Female Fate: The Doctor is In!

Here is another pitch I made to DC Comics, probably around 1989. I can't remember if this was at the bidding of editor Mike Gold (who I worked with on Wasteland) or writer Bill Loebs, or someone else, but it was suggested to me that they were looking for an artist for a female Dr. Fate series, and that I should send in some samples.

Dr. Fate leaps into action. Don't ask me who the guy with the mullet is!

I created the two pages below--one a story page and one more or less a pin-up--as a pencil sample. At the time, I almost exclusively inked my own work, and did not pencil tightly--the early Megaton Man comics of five years earlier were loosely penciled--scribbles would have been a fair description--before I inked like a neurotic madman. But by the late eighties, I was consciously trying to simplify; still, I didn't see much point in penciling tightly when I would be inking myself.

The penciling here is stiff and heavy-handed; I usually left feathering details for the inking stage. These were hypothetically intended for someone else to ink.

These Dr. Fate samples show the struggle for me to pencil tightly. They are stiff and somewhat artificial, and lack the grace of later work--were I naturally penciled more thoroughly, even for myself as inker. These days I pencil tightly mainly because I so often have to lay aside a project for long periods of time, and when I come back to it, if I only have scribbles or thumbnail layouts, I have no idea what I was thinking.

Needless to say, these samples did not result in any work, on Dr. Fate, at least, and have languished for thirty years as rejects. I've carted them around to conventions for years, where I've sold lots of rejected sample pages, but these have never appealed to collectors. Still, I thought there was something left to get out of the pages, and yesterday I started inking them.

I have no idea if my helmet design was in any way innovative, but I seem to have been concerned her to show it off. There's a clumsy Golden Age feel to the final result that I find charming, if I do say so myself.

It was fun, particularly given the high quality of DC Comics Bristol board, which beats anything available today. The result is somewhat smudgy and dirty--I'm not used to inking pencils on Bristol as much these days (I prefer Strathmore 400 Drawing), and these pencils were particularly heavy handed and smudgy to begin with. But I got some tinge of Joe Kubert, Frank Thorne, and even Lee Elias, I think, in the final inks, and something of a Golden Age vibe that pleases me, despite the 90s vintage.

I don't think it was any great loss that I was never assigned Dr. Fate, male or female, since I never was as much of a DC fan as I was a Marvel fan. I couldn't tell you anything about the characters depicted or the story--there isn't much of one. It's obvious that I was just putting some panels together in a layout and trying to demonstrate how I would handle the character in movement.

Why let a piece of quality Bristol board go to waste, even if it's from the last century?

I draw a lot differently today, and if I were doing something like this from scratch the result would be a lot more pleasing. But it's not bad for art started three decades ago. I've gotten pleasing results by finishing sketches of Ms. Megaton Man from this same period, but if I go much further back beyond 1989, I can't do it. You can't put new wine in old wine skins, and my drawing from 1984-1988 is too different from my drawing today for inking old pencils to work. I think too differently and approach the whole problem of drawing too differently. Plus, I know a lot more about anatomy and figure drawing than I did in the 1980s. (My "mature" period doesn't kick in until about 1998.)

But hopefully some collector will find my inked Dr. Fates more desirable--and it was a good warm-up for other projects I have on the ol' drawing board.
______
Please read my YA prose experiment Ms. Megaton Man Maxi-Series and tell me what you think!

Off-Brand Yechh! Some Marvel Spoofs

Here are a few samples I made at the request of Mad Magazine a few years back when they were first converting to color. Gary Groth passed along my name to the editor at the time - believe it or not. These samples did not fly (maybe because they weren't spoofs of DC characters?), but someone recently reached out to me concerning a similar project, so stay tuned!

Read the Ms. Megaton Maxi-Series YA prose novel every week!
__________
All characters, character names, likenesses, words and pictures are ™ and © Don Simpson 2019, all rights reserved (unless otherwise noted). 

Many Are Called: An Inferior Inferior Five Pitch!

