Doubtland Issue 3 of 4

Continuing from last week I present for the first time on this blog, the third issue of "Dobutland" my attempt to recreate and re-dialougue Jim Steranko's Outland adaptation, previously only available in a very limited print run

This week I try and address the sudden disappearance of Montone from the original art and story amongst many other things...

Next Week: The 4th and final issue of Doubtland

Doubtland Issue 2 of 4

Continuing from last week I present for the first time on this blog, the second issue of "Dobutland" my attempt to recreate and re-dialougue Jim Steranko's Outland adaptation, previously only available in a very limited print run

This week, see if you can spot dialogue belonging to HAL 9000, amongst other things...

Next Week: Issue 3 of Doubtland

Doubtland Issue 1 of 4

Starting this week I present some items from the Images Degrading Forever archive - a good place to start is with some items never seen before on this blog and previously only available (in a very limited) print run

That would be the 4 issue "Doubtland" my first "comic" and also my attempt at re-drawing and re-dialoguing Jim Steranko's Outland adaptation as originally printed in Heavy Metal (and never reprinted in english to this date)

As this was my very first project (drawing started in September 2010) the attempt at recreating the page is very rough and ready or degraded if you prefer -also I think the attempt to make more sense of the story in terms of what was missing from the art with dialogue may not have been that good

Still I hope you enjoy issue 1 and join me next week for issue 2

NEXT WEEK: Issue 2

It's the end of the world (and I feel fine)

In all fairness this blog post has to be fairly short

So firstly thanks to Steve Peters the one and only person to vote in last week selection of projects

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view this was not enough votes to justify setting aside at least 20 weeks of time in recreating another comic

So I will use this as an opportunity to take a break from attempting to draw while I consider what to do next

I will be posting some archival items here, it's a good chance to present a entire project in one post as complete comic, as the creators intended without any added commentary

I hope this is okay

A Special thanks has to go to Matt Seneca who was the real creative inspiration behind my efforts, Chris Thompson, Taylor Lilley, Doug Noble, Shaky Kane, Dave Gibbons, Evan Dorkin, Jim Steranko and many many more

There are so many people I would like to thank for sustaining my efforts throughout the last few years so to everyone who has ever read this blog or has spoken to me in person, Thank you

Who knows maybe in a while I will be back again

Its certainly not the end of the world and I feel fine

THE END

VOTE!

This week I am putting the future of this blog in the hands of everyone who reads it!

It only seems fair and right that you should be able to chose what project will appear on this blog next, so here are a few choices to help you all along (with a sample recreation for each) in no particular order

Just for any new visitors, I will attempt to recreate an entire comic by hand, pencils, inks and lettering

The Man Of Steel Mini Series Issue 1 - Written and penciled by John Byrne

This would be an good opportunity to compare the recent superman movie of the same name to the comic book series, both of which look at Superman's origins

Super Spidey Stories 31: Star Jaws

Possibly something a lot more light hearted would be better after The Human Fly, I certainly had a lot of fun with my attempt at Spidey-man vs gnat man and rotten

Iron Man 231: Penciled by Barry Windsor-Smith

This would be a good place to look at the career of Barry Windsor-Smith

Something else entirely: Please specify in comments on this blog entry

Of course I can make an attempt at something completely different which you would prefer to see, there is only a few rules - 1) It can only be a single issue of a comic book that is not more than 30 pages (sorry but at one page a week, it will take too long to do anything else) 2)It has to be an existing comic book that has been printed

As an example do have most of pages of "Tales of The Black Freighter" already drawn waiting for something to happen to them

I am going to give you all just one week to vote that is until September 11th 2013, please vote by posting a comment on this blog post.

One other thing, there will have to be at least 30 votes in total received.

One reason I am asking you all to vote is that the number of people viewing this blog has decreased to the point where I have to see if anyone is actually interested in seeing anymore of this blog at all!

If by this time next week, I have less than 30 votes, then I will wrap up this blog with a few items which have not appeared on the blog before!

Thank you all for your votes

The End is just Beginning to Start

Welcome to part 19, the final part of

Last week I left you with a few questions:- Whatever Happened to the Human Fly comic,  to the Stunt competition, to the Human Fly for real and to the comic book character?

