SwanShadow Thinks Out Loud

Today’s Comic Art Friday extends belated birthday wishes to longtime comic book inker Joe Rubinstein, who celebrated his 51st birthday yesterday.

Joe was the artist who took on the very first inking job I ever commissioned, back in the days when I was an art collecting newbie and terrified to let someone touch one of my pristine pencil pieces. Since then, Joe has lent his considerable talents to a dozen other pieces from my collection, always displaying the smooth line and graceful style that has been a hallmark of his comic book oeuvre since the early 1970s.

Now, let’s take a peek at Joe’s latest commission.

Paul Ryan, a delightful gentleman as well as a phenomenally gifted artist, drew this dynamic pencil sketch of Wonder Woman — a favorite heroine of Paul’s as she is mine — at WonderCon 2007.

I recently placed this beauty in the hands of the redoubtable Mr. Rubinstein. Below is the spectacular result.

Thanks, Joe, for yet another fine commission. Here’s hoping we’ll get to do a dozen more together.

Speaking of inkers, balloting for the Inkwell Awards is currently under way. These annual honors for comic book inkers are spearheaded by one of the best, my friend and frequent commissionee Bob Almond. If you’re an aficionado of comic art — and specifically of the underappreciated specialty of inking — please drop over to the Inkwell Awards site and cast your votes for your favorite inkers. You’ll be glad you did!

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

[You can view previous Comic Art Friday posts here.]

Sometimes, what makes one of my Common Elements commissions fun isn’t the mystery of the connection between the characters involved. Rather, it’s the ineffably bizarre nature of the combination itself. I just love a Common Elements scenario that makes the viewer stop and wonder, “What incredible sequence of circumstances would lead to these two characters meeting?”

Then, when the artist assigned the project absolutely rocks the execution, it’s money.

Bending the bow is Red Arrow, currently a member of the Justice League of America. Wielding the sword and shield is Red Sonja, heroine of the Hyborian Age. The talent behind the pencil is Lan Medina, best known as the artist of the fantasy series Fables.

And yes — I chortled in my joy when I saw what Lan had envisioned.

Red Arrow probably ranks right behind Dr. Henry Pym — a.k.a. Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, and just plain Doctor Pym — in the Most Superhero Identities sweepstakes. Roy Harper began his crimefighting career as Speedy, the juvenile sidekick of DC Comics’ durable bowman, Green Arrow. In addition to his adventures alongside the Emerald Archer, Speedy was also one of the longtime stalwarts (replacing founding member Aqualad) of DC’s youth brigade, the Teen Titans.

As Speedy, Roy became one of the first costumed characters in mainstream comics to struggle with drug addiction, in a landmark 1971 storyline (entitled “Snowbirds Don’t Fly”) by writer Denny O’Neil and artists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.

The clean-and-sober, and now adult, Roy later changed his superhero name to Arsenal, apparently having recognized that “Speedy” was not a sobriquet designed to strike terror into the hearts of malfeasants. The new moniker allowed Roy to expand his weapons expertise beyond the bow and trick arrows that had been his mainstay, apparently having also recognized that as a close-quarters fighting tool, a bow leaves something to be desired.

More recently, with his stormy relationship with his mentor and surrogate father Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen resolved in positive fashion, Roy changed his nom de guerre once more, to Red Arrow. In this new guise, he joined the Justice League, where he remains a prominent member of DC’s headline team.

Given his reliance on technology, as well as his history of substance abuse, Red Arrow is one of comicdom’s most thoroughly modern heroes. How cool is it, then, to see him battling shoulder-to-shoulder with Red Sonja, a heroine of the long-distant past?

Pretty darned cool, if I say so myself. (And I just did.)

I left the design of this piece — as I nearly always do with my Common Elements commissions — entirely to the imagination of the artist. Lan Medina devised an action-packed scenario that perfectly (and rather cleverly, in my rarely humble opinion) displays the specific skills of these two amazing heroes. Lan also added a number of subtle details that underscore the contrast between ancient history (the dinosaur skeleton) and 21st century (the “Biohazard” warning seal) represented by the pair. The scene is both intricately plotted and beautifully rendered.

Best of all, the picture implies an entire tale. Wouldn’t you just love to know what led up to this moment? Where is this battle taking place? Who are the unseen adversaries? What power snatched these two heroes from their respective, far-flung time periods and deposited them in this moment? Just what the heck are Red Sonja and Red Arrow doing here?

Perhaps, someday, I’ll write that story.

For now… that’s your Comic Art Friday.

[You can view previous Comic Art Friday posts here.]

Speaking of queens — and we were, weren’t we? I’m sure we were — it’s always struck me as a trifle peculiar that the largest country ruled by a queen calls itself the United Kingdom.

It may have something to do with those mushy peas.

At any rate…

I’ve long wanted to commission a drawing for my Common Elements theme gallery that would feature the United QueenKingdom’s two greatest superheroes. It seemed somehow inappropriate, though, to assign the project to an artist who wasn’t a son or daughter of the Sceptered Isle. Somehow, I just didn’t think the Queen would approve.

After lo, these many years, along came Mike McKone.

Although best known on these formerly colonial shores for illustrating the adventures of such quintessentially American heroes as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Mike leaped at the chance (or at the very least, politely agreed) to bring together for the first time two stalwart defenders of Albion: Marvelman and Captain Britain.

Being the Yank that I am, I unthinkingly requested the commission from Mike using Marvelman’s American name — the character being known on this side of the Atlantic as Miracleman, for reasons that will become clear in a moment. Under his original nom de guerre, Marvelman has enjoyed a lengthy and storied career as a crimefighter, beginning in 1954.

The idea for Marvelman was dreamed up by Len Miller, the British publisher who at the time was reprinting the adventures of the original Captain Marvel for UK audiences. When Fawcett, the good Captain’s American publisher, was driven from the comics field due to lawsuits filed by DC Comics, the publisher of Superman, Miller hired writer Mick Anglo to reinvent the character sufficiently to avoid similar legal action, thus enabling Miller to stay in business.

Anglo’s revamped character was still a young news reporter who gained superpowers by uttering a magic word. Instead of Billy Batson’s “Shazam,” Micky Moran transformed by saying “Kimota,” or “atomic” spelled backwards phonetically. As Marvelman, Micky continued to wage war against evil until 1963. Twenty years later, legendary comics writer Alan Moore revived the character in new adventures. When American publisher Pacific Comics began reprinting the series, the hero’s name became Miracleman — a rather transparent effort to avoid incurring the wrath of a certain other comics concern already using the word “Marvel” to legally actionable effect.

Part of the impetus for Marvelman’s return was the success of another superhero, ironically published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. Captain Britain had been launched in 1976 as the Anglophilic equivalent of Marvel’s ever-popular Captain America. The new Captain appeared in his own eponymous comics, available only in the UK, for a couple of years before making his US debut in Marvel Team-Up #65.

From that point forward, Captain Britain became a regular fixture in the Marvel Universe. In the 1980s, Cap’s cocreator, writer Chris Claremont, made him the linchpin of the X-Men spinoff series Excalibur, which featured a UK-based team of heroes including former X-Men Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde. More recently, Cap has headlined his own title, Captain Britain and MI-13.

I couldn’t be more thrilled that Mike McKone took a few moments away from his busy Amazing Spider-Man schedule to draw today’s spotlight artwork. I understand that Mike was pretty pleased with the results himself.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

[You can view previous Comic Art Friday posts here.]