Tommy Patterson: Bringing Farscape to Life for Boom

Sometimes, the third time really is a charm.For comics artist Tommy Patterson, tenacity paid off. Not only did he stick with his dream of being an artist for more than 10 years, but it took him three tries to finally get the job as penciler on Farscape, the comic book based on the Sci-Fi television show. "I'm a newcomer to the industry, but I've been on the message boards and all that for going on 10 years now," Patterson said. "There are a lot of artists that I kind of 'grew up' with on the boards who have gotten jobs, so that kept faith alive. I'm 31, so I'm kind of a late bloomer, but I kept at it because I feel like it's what I'm made to do.With the help of his friend, Marvel artist Ryan Stegman, Patterson got an agent and a chance to show his work to Boom! Studios as they were looking for someone to work on Farscape. "I tried out for Farscape, and there were a few things they wanted me to work on, so I did," Patterson said. "And I tried out again. Then there were still a few things they wanted me to work on, so I kept working on it. And finally, I tried out one more time, and they liked what they saw and said I got the job."

Farscape #1, page 6
The first thing Patterson did was study episodes of the Farscape TV show. "I'd watched the show a few times here and there, but I wouldn't have considered myself a fan until after I got the job and got caught up on the series," he said. "I've got two people I worked with at the print shop where I used to work, and they were really big-time Farscape fans. So as soon as I got the job, I went to them and got all their DVDs and stuff like that. And I started getting versed in the universe."The artist said he quickly understood why the show has such a cult following. "I think it's the characters. They're all really likable," he said. "I like Rygel the best. He cracks me up. Crichton's your typical smart-aleck American dude. And then you have Aeryn, who's kind of the exotic female. But I like Rygel."

Farscape #1, page 7
Now that he's into drawing the comic, Patterson said he's starting to really enjoy the Hynerians, as the comic explores their world in more detail. "They have a lot more Hynerians in [the comic] because there are no budget constraints," he said. "So you get to learn about those people a little bit more. The way they talk, which you see a lot in issue #2, they have a really funny beat to the way they talk."Patterson has also gotten the chance to design some of the characters. "I'm so busy right now that it's kind of hard to soak it in and appreciate what I'm getting to do," he said. "Like the planet of Hyneria has never been seen before, and the first page of Issue #2 is a big splash of the Hynerian city. And I got to make all that up. And pretty much all I had to go on for that was looking at Rygel's sled that he scoots around on. And from that, I figured out what the city might look like. And I went with art deco with sci-fi tech in it. And his sled has a lot of hieroglyphic things in it, so I sprinkled that throughout the city too. And of course, water, because they're like frog creatures."

Farscape #1, page 8
The fact that the Hynerians are portrayed by puppets on the show gave the artist a bit of a challenge translating that as beings who could be taken seriously in a two-dimensional portrayal, Patterson said. "There were probably a few corrections on the first issue because there were things they wanted to tweak. Rygel's eyes, I drew really animated, with huge, open eyes. They thought it looked too cat-like, so I had to address that and make those smaller," he said.The other big challenge for Patterson has been to mimic the movements of the actors' faces while maintaining their likenesses -- something important for a comic book that continues the story of a television show with the same characters."It's a little tedious. I don't mind it too much because it's going to make me a stronger artist in the end," he said. "I'll be honest with you: Faces are probably my biggest weakness. That should be one of the first thing that artists are good at, so this has really challenged me. And that's a good thing. When you see issue #3, you'll really see the improvement. My best face in issue #1 is my worst face in issue #3, if that makes any sense."

