Tim Bradstreet

Bless you crazy lot ;)

I miss being here as well.

Told Ade I'd forgotten my password and couldn't access his link to this thread but it came back to me the way a silk cut keeps finding it's way back to JC.

CHEERS - T

talking a bit out of my arse, a bit off the cuff, but from what I've gathered Warren spent his formative years writing comics for self satisfied pop culture mags and the like, always 'too cool' for the AD.

 

 

Anybody who thinks they're cooler than that is wrong.

Brian Bolland makes me want to chuck all my art out the window and become a vaccuum cleaner salesman.

- tb

Ahh, I thought you were referring to the Hellblazer cover resembling a Planetary cover.

You had me worried that I'd unwittingly done something similar . . . Or something like that ;)

Thanks for shedding light.

xoxo - Tb

I was just checking out this thread and (by the way, Hi everyone! I've missed you all greatly.) hit the link to the 181 annotations that Ade did. Ade - You mention something about this cover reminding you of The Planetary?

I'm not familiar to the reference. Can you shed some light on that? You have me intrigued.

- Tb

Nothing yet.

The Teaser thing was something I did on my own. Jane and I shot it in Dallas and I designed it up unsolicited.

I guess right now it would be considered the unofficial Punisher 2 teaser.

I got some good news at comicon from a top source that things are starting to progress for the sequel.

I cannot say more. But rest assured I'll be doing plenty of artwork for it when things get to that point.

Meanwhile, I am finishing up a bunch of black and white plates for a project to be released on the Punisher Director's Cut DVD. I'll be making a major announcement on my site in several weeks concerning it. Stay tuned, it's mondo cool.

- Tb

According to Amazon the release date will be on November 28, 2006.

Did they just release that info?

I looked yesterday and it said release date unsure, or somethig like that.

Thanks for the info.

- tB

I would hate to speculate.

Know that nothing has been discussed in depth.

Only possibilities right now.

I only spoke with Jonathan about the possibility of doing a story.

He wants it, I want it, but the stars have to align.

I'm sooo busy right now.

We haven't talked writer or any of that stuff.

Not sure it was OK to mention the editorial shift though it was never hinted to me that it was a secret.

So again, all I'm saying is just keep an open mind. These guys cannot get rid of me so easily ;)

Also - Andy - Great to meet you in San D. Not the best place to have an in depth discussion since there isn't even a place to stand without being run over by a herd of raving lunatics trying to move from one free giveaway to the next. I've never seen people froth at the mouth like that before. You'd have thought they were giving away free memberships to the Playboy Club for Chrissakes.

Cheers - T

Not sure about the number of Shirley novels. If the numbers on the first two warrant it, I'd think there could very well be more in store for Shirley. And even if Shirley doesn't write another, who's to say DC/Pocketbooks wouldn't continue doing Hellblazer novels?

All I'm saying is that I keep an open mind.

- tB

Hey Test -

Any way you could go back in and mention in your thread title that this is a Subterranean thread?

No big deal either way, was just thinking that street date hasn't been announced yet and maybe folks could check back here for further info.

Like I said, no sweat either way, just thinking outloud and in print ;)

- TB

You guys are the best.

And, you beat me to the friggin punch too.

I was told it was OK to post the cover before SD comicon but was too busy the day before the show to get it posted. Oh well. Trip on over to my site and check out the goodies unfettered by trade dress, AND see what a really good scan looks like.

http://timbradstreet.typepad.com

Also, just who in the gutwagon told you this was my last Hellblazer cover?

;)

It seems that Vankin is leaving editorial duties to my massive compadre Casey Seijas soon.

Jon and I spoke at comicon and we talked about all kinds of interesting stuff.

I know, I'm a tease but I couldn't resist.

All I can really say is, never count me out of the game. Also, do we know if this is the last novel?

The good folks at pocket books and those crazy kids at DC are very pleased with this stuff so you never know, more novel covers could very well be in the pipeline.

So in the immortal words of Jack Burton. "You people sit tight, hold the fort, and keep the home fires burnin'. And if I'm not back by dawn . . . Call the president (and tell him he sucks).

Hope you dig the cover.

