Happy 99th Birthday, Jack Kirby!

All the Jack Kirby week posts from the Soldier Legacy Facebook page, showing why I hail the King.

Scribble Dump 2

More Stuff I haven't thrown up lately. Tried some things; not sure how successful I was, probably because I'm not 100% happy, but then again, I never am. Anyways, back to the drawing board.

Long Live Jack Kirby: 20 years today. 28 August 1917 - 6 February 1994

https://www.facebook.com/soldierlegacy/posts/589682267786567

A John Romita 'Easter Egg' a.k.a: "Wow. Actually put something here related to research this year..."

So anyway, forcing myself to get some of my own work done for a change, rather than concentrating on keeping the bills at bay, the final couple of weeks of student assessments for my class (though that's looking like a full Sunday of marking before the massive assessments flood in next week), the art exhibition (which is thankfully sorted, and up in the gallery), trying in vain to stay in some sort of manageable shape for November squad training, and the slowly-churning, crawl-paced concept art for the other post-sdcc thing that's not contributing to this thesis due. But then, I get half a page into reading, and find a cool little point I wonder if others knew about. Enjoy :D 

Pouring through some of my research books and articles for my doctoral thesis, I came across a curious little throwaway comment in an 12 year old interview 'John Romita Sr. & Jr. and the art of Grace', with the aforementioned John Romita Snr and Jr., in the Twomorrows publication 'Comic Book Artist' #20, conducted by Jon B. Cooke and transcribed by Jon B. Knutson. 

It was something I'd never read before, or seen in other John Romita-focused books/interviews; On one hand it is not surprising, considering the little "easter egg" of sorts. On the other hand though, it came from a discussion on Jack Kirby, who Romita Snr. has brought up in many occasions when discussing as a colleague and inspiration of his. The point of Kirby asking Romita to leave Marvel with him to work on his "New Gods" line of titles for DC around '69/70 has been brought up in many texts too, so it's funny when I came across a little point that fell out of this line of questions. The questions were free flowing on the contributions the 60's "bullpen" contributed to American comic books (specifically, the superhero genre) and Lee and Kirby. The conversation moved to Kirby's relentless creativity, and the ideas that became overshadowed by the next idea, as Kirby never slowed down, never looked back, and kept churning out the new concepts. Discussion moved to the idea that the writer/editors that Kirby had worked with (Simon, and then Lee) were able to provide a "filter" for his concepts, particularly for the readers "…who needed to be fed Kirby less chaotically, more leisurely, so they could absorb this great material…"

This lead to touching on the growing disgruntle feelings Kirby developed towards Lee and Marvel that lead him to DC for 5 years, and the comment was made about Lee/Kirby's fantastic Four. 

Generally, it's noted that from towards the last half of their 102 + issue run on the touted comic series, Kirby's new characters and concepts somewhat halted, with the choices seeming to reuse villains and even plots homaging television shows at the time. There were hundreds of drawings and concepts that Kirby hoarded during his later years in Marvel which he ended up using at DC comics. This prompted Romita's throwaway comment that peaked my interest. 

Now, Romita was the Art Director at Marvel for years; starting as the guy that Lee called upon to make last minute changes to the artwork in the offices before going to print (while doing the art chores on Daredevil, and then the long celebrated run on 'The Amazing Spider-man', following the then-shock departure of the title by Spider-man co-creator Steve Ditko in '66),  and noted character designer for Marvel in the '70, designing the original look for such characters as the Len Wein-created/co-created Brother Voodoo, Wolverine and Gerry Conway's The Punisher. Romita was the "go-to artist" in this regard, much like Kirby was in the original Marvel comic hero conceptions (and many of Kirby's unused concepts were held onto until Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen/New Gods/Forever People/Mister Miracle were published, or in the 80's and 90's when Pacific Comics/Topps Comics were using Kirby concepts in Silver Starr  and Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers.)*

Anyway, there's the long-winded context, here's the except:

CBA: It's Interesting how after a certain period, around Fantastic Four #65  or so, Jack stopped contributing original characters to Marvel and saved his New Gods to pitch at DC.

