Jim asked Sandy about three Dr. Strange images, which are included below.
Sandy: These images bring back bittersweet memories. I had gotten a plum job: In the mid 80's a company called First Team was hiring comic artist to do prints (high quality posters) of Marvel characters. Good pay, high prestige. But it was one of those times in a young artist's like when the highs and lows of a turbulent romance were playing havoc with his ability to produce. The folks at First Team were cutting me all sorts of slack but I just kept blowing the deadlines. But I liked the idea a lot, Dr. Strange and his lithesome protege Clea, frolicking in some Ditkoesque dimension, the good doctor enchanting her a bit of stage magic from Vaudeville. Years later, I stumbled on the roughs and thought the idea was too good to go unused. I simplified the composition, settled on doing it just in pencil, and sold the original at a convention (too cheaply!). Dr. Strange and Clea from Sandy's archive: Jim asked Sandy for his thoughts on his Marvel Comics Presents cover from 1991.
Sandy: Not too much to say about this cover really. I believe it was the last one I did for Marvel before moving to Ohio and it's not a favorite of mine. The issue contained the first installment of a four part Daredevil story I wrote, laid out and eventually colored. (My apologies to all those who read this story, by the way- it was a real dog. Whatever I might have learned in the writing of my earlier efforts, I seemed to have totally forgotten on this one.) I'd never drawn the Wolverine before and I pretty much blew it. He's a short, thick guy and the proportions I gave him are all wrong. On the other hand, the back cover still intrigues me. It was an experiment and it broke from the standard look of a comic cover. But it doesn't quite look like a poster or a splash page or a trade paperback book cover and I like that hard-to-pin-down quality. Despite the hundreds (?) of comic cover that hit that stands each month, there's still a certain uniformity to most of them. Part of me is curious to see if I indeed could contribute something original if I were doing covers again. Part of me is a wimp who has no desire to once more join the fray once more and try and find that sort of work. Marvel Comics Presents Vol 1 #69-related images from Sandy's archive are below Shagbark used this rough for their finished label for maybe two or three years. When time came for a redesign, they hired the capable Kevin Morgan. Shagbark is still using the lettering from my rough on a plaque hanging along Columbus Road, outside the ACEnet HQ.— Sandy
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BLOGaboutPlunkett-fan Jim Harris interviewing Sandy about past and present projects. Archives
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