Collecting Soil Samples
Dark City
Extinction Agenda
Going Postal
On the Fast Track
Paleolithic Park
Powers
Revival of the Fittest
Saint of Killers
Under Pressure
An Unsaintly Priest
Waid's Monthly Dose of Painkiller (Jane)
Wizard Editor Gets Byrned
POSTAL
A Basic Training
Special: Inside the
Joe Kubert School
of Cartooning
Correspondence
Course
KILLERS
Azrael
Batman Special
AGENDA
Spirit of the Tao
Fathom Special
PRESSURE
Aquaman
JLA Special
The Town That
Dark Horse Built
Barb's Got it Wired
Barbara Kahlberg
Palmiotti's Pointers
Jimmy Palmiotti
THE MONTH: POWERS
Brian Michael
Bendis' Superhero
Crime Drama
Bone
The Flash
Gen13
Impulse
Spawn
Cavewoman spins off into new title
PALMIOTTI'S PENS AND POINTERS
Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, James Robinson, Warren Ellis and Mark Millar have all wanted to write Vampirella stories for some time. What does seem a little co- incidental is that all these writers are Brit-ish. All.
Marc Waid, (Kingdom Come) best known for taking The Flash and Captain America from struggling to stardom has once again teamed with Brian Augustyn (Flash) to flesh out Jane's tale of woe and
turn the background character from 22 Brides into Event Comic's newest heroine.
Series' inker, Jimmy Palmiotti (Vampi-rella), who co-created Jane with Joe Que-sada (Ash) describes her as, "a no B.S. gal who used to be a New York cop. Jane is our crazy character, our loose cannon," and make no mistake, they know exactly which direction that cannon is firing. Waid and Augustyn agree, "Jane has a very real voice. You know exactly what she's going to say."
"Everybody wants to work with Marc Waid," says Augustyn and with his pick of assignments it's a sure sign of his res-pect for the character and it's creators that Waid chose this independant com-pany to write a monthly title for.
Rick Leonardi (Spider-Man 2099) adds his dynamic pencilling to Jane, which Waid describes as "crammed packed with action."
"Whenever you come in you're already five minutes late," says Augustyn. "In the third issue the bad guys...are racing [a
bus] through midtown at rush hour and Jane is clinging to the side! And that's page one!"
Since becoming immortal Jane's been an assassin and a thief, but Waid plans to take her in "a more heroic direction. What
she's doing now is a way of atoning for her past sins. She has a block of her memory missing," he points out, but adds that he plans plenty of exploration, "of exactly how [Jane] got to where she is now, what she's lost and her inner pain she's trying to extinguish. Until she starts unraveling the mystery of her own past she's on a hell bent course to try to make the world as orderly as she possibly can. I think she's probably a little worried that there's more that she doesn't know about that she needs to atone for."
Jane also has a lot more to vindicate than just her chequered past. "She's been literally put through the ringer," says Au-gustyn. "She's been blown up at least twice. [While] she's been in a coma her fiancee' married somebody else and her
family died. She's lost everything and has nothing to live for."
One character that may just change her mind is a serial killer who experiences visions of a person's death when he
touches them. "[The Mercy Killer] is a doctor, so he is doing what he considers to be his sacred duty," says Augustyn. "He can't help them avoid their fate, but if he sees a horrible death he kills them pain-lessly. When he lays hands on Jane...it's a
turning point for both of them."
"Jane has to be re-attached to a world she can no longer care for and reclaim her discarded humanity." says Augustyn. "She has to find reasons to care. To survive. She has no choice."
w/ additional reporting by Mark Aronowitz-
seems to be everywhere you look.
"I do put in a good 12 hour day at least", says Palmiotti, "it's not a matter of how many pages I do a day because ev-ery day is completely different. I do a lot of covers, so people automatically think that I did the book. Covers go a long way as far as getting your name out there."
Even with so many studios around, al-lotting duties to aspiring artists, Palmiotti believes in a hands on approach to his work. "I don't have a studio. It's just me," he says. "I'm too much of a control freak about my stuff. I really don't want other people touching it. As good as they are it would never be the exact thing."
