Catch the evildoer, Spidey!

Glenn Hauman

Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.

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9 Responses

  1. Russ Rogers says:

    It's nice to see GJ back: kickin' ass, taking names AND kissing the girl! Poor Lil. Mr. Guant's girlfriends rarely stay breathing very long. Some of them don't breath at all!The story is clipping along, building momentum nicely. I LOVE the foreshortened body and the impossibly leaning posture that's used as the cover and in the last panel of this issue. Very cool shot. It captures the mood of this issue perfectly. This panel reminded me of "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way." It's a classic pose, very old school!Notes for the Director's Cut:I have some problems with the way page 136 is staged. Lil's gun appears to shift from her right hand to her left and then back to her right hand. You can't see the gun in her hand in panel two. But from the angle of the gun, it would be awkwardly held in her right hand, it looks like it's in her left. GJ also does a right, left, right dance with Lil between the first, second and third panels too. Panel two on 136 looks like a mirror reflection of what was originally drawn. And the third panel, where Lil is giving Loire a roundhouse punch, is cluttered. It looks like the swing of Lil's punch crosses GJ's blade. GJ just looks awkward and squished between the two women. I think GJ could get erased from that panel entirely or be shown ducking out to the right. tiny aside:Loire's line, "I can't remember what I look like," reminded me of an article I once read about Peter Sellers. In the article, Sellers is being interviewed and he is continuously using different comic voices. Robin Williams and Johnathan Winters have the same affectation. At one point the author asks, "What does Peter Sellers normally sound like?" And Sellers says something like, "I sound like this. … No, wait. My voice is a little lower pitched than that. I sound like this. No, I have a bit more of an accent than that. I think I sound like this … " The point was, Sellers had forgotten what his own voice sounded like. It was both funny and sad.

    • Alan Coil says:

      Russ,Are you suggesting that Tim Truman needs to go to remedial school? I mean, if I met Tim, I might ask him questions about his art, but I surely wouldn't even think to criticize his work.

      • Russ Rogers says:

        I wasn't trying to be overly critical. I love Tim Truman's art. I have for more than twenty years. What I was pointing out in my notes were the art equivalent of "typos," like saying the word "touch" might/should/could be "tough."I didn't mean my reference to the John Buscema book to be a slam. I like that book. I just like that pose. It's a classic comics pose.

        • Anonymous says:

          Russ, When you can create something then say something. If you don't like Mr. Truman's wonderful work stop looking at it. Find something else to read.

          • Russ Rogers says:

            I've created four daughters. I've written songs and recorded three albums. I've worked as an entertainer for more than 25 years. I made a snowman out of Play-Doh once. But whether I've created something or not, my viewpoint is still valid. And just because Tim Truman is a better artist than I will ever be, that doesn't make his work above comment or criticism. I never said that I don't like Truman's wonderful work. In fact, I said, "I love Tim Truman's art. I have for more than twenty years." I don't see how that could be misinterpreted.

          • Anonymous says:

            Wow you recorded three albums and a entertainer of more than 25 years, Never heard of you, oh well I guess I'm not missing anything. Keep your day job and make more Play-Doh snowmen.

    • Russ Rogers says:

      I'm wrong. If you mirror reverse panel 2 of page 136, GJ's scar ends up on the wrong side of his face! But I'm still bothered by the jumping gun and cramped panel.I think Loire's name is inspired by Peter Lorre! This makes me want to watch "The Maltese "Falcon" again and see how many other references I can pick up. Goethe is Sydney Greenstreet, "Kasper Gutman." I'm sure there are some people who want to head slap, saying, "This is obvious, dufus!" But I feel like I've just cracked open an Easter Egg! John mentioned that he called it the "Manx Cat" as a play on "Maltese Falcon." And that "Mannachs" was just a bastardization of "Manx." I just didn't realize the parallels ran as deep as they seem to now.Oh, and if GJ is just filing away for future reference the knowledge of Darlin' Lil's Inertia Glove, he seems to have forgotten that he got POUNDED by it on page 6. Maybe GJ's brains are stilled addled from his astral projection back in time, maybe he has a short term memory loss from getting POUNDED by that Inertia Glove.Darlin' Lil was showing a lot more skin the last time we saw her in costume. She looks like she's wearing cream colored tights here. She had bare legs way back on page 6, showed more cleavage too. Maybe her time spent in bed with the Manx Cat gave Lil a really bad case of eczema.

      • John Ostrander says:

        In the MALTESE FALCON, Peter Lorre plays Joe Cairo — so I named the character LOIRE. Joe Cairo, Jean Loire. And Goethe's speech pattern IS modeled on Greenstreet.Gaunt didn't forget about the glove; I did. I'll see about getting that corrected.

  2. hitch says:

    It is a Kirby-like, Learn to draw the Marvel way pose. I didn't take it that Russ was dissing Tim's work. Personally, I feel like the story line is trying to hard to tie in too many unexplained GJ staples (St John Knives, etc.) Did that sound criticle of Johns writing? It shouldn't. when I was a kid I read every comic from cover to cover and loved the "Dear Editor" pages. I am glad they didn't dismiss every fans critique as "if you can do better"… because a great many of those names who wrote letters have gone on to pen many of the comics I still read today!