Rough Stuff #8

No. 8 SPRING 2008

$6.95 Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

Featuring

Ms. Marvel, Wasp and Scarlet Witch TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Alex Horley Rafael Kayanan Nick Cardy Tony DeZuniga

MIKE MAYHEW

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82658 27766

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81

Interview and Gallery

Volume 1, Number 8 Spring 2008

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg

FEATURED ARTISTS PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Eric Nolen-Weathington COVER ARTIST

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Nick Cardy

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Tony DeZuniga

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Alex Horley

51

Rafael Kayanan

Mike Mayhew

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Cookiesoup Productions SPECIAL THANKS Nick Cardy

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 26

Introduction to Belgian & French Comics Dominique Leonard

Tony DeZuniga

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW

Alex Horley Rafael Kayanan

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Mike Mayhew

Mike Mayhew Dominique Leonard Gerald Forton

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

J.C. Mezieres

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Albert Uderzo Mike Murdock

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: $26 Standard US, $36 First Class US, $44 Canada, $60 Surface International, $72 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Central cover art by Mike Mayhew. All characters are copyright Marvel Comics. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2008 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

ISSN 1931-9231

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PrePro Art by Rafael Kayanan, Mike Mayhew and Alex Horley, done before they turned pro.

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Cover Stories Mike Mayhew and Alex Horley reveal the process of creating a cover.

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

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Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

W

ell, Spring is here at last, and with it another great issue of Rough Stuff awaits. Before we get to it, however, maybe I need to explain what I’m trying to do here. I’ve received several e-mails from readers who would like me to focus more on teaching in Rough Stuff. My intention up to now has been mostly to

show you a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of comic art, and get the pros to offer comments about their work.

This can be very enlightening, but my goal was not specifically to teach, since TwoMorrows already has a great teaching magazine called Draw!. I introduced my Rough Critique really only because we needed more features in the magazine, and it was just something I thought I could do that would be of interest, and that Draw! wasn’t doing. I also began making somewhat instructional comments in order to fill up space when some of the featured artists didn’t have a lot to say, or when the artists were deceased. As an artist myself, what I have to say about artwork tends to be analytical, and I also like to teach, so I can’t seem to help that coming out in my comments occasionally. Going forward however, due to your many requests, I will try to teach where appropriate in Rough Stuff, and I’ll try to get instructional comments from our featured artists. But not every artist likes to teach or is able to, so keep that in mind.

Now, up first this issue is the wonderful Nick Cardy. After a long, successful career best remembered for his work on Aquaman and the Teen Titans, Nick left comic books just as I was entering, back around 1974. He moved on to advertising and had a second successful career there. I’m honored to include him in this issue. For a while now, I’ve been wanting to broaden the scope of Rough Stuff to include artists from other countries. We showed you some of Tony DeZuniga’s art back in issue #5, in Michael Browning’s article on the origin of Jonah Hex. This time, we also take a look at some of his other work you may not be as familiar with. Tony was one of the first Filipino artists to break into American comics, leading a wave of well-remembered and appreciated artists such as Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Alex Niño, Rudy Nebres and many others. I’m planning to do an issue featuring some more of those artists down the line.

Moving to Europe, I asked Belgian comic art collector Dominique Leonard to write an introductory article about the great Belgian and French comic artists some of you may be unaware of. These artists, influenced by the great American newspaper strip artists of the ‘50s, have in turn greatly influenced many current American comic artists. Then traveling on to Italy, we present the amazing Alessandro Orlandelli, better known as Alex Horley, who’s one of my favorite comic art painters. I wanted to see the pencils underneath those luscious paints, and I’m sure you will, too. He even shows us some of his childhood art for our PrePro feature, which also brings us back full circle to another younger Filipino artist, Rafael Kayanan. Rafael has done a lot of work in comics, but I asked him to show us some of the fantastic work he’s done outside of comic books as well. All I can say is “WOW!” Alex Horley also brings us a cover from start to finish for our Cover Stories feature, as does Mike Mayhew, who shows us how this issue’s sexy cover progressed. Mike’s also the subject of this issue’s interview, conducted by Len Gould, proud owner of the original art to our cover, which was commissioned by him. Bringing up the rear as usual is my Rough Critique, featuring an X-Men/Avengers page by newcomer Mike Murdock, and lastly, your own letters of comment. And remember, www.twomorrows.com is now offering Rough Stuff with full-color in PDF form for the reduced price of only $2.95 (free for subscribers!). And as always, go to the Rough Stuff pages of my own web site for art and comments that didn’t fit into the magazine. And also visit the web sites of our featured artists, some of whom may accept commissions.

Nick Cardy: http://www.nickcardy.com Alex Horley: http://www.alexhorley.com Rafael Kayanan: http://members.aol.com/Kayanancomicart/home.html Mike Mayhew: http://www.mikemayhewstudio.com/

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

Bob McLeod Editor mcleod.bob@gmail.com www.bobmcleod.com PO Box 63 Emmaus, PA 18049

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

NICK CARDY

AHAWK, ty on DC’s TOM ri la pu po g in in First ga work on st known for his be s ap rh pe s e’ h d my TEEN TITANS, an AQUAMAN and e drew the g, and SH. Early on, h e Hogarth writin rn favorite, BAT LA u B ith w ile h e did rip for a w strips as well. H N A TM daily TARZAN st BA d an comics to SEY RUGGLES , before leaving 0s worked on the CA ’7 y rl ea e th all of for DC in e Comic Book H th to in scores of covers ed ct du appealing, ing. Nick was in eral are always n work in advertis ge in t ar d an is figures ve him.

Fame in 2005. H e who doesn’t lo n yo an ow kn t and I don’

BOB McLEOD Nick penciled the first 39 issues of Aquaman from ’62’68, and all the covers through the final issue, #56 in 1971. This

NICK CARDY

is an unpublished version of

I also preferred the

the cover for issue #43, which I

original version, but the

like better than the published

word came down from

version. The flowing line work

on high, so it was not

on the distant figure, as well as

up to me.

Aquaman’s dynamic pose amid

I penciled and inked

the tangled seaweed are much

all of my stories. No one

more interesting to me. Notice

could ink over my loose

how the black ‘L’ shape creat-

pencils. [Drat! I started

ed by the large sandal and its

ten years too late! - ed.]

shadow frame the Aquaman

When my deadline

figure.

became tight, others penciled (Neal Adams, Gil Kane, George Tuska,

NICK CARDY

Carmine infantino) and I inked.

Aquaman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD

NICK CARDY

In this pencil commission, he revisits Aquaman and his wife Mera thirty years later. Notice how he adds to the depth by overlapping forms, using foreshortening, placing shadows, and even adding the water currents.

Aquaman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

BOB McLEOD Nick designed the character of Mera, Aquaman’s wife, in Aquaman #11. Fans have long admired Cardy’s way of depicting the female form. “Cardy girls” were a large part of his allure in comics.

Notice how often Cardy uses a 3/4 angle pose for his figures. It's more difficult than a profile or straight-on shot, but it's a very effective way to add more depth and form to your figures.

NICK CARDY This Mera was the first of a series of the Cardy girls: Black Canary, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, etc. These pencils were to become full-color illustrations.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD I just love the atmosphere of Bat Lash in this Bat Lash sketch from 1999.

Bat Lash is fondly remembered by everyone who likes western comics, for the great scripts by Sergio Aragonés, the Mad magazine cartoonist, and Nick’s wonderful art.

As good as it was though, it only lasted from July of ’68 to November of ’69.

An easy trick to aid in drawing hats so that they fit squarely on the head is to draw the top “crown” of the hat first on top of the head, and then

Bat Lash TM & ©2008 DC Comics

NICK CARDY I worked from the script written by Denny O’Neil— I never saw Sergio’s stick figure layouts— I used my own judgment on the layouts. Denny and I were

NICK CARDY

add the brim.

very flexible on the stories. I wish this figure hadn’t come out looking mean.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Bat Lash #5, p. 11 This is a page from my personal collection. Bat Lash is my favorite Cardy series. I love the use of dry brush for texture, the expert placement of blacks, and the overall brush dexterity. I like the action in his horses, too. Like Joe Kubert, Cardy varied his shots quite a bit, with close-ups and long shots often side by side. Here he goes from a medium shot to a close-up to a long shot to an up shot to a down shot, all used with good reasons for maximum effect.

NICK CARDY

Bat Lash TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX JOHNSON Nick Cardy is one of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered and that Bat Lash drawing is my favorite piece in my collection.

I’ve had it as the picture on my computer desktop since I got it.

When Bat Lash was published, I thought it was one of the best drawn and written comics that I’d read.

I was really sad when it imploded. A couple of years ago, I realized that the artist whose work I so enjoyed would accept commissions.

For Christmas, my wife ordered a Teen Titans drawing from him. It was then that I discovered how kind and friendly Nick is. He called Kathy several times to ensure that the picture made it safely and later called me to see if I liked it.

At this point, I should also mention that Nick is very charming.

Both my wife and one of my daughters have fallen in love with him from his calls and voice mails. I think that if he were local, either one or both would run off with him. :) For my fiftieth birthday, Kathy and I commissioned this Bat Lash drawing. Nick called again to see how I liked it. To give you a feel for how good it is, my wife, who favors impressionism and pointillism and other forms of serious art, lets it hang in our bedroom. She loves the romantic feel of the piece. This is the highest form of Bat Lash TM & ©2008 DC Comics

Bat Lash courtesy Alex Johnson

praise available at my house.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD The Street Fighter Movie Poster Illustration (New Line Cinema, 1975).

Nick says this was done in watercolor.

The girl has obviously been repainted and pasted over the original.

Notice the extensive use of diagonals in posing the figures.

Nick did several movie posters after leaving comic books in the ’70’s. Read about them in George Khoury’s article at http://www. comicbookresources. com/columns/ ?column=28 Courtesy Heritage

BOB McLEOD In addition to dramatic comics, Nick has a good sense for humor comics. He did some work for DC’s Plop humor comic as well as Marvel’s Crazy magazine, and this pencil rough for a Bad News Bears movie poster has a Mad magazine feel to it, with something different going on everywhere you look.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Plop!

Comic books weren’t always so dominated by superheroes. My favorite comics work was the humor stuff I did for Marvel’s Crazy magazine. Nick also did a lot of work for Crazy, as well as DC’s humor comic, Plop!.

NICK CARDY These vignettes are from a (1973) Plop! mag short story about a tiger trainer, the fat lady, and her love, the little fakir. I got a big

Plop TM & ©2008 DC Comics

NICK CARDY

kick doing this.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Superman Wedding Album, p. 46 Nick was one of many artists, along with myself, who worked on the Superman Wedding Album comic. This page features the patented Cardy women, along with some nice, dramatic lighting.

Interesting to see how he cropped it.

I always advise my students to vary the size of their figures from panel to panel, and Nick does a good job of that here as he begins with a long shot and gets increasingly closer every panel.

BOB McLEOD Superman color Nick also inked it himself. I love Nick’s inking, but this is a wonderful example of what we miss by only seeing the printed comic. So much of the subtle artistry of the pencils is lost when it’s converted to harsh black line and the typical garish coloring (that is some amazingly brightly painted hallway in panel two!).

Superman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Superman Wedding Album, p. 79 Nick’s second page of the Wedding Album, with Alpha Centurion flying down in panel one. He goes nowhere without his helmet, I suppose.

Nick indicates blacks and lighting, but the pencils are quite rough and unfinished by today’s excessive standards.

Here again he's varied the sizes of his figures from panel to panel very well. Notice he's adding backgrounds in this first tier, when the camera is pulled back, but they're not needed in the bottom panels as we pull closer.

Superman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

NICK CARDY My art was always loosely penciled because I have always done the inking in my work. For con sketches, my pencils were tighter, with pencil shading instead of the harsh line shading used in inking.

BOB McLEOD Superman color Whoa! Alpha Centurion is suddenly stopped in mid-air. Yet another example of why I like to see the preliminary art.

For you aspiring writers out there, if you have to place balloons at the bottom of the panels like this, that's a good clue that you're overwriting. With all the empty space Cardy left on this page, there's should be no need to cover up the figures.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD This is a very faithful 2004 pencil recreation of the 1968 cover to Teen Titans #11. I just love Aqualad beating that thing with an oar!

I look at him first because he's covering the title, even though Speedy is larger, then look counter clockwise around at everyone else until I'm back up at him again. This scene is just so outrageous it really makes you want to read the comic.

Courtesy of Michael Dunne

NICK CARDY On this cover, I used pencil shading to replace the modeling that the coloring did.

BOB McLEOD Nick Cardy is probably best known for his tenure on the Teen Titans. This commission from 2005, drawn

NICK CARDY

at the age of 85(!) features a great look at the main

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characters from that series. It’s amazing to still be doing work of this quality at that age.

NICK CARDY This Teen Titans piece is a variation on the explosive theme used on various DC covers where that design was needed.

Teen Titans TM & ©2008 DC Comics

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

NICK CARDY Teen Titans #25, p. 12 When I designed this Wonder Girl costume, I also had gadgets like her lasso as a belt that shoots out and retracts. Also an eagle amulet that contains a Teen Titans frequency radio, a multipurpose laser beam, etc. Too bad these props were never used. In later issues, Wonder Girl was shown with an additional lasso to the one I designed (two lassos!?).

BOB McLEOD And too bad Nick Cardy ever felt the need to quit drawing comic books! Be sure to look for the upcoming book Nick Cardy: Behind the Art from TwoMorrows by Eric NolenWeathington, on the

NICK CARDY

stands in June.

Teen Titans TM & ©2008 DC Comics

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

TONY DeZUNIGA

ating JONAH own for co-cre kn st be is y . He’s n To BL ACK ORCHID so al d an , C D HEX at r Marvel, several titles fo also worked on Sega. He rs in deo games for vi ed gn si of the best inke e de d on s an e’ h k in GE SWORD teaches. I th also paints and is work on SAVA h d ye jo en y rl the art for rticula nt me much of se comics, and pa e H a. em sc of the John Bu mments, so all co e ak OF CONAN over m to t t was reluctan this feature, bu mine. comments are

BOB McLEOD Tony originally began his career as a letterer at age 16, and here he designs a wanted poster of Hex. This was done on toned paper with ink and colored pencil. You can see it in color in the PDF version of Rough Stuff, available at www.twomorrows.com.

For all of you young artists who have trouble staying within the lines when you color, Tony demonstrates that’s not a problem.

Jonah Hex TM & ©2008 DC Comics

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Finished pencils (with even the title lettering!) for a Jonah Hex splash page from Weird Western Tales #13.

Fairly tight pencils, considering he would be inking it himself. With or without the additional boulder, it’s a well-planned composition, nicely framing Hex and

TONY DeZUNIGA

his wolf, Iron Jaws.

Jonah Hex TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Tony sent me this rough, which appears to be for a Jonah Hex page. I wish we could see the finished page, to see how it changed. It’s interesting to note how he’s thinking of the lighting even at this early stage, and placing

TONY DeZUNIGA

balloons.

Jonah Hex TM & ©2008 DC Comics

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD This piece is from a 1980 Jonah Hex portfolio. The blacks are carefully designed, and the rugged western terrain is stylishly done.

Westerns were of course a mainstay of the 20th century, and most artists of Tony’s generation seem to be very adept at drawing horses, a skill that has unfortunately eluded most of today’s comic artists.

BOB McLEOD I believe this was a sketch, not meant to be inked later. I like the way Tony uses the soft grays to add lighting, and the extensive “sketchiness” of the drawing used for style as much as for construction.

Jonah Hex TM & ©2008 DC Comics

BOB McLEOD: Here’s a more finished scene, but the drawing remains loose and sketchy, with a lot of stylistic flair added for effect.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Another rough, presumably for Jonah Hex, possibly a splash page? I don’t recognize it as one of the covers. Tony evidently knew what he was seeing in his mind, even if we don’t, and this rough got his idea down on paper enough to proceed. Once again, he’s already placing blacks and

Jonah Hex TM & ©2008 DC Comics

TONY DeZUNIGA

lighting.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Arak Son of Thunder #39 (DC, 1984) After scripting Conan for Marvel for many years, Roy Thomas created a barbarian comic for DC called Arak, Son of Thunder, and he brought Tony along with him to do the art. They had a good run for a few dozen issues. I think DeZuniga’s cross hatch ink style was particularly wellsuited to the barbarian genre, and he probably couldn’t help but be influenced by John Buscema’s great layouts while inking so many issues of Savage Sword of Conan. I like his extensive use of diagonals in the composition here.

Courtesy Heritage

Arak TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Cover Art to Fire and Steel Trade Paperback (ACG, 2001) Tony does an interesting homage to Frazetta’s Tanar of Pellucidar cover here, with this simple high contrast design. Who hasn’t been

standard for barbarian fantasy art with his Conan paperback covers, but also with his work on the John Carter novels. Tony is a master with the brush, and here he demonstrates both his loose spontaneity and his superb control in one piece.

Courtesy Heritage

TONY DeZUNIGA

influenced by Frazetta? He set the

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Here’s a recent beauty from just last year, commissioned by Robert Plunkett. She’s unnamed, but looking very much like Red Sonja to me. Notice how the composition is based totally on diagonals, creating a dynamic design, and the 3/4 view and smoky background add solid 3-D depth and form.

Scan courtesy Robert Plunkett ©2008 Tony DeZuniga

BOB McLEOD In addition to barbarians and cowboys, Tony is quite adept at rendering beautiful women. Brian Peck commissioned this lovely pencil drawing in 2005 of Belit, a character from the Conan saga.

Tony’s loose but stylish style adds a lot of energy to this attractive pencil piece with the textured line work and sensual shading. He’s done a lot of private commissions in recent years, much to his many fans’ delight.

Scan courtesy Brian Peck Belit TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Marvel Preview #10, page 19 (Marvel, 1977).

In addition to pencling, Tony has inked many comics.

Here, he gives the full treatment to Jim Starlin, who I’m guessing probably supplied breakdowns rather than full pencils for the Len Wein story, “Thor The Mighty!”

Alfredo Alcala had been wowing everyone with his highly detailed rendering on Conan, and not to be outdone by his fellow Filipino, Tony went all out, using Franklin Booth style textures on the mountains. courtesy Heritage

Thor and Loki TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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BOB McLEOD Soul Love #1 This is a five-page story from 1972, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Tony for a comic that was never published. DeZuniga is an interesting choice to ink Kirby, bringing a much more rendered style to Jack’s clean pencils. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Colletta in that sense, but far superior in my opinion. What a shame Tony didn’t do a lot more inking over Kirby!