Is there a better such of information /answers to all these questions? (including those asked last week)

Okay, let's start with the comic and the stunt competition

In issue 19 of The Human Fly a letter from Matt Kaufman appears which amongst other things asks the following question:-

"By the way, how are the sales on the HUMAN FLY? Hopefully, good - the book's still monthly. I'm interested in seeing how well an action adventure comic with only occasional violence sells"…

To which the editorial reply is:-

"Like you said, Matthew, the fact the fly's well on his way into his second year as a comic book character must say something about his success in the medium.  We're hoping the next year will be as encouraging as the first - especially in character developments and plot twists, while we attempt to add an element of drama that Bill (Mantlo) has said felt the book was lacking."

But then in that self same issue of the Human Fly comic issue 19 on the last page, last panel….

"AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE MARVEL BULLPEN

This is the final issue of the HUMAN FLY-- the wildest hero ever!  Much to all of our regret, ending the FLY here also means that the HUMAN FLY STUNT CONTEST ends as well, but we thought it would be nice to mention the five winners whose creative stunt ideas might have appeared in these pages.  All have received an autographed page of original HUMAN FLY artwork.

Thanks for coming along for the wildest ride in years.  It's been fun!"

Now lets check through the facts we have so far.  The stunt contest itself was announced in issue 15 only a few issues before cancellation

Also in issue 15 there was talk of story or plot ideas being exchanged for future issues which never saw print

The letter in the letters page of issue 19, and its answer would not have been that far in advance of issue 19, and it looks like that last panel was redrawn slightly to have its typed message inserted at probably the last minute

All of this suggests that cancellation of the comic was not only very sudden, but probably not due to low sales.

The leads to speculation as to what actually happened here

To my mind at least the wording of the letter is interesting for what it does mention and what it does not - obviously it does not give any reason for cancelation, but what it does do is call the Human Fly "the wildest hero ever" and repeats this by referring to "the wildest ride in years"

Just to remind you all, the banner at the top on the cover of every issue of The Human Fly Comic was "The wildest super-hero ever-- because he's real!"

Both the "super" and "because he's real" are missing from a letter that goes out of its way to mention "wildest" as the only point of any information at all, does that mean that Marvel finally found out The Human fly's true colours?

But to be fair that is just open speculation on my part, but it is a close as I think we can get - at least right now…

So what ever happened to the Human Fly comic book character?

Well, At San Diego comic con this year the first issue of The New Adventures of The Human Fly was debuted

This is a annual anthology title with different contributors taking their own unique and interesting look into the Human Fly comic book character published by Cartoon Flophouse

You can check it out more about this at http://cartoonflophouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-new-adventures-of-human-fly-debuts.html

if you would like a copy just email Micheal Ashenkar at chipmunksandsquirrels@yahoo.com, he will take paypal

This new comic is both fun and interesting, but is firmly in the land of fantasy, there is no mention of anything The real life Human Fly did

Also, the comic is published by a new company Human Fly International inc. this is Canadian company and as you would expect has a filing on the internet

This is the same company and people directly behind The Human Fly Movie

yes, movie..

which has a web site here http://thehumanflymovie.com/THE_MOVIE.html

where you can see The Mojave wing walk in full

plus a 5 minute feature "the story behind the movie", which follows below

And this movie, would appear to be the best place to answer whatever happened to the Human Fly for real and who was behind him - not forgetting of course hopefully being better source of information /answers to all the questions about The Human Fly (including those asked last week)

So it appears after all, that The Human Fly comic character at least has finally become the Phoenix after being in ashes for some 40 years

And the real life Human fly, well - just watch the video and draw your own conclusions

What happens from this point onwards is another story altogether, for now this is the end of my journey into The Human Fly

This journey into The Human Fly is dedicated with much respect to both Bill and Micheal Mantlo, both are true heroes 

NEXT WEEK: VOTE! You chose what will appear in this blog next

We've Done A Good Day's Work!

