Comics veteran Paul Smith—X-Men, Leave it to Chance and The Rocketeer— has a website with lots of art to keep you busy for ages.
Smith is perhaps best known as the artist who took over the X-men after John Byrne’s run so his take on Kitty Pryde, Lockheed and in particular Mohawk Storm remains a nostalgic ones for certain parts of the Gen X audience. IN fact, Smith says it was he who put the mohawk on as a joke – and it stuck.
Smith has been doing some great Rocketeer stuff of late. Nice to see he hasn’t lost his touch.
Smith has also been blogging about his history in comics.
Roy Thomas is doing a book signing. I bring my portfolio along with my comics. I ask if Mr Thomas might take a look, provide some tips. He graciously agrees. Flipping through, he stops when he sees the Conan pieces.
He makes me an offer I can’t refuse. He says he no longer works for Marvel. He can’t hire and he can’t pay… but… he can guarantee this: If I let him mail the pages to Marvel in an envelope with his name and handwriting, Marvel will open the package. He won’t promise print, pay or, most importantly, return of the originals… but Marvel will see them.
While flabbergasted by his generosity, the “too good to be true” light flashes before my eyes. The voice of reason instantly pulls the plug; Two sheets of paper vs the rest of my life. I thank Mr Thomas profusely and step aside for the kids behind me.
- See more at: http://paulmartinsmith.com/blog/i-left-my-heart-winnemucca#sthash.SIbceaWs.dpuf
Paul Smith is a HUGE talent. I totally LOVED his work on Leave it to Chance.
The industry needs more titles like that and the industry needs to remember our veteran comic artist like Paul when looking for talent. I like that new talent is given opportunities, but it’s also sad when good artists no longer get phone calls from publishers.
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I still miss Leave it to Chance… I think it was a little bit ahead of its time. Has it been reprinted recently?
I was just thinking about Leave it to Chance a few weeks ago. I thought it was a great, fun little book. Perhaps it needed a little bit stronger writing, but the concept, and of course the art, were excellent.
Paul Smith was on Uncanny X-Men for probably a littles less than one year yet he made such an impact. Decades later fans still talk about his run in awe.
His clean “less is more” style is a pleasure to behold