Superman's Scrapbook (Annual #1)

Deja Vu

Is this a stopgap filler post? You can say that, and it may appear that way at first glance, but it isn't. This is more of a behind the scenes look at the last 12 months, showing the early stages of the artwork featured on the blog. Pictures in various states of undress, disarray, dejection, and abandonment. Pictures I forgot to add when publishing the 18 posts that make up this blog, and more.

Kothar And The Demon Queen by Jeffrey Catherine Jones

I'm not certain why I didn't post this for the second issue, possibly I couldn't find it at the time. Regardless, this is my favourite of the many recreations of her work I have attempted. This was originally created about six or seven years ago, although I reworked the picture around February 2020, when I began using Photoshop. I didn't change much from the original, however, merely used a little blur to achieve the blizzard effect, which I was never satisfied with on the original. The only other changes were adjustments to the vibrance and brightness (more vibrance, less brightness).

1960's Iron Man Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up by Don Heck

This was intended to be used as the illustration for the Evolution of Iron section of the third issue. The idea was to show the first four armours of Iron Man, drawn by Don Heck during his time on Tales Of Suspense. I started this after the Iron Man 25 drawing for the fourth issue, originally as part of a collection called "Kirby, Heck, Colan, & Tuska" which became the simpler pictures section for the issue. I abandoned the picture due to over-complicating the line work and burning-out on Iron Man.

Kirby, Heck, Colan & Tuska

The original three completed drawings for the aforementioned project, these date from what I term my rose period, being a time where I drew every outline in Madder Rose*. These are presented in the order of creation, the Heck piece was worked on after I'd drawn the Colan** pictures and before and after the Kirby piece.

*   Hence the name, as well as being a Picasso reference

** The Power Of Iron Man was drawn as I wasn't satisfied with the Tales of Suspense picture, although I posted a coloured ToS version in the Stopgap issue.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World

The Silver Surfer picture I used originally for the post, that I replaced with the version from 1965. This was originally a pencil sketch from a series of drawings of his from the 1970's. I'm not sure why the colour version looks like it does, if I remember correctly it was something to do with bronze, silver, and gold.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World (The Lost Chapters)

Drawings for the postponed yet not abandonded Chapter 2 & 3. Chapter 2 being an overview of Kirby's work on Thor for the years 1962 to 1965 (working title: Journey Into Mythology). The picture itself was drawn as an example of Kirby Dynamics, it being unnecessary when I'd completed The Avengers piece.  The second drawing is an abandoned Metron picture for Chapter 3 (working title: Gods & Aliens), detailing his work over the period of 1966 to 1969. 

The author Mark Evanier and the publication Jack Kirby Collector have written extensively about Kirby's 60's work and The New Gods, which led to my realising that, in terms of writing an article about the subject, I would be copying their work for the most part. 

I am planning to recreate Kirby's work over the period of time, as there are numerous splash pages, single panels, pencil sketches and portfolio plates to work with, and I will write something about them, it just won't be similar to the original Fourth World article, is all.

The Passing Of Sauron by Walter Simonson

The first picture of Walt Simonson's I attempted to recreate, this was originally a pencil sketch on lined paper from 1965. It didn't really fit with the rest of the work on the Simonson Issue, so I left it unused (until now).

Raquel Welch 

This began as part of a bigger idea, in this instance a movie poster for an imaginary X-Men film from 1968. The cast had Robert Redford as Cyclops, Jane Fonda as Jean Grey, Max Von Sydow as Magneto, and Raquel Welch as The Scarlet Witch. I didn't intend to use this for the main poster, it was more an experiment to find the right style for the poster (not realism, not comic art, but something) that became a straightforward portrait when I realised the movie poster idea wasn't going to work.

The Drifting Snow by Esteban Maroto

I originally intended for this to be used in the Fifth Issue, although I discarded it after deciding that issue should be about the fifties era of horror comics, leading to the original title of the Fear-Filled Fifties Fifth Issue.

I completed this later (obviously as it's finished) as a gift for a friend.

Endo Giemon Masatada by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

An incomplete (obviously) version of a piece from one of Kuniyoshi's Samurai series, I think this was the Heroes of the Great Piece, without checking. I discarded this version as I disliked the brush effect and began a new version in the style of the following picture.

Ôta Kazusa no Suke Taira no Harunagakyô by Utagawa Kuniyoshi 

The outline of a coloured version I am keeping for a future post on Kuniyoshi's work. It's an attempt at recreating the original Kuniyoshi artwork, which was destroyed in the creation of carving the wood blocks used for Ukiyo-e art.

X-Factor/The Original X-Men by Rob Liefeld & Todd McFarlane

Rob Liefeld is known in the comic industry as the worst artist to ever draw a comic book. Indeed, the term Liefeld is used to classify a whole genre of comic art in the 1990's, portraying men with huge muscles and women with impossibly slim waists and over-proportioned breasts. However, not everything Liefeld did is terrible, he is a self-taught artist, and his collaboration with Todd McFarlane, who is a comic book legend for his work on The Hulk and Spider-Man, has a certain appeal to it. Which leads us to this picture, X-Factor as they were called at the time, although they are of course, the original X-Men. This was originally the cover to the 50th issue of X-Factor if I remember correctly, and, along with X-Force #1, is probably the only Liefeld drawings you really need.

