Zombies!

A detail from my latest comic for the Polish Teen magazine, Fun Club. Everyone loves zombies, I guess. Even in Eastern Europe! Who knew?

Foolin' Around

Just a sketch I did today, messing around with a new fountain pen that my wife bought me for my birthday...

More on that reunion stuff soon. :)

Interlude...

I interrupt my "Reunion Reminiscences" to provide some related links. Fellow Ex-Marvelite Gary Barnum wrote a nice piece about the event on his blog. I like what he had to say a lot, and he did it all in one, clear post (unlike yours truly)!

While you're at it, check out Don Hudson's pics on his blog. Unlike me, Don remembered to bring his camera!

More of my ramblings in a day or two!

Reunion Reminiscences 3

Part Three: AV Squad

(click here to read chapter two, or here for chapter one)

While preparing for the Marvel Reunion / Mark Gruenwald Tribute, many of us dug through our old photographs and videos from the era.  D.G. Chichester (my former boss at Epic) was compiling a photo slideshow to run on the venue’s TV Monitors for the first two hours of the evening.  At 9:00 PM, Mike Carlin’s Tribute would begin, and at 10:00,  we planned to show some of our videos.

I’m sure that each of us that contributed to the slideshow had fun looking through our old albums, marveling at how young we all were, cringing at those late 80s fashions!  Who had the best mullet?  Hard to say... 

  Dan Chichester?

Greg Wright had my favorite mullet, but Hector Collazo

and Marcus McLaurin also had great 80s styles

And Mark Chiarello's coiffure was the envy of millions...

I had some choice shots taken at the Holiday Party from January 1991, when a few of us decided it would be “cool” to rent cheap tuxedos.  Marie wore her trademarked spiral dress, an old favorite...

Mike Rockwitz, Mike Heisler & me.  Bonds, James Bonds all.

And then there were some of my pics from the video I shot in 1989.  It was called The Freelancer...

The Freelancer was one of the videos scheduled to be shown during the last hour of the Reunion. The others were Marie Javins’ A Day in the Life of the Assistant Editor and the hilarious Marvel Mania skit that was performed at a New York Comic Convention called Tuff Talk.  The Freelancer was, in some ways, a follow up to Marie’s “Assistant” story that we made the year before.  It is a comedic story of a freelance comic book letterer, played by freelance comic book letterer, Mike Heisler.  In the story, he gets into trouble with his landlord (Played by Don Hudson), his editor (Dan Chichester), Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief (Tom DeFalco), his car is repossessed (by Marc Siry), and he breaks down in a Vietnam Flashback before going out and getting completely trashed in a dozen bars.  The video also features David Wohl, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras and a bunch of other Marvel bullpenners.

It was an incredibly stupid, offensive...and hilarious story, clocking in at 34 minutes long.  Since this is the 20th anniversary of The Freelancer, I set upon the task of creating a newly edited, digital version with all-new special effects (it was originally shot on VHS). I started working on the new “directors cut” early this year, but the screening at the Reunion gave me an actual deadline to finish it by.

The Freelancer may have been a bunch of stupid in-jokes and sophomoric humor, but 20 years later, it is also an amazing time-capsule, showing Marvel Comics as it has not existed in a long time.  All the videos we assembled had that in common.  It’s an interesting quality about video that is different from still photography. When you watch old video (or film) you can hear people’s voices and see how they moved, and you move about in space to see details that might be cropped from a photo.  It brings you back into a moment and sparks your memories in a unique way.  I notice the same thing when I watch video of my son as a toddler--his little walk, the way he pronounced “tractor,” that wonderful sweater we bought in Paris...  For this reason alone,  reediting The Freelancer is a worthy project.  Sifting through the raw footage took me back, and mentally prepared me for seeing all my old colleagues.  And...it was fun.

To be continued!

Reunion Reminiscences 2

Part Two: Party Planning

(click here to read chapter one)

One detail I forgot to mention in my first post, was that I not only attended the Marvel Reunion on June 6th, but I was also the principal organizer of the event.  

The idea of a reunion wasn’t my idea, but it was one that I instantly responded to when I heard about it.  I’m not sure how long people had been tossing around ideas for a reunion, but I first heard about it around February of this year. There were mentions of it on Facebook groups like “Friends of Old Marvel,” in December 2008.  At some point, I saw a link to a post on Bob Camp’s blog, where he basically put out the call to see who was interested.

Early on, this idea became tied with another; friends of Mark Gruenwald (like Eliot Brown) expressed a desire to organize a tribute in Mark’s honor.  As dates and possible venues started to be discussed on Facebook, and Bob Camp’s blog, it became clear that it would be a combined Marvel Reunion / Mark Gruenwald Tribute.  Many of us who were following the threads became very excited by the idea.  

