Megaton Man Minus the Dragon! File Photocopies

 These are some of the file photocopies of my portion of the art and lettering from The Savage Dragon vs. The Savage Megaton Man (Image Comics, March 1993) before finishing by Erik Larsen and letterer Chris Eliopoulos (although some of the layouts here were started by them). I will leave it to the discerning art lover as to which layouts were mine and which were Erik's; we each did a dozen in the book and the other guy added their characters, lettering, and backgrounds. But it should be obvious as Erik has a distinctive sense of layout, storytelling, and body language to his figures (although I was trying my best to "Image it up"). Looking back, it's shameful the way I ballooned Megaton Man's proportions, almost to Giant Man-size, but I hadn't at that point had much experience drawing the Man of Molecules interacting with more "realistic" superheroes (although Erik later beefed up the Dragon considerably as a response). This is probably as close as you'll get to a second printing of this fan-favorite story, so enjoy!

More Lost Megaton Man Comics Art from the 1980s!

See Part One: The Megaton Man #2 That Might Have Been!

Here are a few more unearthed pages, some from the "lost second issue" of Megaton Man, others rejected from #6.

The Megaton Man #2 That Might Have Been!

In early 1984, Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press offered to publish Megaton Man #1 and even requested that I consider making it an ongoing series (all I had in mind hitherto was a one-shot). I jumped at the chance, and after the contract was signed, was soon floundering with too many ideas than I knew what to do with.

Luckily, Kitchen Sink was in the process of finding a different color publisher, so most of 1984 was spent with the first issue chronically delayed, which gave me all summer to stew in my juices. By August, which in Detroit was sweltering, I had something like 64 pages of comic book material in varying stages of completion. The problem was it was completely incoherent.

I remember going for a long walk on a bright, sunny day; it was cooler so it was probably closer to September. I walked from West Forest Avenue around the Wayne State University campus as far north as the New Center area (the Fisher and General Motors buildings) and back. By the time I got home, I had a completely new plot idea for Megaton Man #2: Megs joins the Megatropolis Quartet.

I drew (wrote, penciled, inked, lettered) the new second issue in about six weeks, as I recall. But I still had 64 pages of mess. Over the next several months, a carved out chunks of material (sometimes literally, cutting up and rearranging panels on new pages) for sequences that ended up in issues #3 and #4.

But there were still several pages, mostly unfinished, leftover. Those are reproduced here. For those familiar with the original ten-issue run of Megaton Man, much of the material will be familiar. The landing of the Partyers from Mars (inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still), the pregnancy of the See-Thru Girl, the appearance of Uncle Farley (the Original Golden Age Megaton Man), Sgt. Sterankovich (who would later appear in #4), and many other characters, elements, scenes, and ideas appeared in altered form in later issues (particularly #9).

These pages in their unfinished form give a good idea of how I worked, and how my mind worked, at the time. The lettering is complete in most case, and the penciling is somewhat loose (I pencil much tighter these days, like I did as teenager before I started inking).

Note: A few of these pages may not be from the 64-page aborted #2; some may be later rejects generated during the production of the actual second issue and subsequent issues.

A page with panels cut out, perhaps intended for the second issue.

A rejected page reworked for the second issue of Megaton Man in which Yarn Man turns into a bikini.

A page probably rejected from the actual Megaton Man #2 (compare the way I ink Pammy's hair with the published splash page for #2). The bottom panels are cut out; where those missing panels went is anyone's guess, but probably to some of the pages in the published second issue.

This page is composed of cut-and-pasted panels that were rearranged. This sequence was redrawn for Megaton Man #6.

This page was also redrawn for Megaton Man #6.

In this unfinished page, a blond (or redheaded) girl reporter replaced Pamela Jointly in the newsroom of The Manhattan Project; she never appeared in the published series.

Sgt. Sterankovich appears (prior to his appearance in Megaton Man #4?), along with Orson Welles as President Harry Foster Lime, as the Partyers from Mars land in Central Park.

A dream sequence, part of the black-and-white sequence that appeared in Megaton Man #3, with heavy Zip-A-Tone. This page was reproduced in a special portfolio section in Return of Megaton Man #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, September 1988).

Another penciled page of the Partyers landing, with Uncle Farley watching from Skid Row.

Uncle Farley, the Original Golden Age Megaton Man, grabs his old garb and appears in Central Park (this sequence was later redrawn and reworked for Megaton Man #9).

Great lettering, but I'm not sure what I would have drawn except something like Klaatu's appearance from The Day the Earth Stood Still; at the time, I'm not sure I knew what the Partyers even looked like.

Pammy and Stella on the road; a sequence reworked for the actual second issue.

 

Continue to Part Two: More Lost Megaton Man Comics Art from the 1980s!

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All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures on this page are ™ and © Don Simpson 2021, all rights reserved.

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.

Random Chromology: New Megaton Man Coloring!

New colored pages from the graphic novel in progress, Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis!

Megaton Man and extended family, long exiled to the Midwest, return to New York City in the wake of unthinkable attacks.

Original inked line art for the bottom tier.

Screen shot of Photoshop coloring in progress. Note that smoke and background are still black; they will be knocked to a brown and purple-grey to give the illusion of receding into the distance.