- Tb

PS - Oh, and thank God DC editor John Morgan let me design the logo. You should have seen what they wantd to do with it.

Morgan did the actual logo design based on my key art. Everyone has John to thank for stepping in and saving it.

Thanks John!!!

I thought Frazetta's main gig was book jackets rather than comics? Most of what he did for Warren was magazine covers, come to that.

Frazetta spent 20 years at the beginning of his career pretty much doing only comics. He began professionally at age 16.

From '52 to '61 he worked with Al Capp, assisting and ghosting entire strips for Li'l Abner. He became popular doing covers for Famous Funnies featuring Buck Rogers. At the same time, Frazetta was also producing his own strip, Johnny Comet, as well as assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon daily strip.

In the early 60's Frank and a group known as "The Fleagle Gang" (Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, Roy G. Krenkle, among others) did a ton of work for the old EC books. It wasn't until the mid 60's that Frazetta really started to paint in oil. The Edgar Rice Burroughs books put him square on the map as a painter but when he moved on to Robert E Howard and the Conan series he literally changed the face of paperback book publishing with his mind altering cover work. That's the Frazetta most people are familiar with.

If you really want to get an eduaction I suggest buying the three hardback books by Underwood Publishing, Frazetta "Icon", "Legacy", and the new "Testament". Or check out "Frazetta: Painting With Fire" on DVD.

- TB

You want to get into comicing?

I've never heard that put in such a way before ;)

I really want to get into musicing.

- TB

Awwright, now yer just being silly ;)

Seriously though, thank you lot for the kind words.

also, a bit of an update. I mentioned earlier that I'd be doing a larger format version of Eddie from the cover. Well, it seems as if Steve Harris has decided they don't need it. They will just be going with the full album art for T-shirts and what not. If this information changes in the future I will update the information in this thread.

x0 - TB

Let me check with editorial and see if I can release that image yet.

- TB

Leonardo will be 35 in December. By all rights still young in spite of beginning professionally in '89 (dates from his website).

"Manco has certainly grown as an illustrator and I think you cannot help but do that when you have at least two things going for you. One, that you are still fairly young and you are still trying to work out problems that plague you with your own style."

I think this still applies to Leo. Anyone who is worth a shit continues to evolve forward until they hit the peak of their illustrative powers. By "Young" I don't mean you have to be at the beginning of your career or even a certain age. Maybe young is the wrong choice of words here, but I would hope you understand the meaning of what I'm getting at. The fact is, Leo is still improving his game and continues to get better and better.

A lot of the best guys in the industry are cut of this same cloth. Look at Tony Harris. His style has been evolving and changing since he started comics 15 years ago. Sometimes it can change from project to project. Look at Bermejo. He's been going nowhere but up since I first met him in 96 - 97? He ups the ante with every project. Then you got guys like Toth or Gil Kane. They found a stlye, perfected it and stuck with it throughout their whole careers. There aren't many like that anymore. The public is fickle. Even Frazetta had trouble getting work in comics in the early 60's. Publisher's thought his style was too old fashioned, apparently that Hal Foster-ish style had gone out of vogue. Lean years for Frank until Hollywood came calling and he did a string of movie posters in a more cartoony style mostly colored with watercolors. It wan't until after those works that he really started to paint in oil. First the Burroughs Tarzan stuff and then Robert E. Howard material, Creepy, Eerie, etc. Talk about evolution! Hell, he even did funny animal books early in his career.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that Manco continues to grow with each page, like any good artist should.

- TB

El Jay!

Nice to see you too.

The idea for the cover was totally Maiden's. I was so happy it wouldn't be like their last few (Not up to standards). I have really been hard selling them that they need a consistent look if Derek Riggs is not coming back. And that consistent look should be authored by yours truly ;)

Hopefully they will take me up on it cause I could do this stuff ALL DAY LONG.

Anyway. The concept (that many on the Metal forums have got wrong) was not this blood and guts Iraq War thing. It's not a political piece at all. It's that love of the old Weird War Tales, Haunted Tank thing I mentioned somewhere earlier. It's Famous Monsters Of Filmland, it's EC, it's that kind of thing Maiden used to do in their earlier concepts. Some have said that each of the skeleton faced soldiers represent each of the members of the band (and I kinda like that). To each individual it will mean something different. I like the subjectiveness of it but it is certainly NOT any kind of comment on politics (as far as I know).

