Kiss Me, Deadly: A Retro Reject Returns!

This is a cover concept I had that went unfinished for a number of years. It dates from probably the early 2000s, and I was apparently pondering taking the Megaton Man Weekly Serial strips and collecting them into a print comic (newsflash: print has been a problematic prospect since the late 1990s!). For whatever reason, I inked only the Megaton Man and moll figures and completed the lettering at the time; I left the generic bad guys on the periphery uninked until just recently.

Brush, pen, and India ink on Bristol board, 11" x 14".

The idea originated as a rough sketch in my sketchbook, which measured something like 9" x 12"; I photocopied this and blew it up and lightboxed (traced) it onto the Bristol board. (I should mention that the Megaton Man and babe figures were inked with a brush; the early 2000s was about the last time I messed with that tool, finding it too difficult to find reliable brushes, either Kolinsky sable hair or synthetic. Now I just ink with a Hunt #102 crowquill (as the villains were inked with, here), or use fine-line pens on tracing paper.

Photocopy of sketch, with blue pencil and further pen elaborations.

To complete the illusion, I finally inked the villains, scanned the art, and superimposed it on a sheet of Marvel Comics cover Bristol board stock (one of two sheets I still have among my supply of drawing paper, probably sent to me by Kurt Busiek when he was then assistant editor on Marvel Graphics' Open Space, a short-lived anthology I contributed one or two stories to).

I should note that back in the twentieth century, I did a lot of freelance assignments for DC, Marvel, and other companies, and generally was supplied with more Bristol board pre-printed with the company's specifications than I needed for the job. Quite a few of the early Image Comics drawn by former Marvel artists, for example, were drawn of Marvel Bristol board. The only difference with the Marvel covers stock here is that it is black line, whereas most pre-printed Bristol featured non-photo blue guidelines.

Enough technical history! Hope you enjoy the drawing.
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Read my YA prose experiment, The Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series - new chapter every Friday!