Over at Comic Book Resources Brian Cronin has been asking artists to name a fellow professional who is deserving of more praise. here's my pick:
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
INTERVIEW REVIEW
An interview, quick-fire question style, conducted a few years back alongside Mike Maddox - writer of Radio 4's MayFlies, Doctor Who's Circular Time and Lion's The Graphic Bible :
If you could be a superhero, who would you be?
MADDOX:-
I always wanted to be Blade the Vampire Hunter, but I’m really a dreadful coward and scare easily. I’ve always had a soft spot for Captain America, and was very excited when Captain Britain came along., hoping Marvel would bring us Captain Cameroon, Captain Saudi Arabia, Captain Dominican Republic and so on. But they didn’t.
PERKINS:-
It would have to be a superhero with the abiltity to fly or become invisible. Bearing in mind that if I could fly I can be any number of amount of superheroes, yet with invisibility I would have to be the Invisible Girl. Mmmm... having breasts seems like a definate advantage so I'd opt for the invisibility option.
Your favourite six stories/eras/titles/issues, whatever.
PERKINS:-
V For Vendetta
"Gaze into the face of fear!"......"Gaze into the fist of Dredd!!"
Who is Donna Troy? ( New Teen Titans #38) - totally redefining comics for me
Harry Twenty on the High Rock
Smith and Weston's Killing Time.
Miller and Mazzucelli's Daredevil
MADDOX:-
Grant Morrison’s Animal Man.
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.
Brian Bolland doing the Dark Judges stories in 2000 AD.
Frank Miller’s Daredevil.
The Numbskulls.
Steve Parkhouse and John Ridgeway’s run on Doctor Who magazine.
What comics did you read as a kid?
PERKINS:-
I was introduced to comics not through the Beano and Dandy but through the hard hitting "Titans" reprints that Marvel brought out - printed in that really long format with two comic pages per page. Followed by "The Mighty World of Marvel" which really got me hooked on to Captain Britain with the silhouette teaser ads it ran. Then came Star Wars weekly and Dr Who weekly - especially when it contained the Gibbons fourth Doctor stories and Steve Dillon's Absalom Daak-Dalek Killer. I discovered 2000ad round about the time of The Apocalypse War - although I do remember buying the second issue and fooling everyone with the bionic stickers.
MADDOX:-
Mainly TV tie-in stuff. TV21, Countdown, the Daleks, that kind of thing. I mean, you had artists like Frank Bellamy reinventing Gerry Anderson, and it doesn’t get much better than that really. What else… The Trigan Empire in Look and Learn. But all that went out the window when “The Mighty World of Marvel” UK reprint titles were launched in the early seventies. The first few issues had Lee and Kirby’s FF and Hulk, and Ditko’s Spiderman. I have never really recovered. Johnny Storm shouts “Flame on!” and bursts into flames, Spidey grapples with guilt and the Thing and the Hulk throw office blocks at each other while fighting. And then there was Warlord. “Cop this, sausage noshers!” shouted D-Day Dawson as he brought the Bren gun to bear on the Nazi brutes.
But long before all this, I really loved Twinkle.
Are comics actually any good?
MADDOX:-
It’s like saying “Are films any good?”, or “Are paintings any good?”. Bit of a nonsense really. Saying that, just like any other artform/media, 95% of them are probably a pile of pooh. It’s like Telly. Every now and then something beautiful and astonishing and challenging comes along that takes your breath away, but the majority of it’s rubbish. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it- I’m very fond of rubbish.
PERKINS:
Of course they are.
What do you like best about comics?
MADDOX:
Pretty much everything, when they’re done well. In a good comic, each page is a joy to read, each picture tells a thousand words.
PERKINS:
Drawing a rollicking good story when I'm pencilling. When I'm inking I don't normally get to see the script, so sometimes the pages I receive end on a cliffhanger - even halfway through the book. There's always the hope that the reader will get as much excitement from the finished product as you have from creating it. That and the conventions.
What do you like least?