Senior: If anybody deserved to do that, it was him {Kirby}. I often had that attitude. I once created a line of characters for an abortive Australian series called Captain Australia. I designed the costume for the guy, for an Australian publisher, and Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe and I designed about a half-dozen villains. I created a character called 'The Black Swan', but I didn't include it in the presentation to this Australian, because it was too good and I kept it in my file…

Now, I have a feeling that this might be known among perhaps the older cartoonists as to who the publisher might have been (one who were perhaps doing the Marvel Comic reprints like Newton comics etc.), but it was the first I'd heard of it. 

It was particularly interesting for me, since the whole original conception for 'The Soldier Legacy' was to create an Australian action hero of sorts, since superhero-style comics on the "scene" are spotty, and few and far between. Since Marvel UK was able to foster burgeoning British creators with the Herb Trimpe-designed Captain Britain, I wonder what impact, if any, a Marvel-OZ could have had on the local scene and the creators that have worked overseas with "the Big Two" or beyond. Or, would it have even mattered? Given the history of Australian Comics, and the industry "death" in the 1950's by the lifting of the Wartime print import embargo, the smaller-than-the-US, location-diverse population and the cultural difference in our comic book consuming habits, it's very hard to say or speculate the impact of something that never happened. Perhaps some of those reasons (that all speak "no real market") is why it was aborted in the first place. Who knows.

It reminds me of the "Golden Age" Captain America Comics Australian Soldier character 'The Fighting Fool' used only once in 1942:

http://pm-comic.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/fighting-fool-australian-comic-hero-in.html

Marvel's Superhero Squad Cartoon had a token Captain Australia make an appearance in an episode; who knows if it's even based on anything that Romita created years before. 

Then again, that crazy guy uses the name. You know, that real-life vigilante in Brisbane…yep. Google him. I'm not even going to bother finding that website link.

Anyways, an interesting point to discuss in the context of a sub-thesis section of my overwhelming thesis. *sigh. Back to it, and marking Student assessments. The mountain awaits...

*As a side note, I always thought it interesting that 'New Gods' were born from the ideas that Kirby had for his original Thor run, in which he planned on the fabled "Ragnarok" or great battle where all the "Old Gods" died. (I vaguely remember reading this wasn't a popular idea; perhaps with Lee, Goodman? will have to re-research that little point, who probably hated the idea of killing off popular characters/series. And, something Kirby would encounter AGAIN with this idea when his original ending to The New Gods series The Hunger Dogs was vetoed by DC when he was able to come back and finish the series in the 80's).

'The Deep' OzComic sketch

Ordinarily, there's two things I don't do:
> Warm-up sketches/colours. Why screw about when there's work to do?
> Random sketches. Again, why screw about when there's work to do? ;)

However, this week's OzComic sketch theme was 'The Deep' by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer. I'm fortunate enough to call these two gents friends, but was a fan of their creator-owned, Australian Graphic Novel beforehand. And I'm not the only one :D https://www.facebook.com/explorethedeep

The 'Gestalt'-published title won an Aurelius Award in 2011 for Best Graphic Novel, and the recently released volume 2 has a foreword and high praise from Joe Kelly, the co-creator of 'Ben-10'. There's more, but I'm tired :P- check this: http://www.exploringthedeep.com/

Anyways, I always wanted to do an image, and although I'm super-strapped for time, I made an attempt on the underwater family of 4. The image was inspired by Jack Kirby's exploring 4...and no, I don't mean 'The Fantastic Four'. As much as I dig the guy and enjoy his writing work (and had the pleasure of meeting and chatting to him), whenever people point to Stan Lee's typed synopsis of the FF as the earliest inspiration for the Marvel adventurers, I point to this series Kirby created for DC comics years before as pretty good evidence the ideas had been bouncing around before the early 60's.

Anyways, off topic. Here's the image, inspiration etc. If I had more time, I'd finish it. Basically, it needs at least colour holds on the lines, but as it's time consuming and fiddly, I have to abandon the pic and move on with the pile of nonsense that faces me right now.

