My Favorite Things
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My Favorite Things
or: Get Some Slop In There
This week we're going with a blast from the past in the form of X-Men Unlimited #50 which was largely met by fandom, as I recall, with a collective "meh." Win some, lose some.
Be that as it may I had great fun doing it. Partly from working with Lone Wolf and Cub scribe, Kazuo Koike (though I'm not really sure how much of the story was his as opposed to his assistants) but, mostly from a sense of freedom I was starting to allow myself around this time. It had finally dawned on me that, speaking for myself only, the best work comes not from control but from surrender.
By 2003 I'd been drawing for near 50 years and inking with a brush for more than 30. It was time to get out of my own way and just allow what was inside me to happen rather than try to force things. The figure in the last panel of Pg 4 may be the best bit of inking I've ever done. The simplicity, grace and naturalism of it haunts me to this day. Why can't it always be that easy?
Happy Trails
Smitty