There was a problem, though.  While many people expressed opinions, there wasn’t anybody volunteering to take charge, make decisions and force the concept into reality.  Dates and venues would be suggested, but not decided on.  April seemed like a possibility, but it came and nothing concrete was happening.  Personally, I was becoming frustrated, and at first I wasn’t sure why.

It goes back to what I said in my first post; this would be my college reunion!  I wanted my college reunion!!!

So, after discussing it with my wife, on April 13th I sent a proposal out to the groups discussing the reunion / tribute.  I offered to help shepherd the planning process and set up a dedicated group to facilitate action.  It seemed silly, in a way.  Here I was, 3000 miles away from New York, and not half as well connected as the other people involved.   What could I do?  Well, at least I could set up the Facebook group to discuss things.

At first, I thought I’d just get the ball rolling and that someone on the East Coast would take over.  However, it soon became clear that I would have to head the project--if only to guide and focus the discussions so that actual decisions could be made.  The first order of business, after organizing an administrative body of about 16 volunteers, was to pick a date.  June 6th was chosen, coincidentally coinciding with the MoCCA show.  We thought the timing might work in our favor, if some people were coming in to the city anyway for that event (unfortunately, it also created some conflicts with some Marvel Alumni that had MoCCA obligations).

There were many bumps in the road, as we raced to plan the huge event, but finally a venue was chosen, a price agreed upon, and we sketched out a basic plan for the night’s programming. On April 24th, our group started to send out formal invitations by email, a mere 6 weeks before the big date.  This in itself was a difficult task.  In the week or so prior, we collected a list of people who were interested using Facebook as well as our personal address books, spreading the word as best we could.  We chose the venue based on a rough estimate of how many people committed to come, as well as by price.  I’m sure there were several people who were never found and invited, but I think we did a great job, considering.

Deciding who to invite was another issue.  Since this was to be a Tribute to Mark Gruenwald, the Marvel era of the 1980s and early 90s was chosen: The “Gru Era.”  This meant a lot of overlap of different groups of employees and freelancers, including a handful who still work at Marvel today (and a bunch of people who currently work at DC!).  There was potential for conflicts and bad blood, but we put out the call, awaited RSVPs, and hoped for the best.  In the end, five weeks later, I had collected admission for 152 people.  Not too shabby...

To be Continued

(click here for chapter three!)

Reunion Reminiscences

Part One: Ancient History

A packed crowd, reunited! June 6, 2009

(photo by Howard Mackie)

Last weekend I flew to New York for a reunion of people who worked for Marvel Comics during the 1980s and 1990s. The party was attended by more than 150 former staff members and freelancers, many of whom had not seen each other in twenty years or more. Among the crowd were some legendary comic book artists and writers, erstwhile denizens of the famed “Marvel Bullpen,” and other staff members who may or may not have survived the multiple downsizings and reorganizations that plagued Marvel’s “bankruptcy years.” In the weeks preceding, expectations were uncertain. Some people were nervous. One former staffer (Marvel Historian, Peter Sanderson) worried that his memories of the late 80s and early 90s were a “nostalgic fantasy,” and he wasn’t alone.

It was, for all intents and purposes, my college reunion. And it was an enormous success.

(photo by Howard Mackie)

You see, I never made it to college. I’d planned to. I was accepted to Parsons School of Design, my first choice of schools, when I graduated from New York’s High School of Art & Design in 1986. But, it wasn’t in the cards. I had trouble getting the financial aid that I sorely needed, so I deferred my enrollment at Parsons, and accepted a full-time job at Marvel’s Epic Comics division. Luckily, I had been working there already, starting with a high school internship in early 1985, as a 15 year-old junior.

Marvel truly was my university. The other young Assistant Editors, Bullpenners and “Romitas Raiders” were my fellow students. Our professors and mentors were an amazingly gifted group of artists, writers and editors. I was lucky to be there at that time, when so many of the “old guard” were still around, and when many of today’s top talents were just breaking in. I had the distinct pleasure of working directly for the illustrious John Romita that first summer after I left high school, and then for Archie Goodwin and his small staff at Epic. For someone in the comics industry, it was an education to be reckoned with. I stayed on staff until 1989, when I decided go freelance and concentrate on my artistic career.

me in my Epic office around 1988

Those years on staff from 1985 to 1989, and continuing until 1993 when I moved to Los Angeles, were so very formative to me and many of our “graduating class.” It was a special, special time to be in and around the Marvel offices. There was a palpable sense of camaraderie and fun. The place was teeming with creativity and wackiness! While preparing for the reunion I, along with fellow “alumni,” dug up tons of old photographs and video from the era. Looking back, I truly can’t believe the stuff we used to get away with!