Gotta run, more soon.

Who is killing the great heroes of Heropa?: the upcoming novel by Andrez Bergen

A few months back, I completed this image for an upcoming novel by Australian writer Andrez Bergen (Tobacco Stained Mountain Goat), currently residing in Japan. The brief was Andrez's childhood  concept of 'the Southern Cross', in a Jack Kirby-style homage to the cover of Captain America #109. Andrez actually sent off his design to Stan Lee, who really liked the idea, but was vetoed by then Editor in Chief, Tom DeFalco. A nice little story there in itself :)

More details can be found here: http://greatcapesheropa.weebly.com/

And on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WhoIsKillingTheGreatCapesOfHeropa

UPDATE 29-12-2012: Some web love from BLEEDING COOL NEWS and FORCES OF GEEK, featuring the image :D Thanks again, Andrez.

"Gone, gone, the form of man..." Etrigan the Demon commission

Etrigan Commission. You can't go past a request for a Jack Kirby character ;D

Thanks to Jason Garrattley of the awesome 'Kirby-Vision' blog for uploading it, via the Jack Kirby Museum and research centre. Stoked!

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby-vision/2012/11/26/the-demon-7/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

I try to make sure the image is still "readable" by knocking the lines out. Also, setting it to black and white to check values helps heaps. Still learning, still practicing, soldiering on :)

Kirby Riff: Soldier legacy #5/ Our Fighting Forces #151

Not far away from completion of this issue, but it's really "back to the wall" week. This issue is, I'd be fine except I have a massive seminar/squad training/tournament fighting weekend I have to attend, the issue is due mid next week, and student assessments are coming in that has to be marked...*phew. Full on stuff.

In the meantime, a Kirby Riff in the "splash" panel for the backup feature for Soldier #5; when scrambling to thumbnail this page this morning, I kept coming back to this composition which reminded me of one of Kirby's DC Comic tenures: "Our Fighting Forces ft. The Losers" run from the mid 70's. The particular issue was actually his first one for the series, with the title "Kill me with Wagner". The back up feature might get a similar sub-title for the issue :P.

Anyways, still messing with the colours, it's 4am and I've run out of steam. Will have to re-evaluate with weekend (yes, will have to drag the work with me to get it done>)

Good news is too, I believe Soldier Legacy trades and issue 4 are getting reprints by Black House Comics for Brisbane Supanova (I've been out for a while, so that's a relief) and, prints are sent. More info for those who give a damn soon ;P

Peace :)

April 2011: 'Drawing aNd Animation' Exhibition at the Gympie Regional Gallery

Found this image- Not sure if I ever posted it :S

This was from the opening day of the Queensland college of Art's "Drawing aNd Animation" exhibition, held at the Gympie Regional Gallery in April 2011. I was unable to attend, as I was at Melbourne Supanova that weekend, but the Professors and postgraduates also part of the exhibition kindly posed for this photo in front of my pages from'The Soldier Legacy' #2 that appeared in the show. Thank you to the other wonderful artists from the exhibition: Paul Cleveland, Andi Spark, Louise Harvey, Matt Ditton, Chris Denaro, Xin Li and Zhi-Ming Su  :D (and Ross Woodrow, the Curator, pictured on far left.)

The idea of the exhibition was to show completed images, plus the process. The catalogue for the exhibition shows images from the comic page colouring process, with early flat colours being applied (and I managed to sneak a 'Jack Kirby' reference into the statement ;P)

Thanks again, folks :D

'Soldier Legacy' mentioned at The Jack Kirby Museum- via 'Kirby-Vision'

(The line-art version of the colour image featured at 'Kirby-Vision')

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby-vision/2012/08/15/196252/

Thanks to the good people at 'Kirby-Vision' (Mr Garrattley), and the Jack Kirby Museum for posting up my 'Marvel 1962' anniversary image from the recent San Diego Comic-Con Souvenir book, and the DC Comic New 52 take on 'Superman vs. OMAC' (See Link above). The post also mentions 'The Soldier Legacy' and its nod to Jack Kirby's works in the 40's and 60's.

