 Jim asked Sandy about the above comic strip
Sandy: This strip was something of an exploratory mission. Had the notion to try and develop a comic strip for alternative papers. Lots of them around the country. But I realized I was biting off more than I could chew in that the approach I was taking was way too detailed and precise--I'd never be able make this work for me financial since each installment would take much too long to complete. But I couldn't quite leave the story alone. The plot centered around a certain fascination I've always had with pirate radio stations and I ended up incorporating that plot element into another comic strip, Bleeding Hearts, which saw print in the OU Post. And I used yet another piece of that story (young fellow stumbles upon a secret alien invasion) for "The Adventures of Harold Mitty, Pizza Boy", a strip that ran for half a year in the Athens News and elsewhere.  Pinned to a board in Jim's office is a poster with Sandy's artwork on it --above-- which was used in the winter to promote an OU event in March 2015. Jim asked Sandy about it. Sandy: Bob Stewart, a professor in OU's Scripps College of Communication, approached me about doing this poster. Pretty straight ahead job, but (dreaded reality for a freelance artist working for an institution), the rough would have to be run by the COMMITTEE. The original idea given to me was to represent the spirit of the symposium with one superhero type of character in a three panel strip. No prob, I thought and got to it. Well, by the time the rough was shown to the COMMITTEE, the idea had been changed to representing the symposium's guest with three superhero type characters in one illustration. So out the window went the strip which had come so easily. So it goes. It was actually a good gig, Bob being a very nice fellow and a pleasure to work with on the project. Artwork connected to this project is here:  The three panel strip that went unused  Marker rough for the final illustration  Sandy's original hand coloring -- the way he was hoping it would look on the screen and poster.  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  Sandy's cover pencils  Sandy's cover color guide  Sandy's ink rough for back cover |
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