If one person could epitomize the spirit of that particular stage of Marvel Comics history, it was, without question, the late Mark Gruenwald. It has been said countless times that when Mark unexpectedly died in 1996, it was the death of Marvel’s heart & soul. I don’t wish to disparage those who have worked there since then, but as someone who “grew up” in the Gruenwald era, I believe it’s an irrefutable fact. Comics haven’t been the same since.

Mark Gruenwald

And so, it was extremely appropriate that this first reunion of “Old Marvelites” was also a tribute to Mark. He not only led us all in crazy antics, but he challenged everyone to go out and do likewise. His spirit set the very tone of the office.

Personally, I was not close with Mark. I am a shy person today, and was 100 times more shy back then. Because I worked in the “Epic” department, I did not have to attend his “Assistant Editor School,” and I regret it. Several of my good friends, former Marvel Assistants, still use the lessons they learned in Mark’s classes today, though they work in different fields. Even so, Mark’s influence was felt by everyone on the 10th floor of 387 Park Avenue South. To younger staff members like me, he was like the favorite school teacher! I was undoubtably influenced by him, or I never would have transformed my editor, Dan Chichester’s office into the bridge of the Enterprise while he was out of town!



Just the kind of prank Mark would have done...or so I’d like to believe!

Around the time I went freelance in 1989, I was getting into playing with video as a hobby. On occasion, Mark would recruit me to video Marvel antics at conventions or office parties. I was much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, so the front-row seat to the “Mark Gruenwald Show” suited me fine. When I shot some videos of my own, Mark happily acted in two of them.

Mark appearing in the video, The Freelancer (1989)

One of my first regular monthly freelance jobs was coloring Captain America, which was written by Mark. For me, this meant more time in his sphere, but as a quiet observer and admirer. I wish I’d been more outgoing, and I wish I’d known him better.

When Mark died in 1996, I was living in Los Angeles. I was overwhelmed by the news. I flew out to New York, though I was not permitted to attend the funeral for whatever reason. Instead, I stuck to the sidelines, spending time with my friends, quietly mourning a man that profoundly affected my life, whom I hardly knew at all.

This Saturday past, at the Reunion / Tribute, former Marvel Editor (and current DC Editor), Mike Carlin presented a montage of video and still images of his old pal Mark. For a short while, we were transfixed, and taken back in time. There’s Mark--up to his old tricks again! In this litigious era of political correctness, there’s absolutely no way he could do half that stuff today! Staring at the video screens, shaking our heads, one giant, bittersweet smile stretched across the entire venue. Mike’s narration was just the right combination of admiration, reverence, wry wit and goofball fanfare that Mark would have loved. I was proud to be in the room.

Mike Carlin remembers his old friend

(photos by Francine Burke)

D.G. Chichester, Marie Javins, me, Marc Siry & Evan Skolnick

To be continued

(click here for part 2)

More of These Guys

Another "Fun Club Komiks" Strip Finished!

And here's a sample panel.

I think these are getting better each month. The characters are becoming more consistent and cuter.

A Real American Hero

Last week I busted out another First Allied Man ad. This one is the best...


I'm especially proud of my use of the term "stimulus package."

Confused? Read this older post for an explanation. Sort of.

Elephantmen #15: First Review

Woke up to find this link in my email today: evidently, Ryan at Newsarama thinks the issue is excellent! He has sonly nice things to say about my back-up story. Check out the review, and please buy Elephantmen issue #15! Heck, buy them all!

Polio in the News

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about the latest efforts to eradicate polio. A reported $635 million has been pledged by the governments of the UK and Germany, along with several charities, including $100 million by Rotary International. It seems that the Amazing Stories of Polio feature that I drew for the February issue of The Rotarian is well timed. For a sneak peek, check out this link and learn more about this worthy cause.

Comiculture.com: New Blog

If you are personally acquainted with me, or have been following this blog for a while, you are most likely familiar with Comiculture. In not, I will sum it up briefly: Comiculture was a full-color magazine that I self-published back in 2002-2003, along with my pals at Mad Science Media. It was primarily an anthology of comic book stories of all different genres (crime, horror, romance, humor, western, etc.) The fan and critic reaction too the magazine was overwhelmingly positive, but the fact was that the project was far too expensive to continue, and we were forced to cancel it after two issues. In 1995, Comiculture briefly returned as a graphic novel anthology (sill available!) and it was our intention to develop new projects under the imprint, Comiculture Books. So far, we haven't been able to fund such a project, and we have been quite busy working on projects for other clients and publishers, but the will is still there, so who knows what the future will bring.

Our website, www.comiculture.com has been active since the publication of the first magazine, back in 2002, and still draws traffic even though it has not been updated in ages. Right now, it acts mostly as a "porthole," guiding viewers toward individual creator blogs, like this one.