Courtesy Heritage

I love this stuff! It’s a great look for Kirby, and the story is fun, too. Judging from this, DeZuniga may be my favorite Kirby inker. I think he keeps everything Jack does well, and adds just the right amount of his own style to dress it up. His brush control is exquisite, and harkens back to the great newspaper strip artists of the ’50s. I never thought I'd say this, but they really should bring back romance comics!

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Savage Sword of Conan #5 (Marvel, 1975) Uh, wow. Marvel and John Buscema let their hair down on the black-and-white magazine format Savage Sword of Conan, and often had some pretty sexy stuff. Buscema was just doing breakdowns, which are marvelous, but it’s DeZuniga who really brought this page to stunning life, right down to the Persian carpet. His use of lush ink wash tones is particularly effective and dramatic. It’s almost photographic in that you feel like you’re in that tent with them, but it’s even better because the art has so much style and isn’t trying to be photographic.

A really masterful display of inking, very controlled yet loose and free at the same time.

Courtesy Heritage

Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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INTRODUCTION to Dominique Leonard

he very first time I was in contact with Bob McLeod, it was for a commission. A few weeks later, I got two marvellous drawings he made for me. Wow, great work. Basically, I’m a fan of comics who grew up with Belgian and French heroes, but I’m also really interested in American artists and characters. Now, I’m trying to re-discover stories I read when I was a teenager 30 years ago. It’s fun to re-read all these stories with lots of super-heroes.

T

So, when Bob told me about his magazine, and invited me to write a kind of “Introduction to European comics”

name to the magazine. Spirou, the character, appeared

for his readers, I felt very flattered, but as I’m not a pro-

for the first time in the first issue of the magazine.

fessional in the comics field, I also did worry. What could

Another important magazine, Tintin, created in 1946 (last

I write that would be likely to arouse your interest? Just to

issue in 1988), also took the name of its main character,

summarize the history of comics in Belgium and France

but “Tintin” the hero was never the property of the editor.

since the ’40s, I would need more than three Rough

His creator never sold the rights to his character. Tintin

Stuff issues, so I thought it would be more pragmatic to

was created in 1929 and is probably the most popular

highlight the work of top artists of the Golden Age of

character in comics worldwide.

comics (between the ’40s and the ’70s); my

Comics creators were “all-rounders.” They wrote

personal selection of 13 Golden Age artists.

the stories, did the pencil drawings and also

First of all, it’s important to mention that

inked their own stuff. This is the rea-

there are a lot of differences between

son why it took an average of

comics in Europe and in the USA. Let’s

one year for a story to

have a look at the major ones: In Europe, almost all characters are the property of their creators. Usually, when an artist stops his activities, his hero

DOMINIQUE: Forton has a great

disappears at the same time.

Of course, there are some exceptions. The most

ability for sketching

important character

very fast. His

that was the editor’s

pencils are often

property is named

clean but very clear

“SPIROU.” It was

at the same time.

also the title of a

He likes horses and can reproduce

magazine created in 1938 and still

these animals

published

perfectly in his

today.

westerns. He’s also very good at working out the balance between black and white.

“Teddy Ted”, unpublished sketch copyright Forton, 2008

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The editor bought the rights to the hero who gave his

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

get finished. On

Belgian & French Comics BOB McLEOD: Giraud’s Blueberry is easily my favorite comic art series, even though I can’t read most of them.

Luckily, many of them have been translated into English. Here is a rare look at Giraud’s rough pencils for a page from Mister Blueberry. I’m hoping he had to tighten up the pencils somewhat before inking, but possibly not.

BOB McLEOD: In the printed version, he stayed very close to the pencils,

top of the books, they produced pages for some

but I’m intrigued by

magazines at the same time. So, workaholics…

how he changed the

impassioned guys… Nowadays, lots of artists

angle of the lamp in

illustrate stories that are written by professional

panel two, which

writers, but in the Golden Age, artists regularly

now contradicts the

did a full creation.

perspective, which

Between 1940 and 1960, three writers produced

of course he knows

lots of great “success stories”. Their names: Jean-

very well. I assume

Michel Charlier, René Goscinny and Michel Greg. All the stories are published in hardcover. The standard measurements are 8" x 11". The books contained 64-page stories till the early ’60s, and then they were reduced to 44page stories. The price for a book today ranges from $10.50 US to $20 US. Let’s have a closer look at some artists amongst my all-time favorites. All of them have very important links with the two magazines listed above: Tintin and Spirou

he thought it was in which they published their main stuff, which is also

more important to

strongly linked to their graphic style. Spirou was more

have the yellow light

dynamic and humorous, Tintin had a staff of realistic

there rather than the

artists – classified under the generic name la ligne claire

black top of the

(the clear line), and Pilote, that came two decades later,

lamp, which would

was more the work of a second generation of artists,

have sunk into the

possibly more irreverent.

black background.

(both of them are originally Belgian creations that have

Artists from TINTIN magazine

been published in France too), but also with a third one,

HERGÉ (pronounced “airzhay”, Georges REMI,

Pilote, created in 1959. On the one hand, the graphics

Belgium, b. 05.22.1907 – d. 03.03.1983)

of some of these artists were influenced by American artists, but on the other hand some of them also influenced some contemporary American and British artists.

I’ll try to classify the artists in relation with the magazines

The change in Blueberry’s pose is also interesting.

His pen name comes from the phonetic pronunciation of the first letters of his surname and first name ‘RG’.

He’s the creator in 1929 of Tintin (the character), a reporter always accompanied by his dog “Milou”

Blueberry, unpublished sketch copyright Giraud – Editions Dargaud, 2008

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

27

most translated comic in the world. All his adventures have been made into animated movies. [HBO ran a series of animated Tintin stories a few years ago that my children loved. -ed.] I think that the recipe for the success of Tintin is the importance of the secondary characters and the fact that Hergé was a visionary. For example, in 1953, he imagined a story with a rocket, and sent Tintin and his friends to the moon (16 years before Armstrong) and all the details were very close to the reality of 1969.

So Hergé, with only one major hero, created a very rich universe that brought him to the summit in comics.

When he died, he clearly mentioned that Tintin should disappear with him. It seems that Steven Spielberg would like to do a movie of Tintin. [Unfortunately, the Hergé Foundation-Moulinsart would not permit us the use of any worthwhile images of his art for this article, but you can see some at this link: http://www.chez.com/tintim/ligneclaire/ligne_1.htm -ed.]

Edgard Pierre JACOBS (Belgium, b. 04.30.1904 – d.

02.20.1987) Alex Raymond was the inspiration for Jacobs’ graphics. At the beginning of the ’40s, during World War II, Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon comic strips could no longer be had in Belgium, so Jacobs started to draw the American character for some pages of Bravo, the magazine in which these adventures were published.

BOB McLEOD:

[renamed “Snowy” in English

Evidently working

translations -ed.], who had lots of

Unfortunately, a few weeks

from a finished

adventures (24 books) all over

later, the German censor

script, Jacobs first

the world. Tintin “visited” the

decided to stop the series.

laid out the page very simply and placed in the text.

Notice the arrow in the first panel indi-

USSR, the Congo, the USA,

Jacobs started a new sci-fi

Egypt, Scotland and other coun-

story, entitled “le rayon U”,

tries, where he always had some

but it was a one-off, a very

problems with the local criminals.

similar story to Flash

Hergé also created some other

Gordon.

heroes: Quick & Flupke, Jo Zette

In 1946, he joined the

cating his decision

& Jocko, but he never had the

staff of Tintin magazine and

to rotate the image.

success that he had with Tintin.

His ink style may

worked as an assistant for Hergé. At the same time, he

He’s the first one to have created a studio to help him to illus-

started a new series: “Blake

simplistic to the lay-

trate his stories, with some other

& Mortimer”. Philip Mortimer

man, but the draw-

artists who would become

is a scientist, a nuclear

ing must be even

amongst the most prolific and

physicist; and Francis Blake

better when there is

important artists a few years later:

is an agent of the British

Edgar Pierre JACOBS, Jacques

secret service MI-5. They

make the art appear

no fancy rendering to hide flaws.

DE MOOR … Tintin is still the 28

had eight great adventures,

MARTIN, Roger LELOUP, Bob

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

“Un opéra de papier” (Edgard P. Jacobs) copyright Jacobs – Editions Gallimard, Dargaud-Lombard, 2008.

each time with “Colonel

editor bought the rights to the characters, and two teams

DOMINIQUE:

of artists are now working alternately on the heroes. The

There are lots of

artists are Ted Benoit, André Juillard and André Sterne,

preliminary sketches

who started a story but unfortunately died recently before finishing it. The new adventures of Blake & Mortimer are great comics, but there’s something nobody will ever be able to re-create: the “Jacobs’ spirit”.

for his characters, to be sure to give them the right look, bearing and facial

Jacques MARTIN (France, b. 09.25.1921 - )

expressions. Jacobs

Another assistant of Hergé. He likes history and has

paid a lot of atten-

created lots of characters that he has drawn by himself,

tion to historical

but also some other characters that have been drawn by other artists. In 1948, he created “Alix”, a young Gallic slave, immediately adopted by an important Roman dignitary. Alix soon had a friend for his travels all around Europe, a companion called “Enak”. Probably, it’s the best series on Antiquity, with a very serious and historical background.

reference, such as clothing.

“Un opéra de papier” (Edgard P. Jacobs) copyright Jacobs – Editions Gallimard, Dargaud-Lombard, 2008.

Later on, Martin created a second hero “Lefranc”, a reporter, but much more modern than Tintin. Lefranc had his adventures in a very modern world full of dangers and

DOMINIQUE:

Olrik” as main opponent, probably the greatest “bad guy”

futuristic inventions. The success for Lefranc is based on

Jacques Martin was

in the history of Belgian and French comics. In a very

the duality between the hero and his main opponent

limited number of books, Jacobs created a

“Axel Borg”. Borg is the villain

very well-read and he researched

couple of mythical heroes. He also

who constantly threatened

invented lots of machines. The one

the reporter, but each

everything thorough-

that impressed me the most was

time Lefranc was in

ly. He wanted all his-

“le chronoscaphe”, a time travel

real danger, Borg

torical places to be

helped him.

as accurate as pos-

machine. His last story was finished in 1990 by his

sible to the original

assistant Bob De Moor

monuments. Also

because Jacobs passed away before he could finish it.

In 1996, the Dargaud

the clothes and weapons of his characters are historically very correct. I like the scene he drew here with Alix vs. a gladiator. It really gives me the impression both opponents are turning around, observing each other before springing to the attack.

(Alix) copyright Martin – Editions Casterman, 2008.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

29

DOMINIQUE: His “Corentin” is one of the most beautiful series I ever read. Cuvelier gave his hero some very colorful secondary characters: Moloch the tiger, Belzébuth the gorilla and Kim, a young Indian. “les meilleures histoires du journal Tintin” (Corentin) copyright Cuvelier – Editions du Lombard, 2008.

DOMINIQUE:

At the beginning of the ’80s,

Corentin became a

Martin’s eyesight started to deterio-

mythical character

rate and it became difficult for him

in Belgian comics.

to draw. So, he turned more and

Later on,

more to writing. The adventures of

Cuvelier created

Alix were continued by Rafael

some other heroes:

Morales, and later on by Christophe

“Flamme d’argent”

Simon. At the same time, Martin created

the story of a cru-

lots of new characters: “Jhen” drawn

sader, “Wapi” the

by Jean Pleyers, “Arno” drawn by

story of a young

André Juillard, “Orion” drawn by

Indian and “Line” a

Christophe Simon, and “Loïs”

more contemporary

drawn by Olivier Pâques. All his

female character.

stories take place in the past, from

Cuvelier was

Antiquity to the Renaissance. His

amongst the first

work has inspired many readers to

artists to give an

study history.

important place to women in his sto-

All the preliminary research was done

Paul CUVELIER (Belgium, b.

ries. As he was

on separate sheets

11.22.1923 – d. 07.05.1978)

basically a painter,

He was a genius of illustration. In

lots of his drawings

panel if need be. He

1945, he met Hergé, who motivated

just look like paint-

produced many

him to go into comics. His first story

ings. The covers of

sketches until he

was a western entitled “Le Canyon

his books are won-

was fully satisfied

Mystérieux”, and was an immediate

derful.

of paper, panel by

with a scene and

success. Then he started his major

considered he

character “Corentin Feldoë”, a young French

could use it in one

orphan who was beaten by his uncle and decided

panel of his story.

to leave home. Corentin embarked as a clandestine passenger on a boat to India.

Once in India he had some fabulous adventures with a young Indian girl (a Maharajah’s daughter). Corentin’s universe is full of animals and very nice landscapes. Despite only a limited number of adventures,

Artists from SPIROU magazine JIJÉ (Belgium, Joseph GILLAIN, b. 01.13.1914 – d.

06.20.1980) Just like Hergé, his pen name comes from the phonetic pronunciation of the first letters of his surname and first name ‘JG’. He was a very versatile artist. He created lots of heroes, but very soon he handed them over to other artists. The heroes he created include: “Blondin et Cirage” the association of two young guys – a white and a black one, which was ahead of the times in 1939, “Jean Valhardi” a detective, “Jerry Spring” a cowboy, and “Docteur Gladstone” a French doctor in Africa.

He was also one of the main artists on three other mythical series: “Spirou & Fantasio” created for the magazine by Rob-Vel (Robert Velter), “Barbe Rouge” the pirate (created by Victor Hubinon), and “Tanguy & Laverdure” a series with two French army pilots created

by Albert Uderzo. He illustrated lots of biographical stories like “Baden Powell”, “Bernadette Soubirou”, “Christopher Colombus”, and “Don Bosco”.

Jijé was one of the first artists to draw in a very dynamic style. He was “the reference” for lots of great artists like Franquin, Will, Giraud (Moebius), Mézières, Juillard and many

30

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

had so much success that Morris

DOMINIQUE:

received lots of letters from his

Jijé's use of high

readers requesting a new

contrast blacks is

appearance of the outlaws.

Unfortunately, they were dead.

So, Morris decided to give the

always very effective, and his brush

Daltons four cousins, using iden-

technique is superb.

tical graphics to the original

The drama of this

ones. These four nasty guys

scene is heightened

made appearances very regularly

by the use of high

in Lucky Luke’s adventures.

contrast lighting.

Morris also created a very stupid dog that was one of the guards in the penitentiary where the

“Baden Powell” copyright Jijé– Editions Dupuis, 2008.

Daltons were jailed. The name of the dog was “Rantanplan”, which later on became the title of others. He was a “teacher” to Franquin, Morris and Will

another series of short gags drawn by other artists:

(Willy Maltaite), and later on to Giraud. In the ’40s, he spent

Vittorio Leonardo & Michel Janvier.

a few years travelling through the United States and Mexico together with his family and his two young “students”

Morris was a fan of the cinema. Many characters in his comics were clearly based on famous American

Franquin & Morris. In the States, they met some great

actors like Jack Palance, Gary Cooper and William Hart,

American artists. As you’ll read below, Franquin and Morris

although he also caricaturized unexpected figures like

were influenced by some of them.

Louis De Funès (French actor) and Serge Gainsbourg (French singer). Morris drew more than 70 long stories

MORRIS (Maurice DE BEVERE, Belgium, b.

for Lucky Luke. Shortly before his death, Morris clearly

12.01.1923 – 07.16.2001)

mentioned that his wish was that his cowboy would sur-

His pen name is the phonetic pronunciation of his first

vive him. The adventures of Lucky Luke are now drawn

name. Together with Jijé, Franquin and Will, he was a mem-

by the French artist Achde (Hervé Darementon – once

ber of what’s commonly called la bande des quatre (the

again his pen name is the pronunciation of the first let-

gang of four). Basically, he was influenced by animation art.

ters of his surname and first name). Laurent Gerra (a

In 1946 for Spirou magazine, he created, in a humorous

famous French humorist) writes the stories. Lucky Luke is

style, a new hero, “Lucky Luke” a cowboy who shot faster than his shadow. He drew his cowboy, and nothing other than his cowboy till his death in 2001. In his works, he was influenced by some American artists like Jack Davis and

DOMINIQUE:

Harvey Kurtzman. He met them while he was in the States,

Lucky Luke has been

and he also met a French artist in the States: René

used a lot by adver-

Goscinny. Goscinny was a very talented writer, so when

tisers. Famous com-

they came back to Europe they decided to work together on

panies decided to

Lucky Luke. Their collaboration gave rise to some of the

associate their

best western stories ever published.

The success for Lucky Luke came not only from the

brands to Morris' popular cowboy.

originality of the stories, but also from a very rich gallery

Jack Davis and

of supporting characters: The Daltons, Jessie James,

Harvey Kurtzman

Calamity Jane, Billy-the-Kid, Judge Roy Bean, etc…

were notable influ-

The first time that Morris animated the Daltons in

ences for Morris.

“Hors La Loi” (The Outlaws), the story finished with the death by hanging of the four outlaws. The Daltons have

“Joe Dalton” (Lucky Luke) copyright Morris

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

31

series drawn by the young Belgian artist Batem (Luc Collin). The adventures of the funny animal have been adapted for animated movies.

From 1955 to 1959, Franquin worked for Tintin magazine too, where he drew the adventures of Modeste & Pompon (one-page gags). In 1957, still for Spirou, he created a new character “Gaston Lagaffe”, a hero without any function. Gaston Lagaffe has been the “nightmare” of Spirou magazine’s staff for years.