Everything in that shot is WWII era with the possible exception of the tank which may be more Korean War era. It's supposed to look a bit retro, likely to avoid such comparisons to this modern day war crap.

Anyway, that's a bit of the story about the cover.

I like your take too though.

Every time I do a piece I kind of make up a story about it that makes sense to me. It helps me plug myself into the job and allows me to create a personal narrative that makes sense to me.

For this I'd imagined that the ranks of the Skull soldiers are comprised of damned souls. Like they had committed some type of atrocity (rape, murder, worse, etc.) in the course of fighting this war. When they are killed in action (or by whatever means) they wind up in Purgatory. In this between place Eddie offers them a deal, life beyond death for their soul. But these types of deals never really turn out how you imagine. The stark reality is that these monsters (for to commit such an atrocity makes you one) are damned to walk the Earth as members of Eddie's undead army. Death Troopers who's consciousness are trapped inside their own rotting carcasses. Tortured puppets with no will of their own.

So to that I'd say . . . War is Hell. Meet the Devil.

- TB

Dude, obviously there's a story there, how long have you known Earl!?

Heheh, I wish I did know him. He seems a really cool cat and I'd love to shoot some pics of him for a cover. He'd make a great mangy anti-hero. No, I'm just a fan of unsung, under-the-radar character actors. I'd seen a little thing on Earl playing that part in "Mary" and was very impressed. They were interviewing him months after the film was made and the dichotomy between his real life personna and that of the character he played was a HUGE stretch. I was immediately a fan. Consequently I'm always checking IMDB to see what he (and others) have coming up so I can be sure to give it attention. When he was cast in Deadwood I was very excited. When I actually saw how good Deadwood was I was very happy for his success. I wish they'd give him a bit more to do though. Watch out for this guy. When Deadwood signs off I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of 'ol Earl.

- TB

Manco has certainly grown as an illustrator and I think you cannot help but do that when you have at least two things going for you. One, that you are still fairly young and you are still trying to work out problems that plague you with your own style. It's artistic growth from your own personal standpoint. Generally I find that no matter how well something turned out you can look back at it after a few months and not be so satisfied. I use to look back at work I'd done months previous and want to barf. Still happens on occasion.

The second thing is that when you do this much work (maintaining a monthly) you cannot help but get better from month to month because you are forced to constantly hone your skills - practice makes perfect.

Now many of you would agree with me that the latter only really makes sense if you have the time to do what you really want to do. The brutal-ness of maintaining that monthly schedule can force you to cut corners in order to maintain getting the work turned around in time for publication. Hence, I believe Manco is indeed getting better but at any given time he may have to resort to cutting those corners. I'd love to see what he could be capable of with a Bi-monthly schedule OR an inker that could nail his ink style. Look at "All His Engines" for Chrissakes. It's genius. Imagine that quality monthly. Still, in spite of the nasty pace Manco gets an A from me.

People have broken down the Fruisin run before here and they make all the right points, at least the ones that I agree with. And that would start with the fact that I love Fruisin's work. I think it started to suffer when he had his studio mates start to help him ink. Gone were the heavy blacks and the more bare bones style. In their stead was a lot more noodling with textures and the line work wasn't as finely crafted. Then throw in the fact that he seemed to get bored with it when Azzarello left. I think Fruisin is a genius, but again that monthly schedule can take all the fun out of life. No matter what your intentions it all boils down to getting the work in on time. This is actually a BIG reason I do not do more sequential.

Now as far as legendary runs are concerned - And I'm talking - Watch the artist evolve issue to issue -

Take a big-fat-fucking-look at Gene Day's run on Master Of Kung-Fu.

Day began his seven-year association with Master of Kung Fu by inking penciler Mike Zeck starting with issue #76 (May 1976). He began doing finished art over Zeck's breakdowns starting with issue #94 (Nov. 1980), and became series penciler from #102-120 (July 1981 - Jan. 1983).

