WHYM page10

WHYM page09

WHYM page08

WHYM page07

WHYM page06

WHYM page05

WHYM page04

WHYM page03

WHYM page02

WHYM page01

A new series

Starting next wednesday, I'll be posting a new comics series created, written, pencilled, inked, colored and lettered right here by yours truly. Twice a
week, every wednesday and saturday each a new page.

I was writing this sort of essay, an introduction, if you will, to this new comic series of mine, rambling about all sorts of things, but then I had a change of mind. Let the work speak for itself, I thought.

So there, just a few lines, as a sort of announcement. I hope you come by and follow what I'll be building in the following months. If you find it intriguing enough, drop a few lines, comment and tell your friends about it.

Before we go, for the sake of credit where credit's due, I'll be using a font created by AIT's Larry Young (thanks, mr. Young!).

Until then!

ZAGER & EVANS - In the year 2525

WIP

Today: a panel from a page currently on my drawing board.
Next saturday : a formal public statement.

QUEEN - Radio Ga-Ga

Sketches IX - Sean Phillips

Sean Phillips drew me this one.

DURAN DURAN - Wild Boys

Sketches VIII - Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman, the man in black, signed me a couple of books back in 2003's BD Forum in Lisbon. Not exactly sketches, I know, but still worth sharing, I think.

RADIOHEAD - Karma Police

Sketches VII - Fernando Gonsales

Brazilian cartoonist, Fernando Gonsales, the creator of Níquel Nausea, drew me this sketch.

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - Tonight, Tonight

Sketches VI - Rosinsky

Rosinsky drew me this lovely Thorgal as a child.
As a bonus, here's the master at work.

U2 - Window in the Skies

Sketches V - Daniel Clowes

Daniel Clowes, the world famous author of Ghost World.

U2 - Yahweh

Merry Christmas!

Sketches IV - Charles Burns

One of the very first "alternative" american comics I discovered many, many moons ago, watching the Comic Book Confidential documentary.

Charles Burns work is fascinatingly eerie, mixing the disturbing with the glamourous.

PAUL SIMON - You can call me Al

Sketches III - Chris Ware

Chris Ware is Jimmy Corrigan. Ok, that might be an exageration... but that's the feeling I got when he did me this sketch.

LIMAHL - The Neverending Story

Sketches II - Seth Fisher

This is by the late great cartoonist Seth Fisher. Out of the handfull of international cartoonists I had the grace of meeting and greeting, he was the kindest and most generous I ever met. Alas, the good die young. R.I.P.

R.E.M. - Nightswimming

Sketches I - Dave Gibbons

Now, this is a really sketchy sketch! It was the first one I ever got from a famous comic book artist, Dave Gibbons. It's Rorschach of the Watchmen.

AIMEE MANN - Save me

TOYS V - Le Fauve

Got this one early this year at the Ângouleme Festival International de la Bande-Dessinée. The little kitty is called Le Fauve.
He's the Festival's mascot/trophy and was designed by the great french cartoonist Lewis Trondheim.

COLDPLAY - Viva la Vida

TOYS IV - Lord of the Rings

While I don't think that Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - one of my all-time favorite books - is as good as it could have been (curse you, Peter, for not giving us the scorching of the Shire) I still liked it, in no small way thanks to the visual translations of Alan Lee and John Howe.

My wife (then-girlfriend) got me the first special edition of the Fellowship of the Ring dvd with the Argonath miniature so it was only natural that we ended up collecting the rest of them. Smeagol, which came with "The Two Towers" is my favorite!

AEROSMITH - Fly Away From Here

TOYS III - Jasmine

This is a statuette of Jasmine, one of the main characters from John Byrne's Next Men.

Being a huge fan of John Byrne and particularly of his Next Men comic book series, I couldn't let this pass. I didn't get this statue when it came out but I have managed to buy it last year from e-bay. It's part of a limited numbered series (this is 338) and it's a reproduction from a sculpture done by John Byrne himself.

John Byrne's Next Men was a comic book that was originally released back in the early '1990s. It came right about the time the first Comic Book Shops were starting business here in Portugal, so it was one of the very first original american comics I collected and read - until then, the only versions of american comics we had around were translated brazillian anthologies usually sold on kiosks.

This year, IDW publishing has started to re-release the series in big-thick black and white phonebook collections. Check them out at amazon.

MADNESS - Our House

TOYS II - The Bat-Man

Next in the line, the "1st Appearance Batman". This is an action figure which was part of a series supposedly reproducing the original look of several DC characters, as in how they looked when they were first conceived back in late 1930's and early '40s. I've always been a fan of this Batman, back when he was THE BAT-MAN, so I had to get it.

As far as the rest of the characters in this series of action figures, some seemed pretty faithful to the intent of the series, but others seemed to miss the mark.

PETER GABRIEL - Sledge Hammer

TOYS I - Superman

Ever since I was a small kid I always liked...what should I call them? Dolls? Figures? They're not necessarilly "action" figures as I like them just fine even when they don't move. Statues seems a bit pompous and it doesn't emcopass the so-called action (as in articulate)figures, which I like too. Miniatures might be a possible name...

