With Great Power Premiere

I was interviewed for the documentary WITH GREAT POWER-THE STAN LEE STORY. No idea if which, if any, of my scenes will make it into the final movie, but it will be screening on Sunday 11/7/2010 at 5pm at the:

Aero Theater

1328 Montana Avenue

Santa Monica, CA 90403

The screening is part of the American Cinematheque program and following the screening there will be a Q&A with the film makers including:

- Terry Dougas

- Nikki Frakes

- Will Hess

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Every now and then a job comes along that you would never imagine yourself doing. Not to say that it's not a fun job, just totally unexpected. The Discovery channel came to me (okay, strictly speaking, they came to my agent) and asked if I would like to do designs for the MythBusters bobbleheads. Yup, bobbleheads! I'm actually a big fan of the show, so of course I jumped at the opportunity. The red and white checkered pattern on the rocket that Adam is tied to is a nod to my favorite Herge Tintin story when I was a kid, Destination Moon! Unfortunately, they changed the colors on the final painted sculpture to yellow and black, probably to save money on paint. Oh well!

Also, the logistics of sculpting the clear glasses on Jamie turned out to be too problematic, so we changed them to his mountain climbing sunglasses. All in all, a very fun job! Hope Jamie and Adam like 'em! If you need more toys in your life and are so inclined, you can buy a set for yourself here...

Long Beach Comic Con!

Off to the Long Beach Comic Con. Come meet Norm Rapmund, Scott Koblish and me at our panel in room 301 at 3:00 pm on Friday October 29th. The panel is How to Survive as an Artist with Scott Koblish. Scott is headlining, Norm and I are just there for moral support and comedy relief!

Come out and say hi if you're in the area!

Dark Void Storyboards

I got to storyboard the some of the cinematics for the Dark Void video game which finally came out earlier this year. I haven't had time to play it myself, but the developmental game footage I saw when I was working on it was really cool. It reminded me a bit of Dave Steven's Rocketeer, and any game that simulates flying with a jet pack, count me in! You can see the trailer here, or embedded below.

The animation for this sequence was done by Blur. Always great to work with those guys, they do killer work as you can see!

What if... Jack Kirby Drew Archie?

My favorite charity The Hero Initiative is at it again, this time with Archie #600. Archie Comics has printed 50 blank-covered copies, and Hero will have 50 stellar artists do original Archie covers on the special edition books to be auctioned of to benefit Hero and needy comic book artists.
I grew up on Archie comics and I love the characters, so I wracked my brain to come up with an appropriate cover concept that would do the event justice. I drew a couple of sketches in my style, then in the Archie style and nothing really seemed to click. Then it hit me: what if Jack Kirby, The King of Comics himself had drawn Archie? That would have been great! Kirby is so distinctive, he would have made the characters his own.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked it! After all, Jack drew Jimmy Olsen for DC. And his take on Archie might have been close to that. So I attempted to pull off a reasonable facsimile thereof. Dunno how successful I was, but it was fun paying tribute to The King for a great cause.

BNS: Race to Target Field

This was a fun animated short for the Minnesota Twins and Target Field Stadium. I got to storyboard it for director Rob Bisi and the fine folks over at Brand New School. The ultra-talented Tuna Bora did concept designs and we all had a blast. I think the level of fun we had shows through in the final product, see for yourself here. There are actually 3 different endings, one with each character winning the race!

Loss of a Legend: Dick Giordano

I was so saddened to read on CBR that comics legend Dick Giordano passed away yesterday. I knew he had been ill, but I had no idea how bad it was. I'll leave the eulogies and tributes to the professionals, Dick's peers and close personal friends who knew him best. But when you see the massive list of lives he touched, it's a true testament how great of a man he was. I'll just relate one small personal story about how he touched my life.

I was 18 years old and trying to break into comics as a penciller, sent my samples off to Marvel and DC and all the rest. Sometimes I would get a rejection letter, sometimes not even that. Rejection letters are form letters, since the sheer volume of submissions makes individual replies impossible. So imagine my surprise when I got a rejection letter with a hand written note from Dick Giordano himself! He actually took the time to give me some tips and pointers and most of all encourage me. I was floored! I grew up on the man's work, admired him immensely and here he was taking time to write me? He actually inspired me to concentrate on my inking, which I hadn't considered before Dick encouraged me. I broke into comics shortly after that. And I'm not the only one. Apparently Dick did this all the time. Jim Lee even recounted a very similar experience on CBR.

Years later, I got to work with Dick on a project that he pencilled and I inked. The project was never finished, but I got to talk to Dick on the phone and tell him how much his letter meant to me and what a fan of his I was. Some people advise not to meet your heroes because they will only let you down. Dick never let me down. In fact, he picked me up (out of the sea of submissions) dusted me off, and sent me on my way. I'll never forget that.

Thanks again, Dick.

Iron Man 2 Sketch Cards

Time for another round of sketch cards for the fine folks at Upper Deck. These are for the Iron Man 2 set, I got to do all my favorite variations of Iron Man's armor, and of course, M.O.DO.K.! The Beetle and Stingray were always great costume designs, so I threw them in there too!More Iron Man armor variants, The Iron patriot, a couple versions of Titanium Man, Blizzard, the super cool Iron Man Space Ninja Stealth Armor!
Some more villains, Force, Boomerang and Doctor Spectrum! That's right, Doctor Spectrum! With the crystal and the Rainbow Brite rainbow waves! The Mandarin is my favorite Iron Man villain so I did the Acts of Vengeance armored version, the I'm Too Sexy For my Shirt version, The GQ Jim Lee version, a couple of the emperor looks and classic original flavor!Hawkeye, Doctor Doom, The Ghost, Grey, Red and Green Hulks and a whole lotta Hank Pym! Ant Man, Yellow Jacket (loved that goofy costume!) and Giant Man.

Ed Hannigan Tribute

Ed Hannigan's covers all but jumped off the spinner rack and into my ten year old hands. The innovation, design and heightened sense of drama promised an earth-shattering story inside every month. Especially memorable to me is Mr. Hannigan's run on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. His Cloak and Dagger covers were pure genius. Looking at them now, makes me feel like a kid all over again. Thanks, Ed!

The fine folks at The Hero Initiative are putting out this tribute to Ed Hannigan's amazing art and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. You can see previews on CBR or Newsarama. The solicitation info is below:

ED HANNIGAN: COVERED
Artist: Ed Hannigan
Contributors: Mark Millar, Mike Oeming, Jim Valentino, Herb Trimpe, and more
Cover: Ed Hannigan
Publisher: Marvel/Hero Initiative
Cover Price: $5.99
Release date: Wed, January 13, 2010

Master artist Ed Hannigan did many of Marvel's cover layouts of the late '70s and early '80s. Over that time, Ed created some of the most innovative cover designs ever. His covers for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man still stand today as some of the finest of all time!


Today, Ed is 58 years old and has multiple sclerosis. Through special arrangement with the Hero Initiative, Marvel is offering Ed Hannigan: Covered, a massive 48-page collection of Ed's covers, designs he created for other artists, and even rare glimpses at licensing and merchandising art Ed did. Best of all, proceeds benefit Ed Hannigan directly!


This volume also features a new cover by Ed, and new tribute pieces from Michael Avon Oeming, Jim Valentino, and more!


NOTE: There will be ONLY ONE PRINTING OF THIS BOOK EVER! Get it now so you don't blow your chance!


48 pages full-color
$5.99
UPC: 5960607056-00111