Tuesday... A Little Rambling, and a Whole Lot of Scott McDaniel

Hard to find time to post these days. I have writing to do, and I've taken on an extra inking assignment to help pay the bills. On top of that, my school board is taking a lot of time these days. On top of the stress about Obama v. McCain and some friends of mine who are running for state office, our district is trying to pass a bond issue November 4th. Thus, I have a lot of meetings going on right now, and a lot of stress. I suppose a wiser, more centered man would just assume that his country, his state, and his town will do the right thing. It ain't that easy for yours truly.

Enough whining. We're all busy, right? In other words, shut the hell up, cartoon-boy, and show us some pretty art. Okay... I get it.

So, on to today's scan. But first- a story!

A few years back, I received a package I didn't expect from my editor. The package contained a half issue of pencils waiting to be inked. Nothing unusual there, right? Well... wrong. These pencils were not by the artist I was inking for that editor at the time. It was not an artist I had ever inked, or a job I had discussed with my editor. Puzzling.

To further complicate the issue, the package arrived a few days before Thanksgiving. So, the editor was not available to answer questions from a confounded inker. Was this a job I was supposed to go ahead and start on? Based on the quality of the pencils, I was kinda hoping so. But, alas, such was not the case.

I did enough detective work on my own to figure out that this job was intended to be inked by someone else. I tracked down that person and sent the pages along. Too bad, as I would have loved to tackle the job. Sucks sometimes... being an honorable man.

So, this mystery job had been drawn by an artist I really admire. Scott McDaniel is a rare beast in comics. He's a relatively unique combination- a guy who is really reliable, but also visually exciting.

Scott's work is incredibly tight, but his style is so interesting that it never seems boring. Basically, when I look at his work I think, "Damn it looks fun to draw like that."

That's enough outta me for now. Enjoy the genius, and come back for more Thursday!

Anj