depth interview and cover by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more! (100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV073966

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ROUGH STUFF #8 Features an in-depth interview and cover painting by the extraordinary MIKE MAYHEW, preliminary and unpublished art by ALEX HORLEY, TONY DeZUNIGA, NICK CARDY, and RAFAEL KAYANAN (including commentary by each artist), a look at the great Belgian comic book artists, a “Rough Critique” of MIKE MURDOCK’s work, and more! (100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB084188

Editor and pro inker BOB McLEOD features four interviews this issue: ROB HAYNES (interviewed by fellow professional TIM TOWNSEND), JOE JUSKO, MEL RUBI, and SCOTT WILLIAMS, with a new painted cover by JUSKO, and an article by McLEOD examining "Inkers: Who needs ’em?" along with other features, including a Rough Critique of RUDY VASQUEZ! (100-page magazine) $6.95 Ships Summer 2008

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DRAW! (edited by top comics artist MIKE MANLEY) is the professional “HOW-TO” magazine on comics, cartooning, and animation. Each issue features in-depth INTERVIEWS and STEP-BY-STEP DEMOS from top comics pros on all aspects of graphic storytelling. NOTE: Contains nudity for purposes of figure drawing. INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS. TWO-TIME EISNER AWARD NOMINEE for Best Comics-Related Periodical.

4-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $26 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($36 First Class, $44 Canada, $60 Surface, $72 Airmail).

DRAW! #4

DRAW! #5

DRAW! #6

Features an interview and step-by-step demonstration from Savage Dragon’s ERIK LARSEN, KEVIN NOWLAN on drawing and inking techniques, DAVE COOPER demonstrates coloring techniques in Photoshop, BRET BLEVINS tutorial on Figure Composition, PAUL RIVOCHE on the Design Process, reviews of comics drawing papers, and more!

Interview and sketchbook by MIKE WIERINGO, BRIAN BENDIS and MIKE OEMING show how they create the series “Powers”, BRET BLEVINS shows “How to draw great hands”, “The illusion of depth in design” by PAUL RIVOCHE, must-have art books reviewed by TERRY BEATTY, plus reviews of the best art supplies, links, a color section and more! OEMING cover!

Interview, cover, and demo with BILL WRAY, STEPHEN DeSTEFANO interview and demo on cartooning and animation, BRET BLEVINS shows “How to draw the human figure in light and shadow,” a step-by-step Photo-shop tutorial by CELIA CALLE, expert inking tips by MIKE MANLEY, plus reviews of the best art supplies, links, a color section and more!

(88-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN022757

(88-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: APR022633

(96-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB032281

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DRAW! #10

DRAW! #11

DRAW! #12

DRAW! #13

From comics to video games: an interview, cover, and demo with MATT HALEY, TOM BANCROFT & ROB CORLEY on character design, “Drawing In Adobe Illustrator” step-by-step demo by ALBERTO RUIZ, “Draping The Human Figure” by BRET BLEVINS, a new COMICS SECTION, International Spotlight on JOSÉ LOUIS AGREDA, a color section and more!

RON GARNEY interview, step-by-step demo, and cover, GRAHAM NOLAN on creating newspaper strips, TODD KLEIN and other pros discuss lettering, “Draping The Human Figure, Part Two” by BRET BLEVINS, ALBERTO RUIZ with more Adobe Illustrator tips, interview with Banana Tail creator MARK McKENNA, links, a color section and more!

STEVE RUDE demonstrates his approach to comics & drawing, ROQUE BALLESTEROS on Flash animation, political cartoonist JIM BORGMAN on his daily comic strip Zits, plus DRAW!’s regular instructors BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY on “Drawing On LIfe”, more Adobe Illustrator tips with ALBERTO RUIZ, links, a color section and more! New RUDE cover!

KYLE BAKER reveals his working methods and step-by-step processes on merging his traditional and digital art, Machine Teen’s MIKE HAWTHORNE on his work, “Making Perspective Work For You” by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, Photoshop techniques with ALBERTO RUIZ, Adult Swim’s THE VENTURE BROTHERS, links, a color section and more! New BAKER cover!

Step-by-step demo of painting methods by cover artist ALEX HORLEY (Heavy Metal, Vertigo, DC, Wizards of the Coast), plus interviews and demos by Banana Sundays’ COLLEEN COOVER, behind-the-scenes on Adult Swim’s MINORITEAM, regular features on drawing by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY, links, color section and more, plus a FREE ROUGH STUFF #3 PREVIEW!

(96-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC032848

(104-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC043007

(112-page magazine with COLOR) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY053188

(96-page magazine) SOLD OUT (96-page Digital Edition) $2.95

(88-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: OCT063824

DRAW! #16

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DRAW! #14

DRAW! #15

Features in-depth interviews and demos with DC Comics artist DOUG MAHNKE, OVI NEDELCU (Pigtale, WB Animation), STEVE PURCELL (Sam and Max), plus Part 3 of editor MIKE MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP on “Using Black to Power up Your Pages”, product reviews, a new MAHNKE cover, and a FREE ALTER EGO #70 PREVIEW!

BACK TO SCHOOL ISSUE, covering major schools offering comic art as part of their curriculum, featuring faculty, student, and graduate interviews in an ultimate overview of collegiate-level comic art classes! Plus, a “how-to” demo/ interview with B.P.R.D.’S GUY DAVIS, MANLEY and BRET BLEVINS’ COMIC ART BOOTCAMP series, a FREE WRITE NOW #17 PREVIEW, and more!

