Hobgoblin by Romita & Yoakum

final touches added, here is my first work over the legendary John Romita's pencils.

I think that i could have done a hell of a Spider-man cover back in the 1970's. Given that i cuold have wrest the job away from Esposito or Giacoia for an issue.

New Work: Black Cat by Rubi & Yoakum

An ink commission of the Black Cat, who I really liked as Spider-Man's girlfriend. Ah well.

Also, head on over the YoComics.net and a new page is up! Page 6 is now up for The Carnival: The Human Hourglass.

I have learned that writing, drawing and inking the pages is one thing, putting the tones on them to my satisfaction is far easier said than done. I'm already thinking of how to modify this for the future so that i can work quicker.

What Hath I Learned: The Mighty Thor #213

All the comics are spread all over the floor last night, reorganizing them the same way at the tender age of 43 that I did at 9 years of age. I put my 8 year old to the task of "organizing" the Supermans, and the Avengers just so that she had the chance to flip through some new comics that she's never seen. And, of course, I run across The Mighty Thor #213, the very first comic that I ever read. I decided to re-read the issue, to see just how it holds up. Just what did I learn from the experience of reading Thor #213?

Well, I learned that the All-Father is a whiny bitch. Odin spends what few panels he has in the story telling everyone not to fight and to give up. I learned that Gerry Conway and Len Wein can knock this sort of stuff out before lunchtime: The Golden City has been overtaken by slave trading giant Lizards and they have sold the Lady Sif off in the gap between issues. The destruction of the secret drug processing plant that is the crux of keeping the aliens docile takes place on a small panel. The drug plant is so secret that John Buscema and Don Perlin never even end up drawing the damn thing. I learned that the plot makes little sense. Thor, the godling who stood up to Magog, gets knocked out by a chunk of masonry dropped on his head. I learned that Wein and Conway decided NOT to use the evil lizard race that they already have in the Marvel Universe, the Badoon, but instead make up an entirely new race, typo-ridden Vrellnexians, whose main claim to fame must be the unpronounability of their race's name.

I learned that a Starlin cover is a Jim frikkin' Starlin cover, regardless of being touched up by Romita. I learned that there is actually a guy dressed like a Greek fisherman who is travelling space and time with the Asgardians and he never even gets a caption, let alone a word balloon. I learned that the Living Zombie was about to debut in "Tales of the Zombie", appearing wherever fine magazines are sold. I learned that John Buscema either got sick or behind the deadline or simply so bored with the plot that it fell to Don Perlin to finish the last 2 pages... and since Vinnie Colletta inked the isssue, its pretty difficult to tell.

I learned via a full page house ad that Gwen Stacy had died by the Green Goblin's hand and Spider-Man is PISSED.

Mostly I learned that this was one damn confusing issue to start reading comics with. At least the next two I bought, Iron Man #64 and Marvel Feature #12 were easier on the storylines: Doctor Spectrum and the Blood Brothers were attacking, and someone named Thanos was in the background. Who said Marvel in the 1970's was easy to read?

New Work: Mary Jane by Hughes & Yoakum

Another Adam Hughes ink job!

Love trying to get that Jazzy Johnny Romita hair sheen on MJ. Adam does interesting faces, not stereotypical women's faces, and I'm noticing it more now inking a few of these pieces than I ever did just looking at the work.

These are fun!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Who? Pt III

More detail on Spidey here.

It does seem odd to do the full on process without showing the sketches that lead to this point. I may have to go back and scan them so we can really see the piece develop.












Also, I develop a Green Goblin sketch on a nother page and blow it up on the photocopier. I'm showing you the good one, not the crappy Goblin sketches....

I then do the shading work on the photocopy so that I can play with the lighting without losing the structure of the original drawing if i mess it up. But I kinda like this one off the bat.

To Arachnid or Not To Arachnid: Spidey in Spanish and Married

Spider-Man may not have had a lot of luck with the ladies, I doubt that you think that with this great collection of mexican Spider-man covers over at Brian's blog "Again With The Comics". Its damn funny to see the creative cutting and pasting that they did for those covers. Mostly, I think, Romita and Esposito with their slight Ditko hats on. Or is it Ross Andru? In any case, lots of great Gwen Stacy cheesecake. Honestly, while we were suffering through the amazing Spider Vehicle here in the states and the botched Clone Saga, we would have been far better off with a lot of long legged Gwen.

What I think that I love more than anything about this cover
is that Gwen's clothing looks like something designed by Kirby for the Fourth World Series, or the Contessa's outfit in Steranko's Nick Fury. She should be standing next Mr. Miracle and Barda.

I don't think that, in the 1970's, Spidey was in the position of actually being about right for the cultural zeitgeist. That and Conway's stories were slightly off the mark when it comes to really capturing who the character was/is. And really it points out Joe Q's problem: If the character is to stay popular, then they have to change to reflect the times. Batman is probably the best known example. The grim vigilante pulp-derived hero of the late '30's was so wrong for the uptight '50's that a major shift was needed. Kane and the editorial folks at DC proved very capable to molding the character. Spidey was very much a part of the 1960's with his loser on campus persona, but Conway was stuck in the unenviable position of not really being allowed to move the character forward, even as he was allowed to add to the Canon. I didn't enjoy the stories in Spider-Man's book as much as the ones in Marvel Team-Up sometimes, since they were so throwaway, you didn't have to have as much of the soap opera. That, that, that appeal to the kid in me.

I've stayed away on the subject but i may as well put something down on paper here. So my official position on One More Day is this: you want Spider-Man single, fine, but it could have been done in such a better way. And isn't this why you have the Ultimate Spider-Man anyway?

Superman vs. Spiderman: Viva La '70's!

Oh Danny Boy down in Australia has a great article up about the story behind the Superman/Spider-Man team up from the 1970's. With interviews via phone and email with Neal Adams, Mike Esposito, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Terry Austin, he seems to have teased out all the behind the scenes stuff. Its been gone over once before in Comic Book Artist, I believe, but a nice condensation of the making of the book.

What is interesting to me is how amazed he is about the idea that diverse hands (Adams redrawing Andru's Superman figures for instance) seem to have touched the pages. I doubt that there is a professional out there that would be surprised by the "collaborative" process why which a book like this is made. There are a ton of books that have been made by "Diverse Hands" or "Crusty Bunkers" that would turn up all sorts of interesting names in a panel by panel breakdown.

I personally love the story of the tier in Master of Kung Fu #39 that was inked by Steranko on a book that Dan Adkins get the published credit on. Adkins had received the pencils and but had just started the job when Steranko was visiting. Jim, apparently loved the tier with some asian gangsters gambling and grabbed a brush and started inking it. Given Paul Gulacy's style, it was a perfect fit.

How about The Claws of the Cat #4, with Alan Weiss and Jim Starlin each drawing different characters throughout the entire book (Alan The Cat and Jim the Man-Bull)? That was one weird book. I never figured out the credits until Alan told me the story years later.

Got a favorite Jam story? There are a million of them. Lets not even bring up Secret Wars. Really.