Rough Stuff #2 by TwoMorrows Publishing

No. 2 Fall 2006 P R E S E N T S

$6.95

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Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

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Featuring

PAUL GULACY! Interview & Art Gallery 63 1

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Volume 1, Number 2 October 2006

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics! EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg

FEATURED ARTISTS PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving COVER ARTIST

Brian Apthorp

Frank Brunner

Jerry Ordway

Alex Toth

Matt Wagner

Paul Gulacy COVER COLORIST

Laurie Kronenberg

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Seastone Marketing Group

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW 30

SPECIAL THANKS

Brian Apthorp Frank Brunner Paul Gulacy Jerry Ordway Alex Toth Matt Wagner Ray Wong Eric Nolen-Weathington Roger Clark David Hamilton Ken Steacy Michael Eury ROUGH STUFF™ is published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Bob McLeod, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: ROUGH STUFF, c/o Bob McLeod, Editor, P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA 10849-2203. E-mail: mcleod.bob@gmail.com. Fourissue subscriptions: $24 Standard US, $36 First Class US, $44 Canada, $48 Surface International, $64 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Central cover art by Paul Gulacy. Jonah Hex TM & ©2006 DC Comics. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Paul Gulacy

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 46

A Special Memento Ray Wong

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Cover Stories Paul Gulacy and Frank Brunner reveal the process they go through when creating a cover.

PrePro A look at the art of the pros, before they were pros.

Rough Critique Editor Bob McLeod critiques an artist’s sample page.

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

For more art by our featured artists, visit www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm

ISSN 1931-9231 OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

elcome to the second issue of Rough Stuff! I hope you saw our first issue, because it is a must-have for any fan of comic art. It featured art by no fewer than eight of the best artists in comic books, and an interview with Kevin Nowlan. If you missed it, you can still get a copy by ordering it from us by

e-mail, phone, or on the www.twomorrows.com web site. To get you up to speed: this magazine was spun off from Back Issue magazine’s “Rough Stuff” feature. We’ll have pencil pages, sketches, thumbnails, cover roughs, art before and after inking, and whatever else we can think of that has to do with the preliminary art of comics, drawn by all of your favorite current artists and the best artists from the past as well. We’ll have in-depth interviews, such as this issue’s talk with Paul Gulacy, who generously created that stunning cover of Jonah Hex. We also have some features you won’t find anywhere else, like “Pre-Pro,” where we show you art by your favorites that was done before they turned pro. Where else are you gonna see that, unless you drop by their mom’s house!? And our feature “Cover Stories” displays cover art from inception to completion, along with comments by the artists. Along with other interesting articles, for those of you brave enough to submit your samples, I offer my “Rough Critique,” where I give a constructive critique of a young hopeful comic artist. I don’t pull punches, but neither do I insult or belittle. I guarantee you’ll learn something, even if you can’t draw a straight line. I don’t just say what the artist is doing wrong, I pick up my own pencil and show how to do it better! If you think you have what it takes to draw comics, just send me a sample page, and we’ll publish the best page we receive, along with my critique. This issue features a sample page by newcomer Gibson Quarter, one of my former correspondence students (I offer art lessons on my web site). I’d like to thank all of our featured artists this issue for their fascinating comments about their art, and their generosity with their time. Thanks especially to Matt Wagner for his patience and understanding, and special thanks to all the art collectors who supplied us with art scans from their personal collections for this issue: Luis Acevedo, Elizabeth Bouras, Malcolm Bourne, Jim Clancy, Roger Clark, John Cogan, Michael Farineau, Nick Ford, Kasra Ghanbari, Rob Ledford, Steve Lipsky, Daniel Maull, and Adam Richards. For a free look at even more scans by some of our featured artists, go online and visit the Rough Stuff page of my web site at www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm. Each issue we have more art than we can fit into the magazine, and I’ll be showcasing some of it on my site as a free bonus. Don’t miss out on this extra treat! We’re always seeking high resolution scans of pencil and preliminary art and sketches for future issues. If you have art in your collection you’d like to share, please contact me. We’ll send you a complimentary copy, and if you wish, we’ll credit you as the proud owner. We need full-size 300dpi JPEGs for pencil art, and 600dpi bitmap TIFs for inked art, if possible, or clear photocopies. Please send your letters and e-mails of feedback to me at the addresses below. I want to know what you think of our efforts, and which artists you’d like to see featured. Join us next issue for art by Mike Allred, John Buscema, Yanick Paquette, P. Craig Russell, Lee Weeks, and an interview with John Romita Jr. But meanwhile, turn the page and enjoy this issue’s fun! Editor mcleod.bob@gmail.com www.bobmcleod.com 2

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

P R O H T P A N A I R B

vanpart of the new is p or h pt A an Bri y, but mic books toda co in g n ki or w guard tals in the fundamen ed ot ro l el w he’s very ons are t. His compositi sexy, of good comic ar d powerful and an l u ef ac gr e gures ar inker dynamic, his fi delighting the , te ra trs fi is ic lighting and his dramat to ink! ould be a ball w ls ci n pe is H in me.

BRIAN APTHORP: Ghost #11, cover The pencils for the cover of Ghost #11. I did four covers, for numbers 9, 11, 13 and 17, and this is one of the better ones, I think, though she’s considerably sexier in the other three. But it was really cool, working on each, because I didn’t have to adhere to any story situation; they were simply compositions of my own devising, portraits of her and her peculiar situation, trying to be evocative.

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BRIAN APTHORP: Dreaming Special: Trial and Error, pg. 28 This is from The Dreaming Special: Trial and Error, written by Len Wein, for Vertigo from sometime in the late ‘90s. It was inked by Scott Hampton, one of my favorite artists and persons, and I am proud of it, basically. Another of those ‘phantasmagoria’ pages, looking like Victorian wallpaper, I suppose—but it was depicting the magic world of the Dreaming, and again, the ol’ reliance on the colorist to separate a bit, down the line. DREAMING TM & ©2006 DC Comics/

BRIAN APTHORP

Vertigo

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BRIAN APTHORP: Dreaming Special: Trial and Error, pg. 18 The background was filled in on computer just to give a sense of how the thing was designed-for. The light amount of blacks on the figures, relatively, deemed it necessary to pull them out of the black emptiness of the courtroom background. But I sent Scott Hampton some marker studies, saying how it was difficult for me to push the blacks as far as I wished, to encourage him to help “get me there” in his masterful inks. And what a draftsman! Nobody ever inked my stuff with such sensitive drawing fidelity, and of course, he improved a lot of things in the bargain. I loved working in this dark environment, of my own choosing, actually. It was just hard to let go of reflected light and all that. It’s a struggle for me. DREAMING TM & ©2006 DC Comics/ Vertigo

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BRIAN APTHORP: Dreaming Special: Trial and Error, pg. 52 I posed for the big shot of Cain, to get them danged folds right! I really enjoyed the ‘black comedy’ of the story, and the fun of rendering personalities, especially of Abel and his ornery brother Cain. That Judge was fun to draw, too! Hopefully, the solid blacks in the second panel help to emphasize the moment when the Judge whips out the Thompson. The tilt panel is a bit goofy, I grant you, but why not push it here and there? This is comics, and I could do with more of a sense of play sometimes. The big issue with layouts like this is reading the big panel before the rest. Yes, it happens, subconsciously at least, but the effect is still potent, and a wonderful part of the peculiarity of comics as a medium, like no other. Here’s to ‘em. DREAMING TM & ©2006 DC Comics/ Vertigo

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BRIAN APTHORP: Hero Zero, cover I still like this Hero Zero cover; a oneshot for Dark Horse written by Michael Eury, which I think, preceded the book for Marvel U.K and Batman. Very much my preference for covers is a solid image you can more or less make out at some distance. I also have a fondness for classical poses and stillness—not the sort of thing superhero comics really lean towards! I don’t know why the scratched-in logo is so small on this finished pencil. HERO ZERO TM & ©2006 Dark Horse Comics.

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BRIAN APTHORP: Hero Zero, cover thumbnails Dark Horse’s Hero Zero was a sort of Billy Batson/Captain Marvel; a boy who—with the aid of an alien consciousness which was sort of part of him, and “talked” to him in a Jiminy-Cricket sort of relationship—could become Hero Zero: transform into this adult body and cool get-up, change sizes like Hank Pym (Ant Man/Giant Man) but looking rather like a cross between Iron Man and a famous old Japanese super who I can’t remember the name of. I liked the costume design, anyway. The story was about this monster in the desert that grew up out of the rock itself to spread havoc among licentious teenagers groping girls and tearing up the dust in their hot rods. It was the most

BRIAN APTHORP

straightforward superhero story I’ve ever worked on, very much like the comics I grew up reading, with a refreshingly unencumbered

spirit, and quite fun to do, I must say. This batch of thumbnails for the cover does the typical number on me, in retrospect; I still don’t know which composition would have been “best.” I don’t even know if flopping it, at the last, was the best idea or not. Always questioning myself—that’s been a curse for me all along. I guess the nicest looking one, seeing this after all these years, seems to be the third in the top row. But I guess I wanted to emphasize our hero, clarify that he’s gigantic and powerful himself, so that’s the motive for the fourth design, the one that eventually was flopped for the final. I think I must have flopped it to give it more of an implication of movement; a left-to-right thrust, since that’s the way we read in the West, tends to feel more active than going “against the grain”—an implied ‘thrust’ from the opposite direction, which it might be said was the case with the original arrangement, here. HERO ZERO TM & ©2006 Dark Horse Comics.

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BRIAN APTHORP: Hero Zero #2, pg. 6 Just bumping the frames about, punching parts of figures out of the panel for the mild effect of suggesting that things are getting sort of out of control. Obvious stuff, but I think it works, psychologically, on the reader, as long as it’s not employed on every kind of sequence, actionoriented or not. Back then, I might very well have done just that, in my anxiety to make the story look as dynamic, visually, as possible. When you work in a relatively “realistic” or “classical” style, you are perpetually fighting against a tendency towards the static and still, simply through the careful compositions, detailed rendering, and the restraint on expressive exaggeration which, of course, is part of the definition of “realism” and “classical” in this context. It took many years before I actually figured out why I draw the way I do, or wish to render the world in this fashion rather than another. HERO ZERO TM & ©2006 Dark Horse Comics.

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BRIAN APTHORP: Shadow of the Bat: Year One: Poison Ivy Annual #3, page 3 I was trying to get a sense of sweeping, swirling movement of Batman through the complex city ‘air,’ and a pellmell effect of free-fall down towards the ringing “EEEEEE” sound of what was supposed to be a security alarm. This is Batman Year One: Poison Ivy, so Bats has the nice, shorter ears of David Mazzucchelli’s marvelous, earlier book. I ‘flopped’ the last panel—the implied direction from which Batman is moving (he’s central, but moving left to right-ish in panel 1—clearly so in the inset close-up, then objectively so in the middle), both for pulling the reader’s attention into the page and for completing the idea of the ‘swirl’. This sort of thing took a lot of my thought and time in those days; probably more than necessary or useful, really. I find the drawing a bit stiff at this remove, but what else could be expected? I was also pushing myself to get more solid blacks into things—I’ve always been more naturally attracted to light-and-shade, the impression of volume and so forth, rather than a more purely graphic way of representing the world, no matter how much I love those who do it well, like Mike Mignola, Alex Toth, and Jaime Hernandez. So the page looks a bit confused, graphically, to me. However, I tell myself that that ‘confusion’ may aid in the suggestion of Batman’s almost crazy, dare-devil drop through the armored city levels. BATMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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BRIAN APTHORP: Shadow of the Bat: Year One: Poison Ivy Annual #3, page 8 I liked the idea of making Batman look like a guy in an outfit—as both Mazzucchelli and Frank Miller did, of course—but in my style, he seems rather like a more muscular Adam West to me now. The visual confusion thing gets going again in this sequence of Bats going home to the Mansion and what is supposed to be the Batcave in an early, set-upin-your-garage stage. Color is expected to clarify the separateness of the panels; it’s a team collaboration, y’know—or should be! I was into a lot of this sort of floating-panels-over-bleedimages and so forth; partly anxiety over making the book look dynamic, partly my unending desire for more space, it would seem. In my current work, I only use this sort of thing for specific thematic or emotional purposes. But I still like this old page anyway, purism be danged! And I did it quite a few times on The Dreaming Special: Trial And Error for Vertigo years later, a book I still like. A little ebullience is welcome sometimes, I think, just on its own. BATMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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BRIAN APTHORP: The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1, cover. Inks by John Beatty. This is the cover for “Son of the Bat”, part of The Kingdom sequel. There’s some value in it, in that I think the comparison between pencil finish and ink finish shows how subtle the business of “interpreting” pencils into ink can be—I think, anyway! Originally, Batman had a fist held up between the edge of the page and the foreground figures, but I just couldn’t make it fit. I was seeking a romantic image, with some mystery—by the way, Batman doesn’t appear in the book at all; but he is certainly a “presence” psychologically, for Ibn al Xufasch (if I spelled it right). BATMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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BRIAN APTHORP: The Kingdom: Son of the Bat #1 Here’s an attempt at “vehemence,” as Ibn wakens Brainiac (if I remember correctly) in an android “replica” of Supes. The main thing is that the top panel is supposed to be a shock, after the previous page, where— well—this happens. As to the rest, I liked this business of floating panels over others, shifting their positions; it was useful, I thought, in the same way in Hero Zero and others (most of my superhero stuff), in giving a graphic vivacity to a page and the movement from panel to panel, trying to counter what I feared might be a somewhat static tendency in relatively realistic drawing. Okay, so I was insecure; but I still like these things, in moderation, for my stuff. These Dreaming pages do similar offense to purism, but there are reasons for it, particularly in that story. Granted, bouncing panels around points out to the reader that what they are doing is reading a comic book, looking at pictures, and anything of this sort is bound to pull them out of the sense of being “lost” in a story—forgetting the guy behind the curtain pulling knobs and wheels with his pencil, pen, computer—so on that score, I grant, there is a price to be paid with this kind of overt display. In my defense, I think there are middle grounds in most any argument, where there is room for pulling this way or that a little. I admire Mike Mignola’s setting down to a sober panel grid, but it suits his work particularly well—being a master of graphic patterns of black & white, shape, mass and line, and the rhythms of them all in reading pictures and story. His former use of bleeds and these things was really just gilding the lily, seen in retrospect. But I am not such a master, nor is my drawing so rich with shapes and patterns, much as I might wish it to be. I love his work. But I can’t be him; I have only me. And ‘Me’ in this area, is someone whose spirit is in the sensual world, and seeking the manifestation of ‘permanence’ in an apparently impermanent and chaotic world, which the curious mix of tangible sensuality, volume in light and shade, set in an idealized form of classicism, symbolizes for me. I may not be equal to it, but that is where my “spirit” is coming from, and what it’s doing messing about with drawings. I’m working in that natively awkward middle ground between true realism and graphic symbolicness; really more on the left of that range, obviously. And anytime some “vehemence” is called for, as in the false Supes’ face or actions of violence, I have to break out of my “elegance” seeking and into a more visceral mode. I think that top was successful, for me, in that way, as was the quite grotesque murder scene later in the book. That sort of violence is ugly, and I don’t shy away from it—the ugly part, when that is called up in a story. But really, I have a very limited stomach for cruelty and violence of any sort in movies or anywhere else. It seems in comics, though, some darker part of me can be tapped, sometimes. SUPERMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

FRANK BRUNNER

en one of has always be Frank Brunner is very tists. His work ar te ri vo fa y m ows no imagination kn is h d an , al su sen for ly best known ab ob pr s e’ H . ARD THE bounds ANGE and HOW R ST . R D on s fort azing his definitive ef doing a lot of am en be s e’ h s, nt year DUCK. In rece k. commission wor DR. STRANGE TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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FRANK BRUNNER

Characters, Inc.

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FRANK BRUNNER

Characters, Inc.

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FRANK BRUNNER

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FRANK BRUNNER

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FRANK BRUNNER OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

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FRANK BRUNNER

FRANK BRUNNER: Wagner’s Barbarian Hero… Accurately depicted for the first time!

FRANK BRUNNER

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FRANK BRUNNER

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COVER STORIES

PAUL GULACY:

Catwoman #25 cover rough: When Dan Didio asked me on board as the new penciler on Catwoman, I decided to pick an important scene from Ed Brubaker’s script, which had her crashing through the boarded-up window of a crack house in that first issue that I drew. It just screamed grand entrance. I decided on an upshot of her, but I needed a photo reference in this particular case, which meant I needed a model. CATWOMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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hat happens between the initial layout of a cover, and the finished, printed piece? Usually a lot of changes—some brought about by the pencil artist, some by the inker (assuming they’re not the same person as the penciler), and some at the request of an editor or publisher. We asked a couple of this issue’s pros to give us a little insight into these classic covers.