MADDOX:
This sounds like the anorak from Hell, but I don’t like the paper a lot of them get printed on, and the computer colour process. I really do think that publishers went overboard when the technology became available in the early/mid nineties, and now colourists swamp artwork with a million trillion zillion shades of colour when they really don’t need to. I actually prefer the soft, muted tones of some comics made with older technology. Also, I hate it when continuity gets in the way of stories.
PERKINS:
The price hike in the last ten years or so which discourages kids today from buying them, I could also break into a long and tiring discussion on distribution - which causes a lot of problems when one distributor controls 95% of the market - but I won't because its,..erm.. a long and tiring discussion. But in general I love comics!
If you could be a superhero, who would you be?
MADDOX:-
I always wanted to be Blade the Vampire Hunter, but I’m really a dreadful coward and scare easily. I’ve always had a soft spot for Captain America, and was very excited when Captain Britain came along., hoping Marvel would bring us Captain Cameroon, Captain Saudi Arabia, Captain Dominican Republic and so on. But they didn’t.
PERKINS:-
It would have to be a superhero with the abiltity to fly or become invisible. Bearing in mind that if I could fly I can be any number of amount of superheroes, yet with invisibility I would have to be the Invisible Girl. Mmmm... having breasts seems like a definate advantage so I'd opt for the invisibility option.
Your favourite six stories/eras/titles/issues, whatever.
PERKINS:-
V For Vendetta
"Gaze into the face of fear!"......"Gaze into the fist of Dredd!!"
Who is Donna Troy? ( New Teen Titans #38) - totally redefining comics for me
Harry Twenty on the High Rock
Smith and Weston's Killing Time.
Miller and Mazzucelli's Daredevil
MADDOX:-
Grant Morrison’s Animal Man.
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.
Brian Bolland doing the Dark Judges stories in 2000 AD.
Frank Miller’s Daredevil.
The Numbskulls.
Steve Parkhouse and John Ridgeway’s run on Doctor Who magazine.
What comics did you read as a kid?
PERKINS:-
I was introduced to comics not through the Beano and Dandy but through the hard hitting "Titans" reprints that Marvel brought out - printed in that really long format with two comic pages per page. Followed by "The Mighty World of Marvel" which really got me hooked on to Captain Britain with the silhouette teaser ads it ran. Then came Star Wars weekly and Dr Who weekly - especially when it contained the Gibbons fourth Doctor stories and Steve Dillon's Absalom Daak-Dalek Killer. I discovered 2000ad round about the time of The Apocalypse War - although I do remember buying the second issue and fooling everyone with the bionic stickers.
MADDOX:-
Mainly TV tie-in stuff. TV21, Countdown, the Daleks, that kind of thing. I mean, you had artists like Frank Bellamy reinventing Gerry Anderson, and it doesn’t get much better than that really. What else… The Trigan Empire in Look and Learn. But all that went out the window when “The Mighty World of Marvel” UK reprint titles were launched in the early seventies. The first few issues had Lee and Kirby’s FF and Hulk, and Ditko’s Spiderman. I have never really recovered. Johnny Storm shouts “Flame on!” and bursts into flames, Spidey grapples with guilt and the Thing and the Hulk throw office blocks at each other while fighting. And then there was Warlord. “Cop this, sausage noshers!” shouted D-Day Dawson as he brought the Bren gun to bear on the Nazi brutes.
But long before all this, I really loved Twinkle.
Are comics actually any good?
MADDOX:-
It’s like saying “Are films any good?”, or “Are paintings any good?”. Bit of a nonsense really. Saying that, just like any other artform/media, 95% of them are probably a pile of pooh. It’s like Telly. Every now and then something beautiful and astonishing and challenging comes along that takes your breath away, but the majority of it’s rubbish. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it- I’m very fond of rubbish.
PERKINS:
Of course they are.
What do you like best about comics?
MADDOX:
Pretty much everything, when they’re done well. In a good comic, each page is a joy to read, each picture tells a thousand words.
