Old World Monsters

Nothing haunts me more than an unfinished project, and buddy, let me tell you, I have got more than my fair share of 'em. Now, before I erroneously cast myself as a guy who can't complete anything, let me say this: I have finished a ton of projects. The downloads page on this very site is testament to that. Still, sometimes I've started a project and for one reason or another had to abandon it. Sometimes it's my fault. Sometimes not.

One of late that I've regretted pulling the plug on is the sequel to the League of Monster's story that Pierre and I were working on for Zuda. Zuda went under before we could finish it which is a durn shame because we both had some great stuff to show you in that comic. Namely, we were going to introduce the world to the incredibly fun Old World Monsters, a team of creatures from Europe. Today, I"ll show you some of the character concepts Pierre created for this story:

First up is Gentleman Jack, the ghost of a 17th century highway man:

 Next is a character I intended to be our brooding Red Tornado type of character, The Green Golem:

Countering the Golem's reserved nature would be this hot tempered beauty, The Bride:

The final member of the group is a character originally designed by the insanely talented Jerry Hinds, but used with his kind permission in this story; Baba Yaga.

These four characters and the story that introduced them was going to sort of be my homage to the story that introduced those classic Jim Shooter villains The Fatal Five. 

Except whereas Shooter cast The Fatal Five as black and white villains, I was going to go the more Marvel route of making the Old World Monsters all anti-heroes to one degree or another.

Pierre and I got about a third of the comic completed before the closing of Zuda made the project financially unfeasible. Still, I wouldn't say this project is completely dead. As the market changes and Pierre and I get more time to work on other things, I wouldn't be surprised if this story didn't bounced back up to the top of our list of things we would both like to work on.

Hope you liked this behind the scenes preview(?) of the Flashback Universe!

- Jim

Little Known Fact(s) about the Flashback Universe

A little known fact about Jim (the Editor & Chief here at the FBU): he's not a fan of the broad spectrum of concepts that make up the Vampire and Werewolf genres. If you've had a chance to read any of our comics here then you'll know there aren't any "traditional" vampires (if you can label vampires that way) in any of our stories.

We have monsters a plenty! A league of them as a matter of fact. You can read about them here.

There are no traditional vampires however. What if we did a story with Vampires or Werewolves in them? Which Vampire or Werewolf would you prefer to see?

• "Sparkly" Vampires/Werewolves?
• "Light Hearted" Vampires/Werewolves?
• "Mutant" Vampires/Werewolves?
• "Traditional" Vampires/Werewolves?

Would you feel short-changed if you came to read one of our comics expecting one vampire concept, but got another? Do Vampires and Werewolves have the same impact in genre fiction that they used to have? When a vampire is used in a story is it then a horror story? Is it a comedy story? Is it scifi?

I know a writer can make any story feel like any of those options listed above and more but what would be your knee jerk reaction to a vampire story? Has it changed in the last ten years?

Lets look a little further at BLADE. A vampire (of sorts) who's made a new resurgence in the Marvel U as of late in more than one book. First a little background: Marvel has recently decided to bring the Marvel version of vampires into the new millennium. They started by killing off the Marvel U version of Dracula, dusted off the concept of what a Marvel Vampire was and wasn't, and have let their updated vampires loose in the modern Marvel Universe.

Nowhere is this more prominent than in the X-Men book which has been moved to San Francisco that is now seemingly crawling with vampires. Where there are vampires, there's also Blade...


In the X-Men Comic (above) Blade is very much the way we remember him from the Wesley Snipes movies. He's lethal, on a mission, and not about to let anyone get in his way. With just a few panels they manage to hint at the eventual dual between Blade and Logan. This version of Blade even looks like the character from the recent movies.

This version of Blade can be found both in X-Men and his own new title Blade: Curse of the X-Men but there is yet another style of the very same comic, in another book all together being released at nearly the same time....


The Ultimates3 version of Blade is much more like John Shaft but with fangs and a sword. In fact, Blade's opening scene has him in bed with a couple lovely ladies (I think it's 3) just before all hell breaks loose.

So as a fan you may find your self, as I did, standing in front of the Marvel comic book rack at your local LCS. You begin flipping through comics, your excited that Blade seems to be back in a big way (he's going to be in 3 books). Your so excited in fact that you're going to read a few pages of both X-Men & The Ultimates3 before you take them up to purchase them.

