From the Shameless Plug Department...(UPDATED)

**** UPDATE: Ken has informed me that Diamond has recently moved one of it's warehouses, wreaking havok with the delivery of some independent books, including (unfortunately) SUPERHUMAN RESOURCES. Ken and Justin made sure they had all the books "in the can" before soliciting and Ken has done a bang-up job of promoting the book. Unfortunately, Diamond has virtually undone all that. They have had the book for three weeks and still haven't delivered it to retailers. The first issue now won't hit stands until NEXT Wednesday. Diamond certainly aren't making any friends outside the big two lately, are they? Ken was joking that the second issue will probably hit the stands before the first issue. Hopefully that won't be the case. Sorry for any inconvenience and I hope you'll still pick it up when it eventually comes out.****


Though it’s scheduled to hit the stands today, Ken Marcus tells me that, due to a distribution glitch, SUPERHUMAN RESOURCES issue #1 may actually be arriving next week. In any case, keep your eyes peeled. Word on the street is that my LCS, Nostalgia Plus in the Shops at Willow Lawn, will have LOTS of copies when they come in. Some time soon, there’s even a signing with Ken (and maybe me) in the works. The series’ artist Justin Bleep isn’t local so I doubt he’ll be there. More details when I get them.

Did I mention my pinup got moved up from issue 4 to issue 1? So, by all that’s holy, pick up a copy of this issue.

Cover Me.

It's amazing how much the cover of a book will influence your reading experience.

I first read HUNTERS OF THE RED MOON by Marion Zimmer Bradley and her brother Paul Edwin Zimmer (who went erroneously uncredited on some editions of the book) about 25 years ago. Mike and I had branched out from reading comics to novels but our tastes had started to diverge. I'd been curious about the cover to CUJO for months and finally took the plunge, becoming an instant horror (and Stephen King) junkie. With Mom's help, I located and devoured King's entire output to that time. I quickly moved on to the likes of Joe Lansdale, John Skipp & Craig Spector, Michael Slade and Robert McCammon. Mike, on the other hand, was drawn to the Science Fiction/Fantasy novels put out by DAW Books. He read everything he could find by Michael Moorcock (especially the Elric of Melnibone books), John Jakes, C. J. Cherryh, Tanith Lee and dozens of others. He had an entire wall of novels he'd bought at a local used book store (Givens Books). And they weren't just for show. He read and adored every one of them, eventually branching out from DAW to blaze through everything he could find by J. R. R. Tolkien.

I couldn't really blame him. The covers of the books he was reading were enticing and often incredibly beautiful. They made me want to read the books even though the subject matter really didn't appeal to me. I'd managed to turn Mike on to the horror novels I was reading, especially King and McCammon, but I just couldn't get into his SF stuff. I tried several times to read the Elric books because of the brilliant covers but was too intimidated. My science fiction reading had been limited to quite a few Star Trek novels (ahhh, THE ENTROPY EFFECT). Finally, I guess Mike got tired of watching me blindly picking at his collection, trying to find something I liked and picked out something for me.

He handed me the book you see above and it was the beginning of a decades-long love affair. I saw the anthropomorphic crocodile and tiger on the cover and was hooked instantly. In fact, everything about the cover grabbed me. The fascinating characters, the ominous moon looming in the sky, the brilliant colors. (For years after this, I was drawn to books with purple on the cover only to find out that research has shown that books with purple on the cover sell better — go figure.) The red tunics looked like the uniforms of a superhero team, appealing to the comic book fan in me. And the cat-man looked like a werewolf, appealing to the horror nut I was becoming. It was such a successful cover that it wasn't until recently that I realized how wrong it was.

That first time, I tore through the book in no time. Couldn't put it down. The story was fairly simple. A man sailing on the ocean is abducted by slave-trading alien cat-people called Mekhars and is thrown in with a menagerie of diverse creatures including Aratak (the lizard-man), Rianna (the woman) and Dallith, a frail empath (not pictured.) They make a futile escape attempt and are sold, along with Cliff-Climber (one of the Mekhars injured in the escape) to the Hunters. The Hunters are a mysterious society that live only to stalk and kill the most formidable creatures in the galaxy. This time, it's our heroes. If it sounds like goofy, geeky fun, it is. But emotional and intellectual depth save it from being pure candy.