Farscape #1, page 9
Patterson listed the biggest influences on his style as Michael Golden, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Frank Frazetta, and Rob Liefeld, although he said he had to alter his style for the realistic look of Farscape."They really wanted the likenesses to match with the TV series. I consider myself more of a traditional superhero comic book artist, so I'm having to fight that quite a bit to keep the guys from getting too buff and the females from having huge comic book eyes and stuff like that," he laughed. After Patterson's four issues of Farscape are released to complete the first volume of the series, his work will be seen next on the third volume of the title. "They'll start the next story arc with another artist," Patterson said, "then I'm going to come back and do another four issues. There's going to be about a month off after I finish issue #4, then I'll jump in to issues #9-12."Patterson said the jump ahead to work on future issues will help alleviate the delays the comic experienced at first -- something the artist doesn't think will be a problem anymore. "The first issue got delayed a month because I was a bit of a rookie getting thrown into the fire, but I'm working at it. And the guy who's starting after me is already working on his," he said. "After that, it should be monthly. So the schedule should get on track now."Now that he's well into the series, the artist hopes to continue to grow and give Farscape the type of art the franchise deserves. "Even though it's my first book, I'm taking it seriously, and I'm not treating it as a stepping stone or anything like that," Patterson said. "I want the book to be all it can be. I consider this first four issues a little rocky here and there. That's all me, though, because Keith's scripts are great, and the characters are just like the TV show. The Hynerians crack me up; he's got their humor down. "But while this has been a bit of a rocky start for me, I'm working really hard to make sure I do the best I can for this series," he added. "When I come back for the next four issues, I'm going to take it up even another notch now that I'm past fighting to get the likenesses down, fighting crazy deadlines and gathering up references. I'll have all that in place, and the art will reflect it. Now I'll just get to draw a kick-butt comic book."

Humberto Ramos a genius designs

In the early 1990s Ramos learned comic book art from Mexican comic book artist Oscar González Guerrero and his son, Oscar González Loyo. The pair later invited him to comic book conventions in the United States.

Ramos was discovered in 1993 at the San Diego Comic-Con, the comic book industry's largest annual convention, where comic legend Walt Simonson brought him to the attention of the founders of Milestone Media, where he did his first work in American comics in 1994, before being hired by DC Comics as the regular penciller for their new Flash spin-off Impulse, which launched in March 1995. Written by Mark Waid, the superhero/teen comedy series focused on young speedster Bart Allen, the grandson of the second Flash, Barry Allen, and his struggles with growing up in an alienated Alabama suburb.
In 1998, Ramos co-founded the imprint Cliffhanger with comic book artists Joe Madureira and J. Scott Campbell. They created the imprint, housed by Jim Lee's Image Comics division Wildstorm, to publish their creator-owned comic books outside the mainstream superhero genre. Both Campbell and Madureira had already built large fanbases with their previous work on Gen¹³ and Uncanny X-Men respectively, and were two of the most popular comic book artists at the time. Ramos, on the other hand, was not as popular and his inclusion on the imprint was perceived as second choice, after fan-favorite Michael Turner declined because he was still under contract at Top Cow. However, while Campbell's Danger Girl and Madureira's Battle Chasers soon ran into problems with both creators frequently missing deadlines and long delays between single issues, Ramos' Crimson—although not selling as many copies as the other two—stayed on schedule, missed hardly any shipping dates, and became the longest-running title of the imprint, even as more artists joined the imprint in the early 2000s.
Crimson wrapped, after 24 issues and two one-shots, in February 2001, and was followed by Ramos' second Cliffhanger title, the fantasy/mystery series Out There, a mere three months later. Along with the start of Out There, Ramos also began illustrating the covers of Peter Parker: Spider-Man with issue #30 and—beginning with May 2002's Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44—additionally did the interior artwork on the four-issue story arc "A Death in the Family" (later collected as Spider-Man: Return of the Goblin; ISBN 0-7851-1019-4), written by Paul Jenkins.
After his Cliffhanger contract ran out and Out There was concluded after 18 issues in early 2003, he left the imprint (apparently not on the best terms.and launched a new Spider-Man title, The Spectacular Spider-Man. The book reunited Ramos with Peter Parker: Spider-Man writer Paul Jenkins and earned him a 2005 Harvey Award nomination as Best Cover Artist. While Ramos worked on Spectacular Spider-Man, another book created by him (although illustrated by Francisco Herrera), the six-issue miniseries Kamikaze, which had originally been planned for 2001,was published by WildStorm under the Cliffhanger imprint.
In 2005, Ramos' creator-owned six-issue miniseries Revelations began publication at Dark Horse Comics. The series, once again written by Jenkins, was originally supposed to be published by Cliffhanger in 2001, but delayed for unknown reasons.
Following Revelations, Ramos returned to Marvel Comics, joining writer Marc Guggenheim as the new creative team on Wolverine, beginning with issue #42 in March 2006. The same month also saw the release of the first volume of the space opera K, a series of three 46-page comic albums Ramos is illustrating for French comic publisher Soleil Productions, written by the popular French comic book creator Crisse.Ramos is currently working with writer Terry Moore on Runaways in 2008.

remember Ringo!

