Today I exercise my personal prerogative once more with a page from THE AMERICAN #1, circa 1987, illustrated by the amazing Chris Warner. This was, in fact, my very first published comic, and wow, did I have the perfect creative partner in Mr. Warner.
It's unfortunate that some of the zip-a-tone has started to discolor, but Chris's artistry still shines through. I wrote that a bomb explodes, with the freeze-frames of reaction, but that was the easy part. Chris ratchets the drama and impact to eleven with his dynamic page layout, perfect faces and exceptional figure work. In other words, I got no complaints!
I can't remember how it was decided, but we went with letterer Bill Spicer for this issue, and he did a great job... but I learned later that Bill would letter his balloons on paper and glue the cut-out pieces to the penciled page, pre-inks. And that drove Chris a little nuts. Working his pen around the slightly raised surfaces was ultimately too complicated and we switched to using letterers who worked directly on the page soon after this.
I generally prefer looking forward and not back, since not all my memories of my past work are as positive as this... but I'm still very proud of this book and happy to say that I remain pals with Chris Warner, editor Randy Stradley and Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson to this day. Of course it's early yet... 😬
BTW, if you have any interest in the stories, the entire American catalog was "omnibused" back in 2005 and is still available from our friends at Amazon...
Okay, back to it. I think there's some more space that needs staring at...
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