What are the chances that one of them is a let down? If one is, will it sour you on buying both of them? Would you go home with a comic with Blade in it?

With Blade, Twilight, Buffy, I Am Legend, and Dracula, only six of the many different vampire concepts in circulation today it's pretty clear that the vampire genre is a convoluted genre indeed.

I think Jim, Pierre, and my self would rather have our fans focus on our great comics instead: where the golden age meets the digital age.

Have a great weekend,

Caine

My First Five Comics

My first five comics in 100 words or less.

Aquaman Super DC Giant 28
August 1971
This is the first comic I ever got, purchased off the spinner rack at a 7-11. I'm pretty sure I got this because I had seen Aquaman cartoons on TV. Aquaman rides a whale with legs, fights the Human Flying Fish and meets Aqua-woman = my 5 year old mind completely blown. The guys at CosmicTreadMill have a complete synopsis of the issue here.


Justice League 92
September 1971
A month later, I went back to the 7-11 and saw this cover. To this day I remember thinking that it was strange that the man on the cover holding Superman (Solomon Grundy) was using a rope for a belt. It was probably this mysterious rope belt that caused me to ask my mom to buy this issue. (That and I had seen Superman on tv as well.)
Also in this issue, we see the Robin of Earth 2 get a revamped costume. A costume Pierre hates for some reason. :D

Hulk Annual 2
October 1969
While this predates my Aquaman comic, it was the third comic I got, because I traded my Aquaman comic to Steve Previtt for this issue. With art by Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, this comic contained 4 awesome Hulk stories. The bulk of it focused on the Hulk's battles against the Leader's Humanoids, a group of flexible, faceless androids that sort of screams Steve Ditko must draw us! Favorite moment, the Hulk uses what looks like two army field toliets to destroy two planes. Nicely done Hulk!
After that successful trade, I went back to Steve and traded some of my brother's baseball cards for this issue:

Fantastic Four 92
November 1969
The only thing I really remember about this issue is it was my gateway drug to the wonders of Gladitorial Robots with the introduction of Torgo. Check out this page to see what I mean:

Strangely, you would think such an awesome comic would have inspired me to buy more Marvel comics, but I think my inability to get to the 7-11 when I wanted to probably kept me from doing so.
A few months later I got this comic:


Batman 237
December 1971
A tale written by Denny O'Neil, from an idea by Bernie Wrightson with an assist by Harlan Ellison and art by Neal Adams. A story belonging to the Hippies at Rutland Halloween continuum, this comic actually scared me a little. (Not sure if it was the hippies or the Reaper that scared me. )
Up until this issue, my comic purchases were pretty sporadic (as you can see by the gaps in time) It was probably soon after the purchase of this issue that I started really collecting. I'm not sure what turned me from a casual reader into an avid collector, but I think I'll try to figure that out in a future blog post.
Feel free to tell me what your first five comics were!
- Jim

New Flashback Comic Previews

So if you are a loyal Flashback Universe fan who has been patiently waiting for the next FBU comic since we released The Paladin, you're probably wonder what the hell is up with us not releasing any new comics lately?
Well, what has happened is that for several reasons we had a couple of artistic hiccups that have slowed us down.

One you know about if you've been reading this blog, and that's Pierre's long engagement working on the Arthur cartoon. That took a good bit of his time over the past year. However he has been able to work on a few Flashback related comics during this time.

Aside from Arthur, Pierre was also working on our Zuda submission.

Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis





Pierre is also working is Saturn Knight: The Knight Before Christmas, which we hope to have ready for you by this Christmas. Written by Chris Sims, this story features the a ton of Flashback Universe characters and I expect everyone to really get a kick out of it! Check out this preview page from this story...




Chris Sims actually is responsible for two more upcoming Flashback Universe comics. The other is the amazing Flashback Two-In-One featuring WildCard and The Creature with art by Gentleman Jerry Hinds. It's been a long time coming, but I think everyone will like the work Jerry is doing on this comic. Check out these two pages...







Chris is also working on a Kondorr comic with a new artist who goes by the moniker of Cornfed Cannibal (long story...) Check out these pages from Kondorr - Once Mighty!







And last but not least, we are very near completion of a comic featuring Amanita and Prometheus written by Chad Bowers and illustrated by Chris Nye and Don Jackson. Check out this great cover by Don and colors by Liezl Buenaventura and interior page by Chris.