The Original X-Men by John Romita Jr.

A John Romita Jr. recreation of the cover to X-Men #1 from 1963 (by Jack Kirby), this was originally published as a frontispece for The Official Index of the X-Men from 1987, although I believe it dates from 1983, due to the artist beginning a run on the comic and it being the 20th Anniversary of the creation of the X-Men. This, and the Liefeld piece are for a planned X-Men post I never get around to making.

X-Men #50 by Steranko

The only completed cover by Jim Steranko (so far) for a post about his iconic late 60's work for Marvel, I'm hoping to show next year.

Wolverine by John Buscema

John Buscema was and is a comic book artist legend. Famous for his work on The Avengers, Silver Surfer, Thor, Fantastic Four, Conan The Barbarian, and countless others. He never worked on the X-Men, however, apart from one issue of a mini-series, and a brief run on the Wolverine solo series when it began (The Madripoor/Patch era). The drawing was taken from the first Wolverine story he worked on, published in an anthology title as a series of ten, eight page chapters.

The linework of mine is not very good on this, although it was never really intended as a serious work, more an attempt at using a new style of (computerised) brush, so it stands as a precursor for the following, final picture.

Keith Richards

An indication of where I'll be going in terms of drawings for the next year, probably. A rough pencil with partial inks and colour drawing of Keith Richards in 1978 for a future post (assuming I don't get distracted by something else).

One-Year Anniversary Issue

This was (initially) a few words I put down in a message to a friend in order to attempt to explain why the silly, infantile, medium of comics, matters to me. 

I've edited it slightly, yet the majority of it is untouched and is presented as created:

The Never-Ending Struggle

 Like the three other major industries of the 20th century which are termed "pop culture", these being the movie industry, the TV industry, and the music industry, comics exist only as a vehicle to make lots of money. As can be seen by the tendency of the comic companies to continue using characters without end (Superman is 83 years old this year, Batman 82, Captain America 80, The Hulk and Spider Man 59), the content and reality of the product matters less than the fact that people are buying it (obviously). I mean, the characters do change to fit with the times, but you will never see any of the companies actually do something truly radical, like killing off Superman, Batman, Wolverine, and Captain America for good (I mean, they've "killed" them but somehow they always get better).

Now, in stark contrast to this attitude there are the people who actually create them, those pesky, annoying people with a desire to make something more than the sum of its parts, the writers and artists. This is not to say that comics are some kind of bohemian free-for-all of endless creative freedom, they're not. However, over the 100 years and more that comics have existed as an object, there have been a few who have pushed the limits imposed upon them by the thoughtless money counting masters who own the product, with varying levels of success and failure. Numerous examples and tales of artists and writers who were used, abused, and ostracised by the Industry, and numerous characters, stories and comics that were cancelled due to the simple fact that it wasn't cost-effective to continue printing their adventures.

Yet, the artists and writers continued to create, publishing their work in hand-stapled, self-printed comics, fanzines, and now the internet. There were people who formed independent companies to challenge the suffocating banality of the majority of comics (a failed endeavour alas, due to numerous reasons I will not go into now). Occasionally, there were times when the Industry changed to accommodate these creative souls, forming the notion of comics as some kind of art-form, reflecting the issues, and social problems, of the times. Proclaiming artists and writers as great creative geniuses, yet always keeping them constricted by the limbo-esque nature of merchandising and brand recognition.

This is why I love comics, at their heart comics are free-expression and creativity, whether by their reflecting the influence and history of actual art (you know, paintings in galleries and whatever, though that's another tale for another time), or by writers moulding the concepts and stories of ancient myth and folklore into a new pantheon of gods and heroes (quite literally in the case of Thor and Wonder Woman), portrayed in 20 pages a month for children who think the story of Beowulf is boring, or Shakespeare is confusing. 

It is this desire for the medium to actually matter (due to people's ego, or a honest need to create) in stark conflict with the soulless need to make profit regardless of the content produced, which to some extent I find fascinating. This is on a higher level than just reading, looking at, and enjoying the skill and expertise of the stories the creative teams produce for our enjoyment (which is a subject I could write about until the Universe ends without success). The work of Jack Kirby, the writing of Chris Claremont, George Perez's Wonder Woman, Wolfman and Perez's New Teen Titans, Busiek's Astro City, are just some examples of comics I could mention. Artefacts of pure joy and creativity which exist despite the monolithic, unthinking nature of the industry that allows them to be created and published (and the X-Men... man that is a franchise that will last forever).

Comics that exist where they have no reason to, brief instances of the little guy triumphing over the system (Right On!), tales of artists dying penniless despite creating characters that are known everywhere in the world and make billions a year. Yet the tragic nature of these individuals being redeemed by the art they created and the stories they wrote, which have outlasted them. Comics that inspire each generation to attempt their own version of the stories and themes which came before (and the X-Men, ha).

Comics are a medium birthed from the grubby, grasping, desire to make money, and the will and spirit of humanity to be creative, and that struggle is what will always draw me in, no matter how many years pass. 

Here endeth the sermon.