Perhapablog

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

a beautiful tribute

okay...

i have talked a bit about my friend, rich case, before, and i will again in a week or so when perhapanauts 2 hits the stands and you all get a chance to see the wonderful illustrations he provided for our second back-up story, "the other arisa." rich was one of mike's studio mates back when they had this great workspace called artamus studios. they worked side-by-side as a matter of fact and it was fun to talk with both of them while we were doing sensational spider-man; mike pencilling, rich inking, and yours truly telling them what to draw.

a few weeks ago, rich shared his tribute piece with matt and i and we've spoken about it a couple of times. it is beautiful and glorious and captures mike in such an honest and intimate way.

this IS mike, this is his environment, this is his dream.

if i look at it too long, i do get sad. but then i keep looking at it, and it fills me with joy.
this is more than a tribute to mike and his work.
it's a reflection of who he was.
and is.

thanks, rich.


13 comments:

Adam Hutch said...

Wow. That is just beautiful. Great job Rich, can't wait to see that Perhapanauts back-up. Todd, the Living Pharoah story you and Rich did in Spider-Man was a lot of fun.

I always loved when Mike posted his non-superhero sketches on his blog (Fly-Boy, Space-Girl, Saturn-Kid, etc). My favorite was called Fall and it was just a little boy looking up at some falling leaves.

alison said...

This is gorgeous - and transporting. How wonderful it must have been for him to live with such worlds filling his waking hours. Some of us only visit them while we are dreaming or feasting on the creations of others, such as Mike. Thanks Rich and Todd for sharing.

Christian D. Leaf said...

That's a tribute's tribute. Kudos, Rich.

Scott Weinstein said...

That's a stunning piece, Rich. I love it. Beautiful.

Todd, you should post it on the forum. I bet someone out there would want to color it.

Brian said...

If something could break your heart with joy, this would be it.

Matt Wieringo said...

Like I told Rich, that illustration says everything there is to say. I can't imagine a more fitting portrayal of what made Mike Mike.

Not to turn mercenary here (it is for charity, after all) but it should be said that Rich's drawing will be in the Hero Initiative tribute to Mike book coming out very soon. Make sure you all buy one. That way, you can have this beautiful artwork in print form, along with a ton of others by a whole bunch of talented folks. I've only seen a few of them. They're all great but this one is special.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Wow....just wow.....That is a fantastic piece/fitting tribute. And I agree, Todd, that while it does make me sad to look at, it made me smile because it captures how Mike' work makes me feel.

I can't wait to see Rich's back up story. I like his work alot so it'll be a real treat to see new comic work from him!

I agree with Adam, I always loved Mike's non-superhero posts as well. My fave was his story with the 2 dogs he saved and then posted about.(I think I've posted about this before too)

Rich Faber said...

Truly stunning.

Rich is such a talent. And obviously such a treasured friend of Mike's.

Thanks for posting this, guys.

Best,
Rich

renecarol said...

Wow Rich. It is beautiful!

Unknown said...

Thanks all. As I've told Todd and our pal and former Artamus mate, Casey, this was one of the toughest piece for me to work on. I started various ideas but they just didn't seem right. When it finally did come together, I really got in the zone and it fell into place.

I'll post some of my thoughts on the creation of this on my own site soon, but I'm glad Mike's friends like it.

This IS how Mike lives on... (at least that's how I see it.)
--Rich

Russ Burlingame said...

My new wallpaper. Beautiful job, Rich.

Anonymous said...

ha, I am going to experiment my thought, your post give me some good ideas, it's really awesome, thanks.

- Thomas

Anonymous said...

last few days our class held a similar discussion about this subject and you show something we haven't covered yet, thanks.

- Kris