Anyway, even as an adult I still have a fondness for these little toys. So here follows a series of posts with my most prized current possessions.

First of the line is "The Kingdom Come Superman". This was a wedding gift from a couple of great friends (Hi, Ivo and Nelson!) who are just as hopeless comic book geeks as me. It's a beautiful statuette of Alex Ross' design for his version of Superman. As years have gone by I have come to like less and less Mr. Ross' artstyle, but I still have a certain fondness for his visual approach to this character, taking him back to the roots of the strongman Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster originally imagined.

MUSE - Knights of Cydonia

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Byrne?

No secret to anyone who knows me, one of my all-time favorite cartoonists is John Byrne. I grew up with his comics and his influence over my cartooning is still great - probably too much, even.

Now, for all of you who are not in on the current vox pop of mainstream american comics, saying you like the work of John Byrne is about as politically incorrect as it gets - apparently, it kind of has the same effect on current american comic book fandom as saying you like the work of George W. Bush on a convention of the american democratic party. You see, this particular cartoonist has earned the reputation of a greedy old curmudgeon living in an ivory tower. Worse, a very vocal number of comic book fanatics despise his work as "old-school", telling stories of frightening encounters with him on comic book conventions and proclaiming his "old stuff" as better than his current art - something that leaves the John Byrne online personality completely mad.

Apparently, the two major american comic book companies currently see him as a persona non-grata, which, in a way, is reciprocal, as John Byrne himself has become increasingly critical of both Marvel and DC, bitting the hands that once fed him.

Things weren't always like this, though. Back in the eighties, John Byrne was one of the greatest american comic book superstars, writing and drawing both companies' major characters and publicly proclaiming to be a cog in the Marvel comics machine. Now, his comic books no longer sell the huge numbers they once did - which is true of most current comics anyway - and his most recent mainstream series have been cancelled after short runs.

So how does one of the great mainstream american comic book artists got to this point?

In my opinion, John Byrne has suffered from being controversial in his public opinions and from over-exposition (producing some forty pages a month since the late 1970s!) both as an artist and as a "public" figure to an audience that grew up with him and became waaaaay too familiar with his public persona, his art and his opinions, ultimately holding him, his art and his opinions in contempt - other less prolific, less forthcoming cartoonists get away with opinons just as controversial as his, or aren't as criticized for the changes on their art, after all. Quality becomes meaningless in such scenario - no matter how good John Byrne's work might become, or how bad it might get, this particular audience will always find fault in the art and the cartoonist, often confusing him - or his public persona and opinions - with the work.

Do I agree with everything he says? Far from it. People are people and ultimately, I'd say to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain - which is true of most artists anyway.

Do I think his cartoons got worse? C'mon, just look at the beautiful pieces he's been producing as commissions recently - as far as the drawing goes, he's better than ever, I think.

On the other hand, looking at the most recent years, I must be honest and say that I would've prefered to see him doing other projects, like his creator-owned characters, for instances, inking and lettering his own comics, working on other more experimental formats and genres beyond the traditional monthly comics of DC and Marvel... but this is just a matter of opinion really, as I'm sure other readers would rather have him back on the X-Men or the Fantastic Four or being inked by Terry Austin again... but you know what they say about opinions, right?


Still, where others might actually feel glee at this situation, I can't help but feel disappointed at the idea of there no longer being a new regular John Byrne book on the shelves of comic book stores around the world.

Fortunately, this last year, the good folks at IDW publishing started releasing some new comics from John Byrne, like FX - a series created and written by fan-turned-pro Wayne Osborne - and some pretty cool Star Trek stories, written, pencilled and inked by the man himself. There's even talk of him finally returning and concluding his Next Men, one of my personal favorite works of his... which is pretty much what this fan would like to see him doing! So for the foreseeable future it looks like some of us will still have our regular fix of JB's comics and, who knows, his magnum opus might be just around the corner.

THE BOOMTOWN RATS - I don't like Mondays

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea

Yes!

A new Hayao Miyazaki film!

My love for his works comes from my childhood memories of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater and Future Boy Conan. Mind you that at the time I had no idea who Mr. Miyazaki was. Just as Carl Barks was the anonymous "good duck artist", Hayao Myiazaki was my anonimous "good anime artist". It took me years to find out who this man was and even more for the world beyond the animation niche to finally recognize his enormous talent. Like a fine wine, he has aged well and he's probably doing his best work now.

Long live Hayao Miyazaki!

CHAPA - "outro dia"

Moebius Redux

A documentary about THE greatest comic book artist alive.

Post-Scriptum

So that was Cruel Hope. An experiment. The limited pallette was a self-imposed restriction: no blues or blue-mixed colors. This was a world of flesh and blood with only red and yellow as a basis. Not sure if it worked 100% but I hope it gave the comic a different look. I'll probably use a similar approach on another comic to be posted here sometime in the future. Color can be addictive ;-)

Next week: Moebius!

Cruel Hope page 04

Cruel Hope page 03