PAUL GULACY: I nixed the opaque projector and rendered the scene freehand in pencil while holding a photo still. Jimmy Palmiotti then did his usual inking magic (below). In a situation of a monthly book with tight deadlines, I felt he and I as a team worked great together. The only thing I didn’t like about this was the goggles. I was adhering to the design the former team used which, according to Ed, was based largely on the same worn by Joe Kubert’s Enemy Ace character. If it were up to me, I’d nix them altogether. If she can run, jump, leap and do everything as a cat, why can’t she see at night like one? I’m for seeing Selina Kyle’s gorgeous eyes. CATWOMAN TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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FRANK BRUNNER: WitchGirls Inc. #1: When I was given this cover assignment, the editor told me what he had in mind. It was a rather trite scene of the Witchgirls in front of their storefront looking like a grand opening ceremony. Needless to say, I thought I could come up with something far more “witchy” and this whimsical interior scene replete with spells and general magical mayhem became the cover of WitchGirls Inc. #1. Originally, I had “Psyche” reading the DaVinci Code, but the publisher wanted to avoid an unauthorized use, so I changed the title to another artist I like!

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Generally, when penciling for myself, I don’t have to “nail” everything in order to ink it (but do my best to “nail it” when inked by others). So this is pretty much the way final pencils (sometimes much less tight) look for my own inking. The inking can also evolve as I work on it and the final art may look changed somewhat. WITCHGIRLS INC. TM & ©2006 Heroic Publishing.

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INTERVIEW

PAUL GULACY By Michael Kronenberg

has worked for every major publisher and has been associated with some of comics’ most memorable characters and titles. To thrive as long as he has in an industry as grueling and sometimes

cruel as comics has been not only his ability as an artist and storyteller, but tantamount to his skills as a survivor. Numerous times over the years a Gulacy art job would hang on the balance of which inker was selected for his pencils. There have been some outstanding embellishers he has been partnered with—Dan Adkins, Terry Austin, and Jimmy Palmiotti to name a few—but too many times he has been mismatched and his idiosyncratic style has been lost. With the release this month of Jonah Hex #12, Gulacy embarks on a new venture with his art: inking his pencils.

“…you never saw me doing my own “I never get tired of it. It’s what I do. It’s “…I almost completely go straight on the

covers when I was on Master of Kung Fu, because I just got under the wire on the deadline and there was no time to let me do the cover. Knowing that, I decided to make the slash page the cover.

”

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my outlet for self-expression. Marlon Brando once said in an interview, ‘Never give 100 percent, and hold back some reserve.’ You can’t come in with the big guns every time. You pace it.

”

board with pens and brushes over pencil lines that only I can decipher. I can finish a book in four to five weeks, pencils and inks. My deal with the editors is that I’ll be happy to patch in any mistakes if need be.

”

or over thirty years Paul Gulacy has continued to be a creative force in the comic book industry. He

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caught up with Paul while in the middle of his Hex assignment. Among other things we discussed why he can now meet his deadlines penciling and inking, Master of Kung Fu’s legacy, Daniel Craig as the new James Bond, a Gulacy top ten movie list, and his upcoming projects.

MICHAEL KRONENBERG: What has changed most in

when Jimmy Palmiotti was buried in work and couldn’t finish the last seven pages of JSA: Classified #13. So, Mike Carlin asked me if I could wrap it up. I hadn’t inked myself for a long time, probably years outside of covers, so this was a good opportunity to hone my skills. It was a blessing, because it wasn’t so much something I wanted to do as something I needed to do—not

the comic book industry since you started?

only a good career move, but personally, very spiritually

PAUL GULACY: The immense amount of talent now

uplifting, and Jimmy totally understands that. In fact,

working in this business is overwhelming; there must be

Jimmy encouraged me to ink Hex. He said, “Go ahead,

thousands of people and hundreds of

show ’em what you got, dude.”

titles to choose from; the entire world knows who the X-Men are;

KRONENBERG: How has inking impacted your schedule?

creators own their properties;

GULACY: It’s not a problem because I almost completely

Hollywood now banks on huge

go straight on the board with pens and brushes over pencil

box office hits and profits

lines that only I can decipher. I can finish a book in four to

based on comic book charac-

five weeks, pencils and inks. My deal with the editors is that

ters. It’s all moving very quickly

I’ll be happy to patch in any mistakes if need be.

and don’t ask me what the future holds, because I don’t have a clue. KRONENBERG: Starting with the new issue of Jonah Hex, you will begin inking yourself. How did this come about and why? GULACY: It started

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PAUL GULACY: Jonah Hex #12, pg. 6: As I read the script I’m getting imagery in my head and I almost always rely on that first intuitive flash without laboring in my head how to play those scenes. Sometimes I’ll read the script pages before I start my day and come up with the page breakdown while I’m in the shower. I also get lots of ideas listening to music while driving my car. Music is a huge influence on my art, but I only listen to music before I start working, not while I’m working. JONAH HEX TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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PAUL GULACY Jonah Hex #12, pg. 7 This in-progress page from Gulacy’s Jonah Hex issue is a fine example of his inking technique. Barely detectible pencil lines (a scanner was unable to decipher them) act as a map for his detailed inking. JONAH HEX TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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PAUL GULACY

KRONENBERG: Your style is so unique and many have

when he takes his time. The Punisher book is a good

Catwoman #30, pgs. 2-3: Penciled

debated about who is best suited to ink your work

example. Any penciler will tell you that the inker who is

(aside from yourself as inker). How do you look back

aware of your style will adhere to your pencils, and not

upon the many artists who have embellished you?

stray, even if out of respect. But on the other hand, some-

GULACY: On my early work, Dan Adkins came the clos-

times things happen such as a tight deadline or that

est to my style. On my current work, Jimmy is right there,

person is cranking because they’re looking at a pile of

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

that you’re inking yourself, will you use it again? GULACY: I’d consider it if it was a black-and-white job. Tim Bradstreet hasn’t used it in ages, but he told me he might go back to it soon. It depends on the job. Right now, it’s your colorist who can make or break a book with or without Craftint board.

PAUL GULACY James Bond: Serpent’s Tooth , European trade cover, Asked if he would render with Craftint again as he did with this

KRONENBERG: Do you usually do roughs or thumb-

James Bond cover, Gulacy said, “I’d con-

nails before you start on each page? GULACY: Always, as I read the script I’m getting imagery

sider it if it was a

in my head and I almost always rely on that first intuitive

black-and-white job...

flash without laboring in my head how to play those

It depends on the job.

scenes. Sometimes I’ll read the script pages before I start

Right now, it’s your

bills to pay at home. You sometimes grit your teeth and

my day and come up with the page breakdown while I’m in

colorist who can make

have to roll with that. It ain’t easy. Those are the books

the shower. I also get lots of ideas listening to music while

or break a book with or

that I can only look at in a room with very, very low light.

driving my car. Music is a huge influence on my art, but I

without Craftint board.”

only listen to music before I start working, not while I’m KRONENBERG: In the past, you became very proficient

working. One great song by a particular artist can inspire

at using Craftint board to add grays to your work. Now

twenty-two pages of comic art.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

PAUL GULACY Splash page for Master of Kung Fu #47. In the early stages of Gulacy’s career, he found it difficult to meet his monthly deadline and draw the issue’s covers. Instead, he rendered his splash pages as if they were the covers. These splash pages have become more memorable than the issue’s actual covers. SHANG-CHI TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

KRONENBERG: How has your approach to work changed since your days on Master of Kung Fu? GULACY: Not much. It’s always about doing the work the best you can, as quickly as you can. That’s why you never saw me doing my own covers when I was on Master of Kung Fu, because I just got under the wire on the deadline and there was no time to let me do the cover. Knowing that, I decided to make the splash page the cover. Ironically, I ended up doing covers after I left the book.

KRONENBERG: You’ve just finished working with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray on Jonah Hex and The Punisher. How do you like working with them and how are they different from some of the other writers you’ve partnered with? GULACY: Well, those guys are a dynamic force when they team up. You know you’re going to get quality. Both of those titles had great scripts, real meaty stuff. With Punisher, Jimmy

mapped out every page in regards to the amount of panels. Also, Marvel was keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn’t stray from that because it could have led to trouble. It’s not the Continued on page 43

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

PAUL GULACY: Punisher: Valentine Special, pencils pg. 3: (Regarding inkers) On my current work, Jimmy (Palmiotti) is right there, when he takes his time. The Punisher book is a good example. Any penciler will tell you that the inker who is aware of your style will adhere to your pencils, and not stray, even if out of respect. But on the other hand, sometimes things happen such as a tight deadline or that person is cranking because they’re looking at a pile of bills to pay at home. You sometimes grit your teeth and have to roll with that. It ain’t easy. Those are the books that I can only look at in a room with very, very low light. PUNISHER TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Interested in seeing more of Paul Gulacy’s work? The book Spies, Vixens and Masters of Kung Fu by Michael Kronenberg is available at comic shops and from publisher Vanguard Productions at http://www.creativemix.com/gulacy.

way I work, but I made it work here. With Hex I had more freedom, more camera movements and cuts.

some sort of challenge such as Catwoman, JSA:

PAUL GULACY:

Classified featuring the Alan Scott Green Lantern and

Eerie #110, splash page. Watercolor wash: (When asked if

Vandal Savage; now with this upcoming Squadron KRONENBERG: What current or future projects are you

Supreme and Aquaman. I’m not particular about any

working on?

characters as such. I can’t think of any that stand out—

GULACY: Next up is a four-issue Squadron Supreme

maybe Black Widow and a World War II Nick Fury. I’ve

mini-series written by Marc Guggenheim and then, if all

got first dibs on Doc Savage at DC once the legalities

ducks are in a row, I head back to DC to pencil the

are ironed out. That would be fun.

in watercolor would

KRONENBERG: Would you like to revisit some of your more unusual art techniques, such as your watercolor

what’s your typical day like?

washes from Eerie magazine or your mixed media work

GULACY: Let the cat out, breakfast, answer e-mails,

in Six From Sirius?

tell you. It takes tremendous brush control and it’s extremely time consuming. Been

shower and hit the board around 9:00 am. I shut it down

GULACY: No. That was murder, as anyone who works in

around 4:00 pm—go to the gym, run errands, Starbucks,

watercolor would tell you. It takes tremendous brush control

answer more e-mails, telephone calls and hang with my

and it’s extremely time consuming. Been there, done that, as

daughter and girlfriend different days of the week. I

an extended comic book story. Next time I’ll have someone

generally hit the hay around 11:00 pm but mixed in there

Photoshop it in a watercolor program—well, maybe not.

there done that as an extended comic book story. Next time I’ll have someone Photoshop it in a watercolor program.

could be get-togethers, clubs, movies, bars, restaurants, and parties at any time.

No. That was murder, as anyone who works

ongoing Aquaman series with Kurt Busiek. KRONENBERG: While working on an assignment,

he would work in mixed media again)

KRONENBERG: At conventions or appearances, how

Well, maybe not.

KRONENBERG: Looking back on your past projects, which ones stand out for you and why? GULACY: There is a lot there, but if I were to name the ones that stand out, they would be Master of Kung Fu, Sabre, James Bond: Serpent’s Tooth and my work on Batman. Master of Kung Fu because it was my first work with Doug Moench and it became a classic. Sabre because it was one of the first indie graphic novels ever. Bond because, well, it’s Bond. And Batman because every series I ever worked on became a trade paperback that made a lot of profit for the company. KRONENBERG: Those who know you are aware that you’re a big film buff. How about a Gulacy top ten film list? GULACY: Oy, vey! I’m not sure I’m such a film buff; I missed plenty and walked out of a few. Off the top of my head I’d say Citizen Kane, Gone With The Wind, Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, You Only Live Twice, the original Flight of the Phoenix, One Eyed Jacks, Enter the Dragon and The Last Temptation of Christ. KRONENBERG: What characters and genres would you like to work on? GULACY: Any that peak my interest and present

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

often do fans want

that you’re shopping, both as a comic

to discuss Master

mini-series and as a film project. Tell me

of Kung Fu with

about it.

you?

GULACY: It’s called Shadow Racer: Go.

GULACY: All the

I was contacted by a girl about a year

time; young fans,

ago named Grace Randolph who lives in

old fans, people

New York City and produces, directs

of all shapes,

and writes a comedy routine that she

sizes, genders

performs with a troupe three days a

and nationalities.

week at a club in Times Square. Grace is a big comic book fan and was inquir-

KRONENBERG:

ing from me how to break into business

Do you see

as a writer. I gave her some names but I

Master of Kung

also mentioned that I had a film idea that

Fu as an alba-

I needed fleshed out. She took on the

tross that haunts

task and within three days handed me

you, or have

this wonderful storyline after I gave her

you learned to

the basic nuts and bolts.

embrace it?

The story deals with international

GULACY: Not a

espionage colliding with high-octane car

chance. I

racing. A deal in Paris goes wrong for a

embrace the hell

shady CIA spy, Victor Prendergast; he

out of it. The fact

needs to recover the merchandise he lost

PAUL GULACY:

that Shang Chi is still an active Marvel charac-

Shadow Racer: Go, promotional drawing:

ter is amazing. The association with

out he lost it. The catch is it’s being sold

Bruce Lee and the Kung Fu craze for me

at an illegal car race in Venezuela, but

International espionage

is soothing nostalgia. I wouldn’t trade it

he can’t get an invite without a car

colliding with high-

for the world. In fact, through Shang Chi,

and driver. So, the CIA agent goes

octane car racing.

I met all kinds of people

about in his sneaky manner

from all over the world.

recruiting adrenaline junkie

before it’s used for evil and the CIA finds

Gail Otto, a down-and-out KRONENBERG: What do you

trailer park loser who never

think of Daniel Craig as the

won anything. The race is on

new James Bond?

after that.

GULACY: I like the movie

PAUL GULACY

poster. Craig’s a really good

KRONENBERG: It’s been

actor, but as Bond I’m not

a long time since you

Sabre, promotional

convinced. For the fans of the

drawing.

novels, his appearance alone

independent project, since

is a huge departure from

Sabre, correct? Why this project

Fleming’s description. He had

and why now?

worked on an

a distinct look. The trailer

GULACY: Why not? Isn’t the

looks like any action thriller

whole planet trying to do this now? It

we’ve all seen before. In my

makes sense as a logical step at this

opinion, Miami Vice looks

point in my career. SCI Spy is also a

even more Bondish. We’ll

creator-owned property that’s been

have to see.

floating around out there for the past three years. I’ve learned that it does

KRONENBERG: You have

take hard work to make these things hap-

a new independent project

pen, but enormous luck is a big part of it.

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

time—the old adage: exercise, eat right and get rest. I always tell young aspiring artists to try to draw

PAUL GULACY

something every day, just a little sketch of some

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #39, cover

kind. Check out of art galleries and museums.

Gulacy’s unpublished

Open your mind up. Keep an organized reference

version of the cover

file. If you need a picture of an Iguana… bingo, it’s

(left), and the final

right there in your files.

version (below).

Hold onto your passion. Creative art is not an easy

row to hoe and like you said, it can be really tough. But

Acclaim.

a wise man once said, “Those looking for a life with no

Art courtesy of Roger Clark

problems are looking for a trip to the cemetery.”

So, you give it a shot. Whatever. The window of opportunity won’t open by itself. KRONENBERG: The comic book industry can be tough; how have you been able to survive and thrive for so long, while still having an excitement for the medium? GULACY: I never get tired of it. It’s what I do. It’s my outlet for self-expression. Marlon Brando once said in an interview, “Never give 100 percent, and hold back some reserve.” You can’t come in with the big guns every time. You pace it. I believe you have to work your craft, but it’s also good to walk away from it as well. Take some down OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

A S PECIAL MEMENTO By Ray Wong

andering the floor on the second

truly exquisite renderings of Natasha Romanoff. Gulacy

day of the 2005 Comic-Con

brought the Black Widow to life in that portfolio, infusing a

International in San Diego, I

dark and sensual vulnerability into the character that captured

stopped at a booth to watch an

a sense of intrigue, passion, and danger.

artist in action. The man, slight-

Over the years, I sold all of my original art, including

statured and sporting an earring, used a fine-tipped

the Black Widow plate, and abandoned the world of

drawing pencil to shade the bare, upper torso of Shang

comic books altogether. I only came to the comic conven-

Chi, the Master Of Kung Fu (MOKF), and I stood and

tion to pick up a few toys for my four-year-old son, but

observed in quiet fascination. I had been a huge MOKF

seeing Gulacy in person triggered a wave of nostalgia. It

fan in the ’70s and ’80s and especially admired the

brought to mind a simpler time in my life before the

intricate detail of Paul Gulacy’s artwork in the comic.

responsibilities of wife, children, career, and monthly utility

Though I had collected comics and original art in the

bills—a time when reading a new issue of Walt

early ’80s, I had never met Paul Gulacy, and I didn’t know

Simonson’s Thor or purchasing an original page from

the man transforming a piece of paper into a work of art

Paul Gulacy’s MOKF meant the world to me.

in front of my eyes. I could only gape when a fan lugging

To serve as a memento of a more innocent time in my life,

a black portfolio came up and greeted the artist by name.

