Remember my post a few months ago about a cola executive being hired to rebrand the military, both in my ARMY@LOVE comic and in the real world? Well, here’s another bleed through from the fictional world to the real. It concerns the “amnesia patches” I introduced as a plot device in ARMY@LOVE: THE ART OF WAR #1.

According to this article on Wired.com, “A team of scientists from the United States and China announced last week that, for the first time, they had found a means of selectively and safely erasing memories in mice, using the signaling molecule αCaMKII. It’s a big step forward, and one that will be of considerable interest to the military, which has devoted efforts to memory manipulation…”

Cover to TOMORROW STORIES #12. Pencils and inks, Rick Veitch. Copy and lettering, Todd Klein.

NUTPEAS, which first appeared in Larry Shell’s underground anthology FIFTIES FUNNIES around 1980, is the kind of underground comix parody that the Comics Journal likened to “Will Elder after a long night of sniffing glue”. A long lost color version of NUTPEAS will be included, along with a treasure trove of my other underground stuff in BONG! from King Hell in late 2009. No doubt Schultz, Kurtzman and Elder will all be rolling in their graves.

Time for some monsters!

An unused pencil sketch for a possible cover to ARMY@LOVE: THE ART OF WAR goofing on Magritte.

Another early job for DC’s SGT. ROCK, this one a different approach from the usual fair. While still at Kubert School, Joe saw me playing with the airbrush and suggested we try an illustrated story based around the soft tone work to see how it would reproduce. It came out pretty murky on the pulp, but many people still remember it as the first time my name caught their attention in a comic. Bill Kelley provided the text.

Speaking of collages, here’s one I whipped up for a friend back in the early 80’s. He printed it up as postcards but since misplaced the original art so all I have to show is this rather out-of-focus scan with the edges clipped off.

Just out of Kubert School in 1978, and still learning the basics of the airbrush, I put together a portfolio of Sci/Fi and fantasy illustrations to show art directors and editors. This was my first sale to Marvel Comics, appearing as the inside front cover to their B&W magazine MARVEL PREVIEW in 1979. The editor, Rick Marschall, suggested adapting the style into comics which led to my many stories for EPIC Illustrated.

One of the great innovations Jack Kirby introduced into his comics during the 1960’s was the collage background. The King cut up old magazines to create wild landscapes that always fascinated me as a kid (even if they printed rather muddy). So when I got the chance to do one of my own for the uber-retro 1963 series, I started snipping. This one is from 1963 BOOK ONE: MYSTERY INCORPORATED published in 1993. Even though we printed on pulp we were able to get much sharper repro than those old Marvels. Script by Affable Al Moore, pencils by Roarin’ Rick Veitch, inks by Dashin’ Dave Gibbons, lettering by Dandy Don Simpson and color by Merry Marvin Kilroy.

Some folks believe that every artist, early in his career, must go down to the crossroads and make a deal with some supernatural being just like Robert Johnson did. If so, this might have been mine. One of my earliest jobs for DC Comics; SGT. ROCK #332 in 1979. Story: Robert Kanigher Art, lettering and color: Rick Veitch.