So look for some great Bronze Age excitement to be coming from us very soon!

The Evolution of the Paladin

The Paladin started out as a VERY different looking character and sort of evolved into two other characters. And let me say once again, that Pierre is just an amazing trooper when it comes to revising his character sketches.

I would also like to say that not all of our characters go through such rigorous reworkings. However, when one does get reimagined like this, it is interesting to see the process.

This was Pierre's first version of the character back when he was called Major Victory.

We decided to hide his face a little more and use a Cross motif on his shield and emblem. This set him apart from other Captain America clones.

Somewhere, we started experimenting with making him more Techno.

We added a translucent shield.

At this point I really thought we were drifting away from the core of the original character, but I really liked Pierre's designs, so we kept pursuing it.

We brought his face back into the design in an attempt to soften the techno look.

I think we sort of went back to the drawing board and just made him look more like a traditional paladin, and it really felt right for the character.

This is what we finally settled on.

Quite a big difference, aye?

However, we salvaged a lot of the preliminary work by using some of the ideas for Cyclotron

Finally, a while back Pierre and I were discussing Rom, Spaceknight, I decided that Cyclotron would look better with a white armor instead of gray.

So, for the first time ever, here is the new Cyclotron. :)

Have a great weekend!

Pierre presents A Tribute to Sal Buscema

Hi guys,
I had a tough time deciding on what to write for this second blog post of mine.

Not for lack of subjects or ideas.... quite the opposite. What do I start with? Out of the thousands... no the hundred of thousands of things that I could discuss?? ;)

Last time I mentioned how, like many other aspiring artists, I was learning to draw by reprodrucing the work of some of my favorite artists.

So lets start with that. But which artist?? I am always torn when the time comes to chose one over the other.

Who do I start with?? Byrne?? Perez?? Kirby??

But then I realised that I had no choice. I had to start with the one that probably influenced me the most.... I HAD to start with...

SAL BUSCEMA
As a kid, although he probably has worked on pretty much every series ever published by Marvel at the time. Sal was the ultimate Captain America artist. Not that Byrne and Rubenstein, and later Zeck and Beatty did not do an awesome job drawing Cap, but as a kid Sal was the guy who was drawing the best version of Cap at the time.

Although, when I was buying Captain America comics, it was later in Sal's carreer when he was inked by Don Perlin, boy that was good comics. But I was able to get my hands on some back issues with his earlier work on Cap. Those were awesome as well.

Sal was also the ultimate Hulk artist when first inked by Joe Staton, then by Ernie Chan. Not that Keown and Farmer did not do an awesome job on the series later, but to me, Sal's Hulk was the ultimate version of the character.

But the best time must have been when he inked himself.

His rendition of Captain Marvel was great...

...the U-Foes looked fantastic...

...heck even Woodgod looked pretty good when drawn by Sal. ;)

Also Sal did an awesome job on the Avengers aroud the time of the Celestial Madonna story inked by Joe Staton I think.

All those left a strong impression on me as a kid, and were a huge influence not only on teaching me to draw, teaching me storytelling, but even much later as I started working professionally on various projects.

I would say that Sal's work really left it's mark on me, that he is my biggest influence.

And much... much... much later, I was able to enjoy his work on Rom, the Spacenight. Why much later?? Well as a kid, I was reading french translations of Marvel comics. And sadly Rom was not translated in Quebec.

I first saw an issue of Rom ( I later learned that it was issue 7, my favorite in the series) as part of some anthology from France that I bought in some sort of garage sale. I was able to track down a handfull of back issues, but it was only over 20 years later that I would be able to read the entire series featuring the greatest of all Spaceknights.

Boy... that was GREAT comics.The early issues when Sal inked himself have to be my favorite.

And the best part was that I was finally able to read the final chapter (at least it was when the comic saw print) in the saga of Nova the human rocket. Being a huge Nova fan, that was a special treat.

Strangely, when you talk about Sal to various other fans, you often feel like to many, Sal is just the lesser of the Buscema brothers for some reason. Might be why John gets his own page in "The great comic book artists" by Ron Goulart, but there is no mention of his brother Sal.