I commissioned Gulacy for a sketch of the Black Widow. He

The fan and Gulacy proceeded into a dialogue about

told me it would be ready by Sunday afternoon, the last day

MOKF and the conversation eventually veered into a discus-

of the convention. Though I hadn’t planned on attending that

sion of the artist’s depiction of female characters. To me,

day, I said I would come pick it up from him.

nobody drew women like Paul Gulacy. In my collecting days, one of my most prized possessions was an original plate from Gulacy’s Black Widow portfolio. Never had I seen such

When I returned late Sunday, Gulacy took one look at me and immediately broke into profuse apologies for not having my art ready. He must’ve seen the disappointment on my face because he offered to do the piece after the convention and mail it to me. He wrote his e-mail address on a card and asked me to send him my address. I did so the next day, and two weeks later, a UPS package arrived at my door. My heart ran a two-minute mile inside my chest as I tore open the package. When I saw the pen and ink drawing of the Black Widow, I probably jumped higher than Shang Chi executing a flying roundhouse kick. I couldn’t have been more pleased. I held in my hands a piece of art that I wouldn’t have traded for a John Byrne X-Men cover. No, not because of its monetary value, but because of what it represented—a personal rendering of an awe-inspiring character done especially for me by one of my all-time favorite artists.

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

Thanks, Paul, from the bottom of my heart. Ray Wong is a freelance writer who has contributed to BACK ISSUE magazine, and his opinion editorials have appeared in the San Diego Union and the LA Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at raywongwriter@juno.com.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

PRE-PRO

ave you ever wondered how your favorite pro’s art looked back before he turned pro—back when he was just sitting at home dreaming about becoming a comic book artist? How would his early efforts compare with yours? Well, each issue we’re going to show you some examples of just that! The following art was contributed by some of our featured artists. It was done by them before they started working in comics professionally—but it’s easy to see they’d soon be ready for the big time!

BRIAN APTHORP: Okay, here’s a page I did as a portfolio piece, long before my first published comics work in 1990. I took it and a package of other pages to the 1983 San Diego Con— the first I ever attended, I believe—and showed them to actual editors at Marvel and DC. I believe it was Larry Hama who told me, “When you get your speed up to 3 pages a day, call me,” or something to that effect. I walked away knowing I’d never be making that call; and I still haven’t, I’m afraid! My wife Lori read a current issue of the F.F. and wrote down the plot, so I had a “script” to work from of a professional story which I had not yet read. The F.F. was my sentimental favorite of all the titles I used to read as a pure fan. This is the least embarrassing of the pages that were in that package, actually. Characters TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc..

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MATT WAGNER: Cartoon: A humorous single-panel gag done before I’d decided that the Sequential Arts was the avenue for me. This is dated ‘82, which makes it just prior to my fist published work. The caption read: “CHECK IT OUT! LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE WEARING A G*DDAMN UNIFORM!”

MATT WAGNER: Hercules Holding the Sky for Atlas: Done in college, again before I knew what my future would hold. I thought I might end up as a more traditional “illustrator.” I’d say this is 1980 or ’81. OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

Y A W D R O Y R R JE

ing. He can do everyth Jerry Ordway d ks, he paints, an in e h s, aw dr e writes, h l. With all prolif ic as wel ly ib ed cr in s e’ h ould be think his ego w ’d u yo t, n le ta incredibly that t he’s actually bu , om ro a to in Superman too large to fit e’s my favorite H y. gu e ic n very CTION humble, and a e to work on A m r fo or on h as an title. artist, and it w g the Superman in do as w e h COMICS while

JERRY ORDWAY: All-Star Squadron #23, pg. 23 This page of rough layouts is pretty finished, and as I recall in this period, I didn’t have the luxury of reducing them on a photocopier. I was able to reposition elements, but could have used more dead space for balloons on the finished page. I often inked the layout in marker, and tried to work out details as best I could to make the tracing go faster. Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky Characters TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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JERRY ORDWAY

Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

JERRY ORDWAY: All-Star Squadron #23, pg. 3 Here, I was clearly more rushed, and left more work to the light-boxing stage. Again, I wish I could have reduced the layout by 25 percent, so I could have drawn more of the Liberty Belle backshot in panel 3. I never was able to stay within the page size when working on tracing paper, as it was larger than the 10" x 15" size of the final art board, and I invariably drew beyond the borders. Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky Characters TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

JERRY ORDWAY: All-Star Squadron #25, pg. 23: This is the layout for one of my favorite penciled pages for All Star Squadron, and a rare case of a page that I like that was almost too easy to draw. It happens once in a while, but not often. In the printed book, much of the background in panel one was covered in balloons, but that’s the nature of the beast. I also recall that I added a barber in the doorway of the barber shop, for drama. The name of “Koula” belonged to a great childhood friend of mine, and was later used as the brand name of Metropolis’ favorite beer, as my friend Dave Koula was a beer can collector! Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

JERRY ORDWAY: Infinity Inc. #2, pg. 18 With this layout for Infinity Inc, the final board size was closer to 12" x 18", and my layout sheets weren’t much larger, so I couldn’t draw too far beyond the page dimensions. Talking shots were pretty much the norm for this book, and it was always challenging to stage them in a fresh way page after page. Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky Characters TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

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JERRY ORDWAY JERRY ORDWAY: Infinity Inc. #2, page 21 This page layout is pretty well detailed,

but as you can see, they were not really drawn for publication. They are just a single stage in the drawing process. Art courtesy of Steve Lipsky

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

JERRY ORDWAY: Adventures of Superman #438, pg. 1 This was really an attempt to cram as much circus/carny stuff into the splash [as possible], while leaving space for titles and credits, I believe, over the figures in foreground shadow. Clark also is dating Cat Grant in the comic at the time, and this is a good example of inker John Beatty’s sister Jane as Cat. Characters TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

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JERRY ORDWAY: Adventures of Superman #438, pg. 4 I never was good, like some artists, at robbing space for the big action, to the detriment of the story. I also wasn’t good at building in many short cuts to make a page easier to draw. This one has a fair amount going on, but wasn’t worth devoting five panels to, as we had a bigger story to tell. I recall at the time not having much reference on circuses, and I had to combine the animal stuff from my drawing animals books and clipped photos, and some general details from a García-López issue of DC Comics Presents with Robin and Superman. He clearly had good reference! Superman TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

JERRY ORDWAY: All-Star Squadron This page was tough, as this and the next page really had the only action in the whole issue. Roy was really a groundbreaker with writing these clubhouse gatherings, which are so popular nowadays. How he fit in the dialogue is a marvel, as I don’t think I left much space. Characters TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

JERRY ORDWAY: All-Star Squadron This is from 1983, and Roy Thomas was the writer. These were drawn on DC’s full-bleed board, which had a drawing area of around 12" x 17", and I really liked the big space a lot. Notable here is the Golden Age Flash close-up, where I was already using a specific model from the Fairburn System photo pose books. I used the same model as recently as a week ago, to draw Jay Garrick in old age, keeping my depiction of him consistent for 23 years! It pays to be consistent! Characters TM &

JERRY ORDWAY

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

JERRY ORDWAY: Red Menace #1, pg. 2 This is the most current page. It was tough due to the reallife people, Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn, as well as the fact that it’s the title page; it's the only real shot of the character in costume for the whole issue, and is in an issue without a traditional splash page. So here, I had the confidence to steal space from the other panels in order to establish the hero in a decent and heroic shot. The writers are working full-script, which is very limiting visually, but are not heavy on dialogue, so I was able to shrink the panels after the big shot with no worries about the balloons fitting the

JERRY ORDWAY

smaller space.

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

ALEX TOTH

rtuToth, who unfo x le A ry da n ge The le ar, was earlier this ye ay aw ed ss pa y natel ow. His ery artist I kn admired by ev sition sign and compo de of se n se rt expe ult His art is diff ic d. le lle ra pa n u were se he preciate, becau ap just to s n fa e m for so his art down to d re pa e H g. n t of renderi ziness, didn’t use a lo e; not out of la or m g in h ot n sary and what was neces um effect. but for maxim

lex Toth was an artist’s artist. He was highly respected for the simplicity of his designs. Diagonal shapes make a drawing more interesting than verticals and horizontals, and he was a master at using diagonals. He also was expert at placing blacks to create well-balanced

designs. He had a uniquely playful style of visual storytelling that was always fun to see, but his forté was not superheroes. While his work could be very dynamic, he was more interested in black-and-white design and storytelling than in Kirbyesque superheroes. But even as he struggled with the long underwear guys, his brilliance shines through in these pages. He worked in animation as well as comic books, and we have a sampling of both. Alex Toth art comments by Bob McLeod

ALEX TOTH These were character designs of the Fantastic Four in costume for the 1960s animated TV show. Notice the use of heavy black shadowing on the Thing. Toth was known for his good use of blacks, but here I suspect he was also looking to avoid drawing all of those bothersome bricks. Fantastic Four TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ALEX TOTH Super Skrull model sheet for the animated FF show. Again, a strong use of blacks, unusual for animation. He managed a Kirbyesque feel, but still his own distinctive style came through. Super Skrull TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ALEX TOTH Galactus model sheet for the animated FF show. Nice streamlined design of his costume. I guess they needed him smaller for the show, because he’s more like 100' tall in the comics. Galactus TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ALEX TOTH Silver Surfer model sheet for the animated FF show. Toth had obviously never been surfing, from the looks of that board. It didn’t pick up in this scan, but I suspect he had colored in some grey tones where you see the dots. Silver Surfer TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ALEX TOTH This is a page from DC Comics Presents #84 (Aug. 1985). I’m not sure if the partial inking here is by Toth, or by Greg Theakston. Kirby originally drew a 17page story, and when DC expanded their page count to 24 per issue, Jack wasn’t available to add pages, so they pieced in a 7-page sequence from Alex to fill the page count (the Toth stuff was on pages 3-9 of the issue, with Kirby everywhere else). CHALLENGERS TM

ALEX TOTH

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

ALEX TOTH Superman Annual #9, pg. 10 Toth was always designing diagonals. The first panel’s shapes are mostly vertical, so he angled the caption! This is a great example of the degree of finish I feel the penciler’s job should entail. He’s left all of the rendering and details up to the inker. Superman and Batman TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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ALEX TOTH 66

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ALEX TOTH Superman Annual #9, pgs. 3-4 A cool double-page spread for a Superman comic. Notice he’s placing speech balloons and lettering sound effects, tasks usually done by the editor and letterer today. He shows Superman running through the wall, where most artists more used to drawing superheroes would have him flying through the wall. Toth was never known as a superhero artist because of things like this. The drawing is terrific, but you can tell he had more fun drawing the crooks than he did with Superman. Superman TM & ©2006 DC Comics

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ALEX TOTH Superman Annual #9, pg. 11 This is a nice example of Toth’s unique storytelling style. You can follow it very easily without a word of dialogue. And the girl on the middle tier couldn’t be more feminine if she were naked. What a pose! Superman TM &

ALEX TOTH

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ALEX TOTH

DC Comics

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ALEX TOTH Superman Annual #9, pg. 26 A nice action page. A beautifully drawn middle panel, but for the aspiring artists among you, never draw a figure shoved into the corner the way he did in that last panel! Superman and Batman TM &

ALEX TOTH

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ALEX TOTH Here’s a wonderful page of figure studies, showing Toth’s ability to invest an abundance of character with a minimum amount of linework.

ALEX TOTH

For more amazing Toth art, and a look at his life and career, don’t miss Alter Ego #63 (on sale this December) and Comic Book Artist #11 (still available from www.twomorrows. com).

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

MATT WAGNER

miliar I wasn’ t very fa y sa to y rr so I’m (so ’s art up to now er n ag W t at M with t I gained little time!), bu so s, st ti ar y man r him nt of respect fo ou very am s u do en a trem is feature. He’s th r fo t ar is h g examples of interesting while gatherin und was more fo I g in aw dr y er ic color work, versatile, and ev for his fantast n ow kn s e’ H . fore e curtain. than the one be peek behind th g in at in sc fa a art is but his pencil

MATT WAGNER: This was done several years ago for a collector I met at a con in Ohio. He had several “themed” sketchbooks going and when he mentioned his Elric gallery, I perked right up. I’d long been a fan of Michael Moorcock’s most famous incarnation of his “Eternal Champion” cycle of novels and had even recently turned my son on to the books as well. In fact, I had even done a huge painting of Elric back in my high school days, which a college friend later bought from me, making it one of, if not the, first professional piece I ever produced! My take on this piece was to counteract many of the other interpretations I saw in this collection—most of which were fairly bombastic, depicting Elric in ornate, fantasy armor or enshrouded in a swirl of eldritch energies and spells. Much of the Elric novels begin with Elric traveling incognito in his journeys through the “Young Kingdoms.” As a not-quitehuman albino Melnibonean, he really stands out in a crowd, and so often has to travel enshrouded in a cloak. I’ve also often been disappointed with how many people portray Elric’s mystic sword, Stormbringer (which is as much the main character of these tales as Elric himself). Either the artist throws the sword in as an afterthought or they make the weapon so immense and unwieldy that its appearance is all but ludicrous. I drew the blade to look powerful and a bit too heavy for such a thin character to use, yet still be functional in a battle. Art courtesy of Rob Ledford ELRIC TM & ©2006 Michael Moorcock.

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MATT WAGNER: These two pieces were done as turnaround designs for the Grendel set of PVC figures released through Dark Horse. For those unfamiliar with the title or concept, Grendel is a multi-generational character that finds itself incarnated in a variety of different personas and time periods. As a result, I tried to have each of the six featured variations of the character express his or her persona through both its posture and also the smaller details. For instance, the first sketch shows the Brian Li Sung version of Grendel. Brian’s story is a short and tragic affair and, in one sense, he is one of the least successful Grendels—he’s not a very capable fighter and, in fact, isn’t at first even consciously aware that he’s being “possessed” by the Grendel force. Thus, his posture is almost too alert—twitchy, in fact. His oversize and out-of-place athletic shoes only serve to heighten his ineptitude. By contrast, the second sketch shows the Eppy Thatcher version of Grendel—a harlequinesque character who lives several centuries in the future and who serves the story as a frenetic wild-card that disrupts and, eventually, destroys the various power-players that drive the main narrative. As a result, Eppy is shown as a swirling ball of energy, spritely and active. The round discs on which his feet are perched are magnetic-field, levitation devices. Art courtesy of Michael Farineau GRENDEL TM & ©2006 Matt Wagner.

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MATT WAGNER: Grendel This is the original incarnation of the Grendel character, Hunter Rose, facing off to do battle with his arch-nemesis, Argent the Wolf. It’s funny, my son and I just watched Leon: The Professional last night and, similar to when I first saw it years ago, I was struck with its amazingly coincidental(?) similarities to the story of Hunter Rose: an unstoppable, ninja-like assassin (in the former, an idiotsavant, in the latter, a genius) who has an ever-deepening, neosexual relationship with a prepubescent girl and whose main opponent is a ragedriven “good guy” who is actually more of a beast than a man. This sketch was done when I had just begun to experiment with drawing on toned paper and then using both black ink and colored pencils to render the drawing—a technique I have since made a GRENDEL TM & ©2006 Matt Wagner.