Working with renowned pencillers like Joe Quesada (Ash), Amanda Conner (Vampirella) and Rick Leonardi (Painkiller Jane) gives Palmiotti a variety of styles to ink over and each one requires a different approach.
"I look at [the page] to see what kind of line the penciller put down, whether I should handle it with more pen or more
brush." Although he uses both, Palmiotti's preference is for brushes and he certainly has his favorites. He recommends the
Windsor & Newton Series 7 Finest Sable #2 and #3.
"Even though they're more expensive", he says, "they get that fine line that's worth every penny when you get it."
For nibs he swears by the Hunt 102 pen point and occasionally the 107.
Palmiotti likes to do all of his brush work first, outlining the whole page. "I do all the line work and 'X' off my blacks as I go along. Then I erase the page and my last step is filling. It makes for a better looking page."
"Whatever the eye is gonna' go to is the most important thing on the panel," he says and so uses those large black areas
constructively, to both establish a definite lightsource and to separate images, clari-fying the pencils.
To help figures in the foreground stand out Palmiotti keeps bold lines out of his backgrounds. "As a rule you try to keep the heaviness in the front," he says. "Sometimes I don't let the background line touch the figure so it kind of automatically
separates foreground from background."
Palmiotti reminds inkers that although the colorist does a lot to aid in the separa-tion of background and foreground the
inker can't rely on that. "While an inker's working you have to think in black and white terms. You have to be very con-scious of what's going to seperate in the the panel and how it's going to reduce down. These things go down to a little bit more than half size from the original size we work in," which for most pros is a 10x15 area on an 11x17 page.
When using blacks to establish lighting Palmiotti considers himself more of a tra-ditional inker. "I like to pick a definite
light source. Most of the pencillers like that, but there are different looks."
No matter what the style there is one rule Palmiotti suggests following. "Don't change the pencilling unless you get an okay from the editor. That's a no-no."
Nevertheless, British invasions are no-torious for innovative change, which is
certainly true of the new monthly Vampi-rella. "I think it will definitely appeal to our fans right now," says Biederman, "as well as people who like Grant Morrison's stuff over all."
Morrison (JLA), who is cowriting the comic with Mark Millar, developed a pas-sion for Vampirella from the old black and white Warren series. "We wanted the top talent," Biederman says, "and once we got it, that was the go ahead for the monthly." The series, premiering in November, will be previewed in the 16-page Show-case Edition, available in September.
There's also no hiding the European theme of Vampirella/Dracula: The Centen-nial, a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker's classic novel. Featuring stories by Moore, Robinson and Ellis, this 48-page anthology arrives just in time for Halloween.
Alan Moore (Watchmen, Swamp Thing), includes a four page interview of his thoughts on the character of Dracula as background to his story, The New Eu-ropean (ooh, what a give away!). Accord-ing to Biederman, Moore has always wanted to do a vampire tale and is really excited about tackling the classic charac-ter of Dracula.
James Robinson (Starman, Leave It To Chance) is no stranger to Vampirella,
following up Vampirella: Bloodlust with his entry, Vampirella Vs. Dracula.
Vampirella veteran,Warren Ellis, not only has his Dracula offering, Necro-mance, but also two other upcoming re- leases. Vampirella/Shi and Shi/Vampirella, although similarly titled are separate one- shots due out in September.
Not bothered by the "bad girls" label, Biederman is very comfortable teaming up the two. "Vampirella has been around 25 years," he says. "'Bad Girls' are hot this
month. Something else will be hot next month. Vampirella is here to stay."
*A. Michael Pearce thinks that feeding on the
occasional person is a small price to pay for an eternity with a babe like Vampi.
Formerly under the sheltering umbrella of Caliber, Root has now returned to his origins, self publishing a slew of new
projects through his label, Basement Com-ics. Exploring a lighter tone for Cavewo-man there are two new series in the works, Jungle Tales of Cavewoman and Pangean Sea.
Root has also teamed with Frazetta-esque illustrator, Mike Hoffman for his comic, Tigress and is working on a "pi-rates in Hell" project with penciller, Elf.
