Red Alert: Coloring the Return to Megatropolis Graphic Novel

Preview of the Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis graphic novel, conceived as five "issues" but planning to release it as a single 160-page book, I have been working on issues #4 and #5 in recent blog posts.

This particular page is from earlier in the book, #2 which I began around 2005, but put aside when industry insiders reacted badly to the 9/11 theme, and didn't ink until 2014. (What did I do in the intervening decade? Long story.)

This page reflects the coloring style I am considering for the graphic novel: flat, bold, with some subtle modulations or "glazing." It recalls the Atlas (Marvel) monster comics (Fing Fang Foom, et al), which was in fact one of the models for the coloring of the early Megaton Man comics at Kitchen Sink Press (colored by Pete and Bill Poplaski and Ray Fehrenbach). While those overlay-cut comics were severely limited in color choices, Photoshop allows for an unlimited range of colors, although I do want to keep them flat. I call it "reinvented retro," and in any case would like to avoid the overly modeled look of airbrushed Photoshop that smothers so much drawing in comics these days. Comments?

Preview: X-Ray Boy Hooks Up with the Really Dead Angel of Death!

This is a sneak preview of the project I'm calling The New Megaton Man #3 (#1 and #2 having already been serialized as Megaton Man: Atomic Aftermath on this blog). In the storyline, Megaton Man and company have returned to Megatropolis in the aftermath of terrorist attacks, and X-Ray Boy, on leave from high school in the midwest, is drafted to become a member of the depleted Devengers. As #3 opens, The Lens, longtime leader of the Devengers, has retired to Florida. The Angel of Death, killed in the terrorist attacks, is now really dead, while Colonel Turtle still struggles with post-traumatic stress. X-Ray Boy emerges as the group's defacto leader, but leading the Devengers into the twenty-first century also means ending the team as we know it! What will it now become?

(Note: Pages shown are blue and graphite pencil roughs, except the opening splash, roughs for which can be seen here.)

Atomic Aftermath XVII: The Solemn Hall of Fallen Devengers!

Our Story Thus Far: Megaton Man and X-Ray Boy continue their post-9/11 business meeting with the Depleted Devengers, in which a sudden, stunning change of leadership is announced...

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI
Vintage episodes of the Megaton Man Weekly Serial!

Rallying around a new leader?

An invitation extended!

One final bit of business!

A fallen hero honored!

A protest is lodged!

The Man of Molecules ... rebuked!

Next: The Roman Man Flashback!! (Plus...Pammy!!)

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI
Vintage episodes of the Megaton Man Weekly Serial!

Atomic Aftermath XVI: Devengers Depleted!

Our Story Thus Far: It is now several months after the terrorist attacks in Megatropolis, and Megaton Man and X-Ray sit in on an important business meeting of the Man of Molecules' erstwhile if occasional teambook, the Devengers...

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV
Vintage episodes of the Megaton Man Weekly Serial!

Municipal recognition!

Just the right words to faux pas!

The legendary "D" table!

Reduced in ranks!

An emaciated employment history!

Qualifications unmet!

Next: The Solemn Hall of Fallen Devengers!

[Read the pulse-pounding Devengers backstory from the Enervating Eighties!]

Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV
Vintage episodes of the Megaton Man Weekly Serial!

Flashback: Devengers Dissembled!

Megaton Man decides to drop in on his sometime megahero team, the Devengers, in a classic spread from Megaton Man #8 (Kitchen Sink Press, February 1986). (This backstory will turn out to have Megaverse-transforming implications in the current Atomic Aftermemath continuity.)

New MM #2-3 Splash Pages in Progress

Here is the last page of what I'm calling The New Megaton Man #2 and first page of #3 (currently being serialized as Atomic Aftermath on this blog). I'm using my new method of Clearprint Design Vellum, Elmer's Repositional Picture and Poster Stick, and rough pencil layouts. Both pages were drawn from scratch this morning (Monday, May 19, 2014). The glue-and-vellum combo allows me to ink with less worry about holding the material down as I ink (although you can still see some flubs I will have to correct with Pro White). On the right, you can actually see the pencil layout underneath the vellum fairly clearly.

Spoiler Alert: Big changes that will alter the Megaverse forever! Left: Stella Starlight looks on as Liquid Man floats off from the Megatropolis Quartet headquarters; Right: The Really Dead Angel of Death, Colonel Turtle, and X-Ray Boy video conference with The Lens to determine the destiny of The Devengers. (Hint: The future of both megahero teams are inextricably linked!)

(For more on inking of The Devengers splash, see this subsequent post.)

A closer look at the pencil rough (left) and the inked vellum (right), side by side, of the last page of The New Megaton Man #2. Who the heck are The Doom Defiers?! Stay tuned!