-So I’m really enjoying these weekend action pages, but they’re taking their toll on my work schedule. It takes about a week or so do one, and that means a week off from the dailies and the paying work. I’m going to have to slow things down a bit while I work on the next chapter of ULYSSES “SEEN”. But there’s a lot more of these coming, true believers. There just going to trickle out of the other jobs for awhile.

-So I’m really enjoying these weekend action pages, but they’re taking their toll on my work schedule. It takes about a week or so do one, and that means a week off from the dailies and the paying work. I’m going to have to slow things down a bit while I work on the next chapter of ULYSSES “SEEN”.

But there’s a lot more of these coming, true believers. There just going to trickle out of the other jobs for awhile.

Mar 16 2012
-So here’s Friday’s strip a few days late again. Sorry, folks. The dailies like this have been resolved for awhile, but the way I’m doing the weekend splash pages is killing my schedule. And this weekend was a hard one. Sure, there4 was the anticipated disappointment of the new JOHN CARTER movie (I’m a huge John Carter fan), but the news of Jean Giruad’s (Moebius) passing was saddening. Moebius, more than any other comic artist with the possible exception of Barry Windsor Smith, had a huge effect on my teenage years and believing then that there was something in seeing comics as an art rather than an industry. Another terrible loss for us all. New splash page is almost finished and will be up in a few days. But the realworld jobs are calling and I’ll have to do some drawing to pay the bills soon. Expect more delays, but continued involvement. -R

-So here’s Friday’s strip a few days late again. Sorry, folks. The dailies like this have been resolved for awhile, but the way I’m doing the weekend splash pages is killing my schedule.

And this weekend was a hard one. Sure, there4 was the anticipated disappointment of the new JOHN CARTER movie (I’m a huge John Carter fan), but the news of Jean Giruad’s (Moebius) passing was saddening. Moebius, more than any other comic artist with the possible exception of Barry Windsor Smith, had a huge effect on my teenage years and believing then that there was something in seeing comics as an art rather than an industry. Another terrible loss for us all.

New splash page is almost finished and will be up in a few days. But the realworld jobs are calling and I’ll have to do some drawing to pay the bills soon. Expect more delays, but continued involvement.

-R

Mar 12 2012
-You know, when I first came up with the idea for a comic set on the day before Reed and Sue’s wedding I nearly discarded it. The idea of Ben taking Reed out for his bachelor party seemed so obvious that I figured someone must have done it already. But a quick google search says otherwise (discounting that rather silly scene in the most recent movie). I would’ve figured some comic writer would’ve done this before. So it’s 1965, you’re Ben Grimm and your admittedly boring super-nerd best friend is getting married. You’re in New York City, money is no object and you and he are among the most famous people in the world. What would you plan for Reed’s last night as a free man?

-You know, when I first came up with the idea for a comic set on the day before Reed and Sue’s wedding I nearly discarded it. The idea of Ben taking Reed out for his bachelor party seemed so obvious that I figured someone must have done it already. But a quick google search says otherwise (discounting that rather silly scene in the most recent movie). I would’ve figured some comic writer would’ve done this before.

So it’s 1965, you’re Ben Grimm and your admittedly boring super-nerd best friend is getting married. You’re in New York City, money is no object and you and he are among the most famous people in the world. What would you plan for Reed’s last night as a free man?

Mar 8 2012
-I don’t really collect toys like a lot of my friends do. Well, sure Captain America toys certainly, but that’s just a business habit. If I could rationalize buying toys of one other Marvel character than that would be the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. There’s a lot of great stuff out there.

-I don’t really collect toys like a lot of my friends do. Well, sure Captain America toys certainly, but that’s just a business habit. If I could rationalize buying toys of one other Marvel character than that would be the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. There’s a lot of great stuff out there.

Mar 7 2012
-Yes, I know Reed doesn’t normally wear glasses and, given some of the crazier conclusions about the limits of his powers, wouldn’t ever need to. But early on coming up with a look for these characters I was playing around with a more youthful looking Reed. I quite liked the Ultimate Universe version for that with the Peter Parker-styled round lens. I kept the glasses here for these lab scenes, but decided I’ve been gradually moving back to the idea of Reed and Ben being a bit older than the rest of the Marvel characters in 1965. In order for them both to have had some part in World War II need to be in their late thirties. Other than that famous streak of gray hair, there’s no real reason for Reed to look his age.

-Yes, I know Reed doesn’t normally wear glasses and, given some of the crazier conclusions about the limits of his powers, wouldn’t ever need to. But early on coming up with a look for these characters I was playing around with a more youthful looking Reed. I quite liked the Ultimate Universe version for that with the Peter Parker-styled round lens.

I kept the glasses here for these lab scenes, but decided I’ve been gradually moving back to the idea of Reed and Ben being a bit older than the rest of the Marvel characters in 1965. In order for them both to have had some part in World War II need to be in their late thirties. Other than that famous streak of gray hair, there’s no real reason for Reed to look his age.

Mar 6 2012
-And, after a much needed week to catch up on the color pages, we’re back with the dailies. This week will feature Ben and Reed making plans for the Bachelor party. Ben is always a pleasure to draw, but Reed, well, that’s another story. More on that tomorrow. For today I’ll just leave with another great link to Tom Spurgeon’s COMICS REPORTERblog for a fantastic interview with Charles Hatfield on his new book about Jack Kirby. Enjoy, -R

-And, after a much needed week to catch up on the color pages, we’re back with the dailies. This week will feature Ben and Reed making plans for the Bachelor party. Ben is always a pleasure to draw, but Reed, well, that’s another story. More on that tomorrow.