Mike Wieringo was born in Italy and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, USA, graduating with a degree in Fashion Illustration, and broke into comics as a penciler with the Millennium Publications series Pat Savage and Doc Savage: Doom Dynasty in 1991. Two years later, he penciled the cover of the anthology comic book Negative Burn #1 (1993), from Caliber Press.
Wieringo broke into mainstream publisher DC Comics penciling the cover and co-penciling (with Lee Moder) the 30-page Justice League International lead story in Justice League Quarterly #11 (Summer 1993). Wieringo then penciled a 13-page backup feature starring the superheroines Doctor Light and Ice in Justice League Quarterly #12 (Autumn 1993). In a late 1990s interview, Wieringo recalled that
“
Brian Stelfreeze and Karl Story, the guys at Gaijin Studios ... lined the [Millennium] job up for me, because I had met them at [comics conventions] over the years and showed them my work. They got some of my samples and sent them to the guy and [he] liked them and gave me the job. ... From there, it was dry for a while, and I did some more samples and took them to [Comic-Con International in] San Diego in 1992, and about October that year, I got a call from Ruben Diaz, who was an assistant editor at DC at the time, [who] asked me to do a Justice League Quarterly story. When I started doing that, they asked me to do another one, and while I was in the process of finishing the second one, they asked me if I'd be interested in taking over The Flash because the artist had just left.

JERSEY GODS #1

Glen Brunswick and Dan McDaid's superhero epic enters into a second printing coinciding with the second issue's release!
The superhero epic JERSEY GODS by writer Glen Brunswick and artist Dan McDaid returns for a second printing after a stellar sellout just in time for this week's second issue! "Dan and I are just thrilled to death with the sell-out," Brunswick said. "We put our heart and soul into JERSEY GODS. It's a very personal project. We're elated to find that so many people are feeling passionate about it as well." JERSEY GODS, the story of a superpowered god meeting a small-town girl amidst an apocalyptic battle, gained instant notoriety after its unique blend of superheroics and slice of life situations was featured in mainstream press including CBS Evening News, New York 1, The Courier Post, The Bergen Record and even the front-page of the Star Ledger. The impressive debut resulted in a near-instant sellout at the distribution level, with artists Mike and Laura Allred stepping in for an alternate version of their original cover. This will coincide with the second issue, featuring the fallout of the debut's shocking battle and the romance JERSEY GODS will be driven by for years to come.

'Savage Dragon #145'-Savage Dragon goes back to his roots!

story, art & cover by ERIK LARSEN 32 PAGES, FC, $3.50 “BACK IN BLUE” Savage Dragon goes back to his roots! Nearly 12 years after walking off the job as a law enforcement officer Savage Dragon rejoins the Chicago Police Department. It's a great jumping on point for new readers and old, and it helps pave the way for IMAGE UNITED. The Vicious Circle is reborn and Captain Frank Darling turns to the one man he knows can get the job done: The Dragon! It's history in the making, boys and girls! This issue of SAVAGE DRAGON comes with our highest possible recommendation! Featuring an appearance by, and an alternate cover featuring, President Barack Obama.

G.I. Joe Origins #1

G.I. Joe Origins #1 (IDW Publishing)Jump from the Read Pile. Very, very early in the life cycle of the covert special ops team, Duke, Scarlett and Stalker are each given a secret mission the hard way -- with a parachute tossed out of a cargo plane ahead of them. Armed only with what they carry and mysterious code-words, they're dropped in the Nevada desert and forced to figure it out as they go. The results? Well, let's just say that Larry Hama has not only refused to lose a step in the years since the demise of the legendary Marvel series, he's stepped his game up in a major way. Meanwhile, a gun-toting billionaire is tracked down in a police standoff (sure are a lot of massed police cars this week) and even some obvious spell-checkable typos (parder?) don't malign the deep sense of research and backstory (the fifth general order, the Goya reference) that makes this issue so rich and content-dense with goodness. A great start to another IDW take on a classic franchise.

