Tuesday, July 05, 2005

SKETCH BOOKS IN DA HOUSE!



The 2005 sketch book is here, fresh from Kinkos (48 pages, full color front and back cover)and can be orderd directly from me, signed to you for $10 +2.25 for shipping and insurance. You can send your checks, money orders or use paypal. My address is PO BOX 2129 Upper Darby PA, 19082. I won't be sending any books out till I get back from vacation and San Diego, so it will be a few weeks. E-mail me for Paypal directions. Those of you luicky enough to be spending wads of cash to travel to the con can pick up a copy from me there, as it will make it's virgin debut next week in San Diego.

11 comments:

Marc Manley said...

Cool stuff. Can't wait to see 'em.

HumanPerson said...

Sorry Mike, had to post this somewhere so it wouldn't get lost in the archives. I'm just responding to your blog entry about Darkhawk that you made a few weeks ago (was on vacation).

When i first picked this book up when i was 10 or 11 i never realized how close the book was to Spidey, but now i agree that the early general concept was a Spidey rip off. I realized this around 7-8 years ago when i got back into comics, but i didn't know if it was to capitalize on Spidey's popularity and great concept, or that it was just because Tom DeFalco & Danny Fingeroth, both editors/writers for Spider-Man around that time, were working on the book & the similarities just subconciously crept in.

Its too bad you left at #25, because thats really when the book turned into more of the space/aliens/sci-fi direction, which you said you enjoyed more. If DH returned as a series or mini-series thats definately where i'd like to see the character lean. DH seems more suited to be hangin' with Silver Surfer and Galactus than Punisher and Venom.

It would be awesome to see you and Danny Fingeroth get back together on a series or even a mini-series. Or you could even write the series yourself since you seem to have a pretty solid idea of where the book should go. DH has a great character/costume design & neat powers & awesome origin, so i don't know why the book wouldn't work today.

You said u and the book got shit on at Marvel at the time, but the book seemed to do pretty decent in the sales charts during the first 10 issues or so. In the past few years though Darkhawk seems like a joke in the industy, as crud like Wizard Magazine compares it to stuff like NFL Super-Pro.

thats ridiculas. Mike, unfortunately u didn't draw like Todd McFarlane so the book didn't do much back in the 90's. It was doing ok, but once you left they hired these brighter, more colorful artists & the book hit the tank & was cancelled.

DH reminds me of another Marvel superhero: Moon Knight. Cool costume design plus had a very good original series, but writers/artists just screwed up the character over the years & so much potential on him is lost. Black Panther is another character, but he actually got a decent book under Marvel Knights & his stock roared. I'd love to see the same one day for DH.

Mike Manley said...

t mcg, well they are all rip-offs of Superman in a way. Nothing is new anymore.I fought with Danny often to not do the Peter Parker drama, I hated it, and so we did I think keep him from becoming just another clone. I have no idea what happened to DH after i left as I never looked at the book, or reead it other than a cursory flip thru in the comic shop. DH is dead to me, as dead as the FF after Kirby left even though I like the Bucema issues art wise. It's like new Coke.....

Fuck Wizard Magazine with a stick! The Babyman's Bible. They are the snot filled nose of the industry that helps block the limited amount of taste comic fans generally have in the US. Babymen are such comformists...

DH was the Spidey-clone of it's day, much like Nova was in the 70's, teen male wish fantasy, all which comes from Captain Marvel. As a base idea it's ok, but one wants to take that only as a base and then add a lot of spice and meats/veggies to make it a good soup.

In general the big publishers are like all big companies, they say they want different, new, cutting edge material when in reality they want Spider-man, just a little different. They know the babymen and what they will turn their noses up at, so they pander to them, and as a result, close comics off and turn it into a niche market. Only 1/3 of the kids at my cartoon camp this week read superheroes, 2/3 read ,anaga and newspaper strips.

They saw never say never but I don't see returning to Darkhawk to be a reality because I have other things planned and I don't think reworking the character would sell in todays market, plus I don't own the character, if I made him popular then he'd be all over, but I would not see a dime from that, ( you only make royalties from the character in his own title, or possibly from toys)and I don't own DH either, and I'd rather do something I own. I am at a point in my career where still do commercial work where others own it, but I need to do more ideas I own and have control over, that's my future.

HumanPerson said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
HumanPerson said...

Well i can't blame you for not wanting to go back to Marvel. If i was in the industy i'd much rather self-publish my own books and/or work on my own characters also. I'd only work at the big companies for the sake of childhood nostalgia or if there were certain characters or artists/writers i dreamed of collaborating with. Or if i were broke :P

The House of Big Ideas is pretty much the House of remanufactured superhero gunk since the 70's after the Lee/Kirby era. DC seems a bit better in accepting new ideas. But unfortunately comics as a storytelling medium is still 90% superheroes. The more creative things seem to be all indy. Imagine going into a Barnes and Noble and the fiction books are 90% romance novels. guh.

Mike, I'd like to know what type of comics you'd like to work on, in terms of genre or style? Horror, sci-fi, detective etc.?

p.s. Babymen, you're the only person i've heard say that word. I'm assuming it refers to comic fanboys or adults you like comics/cartoons made for kids?

MO! said...

Hi Mike,
My first post on your blog (altough I lurk on it a lot ;) )...
We'll see each other in San Diego in a few days. Hurrayyy!

Your Belgian buddy :) Momo

Mike Manley said...

SPJ, you wise acre, get some sun you nerd vampire! :-)

While I may bare some physical resemblence to the Simpsons guy the reason I call them babymen has nothing to do with them living in their mom's basement, but their babyish tatses and inability to grow in this reguard beyond liking Wolverine. They like only such a small amount of comics or art produced. they would never dare buy Mad magazine. They like only Mike Turner or Alex Ross, want comics to look real, they hate change and resist it. This means the retailers too, as they are the ones who hold the industry back by their lack of taste as they order the comics for the shops and their stunted tastes means anything but X-men gets little love from them.

Babies like the same thing, try and give them carrots instead of peas and they turn up their face. I'll admit comics is a larg part of my life as an artist, teacher, publisher, but creating something is completely different than reading and collecting as a hobby.

Mike Manley said...

Hey Momo! Great to see you here! I'll see you in two days! I'm hanging with Blev right now.

Mike

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