For today I’ll just leave with another great link to Tom Spurgeon’s COMICS REPORTERblog for a fantastic interview with Charles Hatfield on his new book about Jack Kirby.

Enjoy,

-R

Mar 5 2012
-And, a day late perhaps, we end the week with some action! When I started this project I knew I’d want to make it read like an old newspaper action strip like the ones I read as a kid. That meant that “Sunday pages” had to be painted and big enough to really crawl around in. The original painting for this is 21X15 inches like the broadsheet drawings of old and really gave me room to play around. The drawback to that kind of freedom is the time it takes. This one took over a week to complete, so I’m behind schedule on next week’s splash page. Plus there’s a load of newULYSSES “SEEN” pages waiting for my attention. So even though the dailies are done for next week, I think I’ll hold onto them until I can get the next color page up as well. Regular story should continue on March 5th. -R

-And, a day late perhaps, we end the week with some action!

When I started this project I knew I’d want to make it read like an old newspaper action strip like the ones I read as a kid. That meant that “Sunday pages” had to be painted and big enough to really crawl around in. The original painting for this is 21X15 inches like the broadsheet drawings of old and really gave me room to play around.

The drawback to that kind of freedom is the time it takes. This one took over a week to complete, so I’m behind schedule on next week’s splash page. Plus there’s a load of newULYSSES “SEEN” pages waiting for my attention.

So even though the dailies are done for next week, I think I’ll hold onto them until I can get the next color page up as well. Regular story should continue on March 5th.

-R

Feb 26 2012
-And so we finish out this week’s Super Villain Team-Up with Kang selling his idea to Doom. Since this was such “talking head” week I figure the best link to leave you with is to these old notes from Stan about voice casting of the Marvel characters. The Marvel Casting Game is one we all played as kids and I remember my friends Juana, Neil and Ramon having some pretty elaborate lists pulled from numerous Hollywood eras. I wonder whatever happened to those? Plenty of action in tomorrow’s splash page. See ya then, -R

-And so we finish out this week’s Super Villain Team-Up with Kang selling his idea to Doom.

Since this was such “talking head” week I figure the best link to leave you with is to these old notes from Stan about voice casting of the Marvel characters. The Marvel Casting Game is one we all played as kids and I remember my friends Juana, Neil and Ramon having some pretty elaborate lists pulled from numerous Hollywood eras. I wonder whatever happened to those?

Plenty of action in tomorrow’s splash page. See ya then,

-R

Feb 24 2012
-Allright, some notes on the continuity are needed. Reed and Sue got married in theFANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3, which has a cover date of “1965″ rather a month as all the other Marvel Comics of the time normally carried. Reading the comics though, we can tell that it falls sometime between FF #43 and FF#44 which have cover dates of October and November. But cover dates were lies. For years all the comicbook publishers had been padding their cover dates so the products, sitting in spinner racks for months at a time, might have a better chance of selling to unsuspecting kids like you and me. We know now that the real-world publishing date for FF ANNUAL #3 was August 1st, 1965. Obviously, when you start trying to run the events of the Marvel Universe into a real-world timeline things get a bit messy. But it seemed clear to me that Reed and Sue had a THE summer wedding event in NYC and I wanted the events of my story to happen the day before. So, for personal reasons, I chose June 16th, “BloomsDay”. -R

-Allright, some notes on the continuity are needed. Reed and Sue got married in theFANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3, which has a cover date of “1965″ rather a month as all the other Marvel Comics of the time normally carried. Reading the comics though, we can tell that it falls sometime between FF #43 and FF#44 which have cover dates of October and November.

But cover dates were lies. For years all the comicbook publishers had been padding their cover dates so the products, sitting in spinner racks for months at a time, might have a better chance of selling to unsuspecting kids like you and me. We know now that the real-world publishing date for FF ANNUAL #3 was August 1st, 1965.

Obviously, when you start trying to run the events of the Marvel Universe into a real-world timeline things get a bit messy. But it seemed clear to me that Reed and Sue had a THE summer wedding event in NYC and I wanted the events of my story to happen the day before. So, for personal reasons, I chose June 16th, “BloomsDay”.

-R

Feb 23 2012
-Yes, Doom would fail rather spectacularly tomorrow resulting in “Bedlam in the Baxter Building”, one of my favorite comic books as a boy (either a reprint or hand-me-down from my older brother. I was never much of a collector, but I held on to that one for a long time). FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3 came out in October of 1965. I’d have been a couple months shy of my fifth birthday then but, from what I’ve been told, already a pretty strong reader of comics and other picture books and already starting to show a talent drawing superheroes. More on that later. But if the Marvel comic of Reed and Sue’s wedding was released in October of ’65, why have I decided to set my tale in June? Not three strips into the story and already the beast of continuity pops up to show it’s leering grin. More on the continuity battleground tomorrow. Here’s an amazing knitted baby Doc Doomfrom Toronto artist J. Bone that’s a lot more fun. -R

-Yes, Doom would fail rather spectacularly tomorrow resulting in “Bedlam in the Baxter Building”, one of my favorite comic books as a boy (either a reprint or hand-me-down from my older brother. I was never much of a collector, but I held on to that one for a long time).

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3 came out in October of 1965. I’d have been a couple months shy of my fifth birthday then but, from what I’ve been told, already a pretty strong reader of comics and other picture books and already starting to show a talent drawing superheroes. More on that later.

But if the Marvel comic of Reed and Sue’s wedding was released in October of ’65, why have I decided to set my tale in June? Not three strips into the story and already the beast of continuity pops up to show it’s leering grin.

More on the continuity battleground tomorrow. Here’s an amazing knitted baby Doc Doomfrom Toronto artist J. Bone that’s a lot more fun.

-R

Feb 22 2012