Happy birthday to Joe Staton

I want to wish a very happy birthday to the super-talented comic book artist Joe Staton, who was born on January 19, 1948, and who turns 66 years old today.  Staton has had a long, productive career, working on dozens of titles from numerous publishers.

Staton, as with a number of other artists who broke into the comic book biz in the 1970s, got his start at Charlton Comics.  Beginning in 1971, Staton drew a number of stories for their various horror anthologies, plus licensed titles Space 1999 and The Six Million Dollar Man.  With writer Nicola Cuti, he created the cult classic sci-fi super hero E-Man, which I covered in a previous blog.

In the mid-1970s, Staton also worked for Marvel.  He inked Sal Buscema’s pencil breakdowns on Avengers and The Incredible Hulk.  Staton, however, enjoyed both penciling and inking, and so starting in 1977 he began working at DC, where he would illustrate a wide variety of titles over the next two decades.

Early on, Staton made a lasting contribution to the DC universe when, working with Paul Levitz and Bob Layton, he created the Huntress, aka Helena Wayne, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman on Earth Two.  Six years later, in 1983, Staton collaborated with writer Alan Brennert and inker George Freeman on “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne,” which revealed how Batman and Catwoman fell in love and married.  This now-classic story originally appeared in The Brave and the Bold #197 and several years later was deservedly included in The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told collection.  It is one of my all-time favorite Batman stories, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read it.  Brennert’s script was very moving & memorable.  Staton & Freeman did tremendous work on this.  Staton’s layouts & storytelling are incredibly dramatic. He also succeeds in capturing some of the atmosphere of Golden Age artist Dick Sprang.

In late 1979, Staton became the penciler on Green Lantern, beginning a long, well-regarded association with the characters of the GL Corps.  Staton actually had three separate runs on the series, first from 1979 to 1982, then from 1985 to 1988, and finally from 1990 to 1992, that last time alternating with artists Pat Broderick and M.D. Bright.  During this decade-plus time, Staton co-created several characters in the GL mythos, namely Kilowog, Arisia and Salaak.  Although he didn’t create Guy Gardner, Staton is the artist who designed his now-iconic look.  Also making their debut in the pages of Green Lantern during this time were the alien freedom fighters the Omega Men, who Staton co-created with Marv Wolfman.

In 1992, Staton was the artist on the Guy Gardner: Reborn miniseries, and then on the first year of Guy’s ongoing series.  Throughout the 1990s, Staton continued to work for DC, drawing a number of titles, including several Batman-related projects, in addition to the noir crime miniseries Family Man.  He also had work published by Caliber, Topps and Archie.  Beginning in 1999, Staton became one of the regular artists on the Scooby Doo comic book.

Staton has often commented that he enjoys working on mystery and detective stories.  He definitely has a real flair for that type of material, and in recent years he has fortunately had the opportunity to work in the genre.  With writer Christopher Mills, he worked on the four issue miniseries Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries, published by Ape Entertainment in 2008, and collected as a trade paperback a year later.  Set in the fictitious metropolis of Port Nocturne during the rough & tumble days of Prohibition, Femme Noir chronicles the adventures of the enigmatic vigilante known only as “The Blonde.”  I really enjoyed this series.  Beginning in 2011, Staton has also been the artist on Dick Tracy.  His style fits the newspaper strip perfectly.

Joe Staton and his charming wife Hilarie live in Upstate New York, and so I’ve had the opportunity to meet them at a number of comic conventions in the tri-state area over the years.  I can honestly say that Staton is one of the nicest comic book creators I’ve ever met.  It is always a pleasure to see him at a show and chat with him for a few minutes.  I’ve been lucky enough to obtain a few sketches by him, as well as a page of original art from one of his Green Lantern issues.

Once again, have a very happy birthday, Joe.  Thank you for all the wonderful, enjoyable stories that you’ve worked on over the years.  And here’s hoping for further editions of E-Man and Femme Noir in the near future.  I really do miss Alec Tronn, Nova Kane, The Blonde, and all the other colorful characters from those series.

