Mr. T. #3, from British publisher APComics, fell into a deadline crunch at the onset of the San Diego Comicon. I was asked to pitch in by Chris Bunting, series writer, and have inked several pages, penciled by artist Neil Edwards. Having kept an eye on the interviews that Richard Emms, APComics publisher and Chris Bunting have given in the comics press - and the recent promotional material on Mr. T, I was more than happy to join this talented team in the effort. The task of inking over another artist's pencils brought to mind a Hebrew language instructor I studied under in a Kibbutz Ulpan upon arriving in Israel in 1983. Varda was a gifted teacher who knew how to bring across the "music" of the language and enrich the learning process. She also had an aversion to marking our workbooks with corrections and comments, as most teachers do. Varda believed that our writing in the notebooks was our creation and wasn't comfortable with intruding upon it with her markings. I was reminded of this as I inked Neil's pencils, and perhaps took some comfort in that I worked digitally over a scanned image and not directly on his penciled page.
Most comic book penciling is truly a special creation exuding lush sensitivities, made possible by the wide range of values inherent in the graphite's encounter with paper. It almost seems a crime to have to ink such beautiful work, especially under deadline pressures and peculiar stylistic states an inker may be in. Comic book artists are perhaps best served by producing their art completely, themselves. Old habits die hard, however, and the comics production process still suffers from psychological printing limitations it carries, since the early days of the industry. It would make more sense to me, to color directly on enhanced images, from pages such as the ones I inked for Mr. T, scanned from the pencils. Today's printing abilities must eventually put to rest the old working methods employed in the days of limited scanning and color, which necessitated black line inking of penciled work.
Neil Edwards, an accomplished and talented artist, whose work exudes a dramatic sense of storytelling and a fabulous understanding of form, was a delight to embellish. Something within me, however, wants to see his own pencils receive the painted coloring treatment which the digital process allows for today.
The project has since run into a snag, however, and the work produced by myself, and others who pitched in, may not see publication. As APComics attempts to resolve the issues with the parties involved, the speculation is that Mr. T #3 will be re-solicited and the work re-produced by the original team.
This work was of particular significance to me, as I was close to the Mr. T. artwork produced by Neal Adams at Continuity Associates more than a decade ago. This is officially the first comics work I've produced since that period - and in that, a peculiar era of comics inactivity has come full circle to highlight the busy agenda here at Flaming Sword Productions.
Below are a few images from the inking, accompanied by Neil Edward's pencils. All images Copyright © 2005, by APComics.