Gaston invented lots of gadgets, and all his gadgets always turned out to be a catastrophe. Probably one of the all-time best humorous series, with once again lots

DOMINIQUE:

one of the most popular comics heroes. He has been

I just consider

used a lot for advertising. Lots of his adventures have

Franquin as the

also been made into cartoons.

of great secondary characters. In the ’70s, Franquin had a nervous breakdown, a period during which he drew lots of monsters and “Idées Noires” (Black Ideas). They are amongst the best pages I have ever read in my life. Great stuff

“Master” in Belgian comics. He was able

André FRANQUIN (Belgium, b. 01.03.1924 – d.

to work in all the

01.05.1997)

styles; he could draw

Franquin is definitely my all-time favorite humorous artist.

something very real-

He started his work for Spirou in 1946 when Jijé (his major

istic or very humor-

influence) asked him to be his follower on the adventures of

ous with the same

Spirou & Fantasio. For this series, he created lots of second-

facility. His penciled

ary characters that really gave another dimension to Spirou.

sketches are fabu-

His most important creation appeared in 1952. It was the

lous, always terribly

“Marsupilami”, one of the most fabulous imaginary animals in

powerful and so

comics. The main characteristic of the Marsupilami is its very

dynamic. The inking

long tail that allows it to do all sorts of things (to fight, to go

of some of his pencils fishing, to move, etc…). Later on, the Marsupilami made also would have some appearances in “Gaston Lagffe” another creation of the decreased the quality genius of Franquin. In 1987, the “Marsupilami” had its own of his art. There’s no

done in black-and-white.

Franquin contributed to some great stories as a writer for his colleagues and friends Will and Fréderic Jannin, but also as a story-boarder for Peyo’s cartoons (on the series Johan et Pirlouit & les Schtroumpfs, aka Smurfs). He died too soon in January 2007, a few days after he sent me one of his last sketches for my son Sébastien. There’s a last funny thing to be mentioned about Franquin. During his work on “Gaston” and “Idées Noires”, he finished all his pages with a different signature, always in relation to the contents of his gags. There’s a book fully dedicated to Franquin’s signatures (here are some examples).

PEYO (Pierre CULLIFORD, Belgium, b. 06.25.1928 – 12.24.1992) Probably one of the most well known Belgian artist in

doubt about that. I’m particularly thinking

the States, due to the success of his Smurfs, a series

of that in this sketch

originally created for comics but which was adapted very

with “Gaston and his

early on for the movies by Hanna-Barbera, and broadcast

X-mas tree”, a

all over the world. One of the American artists who

superb sketch

worked on the cartoons was Bob Singer.

In the ’50s, Peyo was one of the stars of Spirou magazine

Franquin drew a few

with his series “Johan & Pirlouit”. Johan was a knight in the

days before his death. He did it for my

Middle Ages. He was accompanied in all his adventures by

son. Inking the piece

Pirlouit, and they positioned themselves as defenders of all the

would have made it

“right causes”. In 1958, in one of their adventures “La Flute à

cleaner but less

Six Trous” (later on the title was changed to “La Flûte à Six

spontaneous and less

Schtroumpfs”), the heroes met the Smurfs. When Peyo con-

dynamic at the same

sidered the success of the Smurfs, originally secondary char-

time. There’s no pos-

acters, he decided to launch a new series fully dedicated to

sibility to ink such a

the blue lutins. The “Smurfs” were born. One originality of the

sketch and keep the

Smurfs was that they had their own language, in which they

original qualities of

replaced lots of verbs and words by “smurf”, but the master-

the pencil.

32

Gaston Lagaffe copyright Franquin

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

piece was that all children understood what they said.

DOMINIQUE: On the base of a very nervous preliminary sketch done by his friend Franquin (he helped lots of his colleagues), Peyo just kept the composition of the scene but got rid of the anguished atmosphere.

Franquin’s castle was dilapidated and Later on, Peyo created new characters: Poussy (gags

In the ’60s, Tillieux wrote lots of stories for other

menacing crows

with a cat), Benoit Brisefer (the adventures of a young

artists: “Marc Lebut” drawn by Francis Bertrand, “S.O.S.

were flying around

kid who was very strong, fast, etc… except when he had

Bagarreur” drawn by René Follet (one of my favorite illus-

cold), Jacky & Célestin. By the end of the ’60s, due to

trators), “Tif & Tondu” for Will, “Jess Long” for Arthur

the growing success of the Smurfs, Peyo created a

Piroton, “Natacha” for Walthery (another assistant of

studio where lots of famous contemporary artists started

Peyo) and “Yoko Tsuno” drawn by Roger Leloup

but used the

their careers (Walthéry, De Gieter, Wasterlain, etc…).

(assistant of Hergé).

moonlight to give an

Shortly after his death in 1992, his son and daughter

the donjon. Peyo drew a nice castle

oppressive feeling.

took over the running of the studio where all the artists

“Peyo l’enchanteur” copyright Franquin / Peyo – Editions Niffle – IMPS, 2008

now work as members of staff. Each new story of the Smurfs is still each time a bestseller in comics.

Maurice TILLIEUX (Belgium, b. 08.07.1921 – d.

02.02.1978) He was a very versatile artist, doing all and nothing.

He wrote some novels before starting really in comics.

Very soon, he created lots of characters and stories for small editors, and lots of these early stories were transformed later into “new” scenarios for his new creations or for some stories written for colleagues. His graphic influences were Fred Harman and Milton Caniff.

Success came for him in the late ’40s, when he started “Félix” the detective for the Héroïc-Albums magazine.

All his adventures were illustrated in a very humorous style. In 1955, for Risque-Tout, he created another detective “Marc Jaguar”, but he did only one story with this character. Immediately after that, for Spirou magazine, he began “Gil Jourdan” (once again a detective). Gil Jourdan propelled him to the top. The series was very well drawn, with a lot of humor. The secondary charac-

DOMINIQUE:

ters were great and important in the stories, and the

This is the inked version of the drawing that was used as a

readers really enjoyed their adventures for more than 15

cover for one of Gil Jourdan’s adventures. Tillieux played very

years. In 1970, Tillieux continued to write the adventures

well with the balance of black and white. He like to draw cars,

of his detective and Gos (Roland Goossens – another

especially old French cars. He has the reputation to be the

former assistant of Peyo) drew the stories.

artist in comics who drew the most cars in his stories.

“la voiture immergée” (Gil Jourdan) copyright Tillieux – éditions Dupuis, 2008

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

33

DOMINIQUE:

in a very comical style (influences of Walt

Very detailed

Disney in the graphics) with also a lot of

preliminary sketch

humor in the scenario. These are the adven-

for “la rentrée

tures of a couple of Gallish characters

gauloise”. This

shortly before Jesus. Astérix and his friend

drawing was

Obélix had lots of adventures all over the

abandoned when

world (Egypt, Helvetia, Corsica, America…).

Uderzo selected

The success of the series is due to the

another one for the

talent of Uderzo of course, but also to the

cover, but it was

talent and creativity of the writer René

reproduced in the

Goscinny. All the characters have surnames

album on the page

that are play-on-words (but impossible to

at the back of the

translate in English for me) and the dia-

cover.

logues are also full of play on words. It’s a real pleasure to read the stories.

This is a very

Just like Morris in his Lucky Luke stories

nice scene in which all the three main

(also partialy written by Goscinny), Uderzo

characters have the

placed lots of famous people in his comics.

same importance.

He drew lots of caricatures: Sean Connery

Uderzo drew a lot of

(as a secret agent), Eddy Merckx (a famous

characters, and

Belgian cyclist), Kirk Douglas, etc …

Today, Astérix is the all-time bestseller in

played with their attitudes. He found

comics. The last story had a first issue of

the right balance in

8,000,000 copies. Just to give an idea for

his opposition

comparison: a relatively successful first edi-

between

tion has a print of 100,000 books. It’s also

“movement” (kids

important to notice that the two last series

and druid) and

Artists from PILOTE magazine

created by Uderzo (“Tanguy & Laverdure” – “Astérix &

“immobility”

Albert UDERZO (France, 04.05.1927, - )

Obélix”) have been adapted more than once for the cine-

(Astérix, Obélix and

Walt Disney was his graphic reference. He signed his

ma (animated movies but also movies with real actors like

their dog). The

first stories under the pen name “Al Uderzo” (it sounds

Gérard Depardieu for Obélix). The last adventure of Astérix was a tribute to Uderzo’s influence: Walt Disney.

influence of

more American), the titles were “Chevalier Belloy”, “Jehan

animated movies

Pistolet”, “Luc Junior” and “Oumpah-Pah” (published in

(Walt Disney) on his

Tintin in 1959). In 1950, he drew some adventures of

graphics is

Captain Marvel Junior for the French magazine Bravo.

His first important work in comics was as an assistant

important. He’s one

In the fifties, Uderzo drew some short stories for

for Jijé on “La Route de Coronado”, an adventure of Jerry

of the best artists at

Spirou and Tintin, but he never became successful in

Spring (western story) that was published in Spirou in

drawing the eyes of

these magazines.

characters. And

In October 1959, in France, a new magazine came

Jean GIRAUD (France, b. 05.08.1938, - )

1961. In 1963, he created “Blueberry” (another famous cowboy) for Pilote magazine, a character that was very

finally, even though

out: Pilote. Uderzo started immediately with two new

successful and that is still published today. Later on,

Asterix is a

series: “Tanguy & Laverdure” written by J.M. Charlier (the

there were two other parallel series with Blueberry. A first

humorous series,

adventures of two French army pilots) and drawn with

one that was drawn by Colin Wilson and today by Michel

this scene is very

very realistic graphics, and “Astérix & Obélix” written by

Blanc-Dumont: la jeunesse de Blueberry (Young

close to the histori-

René Goscinny. Both series were very successful, but

Blueberry); and a second one “Marshal Blueberry” that

cal reality, as at that

after a few years Astérix became the “top series”, the rea-

was drawn by William Vance (one of the top artists of the

time druids were

son why Uderzo stopped his activities on “Tanguy &

moment with his series “XIII”) and Michel Rouge. In

teaching their

Laverdure.” Their adventures were then illustrated by Jijé.

1976, due to some problems he had with his editor,

children.

Nowadays, the heroes are still having new adventures,

Giraud stopped temporarily Blueberry and created a new

drawn alternately by two different artists: Yvan Fernandez

character called Jim Cutlass, once again a western set

and Renaud Garreta.

So, Asterix is still “the succes” for Urdezo. It’s drawn 34

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

during the Secession War. He drew only one book and then left the character to Christian Rossi.

BOB McLEOD: Giraud rarely drew figures extending beyond the panel in the early Blueberry stories. It wasn’t really until the 18th album, Nez Casse, that I noticed a rather sudden and obvious blending of his freewheeling “Moebius” style with his more traditional Blueberry style, and his Blueberry layouts and ink style loosened up considerably.

Blueberry, unpublished sketch copyright Giraud – Editions Dargaud, 2008

All his western stories were drawn in a very realistic style, but Giraud, in addition to the growing success of Blueberry, had a need for other challenges. By the end of the ’60s, he took the pen name “Moebius”, and produced some very different stories compared to his work on Blueberry. The titles were: Azrach, John Difool…

Giraud lived for a few years in the States, where he worked together with American artists Eric Shanower and Jerry Bingham… He drew an adventure of the Silver Surfer written by Stan Lee [which is probably where most Americans discovered him -ed.].

DOMINIQUE: Very nice sketch of Lieutenant Blueberry done by Giraud by the end of the ’90’s for my personal collection.

He also worked a lot for the cinema as a storyboarder on Dune and Alien.

As well as continuing success with Blueberry, Giraud

artist, who has influenced lots of contemporary

BOB McLEOD:

artists: Michel Rouge, Claude Auclair, Michel

The changes from the pencils in this example are fairly dramatic.

The figure on the left in panel one is very different, the mouth opens into a Clint Eastwood sneer in panel two, and the background figure becomes a mere shadow in panel three. It’s Giraud’s casual mastery with the brush that always most captures my attention, though. I love the way he seemingly effortlessly slaps in the backgrounds.

Blanc-Dumont, Milo Manara, Christian Rossi, Georges Bess, Taniguchi… but also some American artists for sure.

explored other directions, essentially for

Jean-Claude MEZIERES (France, b.

his own pleasure.

09.23.1938, - )

Moebius is a famous pen name but will

Mézières started in the field of comics in the early 60s. He worked with Giraud but also with

never be as success-

the son of Jijé. He drew lots of short stories for

ful as Giraud. Giraud

different magazines, and success came in 1967

is a very important

when he launched a very innovative sci-fi series,

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

35

MÉZIÈRES: Sort of a storyboarded illustration for a scene in the European sci-fi movie Hard to be a God (1991).

Copyright Mézières- Editions Dargaud, 2008

panied by Laureline (female character) in all his

MÉZIÈRES:

adventures. The universe of the series is very fic-

Pencil approach of a

tional, full of extremely powerful secondary char-

small poster illustra-

acters. Some of Mézières stories are now avail-

tion for a comics

able in the United States in Valerian: The New

Festival in France.

Future Trilogy, Volume 1.

The final work will

The Valerian series has been very influential,

be completed with

especially in the Star Wars movies. Valerian

inking and coloring

came before Star Wars, and there are many similar designs, from alien beings to a striking similar-

of my own. So many

ity between Valerian’s ship and Han Solo’s

things can happen

Millennium Falcon. Mézières also worked for the

on the visual from

cinema as a background designer for Luc

pencilling to inking

Besson for his movie The Fifth Element, and on a

and coloring. That’s

few other storyboards.

why it is unbelievGérald FORTON (Belgium, 04.10.1931, - )

able for me to leave

It’s difficult to link Gérald Forton to any of the

somebody else

three magazines, because he worked a lot for all

doing the finishing

three.

job on the final

He created and animated lots of characters.

drawing.

I’ll try to list the most important ones. Gérald’s

“Valérian & Laureline” (les extras de Mézières) copyright MézièresClub Bdéphile de Colmar – Editions Dargaud, 2008

main influence was Alex Raymond. He started in Spirou in the early ’50s with “Kim Devil”, an adventurer in the Amazonian jungle (very similar Valérian. Valérian was one of the first French sci-fi series, drawn in a very specific graphic style. Since then, Mézières has focused exclusively on his successful character.

36

to Jungle Jim). He also drew the adventures of another jungle man: Tiger Joe (after Victor Hubinon).

Forton always had a keen interest in the USA, which is probably the reason why he gave so many “American”

Valérian was a kind of space ranger, who moved in

names to his characters, and also one of the reasons why

time and space, and who was from very early on accom-

he moved to the States in the ’70s. Nowadays, Gérald is

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

DOMINIQUE:

still living in California.

After “Kim Devil”, still for Spirou, Forton continued his

Clear influence of

work with “Alain Cardan” (a man in space) and “Captain

Alex Raymond in this

Morgan” (a pirate). For Tintin, he did some western sto-

“Jungle adventurer”

ries, which were among his favorite works. He’s a fan of

drawn by Forton.

westerns, and the name of his cowboy is Ben Barry.

“Kim Devil”, unpublished sketch copyright Forton / Charlier – éditions Dupuis, 2008

Later on, for Vaillant and Pilote, he worked on another very important cowboy: Teddy Ted. I have linked Forton to Pilote because in 1962, he started to work on “Bob Morane”, one of the most col-

FORTON:

lected characters in France. Bob Morane is a modern

“When I start a

adventurer always followed by his friends Bill Ballantine and Sofia Paramount. Their adventures took them to all

drawing, I can

corners of the globe, and from time to time, they travelled

visualize it before

in time, too. He worked on the title until his move to the

putting the pencil on

USA. Once in the States, he continued his work for

paper. I don’t

Pilote on “Pemberton” (more humorous character) with

scribble …going

Belgian creator Sirius (Max Mayeu). In the ’90s, Gérald

with one line,

resumed drawing the adventures of Bob Morane.

erasing mistakes in

Gérald Forton also produced superhero stories for the French and American markets: Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain

the process.

America, Fantastic Four, Jonah Hex, John Sable, Nexus, He-

Using mechanical

Man… He collaborated on the storyboards of Prince Valiant

pencil with 2b lead, I

and Conan the Barbarian, and is still working as a story-

young American artists are willing to go in the direction

don’t push the

boarder. Forton is certainly one of the artists who produced

of the European comics. I’m thinking of Mike Mignola, for

penciled drawing too

the most impressive number of pages. He’s a very versatile

example. I’m also thinking of John Cassaday and Terry

artist with a permanent need for change, both in characters

tight. Most of the

Dodson, who recently drew “Coraline” (a very nice story

and graphic style. I do consider him as a very talented artist,

published in France by the end of last year).

time I ink it myself, unless it’s not

who has a great ability to produce quality comics. He ranks

Nowadays, more and more young European artists

very high in my personal listing. He’s available for commission,

are also showing interest in American comics. They are

supposed to be

so if you’re interested don’t hesitate to contact him. You

working in studios, and some of them have produced a

printed.”

can visit his website:

few stories with superheroes. I’m thinking of Philippe

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~movieboards/.

I have to stop now, otherwise I could list lots of other

Berthet who has drawn pages for Captain America: Red, White and Blue, and Philippe Buchet who has done

important creators who contributed to the golden era of

Wolverine. I also have in mind Stan & Vince, two French

Belgian and French “comics”. There’s one thing that’s

artists who have drawn some stories of Tarzan. And,

remarkable; almost all the artists I mentioned have

please, have a look at Gil Formosa’s website:

reached the summit in comics with only one important

http://gil.formosa.free.fr/.

character in their biography, and a very limited number of books: Hergé did Tintin, Jacobs did Blake & Mortimer,

Let’s hope you’ve enjoyed my modest contribution to Rough Stuff, and for sure if you want more I could write

Cuvelier had Corentin, Morris drew Lucky Luke, Uderzo

more. Any interest in westerns in European comics for

drew Astérix, Giraud did Blueberry, and Mézières

example? It’s up to you to decide…

reached a top success with Valérian.

On the contrary, in the States, artists are recognized for their work on a specific character (their contribution

Many thanks to Bob McLeod for opening the Rough Stuff pages to my modest literature, and also for additional comments he wrote.

to that existing character) and then they have runs on

Special thanks to Gérald Forton and Jean-Claude

other characters. Almost all American artists drew all the

Mézières, who both supported me in the writing of my

major superheroes at one time or another. Although

article, and who so kindly provided some comments to

there’s really a cultural difference in the approach to

their art. Thanks to all other artists and publishers who

comics between Europe and the USA, more and more

made me dream with their heroes and comics.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

37

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

ALEX HORLEY

es work n artist who do ia al It an is x Ale ates, and d the United St an y al It r fo both e for his best known her he’s probably orked for intings. He’s w r private fantasy art pa sought af ter fo ry ve is d an s, blisher to show several U.S. pu and asked him e, yl st g n ti in like his pa commissions. I intings. work for his pa im el pr is h of e us som

ALEX HORLEY Packaging for a computer game, the World of Warcraft’s “Fires of Outland” set. I did a small layout to start with. The art had to work as a wraparound cover, or similar to a VHS box. I did the layout in actual size, so that I had a precise feel of how to handle the composition.

