Molly the cyborg girl went through many different designs, and I was changing her look right up to her first appearance. Benita’s original concept was of a girl who was more machine than human, and whose form and function didn’t necessarily match that of the human body. For a while she looked sort of “Robocop” like, but eventually we arrived at the design you’ve come to see her as in the comic. Molly was really difficult for me to design because the horror of her condition bothered me a great deal. This was a hurdle I had to jump on my own, and now I’m cool with it. Mollie is one of our more popular characters, and she plays heavily in the next story arc.
Harvey Torres, the Tailor. Harvey is one of my favorite characters. He’s big in this drawing, but in his appearances in the comic he’s even bigger yet. If you haven’t noticed, I love to draw almost every variation of the human body, and the Tailor is a real treat for me. Ad to this his cynical attitude and his expressive face, and he’s a natural for me. He and Greg Buchanan throw insults at each other all the time, but I strongly suspect that this masks a genuine friendship between them. Neither character would admit to this, obviously.
Life is funny. When I was a kid, I drew lots of comics. These were terribly crude affairs, and as incredibly trite as you would expect most 6-10 year-olds to write. But, I never forgot the characters I made up. The Clump appeared in several of his own stories, and he was the result of lightning animating undersea pollution. Almost four decades later in our world, when it came time to populate the Squadron Premiere of their 1950’s I had to include the Clump. So far, he has only appeared as a statue in the trophy hall of Squadron Premiere Plaza. The Clump is also noteworthy in that I, with a friend of mine, made a miniature Clump out of clay, and using a super-8 camera we tried to animate him. This footage was never developed and long gone.
The French Curve has only made a background appearance in issue six to day. I never actually figured out what her powers are, but she was really built on the concept of a voluptuous woman (curves) from France. Not high concept, I’ll warrant you that. Most of the women that appear in the comic have trim, muscular physiques, as befits superheroes and villains. Now that I think of it, the comic needs a voluptuous woman for no other reason than she’d be fun to draw!
Item: I’m really looking forward to seeing “Kick Ass” when it comes out. I’m also looking forward to the trade paperback of the same. I’ve made no secret that the art of John Romita Jr. gives me great joy, and…
Item: Mark Millar is all right. When “Civil War” ended, I was upset with what I perceived as a mishandling of Captain America. Later, when I reread the trade, I still felt uncomfortable about Captain America, but I was quite moved by the whole piece. I must also say that I really enjoyed the “Ultimates” vol. 1 and 2. That was eye-opening stuff! And…
Item: today I picked up “Wanted.” I have never seen the movie, and I am unlikely to, but the story looked diverting, so now I’ll read it.
Item: Today I turned 45, and I’m cool with that. 45 seems like a good, solid sounding year. I’ve still got my health and my wits and most of my hair, so I’ve got big publishing plans for this year of my life. I’ve enjoyed my 40’s more than any time in my life, but then almost anything would be better than my 30’s!
Item: Today, as it was my birthday, Benita and I went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, a world-class museum, and visited the “Sacred Spain” exhibit. To be honest, I didn’t expect to find it as moving as I did: some of those paintings and sculptures incited deep stirrings within, and many of these 17th century pieces held powerful energies.
Item: I also picked up “Batman: Battle For The Cowl” today, written and drawn by Tony Daniels. The first chapter read well, and I look forward to reading it several times. In my experience, most graphic novels require multiple readings to really get the full scope. Sure, some graphic novels are terribly disappointing, and don’t warrant revisiting, but many do. Over the years, I’ve read “Watchmen,” “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,” “Authority,” “The Invisibles,” and others, again and again. I once read “The Invisibles” and marked everything that I had questions on with post-it notes for further study. This is what really introduced me to the work of Grant Morrison, and my life has been much richer for it.
Item: “The Mindscape of Alan Moore.” My admiration for this man is unbounded.
Item: And, let us not forget my other favorite British writer/magician, Grant Morrison. This is going to rock!