Beyond the comic forum Root has plans for some Cavewoman merchandise soon, including an action figure, being released through Bolt/Avatar. He's also working on a portfolio style set of color illustrations, a trading card series and a variety of T-shirts.
So, why has Root gone back to the basement? "Although Caliber is wonder-ful and everybody up there is great you make more money if you self publish and it's not that much more work," says Root. "Bradley's a talented guy trying to launch his own career. He makes all the money off of Missing Link which will be good for him to launch his next project."
BARB'S GOT IT WIRED
Artist/writer John Byrne heard about Wizard's most devoted Princess Diana fan when Wizard World online assistant, Ruth Morrison suggested that Byrne include him. Wilkofsky, who began collecting Wonder Woman over 20 years ago, was totally surprised.
"I'm very pleased with what John did," Wilkofsky says, "he gave me some great dialogue. Rabbi Wilkofsky definitely says a few things that I possibly would say."
Although Byrne feels his characters never quite look like their origins, Wilkof-sky thinks he was depicted well. Byrne has been translating friends, family and even himself, to the printed page for 25 years. "I use names, or faces, but not usually both," says Byrne. Alpha Flight fans may remember Gary Cody, one of the few to see print with both name and face intact. An old college chum and pro-fessional artist, Cody has since painted covers for several Byrne comics including the Next Men. Likewise, Kitty Pryde, (one of the most contrived sounding names in comics, about as likely to be real as Buck Naked, Tawny Kitaen, or Rip Torn), is actually someone from Byrne's past.
Sometimes it's tough to distinguish the difference. Byrne recalls, "So many peo-ple thought I was the character in Dark Horse's Critical Error [who shares an in-terlude with a bare beauty] that I went back and changed the girl in it [to Valerie Bertinelli] so it didn't look like anyone I knew."
Wilkofsky, who is quite happy to be rec-ognized as his Wonder Woman counter-part hopes that the Rabbi may appear a-gain. "It feels pretty surreal to be a comic book character, but it's great to be in the Wonder Woman mythos. After being a fan of the amazing amazon for so many years this is the highest moment of my Wonder Woman fanship."
*Anthony Pearce hopes to one day include John Byrne in one of him own comics as a buddhist monk.*
wards.
Okay, not everything, just the way she attacks a page she's about to ink. Although most old school inkers start at the top left hand corner and work their way down to the bottom right, Barbara does exactly the opposite, starting at the bottom right hand corner. Having inked over 2500 pages over the last seven years she is fully prepared to illustrate the pros and cons of this method.
With the inked sections resting just beneath your hand it's important to be a-ble to switch pages often. "I keep two or
"I highly recommend that even if you sneer at a brush you at least learn how to use one. Styles change periodically and what is hot during this decade may be cold the next. And brush style may come back in."
Barbara also stresses the importance of using well placed blacks and differing line weights to define the depth of your
The real benefit of this technique is that it "keeps the rest of the pages clean above me. I don't have to risk smearing the pencils, so all the pencils above stay crisp and clean." This is particularly vital when the pencils are intricate and no detail
For foregrounds use heavier lines. "Not all the lines in the foreground
Leona's power is the source of their problems since only the religious leader of their home world is meant to possess it. "So long as another avatar exists who can also tap it, the flow of his power is inter-rupted," says Doran.
A resistance movement on earth is trying to help these children, but allies and enemies are hard to tell apart. "There's more controversy and more political backstabbing than you can possibly imag-ine in this book," Doran says. "Don't trust anybody."
Published by Aria, the black and white collection retails for $18.95.
Her advice for budding inkers is sim-ple. "This is going to sound like an old pat cliche, but it can't be said enough. Prac-tice. Practice. Practice. Take your wea-pon of choice and fill pages with lines. Make circles, make wavy lines, straight lines, just fill pages and pages with lines. It's going to take time, it doesn't happen over night, but sooner or later you're go-ing to learn to have terrific control over your instrument."