38

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX HORLEY Evil Ernie cover rough. No thumbnails for this one. I just started drawing him on a 8.5” x 11” sheet and the rest pretty much came together.

BOB McLEOD I love it when the roughs are works of art in themselves.

With very little touch up this could easily be printed as an

ALEX HORLEY

interior illustration.

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39

ALEX HORLEY This art was done for box art and packaging of Upperdeck’s VS card game. The set was called “Marvel Team-Up” (one of my favorites as a kid).

The layout was done 8.5” x 11” size and then blown up to 18” x 24” for the painting. I try to leave as much as possible of the rendering in the painting stage and not sort every single detail right away in the preliminaries, otherwise I would get bored, it would be like working on the same thing twice and the painting won’t have the same energy.

This one took a few weeks to paint, but I had a great time, since I got to work on many of my favorite characters in one shot. I grew up with Marvel comics in the ’70s and the art of Marvel in those years has been one (if not the main) major influence in my drawing formation. Kirby, Buscema, Kane (his covers!) and Colan, are still the comic book idols I look up to.

40

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ALEX HORLEY Working on Magic the Gathering cards at times I had a lot of freedom, like for this card, a special online one, where I designed the character. Roughs are probably the most important part of an artwork. That’s the stage where all the basic decisions are made, like composition, movement, light source and consequent shadow areas. Painting and coloring are important too, but without a good, solid backbone, the art won’t work, while with a strong design as a base you could add just a few colors and it still would work well.

[see Alex's paintings in full color in the $2.95 downloadable PDF version of Rough Stuff available at

ALEX HORLEY

www.twomorrows.com -ed.]

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41

ALEX HORLEY This is just a doodle for my Marvel “Dream Team”. Love those characters and have been dreaming for a long time about doing a story where they team up. Today I would probably add Tigra to the team as well.

BOB McLEOD Note how in both drawings forms are coming forward and receding in space, using foreshortening. This adds so much more depth than the sideways profile poses I see so many students do. And down shots like this are much more effective than the head on shots students choose.

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ALEX HORLEY Here’s a sample of a rough for a WOW card. Another reason to work small at first, especially with cards, is because of how small the art gets printed and you have to make sure that everything is still “readable” even when shrinked that much.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX HORLEY This is an unused cover for the new (Devil’s Due) Micronauts. Another of my childhood faves, both as toys and as comics.

Unfortunately they ended up picking another idea which featured only new characters. I would have really liked to paint Acroyear in action...

BOB McLEOD It's always a good idea to go for three levels of depth like this: foreground, middle ground, and background. The color should usually be darker in the foreground, normal in the middle, and paler

ALEX HORLEY

in the background.

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43

ALEX HORLEY Here’s a sample for a comic book page layout. Working on comic pages, I try to work on “actual size” layouts, in order to have a direct feel of how the page is going to

ALEX HORLEY

look when printed.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

ALEX HORLEY Various thumbnails, mostly done for myself or as warmups for something else.

BOB McLEOD Check out that great muscular anatomy on Wolverine. All student artists should fill a notebook with sketches like these. It's a great idea to keep a daily sketchbook if you can.

ALEX HORLEY

Wolverine TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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45

ALEX HORLEY This sketch is one of the many I submitted to Heavy Metal for possible cover ideas. It's not been used (so far), but I'm planning to paint it anyway at some point. Both are subjects I really enjoy working on: girls and dinosaurs!

BOB McLEOD Well, it's tough work, but somebody has to do it, I guess. See how the high contrast lighting really emphasizes her, um... form... and adds to

ALEX HORLEY

the depth.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

BOB McLEOD Want more Horley? Go to

of my web site at http://www.bobmcleod.com/ roughstuff.htm

ALEX HORLEY

the Rough Stuff pages

ALEX HORLEY Lobo is my favorite DC character and I’ve been lucky to work on him on several occasions. These doodles were probably done while looking for the right idea of the cover for Lobo Unbound #1.

Lobo TM & ©2008 DC Comics

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47

PRE-PRO

D

id you ever wonder what the pros’ artwork looked like before they turned pro?

RAFAEL KAYANAN Drew this during the heyday of the short-lived TV show. I was nine years old and I had the Galen action figure, the trading cards and the comics!

ALEX HORLEY The guy with the cape is one of the hundreds of characters I “designed”.

I guess this one was inspired by The Vision. These are from a drawing pad I found a while ago. I was eight when I did these. I used to copy almost all

ALEX HORLEY

the covers of the comics I could afford to buy (not many, back then)!

Conan is the only non-superhero character I was interested in, back then. At age eight, his stories were kind of creepy, but exciting as hell.

R.E. Howard’s epics have been another major influence on my creative formation and John Buscema’s interpretation of his characters in comic book form, to me, is still the best one.

48

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

MIKE MAYHEW This is a page from a Spidey submission I sent to Marvel. I think the story might have been from the Marvel Try-Out Book. Circa 1992 in pencil.

MIKE MAYHEW This second one is an unfinished sketch of a spaceman and a damsel in distress from a sketchbook of mine, circa 1987, when I was 16.

Spider-Man TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

BOB McLEOD These pieces by Rafael and Alex are good for their age, but I see art by kids pretty comparable to these all the time, yet they probably won't ever make it into the pro ranks. It takes more than talent to become a pro. It takes years of study and practice, and an ability to look at your art objectively and take criticism well. And maybe most importantly, patience and persistence.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

49

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D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

R AFAEL K AYANAN

’80s when ael in the early af R et m t rs fi I ics, and eaking into com he was first br ry sucto become a ve on e n go ce n he’s si ng in films al artist worki ci er m usical. In m co l fu cess Spider-Man m ew n e th r fo adway RM, TUROK, and now on Bro ciling FIRESTO n pe r fo n ow all on st kn artist, so we’re comics, he’s be al ti ar m r te as e’s also a m and CONAN. H . ior around him our best behav

RAFAEL KAYANAN Pencil splash page for a story written by John Byrne. This is much tighter than I would normally pencil today because I usually ink my own art and I leave all the small details for the inking stage. I was also unfamiliar on who my inker would be so once I get a few pages back inked I can tell how tight I have to go. This was the image that helped secure a spot for me as illustrator for the Spider-Man Broadway show that Julie Taymor (Lion King) is directing. I had a diverse selection of concept art from various film and stage projects, but I knew I needed to cater my portfolio so that the reviewer can see that I’d actually worked on the character. I chose a pencil page because directors are used to seeing the pre-visualization process. Handing them a slick color comic with your name on it does not show them the working stage, and that’s what interests them. There’s a certain disconnect if you hand in printed work for concept design gigs, it appears too polished and the reviewer wants to see where they can springboard from your rough ideas.

RAFAEL KAYANAN I draw a ton of squiggly lines when I’m trying to find my way around a sketch. Note the extra limbs ghosting on the prelim indicating possible choices on the pose. In this instance I am happier with the rough than the final because the head placement is more appealing and the shading was better on the torso. I would also swing the webbing back to lead the eye to the bottom figure. This Spider-Man TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

scene depicts a Spider-Man hologram being viewed by the couple below.

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51

RAFAEL KAYANAN Really rough stuff, on the right is the thumbnail I use to enlarge a layout, I work in the darks with a broad marker or just use the side of a pencil. I like using the old Duofold Parker mechanical pencils because it fits snuggly in my palm like a charcoal stick. You have to be careful purchasing them online though, because after a certain age, the barrel turns brittle and can snap in half if you place too much pressure on it. For something like Star Wars, there’s a lot of reference work, so I did a larger drawing (left), that contains more detail but is still very loose. I ended up discarding these studies and went for a focus point on one of the aliens with Luke and Obi-Wan speaking in the background. After all, the scene was not about the Cantina, but on what the two subjects were talking about. So as a comic book storyteller, you have to step away from “showing off” if the image isn’t adding to the main story. I would probably choose this panel layout otherwise, and if it were a double page spread. On the printed page, this bottom panel would be too small for the detail, and unnecessarily eat up valuable deadline time.

STAR WARS TM & ©2008 Lucasfilm LLC

52

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

RAFAEL KAYANAN Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Portion of a page and the roughs. I flopped the small Batgirl figure to direct the eventual fall of her victim down to the larger Batman figure in the Foreground.

Batman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

BOB McLEOD Next time you're thinking of being lazy about adding backgrounds to a page, remember artists like Rafael are putting in 110% and really making you look like the slacker you

RAFAEL KAYANAN

are!

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53

RAFAEL KAYANAN Conan The Adventurer I included this page because it shows a marked contrast in how comic production has evolved through the years.

Back in 1993, I worked on the Conan The Adventurer comic with writer Roy Thomas.

Since this was prior to either of us having online access, most of the notes were done old school, right on the breakdowns before they were hand-lettered. Roy was a wonderful collaborator, because he welcomed my knowledge of swordsmanship and encouraged me to jot down on the page what was taking place in terms of actual swordplay. It probably drove the production department at Marvel nuts having to mask out all the border notes. Once I set about inking the page, I would erase all the notes in the live image area.

I’ve always enjoyed the creative communication with talented writers like Roy. This process didn’t always go so smoothly, I once did a martial arts-related comic many years ago in which I naively included the same meticulous method of notes, and they were all completely ignored.

Although I was lucky enough to have worked with a couple of other writers like Fabian Nicieza on Turok and most recently, when I returned to Conan at Dark Horse with Kurt Busiek who made the creative process quite enjoyable.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

RAFAEL KAYANAN Conan The final was done smaller and then digitally painted in Photoshop. The sword that Conan is drawing in reverse is tilted to counter the diagonal thrust of the top panel, which is left-side heavy. I knew there would be a word balloon on the right so I factored that into the composition. I altered the large blades to make them less familiar and to contrast the straight blade that Conan is using.

RAFAEL KAYANAN Conan Much of the printed version of this contains a painted backdrop that reaches up and to the left side of the composition. The original inked art is the size of the comic book. I used Pitt Pens and Micron Brushpens to ink the art. As far as staging the action goes, I try to add a reaction shot from what transpired a half-second before, what’s happening at the present and the dangers that lie ahead.

Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

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RAFAEL KAYANAN Conan The top panel on this page was spurred by a study (see panel below) where I wanted to display Conan using his sword skills while exhibiting a lot of his strength as well. I felt that the

RAFAEL KAYANAN Study for above panel. I added Conan’s face after I figured out the flow

“bouquet” of

of the action. I ended up settling for a kabob of zombie heads instead

bodies on panel

of the bouquet. The zombies are caught up in a one man Cimmerian

two only served

twister, lots of frenzy and chaos.

the latter purpose and it became redundant once I enlarged the space for the top panel. Again, it was another creative choice to stay within the story and not try to cram all this action in.

Although fun to look at, it would be self-indulgent and it did not serve the script’s purpose.

RAFAEL KAYANAN Close-up of panel rough depicting Conan sweeping his sword around as Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

more zombies close in. The trail of vacuous zombie entrails act as the motion tracker.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

RAFAEL KAYANAN Conan Final inked version. I emphasized the character Janissa accumulating her own “body count” equal to the Cimmerian’s.

Note, no writing on the art! Kurt (Busiek) and I would e-mail back and forth – working out the mechanics of the action. I’d send along a scan plus detailed descriptions from Kurt’s plot (Marvel style in this case) to both Kurt and editor Scott

RAFAEL KAYANAN

Allie for their input.

Conan TM & ©2008 Conan Properties International LLC

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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RAFAEL KAYANAN What If: Annihilation, pg. 11 I changed the angle of the Watcher on the second panel to emphasize the machine and his authority in his HQ. I also enlarged his head and tilted the angle to show the heroes reacting to his words. I designed the machine parts to help lead the eye around the page.

They are Kirby retro designs and it was fun trying to figure out how Kirby used simple geometric patterns to create such complex machines!

All Characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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RAFAEL KAYANAN What If: Annihilation, pg. 14 Panel 1: Shapes of panels in this page are in landscape rather than portrait style. There will only be one portrait shaped box and that will be Iron Man's warning panel. The rest of the page deals with where the characters are and what they are doing at that time, therefore I wanted to subconsciously touch on that with the similarity of the panel shapes.

Panel 3: Reed and the Watcher conversing — I wanted to give this panel more space for writer David Hine's dialogue. I also framed the Device (which is the subject of the Watcher's and Reed's dialogue)

between the two primary speakers. Reed's sense of urgency shown through his body language — he's starting to stretch. In the FG are hints of the other heroes, but I wanted to refer to Iron Man's panel a little with a throwaway shot of Iron Man's helm in mid transition, opening to reveal...

Panel 4: Stark's face — the portrait panel with the monitor shape bringing the composition flow to the next panel. I "interrupted" the panel above by over-lapping and tilting the panel shape a little here. I also faced Stark's eye line towards the reader rather than looking off the left hand side of the page.

Panel 5: Reed and the Kirby doohickey... more interaction with machine, more dynamics, bells, whistles, etc... Nova and Black Bolt in the FG. I really liked David's point that the Watcher's machines are not designed for earthlings, so without Reed's brains and stretching powers — they'd all be in deep trouble. Also have Reed slightly turned to BB, so that his words may carry more weight.

They're playing a huge bluff here, so although it doesn't give away the ruse... on second read, it will show that they were all in on playing this bluff.

Panel 6: *Wanted more emphasis that one ship was leaving and the other touching down, so moon dust below for the landing ship and a trail showing the exiting ship.

All Characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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RAFAEL KAYANAN What If: Annihilation, pg. 20 Reed is wrapping himself around Nova in panel one to show his sense of urgency in contrast to Nova’s cool response. On the middle of the page, I added the “callback” of the Watcher’s head in silhouette to show that he was given Nova’s collective knowledge housed in his helm by using the star emblem as the focal

RAFAEL KAYANAN

point.

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All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

RAFAEL KAYANAN John Carter Zitidar I designed this huge creature, which was supposedly telepathically driven by the four-limbed green A close-up of the Thark driver. A

men of Mars. At first,

bunch of loose scribbles as design

it was more like the

shorthand suggesting form and value.

shape of a huge mammoth but the use of brain waves to communicate with this beast of burden caused me to alter his head design. I wanted it to resemble a satellite dish, fanning out like a Triceratops. A giant secondary spine

would connect to the back of the head and give the driver a natural cover from overhead attacks.

The face of the creature was very small to indicate that much of his brain’s functions rely on what it picks up from the driver’s mind.

RAFAEL KAYANAN John Carter Tars Armor Concept design of Tars Tarkas is based on a suggestion by artist Iain McCaig (designer of Darth Maul). Iain had an idea of using natural materials and found objects that a Thark would rig up as part of his body armor. Coincidentally, prior to arriving to the production offices of John Carter of Mars I’d accumulated stacks of references of various exotic weapons and did several knot tying studies of the Japanese Samurai armor exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. I also researched Pacific Islander weaving and ornamental construction using natural objects like bone and sinew.

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COVER STORIES

J

ust how did a blank piece of paper turn into the sexy painting on this issue’s cover? Mike Mayhew wanted to do a new painting just for us, but our funds are limited and we just couldn’t afford him. Then Len Gould saw it and liked it so much he decided to buy it for his collection, and paid the difference between our cover rate and Mike’s asking price. It was a win-win-win situation for all of us!

MIKE MAYHEW This cover was done in the same vein as my Women of Marvel TPB work. The characters were chosen by interviewer Len Gould. I really had fun portraying these classic Avengers ladies.

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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BOB McLEOD Mike often uses live models for his paintings, and I hope he's a fast worker because it must have been difficult for Ms. Marvel and Wasp to hang in the air like that! Here you can see the thumbnail he made to get his basic color scheme of red fading into yellow established, and the underpainting he did before adding subsequent layers to achieve the lustrous finish.

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HORLEY I usually start with thumbnails first; this enables me to nail down the main shapes and composition real quick.

Once I find something that seems worth “exploring”, I blow the thumbnail up to 8.5” x 11” size and start refine the drawing and add some details. Then I blow this drawing up to the size I feel would be more comfortable to work with while painting (this piece ended up on a 16” x 24” canvas board). This painting was supposed to be a cover for the TPB of a mini-series I did for Image in mid-’90s called Sharky. The TPB was never published, but the painting was published as a tip-in plate in one issue of Heavy Metal magazine.

BOB McLEOD Notice the repositioning of her left arm, which fills the space much more effectively and adds to the depth by overlapping his arm. Also note in the finished painting that she's now evidently just dispatched one of his buddies...

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65

INTERVIEW

MIKE MAYHEW

By Len Gould

ike Mayhew is one of comicdom’s rising stars. His extremely tight pencil renderings have an

M

uncanny photorealistic feel. This truly forces his art to stand out amongst a crowded field. Mike is

most widely known for the series of covers which he has done over the last few years for Marvel,

most notably on She-Hulk, Pulse, and Mystique. His earlier interior work on Vampirella with writer Mark Millar was simply stunning, bestowing depth to the character not seen since the halcyon days of José Gonzales and Gonzalo Mayo.

MIKE MAYHEW

Mike has a lot on his plate currently; mainstream work and creator-owned; covers

I’ve been playing a lot with gray prismacolor markers in my prelims, to lay down quick values and get a sophisticated sense of lighting. They’re a lot of fun too!

Catwoman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

and interiors. His career has come a long way over the last decade. Recently, he sat down with me to discuss that journey, artistic influences, and techniques.

LEN GOULD: As always, the best place to start, Mike, is at the beginning.

Could you give the Rough Stuff readers a brief bio?

MIKE MAYHEW: My pleasure. I was born In Mesa, Arizona. I grew up in the ’70s just really into horror movies and science fiction. I was seven years old when Star Wars hit and that just kind of solidified things for me. I just kind of always drew, too. I was an only child, so it was something that really kept me entertained and

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

This was one of a pair of tight

I could just sit there for hours and hours

unpublished Elektra

drawing characters. I never really drew

images that I did in

actual comic pages when I was a little kid,

anticipation for some

but I always drew little scenarios and that

Elektra covers.

kind of stuff.

Elektra TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

GOULD: Were you a comic book fan?