To me, I have always preferred Sal.... not that John's work was not awesome, but Sal's work was more graphic/stylised, and I loved how Sal would stylise the human figure or his rendering. Only years later would I realise how much of Sal's style (or John for that matter) would come from Kirby.

Wether it was because he loved Kirby's work and was trying to emulate Kirby, or because that was the policy at Marvel at the time to have their artists draw like Kirby, I have no idea. But I sure loved the result. It also made me realise how much more influenced by Kirby (or a truckload of other artists) I was then I even realised. But that will be the subject of another blog.

Until next time. ;)

Pierre Speaks!

Hi guys,

No this time it won't be Jim entertaining you but Pierre.

As the official Flashback Universe Art Guru, once in a while, I will add my 2 cents to the Flashback Universe blog to either discuss past, present or upcoming Flashback Universe projects, share my experience as an artist, talk about comics, movies, or a thousand other subjects that just don't come to mind right now.

But for this first blog, let me introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me.

As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a comic book artist.

As early as 4 or 5 years old, I would fold in two whatever pieces of paper that I could find and would draw tiny 4 pages comic books. My inspiration at the time was some collectable cards featuring Batman. I would take a card, and make a 4 pages comic based on that card.

Ahhhh the memories.

Sadly growing up.... no one I knew even had a single clue as to how someone could become a comic book artist (or even just an artist). So I had to find out the hard way... and it was a bumpy ride.

Like many other artists, I learned by copying other artists whose work I admired.

First copying poses I liked, then panels, then entire pages.

Then I got my first published drawing. A pin-up of Nova. You can compare it to a more recent drawing of Nova that I did for the "30th anniversary of Nova magazine".


After high school, I still had no idea on what to do to become a comic book artist. All I could think of was to mail some samples to various comic companies, which got me my first rejection letters. So I went to college in Arts, then Graphic Arts, and finally Illustration and Design.

After doing various crappy gigs (posters and business cards), I got my foot in 2D animation. I worked on many TV series (Arthur, Marsupilami, Bob Morane to name just a few) for various animation studios and even a feature film (Heavy Metal 2000, AKA Heavy Metal FAKK 2).

Although not being comic book work, working in animation is still for the most part fun. And I learned a lot in animation that can be applied to doing comics. The coloring style used for Flashback Universe for example pretty much comes from my experience in animation.

Then between some animation gigs, I started dawing comic book pages for various independent publishers. Sadly I quickly discovered that it does not take much for a project (or an independent publisher) to go down the drain. So not much of what I did actually saw print.

Until at some point I met a crazy "buckaroo" called Jim. And you guys can see the result on the Flashback Universe site. ;)

Click to Enlarge...

So how does one become a comic book artist?? Did I finally solve the riddle that has been plaguing me since I was a kid?

I will share with you the secret that has eluded me for so long.

One becomes a comic book artist...

... by drawing comic books. ;)

New Characters to Flashback Universe

Flashback artist Jerry Hinds asked me the other day how do I manage to have the time to work on Flashback while working on other projects AND spending time with my family.

I told Jerry, I honestly don't, and on some occasions, this blog suffers for that...because I can't really sacrifice time from my family. - Especially when my wife is buying kitchen sinks that are bigger than our old sink and I have to spend all night cutting PVC pipe to fit - but that's just a hypothetical situation. ;)

...so with that bit of insider information, I present a little parade of character that have created for Flashback, but haven't used yet...let the picture speak for themselves. :D

First up: Dr. Arcane by Pierre




Next: NyghtShade by Jerry Hinds

King Scarecrow by Pierre (KS actually appeared in Same Time, Next Year, but he'll be showing up in another story soon, so I thought a nice reminder was in order.)

From the Golden Age of Flashback: The Purple Puma by Pierre


That's all for today. I now have to go buy some plumber's putty. :P

Lady Nemo vs Dr. Doom

Sometimes I get emails like this...

Dear Flashback. Do you ever worry that people will think some of your characters, like Lady Nemo, are too similar to some Marvel characters, like Dr. Doom?

- your friend, Benji.

Well, Benji, that's a good question. Let's take a little look at Lady Nemo here...

Now, let's compare her to a recent instance of Dr. Doom...

I think I'm pretty damn safe, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, to help you guys get that horrible bit of Doom Dialogue out of your head, let's imagine what he COULD have said...

Hopefully that will take some of the pain away. :D