that's rich!

okay...

the other day, when i did my little dissertation on our run of sensational spider-mans, i (purposely) neglected to mention the third member of our web-thwippin' team, my pal, rich case.

i, of course, knew rich's name even before i got into the biz, having LOVED his wacky, quirky art alongside grant morrison's wacky, quirky stories in doom patrol! it was, i have to say, a very rich and fertile time in my life--and, i think, in comics--and the doom patrol was way out there on the edge...and yet, everyone i knew was reading it! (the early 90's was a time so rife with potential in comics, and especially karen berger's new vertigo line. man...some great books...) i remember thinking that it was one thing for grant to come up with this bizarre, insane stuff, but it was rich who had to literally draw the undrawable! (if you get a chance, check these books out--they're all available in trade. they'll bend your head!)

and so, with mike and i hired on to write and draw sensational spider-man, it was rich, mike's studiomate, who was lured in to be the inker. a power trio to be reckoned with--we had fun!

well, mike and i did.
i can remember thinking that rich was gonna hate us our third issue in when the villain was the bee-colony, hive mind known as SWARM! i had all of new york infested with a plague of bees, there were bees everywhere!...and rich had to ink them all! hundreds and thousands of little, tiny, buzzy bees...!
mike called me one afternoon and said that rich was crying....


as mike would need a break now and then from the monthly grind, rich grabbed me at the end of one of our group phone calls to ask if i'd wanna do a fill-in issue with him? that he had an idea and maybe we could spitball it a bit. now, i'm thinking, i'm gonna be able to work with rich as a penciller?! man! too cool! what weird, bizarre, guy-with-a-chandelier-for-a-head, wackiness could i come up with for rich to pit against spidey?
fortunately, rich had much more than just an idea. and one issue became two, featuring spidey versus the new living pharaoh, and the creation of a girl named akasha. rich and my friend, andrew hennessey, and i even took a trip to the metropolitan museum of art to get some reference photos for rich and absorb as much of that ancient egyptian flavor as we could get.
the issues turned out great!




currently, rich is working in video game design and doing some of the coolest stuff i've seen in a long time! i have to say, i'm fascinated by the whole process, seeing these things go from sketches to drawings to 3d art to actual buildings and landscapes and worlds that you can walk around in!
here are a couple pieces that rich has conceptualized, but check out his blog at

http://rhomblog.blogspot.com/

as he takes us through the process and shows how it all comes together!





sweet stuff, rich!
thanks!

here's "five for friday"

1. what was the name of the arcade video game that featured a spy traveling from floor to floor in a building shooting counter spies?

2. what were the names of the ghosts in pac man?

3. what was the name of the sequel to nintendo's banjo and kazooie?

4. who is the hero in the legend of zelda?

5. what does tetris mean in russian?

that's it!
smell ya later!
todd