Random post of the Week: Concept pitch

Here's a random image, published recently in my 2012 sketchbook. It's a Jack Kirby's "Kamandi"- inspired concept pitch by Christopher Sequeira, with the design and illustration by Me. There's a 'New 52' angle on this image if you start tracing your eye around her, just to see how many hero-based paraphernalia you can spot. Anyways, enjoy. It was drawn quite a while ago now, just forgot to post, I guess :)

In the meantime, currently penciling Soldier Legacy #5, and some other stuff that's keeping me busy on the drawing front. Really enjoying the uni lecturing, hopefully the students are getting something positive out of it for their own work. As usual, I'm juggling a lot, and need to lift my game re: the thesis. Otherwise though, I have a positive outlook on what I need to achieve next to maintain the coverage and "radar signal", despite the severe time constraints, and the usual problems of having to, you know... eat, sleep, earn money to live etc. And now too, the need to stay in shape enough to try tournament fighting again. I think in the last case though, it's being neglected, to the point where I may be kidding myself. But I won't know that for sure until the end of the first round. Which is probably a little late to back out :P

Anyways, onward and upward.

Arlen Schumer's 'Jack Kirby and the Auteur Theory of Comics'

I was thankful enough to be in the audience of this presentation by Arlen Schumer at the 2012 SDCC Comic Arts Conference: 'Jack Kirby and the Auteur Theory of Comics'.


http://www.tcj.com/sdcc12-cac-session-7-jack-kirby-and-the-auteur-theory-of-comics/ A thought-provoking and interesting theory about Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and the "Marvel Method" of comic book creating.

Inspiration: JACK KIRBY

San Diego Comic Con 2012 Souvenir book

Happy to report my submission into the official  San Diego Comic Con Souvenir Book was successful- a nice surprise on opening night. The topic was 'Marvel 1962'. Here's a shoddy instagram photo of the magazine page it features on:

Otherwise, here it is on Deviantart http://pmason83.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4yhaiw Enjoy!

SDCC recap and pics to come, as I've made it home to sunny Brisbane ;D

Soldier Legacy Comic Review by The Momus Report

Todd McFarlane reviews my work waaaaay back in 2009

(Yes, I was strapped for images, just roll with it, ok?)

The Momus Report writer Emmet O'Cuana has been reviewing a selection of Australian comic book and graphic novel titles that he acquired at the recent Supanova pop culture convention in Sydney, and has written a review on 'The Soldier Legacy' comic book !

Click the link to see the lot, but here's an excerpt:
"By this method Mason has not only composed a sincere love letter to the war comics of Jack Kirby (who is affectionately name-checked in the origin of The Soldier), but describes how the values of the war-time generation remain valid today. An additional layer of significance can be found in Mason's individual art style also evoking the improvisations of Kirby - there are many legacies contained within these pages. "

http://themomusreport.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/comics-cavalcade-sydney-supanova-pt-3.html

When I spoke to him at the convention, where he mentioned he was to review Aussie books, I made sure to point out that apart from a fantastic creator-perspective review I got from good friend and comic book artist Paul Abstruse from a whim of his, I had never bothered to chase down or ask for reviews of my comics. I was nervous about the fact that if you ask someone to review a work, and give them a free copy, there's that element of doubt in my mind that they simply might say general, nice things because they feel "obligated" to do so. I wouldn't mind if they ripped it apart either, but do it with reason and knowledge behind it, yeah?

Plus I have seen a couple of review sites that just give blanket, across the board scores to everything, or just gush with no reason or insight into why they like a particular work. Settle down, mate :P

So to have Emmet pick up the books at the con, and give me an honest, thoughtful opinion, means a lot.

Thank you my friend, I am very touched.

Pre Con Comission- Jack Kirby's Etrigan the Demon

Just briefly, a pre-convention commission request for Jack Kirby's DC comic creation, Etrigan the Demon. When time permits, I am hoping to have a crack at colouring it in the future for a sketchbook filler. It was fun to do, and a little different to the Soldier work, that's for sure.