Black Terror #1

Spinning out of Alex Ross' Project SUPERPOWERS is the first new ongoing series -opening with this four-part story by Ross, Krueger and Lilly!
But that's not all! This also comes co-plotted by Alex Ross, scripted by Jim Krueger and drawn by new Dynamite Exclusive artist Mike (Batman/Nightwing) Lilly!!!!
This new series is the foundation to our storylines bursting out of Project SUPERPOWERS 0-7 (the opening chapter), and will lead directly in to Project SUPERPOWERS Chapter Two!
Who are the Super-Patriots? Who are the "Inheritors"? And how does Captain Future fit in to all of this? And if that wasn't enough, this first issue will have a sneak peak at the Death Defying 'Devil series and the Masquerade series (otherwise, why would Mr. Land have placed all 3 of them on the cover?)

The Silencers: Black Kiss(Written by Fred Van Lente)

Conventional wisdom has it that you can’t be successful making superhero books unless you’re Marvel or DC. I’m not really sure what that means, but I suppose it has something to do with how you define success. Still, any way you cut it, I think you’ve got to call Invincible successful, and Noble Causes has been around long enough to call it successful. Certainly, if you limit success to financial measurements, the list is short, but if we’re talking artistic success, I think you’ll find that there are numerous examples of independent superhero books that aren’t just trying to mimic Marvel and DC, but are finding new things to say in the genre. And The Silencers is one of those.The back cover of Moonstone’s collection of The Silencers mini-series calls it a “supercrime” book and that’s an appropriate descriptor. The story takes place solidly within the world of superheroes and supervillains, but the focus is on a group of superpowered mafia enforcers who’ve just been betrayed by their organization and now find themselves wanted by both heroes and villains. At least if the heroes catch them, they only go to jail. Crime fiction isn’t one of my favorite genres. I’m not inclined to give much leeway to criminals and it’s rare that I find myself sympathizing with them. Mostly I want to see them get what’s coming to them. The exceptions are when the criminals are up against worse criminals, like in Ocean’s Eleven or Christopher E. Long’s comic The Easy Way. Or, of course, The Silencers. Van Lente and Ellis do an excellent job of portraying their cast of supervillains as sympathetic victims without ever trying to convince you that they’re really the good guys. Yes, the Silencers kind of deserve what they get by being in bed with the mob in the first place, but their betrayal is so heinous and absolute that you can’t help but cheer them on as they try to extricate themselves from it.They’re interesting characters too, which also helps. Their powers may be standard (electrical power, energy beams, high tech armor, big guns, etc.), but Van Lente avoids making them clichés by giving them real personalities. Even Hairtrigger, who obviously started from the Punisher template, is a likable guy. His violent inclinations make him a loner, but you get the feeling that he really isn’t at heart and actually wants rather badly to fit in with the rest of the group. The other members of the team also have similar tweaks in their makeup that cause them to transcend the stereotypes they were based on.Something else that I thought was really cool was how – at least in the early parts of the book – the superheroes in the Silencers’ world are people we know. Of course, we never get their names or even see them very well, but when a guy flies in with a blue suit, a red cape, and red underwear over his pants, we know exactly who it is. And when the shadow of a bald contortionist swings by and one of the characters notes, “He’s just clinging to that wall over there,” it reinforces the illusion that the story’s taking place in a familiar location.Unfortunately, that illusion is shattered later on in the story when the heroes play a larger role and we get to see more of them. Then it becomes obvious that these aren’t Superman and Spider-Man, but parodies of them. I wish van Lente and Ellis had found a way to keep the heroes in the shadows and preserve the fantasy, but it’s a small point and doesn’t take away from the coolness of the Silencers themselves or our ability to cheer them on. It’s just that in an otherwise flawless book, that one imperfection glares.