66

MIKE MAYHEW

Storm TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

MAYHEW: Yes, but as a little kid mostly of

MIKE MAYHEW

horror comics. I remember having Creepy

Storm cover

and Eerie. I even remember bringing a

With these covers, I

copy of Tomb of Dracula to church, so I

wanted to celebrate

wouldn’t get bored, and I remember my mom tearing it out of my hands. I also had a lot of the Power Records that Neal Adams did the art for. I was a fan of the popular comic book (especially Hulk and Batman) and cartoon characters and drew them a lot when I was a younger kid, maybe before

the African ethnicity of Ororo and T’Challa. So many times in cartoonderived comic art, ethnic races end up in

ten, and then I kind of just got out of it for what-

caricature. I know

ever reason. Then, as an adolescent, I grew up

from working with

and discovered Frank Frazetta and Heavy Metal.

models and photo-

GOULD: OK, now that’s a pretty big step! [Both

ual’s unique, idiosyn-

laugh]

cratic features can be

MAYHEW: Yeah, then I got back into comic

captured, and in the

books when I was 14, 15, because of the art-

course of a series a

work. It just really kind of spoke to me. That was a cool time for art-

range of emotions can

graphs that an individ-

work, too, because there was a lot of experimentation going on. Bill

be displayed.

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

67

MIKE MAYHEW Mystique cover Mystique is probably my best known work.

I thought when I got the gig, “This is going to be as easy as falling out of bed”. Hot chick, espionage, action, no problem...

On Mystique #9, here’s an initial variation on the pose that didn’t quite work as well as the final art turned out.

On Mystique #12 I really wanted to capture a photo-realistic figure that seemed to be flying through the air and not posed. I started with a super-cartoony sketch to get the feel of what I wanted, that I had at my photo shoot to refer to.

On Mystique #16, I actually inverted my model into this pose (balancing her on a step ladder) to get the reality of how it would look. She wore the latex outfit, and looked exactly like this except for the blue skin!

Mystique TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Sienkiewicz, Steve Rude, Mike Mignola and Dave Stevens were coming out with amazing stuff. Plus, for the first time I was visiting a place called a “comic book shop” over at the local college campus, which was totally new to me. This would have been like 1984-1985.

I was really like, “Wow, look at this artwork. I wish I could do that.”

I was constantly being introduced to all these new artists. When I was younger I had the first issue of Micronauts, a favorite toy of mine. One of the first guys that I recognized the name of was Michael Golden, and his “job” was penciler. I was like, “Oh, man, that’s the coolest job, penciler.” But I ended up going into the Army when I was 17 for a couple of years. I still drew, but not like really, you know, passionately, because being a soldier took up most of my time.

GOULD: What happened when you were discharged from the service?

MAYHEW: When I got out of the Army, I really wanted to be in comics. Things were really going well for the industry. This was probably in ’89 by now. Todd McFarlane’s art was starting to come out; he was huge. Jim Lee’s art was starting to come out, and I began working on submissions, sending them in to Marvel.

One year I went to New York City basically for the spring break holiday and also a comic convention. I think Rob Liefeld was the “big” attraction. This thing was packed. There was literally a line around the block, and my friend and I stood in line for five hours. I was told before I flew out to New York that Marvel and DC were going to be there; they were going to be looking at portfolios. They weren’t anywhere to be found.

this book called Showcase ’93. It was basically a way for

MIKE MAYHEW

them to get new talent, give them an 8-page story, and

Black Panther

GOULD: Ugh! I can only imagine how you must have

see what can happen. Comics were publishing a load of

Wedding cover

felt.

stuff at this time. There were tons of books and sales

This cover never came

MAYHEW: I said, “This sucks, man. I waited out here for

were very high compared to now. So they were bringing

five hours!” But this guy named Art Nichols was looking

on a lot of new talent. I did an 8-page story on the

at portfolios. I went. He was in a little back room. He was

Shining Knight. It was written by James Robinson. That

getting ready to leave. I was maybe the last guy he saw.

was my first job, DC Comics. Then I got another thing for

That’s the truth. I’m not even making a story out of it. He

Justice League Quarterly, which was one of their 20

said, “Yeah, I like your stuff. Let me make a couple of

Justice League titles they were publishing. [both laugh] I

phone calls for you.” The very next day he called me and

did a back-up story that ran for a few issues. The rest as

said he had a couple of meetings for me with Marvel and

they say, is history.

to fruition, but I love the image of the newlyweds, walking into the mouth of the beast!

Black Panther TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

DC. One of them was with a guy named Neal Pozner, a highly regarded guy at DC back then. He did a lot of

GOULD: Regarding the actual mechanics of creating a

design work for them. I know he designed and possibly

finished piece, whether that be a sequential panel page,

edited the Who’s Who series. I have a feeling he did a

a cover, or a commission, how many prelims will you go

lot of design work on Dark Knight and their graphic nov-

through before you’re satisfied with composition and the

els. He did a lot of cool stuff. He was editing at the time

layout?

MAYHEW: For a commission, I would start with a pretty SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

69

I will start to think about collecting a photo reference. Or if I’m in a hurry, I’ve already booked the model, if I need one, while I’m waiting for the (chosen idea) to be approved.

GOULD: Have you always worked this way?

MAYHEW: This is the way I’ve worked probably since Vampirella for the most part. The prelims are getting more and more sophisticated.

GOULD: When it comes to the tightness on these prelims, how refined do you like to make your final rough before you actually go to work on the published piece?

MAYHEW: Often I try and capture my photo reference and represent the basic line work and the basic values, maybe two values, maybe I’ll use like a 20% marker and a 40% marker, just to give me an idea, OK, this side of the face is dark, this side is light. Or this is backlit, the background is bright, the

MIKE MAYHEW Joker Upperdeck Sketch My favorite Upperdeck card I did. I used a friend who loves to dress as the Joker for Halloween, so this was a dream come true for him!

Batman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

MIKE MAYHEW

cartoony rough just to make sure I

Wizard #163 cover

nailed it down. But for something

sketch

like a cover painting for one of the

Often when I’m doing a

majors, what I do is I try to do two to

cover that will have

four ideas that I think are solid. I

lots of text, like Wizard

might even prefer one over the other

covers, I like to draw a

but I want the editor to be able to

prelim that will show

interject (his ideas and opinions).

how the art will work

Who knows, they might have another

with the logo, text, and

cover coming up that has the same idea. I get that approved. For a more

UPC box.

My works for Wizard are amongst

detailed, tighter sketch I’ll try to interject some kind of lighting, some kind of realism as far as the figure

my favorites. For some

and the costume, but it’s still car-

reason, they seem to

toony.

see things in my work other companies

GOULD: Similar to the prelims for

don’t. Wizard takes

the cover of this issue of Rough

chances on me, and I

Stuff?

try my best to live up

MAYHEW: Exactly. Lately I’ve been

to the challenge.

playing with markers to be able to define values. Once that’s approved, Joker TM & ©2008 DC Comics

70

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

foreground is darker. Or basic things like that so when I start painting, I know where I’m going.

GOULD: Did you ever have an experience where you were more satisfied with the preliminary ideas you came up with more than the finished product?

MAYHEW: Often. The artistic challenge of doing such premeditated work attempting to capture “reality” is to avoid the art becoming stiff and lifeless. The prelims always have a spontaneity and sense of fun that can be lost as a piece evolves.

GOULD: You are pretty well known for your acrylic work – that is a pretty demanding medium.

MAYHEW: Typically, until very recently, I’ve worked in acrylics. In acrylics there is not much turning back. Once you create a wash down, it’s there for good.

GOULD: What mediums have you been working in lately?

MAYHEW: I’m doing interior projects where I’m using watercolor. With watercolor I can do washes easier and sort of change things. But with acrylic, that’s where the whole prelim thing developed the way it is because with acrylics, once you lock it down, it’s there. Acrylic will even lock your pencil down. It’s almost like a thin sheet of plastic over the pencil.

Vampirella TM & ©2008 Harris Comics

GOULD: Okay, time for a hard question… what is the

MIKE MAYHEW

favorite single painting you have done?

Vampirella is where I

MAYHEW: The favorite single painting I have done?!

first started doing

Man that is not easy! You know I’m such a knucklehead

painted covers. When

that I don’t have one piece of my art hanging in my house. If I framed one painting for me to admire on the wall, it would have to be the Watchmen spread I did for Wizard. That series had such an impact on me back in

planning these paintings, prelims were a must.

1985 when I was 15, and I truly love the mood and feel I captured bringing Dave Gibbons’ brilliant cartoony-realism work into a photo-realistic light (since this piece supported an article on the upcoming Watchmen film).

MIKE MAYHEW This was used as the

GOULD: When I look at your work over the last few years, it’s obvious that your preference is to do “start to finish” yourself. Are there any other artists that you would like to collaborate with? Whether that be you ink-

cover for the Daily Bugle: Civil War edition. I was thrilled to be able to depict

ing them or them inking you.

MAYHEW: I think the inking thing… let me think about

events from Marvel’s

that for a second. It would depend on the project. If I

“Civil War.”

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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MIKE MAYHEW

What’s upcoming?

This sketch was done

MAYHEW: I guess the big transition for me over this last

as a test for a gig I got

year is that I wanted to go from just being a cover boy to doing interiors. I really have been pushing for that. The

doing some licensing

reason I started in comics was that I wanted to tell sto-

art for the Superman

ries. You just can’t really do that on a

Returns film.

cover. So I figured I’d sort of take the

Superman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

gamble and commit a little more time and be out of the limelight and do more interiors. The first project that came about is an XMen one-shot. I guess my objective with that artistically is that I’d been doing this photo-realism using models and that kind of thing, photographing people in costume and lighting and everything.

When that project came about it was around the same time I started hearing about that 1985 project. Did you hear about that?

GOULD: Yes. The Marvel Mark Millar book?

MAYHEW: Yep. Originally that was going to be basically like a fumetti, a photo comic. Marvel has since scrapped that idea. Now Tommy Lee Edwards is drawing it in a more or less traditional comic ink style. But, the fumetti concept was so close to what I have been developing In my mind so it was like “I’d love to do something like that,” just take it to the nth degree. (I could do this) in this X-Men book, it’s a

was doing something with a deadline, there’s just no way I could realistically ink over myself or do fully

relatively small book. It’s only 30 pages so it’s not like a mini-series.

finished black-and-white wash. Most recently I’ve been really trying to get a look that didn’t look like it was inked that looked more like a photograph with subtler rendering.

GOULD: So……

MAYHEW: Now I would love to be inked by someone like Kevin Nowlan, or Mark Farmer.

Mainly because of the photo reference I use lately, it’s hard for an inker to be invested in capturing (the image) as much as I am. Depending what the project is, I’ll either shoot from my fully rendered pencils, or if there needs to be some darker areas, I’ll add some black wash or something.

I’d love to loosen up for a gig and just be cartoonier to take advantage of what an inker can do to finish the art. I don’t know, I’m just experimenting a lot right now.

GOULD: What have you been working on lately?

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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MIKE MAYHEW This is my first work for Top Cow. I find their properties very visually challenging, and open to a lot of interpretation by the artist.

My favorite is the Witchblade #110 cover, which I feel hit the mark for over the top, iconic art. #111 was a chance to tackle a great character, the Magdalena. I feel like the action of her pose didn’t quite fit with the static stained glass images of the Witchblade ladies. I look forward to playing in the Top Cow universe in the

Witchblade TM & ©2008 Top Cow Productions

near future...

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MIKE MAYHEW This is my second cover for the Women of Marvel TPB series. Team shots are something I’m getting better at, and in this image I really wanted to make you feel like these characters were all existing in the same space. My main design element to achieve that was to have Dazzler glowing brightly behind them all, casting the shadows of all the ladies forward.

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

GOULD: It’s a one-shot?

MAYHEW: Yes. GOULD: What can you tell Rough Stuff about this X project?

MAYHEW: Basically, because it’s a smaller book and also there was an inference for it to be painted. Because of the size of the book, I thought this would be a great project for me to paint, fully paint. (Because) it’s not a mini-series it’s not going to get out of control. There are a limited amount of characters and situations, I photographed everything – set every scene.

Basically it’s the sort of project where I’m being as faithful to the photographs as possible. You know what I mean? Photographs are really the main part of the image. I am artistically adding to them just a little bit but I really wanted “acting,” the performances and the expressions and everything to come from those photographs. It’s kind of a direction I had been crusading for in my work or maybe by others and also by myself.

My goal is to make it look like Drew Struzan painted original film stills directed by Stanley Kubrick. Unfortunately, it’s been painful to realize my ambition outstrips my skill level, but I’m trying really hard and learning a lot. kind of go back to my roots of what is comic art, you

MIKE MAYHEW

GOULD: Do you enjoy that? Is moving the art so close to

know, why do people do comic art? Traditionally the

Even though I did the

a photograph something that you like?

technique was quick, you know what I mean? Ink, hard

final art in black-and-

MAYHEW: I think it has it’s place. I think it works for this

line ink, that kind of stuff. Most recently in my art, you

white pen-&-ink, I still

story. That’s the most important thing. Does it work on

know, I’m doing all this super-subtle rendering, you know,

wanted to see all the

every book? No. But it works for this story for a couple

really conscientious of the lighting and all this kind of

of reasons. I feel it was a good call to go for that. Now

stuff. I’ve almost been doing the anti-traditional comic

that I’ve kind of had to deal with the reality of what that

look. But with the creator-owned thing, I’m really kind of

really means to have everything so realistic, it’s made me

going from my gut a little more, having a lot of fun with it.

want to push back and do more traditional-style work.

I’m thinking more in terms of the greatest masters of sim-

tones I might use in digital color in this marker prelim sketch.

Catwoman TM & ©2008 DC Comics

ple comic storytelling, like Alex Toth. I’ll take some photos GOULD: This is a good lead in for the creator-owned

as reference, a lot of poses and things like that, but more

project you have been working on, isn’t it?

drawing out of my head and making it more cartoony or

MAYHEW: You know how difficult creator-owned stuff is.

comic book-like.

You don’t get paid up front. You’re investing a lot of time in it on the front-end. So it’s like, you are motivated not

GOULD: Are you collaborating with anybody on this or is

to spend a lot of time on stuff. It would really bog the

this strictly yourself?

project down, cut into the regular paying work and that

MAYHEW: No, this is a book I’m collaborating with

kind of thing.

someone on. I’d kind of rather not give all the details just yet just to protect myself and everyone else. It’s a big-

GOULD: High risk, high reward.

MAYHEW: Yeah, so this project really behooves me to

name person which is the reason I really wanted to do it.

Things are really looking up for it. But until that book is solicited, I can’t really say anything. When you’re in the SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

75

MIKE MAYHEW This cover is for Spawn #180, and features a Spawn that I created that was created in the Hell of WWI. I was in the Army for a couple of years, so I’ll always have an affinity for soldiers.

Spawn TM & ©2008 Todd McFarlane

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business for awhile, you kind of get superstitious. Every once in awhile you let something out of the bag and then it doesn’t happen and then you think back, “I wonder if I shouldn’t have said anything.”

GOULD: I can respect that, having heard that before from others. Tell me about the Spawn project you are working on.

MAYHEW: This third project, the Spawn thing, I’m kind of in the middle of the other two extremes. This is going to be a fully rendered, penciled book. Brian Haberlin is editor-in-chief over there. He and Andy Troy are going to be handling all the color. We’ve worked together so many times starting with Vampirella and all my Marvel stuff. It’s going to be more along those lines, sort of that highly rendered penciling with a lot of detail and that kind of thing.

GOULD: Is this going to be a full issue of interiors that you’re doing for Spawn, or a cover?

MAYHEW: Yes, it’s a full issue. I don’t think I’m letting the cat out of the bag too much on this. It’s a World War I Spawn. The David Hines script is awesome. I’m kind of excited to be doing so many different things right now because if you put all your eggs in one basket, you may feel like you’re not exploring other realms. I feel like I’m really doing it all here. I’m doing history; the X book is sort of a softer almost like a Spielberg-type of look; and this creator-owned thing is more like a “B” movie, hard-edge kind of thing – Heavy Metal or something like that.

GOULD: Talk to me about, when you’re doing the prelims for the interiors, how do you do it? Do you lay out the whole issue in roughs or prelims? Do you do a page at a time? What’s your process?

and marker sketches. I

MIKE MAYHEW

use the Prismacolor Cool Gray markers, but I want to try

Warspawn Pin-Up

the warm gray sometime. This way I can see how every

This was my first tight

photograph would kind of work within the picture and

drawing of the Spawn

that kind of thing.

I designed from scratch for the WWI-

MAYHEW: I pretty much have the whole issue figured out before I start on page one. I think the first interior project was a painted thing; I wanted to see the art, everything so precisely that when I got to those painted pages I really wouldn’t have to worry about the color. As far as when I approach the interior thumbnails, I’ll do a version of the book that’s kind of cartoony. And even that version is getting tighter and more realistic as I’m doing new interior things to the point where I can just blow up the thumbnails and trace over them and I’d have something good. For the X book I ended up going over those thumbnails one more time with the photographs that I took and did the sort of highly rendered black pen line

GOULD: Do you need any sort of approval on those prelims from either the writer or the editor before you start the finished pages or is this being left in your hands?

MAYHEW: I really go out of my way to – I don’t necessarily – I wish I was more of one of these kind of guys who just looked at a piece of paper and saw exactly

based story. I wanted him to have a helmet of sorts, and his weapon is based on a Vickers machine gun.

what they wanted to do and it just came out. I’m more of

Of course he had to

a guy that kind of fishes around, changes something after

have Spawn-esque

he looks at it for a couple of days. I want the approval of

design elements too.

the writer. A lot of times a writer thinks he’s being specif-

Spawn TM & ©2008 Todd McFarlane

ic and the actual visual is real vague and it could be up to interpretation. To save myself work, which is how I look at it, I kind of rough everything out and kind of run it by him and that’s my way of saying, “Is this what you’re

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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esting than a drawing in the context of a story. As a reader sometimes there are some things you want your imagination to kind of complete or add to, that a drawing allows for where a photograph does not.

GOULD: It’s an interesting how “spread spectrum” you are with these disparate projects.

MAYHEW: It’s frustrating only in that – I wish I did sometimes have a style because I think that makes you so marketable. “Oh, you’d be great on this because his stuff looks like that.” I really tend to do a lot of exploration. I don’t know exactly where that comes from, other than a profound sense of insecurity. I’m really exploring with all sorts of mediums and tools and techniques. I guess I haven’t really arrived at my one, true kind of approach.