Anyways, gotta run.

Paul Mason: Article writing for Girly Geek Speak: Retro Comic Review of 1963's 'The Avengers'

So last week I did something a little different from my usual deadline/thesis work, and thanks to the good people of 'Girly Geek Speak' (of Geek Speak TV), I wrote a review of sorts for 'Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers volume 1'. THe whole idea was to warm up for thesis writing, by discussing some of the earliest appearances of characters that are now raking in the dough in international cinemas.

You can find there article here at: http://girlygeekspeak.com.au/books-comics/retro-review-the-avengers/


Back to work!

1962 Marvel Fan Art Submission- Wish me luck :D

Wish me luck- The day before Gold Coast Supanova, I submitted an art piece, based on the 1962 Marvel Characters by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, with Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber, for a "thing I don't think I can say yet". Partly because, it might not even make the cut. Fingers crossed. The brighter/warmer coloured one was the last minute change I went with. I was originally trying to skew the colour scheme into the darker version below, but right before I left it alone to submit, I changed my mind. It just wasn't working for me.

This was definitely one of those images that I felt was abandoned, or "let go" rather than what I felt could be called "Completed". The nature of deadlines I suppose.

WQ Magazine Interview by Jason Nahrung. Profile: Paul Mason

(WARNING: This post is a little self-indulgent, I admit ;). But I am very pleased to be interviewed, and I believe it's the first time that I'm featured in a magazine or newspaper NOT for being in a tournament or kicking someone (I'm sure I still have cringe-worthy clips on VHS somewhere :P), but actually for the work I'm trying to put in to get somewhere positive with my comic work. So I hope you get something out of my thought in pumping out comic books :D)

I got a great email during the week from Jason Narhung, editor of 'WQ Magazine'- it was the latest magazine for April (ISSN 1444-2922), featuring a Profile that Jason wrote on me of all people (I know, right? ;D), based on a phone conversation we had earlier this year.
http://www.qwc.asn.au/connect/wq-magazine/

From the magazine:
"WQ is the monthly publication of the Queensland Writers Centre(QWC). QWC is the leading provider of specialised services to the writing community of Queensland. Through its annual programs, it promotes skills development and professional practice and works to advance the recognition of Queensland writers and writing, locally, nationally and internationally."

I am very grateful for the interview, and appreciate the support. As the magazine goes out via the Queensland Writer's Centre, I thought many of the Soldier fans might not get the chance to see it, but Jason has kindly allowed me to post his article in its entirity here. There were also some great artilces about writing and comics by some of the guys from the Brisbane-based 'Ashcan' comics. If you're keen to find out more about the Queensland Writer's centre, I urge you to go here: http://www.qwc.asn.au/

So here it is, guys, and thanks again:

Article pp4 WQ Magazine #217 April 2012. Edited by Jason Nahrung and published by the Queensland Writer's Centre.

Profile: Paul Mason
By Jason Nahrung.

Paul Mason’s comic series The Soldier: Legacy is on the
march. The title began its life as a self-published university
project, then was picked up by Australian publisher Black
House Comics and gained further exposure through an
insurance company television ad.

It’s been an affirming couple of years for Mason, who traces his
interest in creating comics to his childhood.

‘When I was 13, I got for my birthday a book called How to
Draw Comics the Marvel Way (by Stan Lee and John Buscema).
I’d always loved drawing, but I hated the idea of tracing or just
copying an image, or: step 1, draw a circle; step 2, add a line
to it … This book was about the principles and methodologies
of Marvel artists that you could adapt to your own work; not
necessarily shoehorning you into a particular style, but giving
you the tools to be able to structure a character or a scene,
composition, perspective, foreshortening ... that kind of thing.’

The Brisbane-based storyteller studied a Bachelor of Animation
at Queensland College of Art, operated through Griffith
University, completed an honours year in 2009 and is now
pursuing a Doctorate of Visual Arts.