So, there you are, an aspiring inker. You've got your quill or brush in hand and your buddies' pencils in front of you. How do you start to practice? Heck, how do you hold the darn thing? "The best way to maintain control over a pen or brush is to hold it straight up, don't rest it back on the fleshy part of your hand be-tween the thumb and the forefinger. Keep your wrist in a fairly locked position. Use your pinky finger as a lever guide on the page, and work from your elbow and your shoulder, not from your wrist."
Barbara inks about 80% of her work
Blacks on blacks can be very confu-sing for the reader, making it difficult for the eye to clearly find the focus. "Say, it's night time and you've got a lot of blacks in the background. You might want to break up those blacks, so your eye isn't drawn there."
Barbara Kaalberg has inked for nearly every big name in comics, including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Warp Graphics, Ac-claim, Now Comics, Palliard Press, Inno-vation and practically every title in Malibu's Ultraverse.
She also has the most amazing green eyes.
As the millennium approaches Marvel goes retro.
ON THE RACKS
It took some guts to use three time loser Ka-Zar to lead the pack, but it seems to be working. Led off by Mark Waid (Captain America, JLA: Year One) and Andy Kubert (X-Men) Kevin Plunder moves on from his early "Ka-zar is strongest in jungle," days to become one witty warrior. Although occasionally tagged as a Tarzan wannabe the odds are that Lord Greystoke couldn't whoop Thanos' butt. Leave that to Ka-Zar.
After years of falling for (and occasionally marrying) any pretty face that happened their way, Ka-Zar
First time around "Canada's Avengers", Alpha Flight, scraped out a decade with constant roster changes and occasional big gun pencillers like Mike Mignola (Devil Boy), Jim Lee (Heroes Reborn) and Alpha Flight creator John Byrne (Wonder Woman, Twice Told Tales).
The Alphans, juggled off and on by their government sponsors Department H, spent much of their time fending off undergrads who were pissed at never making Alpha status. Like that was ever much to sing about.
But that was then and THIS is now:
Under scribe Steve Seagle (Uncanny X-Men) Alpha's hosting some new faces, as well as old ones with new looks. The team's founder, Guardian is back from the grave and ready to shave. Newly resurrected much younger than when he died "Mac" is fairly cocky about his rolls as both hero and husband, leaving his teammate and widow Vindicator mighty confused. New additions Radius, Flex and sex kitten, Murmur notice little beyond their own angst. Not that it matters because in the miasma of political intrigue that is life amongst the Alphans, no one recalls any revelation for long. Their new government sponsors wipe clean any memory they deem a threat. (Just think if mom and dad could erase your knowledge of any hottie they didn't want you to date. Sucks, don't it?)
That's not all for the team books.
Heroes for Hire was once just Luke Cage: Power Man, the first African American superhero whose name wasn't a banner for his skin color. Then martial arts master, Iron Fist hired on and now, writer John Ostrander (Spectre) has Hercules, Black Knight, the new White Tiger, Thena of the Eternals and the original Human Torch all punching the mercenary time card. A monstrous mismatch of missions and might? Maybe, but odd team-ups abound this year.
"When we put our own humanity against their inhumanity that makes them all the more human," waxes writer Paul Jenkins (Hellblazer) of the alien mutant outcasts called the Inhumans who've bounced from home to home more often than Kato Kailen. "Plus, " he laughs "they have this f*@#ing
The stoicism of Black Bolt, Triton's alienation, the deadly beauty of Medusa, Karnak's introspection and the good natured wit of Gorgon are all to be explored, but "If you're not going to test the boundaries," says penciller Jae Lee (Hellshock), "there's really no reason for doing this."
So Jenkins is looking more closely at all the denizens of Attilan. "You've got 3,000 plus people. Each one of them has not only powers, but their own story. Book two is about the hopes and fears of a teenager, facing the unknown future. These children are put into this place where they change [the mutating Terrigan Mists]. Basically it's puberty."
"They never know what they're going to change into," adds Lee, "a creature with magnificent powers, or a guy who turns into a tree." Exploring a populace who all have powers it's like Astro City gone mad and Jenkins promises "to create a bunch of really cool new ones."