In 2002, after I illustrated "Batman 5.0" for Bizarro World (which didn't come out until 2005), DC editor Joey Cavalieri suggested I submit a pitch to revamp The Inferior Five, a spoof comic book series from the 1960s. I went out and located the back issues, read them, and came up with a piece of art and a 3-page conceptual outline, which I reproduce below. The pitch obviously went nowhere, and like several other pitches I've posted on this blog, the experience soured me on trying to obtain work from the big comic book publishers. Now, looking back, it's probably just as well that DC didn't waste the paper publishing my take on the Inferior Five! Enjoy.

Hey Joey C.,

Your comments on the phone last night are all well taken. I agree that character-based humor is preferable to self-conscious "we're in a comic book" humor. I'll try to upgrade such instances as the project evolves (almost always better ideas occur to me once I'm 'on the ground' and actually producing art pages). Forgive the few instances herein where imagination fails and I feel I need to keep the plot moving! I'm always open to suggestions for improvement.

White Feather's proposed gayness is humourous only in the sense that he thinks the revelation is going to be shocking to his teammates, when in fact it's anything but. In fact, my point would be that coming out is currently so hip that it's verging on being overused. As for how I would treat it down the road, I would point to Doonesbury's Mark, in other words, matter of factly, not something to be a source of guffaws. It's also the best plausible explanation I can think of for his absurd (and not very funny) behavior in the past.

I also realize that parodying/pastiching DC characters will be more hassle-free than trying to get them to officially guest star, for narrative as well as editorial reasons. Heck, that's been my stock in trade. I've enjoyed enormous creative freedom by this parodic sleight of hand, but at the same time it's made me a sissy when it comes to editorial elbowing and political machinations. Maybe if we get this thing off the ground, DC will learn to trust me enough to have some of the funnier characters (i.e. Plastic Man and Ambush Bug) drop in on the IF.

Rather than try to project the story arc for the first six issues, I've decided to concentrate on the 'pilot episode' (in reality probably the first two issues), which reintroduces the stars and sets up the basic premise for an ongoing series. Since so much of my stuff is character-driven, as you point out, I really need to work with the characters before subsequent events will begin to suggest themselves. In particular, with new characters such as the Superior Seven, I will need to decide on who or what I intend to parody, and get my pencil involved (in other words, draw them), before I'll know where things will go. (So much of my humor depends on names and visuals, and I can site numerous instances in Megaton Man where minor characters surprisingly grew to become major players with involved sub-plots.)

As for creative duties, as you know I'm capable of penciling, inking, writing, coloring and lettering (hand or digital) and can even design the logo. However, I'm more than open to collaboration for the sake of frequency. For my part, I think a monthly 20 pages of art and script is readily doable. I'd be happy to work with DC's stable of digital talent for coloring and lettering, or I could work with one or more assistants locally, and provide you with one stop shopping.

That said, here's the new hopefully slightly improved pitch for the first couple of issues of the Inferior Five. 

The piece of art I created for the Inferior Five pitch.

 The Inferior Five: "Secretive Origins and the Coming of the Superior Seven"

We begin with a brief "Wonderfella" set piece (Wonderfella is the superhero comic strip that cartoonist Myron Victor, aka Merryman, draws). Just as all looks hopeless for Wonderfella, we're yanked into reality, where Victor is being let go by the All Purpose Funny Book Company, in favor of trendier artists and edgier storylines. As Victor is booted from the premises, he sees the Inferior Five signal beaming brightly in the sky above Megalopolis.

Elsewhere, Athena Tremor, aka Dumb Bunny, who is not so much dumb as religiously devoted to the superficial, has become the head of Dumb Bunny Omnimedia, an empire consisting of fitness tapes and fashion magazines, all revolving around Athena's charismatic, if shallow, personality. However, news breaks that Athena had insider information when she sold her shares of I'm-a-clone Inc. when her friend, the owner, told her human cloning was impractical -- having babies is just as fast. Dumb Bunny Omnimedia comes crumbling down, and Athena is reduced to being an artist's model again, until she sees the IF signal in the sky...