PERKINS:
Drawing a rollicking good story when I'm pencilling. When I'm inking I don't normally get to see the script, so sometimes the pages I receive end on a cliffhanger - even halfway through the book. There's always the hope that the reader will get as much excitement from the finished product as you have from creating it. That and the conventions.
What do you like least?
MADDOX:
This sounds like the anorak from Hell, but I don’t like the paper a lot of them get printed on, and the computer colour process. I really do think that publishers went overboard when the technology became available in the early/mid nineties, and now colourists swamp artwork with a million trillion zillion shades of colour when they really don’t need to. I actually prefer the soft, muted tones of some comics made with older technology. Also, I hate it when continuity gets in the way of stories.
PERKINS:
The price hike in the last ten years or so which discourages kids today from buying them, I could also break into a long and tiring discussion on distribution - which causes a lot of problems when one distributor controls 95% of the market - but I won't because its,..erm.. a long and tiring discussion. But in general I love comics!
Monday, June 1, 2009
UPCOMING SIGNINGS
Spread the word -
Got a signing coming up on Saturday August 1st at 2.00pm in London's Orbital Comics : http://www.orbitalcomics.com/ . As far as I know I'll be joined by the magnificent Mr. Mike Carey and , well, who knows which other comic luminaries might wander along!
This is followed by a smaller Megacon in Orlando over the weekend of August 22nd-23rd : http://www.megaconvention.com/mini.asp
Got a signing coming up on Saturday August 1st at 2.00pm in London's Orbital Comics : http://www.orbitalcomics.com/ . As far as I know I'll be joined by the magnificent Mr. Mike Carey and , well, who knows which other comic luminaries might wander along!
This is followed by a smaller Megacon in Orlando over the weekend of August 22nd-23rd : http://www.megaconvention.com/mini.asp
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
The Lincoln Tunnel scene and the walk through Manhattan beforehand are two of the most visceral scenes in the novel of The Stand. I knew I had to get these scenes spot-on with no guessing and assuming of settings ; this sequence had to be as realistic as possible and there was only ONE way to do that:
When I was in Manhattan for the New York ComicCon last year I made a point of re-tracing Larry’s journey from Central Park, down Fifth Avenue, right on 39th Street and continuing on to the Lincoln Tunnel – making sure I took plenty of photographs along the way that I could use for exact reference. What made it even more poignant was when Bill Rosemann excitedly pointed out to me that Larry took his turn from Fifth Avenue right around the corner from the Marvel offices. I believe his words were “ You see… it’s destiny that Marvel are doing the adaptation to The Stand!!”
I believe this extra effort at authenticity has paid off – especially when you get the sense that this sequence is taking place in a real environment through the illustrations. Below are a few of the photographs alongside the resulting panel illustrations:
IMAGE 1: Here we find our unfortunate Looter swinging from a lamp-post on Fifth Avenue. I knew, at some point, I would need a “worms eye view” of things and snapped away accordingly.
IMAGE 2: The point where Larry and Rita turn into 39th Street HAD to be exact – and yet I’ve attempted to set moments throughout the adaptation in the time frame of the unabridged version of the novel – at the beginning of the 90’s ( Thus, the disappearance of that eerie shiny canister thing by the crossing!). Admittedly, some of the shops and building work may not have been there at the time but I guess I utilized the well worn artistic license. Here I’ve combined two separate elements form the photos ; the street scene itself, and the ubiquitous New York hot dog stand.
IMAGE 3 and 4:
New York street scenes can be notoriously hard to illustrate from memory. There are too many elements in the real street environment for you to take in visually – this is where the photo reference invariably helps ( and simultaneously giving you more work in the long run!)
IMAGES 5 AND 6
I took many, many photos of The Lincoln Tunnel entrance (adding a lot more decay, grit and damge along the way). A lot of these images I used to portray the panorama of the variant covers for the first volume of The Stand – Captain Trips. I can’t emphasize enough the need for me to get these settings exactly right and present the reader with a true vision of the events. I hope you feel it’s worked out. 