Have the Inhumans once again found paradise apart from the intervention of humans and their parent race, the Kree? Jenkins will only reveal, "Beware Utopia. In every perfection hides a flaw."
Wouldn't you think the Black Panther would use some of his kingdom's high tech gear in his role as a superhero? Well, Christopher Priest (remember him from Ka-Zar just a minute ago?) thinks so too.
Even more secretive is the creative team behind the new Punisher, revealing little about the drastic plans they have for vigilante, Frank Castle. "We're both sticklers for continuity." promises Christopher Golden (Marvel Novels)of himself and co-writer Tom Sniegoski (Ven-geance of Vampirella), but that hasn't hindered Punisher's wild new direction, which we're told includes the return of a prominent Punish-er nemesis.
Expect some supernatural elements and a touch of eerie horror, especially with artist Bernie Wrightson on board. Legend has it that Wrightson is only available for comment every 7th blue moon so quotes are rare, but his friendship with Palmiotti has lured him back to the Marvel stables where his dark moody work has been missed since 1981. "My idea of horror," says Wrightson, "is a well dressed man at a bus stop. Everything about him is perfect, except that there's a spot of blood on his shoe." There's likely to be more than a drop or two in this title famous for its gunplay.
When on earth the Micronauts are six inches high with attitude. On the flip side of the Spacewall they're the defenders of the Microverse. Tom Defalco's original series won the prestigious Eagle Award and its high sales prompted Marvel's first experiments with premium formats. Make no mistake Micronauts is the goods.
After a thousand years in cybersleep, experiencing his star trek vicariously through an android companion, Commander Arcturus Rann returns to Homeworld to find it under the rule of the evil Baron Karza. Uniting in rebellion with Homeworld's
THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN '99
Whew. And if that wasn't enough, THIS is now.
"Karza Is Back!! And that's the good news," says writer Shon Bury (BlackOps). "There's a threat that's so ominous Commander Rann actually had to use Karza's body banks [a genetic hell hole Karza used to enslave the Microverse] to re-animate him. It really jacks up the inner conflict to have your arch nemesis right there on the bridge of the ship [but] they needed his tactical [and] scientific genius to defeat this enemy from another microverse."
"The core group is back plus Huntaar," says Penciller Carey Nord (Daredevil). "Some of them are updated. Mari lost the rainbow outfit, too disco," he laughs. Nord is having the time of his life exploring his love of science fiction on these pages. "This is what I've been wanting to do and Shon's got these huge battles in space and guys floating out there." Those floating guys are the result of the invading alien race who desolve metal. Not good for space ships...or roboids.
Bury, who grew up reading Micronauts (and is also revamping Power pack) has cosmic sized plans for the tiny titans. "The Makers created this microverse, so why would they create just one? There are dozens. They're experimenting with humanity and life."
How much would you pay for all this? Before you answer, wait. There's one more! The refitting of Jack Kirby's Machine Man. X-51, the android with the Pinocchio complex (predating Star Trek's Data) has had a scattered 20 years. Can the gadget ridden machine calling itself Aaron Stack (after it's creator) become "a REAL boy?"
Well, that was then. THIS is now:
"The most powerful cybernetic organism in the Marvel universe," is how co-writer Karl Bollers describes him now. Just as DC's Swamp Thing is now a force of nature, Machine man is entering the age of modern gods as the connection to all cyberspace.
"Their was no cyberspace 20 years ago when Jack created him," points out co-writer Mike Higgins. "It will change his entire mission in life."
Machine Man will explore his technological evolution while continuing to seek an identity of his own. "What makes a person?" ponders Bollers. "What they are, or what they do? What makes them a hero?"
'He's not going to have a secret identity where he wears glasses and a wig and goes to the office every day," says Higgins. "It just has no relevance to him. He just is." Despite that loss of human interaction he's also not just Gizmo the robot. "We're not going to treat Machine man like a walking swiss army knife, with all these gadgets unfolding," Mike Higgins. Both huge fans of Kirby's work Higgins and Bollers have settled in to carry Machine Man into the new millennium, appropriately the one he was born in.