MATT WAGNER

hallmark of my convention work. Art courtesy of Elizabeth Bouras

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MATT WAGNER: Sandman Mystery Theatre This was my rough sketch for the first SMT tpb. Seeing as how this was our hero’s fledgling adventure and in order to play off the title of the book itself, I wanted to depict the Sandman metaphorically walking “onstage.” Thus, he’s stepping out of the shadows, past the curtain of obscurity and into the narrative spotlight. This cover sketch was quickly approved. Art courtesy of Daniel Maull Sandman TM &

MATT WAGNER

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

MATT WAGNER: This was done just this year at the San Diego Comic Con as part of my continual contributions to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The CBLDF offers these “sketch cards” for sale at their booth. Fans buy a card from their favorite artists and then track down the artist to claim their sketch. This one came with a request for my version of Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, whose adventures I helped spin for over five years in the pages of Vertigo’s Sandman Mystery Theater. Art courtesy of Adam Richards Sandman TM & ©2006

MATT WAGNER

DC Comics

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

MATT WAGNER

DC Comics

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

MATT WAGNER: Batman Preliminary I spent about a yearand-a-half or so as the painted cover artist for the main Batman title. This was the cover rough done for Batman #634, the issue immediately following the intertitle crossover storyline, “War Games,” which was an effort to deconstruct Batman’s somewhat too developed infrastructure of helpers, sidekicks and assistants. The idea, beginning with this issue, was that Bats had reverted to more of an independent loner, operating unaided and outside the approval of the law. So, for this return to the basics, I decided we needed a classic Batman portrait—caught in the glare of a spotlight, using his cape to attempt to fade into the shadows. Art courtesy of James Clancey Batman TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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MATT WAGNER: Back in the ‘80s, before all the various publishers went through their “Company Crossover” mania, we had lined up a crossover adventure that starred both Batman and Grendel (more of a battle than a teamup, of course). At the time, this was the very first time DC had allowed one of the flagship characters to crossover with an independently owned and published property—an honor I really took to heart and tried to live up to. There were a myriad of logistic nightmares associated with this book and it has since become somewhat legendary as one of the most f****d-up publication events in comics history. This piece was a rough for a painted cover that appeared on an “ashcan” edition of the book that was featured as an accompanying give-away by the now-defunct Hero Illustrated. Art courtesy of John Cogan Batman TM & ©2006 DC Comics. GRENDEL TM &

MATT WAGNER

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MATT WAGNER: Batman/Grendel #1, pg. 14 This was a page from the first issue of the Batman/Grendel crossover and it features Batman’s first, highly dramatic, appearance in the story. Unfortunately, I didn’t like my initial penciled version and ultimately redid the upper half of this page and simply pasted it over the version seen here. My main complaint was that Batman didn’t appear heroic enough and appeared to be trying way too hard to scare the bad guys. My feeling was that his very appearance and persona should do that without much deliberate effort on his part—I mean, that’s what the costume’s for, after all. In the printed version, he appears to be simply turning his unwelcome attention towards the roughnecks he has yet to subdue. His cape is swirling of its own accord and he’s not so much saying Batman TM & ©2006 DC Comics. GRENDEL TM & ©2006 Matt Wagner.

MATT WAGNER

“BOO” as “YOU’RE NEXT!” Art courtesy of Daniel Maull

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MATT WAGNER: Portland Monthly illustration This was the rough done for an illustration featured in our local Portland Monthly magazine. The article concerned the surprisingly high number of comic book creators that live here in the Great Northwest, specifically Portland, and focused mainly on the downtown collective of artists who operate under the banner of Mercury Studios. The magazine’s art director had contacted Dark Horse and asked them to refer someone who could do a painted illo at a breakneck pace. They contacted me and I had the piece done and to their offices in a day or two. The real irony here is that I’m not mentioned in the article at all. Not once! Art courtesy of Daniel Maull Superman TM & ©2006 DC Comics

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MATT WAGNER: Green Arrow When DC decided to revamp Green Arrow with Kevin Smith at the writer’s helm, it seemed only natural that I should end up as the cover artist. Kevin had long been an admirer of my stuff and the editor on the book was my former partner-in-crime and former brother-in-law, Bob Schreck. Whenever I’m dealing with a cover for an established character from a major publisher like this, I tend

logo. For the first issue cover, I submitted six different cover roughs and so had grouped two blanks per page, as seen here. This rough was for the sixth issue of the series where Green Arrow has an encounter with The Demon (another character with which I’d had some history) and Kevin already had the idea for the cover image: Etrigan seemingly unfazed by the fact that he’s been peppered full of green arrows, which stick out all over his body like a porcupine. As a goof, I threw in the Steve-Martin-inspired cartoon image on the left. Take a guess as to which one DC chose for publication... Art courtesy of Nick Ford GREEN ARROW, DEMON TM & ©2006 DC Comics

MATT WAGNER

to dummy a batch of cover “blanks” to work from. These are just Xerox copies that feature the title graphics and the company “bullet”

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ROUGH CRITIQUE By Bob McLeod f you’re serious about improving your penciling, send us a sample page and I’ll publish and critique one page per issue sent in by our readers. Many begin-

ners struggle with the same problems, and I think it’s helpful to see a critique of another artist’s work. This issue’s sample page was sent in by one of my former correspondence students, Gibson Quarter.

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Gibson, you’ve made a lot of progress since the lesson I gave you a couple years ago. This is a professional level page in many respects, but most pages can still be improved upon a bit. There are many things you’re doing well, but I see a few things you could do to make this a better page, and improve your work in general. I’ll start with what I like about the page. Your composition is very well balanced for the most part. You’re using a lot of diagonals, and your blacks are balanced over the page as a whole. You’ve got a good mix of large shapes and small shapes, long shots, medium shots, and close-ups. You’re varying the camera angles well, creating a page with a lot of visual interest. Your figure drawing, while somewhat weak, is good enough, and your characters are interesting and fun to watch. You’ve got a good amount of backgrounds, giving a good sense of place to the action. But I’m assuming you know all of this. Now let me point out some things you’re probably not so aware of. While your composition is good, as I said, I think it could be better. In panel one, the head, hand, and camel are all isolated elements. It would be better to unify those elements as I have done. A shadow on the ground helps connect the hand to the figure, and by tilting the knife the opposite way, it connects the camel to the other elements. Overlapping the blade on top of the camel adds needed depth. Your blade looks as if it could be lying on the ground next to the camel. I also enlarged the guy’s head a bit, to eliminate his left shoulder, which doesn’t need to be in the panel. This also gets the edge of his head away from the panel border. Part of good composition is focusing exclusively on what needs to be in the panel, and cropping off or leaving out everything else. In panel three, I think it was a poor decision to make the flag protrude out of the panel. Things like this are too cutesy for the rest of your style, and there’s really no point to it. The flag can easily be made to fit in the panel by lowering the whole building. This also gets the Washington monument away from the panel border (it’s never good composition to have the edges of objects touching, or almost touching, the panel border). I added the shadows in this panel for depth. Your background is totally flat. In panel four, the guy’s face is what’s important. So why do we need to see his shoulder? Why not zoom in on that face? Close-ups and long shots usually look more

dramatic when you make them as close or long as possible. It makes them obviously different from medium shots and makes for a more visually interesting page. In panel five, your camel is unfortunately placed right below the head in panel four, creating an oddly connected shape. By flopping panel five, the large shape of the camel now nicely balances the head in panel four. Silhouetting the distant figures adds suspense as well as a balancing black for the shadows, which I feel you need for depth. Silhouettes are also quick and easy to draw. Finally, it’s not good to draw forms parallel to the panel border, such as the camel’s legs here. Remember to go for diagonals as often as possible. As I said, your figures are good enough. But I think you could benefit from a little more study of figure drawing (couldn’t we all!). Your hands especially could use some help. I’ve drawn some hands in similar positions for you to study. Your hand in panel one is a bit too small. The hands in panel two are all poorly drawn. With the blonde guy’s left hand, remember that the wrist is attached to the palm, and the thumb sticks out off to the side. You’ve drawn the wrist attaching to the thumb, with the little finger sticking down below. His right hand has an odd lump where the back of the hand meets the wrist. The other guy’s left hand is in an awkward pose, and his thumb looks twisted. The hand in the last panel is a bit too big (look at the distance from the base of the palm to that top finger). The nose in panel four is poorly done. As the head turns, the tip of the nose should begin to obscure the nostril on the far side. I’m certainly no expert on animal anatomy, but the eyes on your animals look misplaced to me. Notice the subtle changes I made in the animal’s eyes in panel five. And the camel’s ear should be further back on his skull. Your storytelling is unclear, with none of the panels seeming to connect to the next, but I can see where that could just be the result of this particular page of the script, which evidently has a flashback or something going on. So overall, you have an acceptable page that needs some tweaking to make it a real solid page. Thanks for sharing it.

Readers who want to submit a page for a critique in a future issue should e-mail a full-size 300dpi scan to me at mcleod.bob@gmail.com or mail a photocopy to: Rough Stuff Critique P.O. Box 63 Emmaus, PA 18049

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

ROUGH TALK I thought Rough Stuff #1 was just fantastic. Great job. The issue is really rich, has tons of valuable material, and I feel like I’m going to get a lot of “re-reading” value out of it. As a young sequential artist this is exactly what I want to read. I really want to commend you for not going too far. I love the fact that it’s just page after page of pencils with only a few sentences by the creator explaining the thought process. Over-analysis would just be baggage. Rather, a reader walks away from this book having to answer a lot of questions for themselves—looking at the pencils and discovering questions and answers within. Thanks. Can’t wait for more. I wish the mag was monthly. Artists I’d like to see featured: Much much more Arthur Adams, Mike Mignola, P.C. Russell, Mike Golden, Paul Smith, Frank Quietly, Simon Bisley, all three Kuberts. Michael Lagocki Editor’s note: P. Craig Russell will be featured in our next issue! Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the first issue of Rough Stuff (local stores just got it in today). I expected just pages of art, so was very pleased to see the piece about overly finished pencils and the interview. Looking forward to more of the same in future issues. Brian Sagar Just finished my copy of Rough Stuff. Congratulations!! It’s a damn good magazine. Looking at those pencils just makes my mouth water. Can’t wait for further issues—you’re on a winner there; a perfect complement magazine to both Back Issue and Alter Ego and a magazine that people have been crying out for without fully knowing what they want. Daniel Best Just wanted to drop a line and congratulate you on your Rough Stuff mag! Great idea—it’s a real blast to see all those pencil roughs and the thought processes involved. I think you’re 100% right on the feature about tight pencils being a problem, but I’m not sure I’d know what to do about it. I think you pointed out the exact problems, right down to how long it takes the penciler to finish a complete work nowadays— eating into the time allotted per month for completion of the whole book. Congrats on a great mag. Scott Koblish I bought your magazine today and it’s a great concept. I’ve always loved roughs, especially since it’s where the artist puts their first slices of originality to paper. Artist comments, comparisons between roughs and final versions and other analysis should be fresh and exciting. If AE, CBM, Draw!, etc are an indication of interest in the genre in general, then Rough Stuff should be around for quite some time! Jeff Jatras Wow, Mr. McLeod. I just wanted to tell you that I love Rough Stuff magazine. It was great to see the original breakdowns before the finishes. You made a fan out of me. I already have it on my pull list. Thank you for putting together this wonderful magazine. Frank 86

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I got the first issue of Rough Stuff and it was fantastic. Enjoyed the Kevin Nowlan interview and seeing pencil pages by those artists. Nice to see the Byrne, Pérez and Simonson stuff in particular. Interesting article about the changing role of the inker. The Sienkiewicz page was surprising to me that that page would be deemed too rough by today’s standards; looked like all the info was there. The critique section alone was worth the price of the mag to me. I got a critique from you at the Megacon on some pencils/ layouts and it was really valuable to me. Looking forward to more issues of the mag, Greg Great job. Great magazine. I picked up a copy in San Diego. I enjoyed it, and definitely plan to pick up future issues. My only complaint for the first issue is that all of the artists profiled (ALAN DAVIS, GEORGE PEREZ, BRUCE TIMM, KEVIN NOWLAN, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, ARTHUR ADAMS, JOHN BYRNE, and WALTER SIMONSON) are also the subjects of the TwoMorrows Modern Masters book series, which ended up making the issue feel a bit like a “Modern Masters” sampler (especially considering the promotion for each artist’s book at the end of the interviews). ‘Course, I know this will not be the case for future issues (since only MIKE WIERINGO is left), and, from the synopsis on the TwoMorrows website, #2 looks like it’ll be pretty darn good. Looking forward to it. Bryan Galatis Firstly well done to you and all the team at TwoMorrows, another excellent work! I felt I needed to comment and let you know I really enjoyed the magazine. The one major criticism is easily rectified, I’m sure. Please put full credits for any pieces so I know which comic you are referencing. Page 17 Alcala piece; p. 18, Red Sonja, some of the superb Alan Davis’ roughs, etc etc. Why am I emphasizing this? Because as a middle-aged man (Who am I kidding? The half century approaches!), I don’t read much that’s produced in the last 10-20 years, but some of these look so interesting—especially the Davis and Adams. Why, someone less capable than me might try searching for the Jonni Future comic (see p.39) and be disappointed! Another example brings up an interesting point. The Pérez piece has mention of Solus. I may be the only guy in the universe not to have heard of it, but it would be good to have a few words telling us “the CrossGen Solus series ran from X-Y.” It may seem obvious but I would think that taking an artist’s comment by itself may not be enough, but may need some explanation. The Kevin Nowlan interview was really interesting, but I’m sure there’s more people than just myself who feel they are capable of reading two pages of text next to each other, and not have to find which picture the next paragraph is wrapped around! I know it’s delicate balance between white space and page counts! Loved the “Rough Critique” section and feel sure Will Eisner would have encouraged you to do it again! Very good way of being constructive and also educating us passive participants in comics. Your version alongside Grachow’s was fantastic because I could see exactly what you were saying. And I’m certain that you are far kinder than some other artists would have

been. I am really looking forward to the next issue and promise to take your subtle hint and buy all the TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters series—see I noticed! Norman Boyd Thanks very much for taking the trouble to write such detailed comments, Norman. I will make an effort to make more exact references for the images. The big problem there is that I usually don’t know, and it’s very difficult to get information from the artists because everyone is so busy. But I will try. The Alcala piece is from The Savage Sword of Conan #20, 1977. Alcala inked a number of issues, amazing everyone with the sheer amount of work he put into every page, and I speak from experience (having inked several issues of Conan over Buscema’s breakdowns myself— #119-126) when I tell you that Buscema mostly just pointed the inker in the right direction, and how the inker got there was up to him. The Red Sonja piece was from Savage Sword of Conan #1. Neal did some magnificent inking on that job, but got behind on the deadline due to his commercial jobs taking priority, and Marvel took the pages away from him and got Ernie Chan to finish the job. The Sienkiewicz page referenced was from Hulk #14, the full color magazine from ’79, not the comic book. A lot of the information you seek can readily be found on the web. In less than a minute, Googleing “CrossGen Solus” gave me the Wikipedia entry that has this: “Solus was an American comic book published by CrossGen Entertainment from April 2003 to December 2003. It ran for 8 issues until it was cancelled when Crossgen went bankrupt in 2004. Solus was a latecomer to the Crossgen line-up but was a pivotal title within the overall Sigilverse history.” As for the Nowlan interview images breaking up the text, I think our designer, Michael Kronenberg, did a masterful job arranging the pages with plenty of eye candy to enjoy while reading the interview, and we’re very lucky to have him. It’s not a matter of how much text the reader is able to handle, it’s that we’re primarily a magazine about images. I hope to bring you many interesting articles and interviews in these pages, but if you’re looking for page after page of dense text, you’ve come to the wrong place. I’m an artist, and to me comics have always been first and foremost about the art. It’s the combination of writing and art that makes it all so great, but if writing ever takes precedence over art in this mag, it won’t be any of my doing. That said, thank you for your letter and I’m very glad you enjoyed the issue and cared enough to offer all those helpful opinions. I hear you, and I’ll do my best to keep you coming back. —B.Mc.

trove of rare art! The succinct notes from Davis, Timm, etc. leave lots of breathing room for the glorious pencil images. To put the icing on the cake, your article, “Tight Pencils: The Answer or the Problem?” is the best summation ever of how the penciler and inker roles have evolved over the past quarter-century. Gah! Now I have to wait a few months for #2! Drew Geraci www.drewgeraci.com I just wanted to drop you a line of congratulations regarding Rough Stuff magazine! It’s a great idea to do a magazine featuring rough and preliminary artwork. To be honest, that’s the artwork I’m most interested in seeing because I enjoy the insight rough art has to offer! I really dig the magazine, and thought the first issue was a blast! I love the TwoMorrows mags because they focus on the comics, artists and writers that I tend to care about. My favorite artist was always John Buscema, so I’d love to see an issue with a focus on his rough artwork! John was one of the greats, and his work inspired me more than any other artists in comics. I know I’d buy such an issue in a heartbeat! I’d also enjoy seeing guys like Berni Wrightson, Mike Mignola, and more Walt Simonson! Any chance to see you penciling a step-by-step sort of thing in there? I know the emphasis is on rough art, but it might be good to see a feature on preparing “finished pencils.” It might prove helpful—just a thought. Loston Wallace http://www.lostonwallace.com SEND YOUR ROUGH COMMENTS TO:

e-mail: mcleod.bob@gmail.com (subject: Rough Stuff) or snail mail: Bob McLeod, Editor- Rough Stuff, P.O. Box 63 Emmaus, PA 18049

$200,000 PAID FOR ORIGINAL COMIC ART!