When I was in Manhattan for the New York ComicCon last year I made a point of re-tracing Larry’s journey from Central Park, down Fifth Avenue, right on 39th Street and continuing on to the Lincoln Tunnel – making sure I took plenty of photographs along the way that I could use for exact reference. What made it even more poignant was when Bill Rosemann excitedly pointed out to me that Larry took his turn from Fifth Avenue right around the corner from the Marvel offices. I believe his words were “ You see… it’s destiny that Marvel are doing the adaptation to The Stand!!”
I believe this extra effort at authenticity has paid off – especially when you get the sense that this sequence is taking place in a real environment through the illustrations. Below are a few of the photographs alongside the resulting panel illustrations:
IMAGE 1: Here we find our unfortunate Looter swinging from a lamp-post on Fifth Avenue. I knew, at some point, I would need a “worms eye view” of things and snapped away accordingly.
IMAGE 2: The point where Larry and Rita turn into 39th Street HAD to be exact – and yet I’ve attempted to set moments throughout the adaptation in the time frame of the unabridged version of the novel – at the beginning of the 90’s ( Thus, the disappearance of that eerie shiny canister thing by the crossing!). Admittedly, some of the shops and building work may not have been there at the time but I guess I utilized the well worn artistic license. Here I’ve combined two separate elements form the photos ; the street scene itself, and the ubiquitous New York hot dog stand.
IMAGE 3 and 4:
New York street scenes can be notoriously hard to illustrate from memory. There are too many elements in the real street environment for you to take in visually – this is where the photo reference invariably helps ( and simultaneously giving you more work in the long run!)
IMAGES 5 AND 6
I took many, many photos of The Lincoln Tunnel entrance (adding a lot more decay, grit and damge along the way). A lot of these images I used to portray the panorama of the variant covers for the first volume of The Stand – Captain Trips. I can’t emphasize enough the need for me to get these settings exactly right and present the reader with a true vision of the events. I hope you feel it’s worked out.
THE STAND:AMERICAN NIGHTMARES #3 OUT THIS WEEK
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Solicitations for August
HOUSE OF M: MASTERS OF EVIL #1 (of 5)Written by CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Penciled by MANUEL GARCIA
Cover by MIKE PERKINS
Hot on the heels of the last two acclaimed minis, House of M returns! You've seen how the mutants and the heroes were changed in the world ruled by Magneto...but what about the villains? Their story stands revealed at last as The Hood assembles a gang of the deadliest Sapien super-criminals: Madame Masque, The Absorbing Man, Titania, The Wrecking Crew, Nitro,Constrictor, The Sandman, Crossbones and more! At first, their goal is simple: get rich and get away with it. But their very first job may lead somewhere none of them expected...and incur the wrath of the House of M itself!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99
THE STAND: AMERICAN NIGHTMARES #5 (of 5)Written by ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA
Penciled by MIKE PERKINS
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
Variant Cover by MIKE PERKINS
Sketch Variant Cover by LEE BERMEJO
It's the Fourth of July, the first holiday post-plague, but none of the survivors are celebrating. While Nick Andros hovers between life and death--and between the influence of Randall Flagg and Mother Abigail--Larry Underwood makes a shocking discovery in his tent... And Stu Redmond's path intersects with Harold and Frannie's, but immediately a conflict (that will have enormous ramifications for all our players) immediately erupts among the three. The second mini-series adapting Stephen King's horror epic ends here, True Believers, setting stage for Volume Three: "SOUL SURVIVORS."
32 PGS./Cardstock Cover/Parental Advisory...$3.99
(c)2009 Stephen King. All rights reserved.
Published by arrangement with The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
This graphic novel is produced under license from The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group and Stephen King.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
Saturday was "Free Comic Book Day" and I spent the time signing at Yancy Street Comics in New Port Richey, Florida. It was really quite busy with a constant flow of sketches being knocked out between 11.00 and 3.30.
