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No. 2 Fall 2006 P R E S E N T S

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Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics!

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Featuring

PAUL GULACY! Interview & Art Gallery 63 1

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Volume 1, Number 2 October 2006

Celebrating the ART of Creating Comics! EDITOR

Bob McLeod PUBLISHER

John Morrow DESIGNER

Michael Kronenberg

FEATURED ARTISTS PROOFREADERS John Morrow and Christopher Irving COVER ARTIST

Brian Apthorp

Frank Brunner

Jerry Ordway

Alex Toth

Matt Wagner

Paul Gulacy COVER COLORIST

Laurie Kronenberg

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Bob Brodsky, Seastone Marketing Group

ROUGH STUFF INTERVIEW 30

SPECIAL THANKS

Brian Apthorp Frank Brunner Paul Gulacy Jerry Ordway Alex Toth Matt Wagner Ray Wong Eric Nolen-Weathington Roger Clark David Hamilton Ken Steacy Michael Eury ROUGH STUFF™ is published quarterly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Bob McLeod, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: ROUGH STUFF, c/o Bob McLeod, Editor, P.O. Box 63, Emmaus, PA 10849-2203. E-mail: mcleod.bob@gmail.com. Fourissue subscriptions: $24 Standard US, $36 First Class US, $44 Canada, $48 Surface International, $64 Airmail International. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Central cover art by Paul Gulacy. Jonah Hex TM & ©2006 DC Comics. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2006 Bob McLeod and TwoMorrows Publishing. ROUGH STUFF is a TM of TwoMorrows Publishing. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING.

Paul Gulacy

ROUGH STUFF FEATURE 46

A Special Memento Ray Wong

ROUGH STUFF DEPARTMENTS 2

Scribblings From The Editor Bob McLeod

Cover Stories Paul Gulacy and Frank Brunner reveal the process they go through when creating a cover.

PrePro A look at the art of the pros, before they were pros.

Rough Critique Editor Bob McLeod critiques an artist’s sample page.

Rough Talk Comments and opinions from our readers.

For more art by our featured artists, visit www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm

ISSN 1931-9231 OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

SCRIBBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR:

elcome to the second issue of Rough Stuff! I hope you saw our first issue, because it is a must-have for any fan of comic art. It featured art by no fewer than eight of the best artists in comic books, and an interview with Kevin Nowlan. If you missed it, you can still get a copy by ordering it from us by

e-mail, phone, or on the www.twomorrows.com web site. To get you up to speed: this magazine was spun off from Back Issue magazine’s “Rough Stuff” feature. We’ll have pencil pages, sketches, thumbnails, cover roughs, art before and after inking, and whatever else we can think of that has to do with the preliminary art of comics, drawn by all of your favorite current artists and the best artists from the past as well. We’ll have in-depth interviews, such as this issue’s talk with Paul Gulacy, who generously created that stunning cover of Jonah Hex. We also have some features you won’t find anywhere else, like “Pre-Pro,” where we show you art by your favorites that was done before they turned pro. Where else are you gonna see that, unless you drop by their mom’s house!? And our feature “Cover Stories” displays cover art from inception to completion, along with comments by the artists. Along with other interesting articles, for those of you brave enough to submit your samples, I offer my “Rough Critique,” where I give a constructive critique of a young hopeful comic artist. I don’t pull punches, but neither do I insult or belittle. I guarantee you’ll learn something, even if you can’t draw a straight line. I don’t just say what the artist is doing wrong, I pick up my own pencil and show how to do it better! If you think you have what it takes to draw comics, just send me a sample page, and we’ll publish the best page we receive, along with my critique. This issue features a sample page by newcomer Gibson Quarter, one of my former correspondence students (I offer art lessons on my web site). I’d like to thank all of our featured artists this issue for their fascinating comments about their art, and their generosity with their time. Thanks especially to Matt Wagner for his patience and understanding, and special thanks to all the art collectors who supplied us with art scans from their personal collections for this issue: Luis Acevedo, Elizabeth Bouras, Malcolm Bourne, Jim Clancy, Roger Clark, John Cogan, Michael Farineau, Nick Ford, Kasra Ghanbari, Rob Ledford, Steve Lipsky, Daniel Maull, and Adam Richards. For a free look at even more scans by some of our featured artists, go online and visit the Rough Stuff page of my web site at www.bobmcleod.com/roughstuff.htm. Each issue we have more art than we can fit into the magazine, and I’ll be showcasing some of it on my site as a free bonus. Don’t miss out on this extra treat! We’re always seeking high resolution scans of pencil and preliminary art and sketches for future issues. If you have art in your collection you’d like to share, please contact me. We’ll send you a complimentary copy, and if you wish, we’ll credit you as the proud owner. We need full-size 300dpi JPEGs for pencil art, and 600dpi bitmap TIFs for inked art, if possible, or clear photocopies. Please send your letters and e-mails of feedback to me at the addresses below. I want to know what you think of our efforts, and which artists you’d like to see featured. Join us next issue for art by Mike Allred, John Buscema, Yanick Paquette, P. Craig Russell, Lee Weeks, and an interview with John Romita Jr. But meanwhile, turn the page and enjoy this issue’s fun! Editor mcleod.bob@gmail.com www.bobmcleod.com 2

