Original Art Stories: Michael Netzer's Green Hornet
Holy Cats! What you're seeing here are the pencils to four teaser covers for Kevin Smith's Green Hornet issue #3. The story is being discussed, in part, over at Bleeding Cool, but one thing Rich Johnson hasn't done is mention the stunning work by Michael Netzer.
According to Michael, "They’re not the real covers, though they’ll be published with the comic book. They’re produced only to confuse and whet the appetite. I drew these two weeks ago and they’re now being inked by Joe Rubinstein. The art was produced on a computer as a pencil stage for Joe Rubinstein to ink from blue-line prints. Because Dynamite darkened my images to give them an inked feel for the press release, here they are below in their originally drawn state."
I've mentioned Michael's return to commission work not that long ago, and the quality of his output seems to improve with every new commission he completes. Michael is one of those rare artists whose work has not suffered through the years, if anything the self-enforced breaks that he undertakes has meant that he has maintained a freshness to his work. Certainly the use of shadow in his female Kato lends the image an almost Ditkoish feel, highly effective and visually stunning. Let people debate the merits of the story all they want, but Dynamite could do far worse than to offer Michael the opportunity to do a complete book. I know that they're to be inked, and that Joe will do his usual excellent job, but frankly Michael's pencils are at that rare point where inking might actually detract from the detail and fine line he's putting down. What I'd love to see is different inkers taking a pass at the pencils - imagine what John Dell, Alan Weiss, Mark McKenna, Norm Breyfogle, Tim Townsend, Scott Williams or Terry Austin could do with pencils like that!
Without any further ado, here's Michael's original pencil work.
So the only question remaining is, when will Marvel, DC, Dark Horse - hell ANYONE - assign a regular book, or even a decent one-shot to Michael Netzer? I don't know about you but I'd beat a nun with a stick to get my hands on that original art.
After all, didn't Batman met Green Hornet on the idiot box? So why in the pages of a comic book, as drawn by Michael Netzer?
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