Don McGregor and Trevor Von Eeden are on Kickstarter

There is a Kickstarter fundraiser currently taking place that I really wanted to draw everyone’s attention to.  Writer Don McGregor and artist Trevor Von Eeden are attempting to raise the funding to publish their brand new graphic novel Sabre: The Early Future Years.  I’ve already written about how much I enjoy Von Eeden’s artwork in my July 24th blog post.  Because of my appreciation for his artwork, I’d really like to see this project get funded.  McGregor and Von Eeden’s target is $17,000 to me met by September 9, 2013.  As of this writing, they have only raised $6,631, approximately one third of their goal.  I did pledge a few dollars, but due to my current work and financial situation, I wasn’t able to offer too much.  So I’ve been promoting the hell out of this, really hoping that others can also pitch in.  Here is the link to their page on Kickstarter where you can pledge funds:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jsacks/sabre-graphic-novel-by-don-mcgregor-and-trevor-von

And below is a preview of Trevor Von Eeden’s artwork for Sabre: the Early Future Years.  It features coloring by George Freeman, who previously worked with Von Eeden on his two volume graphic novel The Original Johnson.

In addition to being a fan of Trevor’s art, I also greatly enjoy Don McGregor’s writing.  He has a very distinctive style of prose, narration, and dialogue, a real sophistication to his plots and scripts.  In the past, McGregor has worked on a number of critically lauded, groundbreaking stories.

In the 1970s, while at Marvel Comics, McGregor did well regarded work with the character of Black Panther in the pages of Jungle Action.  He also had an exception run on Amazing Adventures, chronicling the saga of Killraven, a freedom fighter struggling to overthrow Martian invaders in an apocalyptic future.  Debuting in Amazing Adventures #18, the Killraven / War of the Worlds feature was initially conceived by Roy Thomas & Neal Adams, inspired by the H.G. Wells’ novel.  However, with the character’s fourth appearance in issue #21, McGregor took over as the series’ writer.  He worked with several different artists over the next few issues.  And then an up-and-coming P. Craig Russell became the regular illustrator with #27, producing stunningly vibrant, bizarre artwork.  The two collaborated on Killraven until Amazing Adventures was cancelled at issue #39 in 1976.  McGregor and Russell reunited to craft a coda to their run which saw print as the Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds graphic novel in 1983.

It was in 1978 that McGregor teamed with artist Paul Gulacy to create the first Sabre graphic novel, which was released by up-and-coming independent company Eclipse Comics.  In the early 1980s, an ongoing Sabre series was also published by Eclipse, lasting 14 issues.  Comics Bulletin is currently running a multi-part interview with McGregor looking at the origins of Sabre.  Here’s a link to the first installment:

http://comicsbulletin.com/columns/6013/the-great-sabre-interview-part-one-characters-that-are-alive-in-an-alternate-universe/

While at Eclipse, McGregor also wrote a pair of noir mysteries, Detectives Inc.  The first graphic novel, A Remembrance of Threatening Green, was drawn by the talented Marshall Rogers, with the equally amazing Gene Colan illustrating A Terror of Dying Dreams.  McGregor and Colan later re-teamed on a mammoth 25-chapter Black Panther serial “Panther’s Quest” which ran in Marvel Comics Presents.  I’d like to see that one collected in a trade paperback.

Those original Sabre and Detectives Inc. stories have subsequently been reprinted by other publishers such as Image and IDW.  Those collected editions are well worth seeking out.

So, having gone into all this detail about McGregor’s amazing writing, I really hope that I’ve piqued some interest, and that people will show their support for his latest project.  Separately, McGregor and Von Eeden have each rafted truly exception work in the past; together I expect that they make an amazing team.  I definitely hope that one day soon Sabre: The Early Future Years will be published.  I’ll keep you all updated on their progress.

September 10, 2013 Update: Unfortunately, the Kickstarter fundraiser did not meet its goal, only reaching $11,618 of the needed $17,000.  I was really looking forward to seeing the new Sabre graphic novel.  I am going to keep in touch with Don McGregor on Facebook, and see if he decided to attempt another Kickstarter campaign in the future, or perhaps go another route. Hopefully, one way or another, the book will make it into print in the near future.