SwanShadow Thinks Out Loud

For those of you out there battling the mob scene at your local mall or big box store, I have no sympathy. Your choice, your scars and high blood pressure. I’m relaxing comfortably in my new office chair with a mug of freshly brewed coffee and a slice of leftover Thanksgiving apple pie, thank you very much. Shopping is the reason God invented Amazon.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the Black Friday thing, I’m brim-full of excitement about something else Black — specifically, the Black Panther, my favorite superhero of all time. (Okay, maybe he’s #1 with Spider-Man at #1A. But still.) I’m especially excited about this astounding tableau, created by one of the true modern masters of the comic art form — Steve “The Dude” Rude.

There are artists whom I commission because I know almost exactly what they will do with the assignment, and I’m commissioning them in part for their consistency of vision. There are other artists whom I commission knowing that I have no advance clue at all what they will do with the assignment, and if I try to guess, I will be incorrect. Steve Rude falls squarely into that latter category.

Because Rude’s bold style is unabashedly influenced by the late, legendary Jack “King” Kirby, who co-created the Black Panther (pretty much every comic book artist of the past 50 years has been influenced to some degree by Kirby, but Rude more directly than most), I might have supposed that, when asked to draw the Black Panther, Rude would give me a propulsive, energetically Kirbyesque take on the character — say, something along the lines of Kirby’s iconic cover to Black Panther #7.

Instead, Steve went in the opposite direction, drawing on another of his primary influences: Alex Toth, whose mastery of shape and minimalistic linework made him a much-in-demand designer for TV animation, a medium in which clarity and simplicity are essentials. (Among the classic cartoons Toth designed are Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Super Friends.) Rude used a Toth-like contrast of deep shadow and blinding light to create a dense, moody, atmospheric scene. I was absolutely floored when I first saw it.

Actually, the second time I saw it.

My first view of the piece came by way of Steve’s preliminary sketch, at which you’re now looking. You can see how, even though all of the key shapes, lines, and spaces are present in the rough, the dramatic impact Rude will ultimately introduce through skillfully placed shadow (it’s called “spotting blacks” in comic art jargon) is not only absent, but nearly impossible to anticipate. The prelim sketch suggests a very nice drawing to come. The finished, fully inked version goes light-years beyond “very nice,” into the realm of “jaw-droppingly stupendous.”

Now that’s a Black Friday I can get behind.

And that, friend reader, is your Comic Art Friday. (Remember: Avoid mob scenes; shop online. Just a tip from your Uncle Swan.)

If you’ve read here often over the past six years, you know that I’m not a big holidays guy. My idea of a good holiday is something like International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which I celebrate faithfully every September 19, or National Gorilla Suit Day, which falls on January 31 each year.

Or, to the point of this post, Wonder Woman Day.

Wonder Woman Day was inaugurated five years ago by Andy Mangels, a writer whose stock in trade is popular culture in general, and comics and comics-related media in particular. Andy teamed with Bradley Angle House, a nonprofit shelter for women and children located in Portland, Oregon, to come up with a unique event to raise funds for Bradley Angle, while simultaneously raising public awareness of the need to empower women against domestic violence. Andy’s brilliant idea was to get dozens of comic book artists to donate images of Wonder Woman — the greatest icon of female empowerment — that would then be auctioned off, both online and live at a comics shop in Portland, to support the shelter.

And Wonder Woman Day was born.

Being the avid Wonder Woman fanatic that I am, I’ve been a proud supporter of Wonder Woman Day — even though I got shut out of the auctions the past couple of years. (I have two nice pieces in my Temple of Diana from previous WWDs — one by Michael Bair, and another by Al Rio, the latter of which was later inked by Bob Almond.) When I heard that this year’s event would be the last — I don’t know the reasons, but I suspect that DC Comics’ legal department issued a cease-and-desist — I was determined to come away with another addition to my Wonder Woman gallery.

In fact, I came up with two.

The inked drawing at the top of this post is the work of one of comics’ few married artistic teams, penciler June Brigman and her husband, inker Roy Richardson. I’ve admired June’s work for quite some time — she cocreated (with writer Louise Simonson) Marvel Comics’ juvenile superteam Power Pack, and for the past 15 years she’s been the artist on the syndicated newspaper strip Brenda Starr (which she took over after the retirement of Comic Book Hall of Fame artist Ramona Fradon). When I saw that June and Roy had contributed one of their collaborations to Wonder Woman Day, I knew I had to own it.

The pencil drawing above is by Roger Medeiros, a Brazilian artist whose work was previously unknown to me. Roer has done some licensing art for Hasbro Toys (G.I. Joe packaging), and contributed to one of the recent Dungeons and Dragons volumes. If this gorgeous drawing is representative of his talents — and trust me, Roger’s design sense and pencil technique is pristine viewed up close — this young man is going to be a star in the comics world in short order.

I’m sorry to see Wonder Woman Day go. I understand that the event will evolve into another format next year — probably into “Superheroines Day” or something similar — but I thought its connection to the most recognizable female icon in comics gave it cachet. Don’t things always suck when the attorneys get involved?