‘You still do quite a hefty thesis component but there’s quite a
big studio component as well. If I want to get into the comics
industry here and overseas, I need that studio component.
The companies don’t want to read a thesis – they want to see
the work produced. I’m pretty much focused on different
methodologies of comic artists. There’s no real rules about how
you write or how you draw a comic book page, but there are
fundamentals.’

The first issue of The Soldier: Legacy was a project for his
honours, self-published in April 2010 and acquired by Black
House in mid 2011. Two trade paperbacks and three issues are
due this year.

The comic stars both a masked Australian soldier’s feats during
World War II and a descendant fighting crime in modern
Brisbane.

‘It’s a concept of trying to tell an Australian story or an
Australian sentiment in an art form that’s inherently American.
‘We can do an action or superhero type thing and it doesn’t
have to be set in New York. It doesn’t always have to have
American characters in it. You can tell a story you don’t cringe
at when you read it – there’s still a cringe factor when you see
certain Australian films. I try to steer clear of that. If a kid or
a teen reads (Soldier) and decides to google something about
what we did in World War II for instance – that’s something we
don’t see in American stories.’

The Australian industry, producing a diverse range of material
outside the superhero genre, is still at a cottage stage, he says,
with only a few professional publishers operating.

‘Anyone could come up with a decent concept, put together
a book and head to a con and start selling and be a part of the
industry.

‘A lot of the time the comics are coming together from the love
of writing and the love of drawing. You have to find the right
combination of people. That’s why you get a lot of anthologies
– it’s a bit less commitment to having to write a 22-pager every
month or two months.

‘If you’re a writer, you can be a lot more productive than a
penciller, for instance, because you can be in a lot more books.

‘You can write a short story and you don’t have to know how to
draw. If you are able to structure something out and describe
it visually to someone and have an idea of how many pages
you want, you can have an artist put together that sort of thing
and come back later; you can have several artists juggling at
the same time and really, that’s what Stan Lee was doing in the
’60s – he had a handful of guys who he trusted. He’d dictate the
stories to them.’

Lee, the legend behind Marvel comics, is one of Mason’s idols,
along with Lee’s collaborator Jack Kirby. Lee is a guest at this
year’s Melbourne Oz Comic-Con, the first year the US-founded
event has been held in Australia (an Adelaide event has just
run).

‘I’m a big Jack Kirby fan; he was the work horse of the two,
pumping out the artwork and the characters, and I did my
thesis on that.’

While digital printing has helped reduce printing costs and the
internet has facilitated networking and collaboration, the form
still holds its own challenges.

‘The hardest part … for a comic book artist is you have to
construct the world yourself. It’s choosing what you need
to show in terms of being able to tell the story with clarity
– clarity’s the number one thing – but also telling it in an
entertaining and visual way,’ Mason says.

‘You want to make sure the words and the art are working
together as one entity. That’s the part that takes all day. I’ll sit
there and I’ll have a particular scene I want to get down, and by
the end of the day I’ll have four or five bits of paper with little
scribbles on it, and “is that all I did”? That was the agonising
over how the pieces were going to fit together to tell the story.’

Further information
Paul Mason’s website, www.pm-comic.blogspot.com.au
Black House Comics, www.blackhousecomics.com
Oz Comic-Con, Melbourne, 30 June–1 July, ozcomiccon.com"

Thank you again Jason, a pleasure talking to you. And I did notice too, some kind words later in the publication, such as from Mitch Knox's article "Writing for Comics: The Big Picture":

"Black House has delivered some fantastic local titles such as
Paul Mason’s The Soldier: Legacy (see page 4) and Christopher
Sequeira and Phil Cornell’s Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective.
The publisher is taking submissions for their bimonthly zombie
anthology After the World and their new superheroics-themed
collection ParaHuman."

Updates to come re: Soldier Legacy #4 as I battle to finish up and send to print. Good news is too, the Dr Nikola vs. Soldier Legacy part two for Dark Detective #8 is virtually in the can :D

Intermission: Shotgun Daredevil scribble

Hammered out over an hour to warm up for coluring/penciling that week of the OZComic Facebook challenge featuring Daredevil. Despite the workload, how could I not scribble out a Jack Kirby costumed DD?