Fantastic Four #236 and Fantastic Four vol.4 #16

By John Byrne and Terry Austin.

By Mark Bagley

Marvel Comics - February 2013 Collected Editions Solicitations - 1980s goodness

Another light month... so I had to pull in the 1990s with the New Warriors Omnibus.

NEW WARRIORS OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC YOUNG COVER
Written by FABIAN NICIEZA, ERIC FEIN, DAN SLOTT, TOM DEFALCO & DAVID MICHELINIE
Penciled by MARK BAGLEY, CHRIS MARRINAN, DARICK ROBERTSON, TOM MORGAN, BRANDON PETERSON, STEVE BUCCELLATO, STEVE EPTING, RON FRENZ, GUANG YAP, TOM RANEY, TERRY SHOEMAKER & SCOTT MCDANIEL
Young, idealistic heroes Marvel Boy, Firestar, Nova, Namorita, Speedball and the mysterious Night Thrasher join forces as the New Warriors — determined to make a difference and fight the kinds of crime other heroes won’t touch! But as the naïve Warriors dig deeper into a world of grey areas and moral compromises, can they maintain their youthful ideals? And with foes like Terrax, the Juggernaut, Psionex, the Punisher, the Sphinx and more — along with a shocking threat from within — can they even stay alive? Guest-starring Thor, X-Force, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and more! Collecting NEW WARRIORS (1990) #1-26 and ANNUAL #1-2; AVENGERS (1963) #341-342; and material from THOR (1966) #411-412, NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #7, X-MEN ANNUAL (1970) #15, X-FACTOR ANNUAL #6, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (1964) #26, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #12 and WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #8.
1064 PGS./Rated T ...$99.99

POWER PACK CLASSIC VOL. 4 TPB
Written by LOUISE SIMONSON, HOWARD MACKIE, JON BOGDANOVE & TERRY AUSTIN
Penciled by JON BOGDANOVE, TERRY SHOEMAKER, VAL MAYERIK, LARRY ALEXANDER, LOUIS WILLIAMS & JUNE BRIGMAN
The Pack is back! Marvel’s youngest super-team — and Franklin Richards, too! — must grow up quickly when they get caught up in the Mutant Massacre, break into Avengers Mansion, battle the Hobgoblin, deal with the harsh realities of drugs, clash with the New Mutants, fight Apocalypse’s Horsemen during the Fall of the Mutants, tackle an enormous Sentinel and face down the Punisher! Not to mention mastering a new set of powers! Good thing the maniacal Madcap is on hand to lighten things up! Guest-starring Cloak and Dagger, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Factor! Collecting POWER PACK (1984) #27-36 and material from STRANGE TALES (1987) #13-14.
272 PGS./Rated T ...$29.99

Toronto ComiCON 2012 mp3s

You can download the mp3s of my panels from the Toronto Comicon 2012  here: http://thecomicbooks.com/audio.html#HSTorontoComicCON2012. Thanks to Jamie Coville

Mark Bagley Spotlight (49:28, 45.3mb)
Mark Bagley goes through his career in some depth in this panel moderated by Writer Jason Shayer. He talks about winning the Marvel Try-Out contest and meeting Jim Shooter, to working on New Warriors, Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, Ultimate Spider-Man, a bit about his time at DC and coming back to Ultimate Spider-Man. Along the way he is very open in talking about who helped his career and who tried to hurt it.

George Perez Spotlight (1:01:18, 56.1mb)
Writer Jason Shayer talks to George Perez about his career in comics running through the more popular runs including Teen Titans, Crisis, Wonder Woman, Avengers and JLA/Avengers. George does talk about the first JLA/Avengers crossover from the 80s that didn't go through. Perez also talked about his love of drawing and how he thinks that's kept him popular over the years. He also did not shy away from talking about his problems with editorial and writing committees and the havoc they have created in the new DCU.

Toronto Comic Con - Day 1

My panel with Mark Bagley went well today. Should have an mp3 link up shortly. Got to meet George Perez and pick up my commission!

Toronto Comic Con next weekend!

Next weekend at the Toronto Comic Con (March 10-11th), I'll be hosting two panels, A Spotlight on George Perez and A Spotlight on Mark Bagley.

Let me know if you have any questions for either George or Mark and I'll do my best to ask them.

1983 - Marvel Try-Out Book

Marvel Comics released The Marvel Try-Out Book as an oversized 11”x17” book (and rather expensive one at $12.95) meant to encourage young, undiscovered talent. The incentive was that the winners would be given work at Marvel Comics. The book outlined each role in the comic book creation process, from writer, penciler, inker, letterer, and colourist. It then allowed an opportunity for you to fill that role, for example, pre-penciled pages for you to ink and letter, or blank pages for you to pencil.

The Marvel Try-Out Book contest winners weren’t announced until 1986:

    * Plotter and scripter: Chuck Duffie

    * Penciler: Mark Bagley

    * Inker: Doug Hazlewood

    * Colorist: P. Jeanine Pasda

    * Letterer: Robin Riggs

As you may know, Mark Bagley is the now famous penciler on Ultimate Spider-Man. Inker Doug Hazlewood went on to join DC Comics as a regular inker for their Superman family of books. And Robin Riggs “graduated” from lettering and went on to a career as an inker.

From an interview with Comic Book Resources, Bagley stated:

I thought it was a gimmick…something Jim Shooter came up with, and I didn’t buy it. Luckily, Cliff Biggers, the guy who publishes Comic Shop News, was a friend of mine. He owned the comic book store that I went to at the time. He told me, “If you don’t do this, you’ll hate yourself.” So, he gave it to me. And, I won first place. That got me a trip to New York and a chance to meet all the editors. I went, and they threw me out of their offices. The last editor I saw on the last day I was there said, “Hey, I bet you’d like something to draw, wouldn’t you.” I said, “Yeah!” That was, I think, Mike Higgins who was editing the New Universe which was kind of winding down. He was desperate for people to work on it, and I was desperate for work. I did 4 or 5 jobs for him. After about a year and a half of doing it, I was able to quit my regular job and do comics full time. And, I’ve never looked back.