Sitting next to me was the magnificent Mike Deodato Jr. and his wonderful wife - having been flown in from Brazil for the signing . It's the first time I've met him and , hopefully, not the last. We got on extremely well and even managed to jam on a few pieces.
I also got to meet up with a few friends and colleagues and had a great time all round - even when I was choked by Darth Vader himself. He really must get that asthma seen to.
Friday, April 24, 2009
TGIF
He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does—is wear lots of neat outfits.The Secret Cabal already revealed their favorites of Wolverine's many costumes, so this week we asked various Marvel creators and editors to share their picks.It's Friday, so kick back, relax and enjoy.
http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.7766.TGIF%7Ecolon%7E_Wolverine%7Eapos%7Es_Costumes
LINCOLN MEMORIAL
There's an interview up on the Marvel site whereupon I chat about the upcoming Lincoln Tunnel scene in The Stand: American Nightmares #3 :
Friday, April 10, 2009
TGIF
Wolverine's the best he is at what he does and he'll be back in movie theaters on Friday, May 1 in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"!Here on Marvel.com, we're celebrating the Canucklehead's return to the silver screen all month long with COMPLETE Wolverine stories in Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, ever-present updates on the upcoming movie with all the latest photos, videos and more!
So sharpen your claws and dig in, True Believers—Marvel.com's the place to be!
http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.7589.TGIF%7Ecolon%7E_Wolverine%7Eapos%7Es_Teams
and from last week :
http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.7495.TGIF%7Ecolon%7E_WrestleMania
Thursday, April 2, 2009
FX FACTS
A quick reminder that in a couple of weeks I'll be attending the FX Show. Also in attendance will be my co-conspirators Christos Gage and Laura Martin, so bring along your comics and collections to get signed and defaced. There'll be a whole plethora of film and TV guests there too, including:
Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), James Marsters (Buffy) , Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek : TNG) , Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite (Firefly) etc etc. Check out the whole list at :
http://www.fxshow.com/index.htm
Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), James Marsters (Buffy) , Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek : TNG) , Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite (Firefly) etc etc. Check out the whole list at :
http://www.fxshow.com/index.htm
Friday, March 27, 2009
FUTURE STAR
Last Saturday I spent an hour or so at my local library ( Austin Davis Public Library ) talking about what I do, showing artwork and taking questions from a varied group of about thirty people - just the right amount to chat to on a Saturday afternoon, I feel! One of the best parts about doing these talks is meeting the children who read the books - especially if they're doing that alongside their parents.
While I was yakking on and on one of the chidren - Joey - drew a Captain America picture for me and...well...it was really fantastic and I reckon more people should be exposed to this young talent - so here you go:
While I was yakking on and on one of the chidren - Joey - drew a Captain America picture for me and...well...it was really fantastic and I reckon more people should be exposed to this young talent - so here you go:
Thursday, March 19, 2009
TAKING OUT THE TRASH
There's an interview with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, The Stand:American Nigtmares, writer up on the Marvel web site :
He's interviewed about one of the most original and distinct charcters in the novel - The Trashcan Man himself.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
MARVEL MOVIES
Sony Pictures’ and Marvel Studios’ SPIDER-MAN 4 is slated for May 6, 2011.
To date, all three motion pictures in the phenomenally successful SPIDER-MAN franchise have generated nearly $2.5 billion worldwide theatrically.
Below is Marvel Studios’ 2010-2012 updated release schedule for its slate of self-produced and financed feature films:
Marvel Studios Feature Film Pipeline
Film/Character - Prior Release Date - Current Release Date
IRON MAN 2 - May 7, 2010 - May 7, 2010
THOR - July 16, 2010 - June 17, 2011
THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA - May 6, 2011 - July 22, 2011
THE AVENGERS - July 15, 2011 - May 4, 2012
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
VARIANT VARIETY
Thought you'd apprecaiate a small look - and I do mean "small", you can see bigger versions up at Marvel.com ( http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.7160.The_Stand%7Ecolon%7E_American_Nightmares_Begins )- of the covers for the first issue of The Stand:American Nightmares OUT TODAY!!