GOULD: You know, Mike, it keeps you from becoming pigeonholed also.

MAYHEW: That’s an important thing, too. I’d love to kind of define myself a little more narrowly but I’m still experi-

MIKE MAYHEW

looking for?” I think an editor would love to just see fin-

Selma/Thomas

ished proof of pages. But, I would rather kind of go

character designs

through my process and really make sure I’m kind of

Sometimes I do a full figure quick drawing of the main characters

doing the right thing. I have to say, after doing a few of these projects now, I’m getting a little more confident in my storytelling and everything to the point where I think I could maybe avoid some of that.

menting a lot to find out what works for me, almost like I’m on a quest for the truth about art, or like I’m trying to express everything I love about art. There’s so much competition right now, too, and so many different sort of approaches that that kind of influences that. The (upcoming) Zorro covers are more or less – maybe a little bit of wash – but more or less black ink and white paper.

which I show to the writer and editor, making sure I have the

GOULD: So there is a photorealistic body of work, and a more traditional style comic work that Mike Mayhew fans

right look.

will be seeing throughout 2008.

Spawn TM & ©2008 Todd McFarlane

MAYHEW: Those are kind of the two spectrums I’m straddling right now and trying to explore. Like I said, that super-realism, I can do it well and I like how it looks but there’s just something about it that doesn’t really satisfy everything I want out of comics. You know what I mean?

Like I said, I know it doesn’t work every story. This creator-

GOULD: Are those reissues of your earlier material?

MAYHEW: No, this is Matt Wagner’s Zorro. Matt’s got a sort of new, you know, “everything old is new again” type of approach to Zorro, going back to the roots and maybe giving him a little harder edge. And also it’s very influenced by the latest Zorro novel that came out which was very successful. Almost like a Zorro: Year One. It’s a thrill to work with Matt and through Dynamite, they’ve had so much success with Red Sonja and other books.

owned thing has a lot of fantastical imagery and things.

GOULD: Boy, you really have a lot going on.

GOULD: It sounds like Steve Ditko.

MAYHEW: A little too much. [both laugh]

MAYHEW: I hope! Yes, the X book doesn’t really have a lot of fantastical imagery. It’s more like, I don’t know, this is probably a weird analogy, but it’s almost like a theater piece or something. Do you know what I mean? But the creator-owned thing has a lot of creatures and wild

GOULD: Well, that is a good problem. Talk for a minute about your own artistic influences.

MAYHEW: It’s illustration more than comics, or at least comic artists that were influenced by illustration.

action. So when there’s that stuff happening, it’s kind of hard to stick with the photography. That’s the cool thing about comics. There are some things you want to see that could never be photographed. Do you know what I mean? Also, a photograph can sometimes be less inter-

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ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

GOULD: Specifically who?

MAYHEW: Well, at the very beginning, Neal Adams. For some crazy reason when I was a kid, I never really liked the way Jack Kirby’s art looked, it looked old-fashioned to

me. I wanted something that looked “sophisticated” or

This is what I had when I took the pics I used for reference

“mature”. Of course I realize that Kirby is a supreme

(which occurred at the same photo shoot were I took my

genius now. That was just my preference. I guess later

Women of Marvel pics). For the tight sketch, I traced over a

on I looked to Michael Golden. Although now I see his

composite of three figures that seemed to fit the bill, and

work as quite cartoony, I thought it had more realism and

added the costume and background elements.

verisimilitude than any other art out there. His draftsmanship is practically without peer. The next big guy would

GOULD: What was the best advice you received from

be like Steve Rude, who also pushed realism in early

another comic book artist? And who gave the advice?

Nexus, and introduced me to a host of influences.

MAYHEW: Hmmm... You know I can’t think of anything

GOULD: It’s interesting because everybody that you

with several great comic artists. Even back when I was

really. I know that sounds crazy, because I’m friendly named has a uniquely distinct style.

coming up, because I was in Arizona and never went

MAYHEW: True. I also loved Bernie Wrightson and Brian

to shows I never really got that kind of feedback. I’m

Bolland, and it goes on and on. Also, I am really attract-

much more influenced by what they do rather than what

ed to artists that kind of lead you to other artists.

they say.

GOULD: You can see that in some of your layouts, too,

advantage of the practical art that I do is that I have origi-

I do remember when Greg Horn reminded me that the the cinema style feel that the page has.

nals, in the form of my finished, published cover art,

MAYHEW: I always think of artwork that way. I think,

which can be very valuable. I also got some interesting

“Wow, if I was this director what would I want my cine-

tips from Michael Bair waaay back when I was submitting

matographer to do. If this costume was done by the best

at the Marvel offices. One was to take some acetate or

costume designer, what would it look like?” That’s just

vellum and trace over magazine photos with a pen to see

how my mind works. Now as I get older I wish I had more of a unique inner vision of my own.

GOULD: Okay, could you give me your general feelings on this month’s cover of Rough Stuff?

MAYHEW: Earlier this year I did the Women of Marvel cover – but this one is in watercolor, which is a medium I’ve transitioned to from acrylic. It was hard at first, but I’m finding a lot of freedom with the watercolor, an ability to sort of change things and do things with color that I could never do with the air brush and

MIKE MAYHEW Spawn WWI

acrylic. It’s really exciting and it’s more

thumbnails

artistic. I hope to be doing some more

My thumbs are pretty

covers with this type of technique and

cartoony. I try to envi-

making this cover for Rough Stuff really

sion the storytelling

show that off.

and how I

This cover was pretty much an extension

want the book to

of my current Women of Marvel cover. I

look. I have these

wanted to show the three ’70s Marvel

drawings at my photo

Avengers gals in a dynamic, yet realistic

shoot, and often

way, with a simple background. The zoom lines and the star field are favorites of mine right now. I did a quick cartoony “thumbnail” with a bit of marker to pop out the values.

my attempt is to match them exactly.

Spawn TM & ©2008 Todd McFarlane

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

79

process. Does this make sense?

GOULD: Sure, it’s the blending of the comic style and the illustrative style that we’ve spoken about before. If you could, tell me what is it that attracted you to the comic art genre as opposed to illustrative [Mike has illustrated children’s

MIKE MAYHEW

how your hand and the tool translate form

books for Scholastic in the past]

Zorro covers

and shadow into lines and hatching.

work or commercial projects.

The goal of Matt

Maybe he got me on this kick of working

MAYHEW: Comic book artists are

from photos!!

the greatest artists on the planet!

Wagner in the new

That’s just me. There are going to

Zorro series from Dynamite is to take him back to his pulp roots. I did a lot of black marker prelims to really punch out the black shadows.

80

GOULD: A lot of people compare your work, whether it’s

be people who are going to argue

right or wrong, to Alex Ross. How do you feel about

that. I think that my primary attraction is telling stories

that?

with artwork. That’s what I’m interested in.

MAYHEW: That’s an honor. I think Alex’s work is magnificent. I think he’s most known for photo realism because

GOULD: That’s a fantastic answer.

of how prolific he is and how successful his projects

MAYHEW: I think the story part of it really attracts me. I

have been. I think Alex came along at a perfect time and

think probably the craft or just, I don’t know, there are so

had a perfect amount of training to take advantage of

many elements that are fascinating to me, whether it’s

new, printing processes where you can sort of include

rendering figures or the lighting or composition or the

published paintings and stand apart from a four-color

use of color or texture. I love it when capturing frozen,

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

you do for a living? The success you’ve had. The “fame,” and I guess the good and the bad that come along with that.

MAYHEW: I’m never really sure in saying “fame.” I’m definitely not famous in relation to the world at large.

GOULD: You know what I mean, though. You’ve got pretty big lines at the conventions, a big fan base.

MAYHEW: My parents have always been super-supportive of me. They’re not artists and they don’t know really anything about comics or the art field. I guess when I was first starting out there

singular moments suggests whole characters and worlds. It’s almost like mind control!

GOULD: Do you own any original art from another artist? If so, from who/what piece?

MAYHEW: No, I don’t own originals, but I am seriously considering it. I have become such a huge fan and devotee of the original art community that I too drool over pieces and consider the price. Also, I think I’d like to own the actual art, so I could compare it to the printed work, or analyze technique.

I know from experience that the printed work is rarely as interesting as the actual art. I would probably start with an Adam Hughes, Bruce Timm, or an Alex Ross piece. I’d love to get pieces from the past and from contemporary artists. I think it would be fun.

GOULD: A different sort of question now. Tell me, if you could, what does your family think about what it is that SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

81

because I have a bigger picture of things. I think that’s going to really help me artistically, because to have a sense of security creates more opportunity, so you’re not, “Oh no, man, Marvel hasn’t called me this month. What am I going to do?” You know, it’s nice to have other options. I have a real great support group as far as that goes.

On the other hand, like I said, I don’t really have a lot of people around me that are confidantes in the field I’m in because they just have no idea. They just don’t know anything about comics.

They don’t really – even when you show them the artwork they can’t really tell what’s good or what’s not.

You know what I mean? That’s not something they’re into.

So it’s kind of lonely in that sense. For whatever reason, I’ve never been one of these guys who worked in a studio or had close friends that I went and grabbed a beer with every week and, you know, that kind of thing. I’m trying to meet people. I’m pretty friendly with Greg Horn, I don’t know, quite a few guys. You see them at conventions.

That’s pretty much my situation.

GOULD: Describe for me the Mike Mayhew fan that you She Hulk TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

was sort of some, not skepticism but, you know, “make sure you’re getting a good job and you’ll be able to support yourself” and all that kind of thing. But as far as just buying me materials and being interested in my work and that kind of thing, my parents have always been super supportive, and always encouraged me to pursue my dreams.

I’m married now. My wife is very supportive of me.

She’s not really a comic person, so I think it’s hard for

come across at conventions.

MAYHEW: Everyone has been really nice. I have a pretty wide variety of people that are attracted to the type of work I do. Mostly guys that are kind of my age, older, I have all different types. I’ve been lucky and I’ve also been deliberate in working, trying to do different things. Some people like the Mary Jane stuff I’ve done or some people like the Vampirella stuff. There is a crossover there but that has separate people as well.

her to sort of relate to it like I relate to it. Being married, I’m approaching things more from the business standpoint. When I was single, I would just kind of do whatever. It was all about me and what made me happy and as long as I had enough money to pay the bills or what not.

Now, I’m forced to look at things so I have sort of a future, and I’m not working just to pay this month’s rent, 82

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

GOULD: What advice do you have for aspiring young artists who want to improve their own technique?

MAYHEW: The best way to improve it is to work every day. Because there’s always someone who’s working more than you. Talent goes a long way but I think the more you do something the better you get at it. The best

thing that occurs nowadays is that anyone, anywhere in the planet can show their artwork to everyone in the

quantum leap forward. I

world. That means

think my Mystique

there is that much

cover run is probably

more competition.

my favorite.

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

You have to work harder and

GOULD: Okay, Mike,

smarter just to be

thanks for your time,

noticed now more

any last overriding

than ever I think.

thought to wrap this up

Probably the guys that you think are really talented

for our readers?

MAYHEW: Most of all,

and better than you just work at it a lot and you don’t realize it. I think there is sort of an eye people have

I’m excited about the

but you can develop it by just working on your art.

work I’m doing now

GOULD: What do you consider your career highlight

more successful and

to this point?

make me grow as an

MAYHEW: I think that I’ve been able to make a living as

artist.

that I hope will be even

an artist for the last 15 years. You can’t ask for more than

For further information on Mike as well as more

that. To be able to just work on the stuff that I’m interest-

samples of his work, visit his ever-expanding web site at

ed in. That’s just a great blessing. I was really proud of

www.mikemayhewstudio.com.

the work I did on Zorro. I learned a lot on that. I’m proud of my Vampirella work, where I think my work made a SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

83

ROUGH CRITIQUE

By Bob McLeod

T

his Marvel-ous sample page was sent in by Mike Murdock (presumably no relation to Daredevil, aka Matt Murdock). Mike has evident talent and has obviously put in a lot of hours trying to teach himself how to draw comics. He sent me several pages to choose from. He has balanced compositions, his storytelling is clear, his figures are well-proportioned, he’s varying his views, putting in some backgrounds, and no doubt wowing his

friends, so he must be wondering why he can’t get a break at Marvel. What’s he doing wrong?

As I know all too well from personal experience, the problem with teaching yourself is that a lot of your effort gets misdirected, and you tend to overlook the weaknesses in your art that

All characters TM & ©2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.

84

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

are obvious to others. Many comic artists are self-taught, but it’s a long process of trial and error. Mike, when you draw a panel you’re choosing what to show us, and a lot of your problem is in your choices. I mean what information you’re putting into the panels, and exactly how you’re showing it. Let’s begin with panel one. You’re showing us a cool building. So far so good.

But make it more dramatic with a more extreme upshot and exaggerate the perspective of the building. Maybe move our view up so you get the top of the building in the panel. The top’s much more interesting to see than all that empty space at the bottom. And c’mon, putting a little cloud in the center of every opening is repetitious and boring. Better to place the clouds off-center so they look more random.

Panel two needs some background to show us we’re inside the building, not up on the roof. Nothing fancy, just maybe a doorway, a chair and picture frame will do. I shrunk Cap’s hands a bit to make more room for that and a dialogue balloon. Don’t forget writers like to write dialogue and you have to leave room for it. Some simple metallic shine adds interest and texture to that coffee pot. It would be even better to google some reference and see what an actual coffee pot looks like. He’s also holding it a bit awkwardly. Try pouring with the handle facing away from your body like that and you’ll see. Logan appears to be staring at the coffee cup because his newspaper is hidden behind the coffee pot.

His face is also touching the edges of the woman (is it Wanda?), flattening the depth. He appears to be a large head next to her that she’s reaching down into. By moving Wanda over behind Logan, she doesn’t look so squeezed in between them, and he’s clearly in front of her. They now become a unified shape instead of two separate elements.

In panel three, you now give us too much background. All that detail in such a small space becomes a gray pattern and competes too much with the figures for our attention.

It’ll also no doubt be almost totally covered up with a dialogue balloon. This is exactly what I mean by misdirected effort. There’s a time and place for detailed buildings, but this isn’t it. In a panel like this, it’s better to simply put in a graphic black shadow, presumably caused by light from a window projected onto the wall. This pops Cap forward much better and doesn’t distract from the figures. You also

need to move Cap’s head down away from the panel border. Never have the edge of anything touch a panel border.

And never draw a line into the corner as you did with the towel on Wanda’s head. It looks like you moved your camera and barely got Wanda in the picture. Move everything over a bit to get her into the frame more. Placing your figures correctly is critical when you’re composing your panels, so put much more thought into it. Also, notice the changes I made to Cap’s and Wanda’s faces. On men, it’s better to have a strong, square chin than a pointed, rounded chin. And it adds depth to throw a shadow on the neck and under the nose. On Cap’s face and the two faces below it in panel four I raised the right eye and moved it away from the nose.

The tear duct should be right above the edge of the nostril.

Wanda’s neck is poorly drawn. I also moved Cap’s pectoral down. His star should be up on his chest. And once again I must advise: Learn to draw hands! Yes, they’re difficult, but you can do it. Make it a priority.

The figures in panel four look squeezed into the space next to Logan’s head. You should always try to vary the size of heads from panel to panel. It’s not as interesting when they’re the same size, as Cap and Wanda are here in panels three and four. See how much more interesting your views of Logan are? And where do you want the balloons to go? I’d rather see them over their heads instead of covering up the figures, wouldn’t you? The left side of Wanda’s neck should be under her left ear. If you study the skull and visualize the head transparently, you’ll know where that is. And did Logan stand up?

Why do we seem to be looking down on Cap and Wanda, as if Logan’s up above them? The composition is improved with him lower anyway. This is the focus we want. We don’t need to see Cap’s leg or Logan’s neck. We don’t need to see the coffee. Only show us what tells the story, which in this panel is the talking heads. And if you do show the coffee cup, move it away from the border and make it shorter like it was in panel three. The background can be white, but I’d rather throw in a black to help balance against panel one. And finally, the mouth simply can’t do what you’re attempting with Logan. Put a mirror next to your drawing table. I also moved his right nostril in a bit and changed his right eye. As the head turns, the far eye looks smaller and shorter.

Study the composition of the best artists. It’s really vital in sequential art. Try to group figures rather than just place them side by side, and study when and how to add backgrounds.

You’re very close, Mike, but those last few yards to the goal line are often the toughest. Don’t give up! Readers who would like to submit a sample page for a Rough Critique can send it to P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA 18049 or e-mail me at mcleod.bob@gmail.com SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

85

ROUGH TALK I’m loving the Rough Stuff magazine that you put out. I’ve bought Lee Weeks’ stuff in a Hulk TPB, and he is great. Your stuff is also awesome! I can’t remember which magazine of Rough Stuff Lee’s stuff was in, but I loved seeing it, as well as the Ian Churchill, John Buscema, Dave Cockrum, Bruce Timm, and JR Jr. galleries, to mention a few of the many already shown and many more to follow, I hope. Keep up the great work. I really appreciate it!

Thanks, sincerely John Powers Lee Weeks was featured in issue #3, as were Buscema and JRJR. Churchill and Cockrum were in #6, and Timm was in #1. -B Mc

I just read Rough Stuff # 7. Some comments : 1) Your pro comments tend to praise their efforts too much and your Rough Critique tends to be too negative. Your pattern can almost be predicted without reading the text. It increasingly appears like you’re trying to favor the pros that contribute because you don’t want to offend them, whereas the amateurs that contribute are always given the shotgun blast. I want to see the magazine survive.

I think you need to mix it up and stop being so predictable in your comments.

2) Your comments on pages 27, 45, 46, 52, 53 are too sarcastic. You are the editor, not the writer. Sarcasm is hard for even the best writers to pull off. Your comments should be of the type that instruct the reader on proper technique, your area of expertise.

Leave sarcasm to Leno.

3) You were too easy on Jerry Ordway’s inking of Jurgens, especially on page 13. I know a handful of employed inkers at Marvel and DC that occasionally critique my work. If I changed Jurgens’ drawing as much as Ordway did, they would have roasted me alive.

As much as I adore all things Ordway, I must say that his inking of Jurgens is an example of why he doesn’t get much inking work anymore. He overpowered Jurgens and changed the drawing. Any inker that does this is one-and-done in today’s comics.

