Cast No Shadow

There is no theme here.

Subjects can be important and real or utter nonsense. Mostly I'll be the one spouting off, but look for occasional guest editorials and visuals from comic writers, artists, novelists, friends and acquaintances. At least that's the idea. This space is for thought. Or not.

About Time

06.21.2003

The site hasn't been updated in over a year. When I began it 3 years ago I promised myself this kind of thing wouldn't happen, but here we are. I know what it's like to check out a site on a somewhat regular basis and see the same damn thing over and over and over. It's frustrating, huh? I hear you. I can't say it won't happen again, but I'll certainly try.

Catch up:

Captain America is finished (for now) and I've started back to work on Planetary. Planetary/Bat-Man will be out by the time you read this (see below). I'm currently working on Planetary issues#16-18 and can tell you the stories are as sharp and fun as ever. I'm having a good time with the characters of my sentimental youth (the late 90s!). Warren continues to kick ass in his own unique way and is pulling more pieces of the puzzle together. DC and Wildstorm have been exceptionally patient and we hope to reward them, as well as the faithful readers. For those of you who discovered my work with Captain America, I hope you'll check out Planetary. The covers for the next three installments are up in the "NEWS" section. They'll look even sharper once we've ironed out the design elements. I have special plans for them. They're gonna be hot.

Planetary/Bat-Man:

At first I wasn't going to draw this. It was a crossover and I was wanting to work on only the regular series and let someone else handle this.

But it was Batman.

When I was four years-old I was in the hospital with walking pneumonia. My Aunt Bess came to visit and brought me a gift. It was a hardcover book called BATMAN: FROM THE 30's TO THE 70's. It started with the first Bob Kane stories and moved on through different decades and creators, all the way up to Neal Adams' groundbreaking efforts of the 1970's. It's because of this that I had such a schizophrenic idea of Batman; no one single artist imbodied the character in my mind. At four years-old I couldn't tell which stories were old, new or out of the ordinary. I just knew they were all different and wonderfully strange.

Each chapter/era contained a cover gallery that helped fuel my imagination. "What were these stories? What's happening under that cover? Why's Batman carrying an unconscious Robin through an alien flower garden?" I love every page of that book. It's the core of my love for the character. Batman is timeless. He's from anywhere, anytime and drawn by any number of talents.

When Warren told me what he was going to do with the character, I rethought my decision and signed on. This was a good chance to exercise my perception of the character. But don't be mistaken, it's not MY Batman. It's the Batman of artists and writers before. A tribute. The rare chance to evaluate a character from his beginnings and take him through his youth, into his mid-life crisis and eventually hint at what might be around the corner. Part of me wishes we could have done twice as much, there are so many other incarnations left out that I'd like to play with.

I'm grateful to Warren for writing such a fun, topnotch tale, to DC for letting us play in their sandbox with little (but not nonexistent) interference, to Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Dick Sprang, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Frank Miller (my fave) and Alex Ross for the inspiration and hard work, to my mom for calling me crazy if I turned it down...

...and finally, most importantly — Thanks to my Aunt Bess for the big hardcover Batman book when I was four. I just wish I hadn't colored all over the damn thing.

- J