Welcome to part 18 of

Where The Human Fly is triumphant and is mobbed by a crowd in a baseball pitch in this the final recreated page from issue 1 of The Human Fly Comic:-

Last week I promised I would try and answer the big burning questions about The Human Fly that have been accumulating as this blog has progressed through what is known of the real-life character of the same name, as I hope it is fairly clear most of the answers can only at best be semi educated guesses as the details / proof necessary in most cases is not known…

Was The Human Fly Real?
Yes there really was a person who wore the same costume as seen in the comic, the corner box of each  comic issue, and in the trademark filing for Human Fly Spectaculars Ltd and called himself The Human Fly

Did the real life Human Fly really do stunts?
Yes, at least 3 attempts at a wing walk (one successful) and one successful rocket powered motorcycle jump can be proven to have occurred

Was The Human Fly really Rick Rojatt?
The comic character is Rick Rojatt even though that was never revealed within the pages of the comic itself, as for the real life Human Fly, my best guess is that "Rick Rojatt" is possibly an alias the Human Fly used

Was the real life Human Fly really in a car accident?
It seems unlikely that The Human Fly was really in a car accident of the extent that is shown or has been described, certainly not to the extent of injuries shown or described - see next question…

Did the real life Human Fly really have a skeleton of steel?
Again its very unlikely, possibly some limbs or a portion of bone could have been replaced, but it is unlikely it would have actually been steel that was used.  It is medically rather difficult to replace the entire or even parts of the skeleton, there's the issue of no bone marrow (meaning no red or white blood cells being produced) and the question of how do you graft working muscles onto whatever you replace the bone with and have them still working. Also the Human Fly did not appear to walk with any kind of obvious gait / limp - in other words there was nothing obvious to suggest he had been that seriously injured in the first place - just look at the real life racing driver Nicki lauda for a comparison

Did the real life human fly do "good deeds"?
Yes there is is video of The Human Fly visiting kids at a hospital

Was the real life human fly a professional stunt man?
All the evidence suggests he was not, at best he appears to be an enthusiastic amateur. He did not appear to prepare for or practice his stunts adequately and did not seem to be aware of the difference between a risk and outright danger that not preparing /practising can cause

Why did The Human Fly (and or his PR people) say he failed the motorcycle jump at Montreal when he succeeded?
There seems to be no obvious reason for this, but see the next question…

Why did The Human Fly (and or his PR people) blame mechanical failure of the rocket powered motorcycle as the cause of the Montreal accident when it appears to have been bad judgement on the part of The Human Fly?
It is clearly stated that a large insurance policy was taken out against The Human fly just prior to Montreal and this does appear to be at the very least a rather large coincidence…

Was The Human Fly prone to exaggeration?
Although it is fair to allow some leeway in the name of "showmanship" (like you would with a ringmaster in a circus) most of what The Human Fly is recorded as having said does not bare that close scrutiny, a lot of what he said he was going to do, he never did not even in the context of a recorded attempt

How did the press treat The Human Fly?
By all accounts rather cynically and with derisiveness

Was it a mistake to make a comic based on a real-life character?
Actually I think the mistake was the other way around, in taking a real life person and expecting them to become an ideal, when in reality they are just a human person and prone to weaknesses, failures, mistakes and any number of things which would only muddy the waters in terms of them being the physical representation of an ideal.  As an example I can't think that Captain America could ever be actually real, I can certainly imagine a person being as passionately patriotic as Captain America is but within the confines of being a person, not an infallible ideal

Does this mean the comic should have been more "real-to life"?
No, because it is the comic and in particular the heart that Bill Mantlo put into it which is what everyone really remembers and celebrates more than the real life Human Fly - a comic based on what actually happened would have never achieved this

So just to provide a bit more on this, as to my mind this is one of the focal points of my journey through The Human Fly - The idea and the ideal of what The Human Fly could be or what he could represent is something Bill Mantlo strongly believed in, Bill Mantlo believes in the traditional heroic myth and making inspiration by example, in short Bill knew exactly what a mythical hero should do and be, someone for kids to look up to and be inspired by and a hero is exactly what Bill Mantlo is, not just for the comic but for the way he lives he life both in the past and in the here and now

Finally here are some more questions -

Whatever Happened to the Human Fly comic,  to the Stunt competition, to the Human Fly for real and to the comic book character?

Is there a better such of information /answers to all these questions?

All of these and more in NEXT WEEKs final concluding part of my journey into The Human Fly