I've read the book over and over, pulling it off the shelf every few years when I want something comfortable. In fact, I'm reading it now for probably the sixth or seventh time, more than any other book I've read. And for the first time, I've noticed that the characters on the cover don't look anything like how they're described in the book. Each and every time I've read the book, in my mind's eye, Aratak was a rich green and looked much like you see him. Cliff-Climber looked like an overgrown brown tabby. Rianna had reddish-brown hair. And Dane, the main protagonist, wielded a scimitar-like sword. Reading it now, I've just realized that Aratak is described as squat and a dull gray. The Mekhars (including Cliff-Climber) are supposed to look like lions, mane and all. And Rianna is described as having blazing fire-red locks. Dane's sword, by the way, turns out to be a samurai's katana.

How did I miss this...six times? It may seem unimportant (and it is) but this is arguably my favorite book and I can't believe the cover influenced my mind's image of the characters so much that I had it wrong for 25 years. After all, when I pictured what Johnny Smith looked like in THE DEAD ZONE (another favorite), it wasn't anything like the guy on the cover.



Anyway, my intention this week was to redraw the cover with the characters depicted as the authors described them. But, as usual, work had other plans. I haven't been quite as busy this week but the bean counters are keeping a close eye on us so every minute has to be accounted for. Not that I goof off at work but it's best to be seen as indispensable. And next week promises to be, well, horrible. So all I've got to show is this character study of Aratak. I did a few sketches that didn't go anywhere and then hit on the idea that, as described, Aratak would probably have more in common with a komodo dragon than a crocodile. So that's how I drew him. I was pretty pleased with the result until a friend of mine saw it on my desk and said, "Hey cool! Is that a Gorn?"

Maybe some day, I'll get to do the cover recreation like I wanted.

Later.

Rom...again.

I’ve been practically living at my desk the last few weeks, enduring long nights and weekends and, while it’s extremely frustrating in that it keeps me from doing the things I’d rather be doing, it’s also very reassuring. Because, in a field that’s bleeding jobs like a hemophiliac, it’s very nice to be needed. At least that’s what I keep telling myself every time I hear the phrase “So, you around this weekend?” Every day, I hear news about another big company in Richmond closing its doors or laying off large numbers of people. Circuit City is probably the most high-profile example. It's getting really scary. Not only that, but I have several friends going through much more difficult situations than having to work too much. So enough whining.

I've been buying most of the magazines put out by Two Morrows. In fact, I spend more on magazines about comics than on comics themselves. Of all the great mags they put out, BACK ISSUE! is my favorite. It sort of took the place of COMIC BOOK ARTIST when that book went to (I believe) Top Shelf and went from a semi-monthly to semi-never schedule. Imagine my delight when I opened the latest issue of BACK ISSUE! to find a retrospective on one of my favorite characters of all time, second only to Nova, Rom: Spaceknight. I excitedly read the article and was thoroughly...disappointed. Sadly, the article was filled with some uncharacteristic proofreading problems (not that big a deal) and some glaring omissions (The writer heaped much love on the covers of Bill Sienkiewicz and Frank Miller but never once mentioned the sublime contributions of the great Michael Golden.) At one point, there was a mention of the debut of inkers Ian Akin and Brian Garvey (something I was very interested in) only to have the article skip (like a needle on a record) mid-paragraph to another subject entirely. All this could be forgiven except for the annoying tendency of some of the interviewees to pile onto ROM writer Bill Mantlo. Mantlo was one of my favorites growing up and since his accident years back (which prevents him from giving his side in interviews) it seems every time his name comes up in magazines or online, people find one way or another find something derogatory to say about him. In this article, Jim Shooter in particular seems to trip all over himself trying to claim credit for any and every aspect of the ROM book that made it a success. Even his compliments were backhanded. Perhaps it's a drawback to reading so much about the creation of the comics I loved as a kid but I really don't like to see someone whose work I loved being denigrated. I think I'm just going to stick my head in the sand on this one. Bill Mantlo's and Sal Buscema's names were in the credit box and that's enough for me. Those guys put out a great book that was ten times better than it had any right to be and I'm grateful.

This post's drawing was done in ten-minute spurts over about five days. I draw in my downtime at work and that has been in very short supply lately. In good times, nobody cares if you sketch while you wait for a render or for something to be proofread. In times like these, doodling away your potential billable time is not a good idea, career-wise. As much as I love Rom, his armor has always been hard to figure out. I have nothing but admiration for Sal Buscema and Michael Golden who could take such a rigid-looking character and make him look so graceful and interesting. Respect.

I'll try not to go so long between posts next time, just for my own sanity. (This drawing was really hard to complete because I've allowed myself to get rusty.) Unfortunately, I can't promise anything.

Later.