Remember this: Every day in America, thousands of women and children become victims of domestic violence. As a society, we can’t afford to turn a blind eye. We need to teach our sons that abusing those who are physically weaker is never, ever acceptable behavior, and that violence is never, ever an appropriate channel for anger. We need to teach our daughters never, ever to accept being abused, and never to fear calling for help when they need it.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Not too long ago, my friend Damon asked me how close I am to completing my Bombshells! project — my ongoing series of commissioned drawings featuring heroines from the Golden Age of comics (defined for the purposes of this project as any character who made her debut prior to 1960) in pinups modeled after vintage bomber nose art.

I told Damon that I’m nowhere close to the end. My Bombshells! to-do list still has another 64 heroines on it, and I probably haven’t unearthed all of the possible candidates as yet. Many of the names are obscure, but I still have a few that would be recognized by most knowledgeable comics buffs.

They don’t come more recognizable than this.

Supergirl devotee that I am, I was saving the Maid of Steel’s Bombshells! appearance for just the right artist. I don’t believe I could have made a better choice than Steve “The Dude” Rude, best known as the creator (with writer Mike Baron) of the long-running series Nexus. Rude’s retro style, influenced by such comic art legends as Jack Kirby and Alex Toth, suits Bombshells! wonderfully. His rendition of Supergirl could easily have appeared on a 1950s DC Comics cover.

The tagline used here is my inside joke to other Supergirl fans. In her earlier days, Supergirl was noteworthy for her menagerie of super-pets, including Streaky the Super-Cat and a flying Super-Horse named Comet. Rude took my idea and ran with it, depicting Kara Zor-El astride her missile just as she used to ride her beloved Comet.

I never quite understood why Supergirl would enjoy riding a flying horse when she’s perfectly capable of flying under her own power. But hey — that’s comics for you.

That’s also your Comic Art Friday.

I’m always tickled when a new addition to my Common Elements theme lands on my doorstep. The arrival of today’s featured artwork, however, represented a genuine coup for my signature gallery.

Ramona Fradon, who created the above piece, was one of the first female artists — and one of the relative few, even to this day — to make her mark in the superhero comics genre. She broke into the business in the early 1950s, when the very idea of women working in mainstream comics was practically unheard of. Becoming the regular artist on Aquaman, Ms. Fradon garnered acclaim for her distinctive graceful style.

In the 1960s, after an extended maternity leave, Ms. Fradon returned to comics as the co-creator (with writer Bob Haney) of Metamorpho, the Element Man. (That’s him on the right in today’s drawing.) During the following decade, she worked extensively for DC Comics (on such series as Plastic Man, Freedom Fighters, and the comic for which many know her best today, Super Friends), and on rare occasion for Marvel (most notably, Fantastic Four #133). Then, in 1980, she transitioned into newspaper comics, taking over the art chores on the long-running strip Brenda Starr when creator Dale Messick retired. Ms. Fradon drew the intrepid reporter’s adventures for the next 15 years.

I had the honor of meeting Ms. Fradon four years ago at WonderCon, as she was about to be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. Here, she’s being interviewed by cartoonist Scott Shaw! (and yes, he spells it with an exclamation point).

Ramona Fradon is mostly retired these days, but she’s still drawing for her fans, as the commission above attests. And as one can clearly see, her skills remain as sharp as ever, even though the artist is now well into her 80s.

As for the subjects of today’s featured item: Given the chance to commission Ms. Fradon, I wanted her to revisit the character she helped create. Metamorpho, like The Thing of the Fantastic Four, is a hero whose superpowers come at the price of a normal human appearance. Due to exposure to a radioactive meteorite, adventurer Rex Mason’s body gains the ability to transmute into any chemical element. This unique talent enables Rex to change into almost anything he can imagine — think Plastic Man on steroids. Sadly, the one change he can’t effect is making himself fully human. (I’ve never quite understood why, but that’s comics for you.)

Accompanying Metamorpho is another hero named Rex — specifically, Rex “Tick-Tock” Tyler, the original Hourman. As was the case with many superheroes of comics’ Golden Age, Tyler acquired his power from ingesting chemicals; in his case, the vitamin compound Miraclo. A dose of Miraclo gave Tyler superhuman strength and endurance, but only for the 60 minutes the effect lasted — hence the name Hourman. (Frankly, I always thought advertising one’s weakness to the world would be the most foolish move a superhero could make — sort of like Superman calling himself Captain Allergic-to-Kryptonite. If I were a supervillain, I’d figure out a way to keep Hourman confined or occupied for 61 minutes, then I’d beat the stuffing out of him.) Interestingly, as the years progressed, Tyler actually became addicted to Miraclo — one of the first examples of comics dealing with such a powerful health and social issue.

Speaking of time, I’m out of it for now.

So that, friend reader, is your Comic Art Friday.

Today’s Comic Art Friday is dedicated to the Inkwell Awards, the annual honors issued to inkers, those unsung heroes and heroines of the comic art world who transform (often rough) pencil drawings into clear, completely finished art suitable for publication.