Across town, William King, aka White Feather, continues his career as a famous fashion photographer, shooting the loveliest women on earth, all of whom insist on coming on to him. Naturally, he spurns their advances, and after work, when a manly bunch of fashion photographers invite him to a weekend of shooting grizzlies, climbing sheer cliffs, and white water rafting, he declines, fearing injury to his good looks. Later, in a bar over a beer with a male friend, he declares he just can't get into the rugged, macho fashion photog lifestyle his career seems to demand. The friend is sympathetic. William is suddenly struck by a thought -- "You don't suppose I'm gay, do you?" The friend assures him of course not, while we pull back to see that everyone in the bar is male. Just then, the IF signal is televised on the bar TV...

Meanwhile, Herman Cramer, aka the Blimp, has a wildly successful deli and catering biz, but has become obsessed with losing weight, so much so that he's developed a diet line of deli foods. These foods actually make people lose weight as they're eating them, but Herman himself still, frustratingly, maintains his large size, and yet is parodoxically lighter than air. A national food distributor is about to take on Herman's line, but at the last minute declines, because of the appearance of the line's creator. "But can't you see? I look big, but I'm still lighter than air!" It doesn't matter, since the public won't buy diet food from a fat guy. Luckily, Herman spots the IF signal above Megalopolis...

And finally, Leander Brent, aka Awkwardman, fulfills his duties on the beach as a lifeguard, reading an old Dick Briefer Frankenstein comic (or maybe a Wonderfella issue), until he hears the call for help from some little boy who's drowning. Doing a huge belly flop, Leander inundates everyone else in the water as well as on the crowded beach, but manages to rescue the sputtering boy. Striding ashore, a Baywatch-type babe, who would be his boss, fires him on the spot -- Leander's too clumsy and stupid to be a lifeguard. Pondering what else he can do with not skills and a desire to lounge on the beach all day, he spies the IF signal...

The original pencil logo I created, translated later into Adobe Illustrator.

Assembling at the IF's rundown inner-city HQ, the five, in costume, ponder who might have set off the IF signal. Apparently it's been quite a long time since the group has been together or seen one another. Just then the phone rings, and it's Merryman's mom, Lady Liberty, who wants to know when the IF is going to visit their parents, the Freedom Brigade (basically the JSA), at the old heroes retirement home. Merryman scolds his mom that this isn't an appropriate use of the IF signal, but the IF decides it's a good idea to pay the old folks a visit anyway.

Downstairs, the IF finds the jalopy called the Gold Bug and it's driver, Plato, waiting for them. Expecting to find a bunch of doddering old coots in wheel chairs at the home, the IF is surprised to find the Freedom Brigade as a bunch of robust teenagers, frolicking in the pool and tennis courts, having so much youthful fun it's practically an orgy. The IF asks them how this is possible. Princess Powerful says they've been revamped, and holds up a perscription drug bottle marked "Revamp", a wonder drug that has Viagra beat hands down. But if they never retired, why did they force their kids -- the IF -- to go into the family business of superheroics, which they were so inept at? Princess Powerful responds that it was the Sixties, with drugs, riots and Viet Nam -- they wanted to keep their kids out of danger, and fighting crime, even ineptly, seemed like a safe haven.

Anyway, the Freedom Brigade is very proud of the fact they look so good, being grandparents and all. Grandparents??? That's right, Merryman suddenly remembers. "We have teenage kids! We should probably pay them a visit too, in their high-tech hangout across town." And in short order, we are introduced to The Superior Seven. (Numerous other revelations occur in the scene between IF and FB, including various philandering parents and how the Blimp's costume actually works, but I'll save that for later drafts). 

The IF is awed by the high-tech 'danger room' like technology of the Superior Seven's hangout. Before they even meet the Seven, the IF runs a gauntlet of robots, lasers and other automated defense devices that have detected their intrusion. Finally, after the parodic pyrotechnics, the IF comes face to face with the Superior Seven, seven surly types taken from today's hot comics. (Note: I'll name names if I get the gig, but suffice it to say for now that I'll try to step on toes evenly throughout the industry. The SS will consist of Post-mutant, post-image grim and gritty angst-ridden teens who needless to say will contrast immediately with their parents, the Inferior Five). The kids are none too thrilled that their embarassing parents have dropped by, and it's a real effort for them just to be civil to them. What other superhero team has such uncool parents?