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAY073896

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: AUG074131

Features an in-depth interview and coverage of the creative process of HOWARD CHAYKIN. From the early ’70s at DC, STAR WARS, and HEAVY METAL, to AMERICAN FLAGG and now WOLVERINE, we catch up with one of comics most innovative artist/storytellers! Also, we go behind the drawing board and animation desk with JAY STEPHENS, from JET CAT and TUTENSTEIN to his new Cartoon Network show, SECRET SATURDAYS! Then there's more COMIC ART BOOTCAMP, this time focusing on HOW TO USE REFERENCE, and WORKING FROM PHOTOS by BRET BLEVINS and MIKE MANLEY. Plus, reviews, resources and more! (80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 Ships Summer 2008

Don’t miss our BEST OF DRAW volumes, reprinting the SOLD OUT ISSUES!

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NEW STUFF FROM TWOMORROWS!

BACK ISSUE #34

WRITE NOW! #20

ROUGH STUFF #12

ALTER EGO #85

BRICKJOURNAL #5

(80-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC084398 FINAL ISSUE! Now shipping!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB094564 FINAL ISSUE! Now shipping!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR094514 Now shipping!

(80-page COLOR magazine) $8.95 US (Digital Edition) $3.95 Diamond Order Code: DEC084408 Now shipping!

EXTRAORDINARY WORKS OF ALAN MOORE:

BATCAVE COMPANION

(100-page magazine) $6.95 US (Digital Edition) $2.95 • Now shipping!

KIRBY COLLECTOR #52 Spotlights Kirby’s most obscure work, like an UNUSED THOR STORY, BRUCE LEE comic, animation work, stage play, unaltered versions of pages from KAMANDI, DEMON, & DESTROYER DUCK, a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series BEFORE EDITORIAL TAMPERING, unseen Kirby covers & more! (84-page tabloid magazine) $9.95 US Diamond Order Code: DEC084397 (Digital Edition) $3.95 • Now shipping!

COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 7 Reprints KIRBY COLLECTOR #27-30 plus over 30 pieces of Kirby art never published! (288-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490120 Now shipping!

GRAILPAGES

The definitive autobiographical book on ALAN MOORE in a NEW EXPANDED AND UPDATED VERSION! Includes new interviews covering his work since the original 2003 edition of the book. From SWAMP THING, V FOR VENDETTA, WATCHMEN, and LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and beyond – all are discussed by Alan. Plus, there’s RARE STRIPS, SCRIPTS, ARTWORK, and PHOTOGRAPHS, tribute comic strips by NEIL GAIMAN and other of Moore’s closest collaborators, a COLOR SECTION featuring the RARE MOORE STORY “The Riddle of the Recalcitrant Refuse” (newly remastered, and starring MR. MONSTER), and more! Edited by GEORGE KHOURY, with a cover by DAVE McKEAN!

Explore the Silver and Bronze Ages of Batman comic books in THE BATCAVE COMPANION! Two distinct sections of this book examine the Dark Knight’s progression from his campy “New Look” of the mid-1960s to his “creature of the night” reinvention of the 1970s. Features include issue-by-issue indexes, interviews with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE GIELLA, DENNIS O’NEIL, and NEAL ADAMS, and guest essays by MIKE W. BARR and WILL MURRAY. Contributors include SHELDON MOLDOFF, LEN WEIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, and TERRY AUSTIN, with a special tribute to the late MARSHALL ROGERS. With its incisive introduction by DENNIS O’NEIL and its iconic cover painting by NEAL ADAMS, THE BATCAVE COMPANION is a must-have for every comics fan! By MICHAEL EURY and MICHAEL KRONENBERG.

(240-page trade paperback) $29.95 US ISBN: 9781605490090 Diamond Order Code: JAN088702 Now shipping!

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95 US ISBN: 9781893905788 Diamond Order Code: NOV068368 Now shipping!

Indispensable Edition

Go to www.twomorrows.com for FULL-COLOR downloadable PDF versions of our magazines for only $2.95! Subscribers to the print edition get the digital edition FREE, weeks before it hits stores!

2009 SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

Media Mail

Original Comic Book Art & The Collectors Examines the hobby of collecting original comic book art, letting you meet collectors from around the globe as they detail collections ranging from a few key pages, to hundreds of pages of original comic art by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA SR., and others! Features interviews with industry pros, including writers GERRY CONWAY, STEVE ENGLEHART, and ROY THOMAS, and exclusive perspectives from Silver Age artists DICK GIORDANO, BOB McLEOD, ERNIE CHAN, TONY DeZUNIGA, and the unparalleled great, GENE COLAN! Completing the book is a diverse sampling of breathtakingly beautiful original comic art, some lavishly presented in full-page spreads, including pages not seen publicly for decades. Written by STEVEN ALAN PAYNE. (128-page trade paperback) $15.95 US ISBN: 9781605490151 Diamond Order Code: JAN094470 Now shipping!

VOLUME 20: KYLE BAKER

(120-page trade paperback with COLOR) $14.95 US • ISBN: 9781605490083 Now shipping!

VOLUME 21: CHRIS SPROUSE

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 US • ISBN: 97801605490137 Ships May 2009 Each features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from the artist’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

1st Class Canada 1st Class Priority US Intl. Intl.

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$50

$60

$84

$136

BACK ISSUE! (6 issues)

$44

$60

$70

$105

$115

DRAW! (4 issues)

$30

$40

$47

$70

$77

ALTER EGO (12 issues) Six-issue subs are half-price!

$88

$120

$140

$210

$230

BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

$38

$48

$55

$78

$85

For the latest news from TwoMorrows Publishing, log on to www.twomorrows.com/tnt

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics. TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com