Hi, I just wanted to write and say how wonderful I think issue #1 of Rough Stuff magazine is. This mag blew me away. The rare artwork and artist insight was a dream come true for a comic art fanatic like myself. May I put a wish list out there in hopes that you might consider doing Rough Stuff features, or any feature in any of your mags for that matter, for these artists: Joe Madureira, Mike Mignola, Mike Wieringo, Travis Charest, Cary Nord, Ed McGuinness, Bill Sienkiewicz, Andrew Robinson, Stuart Immonen, Dave Finch, Jim Lee, Greg Capullo, Ashley Wood, more of the big time current masters! Just a hopeful wish list. There’re a lot of awesomely talented artists out there that you guys need to do some features on, cause you’re the best at it! Thanks for your wonderful publications, Tom Travers

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I’m glad to see you in the spotlight again! The bravura work that inkers such as you, Janson, Austin, Layton and Rubinstein have done over the years really educated me on the inking process during my own clumsy shuffle to funny book fame (sans fortune). I keep rereading the first issue and I’m still salivating over the treasure

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OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

THE TWOMORROWS LIBRARY R! WINNE D R A AW EISNER

THE KRYPTON COMPANION

JUSTICE LEAGUE COMPANION VOL. 1

Unlocks the secrets of Superman’s Silver and Bronze Ages, when kryptonite came in multiple colors and super-pets flew the skies! Features all-new interviews with NEAL ADAMS, MURPHY ANDERSON, NICK CARDY, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KEITH GIFFEN, JIM MOONEY, DENNIS O’NEIL, BOB OKSNER, MARTY PASKO, BOB ROZAKIS, JIM SHOOTER, LEN WEIN, MARV WOLFMAN, and others, plus tons of rare and unseen art! By BACK ISSUE MAGAZINE’S Michael Eury!

A comprehensive examination of the Silver Age JLA by MICHAEL EURY, tracing its development, history, and more through interviews with the series’ creators, an issue-by-issue index of the JLA’s 19601972 adventures, classic and never-beforepublished artwork, and other fascinating features. Contributors include DENNY O’NEIL, MURPHY ANDERSON, JOE GIELLA, MIKE FRIEDRICH, NEAL ADAMS, ALEX ROSS, CARMINE INFANTINO, NICK CARDY, and many, many others. Plus: An exclusive interview with STAN LEE, who answers the question, “Did the JLA really inspire the creation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four?” With an all-new cover by BRUCE TIMM (TV’s Justice League Unlimited)!

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THE LEGION COMPANION

(156-page trade paperback) $22 US

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Compiles material from issues #3 and #4 of DRAW!, including tutorials by, and interviews with, ERIK LARSEN (savage penciling), DICK GIORDANO (inking techniques), BRET BLEVINS (drawing the figure in action, and figure composition), KEVIN NOWLAN (penciling and inking), MIKE MANLEY (how-to demo on Web Comics), DAVE COOPER (digital coloring tutorial), and more! Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN!

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(224-page trade paperback) $29 US

A comprehensive history of the NEW TEEN TITANS, with interviews and rare art by MARV WOLFMAN, GEORGE PÉREZ, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, LEN WEIN, & others, a Silver Age section with NEAL ADAMS, NICK CARDY, DICK GIORDANO, & more, plus CHRIS CLAREMONT and WALTER SIMONSON on the X-MEN/ TEEN TITANS crossover, TOM GRUMMETT, PHIL JIMENEZ & TERRY DODSON on their ‘90s Titans work, a new cover by JIMENEZ, & intro by GEOFF JOHNS! Written by GLEN CADIGAN.

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1 BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 2 Compiles material from the first two soldout issues of DRAW!, the “How-To” magazine on comics and cartooning! Tutorials by, and interviews with: DAVE GIBBONS (layout and drawing on the computer), BRET BLEVINS (drawing lovely women, painting from life, and creating figures that “feel”), JERRY ORDWAY (detailing his working methods), KLAUS JANSON and RICARDO VILLAGRAN (inking techniques), GENNDY TARTA-KOVSKY (on animation and Samurai Jack), STEVE CONLEY (creating web comics and cartoons), PHIL HESTER and ANDE PARKS (penciling and inking), and more!

Collects the best material from the hardto-find LEGION OUTPOST fanzine, including rare interviews and articles from creators such as DAVE COCKRUM, CARY BATES, and JIM SHOOTER, plus neverbefore-seen artwork by COCKRUM, MIKE GRELL, JIMMY JANES and others! It also features a previously unpublished interview with KEITH GIFFEN originally intended for the never-published LEGION OUTPOST #11, plus other new material! And it sports a rarely-seen classic 1970s cover by Legion fan favorite artist DAVE COCKRUM! (160-page trade paperback) $22 US

ALL-STAR COMPANION VOL. 1 ROY THOMAS has assembled the most thorough look ever taken at All-Star Comics: • Covers by MURPHY ANDERSON! • Issue-by-issue coverage of ALL—STAR COMICS #1—57, the original JLA—JSA teamups, & the ‘70s ALL—STAR REVIVAL! • Art from an unpublished 1945 JSA story! • Looks at FOUR “LOST” ALL—STAR issues! • Rare art by BURNLEY, DILLIN, KIRBY, INFANTINO, KANE, KUBERT, ORDWAY, ROSS, WOOD and more!!

ALL- STAR COMPANION VOL. 2 ROY THOMAS’ new sequel, with more secrets of the JSA and ALL-STAR COMICS, from 1940 through the 1980s: • Wraparound CARLOS PACHECO cover! • More amazing information, speculation, and unseen ALL-STAR COMICS art! • Unpublished 1940s JSA STORY ART not printed in Volume One! • Full coverage of the 1980s ALL-STAR SQUADRON, with scarce & never-published art! (208-page Trade Paperback) $29 US

(208-page Trade Paperback) $26 US

(224-page Trade Paperback) $29 US

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS COMPANION

COMIC BOOK ARTIST COLLECTION, VOL. 3 Reprinting the Eisner Award-winning COMIC BOOK ARTIST #7 and #8 (‘70s Marvel and ‘80s independents), featuring a new MICHAEL T. GILBERT cover, plus interviews with GILBERT, RUDE, GULACY, GERBER, DON SIMPSON, CHAYKIN, SCOTT McCLOUD, BUCKLER, BYRNE, DENIS KITCHEN, plus a NEW SECTION featuring over 30 pages of previouslyEach lists PUBLISHED COMICS WORK in unseen stuff! Edited by JON B. COOKE. detail, plus ILLOS, UNPUBLISHED WORK, and more. Filled with rare and unseen art! (224-page trade paperback) $29 US (68/100 Pages) $8 US EACH

WALLY WOOD & JACK KIRBY CHECKLISTS

The definitive book on WALLACE WOOD’s super-team of the 1960s, featuring interviews with Woody and other creators involved in the T-Agents over the years, plus rare and unseen art, including a rare 28-page story drawn by PAUL GULACY, UNPUBLISHED STORIES by GULACY, PARIS CULLINS, and others, and a JERRY ORDWAY cover. Edited by CBA’s JON B. COOKE. (192-page trade paperback) $29 US

Prices include US Postage. Outside the US, ADD PER ITEM: Magazines & DVDs, $2 ($7 Airmail) • Softcover books, $3 ($10 Airmail) • Hardcover books, $6 ($15 Airmail)

COMICS ABOVE GROUND SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS

HERO GETS GIRL!

THE LIFE & ART OF KURT SCHAFFENBERGER MARK VOGER’s biography of the artist of LOIS LANE & CAPTAIN MARVEL! • Covers KURT’S LIFE AND CAREER from the 1940s to his passing in 2002! • Features NEVER-SEEN PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS from his files! • Includes recollections by ANDERSON, EISNER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, ALEX ROSS, MORT WALKER and others! (128-page Trade Paperback) $19 US

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: GENE COLAN The ultimate retrospective on COLAN, with rare drawings, photos, and art from his nearly 60-year career, plus a comprehensive overview of Gene’s glory days at Marvel Comics! MARV WOLFMAN, DON MCGREGOR and other writers share script samples and anecdotes of their Colan collaborations, while TOM PALMER, STEVE LEIALOHA and others show how they approached the daunting task of inking Colan’s famously nuanced penciled pages! Plus there’s a NEW PORTFOLIO of neverbefore-seen collaborations between Gene and such masters as JOHN BYRNE, MICHAEL KALUTA and GEORGE PÉREZ, and all-new artwork created specifically for this book by Gene! Available in Softcover and Deluxe Hardcover (limited to 1000 copies, with 16 extra black-and-white pages and 8 extra color pages)!

COMICS ABOVE GROUND features top 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 & more! Written by DURWIN TALON (author of the top-selling PANEL DISCUSSIONS), this book features creators sharing their perspectives and their work in comics and their “other professions,” with career overviews, neverbefore-seen art, and interviews! Featuring: • LOUISE SIMONSON • BRUCE TIMM • DAVE DORMAN • BERNIE WRIGHTSON • GREG RUCKA & MORE! • ADAM HUGHES (168-page Trade Paperback) $24 US

COMIC BOOKS & OTHER NECESSITIES OF LIFE WERTHAM WAS RIGHT! SUPERHEROES IN MY PANTS! Each collects MARK EVANIER’S best essays and commentaries, plus new essays and illustrations by SERGIO ARAGONÉS! (200-page Trade Paperbacks) $17 US EACH ALL THREE BOOKS: $34 US

THE DARK AGE Documents the ‘80s and ‘90s era of comics, from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and WATCHMEN to the “polybagged premium” craze, the DEATH OF SUPERMAN, renegade superheroes SPAWN, PITT, BLOODSHOT, CYBERFORCE, & more! Interviews with TODD McFARLANE, DAVE GIBBONS, JIM LEE, KEVIN SMITH, ALEX ROSS, MIKE MIGNOLA, ERIK LARSEN, J. O’BARR, DAVID LAPHAM, JOE QUESADA, MIKE ALLRED and others, plus a color section! Written by MARK VOGER, with photos by KATHY VOGLESONG. (168-page trade paperback) $24 US

(168-page softcover) $26 US (192-page trade hardcover) $49 US

AGAINST THE GRAIN: MAD ARTIST

DICK GIORDANO

WALLACE WOOD

CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME MICHAEL EURY’s biography of comics’ most prominent and affable personality! • Covers his career as illustrator, inker, and editor, peppered with DICK’S PERSONAL REFLECTIONS on his career milestones! • Lavishly illustrated with RARE AND NEVER SEEN comics, merchandising, and advertising art (includes a color section)! • Extensive index of his published work! • Comments & tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO & others! • With a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ! (176-pg. Paperback) $24 US

ALTER EGO COLLECTION, VOL. 1 Collects the first two issues of ALTER EGO, plus 30 pages of NEW MATERIAL! JLA Jam Cover by KUBERT, PÉREZ, GIORDANO, TUSKA, CARDY, FRADON, & GIELLA, new sections featuring scarce art by GIL KANE, WILL EISNER, CARMINE INFANTINO, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MURPHY ANDERSON, DICK DILLIN, & more!

ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

The definitive biographical memoir on Wood, 20 years in the making! Former associate BHOB STEWART traces Wood’s life and career, with contributions from many artists and writers who knew Wood personally, making this remarkable compendium of art, insights and critical commentary! From childhood drawings & early samples to nearly endless comics pages (many unpublished), this is the most stunning display of Wood art ever assembled! BILL PEARSON, executor of the Wood Estate, contributed rare drawings from Wood’s own files, while art collector ROGER HILL provides a wealth of obscure, previously unpublished Wood art.

A comprehensive look at Tuska’s personal and professional life, including early work with Eisner-Iger, crime comics of the 1950s, and his tenure with Marvel and DC Comics, as well as independent publishers. The book includes extensive coverage of his work on IRON MAN, X-MEN, HULK, JUSTICE LEAGUE, TEEN TITANS, BATMAN, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, and many more! A gallery of commission artwork and a thorough index of his work are included, plus original artwork, photos, sketches, previously unpublished art, interviews and anecdotes from his peers and fans, plus George’s own words!

(336-Page Trade Paperback) $44 US

(128-page trade paperback) $19 US

(192-page trade paperback) $26 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOL. 1-5 See what thousands of comics fans, professionals, and historians have discovered: The King lives on in the pages of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR! These colossal TRADE PAPERBACKS reprint the first 22 sold-out issues of the magazine for Kirby fans! • VOLUME 1: Reprints TJKC #1-9 (including the Fourth World and Fantastic Four theme issues), plus over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC! • (240 pages) $29 US • VOLUME 2: Reprints TJKC #10-12 (the Humor, Hollywood, and International theme issues), and includes a new special section detailing a fan’s private tour of the Kirbys’ remarkable home, showcasing more than 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC! • (160 pages) $22 US • VOLUME 3: Reprints TJKC #13-15 (the Horror, Thor, and Sci-Fi theme issues), plus 30 new pieces of Kirby art! • (176 pages) $24 US • VOLUME 4: Reprints TJKC #16-19 (the Tough Guys, DC, Marvel, and Art theme issues), plus more than 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC! • (240 pages) $29 US • VOLUME 5: Reprints TJKC #20-22 (the Women, Wacky, and Villains theme issues), plus more than 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC! • (224 pages) $29 US

TRUE BRIT

CELEBRATING GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS OF THE UK A celebration of the rich history of British Comics Artists and their influence on the US with in-depth interviews and art by: • BRIAN BOLLAND • ALAN DAVIS • DAVE GIBBONS • BRYAN HITCH • DAVID LLOYD

• DAVE MCKEAN • KEVIN O’NEILL • BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH and other gents!

(204-page Trade Paperback with COLOR SECTION) $26 US

HOW TO CREATE COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

REDESIGNED and EXPANDED version of the groundbreaking WRITE NOW! #8 / DRAW! #9 crossover! DANNY FINGEROTH & MIKE MANLEY show step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and roughs to pencils, inks, colors, lettering— it even guides you through printing and distribution, & the finished 8-page color comic is included, so you can see their end result! PLUS: over 30 pages of ALL-NEW material, including “full” and “Marvel-style” scripts, a critique of their new character and comic from an editor’s point of view, new tips on coloring, new expanded writing lessons, and more! (108-page trade paperback) $18 US (120-minute companion DVD) $35 US

SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE JACK KIRBY’S six-issue “Visual Novel” for Pacific Comics, reproduced from his powerful, uninked pencil art! Includes Kirby’s illustrated movie screenplay, never-seen sketches, pin-ups, & more from his final series! (160 pages) $24 US

CALL, WRITE, OR E-MAIL FOR A FREE COLOR CATALOG!

MODERN MASTERS SERIES Edited by ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON, these trade paperbacks are devoted to the BEST OF TODAY’S COMICS ARTISTS! Each volume 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!

VOL. 1: ALAN DAVIS (128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US

V.6: ARTHUR ADAMS

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $19 US

V.2: GEORGE PÉREZ

“TwoMorrows blesses us fans with a frank, honest interview with the man himself. And it doesn’t cut any corners... If you love Pérez’s work, you’ll definitely love this.” Comics International on MODERN MASTERS VOL. 2: GEORGE PÉREZ

V.5: GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $17 US

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

V.3: BRUCE TIMM

V.4: KEVIN NOWLAN (120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

V.7: JOHN BYRNE

V.8: WALTER SIMONSON

V.9: MIKE WIERINGO

V.10: KEVIN MAGUIRE

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $19 US

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH

(128-Page Trade Paperback) $19 US

IN FEB. 2007:

GEORGE PÉREZ

This DVD companion to the Modern Masters book series gives you a personal tour of George’s studio, and lets you 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! 120-MIN. STD. FORMAT DVD • $35 US Postpaid

VOL. 11: CHARLES VESS

(120-Page TPB with COLOR) $19 US

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOLS. 1-5 These TRADE PAPERBACKS reprint the first 22 sold-out issues of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR! Each volume includes OVER 30 EXTRA pieces of unpublished Kirby art!

The KIRBY COLLECTOR (edited by JOHN MORROW) celebrates the life & career of the “King” of comics through interviews with Kirby & his contemporaries, feature articles, & rare & unseen Kirby art. Now in tabloid format, with Kirby’s art at even larger size.

SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE EDITION (160 pgs.) Kirby’s sixissue “Visual Novel” for Pacific Comics is reproduced from his powerful, uninked pencil art! Includes Kirby’s illustrated movie screenplay, never-seen sketches, pin-ups, and more from his final great comics series! $24 US

VOLUME 2 (160-page Trade Paperback, reprinting #10-12) $22 US

VOLUME 3 (176-page Trade Paperback, reprinting #13-15) $24 US

VOLUME 4 (240-page Trade Paperback, reprinting #16-19) $29 US

NEW! VOLUME 5 (224-page Trade Paperback, reprinting #20-22) $29 US

VOLUME 1 (240-page Trade Paperback, reprinting #1-9) $29 US

CAPTAIN VICTORY: GRAPHITE EDITION (52 pgs.) Kirby’s 1975 Graphic Novel in original pencil form. Unseen art, screenplay, more! Proceeds go to preserving the 5000-page Kirby Archives! $9 US

KIRBY UNLEASHED: (60 pgs.) New, completely remastered and updated version of the scarce 1971 portfolio/biography, with 8 extra black-and-white and 8 extra color pages, including Jack’s color GODS posters, plus other art not seen in the 1971 version. $24 US

TJKC #23: (68 pgs.) Interviews with KIRBY, DENNY O’NEIL & TRACY KIRBY, more FF #49 pencils, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, unused 10-page SOUL LOVE story, more! $9 US

TJKC #24: (68 pgs.) BATTLES! KIRBY’S original art fight, JIM SHOOTER interview, NEW GODS #6 (“Glory Boat”) pencils, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, more! Kirby/ Mignola cover. $9 US

TJKC #25: (100 pgs.) SIMON & KIRBY! KIRBY, SIMON, & JOHN SEVERIN interviews, CAPTAIN AMERICA pencils, unused BOY EXPLORERS story, history of MAINLINE COMICS, more! $9 US

TJKC #26: (72 pgs.) GODS! COLOR NEW GODS concept drawings, KIRBY & WALTER SIMONSON interviews, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, BIBLE INFLUENCES, THOR, MR. MIRACLE, more! $9 US

TJKC #27: (72 pages) KIRBY INFLUENCE Part One! KIRBY and ALEX ROSS interviews, KIRBY FAMILY Roundtable, all-star lineup of pros discuss Kirby’s influence on them! Kirby / Timm cover. $9 US

TJKC #30: (68 pgs.) ‘80s WORK! Interviews with ALAN MOORE & Kirby Estate’s ROBERT KATZ, HUNGER DOGS, SUPER POWERS, SILVER STAR, ANIMATION work, more! $9 US

TJKC #31: (84 pgs.) TABLOID FORMAT! Wraparound KIRBY/ ADAMS cover, KURT BUSIEK & LADRONN interviews, new MARK EVANIER column, favorite 2-PAGE SPREADS, 2001 Treasury, more! $13 US

TJKC #32: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! KIRBY interview, new MARK EVANIER column, plus Kirby’s Least Known Work: DAYS OF THE MOB #2, THE HORDE, BLACK HOLE, SOUL LOVE, PRISONER, more! $13 US

TJKC #33: (84 pgs.) TABLOID ALL-FANTASTIC FOUR issue! MARK EVANIER column, miniinterviews with everyone who worked on FF after Kirby, STAN LEE interview, 40 pgs. of FF PENCILS, more! $13 US

TJKC #34: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! JOE SIMON & CARMINE INFANTINO interviews, MARK EVANIER column, unknown 1950s concepts, CAPTAIN AMERICA pencils, KIRBY/ TOTH cover, more! $13 US

TJKC #35: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! GREAT ESCAPES with MISTER MIRACLE, comparing KIRBY & HOUDINI, Kirby Tribute Panel with EVANIER, EISNER, BUSCEMA, ROMITA, ROYER, & JOHNNY CARSON! $13 US

TJKC #36: (84 pgs.) TABLOID ALL-THOR issue! MARK EVANIER column, SINNOTT & ROMITA JR. interviews, unseen KIRBY INTV., ART GALLERY, FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE, more! $13 US

TJKC #37: (84 pgs.) TABLOID HOW TO DRAW THE KIRBY WAY issue! MARK EVANIER column, MIKE ROYER on inking, KIRBY interview, ART GALLERY, analysis of Kirby’s art techniques, more! $13 US

TJKC #38: (84 pgs.) TABLOID KIRBY: STORYTELLER! MARK EVANIER column, JOE SINNOTT on inking, SWIPES, talks with JACK DAVIS, PAUL GULACY, HERNANDEZ BROS., ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #39: (84 pgs.) TABLOID FAN FAVORITES! EVANIER column, INHUMANS, HULK, SILVER SURFER, tribute panel with ROMITA, AYERS, LEVITZ, McFARLANE, TRIMPE, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #40: (84 pgs.) TABLOID “WORLD THAT’S COMING!” EVANIER column, KAMANDI, OMAC, tribute panel with CHABON, PINI, GOLDBERG, BUSCEMA, LIEBER, LEE, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #41: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! 1970s MARVEL, including Jack’s last year on FF, EVANIER column, GIORDANO interview, tribute panel with GIBBONS, RUDE, SIMONSON, RYAN, ART GALLERY, more! $13 US

TJKC #42: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! Spotlights Kirby at ‘70s DC Comics, from Jimmy Olsen to Spirit World! Huge Kirby pencil art gallery, covers inked by KEVIN NOWLAN & MURPHY ANDERSON! $13 US

TJKC #43: (84 pgs.) TABLOID! Kirby Award winners STEVE & GARY SHERMAN intv., 1966 KIRBY intv., Kirby pencils vs. Sinnott inks from TALES OF SUSPENSE #93, Kirby cover inked by SINNOTT! $13 US

TJKC #44: (84 pgs.) TABLOID MYTHS & LEGENDS issue! MARK EVANIER column, unseen KIRBY interview, ART GALLERY with DEMON, THOR, ATLAS, Kirby cover inked by MATT WAGNER! $13 US

TJKC #45: (84 pgs.) TABLOID TIME MACHINE! EVANIER column, intv. with son NEAL KIRBY, two complete ‘50s stories, PAST and FUTURE art galleries, Tribute Panel, 3-D KIRBY COVER! $13 US

SUBSCRIBE: 4 tabloid issues: $40 Standard, $56 First Class (Canada: $64, Elsewhere: $68 Surface, $84 Airmail).

WRITE NOW! (edited by DANNY FINGEROTH), the magazine for writers of comics, animation, & sci-fi, puts you in the minds of today’s top writers and editors. Each issue features WRITING TIPS from pros on both sides of the desk, INTERVIEWS, SAMPLE SCRIPTS, REVIEWS, exclusive NUTS & BOLTS tutorials, and more.

FOUR-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $24 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $48 Surface, $64 Airmail).

“For those who want to make writing their life, or are just interested in the process, WRITE NOW! is an invaluable resource.” Christos N. Gage, Deadshot writer

WRITE NOW! #11

WRITE NOW! #12

WRITE NOW! #13

STAN LEE, NEIL GAIMAN, MARK WAID, PETER DAVID, J.M. DeMATTEIS, TOM DeFALCO, DENNY O’NEIL, & 18 others reveal PROFESSIONAL WRITING SECRETS, plus DeFALCO & RON FRENZ on working together, JOHN OSTRANDER on creating characters, and an all-new SPIDER-GIRL cover by FRENZ and SAL BUSCEMA!

DC Comics president PAUL LEVITZ on the art, craft and business of comics writing, STEVE ENGLEHART on writing for today’s market, survey of TOP COMICS EDITORS on how to submit work to them, Marvel Editor ANDY SCHMIDT on how to break in, T. CAMPBELL on writing for webcomics, plus a new GEORGE PÉREZ cover!

X-MEN 3 screenwriter SIMON KINBERG interviewed, DENNIS O’NEIL on translating BATMAN BEGINS into a novel, Central Park Media’s STEPHEN PAKULA discusses manga writing, KURT BUSIEK on breaking into comics, MIKE FRIEDRICH on writers’ agents, script samples, new RON LIM/AL MILGROM cover, and more!

(80-page magazine) $9 US

BUNDLE THESE 5 ISSUES FOR THE PRICE OF 4: ONLY $36

WRITE NOW! #1

WRITE NOW! #2

WRITE NOW! #3

WRITE NOW! #4

WRITE NOW! #5

Get practical advice and tips on writing from top pros on BOTH SIDES of the desk! MARK BAGLEY cover & interview, BRIAN BENDIS & STAN LEE interviews, JOE QUESADA on what editors really want, TOM DeFALCO, J.M. DeMATTEIS, & more!

ERIK LARSEN cover and interview, writers STAN BERKOWITZ (JLA cartoon), TODD ALCOTT (“ANTZ”), LEE NORDLING (Platinum Studios), ANNE D. BERNSTEIN (MTV’s “Daria”), step-by-step on scripting Spider-Girl, 10 rules for writers, & more!

BRUCE JONES on writing The Hulk, AXEL ALONSO on state-of-the-art editing, DENNY O’NEIL offers tips for comics writers, KURT BUSIEK shows how he scripts, plus JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JOEY CAVALIERI, & more! New MIKE DEODATO cover!

HOWARD CHAYKIN on writing for comics & TV, PAUL DINI on animated writing, DENNY O’NEIL offers more tips for comics writers, KURT BUSIEK shows how he scripts, plus FABIAN NICIEZA, DeFALCO & FRENZ, & more! New CHAYKIN cover!

WILL EISNER discusses his comics writing, J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI on Hollywood writing, BOB SCHRECK details his work on Batman, DENNY O’NEIL’s notes from his writing classes, FABIAN NICIEZA, PAUL DINI, & more! CASTILLO/RAMOS cover!

(88-page magazine) $9 US

(96-page magazine) $9 US

(80-page magazine) $9 US

BUNDLE THESE 5 ISSUES FOR THE PRICE OF 4: ONLY $36

WRITE NOW! #6

WRITE NOW! #7

WRITE NOW! #8

WRITE NOW! #9

WRITE NOW! #10

BRIAN BENDIS and MICHAEL AVON OEMING in-depth on making an issue of Powers, MARK WAID on writing Fantastic Four, BOB SCHRECK’s interview continues from last issue, DIANA SCHUTZ, SCOTT M. ROSENBERG, & more! OEMING cover!

JEPH LOEB and CHUCK DIXON give indepth interviews (with plenty of rare and unseen art), JOHN JACKSON MILLER discusses writing, MARK WHEATLEY on his new Image series, & more NUTS & BOLTS how-to’s on writing! TIM SALE cover!

Part One of “how-to”crossover with DRAW! #9, as DANNY FINGEROTH and MIKE MANLEY create an all-new character as ideas are proposed and modified to get a character’s look & origins! Plus interviews with DON McGREGOR & STUART MOORE!

NEAL ADAMS discusses his own writing (with rare art and a NEW ADAMS COVER), GEOFF JOHNS discusses writing for comics, secrets of PITCHING COMICS IDEAS, MICHAEL OEMING and BATTON LASH on writing, plus NUTS & BOLTS how-to’s!

Interviews and lessons by Justice League Unlimited’s DWAYNE McDUFFIE, Hate’s PETER BAGGE, comics scripter/editor GERRY CONWAY, writer/editor PAUL BENJAMIN, plus more NUTS & BOLTS how-to’s on writing! JLU cover!

(80-page magazine) $9 US

(88-page magazine) $9 US

Prices include US Postage. Outside the US, ADD PER ITEM: Magazines & DVDs, $2 ($7 Airmail) • Softcover books, $3 ($10 Airmail) • Hardcover books, $6 ($15 Airmail)

BACK ISSUES DRAW! (edited by MIKE MANLEY) is the professional “HOW-TO” magazine on comics, cartooning, and animation. Each issue features indepth INTERVIEWS & 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. 2005 EISNER AWARD NOMINEE for Best Comics-Related Periodical.

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 1 BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 2

“This is a great look into the workings of the comic industry and quite worth picking up.” popimage.com on DRAW!

DRAW! #5

Compiles interviews and how-to’s from the first two sold-out issues of DRAW!, featuring DAVE GIBBONS, BRET BLEVINS, JERRY ORDWAY, KLAUS JANSON, RICARDO VILLAGRAN, GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY, STEVE CONLEY, PHIL HESTER and ANDE PARKS, and more! Cover by BRET BLEVINS!

Compiles interviews and how-to’s from DRAW! #3 and #4, featuring ERIK LARSEN (penciling), DICK GIORDANO (inking), BRET BLEVINS (figure composition), KEVIN NOWLAN (penciling and inking), MIKE MANLEY (Web Comics), DAVE COOPER (digital coloring), and more! Cover by KEVIN NOWLAN!

Interview, cover, 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 links, a color section and more!

(200-page trade paperback) $26 US

(156-page trade paperback) $22 US

(88-page magazine) $9 US

DRAW! #6

DRAW! #7

DRAW! #8

DRAW! #9

DRAW! #10

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

Interview, cover, and demo with DAN BRERETON, ZACH TRENHOLM on doing caricatures, “Drawing In Adobe Illustrator” step-by-step demo by ALBERTO RUIZ, “The Power of Sketching” by BRET BLEVINS, “Designing with light and shadow” by PAUL RIVOCHE, plus reviews of the best art supplies, links, a color section and more!

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!

Part Two of crossover with WRITE NOW #8! MIKE MANLEY & DANNY FINGEROTH create a comic from script to print (with final COLOR COMIC inserted!), BANCROFT & CORLEY on bringing characters to life, Adobe Illustrator tutorial by ALBERTO RUIZ, Noel Sickles’ work examined by BRET BLEVINS, PvP’s SCOTT KURTZ, art supply reviews, a color section and more!

RON GARNEY interview, step-by-step demo, & 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!

(96-page magazine) $9 US

(88-page magazine) $9 US

(104-page magazine) $9 US

DRAW! #11

DRAW! #12

DRAW! #13 (DEC.)

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, Pigtale’s OVI NEDELCU, behind-the-scenes on Adult Swim’s MINORITEAM, regular features on drawing by BRET BLEVINS, MIKE MANLEY, links, color section & more! HORLEY cover!

HOW TO CREATE COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

HOW TO DRAW COMICS FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT

REDESIGNED and EXPANDED version of the groundbreaking WRITE NOW! #8 / DRAW! #9 crossover, with over 30 pages of ALL-NEW material, including “full” and “Marvel-style” scripts, new tips on coloring, expanded writing lessons, and more!

See the editors of DRAW! and WRITE NOW! magazines create a new comic from script & roughs to pencils, inks, and colors —even lettering—before your eyes!

(112-page magazine) $9 US

(96-page magazine) $9 US

(108-page trade paperback) $18 US

TRADE PAPERBACK

DVD

(120-minute DVD) $35 US • Bundled with WRITE NOW! #8 & DRAW! #9: $42 US

FOUR-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS IN THE US: $24 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $48 Surface, $64 Airmail).

Prices include US Postage. Outside the US, ADD PER ITEM: Magazines & DVDs, $2 ($7 Airmail)

Edited by ROY THOMAS

The greatest ’zine of the ’60s is back, all-new, and focused on Golden & Silver Age comics and creators with articles, interviews, unseen art, plus FCA, Mr. Monster, and more!

AE #3: (100 pgs.) ALEX ROSS cover & interview, JERRY ORDWAY, BILL EVERETT, CARL BURGOS, Giant FAWCETT (FCA) section with C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, & more! $9 US

AE #4: (100 pgs.) 60 years of HAWKMAN & FLASH! ROY THOMAS remembers GIL KANE, intvs. with KUBERT, MOLDOFF, LAMPERT, FOX, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, KUBERT covers, more! $9 US

AE #5: (100 pgs.) JSA issue! Intvs. with SHELLY MAYER, GIL KANE, MART NODELL, GEORGE ROUSSOS, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, NEW INFANTINO / ORDWAY wraparound cover, more! $9 US

AE #6: (100 pgs.) GENE COLAN intv., how-to books by STAN LEE & KANIGHER, ALLSTAR SQUADRON, MAC RABOY section, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, COLAN & RABOY covers, more! $9 US

AE #7: (100 pgs.) Companion issue to the ALL-STAR COMPANION! J. SCHWARTZ intv., JLA-JSA teamups, MAC RABOY, FCA with BECK & SWAYZE, BUCKLER & BECK covers, more! $9 US

AE #8: (100 pgs.) Bio of WALLY WOOD, ADKINS & PEARSON intvs., KUBERT intv., FCA w/ BECK, SWAYZE, & ORDWAY, MR. MONSTER, WOOD & KUBERT covers, more! $9 US

AE #9: (100 pgs.) JOHN ROMITA intv. & gallery, plus ROY THOMAS’ dream projects! FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, & TUSKA, MR. MONSTER, ROMITA & DICK GIORDANO covers! $9 US

AE #10: (100 pgs) CARMINE INFANTINO intv. & art, neverseen FLASH story, VIN SULLIVAN & MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES, FRED GUARDINEER, AYERS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, more! $9 US

AE #11: (100 pgs) Interviews with SYD SHORES, MICKEY SPILLANE, VINCE FAGO, MAGAZINE ENTERPRISES Part Two, FCA with BECK, SWAYZE, DON NEWTON, MR. MONSTER, more! $9 US

AE #12: (100 pgs) GILL FOX on QUALITY COMICS, neverseen PAUL REINMAN Green Lantern art, origins of ALLSTAR SQUADRON, FCA, MR. MONSTER on WALLY WOOD, more! $9 US

AE #13 (100 pgs.) TITANS OF TIMELY/MARVEL Part Two! JOE SIMON & MURPHY ANDERSON covers, Silver Age AVENGERS section (with BUSCEMA, HECK, TUSKA, & THOMAS) & more! $9 US

AE #14 (100 pgs.) JSA FROM THE ’40s TO THE ’80s! MIKE NASSER & MICHAEL T. GILBERT covers, intvs. with ORDWAY & LEE ELIAS, neverseen 1940s JSA pgs., ’70s JSA, & more! $9 US

AE #15 (108 pgs.) JOHN BUSCEMA TRIBUTE ISSUE! BUSCEMA covers & interview, unseen art, ROY THOMAS on their collaborations, plus salute to KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, & more! $9 US