Meanwhile, the Inferior Five's various old adversaries (I'll try to include as many from the original series as possible) gather in a secret place elsewhere in Megalopolis, and plot the downfall of the IF. They too are ageless, and have a new generation of offspring (parodying Manga, Vertigo, Extreme/Ultimate/Marvel Knights and whatever else we can dream up).

(That's what I have so far, Joey C. I know it kind of trails off, but hopefully it's sufficient in this state to ellicit an affirmative response from the Powers That Be. I think I've addressed your major concerns and at the same time opened up the premise to a lot of possibilities down the road. As a veteran of a few series, I can say that the trick will be finding the right pace, and this pitch as it stands already shows a good deal more forethought than some of the seat-of-the-pants projects I've initiated in the past! The older and more 'seasoned' a pro I become, I tend to be a much more careful planner in the plot (and even full script) stage than I was as a young buck. I look forward to developing The Inferior Five further with you. Let me know whatcha think!)

Well, that was it!

I remember that this pitch, such as it was, was both further than I had gone in thinking through any big-company pitch, and also, still pretty threadbare. What made composing this pitch difficult was an almost complete lack of enthusiasm for the original series, which I recalled from my childhood with some fondness, but reread for the occasion, and found pretty uneven and mostly dreadful.

I will say that revisiting the extant Inferior Five corpus through this ordeal made me appreciate the brilliance of such humorous masterpieces as Marie Severin's Not Brand Echh, which seemed almost on the level with Harvey Kurtzman's Mad by comparison. IF was weak tea indeed, with very little reason to exist except to provide the lamest kind of "ha-ha" jokes, which has never been my forte. Whether I would have been able to turn it into something worthwhile as a series we will never know!

___________________

Keep those submissions coming! Failed Pitch One | Two | Three

The Rogues' Gallery: Secret Origins #41 (June 1989)

Here is a freelance job I drew and lettered from a script by Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn of Blue Devil fame (and I believe they also performed at weddings!). This is one of those work-for-hire assignments that earned me a rep as a primadonna hack from my erstwhile publisher, but I think it turned out rather well, and still holds up. In fact, I've always been rather fond of this piece, as it shows a more serious, relaxed superhero style emerging out of the overworked early Megaton Man and Border Worlds, just as the opening chapter of my career at Kitchen Sink Press was coming to a close.

Studying the TV Batman, Part Two

Here is a cover concept or pin-up I am working up as a tryout for Batman '66. I have been studying stills online (see previous posting), as well as Showcase Presents Batman Volume 3, which contains many Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, and Murphy Anderson strips from 1967, including the first Batgirl appearances. In my picture, a hypnotized Batgirl karate-chops Batman and heel-kicks Robin as Catwoman waits with a pair of cat-ears to place on what she hopes will be her new sidekick (did they already do a story like this?).

Here is the final inked version, crowquill pen and India ink on Clearprint Design Vellum, approx. 11" x 17".

Here is the original thumbnail in my 3' x 5' notebook that I jotted down over a cup of strong French roast at The Coffee Tree in Squirrel Hill. As you can see, the design is supposed to cut off just below the display lettering for "Catgirl."

Here is the first sketch, approx. 9" x 12", on the brown paper bag in which I purchased Batman '66 #17 and The Lost Episode at Phantom of the Attic in Oakland. I sketched this out in the Frick Fine Arts Library, University of Pittsburgh, in the early evening.

Here is the second sketch on the reverse of the bag. As you can see I give Batgirl more of a side view and Catwoman turns her head toward the action.

Here is the full-size rough, Col-Erase Light Blue and H graphite pencil on sketch paper, approx. 11" x 17".

Here is the refinement on canary yellow tissue paper with Pilot and Sharpie fine line pens. I patched over Catwoman's head to get a bit more of a likeness to Julie Newmar, but didn't get that much closer.

Here are some studies I did of Julie Newmar on my birthday. She is one of the true Hollywood beauties and by all accounts a very creative lady, designing the Catwoman costume with its distinctive Lurex fabric.

