I think we did this 22 page story more than ten years ago, but it's still sitting on a shelf at DC, gathering dust.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Batman and Solomon Grundy: Wrightson pencils, Nowlan inks
I think we did this 22 page story more than ten years ago, but it's still sitting on a shelf at DC, gathering dust.
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its sure an honor to ink over Wrightson..
ReplyDeletecan see your prowess inking back in the 90's..
amazing,, back then are you in the early 30's ..?
Late 30's, early 40's maybe.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few other panels of this one, in the Modern Masters volume.. I can think of no other word to describe DC's tardiness in releasing this material, except: "criminal"..
ReplyDeleteHave they ever given you a reason as to why it hasn't been scheduled? It would seem they have more than enough BATMAN titles to showcase it in..
I grew up on the Wrightson/Kaluta stuff in DC's Mystery titles of the 70's. I'm guessing you must've had a serious nerdgasm, when they handed you this job to ink? haha
I wouldn't call it criminal but it's frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI'd inked Bernie once before, on another unpublished piece for Jimmy and Joe's Ash book.
One thing that really surprised me was the detail and care that Bernie put into the trees and vines. I usually save that stuff for the inking but he pencilled really intricate patterns on all the vegetation. It was a lot of fun to ink.
Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat wall is awesome, if there is one artist of detail, thats mr Wrightson.
ReplyDeleteI take the full-size copies out of my files every so often and just gaze at them wistfully. Oh well, at least I know how the story ends...
ReplyDeleteThat's really unfair Ron. :(
ReplyDeleteAnyways, it is a treat to see these gems make it out in public viewing. Much like the Mignola/Nowlan Batman collaboration that finally saw the light a bit back, this one is very frustrating (along with the painted Man-Thing) to know it is out there.
Nope. We're back at "criminal". Direct question for Ron and Kevin: Is there something about the story that flies in the face of the recent/current continuity? I mean besides the whole "Bruce Wayne not being Batman" thing which I can't wait to be over...
ReplyDeleteHolycrap thats awesome great work i think.^^.
ReplyDelete@ Hiroshi, nothing that I can think of. It's just a Batman/Grundy story that's pretty continuity free. Kevin, do you recall anything of the sort?
ReplyDeleteFirst they told me that it was "too special" to be published as just a regular 22 page comic. So we tried to put together something to go with it. Maybe a Superman vs Bizarro story? Ron and I liked the idea but a DC editor responded, "Why, just because both villains are WHITE?!" We seemed to get no where.
ReplyDeleteAt one point, Bob Schreck said he'd put it in a book with Purcell and Mignola's Clayface origin but then he changed his mind and buried that one in a Secret Files book instead.
Someday an editor will discover the Wrightson story in a drawer and publish it but I'm not holding my breath.
Thank you for the information, guys... Now I'm just "baffled" beyond my indignation and frustration. That just seems like a book that would sell very well. I'm sure it is far more complicated than one would think but still I wonder if there'd be enough time to schedule it as a Halloween one-shot.
ReplyDeleteEver the optimist,
-Hiroshi
Solomon Grundy just had a miniserie at DC so if that was popular DC can publish this story in Batman Confidential which is out of continuity. So let's bug the editor : Mike Carlin...
ReplyDeleteMichel Nadorp
Well, DC seems to be cleaning out the unpublished story closet and found this one. Packaged with a reprint of classic Batman/Swamp Thing meeting by Wein/Wrightson.
ReplyDelete