THE MARK IN AMERICA, ISSUE
1, PAGE 12
FEBRUARY 10, 2016
When I drew this page (late
winter/early spring of 1993) I had just come off almost 2 years as a staff
storyboard artist on the Batman Animated TV series for Warner Animation. I was hired to draw this series (the Mark)
partly because the editor, Bob Schreck, wanted something akin to that style.
There’s only one remnant of the show’s style I can see on this page: in panel
1, both of The Mark’s hands have a single line across where the knuckles should
be. This is a stylistic innovation of Bruce Timm, the main character designer
on the Batman TV series.
A clearer influence on this
page (and my work on the series as a whole) is Will Elder, though I didn’t
realize it until I was inking issue 3. At that point, I pulled my Elder reference
off the shelf and started doing consciously what I had done unconsciously until
then. I’m not saying I aced it, but the sight gags and such in this panel
remind me of Elder’s intentions though his execution is quite superior to mine.
In my opinion he is one of the all-time great comic book ink technicians, fully
the equal of Wally Wood, Alex Raymond, Joe Sinnott, etc etc. Most of the gags
in panel #1 were scripted by Mike Barr, but I was totally into it (them).
This is page #12 from "The Mark" issue 1,
volume 2, otherwise known as "The Mark In America", published by Dark
Horse Comics in December 1993. Written by Mike Barr, Drawn by Brad Rader
This is the surviving "Timm-ism" on page 12 of
THE MARK IN AMERICA, ISSUE 1 that I referred to earlier today. Note the single
lines going across where the knuckle on the hands should be.
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