We are currently working on a complete re-design of our studio's website, www.madsciencemedia.com, which has also been long overdue. In connection with that, I have revamped and simplified the Comiculture website into a blog format. It will be missing many of the features of the old website, but those are largely obsolete at this point. The new site will still point towards our individual blogs, and also provide news about our new projects, home-grown or developed for our clients.

Please visit & bookmark our studio's new blog. Meanwhile, I'll still be doing my best to keep this page fresh with new art and wit!

Elephantmen #15

On sale next week: Elephantmen #15, from Image Comics. This issue features an 8-page backup story that I drew about a year ago (more or less), telling the origin of Hip Flask's inscrutable sidekick, Vanity Case! It's also got a nifty alternative "flip-book" cover (above) by Heroes artist extraordinaire, Tim Sale!For more info, check with your local comic book retailer and please visit the Elephantmen website. They have some groovy desktop postcards and stuff. The kind folks at Active Images spare no expense to entertain you.

Amazing Stories of Polio!

The February '09 issue of Rotary International's Rotarian magazine will feature a 16-page comic book story (graphic non-fiction?) about the history of Polio eradication, drawn by Yours Truly.

The subject matter isn't sexy or action-packed, but this was a very interesting job that further demonstrates just how flexible the medium of "sequential storytelling" can be. The enlightened editors at the Rotarian knew that the history of Polio and the scientists and humanitarians who continue to fight it, could be an easily-overlooked feature in their magazine...or something new and different. Telling the story as a narrative with images makes an old subject interesting and accessible. I think the end result works very well.

The story, of course, begins and ends with Jonas Salk, who created the first vaccine to prevent the spread of Polio, while refusing to patent it. A true humanitarian, whose achievement & selflessness made him a household name.

The narrative then goes back to describe the history of the disease, how the virus works & spreads, and its effect on the world.

Rotary International is on the brink of eradicating Polio from the last few places it exists on earth today. In an ever-shrinking world, as long as polio threatens even one child anywhere, children everywhere remain at risk.

I'm very pleased to have been able to work on this project, and contribute to a worthy cause. For more information about End Polio Now, please visit their website and learn how you can help, too.

Fun Club Komiks

This week I am starting my tenth episode of Fun Club Komiks which is featured in the Polish magazine for teens, Fun Club. In the comments of a previous post, Michal asked if I'd received any of the printed magazines in the mail. They took a while to arrive, but I did recently get a package with my first three issues (the covers are in the image above). It's always cool to see one's work in print, but what struck me, looking back at those first few comics, is how my art has evolved over the past 10 months. In a way, I think I'm just now getting the hang of this, and I'm finally becoming comfortable with these characters, and making them my own.

"Michal" is, in fact, Michal Zacharzewski, the writer of Fun Club Komiks, and my main contact for the publisher in Poland. He's made this job very easy for me, considering the problems of language and time zone differences. I'm very glad to be working with him (and I'd better get busy, sending him some sketches!)

Here's a preliminary character sketch for a supporting character in this month's assignment...

I'm not 100% happy with this sketch. The design works pretty well for what I need, but he looks a little too generic & "manga" for my tastes. I will have to think of some ways to make him look a little bit more unique.

Here are a couple of my favorite panels from the past ten month's worth of "Fun..."


Back in May, I posted a step-by-step look at my process for drawing this comic, you can look at it here if you're interested. When I get a chance, I'll post something from the new strip too, so you can compare it with the one from May.

Coloring Book

One of the several jobs that has been keeping me busy, and very "quiet" here on the blog, is a coloring book that I'm drawing for a certain, unnamed publisher based in Kuwait. This is part of the cover art. You may recognize these characters. Then again, maybe you won't!

School Library Journal

Cool! As reported by The Beat, The Ronald Reagan biography that I worked on with Andy Helfer and Joe Staton has made the list of the School Library Journal's Best Adult Books for High School Students 2008!

Congrats to my fellow collaborators!

Some New, Random Drawings

I've been very unblogful lately because I've been crazy busy. Here's a little glimpse of some of the random things I've been working on this week...



Happy Thankgiving!

Graffiti

I just discovered this wacky facebook application called Graffiti. It lets you draw a picture with your mouse (or stylus) to send to your facebook friends. The cool part is it becomes a little movie that, when re-played, shows how the image was drawn. Like this...

Unfortunately, the imbedded window doesn't really fit here on my blog page. It's cropped, but it still works. Check it out.
What will they think of next?

Watchin' Jazz

I've been watching the 10-disc documentary series Jazz, directed by Ken Burns. It's a truly magnificent historical narrative that I can't recommend highly enough. It's a massive 19+ hours long, but you'll be tapping your feet, if not dancing around the room, the entire time. Watch it. I dare you.



You can also Netflix it. That's what I did, but I'd like to watch it again, so I feel it's worth owning.