Flying over Ground Zero, the group ponders what has taken place.

Much later, back at the old Megatropolis Quartet headquarters, terror alert systems get a bit out of control!

Megaton Man needs some to get away and think...

...and naturally turns to Lady Liberty!

Connie's Cab Ride: Meet Me at the Doomsday Factory!

In this newly-inked sequence from the Megaton Man: Return to Megatropolis graphic novel (now in production, publication details TBD), Megaton Man transports new roomie and sidekick Connie Carlyle to Bayonne, New Jersey to introduce her to the Doom Defiers and the whole blamed extended Megaton Man nuclear family! Connie's status as a semi-pro beach volleyball player will be a boon in the team's upcoming match against the Bronx Bombers, if she doesn't fall asleep during practice! Simon Phloog is just glad be spending time with his dad, although he seems enthusiastic about this sandball ringer in general. At the same time, Kozmik Kat looks on as a mysterious delivery is made to the Doomsday Factory...

(Fun drawing the container cranes of the Port of New York and New Jersey, along with the Statue of Liberty!)

To see the original pencil roughs, go here; to read on, go here!

Trent Phloog, Controversial Columnist!

An Unpublished Page and a Half from 1984!

I drew Megaton Man #1 over a 13-month period between early 1983 and early 1984, and promptly sent off photocopies to 15 different publishers (including First Comics, Epic Illustrated, Pacific Comics, and other imprints no longer around). When Kitchen Sink Press asked me to do Megaton Man on a bi-monthly basis, I threw everything but the kitchen sink into the second issue over the summer of 1984, which proved a fiasco! I produced something like 40 pages of senseless material, crammed with lots of ideas, but no structure. I set all that aside, and took a long walk between the Wayne State University campus to the GM Building on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit and back, and came up with the idea that became the published Megaton Man #2, and drew it in six weeks! After that, I cannibalized scenes and sequences from the 40 aborted pages, reworking much of them for issues #3 and #4, and reworking some scenes completely for other issues in the series.


This is a scene that was redrawn later. In it, Trent Phloog is drafted to take over the controversial column in The Manhattan Project left vacant by the departure of Pamela Jointly, only the job requires that Trent Phloog to become the world's harshest critic of Megaton Man! In another scene, Megaton Man is being supplied with talking points by a government agency that wants him to keep his position at the newspaper.

Vs. Everybody and Everything! A Stray, Orphaned Pin-Up

Here is a piece of art I generated in relation to War of the Independents #4 (which will include Megaton Man and Yarn Man cameos, and features Ben Edlund's The Tick, Jeff Smith's Bone, and others in the main narrative), but deemed it too Image-centric to submit it to Dave Ryan for consideration as an ersatz pin-up for the issue. Possibility for a separate project?! MM has teamed with Valentino's Captain Everything and Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon before, but no discussions are underway. Still, thought it would be fun to throw some color on it and post to see if I could start any viral rumors!!

The flat-colored linework.

The linework, inked on vellum.

The original sketchbook doodle I blew up and transformed into linework.

Moving Back to Megatropolis! Secrets of the Phloog Pad

Megaton Man moves back into his old apartment in Megatropolis, but doesn't know where to stash the inert Stella Android he salvaged from a bout with Bad Guy back at the turn of the millennium. A scene from the third issue of his new (or at least unpublished) adventures that I am currently inking...

(Yes, I realize I am posting pages out of reading order -- and poorly lit to boot -- but whoever said a free sneak peak had to be coherent?! Excelsior!)

Below: The art above, partially inked:

Quiet Time with the Stella Android! A Half-Page in Progress

Here's a new flat-colored page rendered in Photoshop this morning. Below that is the inked linework completed yesterday, the original pencil rough from last fall, and some other shots of me completing the art. Megaton Man has brought along the Stella Android (first seen in Megaton Man: Bombshell #1, Image Comics, 2000) along to his new-old apartment in the city, but has mixed feelings for this (at the moment) inanimate object, since she replicates the See-Thru Girl and mother of his child (the Earth Mother, now leader of the Doom Defiers). Is that enough backstory for an already-talky half-page?!

Here's the colored half-page from May 1, 2015.

Here's the original light blue and graphite pencil rough.

Finishing up the inking yesterday, April 30.

Correcting the "Q" so that it appears to be reflected in reverse in the mirror.

The inked layer on Clearprint Design Vellum and the printout of the scanned layout. The two sheets are adhered with Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick, which then comes off with a rubber cement pick-up. (Using it on the pencil original is messy and tends to destroy the layout, so I scan and print it out for convenience.)

This angle shows the corrections made with Luma Bleed-Proof White. My own homemade combination of old and new technologies to bring you state-of-the-art cartooning!

First Inks of Spring! A New New Megaton Man #3 Page

Here is a freshly-inked random page from The New Megaton Man #3 featuring Bad Guy (Bart Gamble), now an evil real estate developer, and Edie Heidelberg, his accomplice in the Office of Public Planning (I may as well get some use out of my PhD in art and architectural history!). The Stella Android is one of a whole slew of leftover storylines dating back to the primordial 80s (in this case, Image Comics' Megaton Man: Bombshell #1 from circa 2000). For a preview of The New Megaton Man #1 and #2, start reading online right here.