If you ask any of my friends who knew me as a kid who my very favorite comic book artist was, they would immediately mispronounce the name, Bill Sienkiewicz. I honestly could not tell you the many ways that I actually mispronounced it myself growing up, even when correcting those other friends. I have no idea when I figured it out or how, but LOVE the fact that the artist makes it SO EASY for his fans these days to understand.
Just by going to his website CLICK HERE or on the picture below, you have instant access to his amazing, utterly unique artwork.
When I was a kid, I had to search high and low for ANYTHING I could find by the guy! (And that's not exactly easy growing up in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky...)
THIS is a screenshot from his ACTUAL WEBSITE! Click the pic and go straight there!
Please don't get me wrong, I loved a lot of the other GREATS who EXPLODED onto the COMICS SCENE during that transition from that late 70's through Mid 80's period that saw mind-expanding and/or scene-changing work from folks like John Byrne and Frank Miller. While I was into both the Uncanny X-Men under the hand of Byrne and DD under the writing and pencil of Miller, nothing compared to the utter and complete escape that Bill Sienkiewicz would provide when he took over the X-Men spinoff, New Mutants. I KNOW, though, it was his work on MOON KNIGHT that originally drew me to him as a fan in a permanent way.
As you may know, if you have been reading this blog for a while, I basically taught myself how to read out of an OVERWHELMING DESIRE to know what Spider-man was saying in the comics I would occasionally get hold of. My UNCLE TONY, whom I have mentioned previously as a BIG INFLUENCE on my comics reading was more of a DC fan. (CLICK HERE if you are just catching up on this blog!) So, as I would comb through his books looking for anything Marvel, I would constantly stop to at least look at Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern. The artist there that ALWAYS caught my eye was Neal Adams. His BATMAN kind of always just WILL BE BATMAN FOR ME!
When you examine the work by Sienkiewicz when his Moon Knight came out, you will notice much more of a Neal Adams influence than you would with other artists, or than you would, in fact, from Sienkiewicz himself as his style continued to morph, develop, and grow to become something distinctly and wonderfully unique. But it almost certainly had to be that Neal Adams connection that initially just grabbed my eyes and caused me to grab Moon Knight off the spinner-racks and continue to do so until a while after he had left the book.
I have read Moon Knight in many iterations since then, and really enjoyed a few-- especially the recent run by Ellis and Shalvey, but NOTHING ever hit me the way that original run by Sienkiwicz and Moench had.
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5266828
It was after this book, though, on New Mutants, that the look, feel, and style of his art really began to change quickly. As my friends would debate who the best Uncanny X-Men artist was, I would either just say "Byrne, shut up!" or "Who Cares? CHECK THIS OUT!" and throw copies of New Mutants into their laps. The book was just so different from what had originally drawn me into the X-World and its fairly typical, if more angsty, superheroics. Sienkiewicz and Claremont instead threw mysticism, mind control and a bizarre alien called Warlock at us, and my comics reading was changed forever.
The day one of my faithful DareDevil reading friends came over and handed me his copies of ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN, he didn't get them back for about two months, at which points I could afford and did buy my own copies.
During my first year of college, I was at my local comic store and the guy there one day said "Hey, aren't you the guy always saying you want more Sienkiewicz?" to which I quickly replied "Yeah. OF COURSE!" He guided me to the freshly released first copy of "Stray Toasters" with the caution "Good luck figuring it out", which I only barely heard or acknowledged. Instead asking constantly when the next issue came out until all were collected. I would read and reread the series many times. Sometimes not reading it at all. Instead, just poring over the artwork, marveling at the texture and the singular way it communicated its message across a comic book page.
ANYWAY-- As the years have gone on, technology has increased greatly. One stellar benefit of that leap in communication is the ability to connect with those whose work you admire so greatly. As soon as I had the chance, I began to follow his work online and follow the artist in places like FB and Twitter. My 12 Year old self is very jealous! My 47-year old self agrees very heartily with the artist about many things, and one of those is his opinion about modern versus classic movie posters. This was actually a topic of discussion in an earlier blog post. CLICK HERE to catch up!
To that end, today I sent a message to Bill Sienkiewicz proposing that he design a movie poster for "The END of FUN" based on a basic concept that I ranted about briefly before asking several important questions regarding his desire, cost, rights, etc. WORKING TOGETHER with Bill Sienkiewicz would not only be the realization of a lifelong dream for me, but a MAJOR COUP for this production as it moves forward. The concept that I imagine, as it would be executed by this MASTER would add to and appropriately support the cache and style that we are already cultivating for "The END of FUN".
PLEASE EVERYONE cross your fingers for a positive response and good news from Bill Sienkiewicz. In the meantime, please visit his website and tell him we sent you! CLICK HERE!
DAVE JOHNSON
Dave Johnson, while not as connected to my childhood also plays an important role, not just in my comics history, but in my understanding of what exactly IMAGE COMICS could accomplish the further they got away from superhero comics. Image was everything to me for a few years in my 20's the way Spidey was in those preteen years. Image is such a UNIQUE and VARIED publisher today, that many people may not realize the wonderful and delicious cheese that first populated the pages of books like YOUNGBLOOD, WILDCATS and CYBERFORCE.
When Erik Larsen's corner of the imprint published "SUPERPATRIOT", I was, like many others, in basic IMAGE-BUYING fever. This book put a stop to that in many ways. The uniqueness, the composition of Dave Johnson's work really stood out from the other superhero stuff that was just flooding the shelves. There was a bombastic nature to his work, and occasionally, while very different from the art of Bill Sienkiewicz, would contain the same wonderful sense of impossibility made to seem utterly real.
Please CLICK HERE to LIKE Dave Johnson's FB Page! or CLICK HERE for his DEVIANTART page! Tell him "Bobby at 'The END of FUN' sent you!"
I loved seeing him work on "RED SON" by DC, which I would have bought no matter what, but seeing those superior covers was definitely a real draw. Dave Johnson is, in fact, one of the only artists who makes me commit what I consider to be THE cardinal sin of comic buying....BUYING A BOOK ONLY FOR ITS COVER!
I will never name the book(s) purchased, but can promise that it was the cover by Johnson that finally caused me to pull the trigger. I feel very lucky that the man does not seem to waste his time on sub-par projects, so have never been disappointed (yet).
Today, I sent a request to Dave Johnson to design the face for our "Naked Clown" in "The END of FUN". Like with Bill Sienkiwicz above, having this opportunity would be a literal dream come true. SO-- ALL Friends, family, fans, and fun-killers out there, cross your fingers and toes! Pray to your god, gods, demons, and or devils! Just help us GET THIS GUY ON our clown's face! (Did that sound a little weird? Yeah, it sounded a little weird...)
It would be an amazing honor to work with either or both. Should either or BOTH ARTISTS say yes, the quality of our production WOULD only continue to rise, people! KEEP THOSE POSITIVE THOUGHTS COMING!
CROWDFUNDING STARTS NEXT POST!!!
#TEOFMoviePoster #TEOFRealMoviePoster #TEOFClownFace
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