I'll bet you can also scoot over to http://www.comicbookartgallery.com/ and actually purchase the cover itself as well as the interior pages.
Monday, March 9, 2009
THE LINE UP AT LILJA'S LIBRARY
It's The Stand week at Lilja's library and you can find Stephen King's biggest Swedish fan interviewing the entire creative team throughout the week - and running a competition where five sets of the first arc ( with variant covers) are up for grabs. Well worth checking out!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
IT'S ALL GOING ON!
Loads of stuff happening this week...
ITEM
Wednesday 11th sees the eagerly awaited release of the first hardback volume of Marvel's adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. You can pick this up at your local comic shop and get the Lee Bermejo cover or a widescreen cover by myself:
ITEM
On that same day - in fact while you're at the shop picking up your copy of the hardback - you can also purchase the first chapter in volume two : The Stand: American Nightmares.
ITEM
In fact, if youre in the vacinity of 14743 North Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL on the Wednesday evening you can stop by for Beer and Comics at Heroes Haven ( the comic shop formerly known as WonderWater) and get your copies signed by me!
ITEM
Alternatively, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, will be signing copies at the New York branch of Forbidden Planet.
http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.7141.Aguirre-Sacasa_Signs_The_Stand_HC
ITEM
In other news... one of the coolest guys I know, Mr Mike Maddox, has not only written a drama for BBC Radio's Science Fiction season he's also managed to attract a stellar cast to perform his play. It's entitled Mayflies and features, Sir, Derek Jacobi ( Cadfael, Dr Who ), Jason Isaacs ( Lucius Malfoy, The State Within), Catherine McCormack ( Braveheart, 28 Weeks Later) and Danny Webb ( Numerous TV dramas including Doctor Who).
In the photo that's Mike and his wonderful wife, Phillipa, posing with his cast
You can listen to it at 2.15pm GMT , Friday 13th March, on Radio 4 . It's usually available to listen to for the following 7 days on the Radio 4 website.
Friday, March 6, 2009
TGIF
With the release of NEW AVENGERS: THE REUNION #1 this week and the "will they or won't they" reconciliation of Ronin and Mockingbird taking center stage in that series, folks all around the House of Ideas have been thinking about couples, duos and teams they'd like to see get back together.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
MEGACON SCHEDULE
EPTING, CAP AND PERKINS AT MEGACON A COUPLE OF YEARS BACK!
My schedule is looking something like this:
FRIDAY
2.30-3.15
Signing at the HERO INITIATIVE booth
3.40-4.30
Art of Visual Storytelling - Room 222B
SATURDAY
4.10 - 5.00
Marvel Panel - 222B
For the rest of the time I'll be at Booth 319 - unless there's a sign at my table saying I'm not!
Monday, February 23, 2009
TGIF
To commemorate Black History Month, we've asked Marvel writers, artist, and editors to reflect on their favorite black character in the Marvel Universe and tell us what made these heroes so great.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
MAY SOLICITATIONS
THE STAND: AMERICAN NIGHTMARES #3 (of 5)
Written by ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA
Penciled by MIKE PERKINS
Cover by LEE BERMEJO
Variant Cover by MIKE PERKINS
Sketch Variant by LEE BERMEJO
The most harrowing chapter of Stephen King's horror epic yet! When Larry Underwood and his new companion Rita Blakemoor decide to escape from New York, they head for the Lincoln Tunnel...little knowing that they are embarking on a nightmare journey that will unleash their deepest, darkest fears and demons, both real and imagined. Meanwhile, Harold and Frannie set off on their own great adventure--on mopeds!--and Stu Redman meets another survivor. But is he friend or foe?
32 PGS./Cardstock Cover/Parental Advisory...$3.99
©2009 Stephen King. All rights reserved.
Published by arrangement with The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
This comic series is produced under license from The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group and Stephen King.
FREE TRIP!!
Over on the Marvel.Com site you can read the first issue of The Stand:Captain Trips for FREE!!!
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