A project that has not received the credit it’s due — and a few comments about working with Neal Adams… By PETER STONE Working with and for Neal Adams for over 30 years had a definite impact on how I viewed comic books. Neal, being one of the best and most influential artists in the history of the medium, had very intense beliefs about what made a good comic. Based on the structure of Continuity, Neal and I ended up working in the same room, where I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and my eyes open. Neal taught me to appreciate well-drawn adventure comic strips, the stories behind some of them, and the history of how and why they came to a grim ending. He taught me about Alex Raymond, Stan Drake, Alex Kotsky, Milton Caniff, Will Eisner and his studio, Wally Wood and HIS studio, Carl Barks and his world of ducks, Al Williamson, and Jack Kirby. Neal taught me that comics were a visual medium. The art was more important than anything else. The writing was the “icing on the cake” he said. I, however, grew up in the 1980s with the stories of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Marv Wolfman. Miracleman, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns, The X-Men, and The New Teen Titans were my superhero fare. The writers were getting better and better. In some cases, the artwork became secondary to the concepts and dialogue being generated by these intelligent young men. There were the artists Neal loved in the ’60s and ’70s, and the ’80s was my time period. Finally, we could talk about the new artists coming up. One of them was Bryan Hitch, a British artist who we noticed drawing Death’s Head from Marvel UK in the late ’80s. Hitch, artistically speaking, moved to the U.S., and drew all sorts of series for Marvel, DC, CrossGen, and even Valiant. Then, despite his tardiness, he became a superstar when he worked with Mark Millar on Marvel’s The Ultimates. Concepts introduced in this alternate version of the Avengers appeared all over the screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bryan Hitch, for example, was the artist who drew Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Hitch and his most common inker, Paul Neary, had altered...
A new take on an old legend — and much more than that… By PETER STONE One of the top artists currently working at DC Comics came from an illustrative background at Boom! Studios. His name is Dan Mora, and he works quickly and exceptionally, sometimes producing almost two books a month. He did a bunch of covers for Marvel Comics and then regular series for DC. His work on Batman/Superman: World’s Finest was stellar. Mark Waid’s stories were solid and clear, complemented by Mora’s terrific pencils and inks. Mora did a great run on Detective Comics (Issues #1027 through #1050); a four-issue run on Future State: Dark Detective (#11-#14); Justice League Unlimited (#1-5, #10-#13), and the terrific, four-issue event Absolute Power. In Absolute Power, he had to draw almost every character (including the oft-forgotten Air Wave) as well as a Brainiac Queen, an army of Amazos, and even the evil, robotic Failsafe. It’s a very intense series that’s a lot of fun to read. Daniel Mora Chaves was born in Costa Rica and is a direct heir of the famous painter and sculptor, Francisco Zuniga, who was also born in Costa Rica, but lived in Mexico. Mora initially studied architecture, but switched focus and graduated with a degree in painting. He spent a few years teaching painting classes and struggling to get his work into galleries. Eventually, he switched to drawing science fiction and fantasy, obtaining work in the small comics industry of Costa Rica. Then, Boom! Studios discovered him and hired him as an exclusive artist in 2017. He drew covers, a series called Hexed, and the origin of Santa Claus with Grant Morrison called Klaus. He started working on The Transformers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Buffy, and the series that brought him to my attention, Once and Future. For reference, that’s our BURIED TREASURE, a modern retelling of the classic Arthurian romances, with some other monsters thrown in for good measure. The series, written by Kieron Gillen, started in 2019 and ran for 30 issues, steeped not only in Arthurian lore, but also snippets of British history, literature, and famous locations. It is not simply a retelling of the classic novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White, or The Death of Arthur (“Le Morte d’Arthur”) by Sir Thomas Malory, or even the plethora of...
A project that has not received the credit it’s due — and a few comments about working with Neal Adams…
A new take on an old legend — and much more than that…
Perhaps not exactly “buried,” but a treasure nonetheless…