More studies of Ms. Newmar, although I feel like I'm kind of losing it. The Catwoman eyebrows are distinctive, but it is her perfect nose, vulnerable mouth, and exquisite jawline that are elusive.

A few more studies of Julie Newmar and Cesar Romero as The Joker.

The whole ensemble, from thumbnail sketch to finished ink.

The original rough (center), the tissue refinement (left), and the inked final (right).

The inked final (center), flanked by the original rough on the left and some of the reference on the right.

The inked final with some of the reference material.

To be continued...

Characters not owned by Don Simpson are ™ and  © their respective creators/owners.

Studying the TV Batman, Part One

Here are some very preliminary studies of the cast of the Batman television series (1966-1968), which I am doing in hopes of landing a Batman '66 assignment. They represent only the first day of work, and my Burt Ward is not happening yet, but my Yvonne Craig is coming along (one should start with one's enthusiasm) and my Adam West shows promise.

Burt Ward as Robin and Yvonne Craig as Batgirl, from various stills. The translation of line drawings into costumed live actors then back into line drawings seems to me a strange but interesting challenge.

More Yvonne. Here I am trying to wing a pose on my own to see if anything has stuck.

I grew up on the original broadcast of the series, and it was my introduction to superheroes. Reruns of the original George Reeves The Adventures of Superman quickly followed (I wonder if DC is planning a Superman '52), and I was hooked. My mom, a wonderful seamstress, got a sewing pattern for Superan, Batman, and Robin (it seems to be the McCall's pattern from 1966), and for three consecutive years, I was Robin, Superman, then Batman (the latter being the most intricate). Me and by brother Glenn and several neighborhood kids wore those costumes out by the mid-70s.

I have to do a lot more studying of Julie Newmar (I'm not complaining!), but this one headshot does not seem bad for a first try, if I do say so myself. Sometimes candid shots, such as the one of Yvonne on the Merv Griffin show in the upper left, are more revealing than posed publicity stills or screen captures from the show.

Masks are much easier to draw than construct in the real world of costuming. Frank Gorshin hated wearing The Riddler mask and did all kinds to business like taking it off or wearing it lifted above his eyebrows, as he is shown here.

Studying online stills is already an interesting process. I have watched quite a few of the Adam West shows on Me TV here in Pittsburgh, although I don't have any of the many statues, toys, and other memorabilia that has been produced in recent years. It is particularly noteworthy how the TV costumes differ from the Carmine Infantino and Gil Kane renderings (particularly of Batgirl) of the period. This endeavor is reminiscent of the work I am doing on War of the Independents #4 (where I am learning to draw multitudes of Indy and Archie/MLJ characters), and is also comparable to the study needed to illustrate Al Franken's 2003 bestseller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. There I had to achieve the likenesses of George W. Bush, Bill O'Reilly and others, and also tell a story with them, which was a challenge. Here the goal is to absorb as much photo-reference as possible so that I can comfortably tell a story in the world of the TV Batman without having to resort directly to photos (which will stick out like a sore thumb) when it comes to drawing the comics narrative.

One thing I've noticed about the TV costumes is the capes are of silk, so as to billow easily when the characters move. The cartoon drawings always seem to have more substance. There were also modifications made to the Batgirl costume after her first appearance, including points on her cowl below her eyes.

Some more ad-libbed poses of Batgirl. Getting comfortable recalling her costume from memory, although I miss the purse from the Infantino version!

This process is also reminiscent of drawings I did at Point Park University of the productions M33 and The Producers in 2012, which involved sketching live actors in rehearsal and from photographs I took. Getting to know the personalities of the individual performers took time, and working through several lousy drawings initially to become acquainted. Sometimes when making preliminary studies, its not what ends up on the paper but what is retained in the ol' noggin that will emerge later as the payoff.

Batgirl's mask seems to be misbehaving in this head shot, lifting away from the bridge of her nose. Something to look for in other shots to see if it was a common occurrence or just a fluke.

More to follow...

Characters not owned by Don Simpson are ™ and  © their respective creators/owners.