AE #16: (108 pgs.) COLAN, BUSCEMA, ROMITA, SEVERIN interviews, ALEX ROSS on Shazam!, OTTO & JACK BINDER, KURTZMAN, new ROSS & FRADON/SEVERIN covers, more! $9 US

AE #17: (108 pgs.) LOU FINE overview & art, ARNOLD DRAKE & MURPHY ANDERSON interviews, plus EISNER, CRANDALL, DAVIS & EVANS’ non-EC action comics, FCA, LOU FINE cover, more! $9 US

AE #18: (108 pgs.) STAN GOLDBERG interview & art, plus KIRBY, DITKO, HECK, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, EVERETT, WALLY WOOD’S Flash Gordon, FCA, KIRBY & SWAYZE covers, more! $9 US

AE #19: (108 pgs.) DICK SPRANG interview & art, JERRY ROBINSON on FRED RAY, BOB KANE, CARMINE INFANTINO, ALEX TOTH, WALLY WOOD, FCA, SPRANG & RAY covers, more! $9 US

AE #20: (108 pgs.) TIMELY/ MARVEL focus, INVADERS overview with KIRBY, KANE, ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS intv., panel with FINGER, BINDER, FOX, & WEISINGER, FCA, rare art, more! $9 US

AE #21: (108 pgs.) IGER STUDIO with art by EISNER, FINE, MESKIN, ANDERSON, CRANDALL, CARDY, EVANS, “SHEENA” section, THOMAS on the JSA, FCA, DAVE STEVENS cover, more! $9 US

AE #22: (108 pgs.) EVERETT & KUBERT interviewed by GIL KANE & NEAL ADAMS, ROY THOMAS on Sub-Mariner, COLAN, BUSCEMA, SEVERIN, WOOD, FCA, BECK & EVERETT covers, more! $9 US

AE #23: (108 pgs.) Two unseen Golden Age WONDER WOMAN stories examined, BOB FUJITANI intv. Archie/ MLJ’s JOHN ROSENBERGER & VICTOR GORELICK intv., FCA, rare art, more! $9 US

AE #24: (108 pgs.) NEW X-MEN intvs. with STAN LEE, COCKRUM, CLAREMONT, WEIN, DRAKE, SHOOTER, THOMAS, MORT MESKIN profiled, FCA, covers by COCKRUM & MESKIN! $9 US

AE #25: (108 pgs.) JACK COLE & PLASTIC MAN! Brother DICK COLE interviewed, Cole celebrated by ALEX TOTH, THOMAS on All-Star Squadron #1, JERRY BAILS tribute, FCA, cover by TOTH! $9 US

AE #26: (108 pgs.) JOE SINNOTT interview, KIRBY and BUSCEMA art, IRWIN DONENFELD, Superman art by SHUSTER, BORING, SWAN, FCA, Mr. MONSTER, covers by SINNOTT & BORING! $9 US

AE #27: #20:(108 (108pgs.) pgs.) VINTIMELY/ SULLIMARVEL focus, KIRBY INVADERS VAN intv., “Lost” HULK overview with1948 KIRBY, covers, the NY KANE, CON, ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS “Great Unknown” artists, intv., panel FCA, withALEX FINGER, KURTZMAN, TOTH, BINDER, FOX, & WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, covers by FCA, rare art, more! $9 $9 US US BURNLEY & KIRBY!

AE #28: (108 pgs.) JOE MANEELY spotlight, scarce Marvel art by EVERETT, SEVERIN, DITKO, ROMITA, extra-size FCA, LEE AMES intv., covers by MANEELY & DON NEWTON! $9 US

AE #29: (108 pgs.) FRANK BRUNNER intv., EVERETT’s Venus, Classics Illustrated adapting Lovecraft, LEE/KIRBY/ DITKO prototypes, ALEX TOTH, FCA with GENE COLAN, BRUNNER cover! $9 US

AE #30: (108 pgs.) SILVER AGE JLA special, ALEX ROSS on the JLA, MIKE SEKOWSKY, DICK DILLIN, GOLDEN AGE SIMON & KIRBY scripters speak, FRENCH HEROES, ROSS & RUDE covers! $9 US

AE #31: (108 pgs.) DICK AYERS intv., HARLAN ELLISON’S Marvel work (with Bullpen artists), LEE/KIRBY/ DITKO prototypes, Christmas cards from cartoonists, AYERS & RAY covers! $9 US

AE #32: (108 pgs.) Golden Age TIMELY ARTISTS intv., MART NODELL, MIKE GOLD on the Silver Age, art by SIMON & KIRBY, SWAN, INFANTINO, KANE, GIORDANO & GIL KANE covers! $9 US

AE #33: (108 pgs.) MIKE SEKOWSKY tribute, intvs. with wife PAT SEKOWSKY and Golden Age inker VALERIE BARCLAY, art by ANDERSON, ANDRU & ESPOSITO, INFANTINO, FRENZ covers! $9 US

AE #34: (108 pgs.) QUALITY COMICS, intvs. with ALEX KOTZKY, CHUCK CUIDERA, DICK ARNOLD, TOTH, KURTZMAN, art by FINE, EISNER, COLE, CRANDALL and NICHOLAS covers! $9 US

AE #35: #20: (108 (108pgs.) pgs.)STAN TIMELY/ LEE, MARVEL focus,DICK INVADERS JOHN ROMITA, AYERS, overview with KIRBY, KANE, ROY THOMAS, & AL JAFFEE ROBBINS, BOB DESCHAMPS on the 1940s & 1950s Golden intv., FINGER, Age at panel Timely/with Marvel, FCA, BINDER, FOX, & ROMITA WEISINGER, MR. MONSTER, and $9 US FCA, rarecovers! art, more! $9 US JAFFEE

AE #36: (108 pgs.) JOE SIMON intv. & cover, GOLDEN AGE HEROES of Canada, ELMER WEXLER, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on MR. MONSTER’S ORIGINS, FCA, ALEX TOTH, and more! $9 US

AE #37: (108 pgs.) BECK & BORING covers, SY BARRY intv., Superman “K-Metal” story, FCA with C.C. BECK, MARC SWAYZE, DON NEWTON, and Shazam!/Isis!, MR. MONSTER, and more! $9 US

AE #38: (108 pgs.) JULIUS SCHWARTZ tribute & interviews, art by INFANTINO, ANDERSON, KUBERT, KANE, TOTH, SWAN, SEKOWSKY, FCA section, INFANTINO and HASEN covers, more!! $9 US

AE #39: (108 pgs.) Full issue JERRY ROBINSON spotlight, with comprehensive interview and unseen Batman art, AL FELDSTEIN on EC, GIL FOX, MESKIN, ROUSSOS, & ROBINSON covers! $9 US

AE #40: (108 pgs.) JULIUS SCHWARTZ memorial issue with tributes by pros, GIL KANE interview, comprehensive interview and unseen art by RUSS HEATH, GIL KANE and HEATH covers! $9 US

AE #41: (108 pgs.) BERNIE WRIGHTSON on FRANKENSTEIN, art by KALUTA, BAILY, MANEELY, PLOOG, KUBERT, BRUNNER, CRANDALL, FCA #100, & more! WRIGHTSON, SWAYZE covers! $9 US

ALTER EGO #42 Covers by FASTNER & LARSON and ERNIE SCHROEDER, a celebration of DON HECK, WERNER ROTH, and PAUL REINMAN, rare art by KIRBY, DITKO, AYERS, Hillman & Ziff-Davis remembered by SCHROEDER, HERB ROGOFF, and WALTER LITTMAN, FCA, ALEX TOTH, & more!

ALTER EGO #43

ALTER EGO #44

ALTER EGO #45

ALTER EGO #46

Flip covers by TUSKA and JSA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. Interviews with Golden Age The VERY BEST of the 1960s-70s STEVENS, yuletide art by SINNOTT, special! Interviews with JOE Sandman artist CREIG FLESSEL and ALTER EGO! EVERETT/SEVERIN BRUNNER, CARDY, TOTH, KUBERT, IRWIN HASEN, MURPHY 1940s creator BERT CHRISTMAN, cover, classic 1969 BILL EVERETT NODELL, and others, interviews ANDERSON, JERRY ORDWAY, MICHAEL CHABON on researching interview, art by BURGOS, GUSwith Golden Age artists TOM GILL 1940s Atom writer ARTHUR his Pulitzer-winning novel Kavalier TAVSON, SIMON & KIRBY, and (Lone Ranger) and MORRIS WEISS, ADLER, art by TOTH, SEKOWSKY, & Clay, art by EISNER, KANE, KIRBY, others, 1960s gems by DITKO & E. exploring 1960s Mexican comics, HASEN, MACHLAN, OKSNER, & AYERS, FCA, MR. MONSTER, NELSON BRIDWELL, FCA, TOTH, FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, INFANTINO, FCA, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, & more! & more! & more! ORDWAY cover, more! (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (108-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #47 MATT BAKER, Golden Age cheesecake artist of PHANTOM LADY, plus art from AL FELDSTEIN, VINCE COLLETTA, ARTHUR PEDDY, JACK KAMEN & others, FCA, BILL SCHELLY talks to BUD PLANT, MR. MONSTER, ALEX TOTH, and more! (100-page magazine) $9 US

(108-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #48 The late WILL EISNER discusses ’40s Quality Comics with art by FINE, CRANDALL, COLE, & CARDY! EISNER tributes by STAN LEE, GENE COLAN, & others! ’40s Quality artist VERN HENKEL interviewed, FCA, MR. MONSTER, TOTH, & more! (100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #49

ALTER EGO #50

ALTER EGO #51

ALTER EGO #52

Golden Age Batman artist/Bob JOE GIELLA on the Silver Age at Interview with CARL BURGOS’ ROY THOMAS covers his 40-YEAR daughter! Unused 1941 cover laycareer in comics, with ADAMS, Kane ghost LEW SAYRE DC, the Golden Age at Marvel, and outs by BURGOS and other Timely BUSCEMA, COLAN, DITKO, GIL SCHWARTZ interviewed, the JULIE SCHWARTZ, with rare art by titans! The 1957 Atlas Implosion, KANE, KIRBY, STAN LEE, ORDWAY, Golden & Silver Ages of INFANTINO, GIL KANE, MANNY STALLMAN, and the BLUE PÉREZ, ROMITA, and many others! AUSTRALIAN SUPER-HEROES, SEKOWSKY, SWAN, DILLIN, FLAME! Also, FCA, MICHAEL T. Also, FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT Mad artist DAVE BERG interviewed, MOLDOFF, GIACOIA, SCHAFFENGILBERT and MR. MONSTER and and MR. MONSTER and more! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT on BERGER, and others, JAY SCOTT more! WILL EISNER, ALEX TOTH and PIKE on STAN LEE, MARTIN (100-page magazine) $9 US more! THALL, and more! (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #54

ALTER EGO #55

MIKE ESPOSITO on DC and Marvel, ROBERT KANIGHER on the creation of Metal Men & Sgt. Rock (with comments by JOE KUBERT & BOB HANEY), art by ANDRU, INFANTINO, KIRBY, SEVERIN, ROMITA, BUSCEMA, GIL KANE, plus FCA with SWAYZE, ALEX TOTH, & more!

ALEX ROSS cover, JACK & OTTO BINDER, KEN BALD, VIC DOWD, and BOB BOYAJIAN interviewed, FCA with MARC SWAYZE & EMILIO SQUEGLIO, Christmas Card Art from CRANDALL, SINNOTT, HEATH, MOONEY, and CARDY, 1943 superheroine Pin-Up Calendar, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #56

ALTER EGO #57

ALTER EGO #58

ALTER EGO #53 Halloween issue! GIORDANO & THOMAS on STOKER’S DRACULA, never-seen DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein strip, MIKE ESPOSITO on his work with ROSS ANDRU, art by COLAN, WRIGHTSON, MIGNOLA, BRUNNER, BISSETTE, KALUTA, HEATH, MANEELY, EVERETT, DITKO, and others! (100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #59

Issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas GERRY CONWAY & ROY THOMAS Batman & Superman in the Golden NEAL ADAMS cover, interviews & Silver Ages, ARTHUR SUYDAM super-hero stories by MICHELLE on their ’80s “X-Men Movie That with Superman creators SIEGEL & interview, NEAL ADAMS on NOLAN, art by SIMON & KIRBY, Never Was!” with art by ADAMS, SHUSTER, Golden/Silver Age DC 1960s/70s DC, SHELLY MOLDOFF, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, COCKRUM, BUSCEMA, BYRNE, production guru JACK ADLER, AL PLASTINO, Golden Age artist AYERS, HEATH, SEKOWSKY, KANE, KIRBY, HECK, & LIEBER, NEAL ADAMS & TV iconoclast (& FRAN (Doll Man) MATERA Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA comics fan) HOWARD STERN on SHORES, SCHOMBURG, MANEELY, interviewed, the first comic book Adler, art by CURT SWAN, WAYNE & SEVERIN, GENE COLAN & ALLEN interview, ALLEN BELLMAN on ’40s Thor, SIEGEL & SHUSTER, FCA, Timely, FCA, 1966 panel on EC BORING, AL PLASTINO, plus FCA, BELLMAN on 1940s Timely heroes, FCA, MR. MONSTER, & BILL Comics, & MR. MONSTER! Edited MR. MONSTER, SUYDAM cover, & MR. MONSTER, & more! Edited by more! Edited by ROY THOMAS ! SCHELLY! KIRBY & VON SHOLLY by ROY THOMAS. ROY THOMAS. cover! Edited by ROY THOMAS. (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US

SUBSCRIBE! Twelve Issues in the US: $72 Standard, $108 First Class (Canada: $132, Elsewhere: $144 Surface, $192 Airmail). NOTE: IF YOU PREFER A SIX-ISSUE SUB, JUST CUT THE PRICE IN HALF!

ALTER EGO #60 Celebrates 50 years since SHOWCASE #4! FLASH interviews with SCHWARTZ, KANIGHER, INFANTINO, KUBERT, & BROOME, Golden Age artist TONY DiPRETA, 1966 panel with NORDLING, BINDER, & LARRY IVIE, FCA, MR. MONSTER, never-beforepublished full-color Flash cover by CARMINE INFANTINO, and more!

(100-page magazine) $9 US

ALTER EGO #61

ALTER EGO #62

ALTER EGO #63

ALTER EGO #64

ALTER EGO #65

NICK CARDY interviewed on his Tribute to ALEX TOTH! NeverFawcett Favorites! Issue-by-issue History of the AMERICAN COMICS HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN work in the Golden & Silver Ages, before-seen interview with tons of analysis of OTTO BINDER & C.C. GROUP (1946 to 1967)—including ISSUE, featuring: MIKE PLOOG & with CARDY artwork from Quality & BECK’s 1943-45 “The Monster its roots in the Golden Age RUDY PALAIS on their horror-comics TOTH art, including sketches he sent DC—plus the work of EISNER, SANGOR ART SHOP and work! AL WILLIAMSON on his work to friends! Art by Toth’s influences: Society of Evil!” serial! Double-size CANIFF, SICKLES, COLE, KELLY, FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America) ADAMS, INFANTINO, JIM APARO, STANDARD/NEDOR comics! for the American Comics Group— RAMONA FRADON, CURT SWAN, BECK, ROBINSON & others! Our section with MARC SWAYZE, Art by MESKIN, ROBINSON, plus more on ACG horror comics! JOE ORLANDO, BOB HANEY, MIKE annual 1943 pin-up calendar by EMILIO SQUEGLIO, C.C. BECK, WILLIAMSON, FRAZETTA, SCHAFRare DICK BRIEFER Frankenstein SEKOWSKY, et al.! Plus FCA with ALEX WRIGHT, with Miss America, MAC RABOY, and others! Interview FENBERGER, & BUSCEMA, ACG strips! Plus FCA, MR. MONSTER, MARC SWAYZE and others, Namora, Sun Girl, Venus, and others with MARTIN FILCHOCK, Golden writer/editor RICHARD HUGHES, BILL SCHELLY on the 1966 MICHAEL T. GILBERT and MR. as real-life ’40s starlets, FCA, MR. Age artist for Centaur Comics! Plus plus AL HARTLEY interviewed, FCA, KalerCon, a new PLOOG cover— MONSTER, a new CARDY COVER, MONSTER, and more! MR. MONSTER, an unpublished MR. MONSTER, & more! & more! and more! DON NEWTON cover, and more! GIORDANO cover! (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US (100-page magazine) $9 US

ALL- STAR COMPANION VOL. 2

ALTER EGO COLLECTION, VOL. ONE

ROY THOMAS’ new sequel, with more secrets of the JSA and ALL-STAR COMICS, from 1940 through the 1980s, featuring: Wraparound CARLOS PACHECO cover! More amazing information, speculation, and unseen ALL-STAR COMICS art! Unpublished 1940s JSA STORY ART not printed in Volume One! Full coverage of the 1980s ALL-STAR SQUADRON, with scarce & never-published art, and more!