The Inkwell Awards are the brainchild of my friend Bob Almond, an enormously talented inker perhaps best known for his lengthy stint on Marvel’s Black Panther, in collaboration with penciler Sal Velluto and writer Christopher Priest. In addition to his always exceptional artistic efforts, Bob is a tireless advocate for practitioners of his chosen craft, spending a great deal of his time and personal resources educating comics fans about the underappreciated, often misconstrued work of inking artists.

Over the years that I’ve been collecting and commissioning original comic art, I’ve learned a wealth of inking lore from Bob. And, thanks to the numerous commissioned projects he’s done for me (more than 40 at last count), my galleries sparkle with his expertly applied inks.

Given the fact that Bob and the rest of the Inkwell Awards team are currently soliciting votes for this year’s honors — an election in which you, friend reader, are cordially invited to participate — I thought this might be an excellent occasion to leap into the Wayback Machine and revisit the very first commission Bob ever inked for me.

Here’s the original pencil art, as Bob received it. If you stopped by here last week, you’ll recognize the distinctive style of Al Rio.

This was a preliminary sketch Al created for a drawing he eventually auctioned off as a benefit for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit southern Asia on Boxing Day 2004. As the word “preliminary” suggests, and as you can see, this pencil sketch is a nicely drawn but still fairly rough outline of the idea Rio had in mind. (In fact, Al’s finished artwork bears only a passing resemblance to this initial concept. In the final product, Superman was replaced with Batman, and Supergirl gave way to a grieving mother.)

Bob Almond took this sketch and embellished it to a high gloss. He refined the figures, solidified the background elements, and added numerous details that are only hinted at — or in many instances absent altogether — in Al Rio’s pencil rough. When Bob’s work on the piece is complete, it’s no longer just a drawing. It has become a living, breathing example of finished comic art.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the inker’s contribution to the completed work extends far beyond merely tracing the penciler’s lines, as many uneducated comics fans suppose. The inker’s additions are indispensable to the art as the reader expects to experience it.

If you follow this link, you can read Mr. Almond’s own commentary about this commission, including Bob’s detailed description of the techniques and tools he employed.

Every day in the world of comic books, talented men and women practice the fine art of inking. Their toils often go unheralded, especially by comparison with those of their penciling colleagues. Still, for every Jack Kirby who has become a household name through the power of his pencil, there is a Joe Sinnott, a Frank Giacoia, or a Mike Royer inking away in the background, making those pencils look fantastic.

And yes, a Bob Almond too. (Bob’s much too young to have inked Kirby. But he certainly would have done The King proud.)

If you’re a comic art aficionado who values the abilities of inkers both historic and contemporary, please take a moment to surf over to the Inkwell Awards website and vote for your favorites. You’ll be glad you did.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

It’s a Comic Art Friday the 13th, but you know what? I’m feeling lucky.

When I feel lucky, I turn to my signature commission theme — Common Elements, in which otherwise unrelated comic book characters who share some… well… common element meet up on the drawing table of a talented artist.

Today, Brazilian superstar Al Rio finds two star-crossed superwomen engaged in a merry chase. Leading the parade at right is Star Sapphire, the long-time nemesis-slash-paramour of Hal Jordan, best known of the numerous heroes who’ve borne the title Green Lantern. In hot pursuit at left is Stargirl, one of the youngest members of the current incarnation of comicdom’s senior superteam, the Justice Society of America.

Star Sapphire, like Carol (Ms. Marvel) Danvers and Dr. Bill (Goliath) Foster, is one of a handful of characters whose civilian identities were well established in comics before they adopted their costumed identities. In this instance, Carol Ferris had been around for three years in Green Lantern’s storyline as both the owner of the company that employed Hal Jordan as a test pilot and as Hal’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Then, when an alien gemstone endowed Carol with Green Lantern-like powers, she took on the name Star Sapphire. Unfortunately for Hal, the influence of Carol’s power gem also turned her into a villainess — one of his primary adversaries for the rest of his career.

Courtney Whitmore, like many of the JSA’s present-day lineup, is a legacy — that is, she came into the superheroing fraternity by way of a prior connection. In Courtney’s case, her stepfather Pat Dugan enjoyed an adventuring career as Stripesy, the adult sidekick to the adolescent Star-Spangled Kid. Many years later, teenaged Courtney took up the Kid’s costume and nom de guerre. To keep Courtney from getting her inexperienced self killed, the mature Pat donned an Iron Man-like exoskeleton of robotic armor to become his stepdaughter’s partner and guardian, S.T.R.I.P.E. In time, Courtney received the cosmic staff of Jack Knight, the second Starman, and changed her code name to Stargirl in Jack’s honor.

For this Common Elements commission, I offered Al Rio three possible pairings from which he could select. I wasn’t surprised, given Mr. Rio’s predilection for attractive females, that he chose these two scintillating “stars” for his newest creation. I was, however, most pleased by the result. There’s a reason why Al is one of the pencilers most represented in my collection — that reason is on eye-catching display here.

Yes, it’s Friday the 13th, but have no fear — the stars are in alignment.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.