SPECTATORS - Part 66
Plus, Niko Henrichon goes Hollywood!
Happy Juneteenth!
Brian here, and the WGA isn’t picketing today, so I’m just chilling at home with a few friends and family members from the BKV Expanded Universe. How about you?
Niko Henrichon just returned from his whirlwind visit to the States (more on our delightful meeting in today’s Artopsy), and letterer Fonografiks is away this week, so in lieu of our usual new installment of Spectators, here’s my script for our next page (after our usual recap page), followed by a look at Niko’s original layouts (with his temp lettering), and then ending with his freshly hand-colored new page.
Fonografiks will tackle that page and more in next week’s much longer installment, when our regularly scheduled PDF/CBZ files will also return, thanks again for your patience.
For now, let’s revisit our voyeuristic specters Sam and Val, as we learn more about their pasts in our future…
To be continued next week, once we’re all back at our respective work stations. But stay tuned for some wonderful new cartoons Niko somehow managed to write and draw while he was on the road.
First, a reminder that a new chapter of Saga will finally be at your friendly neighborhood comic shop this Wednesday, June 21, and I’ll be giving away a few more signed copies to you generous paid subscribers at the end of today’s missive.
Last week’s private chat thread with The Tower was a surprise corker, as folks revealed their unexpectedly strong feelings about favorite Hostess-brand snack products.
Twinkie was far and away the most common response, but our intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe randomly selected these more discerning (?) commenters to receive their own signed copies of Saga #65:
Alan Dela Cruz
Sno Balls. The outside isn’t too sweet, I liked the texture and fluffy marshmallow on the outside, and you still get the chocolate and cream on the inside. It’s been a long time since I had Hostess-anything, but it’s the only one I remember really enjoying as a kid.
Dawn
Definitely the cup cakes - i like to eat the chocalate icing and the cake part first while carefully leaving the white frosting strip and cream for the last bite. Dont judge me lol
Fisherina
Ding dong! 🔔 The answer is Ding Dongs. It was always a treat to have this foil-wrapped chocolate chunk in my lunchbox.
Second+ place to Donettes (crumb, powdered sugar, and waxy chocolate, in that order).
Congrats to our winners, and thanks to everyone who contributed such thoughtful answers to my latest dumb question.
Last week, we lost legendary comic creator John Romita Sr., who you likely saw memorialized just about everywhere, most charmingly by fellow ‘stacker Chip Zdarsky.
Like Chip, I absolutely loved Mr. Romita’s work, and this faded poster hung over my bed for roughly a third of my life (along with some old Plain Dealer photos from one of the first times the real Spidey and I crossed paths):
While Spider-Man was co-created by artist Steve Ditko, it was Romita who defined the hero (and his ever-expanding supporting cast) for my generation and beyond thanks to gorgeous character work and flawless storytelling.
A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to secure my own piece of original Romita artwork, the new cornerstone to my gallery of Cleveland-related comic-book stuff.
An homage to Romita’s own iconic splash page from Amazing Spider-Man #50, this piece inked by Tom Palmer was published in the 2010 Sports Illustrated NBA Preview (and it could have been recycled years later when Lebron again abandoned my hometown, this time for Los Angeles; who would do such a thing?!):
Though he helped create lasting contributions to the medium—including Mary Jane Watson and the Kingpin—my favorite Romita co-creation has to be his equally talented son John Romita Jr., who described his father as “the greatest man I ever met.”
Come on, that’s the highest honor an artist can hope to achieve.
My deepest condolences to JR JR and everyone who loved his amazing dad.
Okay, after this upcoming paywall, Niko will take over to show/tell you more about his Hollywood adventures (and give you his exclusive, spoiler-free review of Marvel’s Secret Invasion), and then I’ll be back with another chance for you Tower members to score a signed copy of this Wednesday’s new Saga.
Everyone else, have a fantastic week, and we’ll see you back here next Monday for more free Spectators!