Michael Greczek www.comicspace.com/accolade_graphics These are interesting comments, Michael, and I think they deserve some in-depth answers, since other readers may be pondering the same issues. We also don’t get many negative, critical comments and I value that feedback, so allow me respond to your points one by one: 1) This magazine depends on artists contributing scans and comments, if we’re to continue the format we’ve followed so far, which I think works best. If the artists feel they may be offering themselves up to criticism, they’ll be very unlikely to contribute and 86

ROUGH STUFF • SPRING 2008

the magazine will certainly perish. But even aside from that, the vast majority of artists featured are artists whose work I really admire, so I think I’m justified in praising them. I do try not to just make shallow compliments, though, and I point out exactly what I like about what they’re doing. I actually only started commenting at all just to fill up empty space because some artists don’t have a lot to say (or are deceased). I’d much rather just let the featured artists do the talking. I think the art in issue #7 is all pretty firstrate. Looking over all of my comments, I don’t see any that I feel are gratuitous. I’m sure people who know me would tell you I don’t hand out compliments very often, and have even been criticized for it. If I praise someone, it’s because I truly feel they deserve it.

As for my Rough Critique, I think you misunderstand the purpose and intent. It’s not a showcase of amateur talent, on par with our featured pro artists. It’s like a portfolio review, and I’m doing my best to give advice and criticism that will help them improve their work up to a pro level. I feel it does no good to compliment weak art. That’s what mothers are for. I always begin by pointing out whatever I think the artist is doing well, but these are beginners, and there’s not usually all that much to praise. I try very hard to convey as much constructive advice as possible in the limited space allowed, and that leaves precious little room for breaking it to them gently. I’m really trying very hard to actually teach them, and the only way I can do that is to point out everything I can that they can improve, and I even spend much uncompensated time and effort to show them how. I don’t force them to send in a sample for critique, so if they’re unable to take criticism, they can refrain from submitting their work. I spend hours on every critique, and there’s nowhere else I know of that does that without charging thousands of dollars in tuition. Even then, they’d be lucky to get it.

There may be an amateur I could show and praise, but he hasn’t sent me his samples. I work with what I’m given. And anyone I would praise doesn’t need a critique anyway. And I should say I have yet to hear from someone telling me I was too harsh on them, Michael. On the contrary, I’ve heard from several of them that they really appreciated my critique, and some even want another one.

2) I don’t think “sarcastic” is the word you meant. My comments were not meant to be sarcastic at all, except on p.52, as I know more than 12 people bought the comic. But I’m sure sales were nowhere near the level of many poorly done Marvel books, and it’s a shame because work like Samnee’s deserves to be seen. Perhaps you just don’t like my sense of humor? I’m sorry if you don’t appreciate my attempt at clever phrasing, which I guess is what bothers you. I’m just trying to avoid making my comments too dry.

3) You want me to go easy on the amateurs, yet crucify the very talented Jerry Ordway. My slight criticism of his inking here is probably the only time I’ve said anything remotely critical outside of my Rough Critique. It’s not my place or the purpose of this mag-

azine to put down artists as skilled as Jerry Ordway. He’s a friend of Dan’s, and I know Dan respects his inking and enjoys working with him. My impression from working with Dan and Jerry is that for every change that Dan doesn’t like, there are usually ten that he loves. That job was breakdowns, and the inker is entitled and expected to take over in that situation. I said it wasn’t entirely successful, which is all that needed to be said. My point was not really to criticize Ordway, but to emphasize how embellishing breakdowns is a very difficult, tricky business, even for someone as multi-talented as Jerry, who I consider one of the best inkers ever.

-B Mc I’ve been buying Rough Stuff since it started. I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy the magazine tremendously and that I’ll continue to support it. In fact, I have it on my subscription list at my comic store. The never-before-seen pencils pulls me in initially. I have a great interest in seeing the progression from scribbles to finished pencils and inks. I also get a lot out of the artist commentary and the insights you include as well that go along with the drawings.

The interviews are improving. I like the peer-to-peer repartee that comes across. I hope you’ll continue to provide a blend of established, up-and-coming, and hot artists (past, present, and future, one might say) for each issue.

Benny Gelillo I’m doing my best, Benny. I can only include artists I have contact info for, so artists wishing to be featured should contact me. I’d like to feature more currently “hot” artists, but they’re often too busy to participate. I’d also like to feature more “up-and-comers”, so they should also contact me. -B Mc

Regarding Dewey’s article on Marie, it’s a treasure trove of information and offers good insight into what it was like for Marie at Marvel and how her work there affected the company’s output and quality.

Hurray for Bob McLeod, editor of Rough Stuff, as well as for Dewey Cassell and Ms. Severin!!!

Steve Cohen I just received my copy of Rough Stuff #7 and just started to read it. I’m very happy because of your section on Sandy Plunkett, one of my favorite artists. The samples and comments are really interesting and, as you said in the intro, it leaves you wanting more. I missed Sandy’s comments on the story homage to Robert E. Howard that he published in the last Epic mag. I’m surprised that these pages are not included in the gallery of his site, since I feel that it’s a great work. Who knows, maybe he doesn’t feel the same...

Ferran Delgado

All the images in his feature were hand-picked by Sandy. It’s true that artists don’t always feel the same as their fans about certain jobs, but it could also just be that he didn’t have good scans of it.

-B Mc

Just a quick note to say congratulations on Rough Stuff ... I picked up the Spider-Man cover issue and found the contents very inspiring ... especially Sandy Plunkett’s stuff. I’ll definitely be looking out for more of his stuff. Well done on the issue; I’m off to download some PDF back issues!

Your fan, Jason Paulos Sydney, Australia I looked on your web site and saw you had some of the critique already up. WOW! The little bit you had up was so helpful. I cannot thank you enough for 1) creating a magazine which caters to lovers of the process of comic book creation, and 2) taking the time to critique my work. I have always enjoyed your talents as an artist, but I am amazed and blessed by your gifts as a teacher. As an educator myself, I use your magazine in the classroom.

You nailed it! The last time I got a useful critique was when Paul Smith wrote me after I gave him a copy of a comic I self-published.

For someone who is self-taught, it is so important to get this kind of feedback as opposed to editors sending me a form letter that has not changed since I sent my 4-year-old crayon drawings in. I’m putting this up in my classroom so my students can learn from my mistakes. In the next couple of years, I’m sure you will be seeing artists working in the field who credit you and your magazine with giving them the insight and motivation to break into illustration.

Again I cannot thank you enough, Mike Murdock Another great issue of RS! Good to see Sandy Plunkett get some exposure – the dude's soooo gifted! The whole issue had a variety that you don't see in many comic-related mags.

Drew Geraci

SEND YOUR ROUGH COMMENTS TO:

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

SPRING 2008 • ROUGH STUFF

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SEE HOW YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS MAKE A LIVING OUTSIDE COMICS

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

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

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

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

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

NEW FOR 2008

NEW FOR 2008

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

TOP ARTISTS DISCUSS THE DESIGN OF COMICS

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 3

BEST OF DRAW! VOL. 4

Compiles more of the best tutorials and interviews from DRAW! #5-7, including: Penciling by MIKE WIERINGO! Illustration by DAN BRERETON! Design

by PAUL RIVOCHE! Drawing Hands, Lighting the Figure, and Sketching by BRET BLEVINS! Cartooning

by BILL WRAY! Inking by MIKE MANLEY! Comics & Animation by STEPHEN DeSTEFANO! Digital Illustration by CELIA CALLE and ALBERTO RUIZ! Caricature by ZACH TRENHOLM, and much more!

Cover by DAN BRERETON!

More tutorials and interviews from DRAW! #8-10, spotlighting: From comics to video games with artist MATT HALEY! Character design with TOM BANCROFT and ROB CORLEY! Adobe Illustrator tips with ALBERTO RUIZ! Draping the human figure by BRET BLEVINS! Penciling with RON GARNEY! Breaking into comic strips

by GRAHAM NOLAN! Lettering by TODD KLEIN! International cartoonist JOSÉ LUIS AGREDA! Interviews with PvP’s SCOTT KURTZ and Banana Tail’s MARK McKENNA, and more! Cover by MATT HALEY!

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

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

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

(208-page trade paperback with COLOR) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905146 Diamond Order Code: MAY073781

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

MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH GEORGE PÉREZ DVD

MODERN MASTERS: IN THE STUDIO WITH MICHAEL GOLDEN DVD

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

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

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

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

Volume 1: ALAN DAVIS

Volume 2: GEORGE PÉREZ

Volume 3: BRUCE TIMM

Volume 4: KEVIN NOWLAN

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

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

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

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

Volume 5: GARCÍA-LÓPEZ

Volume 6: ARTHUR ADAMS

Volume 7: JOHN BYRNE

Volume 8: WALTER SIMONSON

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

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

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

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

Volume 9: MIKE WIERINGO

Volume 10: KEVIN MAGUIRE

Volume 11: CHARLES VESS

Volume 12: MICHAEL GOLDEN

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

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

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

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

NEW FOR 2008

NEW FOR 2008

Volume 13: JERRY ORDWAY

Volume 14: FRANK CHO

Volume 15: MARK SCHULTZ

Volume 16: MIKE ALLRED

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

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

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

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

MODERN MASTERS BUNDLES

NEW FOR 2008

NEW FOR 2008

Volume 17: LEE WEEKS

Volume 18: JOHN ROMITA JR.

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

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

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

ONLY $37.95 EACH (SAVE $7 PER BUNDLE)

MODERN MASTERS VOLUMES ON MIKE PLOOG AND CHRIS SPROUSE ARE COMING IN FALL 2008 SEE OUR SUMMER CATALOG UPDATE!

THE ULTIMATE MAGAZINE FOR LEGOTM ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES!

NEXT ISSUE IN JUNE:

COMING IN MAY:

BRICKJOURNAL COMPENDIUM 1

DIEGDITITIOANL BLE AVAILA

BRICKJOURNAL #2 (VOL. 2) Our second FULL-COLOR print issue celebrates the summer by spotlighting blockbuster summer movies, LEGO style! The LEGO Group will be releasing new sets for BATMAN and INDIANA JONES, and BrickJournal looks behind the scenes at their creation! There’s also articles on events in the US and Europe, and spotlights on new models, including an SR-71 SPYPLANE and a LEGO CONSTRUCTED CITY. For builders, there are INSTRUCTIONS & MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATIONS. Plus, there’s a feature on the ONLINE LEGO FACTORY, showing how an online model becomes a custom set, and a look at how the LEGO Group monitors its quality!

(80-page magazine) $11 US POSTPAID ($14 Canada, $20 Elsewhere) (80-page Digital Edition) $3.95 (or FREE to print subscribers) • Ships June 2008

4-ISSUE SUBSCRIPTIONS: $32 US Postpaid by Media Mail ($42 First Class, $50 Canada • Elsewhere: $66 Surface, $78 Airmail)

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

VOLUME 1 features interviews with LEGO car builder ZACHARY SWEIGART (showing his version of the timetraveling Delorean from the movie Back to the Future), JØRGEN VIG KNUDSTORP (CEO of LEGO Systems, Inc.), Mecha builders BRYCE McLONE and JEFF RANJO, paraplegic LEGO builder SCOTT WARFIELD, BOB CARNEY (LEGO castle builder extraordinaire) and RALPH SAVELSBURG (LEGO plane builder), REVEREND BRENDAN POWELL SMITH (author of the LEGO version of the Bible), NASA Astronaut Trainer KIETH JOHNSON, JAKE McKEE (Global Community Director for The LEGO Group), builder JASON ALLEMANN on recreating the spacecraft from 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact, features on the BIONICLE universe, how to make your own custom bricks, plus instructions and techniques, and more!

Reprints Digital Editions #1-3 (below).

(256-page FULL-COLOR trade paperback) $44 US POSTPAID ($51 Canada, $61 Elsewhere) ISBN: 978-1-893905-97-9 • Ships May 2008

GET DIGITAL EDITIONS OF VOLUME 1, #1-9: The first nine issues shown below comprise Volume One, and were released from 2005-2007 as Digital Editions only, averaging more than 100,000 downloads each.

They’re available for downloading now for $3.95 EACH, and issue #9 is FREE!

DOWNLOAD A FREE DIGITAL EDITION OF VOL. 1, #9 NOW AT www.twomorrows.com

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY BOOKS

NEW FOR 2008

DICK GIORDANO: CHANGING COMICS, ONE DAY AT A TIME JOHN ROMITA... AND ALL THAT JAZZ! “Jazzy” JOHN ROMITA talks about his life, his art, and his contemporaries! Authored by former Marvel Comics editor in chief and top writer ROY THOMAS, and noted historian JIM AMASH, it features the most definitive interview Romita’s ever given, about working with such comics legends as STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY, following Spider-Man co-creator STEVE DITKO as artist on the strip, and more! Plus, Roy Thomas shares memories of working with Romita in the 1960s-70s, and Jim Amash examines the awesome artistry of Ring-a-Ding Romita! Lavishly illustrated with Romita art—original classic art, and unseen masterpieces—as well as illos by some of Marvel’s and DC’s finest, this is at once a career overview of a comics master, and a firsthand history of the industry by one of its leading artists! Available in Softcover and Deluxe Hardcover (with 16 extra color pages, dust jacket, and custom endleaves).

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)! Also includes an extensive index of his published work, comments and tributes by NEAL ADAMS, DENNIS O’NEIL, TERRY AUSTIN, PAUL LEVITZ, MARV WOLFMAN, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JIM APARO and others, plus a Foreword by NEAL ADAMS and Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ!

NICK CARDY: BEHIND THE ART NICK CARDY has been doing fantastic artwork for more than sixty years, from comics, to newspaper strips, to illustration. His work on DC Comics’ TEEN TITANS, and his amazing comics covers, are universally hailed as some of the best in the medium’s history, but his COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATION work is just as highly regarded by those in the know. Now, this lavish FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER lets you see what goes on behind his amazing art! Nick has selected dozens of his favorite pieces from throughout his career and shows how they came to be in this remarkable art book. From the reams of preliminary work as well as Nick's detailed commentary, you will gain fascinating insight into how this great artist works, watching each step of the way as some of his most memorable images come to life! By ERIC NOLENWEATHINGTON and NICK CARDY. (128-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $34.95 ISBN: 9781893905993 • Ships June 2008

(176-pg. Paperback with COLOR) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905276 Diamond Order Code: STAR20439

(192-page softcover) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905757 • Diamond Order Code: APR074018 (208-page hardcover with COLOR) $44.95 ISBN: 9781893905764 • Diamond Order Code: APR074019

R! WINNE! D R A Y AW OR EISNESRT SHORT ST BE

SECRETS IN THE SHADOWS: THE ART & LIFE OF GENE COLAN ART OF GEORGE TUSKA

• ALAN MOORE • WILL EISNER • STAN LEE • GENE COLAN • JOE KUBERT • JOHN ROMITA • HARVEY KURTZMAN • DAVE SIM • DAN DeCARLO • HOWARD CRUSE • DAVE COOPER and more!

A comprehensive look at GEORGE TUSKA’S personal and professional life, including early work at the Eisner-Iger shop, producing controversial 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 the very personal and reflective words of George himself, making this book a testament to the tremendous influence Tuska has had on the comic book industry and his legion of fans! Written by DEWEY CASSELL.

(208-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905160 Diamond Order Code: JUN022611

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905405 Diamond Order Code: DEC042921

“I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS GUY!” STREETWISE Featuring NEW autobiographical comics stories by: • BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH • SERGIO ARAGONÉS • MURPHY ANDERSON • JOE KUBERT • JACK KIRBY • BRENT ANDERSON • NICK CARDY • RICK VEITCH • ROY THOMAS & JOHN SEVERIN • SAM GLANZMAN • PAUL CHADWICK • EVAN DORKIN • C.C. BECK • WALTER SIMONSON • ART SPIEGELMAN • Cover by STEVE RUDE • Foreword by WILL EISNER (160-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905047 Diamond Order Code: STAR11522

BLAKE BELL takes a look at what its been like living with comic book creators over the past 60 years, with the people who know them best! Explore the lives of the partners and wives of the top names in comics, as they share memories, anecdotes, personal photos, mementos, and never-before-seen art! Featured are interviews with the “significant others” of:

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 never-before-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)! Written by TOM FIELD. (168-page softcover with COLOR) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905450 Diamond Order Code: APR053190 (192-page hardcover with COLOR) $44.95 ISBN: 9781893905467 Diamond Order Code: APR053189

JACK KIRBY BOOKS

NEW FOR 2008

WALLACE WOOD CHECKLIST The most thorough listing of Wood’s work ever published, taking more than 20 Wood experts over two decades to compile! Lists in exacting detail Woody’s PUBLISHED COMIC WORK, including dates, story titles, page counts, and even documents the assistants who worked with him! It also includes his NEWSPAPER, ADVERTISING, and FANZINE WORK, plus a myriad of more obscure Wood pieces such as GUM CARDS, STICKERS, GREETING CARDS, and more!

Also included are listings of his UNPUBLISHED WORK, and it’s profusely illustrated throughout with WOOD ARTWORK! (68-page comic book) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JUL032590

NEW FOR 2008

BRUSH STROKES WITH GREATNESS: THE LIFE & ART OF JOE SINNOTT During his 56-plus-year career in comic books, JOE SINNOTT has worked in every genre, and for almost every publisher, from 1940s Timely Comics to Charlton Comics, Treasure Chest, and Dell as a top penciler. But his association with Marvel Comics in the ’60s as its top inker cemented his place in comics history. This book celebrates his career, as he demonstrates his passion for his craft. In it, Joe shares his experiences working on Marvel’s leading titles, memories of working with STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY, and rare and unpublished artwork from his personal files. It features dozens of colleagues and co-workers paying tribute to Joe, plus an extended Art Gallery, and a Checklist of his career. Written by TIM LASIUTA, with a Foreword by STAN LEE, and Afterword by MARK EVANIER. (136-page softcover with COLOR) $17.95 ISBN: 9781893905726 • Diamond Order Code: MAR073744

ULTRA-LIMITED EDITION A 52-copy edition of the Softcover with custom Sinnott pencil portraits of his most popular characters! Call or go to www.twomorrows.com to request a copy with your favorite character, while they last!

(136-page limited edition softcover ) $69.95 ONLY AVAILABLE FROM TWOMORROWS!

KIRBY FIVE-OH!