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

P R O H T P A N A I R B

vanpart of the new is p or h pt A an Bri y, but mic books toda co in g n ki or w guard tals in the fundamen ed ot ro l el w he’s very ons are t. His compositi sexy, of good comic ar d powerful and an l u ef ac gr e gures ar inker dynamic, his fi delighting the , te ra trs fi is ic lighting and his dramat to ink! ould be a ball w ls ci n pe is H in me.

BRIAN APTHORP: Ghost #11, cover The pencils for the cover of Ghost #11. I did four covers, for numbers 9, 11, 13 and 17, and this is one of the better ones, I think, though she’s considerably sexier in the other three. But it was really cool, working on each, because I didn’t have to adhere to any story situation; they were simply compositions of my own devising, portraits of her and her peculiar situation, trying to be evocative.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

D U R E F E A T

I S T A R T

FRANK BRUNNER

en one of has always be Frank Brunner is very tists. His work ar te ri vo fa y m ows no imagination kn is h d an , al su sen for ly best known ab ob pr s e’ H . ARD THE bounds ANGE and HOW R ST . R D on s fort azing his definitive ef doing a lot of am en be s e’ h s, nt year DUCK. In rece k. commission wor DR. STRANGE TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

FRANK BRUNNER

Characters, Inc.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

INTERVIEW

PAUL GULACY By Michael Kronenberg

has worked for every major publisher and has been associated with some of comics’ most memorable characters and titles. To thrive as long as he has in an industry as grueling and sometimes

cruel as comics has been not only his ability as an artist and storyteller, but tantamount to his skills as a survivor. Numerous times over the years a Gulacy art job would hang on the balance of which inker was selected for his pencils. There have been some outstanding embellishers he has been partnered with—Dan Adkins, Terry Austin, and Jimmy Palmiotti to name a few—but too many times he has been mismatched and his idiosyncratic style has been lost. With the release this month of Jonah Hex #12, Gulacy embarks on a new venture with his art: inking his pencils.

“…you never saw me doing my own “I never get tired of it. It’s what I do. It’s “…I almost completely go straight on the

covers when I was on Master of Kung Fu, because I just got under the wire on the deadline and there was no time to let me do the cover. Knowing that, I decided to make the slash page the cover.

”

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

my outlet for self-expression. Marlon Brando once said in an interview, ‘Never give 100 percent, and hold back some reserve.’ You can’t come in with the big guns every time. You pace it.

”

board with pens and brushes over pencil lines that only I can decipher. I can finish a book in four to five weeks, pencils and inks. My deal with the editors is that I’ll be happy to patch in any mistakes if need be.