Collects ALTER EGO #1-2, plus 30 pages of NEW MATERIAL! New JLA Jam Cover by KUBERT, PÉREZ, GIORDANO, TUSKA, CARDY, FRADON, & GIELLA, new sections featuring scarce art by GIL KANE, WILL EISNER, CARMINE INFANTINO, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MURPHY ANDERSON, DICK DILLIN, & more! (192-page trade paperback) $26 US

(208-page Trade Paperback) $26 US

OUR NEWEST MAGAZINE! 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 NEVERBEFORE 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 new magazine, featuring galleries of NEVER-BEFORE SEEN art, from some of your favorite series of all time, and the top pros in the industry!

ROUGH STUFF #1

ROUGH STUFF #2

Our debut issue features galleries of UNSEEN ART by a who’s who of Modern Masters including:

The follow-up to our smash first issue features more galleries of UNSEEN ART by top industry professionals, including:

ALAN DAVIS GEORGE PÉREZ BRUCE TIMM KEVIN NOWLAN JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ ARTHUR ADAMS JOHN BYRNE WALTER SIMONSON Plus a KEVIN NOWLAN interview, and a new BRUCE TIMM COVER! (116-page magazine) $9 US

BRIAN APTHORP FRANK BRUNNER PAUL GULACY JERRY ORDWAY ALEX TOTH MATT WAGNER Plus a PAUL GULACY interview, a look at oddball penciler/inker combinations, and a new GULACY “HEX” COVER! (100-page magazine) $9 US

ROUGH STUFF #3 (JAN.) This third groundbreaking issue presents still more galleries of UNSEEN ART by some of the biggest names in the comics industry, including:

MIKE ALLRED JOHN BUSCEMA YANICK PAQUETTE JOHN ROMITA JR. P. CRAIG RUSSELL LEE WEEKS Plus a JOHN ROMITA JR. interview, looks at the earliest work of some of your favorite artists, and a new ROMITA JR. COVER! (100-page magazine) $9 US

T H E U LT I M AT E C O M I C S E X P E R I E N C E !

Edited by MICHAEL EURY, BACK ISSUE celebrates comic books of the 1970s, ’80s, and today through recurring (& rotating) departments. 100 PAGES, $9 US. 6-ISSUE SUBS: $36 Standard, $54 First Class (Canada: $66, Elsewhere: $72 Surface, $96 Airmail).

#1: PÉREZ, KIRBY, BUSCEMA, INFANTINO, KUBERT!

#2: HUGHES, RUDE, WAGNER, JONES, STEVENS!

#3: EVANIER, GIFFEN, MAGUIRE, BOLLAND!

“PRO2PRO” interview between GEORGE PÉREZ and MARV WOLFMAN (with UNSEEN PÉREZ ART), “ROUGH STUFF” featuring JACK KIRBY’s PENCIL ART, “GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD” on the first JLA/AVENGERS, “BEYOND CAPES” on DC and Marvel’s TARZAN (with KUBERT & BUSCEMA ART), “OFF MY CHEST” editorial by INFANTINO, & more!

“PRO2PRO” between ADAM HUGHES & MIKE W. BARR (with UNSEEN HUGHES ART) and MATT WAGNER and DIANA SCHUTZ, “ROUGH STUFF” HUGHES PENCIL ART, STEVE RUDE’s unseen SPACE GHOST/ HERCULOIDS team-up, Bruce Jones’ ALIEN WORLDS & TWISTED TALES, an “OFF MY CHEST” editorial by MIKE W. BARR on the DC IMPLOSION, & more!

“PRO2PRO” between KEITH GIFFEN, J.M. DeMATTEIS and KEVIN MAGUIRE on their JLA WORK, “ROUGH STUFF” PENCIL ART by ARAGONÉS, HERNANDEZ BROS., MIGNOLA, BYRNE, KIRBY, HUGHES, two unknown PLASTIC MAN movies, a look at the Joker’s history with O’NEIL, ADAMS, ENGLEHART, ROGERS & BOLLAND, an editorial by MARK EVANIER, & more!

#6: WRIGHTSON, COLAN, THOMAS, GODZILLA!

#7: APARO, BYRNE, LEE, EVANIER, & MORE!

#8: ADAMS, VON EEDEN, & ’70s BLACK HEROES!

#9: RUDE, TRUMAN, GIL KANE & COSMIC HEROES!

TOMB OF DRACULA revealed with GENE COLAN and MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN & BERNIE WRIGHTSON on Swamp Thing’s roots, STEVE BISSETTE and RICK VEITCH on their Swamp work, pencil art by SMITH, BRUNNER, PLOOG, BISSETTE, COLAN, & WRIGHTSON, editorial by ROY THOMAS, GODZILLA comics (with TRIMPE art), CHARLTON horror, PREZ, and more!

SWAN/ANDERSON cover, history of BRAVE AND THE BOLD, JIM APARO interview, tribute to BOB HANEY, FANTASTIC FOUR ROUNDTABLE with STAN LEE, MARK WAID, and others, EVANIER & MEUGNIOT on DNAgents, pencil art by ROSS, TOTH, COCKRUM, HECK, ROBBINS, NEWTON, and BYRNE, DENNY O’NEIL editorial, a tour of METROPOLIS, IL, & more!

DENNY O’NEIL & Justice League Unlimited voice actor PHIL LaMARR discuss GL JOHN STEWART, NEW X-MEN pencil art by NEAL ADAMS, ARTHUR ADAMS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, ALAN DAVIS, JIM LEE, ADAM HUGHES, STORM’s 30-year history, animated TV’s black heroes (with TOTH art), TONY ISABELLA and TREVOR VON EEDEN on BLACK LIGHTNING, & more!

MIKE BARON and STEVE RUDE on NEXUS past and present, a colossal GIL KANE pencil art gallery, a look at Marvel’s STAR WARS comics, secrets of DC’s unseen CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS SEQUEL, TIM TRUMAN on his GRIMJACK SERIES, MIKE GOLD editorial, THANOS history, TIME WARP revisited, an allnew STEVE RUDE COVER, & more!

#12: GIBBONS, BYRNE, MILLER, FRENZ!

#13: STATON, CARDY, EISNER, ROMITA!

#15: PLOOG, COLAN, WAGNER, KUBERT!

’70s and ’80s character revamps with DAVE GIBBONS, ROY THOMAS & KURT BUSIEK, TOM DeFALCO & RON FRENZ on Spider-Man’s 1980s “black” costume change, DENNY O’NEIL on Superman’s 1970 revamp, JOHN BYRNE’s aborted SHAZAM! series detailed, pencil art gallery with FRANK MILLER, LEE WEEKS, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, CHARLES VESS, and more!

CARDY interview, ENGLEHART and MOENCH on kung-fu comics, “Pro2Pro” with STATON and CUTI on Charlton’s E-Man, pencil art gallery featuring MILLER, KUBERT, GIORDANO, SWAN, GIL KANE, COLAN, COCKRUM, and others, EISNER’s A Contract with God; “The Death of Romance (Comics)” (with art by ROMITA, SR. and TOTH), & more!

#14: GRELL, COCKRUM, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, KIRBY! DAVE COCKRUM and MIKE GRELL go “Pro2Pro” on the Legion, pencil art gallery by BUSCEMA, BYRNE, MILLER, STARLIN, McFARLANE, ROMITA JR., SIENKIEWICZ, looks at Hercules Unbound, Hex, Killraven, Kamandi, MARS, Planet of the Apes, art & interviews with GARCÍALÓPEZ, KIRBY, WILLIAMSON, and more! New MIKE GRELL/BOB McLEOD cover!

“Weird Heroes” of the 1970s and ’80s!MIKE PLOOG discusses Ghost Rider, MATT WAGNER revisits The Demon, JOE KUBERT dusts off Ragman, GENE COLAN “Rough Stuff” pencil gallery, GARCÍALÓPEZ recalls Deadman, DC’s unpublished Gorilla Grodd series, PERLIN, CONWAY, & MOENCH on Werewolf by Night, & more! New ARTHUR ADAMS cover!

#4: BYRNE, CLAREMONT, CASEY, SIMONSON!

#5: ROSS, HUGHES, LYNDA CARTER, LOU FERRIGNO!

“PRO2PRO” between JOHN BYRNE and CHRIS CLAREMONT on their X-MEN WORK and WALT SIMONSON and JOE CASEY on Walter’s THOR WORK, WOLVERINE PENCIL ART by BUSCEMA, LEE, COCKRUM, BYRNE, & GIL KANE, LEN WEIN’S TEEN WOLVERINE, PUNISHER’S 30TH & SECRET WARS’ 20TH ANNIVERSARIES (with UNSEEN ZECK ART), & more!

Covers by ALEX ROSS & ADAM HUGHES, Wonder Woman TV series in-depth, LYNDA CARTER INTERVIEW, WONDER WOMAN TV ART GALLERY, Marvel’s TV Hulk, SpiderMan, Captain America, & Dr. Strange, LOU FERRIGNO INTERVIEW, super-hero cartoons you didn’t see, pencil gallery by JERRY ORDWAY, STAR TREK in comics, & JOHN ROMITA SR. editorial on Marvel’s movies!

#10: ADAMS, GRELL, KALUTA, CHAYKIN!

#11: BUSCEMA, JUSKO, BOLLAND, ARAGONÉS!

NEAL ADAMS and DENNY O’NEIL on RA’S AL GHUL’s history (with Adams art), O’Neil and MICHAEL KALUTA on THE SHADOW, MIKE GRELL on JON SABLE FREELANCE, HOWIE CHAYKIN interview, DOC SAVAGE in comics, BATMAN ART GALLERY by SIENKIEWICZ, SIMONSON, PAUL SMITH, BOLLAND, HANNIGAN, MAZZUCCHELLI, and others, and a new cover by ADAMS!

#16: ZECK, ARTHUR ADAMS, GUICE, GOLDEN, KIRBY! “Toy Stories!” Behind the Scenes of Marvel’s G.I. JOE™ and TRANSFORMERS, “Rough Stuff” MIKE ZECK pencil gallery, ARTHUR ADAMS on Gumby, HE-MAN, ROM, MICRONAUTS, SUPER POWERS, SUPER-HERO CARS, art by HAMA, SAL BUSCEMA, GUICE, GOLDEN, KIRBY, TRIMPE, & new ZECK sketch cover!

ROY THOMAS, KURT BUSIEK, and JOE JUSKO on CONAN (with art by JOHN BUSCEMA, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, NEAL ADAMS, JUSKO, & others), SERGIO ARAGONÉS & MARK EVANIER on GROO, DC’s never-published KING ARTHUR, pencil art gallery by KIRBY, PÉREZ, MOEBIUS, GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, BOLLAND, & others, and a new BUSCEMA/JUSKO Conan cover!

#17: TIMM, HAMNER, INFANTINO, HUGHES! “Super Girls!” Supergirl retrospective with art by STELFREEZE, HAMNER, & others, Spider-Woman, Flare, Tigra, DC’s unused Double Comics with unseen BARRETTO and INFANTINO art, WOLFMAN and JIMENEZ on Donna Troy, Female comics pros Roundtable, Animated Super Chicks, art by SEKOWSKY, OKSNER, PÉREZ, HUGHES, GIORDANO, plus an 8-page COLOR ART GALLERY and COVER by BRUCE TIMM!

TwoMorrows. Bringing New Life To Comics Fandom. TwoMorrows • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 • E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com • www.twomorrows.com

COMING SOON FROM TWOMORROWS!

BACK ISSUE! #19 (NOV.)

DRAW! #13 (DEC.)

ALTER EGO #63 (DEC.)

“Unsung Heroes!” DON NEWTON spotlight, GERBER and COLAN on Howard the Duck, CARLIN and FINGEROTH on Marvel’s Assistant Editors’ Month, the unrealized Unlimited Powers TV show, TONY ISABELLA’s aborted plans for The Champions, MARK GRUENWALD tribute, art by SAL BUSCEMA, JOHN BYRNE, unused NEWTON/ RUBINSTEIN cover, and more! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

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, Pigtale’s OVI NEDELCU, behindthe-scenes on Adult Swim’s MINORITEAM, regular features on drawing by BRET BLEVINS, MIKE MANLEY, links, color section & more! HORLEY cover! Edited by MIKE MANLEY.

Tribute to ALEX TOTH! Neverbefore-seen interview with tons of TOTH art, including sketches he sent to friends! Art by Toth’s influences: CANIFF, SICKLES, COLE, KELLY, BECK, ROBINSON & others! Our annual 1943 pin-up calendar by ALEX WRIGHT, with Miss America, Namora, Sun Girl, Venus, and others as real-life ’40s starlets, FCA, MR. MONSTER, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS.

(100-page magazine) $9 US

THE KRYPTON MODERN MASTERS ROUGH STUFF! #3 (JAN.) COMPANION (NOW!) VOL. 9: MIKE WIERINGO (NOV.) Galleries of NEVER-SEEN penciled Unlocks the secrets of Superman’s Features an EXTENSIVE, CAREERSPANNING INTERVIEW lavishly illustrated with rare art from Mike’s files, plus an ENORMOUS SKETCHBOOK SECTION with some of his finest work, including UNSEEN AND UNUSED ART! (120-page trade paperback with color section) $19 US

pages, sketches, layouts, and Silver and Bronze Ages, when unused inks by P. CRAIG RUSSELL, kryptonite came in multiple colors MIKE ALLRED, YANICK PAQUETTE, and super-pets flew the skies! and LEE WEEKS, who contribute Features all-new interviews with commentaries on the art, plus a ADAMS, ANDERSON, CARDY, retrospective art gallery on the late GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, GIFFEN, , JOHN BUSCEMA, a new, profusely MOONEY, O’NEIL, OKSNER, illustrated interview with JOHN PASKO, ROZAKIS, SHOOTER, ROMITA JR., a new ROMITA JR. WEIN, WOLFMAN, and others, cover, and more! Edited by BOB plus tons of rare and unseen art! McLEOD. By BACK ISSUE’S Michael Eury! (100-page magazine) $9 US (240-page trade paperback) $29 US

WRITE NOW! #14 (OCT.)

KIRBY COLLECTOR #47 (OCT.)

BRIAN BENDIS interview, STAN KIRBY’S SUPER TEAMS, with LEE, TODD McFARLANE, unseen 1960s Marvel pencil art, a STRACZYNSKI, and others on rare KIRBY interview, MARK writing Spider-Man, pencil art and EVANIER’s column, two pencil art script from MARVEL CIVIL WAR galleries, a complete never#1 by MILLAR and McNIVEN, JIM reprinted 1950s story, author STARLIN on Captain Comet and JONATHAN LETHEM on his Kirby The Weird, LEE NORDLING on influence, an interview with Comics in Hollywood, JOHN JOHN ROMITA, JR. on his work OSTRANDER, and a new ALEX with NEIL GAIMAN on the MALEEV cover! Edited by DANNY Eternals, and more! Edited by FINGEROTH. JOHN MORROW. (84-page magazine) $9 US

(84-page tabloid) $13 US

ALL-STAR COMPANION VOL. 2 (NOV.)

HOW TO CREATE COMICS, FROM SCRIPT TO PRINT TPB (NOW!)

ROY THOMAS’ new sequel, with more secrets of the JSA and ALLSTAR COMICS, from 1940 through the 1980s: Amazing information, speculation, and unseen ALL-STAR COMICS art! Unpublished 1940s JSA STORY ART not printed in Volume One! Full coverage of the 1980s ALLSTAR SQUADRON, with scarce & never-published art! Wraparound CARLOS PACHECO cover, & more! (224-page Trade Paperback) $29 US

SUBSCRIPTIONS: JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR: Four issues US: $40 Standard, $56 First Class (Canada: $64, Elsewhere: $68 Surface, $84 Airmail). BACK ISSUE!: Six issues US: $36 Standard, $54 First Class (Canada: $66, Elsewhere: $72 Surface, $96 Airmail). DRAW!, WRITE NOW!, ROUGH STUFF: Four issues US: $24 Standard, $36 First Class (Canada: $44, Elsewhere: $48 Surface, $64 Airmail). ALTER EGO: Twelve issues US: $72 Standard, $108 First Class (Canada: $132, Elsewhere: $144 Surface, $192 Airmail). FOR A SIX-ISSUE ALTER EGO SUBSCRIPTION, JUST CUT THE PRICE IN HALF!

REDESIGNED and EXPANDED version of the groundbreaking WRITE NOW! #8 / DRAW! #9 crossover! DANNY FINGEROTH & MIKE MANLEY show step-by-step how to develop a new comic, from script and roughs to pencils, inks, colors, lettering—it even guides you through printing and distribution, & the finished 8-page color comic is included, so you can see their end result! PLUS: over 30 pages of ALL-NEW material, including “full” and “Marvelstyle” scripts, a critique of their new character and comic from an editor’s point of view, new tips on coloring, new expanded writing lessons, and more! (108-page trade paperback) $18 US