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE “KING” OF COMICS

The publication that started the TwoMorrows juggernaut presents KIRBY FIVE-OH!, a book covering the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career in comics! The regular columnists from THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine have formed a distinguished panel of experts to choose and examine: The BEST KIRBY STORY published each year from 1938-1987! The BEST COVERS from each decade! Jack’s 50 BEST UNUSED PIECES OF ART! His 50 BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS! And profiles of, and commentary by, the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! Plus there’s a 50-PAGE GALLERY of Kirby’s powerful RAW PENCIL ART, and a DELUXE COLOR SECTION of photos and finished art from throughout his entire half-century oeuvre. This TABLOID-SIZED TRADE PAPERBACK features a previously unseen Kirby Superman cover inked by “DC: The New Frontier” artist DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER, helping make this the ultimate retrospective on the career of the “King” of comics! (A percentage of profits will be donated to the JACK KIRBY MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER.) Takes the place of JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50.

(168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905894 Diamond Order Code: FEB084186

HERO GETS GIRL! THE LIFE & ART OF KURT SCHAFFENBERGER

JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST: GOLD EDITION The most thorough listing of JACK “KING” KIRBY’s work ever published! Building on the 1998 “Silver Edition”, this NEWLY UPDATED GOLD EDITION compiles an additional decade’s worth of corrections and additions by top historians, in a new Trade Paperback format with premium paper for archival durability. It lists in exacting detail EVERY PUBLISHED COMIC featuring Kirby’s work, including dates, story titles, page counts, and inkers. It even CROSS-REFERENCES REPRINTS, and includes an extensive bibliography listing BOOKS, PERIODICALS, PORTFOLIOS, FANZINES, POSTERS, and other obscure pieces with Kirby's art, plus a detailed list of Jack's UNPUBLISHED WORK as well. BONUS: Now includes a complete listing of the over 5000-page archive of Kirby’s personal pencil art photocopies, plus dozens of examples of rare and unseen Kirby art!

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781605490052 Ships May 2008

COMICS INTROSPECTIVE: PETER BAGGE

Profusely illustrated bio of KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, the preeminent Lois Lane artist and important early Captain Marvel artist who brought a touch of humor and whimsy to super-hero comics! Covers his LIFE AND CAREER from the 1940s to his passing in 2002, and features hundreds of NEVER-SEEN PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS from his files! Also includes recollections by family, friends and fellow artists such as MURPHY ANDERSON, WILL EISNER, CARMINE INFANTINO, JOE KUBERT, ALEX ROSS and MORT WALKER! Written by columnist MARK VOGER (Schaffenberger friend for the final 13 years of the artist’s life), with a Foreword by KEN BALD.

With a unique, expressive style, PETER BAGGE’s work runs the gamut from political (his strips for reason.com), absurdist and satirical (the BATBOY strip for WEEKLY WORLD NEWS), and dramatic (APOCALYPSE NERD). From his Seattle studio, Peter Bagge lets journalist CHRISTOPHER IRVING in on everything from just what was on his mind with his long-running Gen X comic HATE!, to what’s going on in his head as a political satirist. This book features an assortment of original photography, artwork picked by Bagge himself, and a look at where Bagge’s work (and mind) is taking him.

(128-page trade paperback) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905290 Diamond Order Code: SEP032545

(128-page trade paperback) $16.95 ISBN: 9781893905832 Diamond Order Code: MAY073779

KIRBY UNLEASHED (REMASTERED) Reprinting the fabled 1971 KIRBY UNLEASHED PORTFOLIO, completely remastered! Spotlights some of KIRBY’s finest art from all eras of his career, including 1930s pencil work, unused strips, illustrated World War II letters, 1950s pages, unpublished 1960s Marvel pencil pages and sketches, and Fourth World pencil art (done expressly for this portfolio in 1970)! We’ve gone back to the original art to ensure the best reproduction possible, and MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN have updated the Kirby biography from the original printing, and added a new Foreword explaining how this portfolio came to be! PLUS: We’ve recolored the original color plates, and added EIGHT NEW BLACK-&-WHITE PAGES, plus EIGHT NEW COLOR PAGES, including Jack’s four GODS posters (released separately in 1972), and four extra Kirby color pieces, all at tabloid size!

(60-page tabloid with COLOR) $20 Diamond Order Code: OCT043208

JACK KIRBY (1917-1994) stands as comics’ most prolific talent, with a 50-year career wherein he created or co-created such iconic characters as THE FANTASTIC FOUR, SILVER SURFER, THE HULK, X-MEN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE NEW GODS, and a legion of others. These books pay tribute to him and his creations.

COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, VOLUMES 1-6, EDITED BY JOHN MORROW

VOLUME 1

VOLUME 2

VOLUME 3

VOLUME 4

This colossal trade paperback reprints issues #1-9 of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, the highly-acclaimed magazine about comics’ most prodigious imagination: JACK KIRBY! Included are the low-distribution early issues, the Fourth World theme issue, and the Fantastic Four theme issue! Also includes over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including uninked pencils from THE PRISONER, NEW GODS, FANTASTIC FOUR, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, HUNGER DOGS, JIMMY OLSEN, SHIELD, and more! Features interviews with KIRBY, JOE SIMON, MIKE ROYER, MARK EVANIER, JOE SINNOTT, STEVE SHERMAN, and other Kirby collaborators, plus an introduction by MARK EVANIER.

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #10-12—the Humor, Hollywood, and International theme issues!

Also included is a new special section detailing a fan’s private tour of the Kirbys’ remarkable home, profusely illustrated with photos, and more than 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including Jack’s uninked pencil art from THE PRISONER, NEW GODS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, HUNGER DOGS, JIMMY OLSEN, SHIELD, MACHINE MAN, THE ETERNALS, and more! Learn more about the King’s career through interviews with JACK AND ROZ KIRBY, JOHN BYRNE, STEVE GERBER, MARK EVANIER, ROGER STERN, MARV WOLFMAN, and others!

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #13-15—the Horror, Thor, and Science-Fiction theme issues! There’s also a NEW special section with 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including uninked pencils from CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, JIMMY OLSEN, THE DEMON, NEW GODS, THE PRISONER, and more! Go behind-the-scenes of Jack’s career through interviews with KIRBY and his collaborators and admirers like DICK AYERS, CHIC STONE, WALTER SIMONSON, AL WILLIAMSON, and MIKE THIBODEAUX, and see page-after-page of rare and unpublished Kirby art!

Features a 1960s Kirby cover, and an introduction by STEVE BISSETTE.

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #16-19—the Tough Guys, DC, and Marvel theme issues, and a special issue detailing the intricacies of Jack’s art! Also included is a new special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, featuring Jack’s uninked pencils from NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, FOREVER PEOPLE, JIMMY OLSEN, KAMANDI, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE SILVER SURFER, OMAC, and more! It features interviews with KIRBY, STAN LEE, FRANK MILLER, WILL EISNER, NEAL ADAMS, nearly the whole MARVEL BULLPEN (including JOHN BUSCEMA and JOHN ROMITA), and others, a Foreword by colorist TOM ZIUKO, and a KIRBY/STEVE RUDE cover!

(240-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905009 Diamond Order Code: DEC032834

(160-page trade paperback) $17.95 ISBN: 9781893905016 Diamond Order Code: MAR042974

(176-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905023 Diamond Order Code: APR043058

(240-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905320 Diamond Order Code: MAY043052

SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE EDITION

CAPTAIN VICTORY: GRAPHITE EDITION

First conceptualized in the 1970s as a movie screenplay, SILVER STAR was too far ahead of its time for Hollywood, so artist JACK KIRBY adapted it as a six-issue mini-series for Pacific Comics in the 1980s, making it his final, great comics series. Image Comics recently collected the printed comics as a full-color hardcover, but now the entire six-issue run is collected here, reproduced from his powerful, uninked PENCIL ART, showing Kirby’s work in its undiluted, raw form!

Also included is Kirby’s ILLUSTRATED SILVER STAR MOVIE SCREENPLAY, never-seen SKETCHES, PIN-UPS, and an historical overview to put it all in perspective!

For the first time, JACK KIRBY’s original CAPTAIN VICTORY GRAPHIC NOVEL is presented as it was created in 1975 (before being broken up and modified for the 1980s Pacific Comics series), reproduced from copies of Kirby’s uninked pencil art! This first “new” Kirby comic in years features page after page of prime pencils, and includes Jack’s unused CAPTAIN VICTORY SCREENPLAY, unseen art, an historical overview to put it in perspective, and more! Besides presenting this classic story in never-before-seen pencil form, proceeds from this comic go toward the huge task of scanning and restoring the 5000+ page photocopy archive of Kirby’s pencil art from the 1960s-80s!

NEW FOR 2008

VOLUME 5

VOLUME 6

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #20-22—the Kirby’s Women, Wackiest Work, and Villains issues, featuring interviews with JACK KIRBY and daughter LISA KIRBY, plus DAVE STEVENS, GIL KANE, BRUCE TIMM, STEVE RUDE, and MIKE “HELLBOY” MIGNOLA! Also features an unpublished Kirby story still in pencil, Jack’s original pencils to FANTASTIC FOUR #49 (from the fabled Galactus trilogy), and over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including Jack’s uninked pencils from THE DEMON, FOREVER PEOPLE, JIMMY OLSEN, KAMANDI, ETERNALS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK PANTHER, and more, a Foreword by DAVID HAMILTON, plus a KIRBY/DAVE STEVENS cover!

Reprints JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #23-26—Jack’s “Greatest Battles,” “Gods,” and his Golden Age work with JOE SIMON! Features rare interviews with Kirby himself, plus new ones with comics pros DENNY O’NEIL, JIM SHOOTER, JOHN SEVERIN, and WALTER SIMONSON! PLUS: see a complete ten-page UNPUBLISHED KIRBY STORY! Jack’s ORIGINAL PENCILS to FANTASTIC FOUR #49 (the first appearance of the Silver Surfer)! Kirby’s original concept art for the Fourth World characters! An analysis comparing Kirby’s margin notes to Stan Lee’s dialogue! Plus a NEW special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, and a Foreword by MIKE GARTLAND!

(224-page trade paperback) $24.95 ISBN: 9781893905573 Diamond Order Code: FEB063353

(288-page trade paperback) $29.95 ISBN: 9781605490038 Ships August 2008

(160-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905559 Diamond Order Code: JAN063367

(52-page comic book) $5.95 Diamond Order Code: JAN042759

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

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

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ROUGH STUFF #3

ROUGH STUFF #4

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

Still more galleries of UNPUBLISHED ART

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

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

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

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

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

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

ROUGH STUFF #5

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ROUGH STUFF #6

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

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

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

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

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Features an in-depth interview and cover by TIM TOWNSEND, CRAIG HAMILTON, DAN JURGENS, and HOWARD PORTER offer preliminary art and commentaries, MARIE SEVERIN career retrospective, graphic novels feature with art and comments by DAWN BROWN, TOMER HANUKA, BEN TEMPLESMITH, and LANCE TOOKS, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: NOV073966

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ROUGH STUFF #9

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ROUGH STUFF #8 Features an in-depth interview and cover painting by the extraordinary MIKE MAYHEW, preliminary and unpublished art

by ALEX HORLEY, TONY DeZUNIGA, NICK CARDY, and RAFAEL KAYANAN (including commentary by each artist), a look at the great Belgian comic book artists, a “Rough Critique” of MIKE MURDOCK’s work, and more!

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: FEB084188

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

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

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

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

DRAW! #4

DRAW! #5

DRAW! #6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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DRAW! #8

DRAW! #10

DRAW! #11

DRAW! #12

DRAW! #13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DRAW! #16

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DRAW! #14

DRAW! #15

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

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

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

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

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

(80-page magazine with COLOR) $6.95 Ships Summer 2008

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

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NEW STUFF FROM TWOMORROWS!

ALTER EGO #77

BACK ISSUE #28

WRITE NOW! #18

DRAW! #15

BRICKJOURNAL #1 (V2)

ST. JOHN ISSUE! Golden Age Tor cover by JOE KUBERT, KEN QUATTRO relates the full legend of St. John Publishing, art by KUBERT, NORMAN MAURER, MATT BAKER, LILY RENEE, BOB LUBBERS, RUBEN MOREIRA, RALPH MAYO, AL FAGO, special reminiscences of ARNOLD DRAKE, Golden Age artist TOM SAWYER interviewed, and more!

“Heroes Behaving Badly!” Hulk vs. Thing tirades with RON WILSON, HERB TRIMPE, and JIM SHOOTER; CARY BATES and CARMINE INFANTINO on “Trial of the Flash”; JOHN BYRNE’s heroes who cross the line; Teen Titan Terra, Kid Miracleman, Mark Shaw Manhunter, and others who went bad, featuring LAYTON, MICHELINIE, WOLFMAN, and PÉREZ, and more! New cover by DARWYN COOKE!

Celebration of STAN LEE’s 85th birthday, including rare examples of comics, TV, and movie scripts from the Stan Lee Archives, tributes by JOHN ROMITA, SR., JOE QUESADA, ROY THOMAS, DENNIS O’NEIL, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JIM SALICRUP, TODD McFARLANE, LOUISE SIMONSON, MARK EVANIER, and others, plus art by KIRBY, DITKO, ROMITA, and more!

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

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

(80-page magazine) $6.95 Now Shipping Diamond Order Code: FEB084191

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

(80-page FULL COLOR magazine) $8.95 Now Shipping Diamond Order Code: FEB088010

ALL- STAR COMPANION V. 3

MODERN MASTERS VOLUME 15: MARK SCHULTZ

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Ships May 2008 Diamond Order Code: MAR084108

KIRBY FIVE-OH! (JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #50) The regular columnists from THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR magazine celebrate the best of everything from Jack Kirby’s 50-year career, spotlighting: The BEST KIRBY STORIES & COVERS from 19381987! Jack’s 50 BEST UNUSED PIECES OF ART! His 50 BEST CHARACTER DESIGNS! Interviews with the 50 PEOPLE MOST INFLUENCED BY KIRBY’S WORK! A 50PAGE KIRBY PENCIL ART GALLERY and DELUXE COLOR SECTION! Kirby cover inked by DARWYN COOKE, and an introduction by MARK EVANIER, making this the ultimate retrospective on the career of the “King” of comics! Edited by JOHN MORROW. (168-page tabloid-size trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905894 Diamond Order Code: JUL078147 Now Shipping

(100-page magazine) $6.95 Diamond Order Code: MAR084109

SILVER AGE ALTER EGO: BEST SCI-FI COMPANION OF THE LEGENDARY COMICS FANZINE In the Silver Age of Comics, space was the place, and this book summarizes, critiques and lovingly recalls the classic science-fiction series edited by JULIUS SCHWARTZ and written by GARDNER FOX and JOHN BROOME! The pages of DC’s science-fiction magazines of the 1960s, STRANGE ADVENTURES and MYSTERY IN SPACE, are opened for you, including story-bystory reviews of complete series such as ADAM STRANGE, ATOMIC KNIGHTS, SPACE MUSEUM, STAR ROVERS, STAR HAWKINS and others! Writer/editor MIKE W. BARR tells you which series crossed over with each other, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more, including writer and artist credits for every story! Features rare art by CARMINE INFANTINO, MURPHY ANDERSON, GIL KANE, SID GREENE, MIKE SEKOWSKY, and many others, plus a glorious new cover by ALAN DAVIS and PAUL NEARY!

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

(144-page trade paperback) $19.95 ISBN: 9781893905818 Diamond Order Code: JUL073885

In 1961, JERRY BAILS and ROY THOMAS launched ALTER EGO, the first fanzine devoted to comic book history. This book, first published in low distribution in 1997, collects the original 11 issues of A/E from 1961-78, with creative and artistic contributions by JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, WALLY WOOD, JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, BILL EVERETT, RUSS MANNING, CURT SWAN, & others—and important, illustrated interviews with GIL KANE, BILL EVERETT, & JOE KUBERT! See where a generation first learned about the Golden Age of Comics—while the Silver Age was in full flower—with major articles on the JUSTICE SOCIETY, the MARVEL FAMILY, the MLJ HEROES, and more! Edited by ROY THOMAS & BILL SCHELLY with an introduction by the late JULIUS SCHWARTZ.

More amazing secrets behind the 194051 ALL-STAR COMICS—and illustrated speculation about how other Golden Age super-teams might have been assembled!

Also, an issue-by-issue survey of the JLAJSA TEAM-UPS of 1963-85, the 1970s JSA REVIVAL, and the 1980s series THE YOUNG ALL-STARS and SECRET ORIGINS, with commentary by the artists and writers! Plus rare, often unseen art by KUBERT, INFANTINO, ADAMS, ORDWAY, ANDERSON, TOTH, CARDY, GIL KANE, COLAN, SEKOWSKY, DILLIN, STATON, REINMAN, McLEOD, GRINDBERG, PAUL SMITH, RON HARRIS, MARSHALL ROGERS, WAYNE BORING, GEORGE FREEMAN, DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, TONY DeZUNIGA, H.G. PETER, DON SIMPSON, and many others! Compiled and edited by ROY THOMAS, with a new cover by GEORGE PÉREZ!

(192-page trade paperback) $21.95 ISBN: 9781893905887 Diamond Order Code: DEC073946

(224-page trade paperback) $26.95 ISBN: 9781893905801 Diamond Order Code: MAY078045

(10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Surface

Airmail

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (4 issues)

$44

US

1st Class Canada $56

$64

$76

$120

BACK ISSUE! (6 issues)

$40

$54

$66

$90

$108

DRAW!, WRITE NOW!, ROUGH STUFF (4 issues)

$26

$36

$44

$60

$72

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

$78

$108

$132

$180

$216

BRICKJOURNAL (4 issues)

$32

$42

$50

$66

$78

Features an extensive, career-spanning interview lavishly illustrated with rare art from Mark’s files, plus huge sketchbook section, including unseen and unused art!

By ERIC NOLEN-WEATHINGTON. (120-page TPB with COLOR) $14.95 ISBN: 9781893905856 Diamond Order Code: OCT073846

MODERN MASTERS: MICHAEL GOLDEN DVD Shows the artist at work, discussing his art and career!

(120-minute Std. Format DVD) $29.95 ISBN: 9781893905771 Diamond Order Code: MAY073780

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

TwoMorrows. Celebrating The Art & History Of Comics.

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