”

or over thirty years Paul Gulacy has continued to be a creative force in the comic book industry. He

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

A S PECIAL MEMENTO By Ray Wong

andering the floor on the second

truly exquisite renderings of Natasha Romanoff. Gulacy

day of the 2005 Comic-Con

brought the Black Widow to life in that portfolio, infusing a

International in San Diego, I

dark and sensual vulnerability into the character that captured

stopped at a booth to watch an

a sense of intrigue, passion, and danger.

artist in action. The man, slight-

Over the years, I sold all of my original art, including

statured and sporting an earring, used a fine-tipped

the Black Widow plate, and abandoned the world of

drawing pencil to shade the bare, upper torso of Shang

comic books altogether. I only came to the comic conven-

Chi, the Master Of Kung Fu (MOKF), and I stood and

tion to pick up a few toys for my four-year-old son, but

observed in quiet fascination. I had been a huge MOKF

seeing Gulacy in person triggered a wave of nostalgia. It

fan in the ’70s and ’80s and especially admired the

brought to mind a simpler time in my life before the

intricate detail of Paul Gulacy’s artwork in the comic.

responsibilities of wife, children, career, and monthly utility

Though I had collected comics and original art in the

bills—a time when reading a new issue of Walt

early ’80s, I had never met Paul Gulacy, and I didn’t know

Simonson’s Thor or purchasing an original page from

the man transforming a piece of paper into a work of art

Paul Gulacy’s MOKF meant the world to me.

in front of my eyes. I could only gape when a fan lugging

To serve as a memento of a more innocent time in my life,

a black portfolio came up and greeted the artist by name.

I commissioned Gulacy for a sketch of the Black Widow. He

The fan and Gulacy proceeded into a dialogue about

told me it would be ready by Sunday afternoon, the last day

MOKF and the conversation eventually veered into a discus-

of the convention. Though I hadn’t planned on attending that

sion of the artist’s depiction of female characters. To me,

day, I said I would come pick it up from him.

nobody drew women like Paul Gulacy. In my collecting days, one of my most prized possessions was an original plate from Gulacy’s Black Widow portfolio. Never had I seen such

When I returned late Sunday, Gulacy took one look at me and immediately broke into profuse apologies for not having my art ready. He must’ve seen the disappointment on my face because he offered to do the piece after the convention and mail it to me. He wrote his e-mail address on a card and asked me to send him my address. I did so the next day, and two weeks later, a UPS package arrived at my door. My heart ran a two-minute mile inside my chest as I tore open the package. When I saw the pen and ink drawing of the Black Widow, I probably jumped higher than Shang Chi executing a flying roundhouse kick. I couldn’t have been more pleased. I held in my hands a piece of art that I wouldn’t have traded for a John Byrne X-Men cover. No, not because of its monetary value, but because of what it represented—a personal rendering of an awe-inspiring character done especially for me by one of my all-time favorite artists.

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

Thanks, Paul, from the bottom of my heart. Ray Wong is a freelance writer who has contributed to BACK ISSUE magazine, and his opinion editorials have appeared in the San Diego Union and the LA Daily News. He can be reached by e-mail at raywongwriter@juno.com.

OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF

PRE-PRO

ave you ever wondered how your favorite pro’s art looked back before he turned pro—back when he was just sitting at home dreaming about becoming a comic book artist? How would his early efforts compare with yours? Well, each issue we’re going to show you some examples of just that! The following art was contributed by some of our featured artists. It was done by them before they started working in comics professionally—but it’s easy to see they’d soon be ready for the big time!

BRIAN APTHORP: Okay, here’s a page I did as a portfolio piece, long before my first published comics work in 1990. I took it and a package of other pages to the 1983 San Diego Con— the first I ever attended, I believe—and showed them to actual editors at Marvel and DC. I believe it was Larry Hama who told me, “When you get your speed up to 3 pages a day, call me,” or something to that effect. I walked away knowing I’d never be making that call; and I still haven’t, I’m afraid! My wife Lori read a current issue of the F.F. and wrote down the plot, so I had a “script” to work from of a professional story which I had not yet read. The F.F. was my sentimental favorite of all the titles I used to read as a pure fan. This is the least embarrassing of the pages that were in that package, actually. Characters TM & ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc..

ROUGH STUFF • OCTOBER 2006

MATT WAGNER: Cartoon: A humorous single-panel gag done before I’d decided that the Sequential Arts was the avenue for me. This is dated ‘82, which makes it just prior to my fist published work. The caption read: “CHECK IT OUT! LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE WEARING A G*DDAMN UNIFORM!”

MATT WAGNER: Hercules Holding the Sky for Atlas: Done in college, again before I knew what my future would hold. I thought I might end up as a more traditional “illustrator.” I’d say this is 1980 or ’81. OCTOBER 2006 • ROUGH STUFF