X-POSITION: Paul Cornell

Superheroes come in different flavors. There are those that deal with standard emergencies like evil geniuses robbing banks; others that deal with cosmic-level threats like alien invasions; a few that get tied up with politics and espionage; and a couple that operate with mythic and/or god-like entities.
If you’re a reader who enjoys all of those tasty flavors, “Captain Britain and MI13” is the comic book for you.
Within the pages of Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk’s Marvel Comics series, you will find a government strike team that deals with the occult and “weird happenings, features a hero with ties to the King Arthur legend, includes a couple of vampire-related teammates, and is more fun than you can shake an ebony blade at.
Writer Paul Cornell stopped by CBR’s X-POSITION this week to answer your questions about Captain Britain’s team, and he also chats about his upcoming project, “Dark Reign: Young Avengers.” So buckle up, things are about to get epic!

Wonder Con Announces Film/TV Slate

WonderCon, the sister-show to mega blockbuster Comic-Con in San Diego, recently announced its line-up of programming for the three-day weekend from Friday, February 27 though Sunday, March 1, in San Francisco, California. The programming schedule reveals many exclusive movie and television presentations at WonderCon, along with an incredible roster of comics-oriented events. "We have an amazing relationship with Hollywood," said David Glanzer, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for WonderCon and Comic-Con. "And that relationship is why, once again, WonderCon has been chosen as the convention to present some of the most anticipated projects for film and television along with stars from those projects to the public." Among the many events scheduled for the WonderCon weekend, the convention kicks off on Friday with a special presentation of the new animated television series Sit Down, Shut Up with actors Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Henry Winkler (Happy Days), Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live), and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants). Actress Virginia Madsen (Sideways) and producer Bruce Timm lead a panel discussion after the premiere screening of the animated DVD release Wonder Woman. This panel also features an exclusive sneak peak at the next animated film, featuring Green Lantern. One of the most anticipated comic book films of 2009, ‹Watchmen‹ will have a special presentation at WonderCon as director Zack Snyder leads a special program along with members of the cast on Saturday. Also on Saturday, fans of the beloved anime favorite Astro Boy will be treated to a special presentation of the all-new feature film version by Summit Entertainment, along with a look at the new film, Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage. Robert Patrick (T-2, The Unit), Eric McCormack (Free Enterprise, Will & Grace, Trust Me), Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years, The Spirit), and Jenni Baird (The 4400) make a special WonderCon appearance as they discuss their new film Alien Trespass. If Watchmen is the most anticipated comics film of the year, Star Trek is the most anticipated science fiction film of the year. Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment have chosen WonderCon as the only convention to feature an advance look at this exciting feature along with a very special surprise guest. Terminator Salvation, the brand-new start for one of the most explosive movie franchises ever, will have its own panel at WonderCon. In addition to showing footage from the upcoming movie, the film¹s director, McG, will be joined by cast members live on stage. Lucasfilm will feature an exclusive Star Wars panel, also on Saturday, and their popular presentation, "Last Fan Film Standing" on Friday night. Television is also well represented as Chuck makes its first appearance at WonderCon with stars Yvonne Strahovski and Zachary Levi on hand to answer questions on Sunday In addition to the new Terminator feature being well represented at the show, the television version also appears at WonderCon. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will have its own panel along with special guests in attendance on Sunday Harper's Island, the new 13-episode murder mystery series will screen the unseen pilot for WonderCon attendees along with cast members. Like Comic-Con, WonderCon also features an impressive list of talent signing autographs. Just a small sampling for the weekend include: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Gary Graham, Erin Gray, Jack O'Halloran, David Hedison, Virginia Hey, Richard Kiel, Gary Lockwood, Ray Park, Jon Provost, Adam West, Kathy Garver, and Martin Kove, to name just a few. In addition to all of these incredible movie and television programs, WonderCon features an exciting schedule full of comics-oriented panels and events, all weekend long, showcasing some of the top talent in the comic book industry. Last year saw a huge increase in attendance for the three-day convention, while still maintaining that great feeling of intimacy for which WonderCon is famous. More and more people are recognizing that the show is more than a regional event, WonderCon has become a nationally recognized comics convention that has attracted a wide array of not only attendees, but exhibitors and professional participants as well. In fact, some now refer to WonderCon as Comic-Con: San Francisco. WonderCon is operated by Comic-Con International, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture. For more information on WonderCon or Comic-con, please visit www.comic-con.org