Those 19 issues represent one of the most incredible runs by an artist in the history of comics.

Day EVOLVED with each issue. His story-telling, his figure work, his rendering, all aspects were sharpened to a fine point culminating in the double sized issue 117.

This run was a MAJOR influence on me as a young illustrator. Then it all came crashing to a halt. Marvel (Jim Shooter) decided to ruin the book because sales were down. He decided to completely change the character (and turn him into some lame ninja type) Doug Moench (writer extraordinaire) and Day quit the book rather than see their beloved storyline and character compromised.

I was crushed (I literally waited by the news stand for hours waiting for the new issue to come out).

It seemed Master Of Kung Fu would be no more. But then, just as I was really starting to taste the despair of my favorite book being cancelled it was announced that Moench and Day were taking their collective talents to DC and Detective Comics. Gene Day doing Batman?! My heart leapt with joy at the thought. Just as their stint on Detective was about to begin true tragedy struck the comics world. Sadly Gene Day passed away September 23, 1982 at the age of 31. Before he passed he left us with a hint of what that could have been with a few covers for Detective.

What he really left us with was among the most incredible 19 issues of a comic you will ever see.

Go check it out.

- TB

Come back safe Rogan.

If not, give my regards to John Candy.

;)

- TB

I love the way you think -

Also, I'm completely redrawing the Eddie Figure from the front sleeve in a much larger format for the T-shirts and merchandising. It will have a lot more detail and will be totally kick ass.

Hopefully at some point I can show off some of the rejected key art for this project down the line.

The front cover has always looked 90% like what you see on the final but I did passes on several ideas for the first single "The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg", as well as a few passes on the original choice for the first single. Sorry if that seems vague but I'm not sure if Maiden wants certain things known and I must respect their secrecy in these matters.

I think it's safe to say that their will be more surprises ahead.

Also, may be in town for the CD release party.

If so i'd love to meet up with a few of the locals.

Will keep everyone up to date in this thread.

- TB

Oh yeah.

Earl blew EVERYONE away with that performance. Anyone who knew of him prior to it.

When people do find out that he is the same guy they are generally flabbergasted.

Most folks believe the part in "Mary" was not an actor at all but a real disabled person.

That role put Earl on the map as a true actor.

- Tb

As much as I want to add replys to both the Deadwood and Doctor Who threads

 

 

Any relation, Tim ?

More like the character Earl Brown plays in There's Something About Mary ;)

Would the pencil version of that be too much to ask Tim?

The pencils will probably go for around 1000.00 maybe a tad less.

The image is 11.25" X 11.25" and it's pretty dense with stuff.

Probably won't be offering any of the originals until after the album has come out in September.

OOP! Did you mean would it be too much to ask if I could post the pencils here for you to look at?

I may have misunderstood you there. If that is what you meant - I will post them here when the band give approval for me to release more imagery.

Not sure when that will be, it could be after the album release.

They may want to use some of that stuff in different ways so until we know for sure I have to keep everything under wraps.

I've missed you guys. I have been slaughtered with deadlines and projects and a few of those went into revision hell which complicates and screws with the rest of my already logjammed schedule. Just haven't had the time to stop by. Shame about England in the World Cup by the way. I watched all the games here.

Thanks for the teriffic response to the Maiden thing. Looks like the community at large is digging it which is a load off my mind.

- TB

So long as it's got the skeleton smoking a fag in the final version, I'll be happy. And I second John's call for a War Stories tale!

 

On a geekier note - how much of the new Who series have you seen?

The "fag" in question is actually a "spliff" ;) - That's a quote from Maiden.

I agree, take Eddie out of that shot and it could be a bitchin cover for Weird War Tales or Haunted Tank!

Dr. Who - I'm up to date with the current season through Episode 11. I thought it was a truly cruddy thing when Eccelston left but I rather love our new Doctor.

- TB

One thing I should note -

The version you see here is not the final version.

It's a pretty cruddy low res jpeg of an earlier version which hadn't been retouched by me yet.

Very soon I'll be able to show you the real deal, and it will look way better, at least to those in the know.

xo - T