All e-mails sent to Bob may be published on this Letters Page unless withholding is specifically requested.

Bob,

I heard that on your website you stated that the new Valiant owners are not big fans of yours. 

Like a lot of fan rumors, it is very far from the truth.  I thought I would finally set the record straight with an email to you.

I strongly believe in the earlier Valiant stories, much of which was of course co-created by you.  I also recently read Dr. Tomorrow and found the story really thought provoking (and would like to find out your intended story for the last issue).

I have a lot of respect for your work.  Dinesh is a big fan of Valiant and your work too as you already know.  If you are planning on coming to New York, please do let me know.  If you are planning on heading to LA, you should contact my partner, Dinesh. 

We both look forward to meeting you.

Best,
Jason Kothari

Jason,

Thank you for clarifying the situation.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said that I heard that info from multiple sources. But, as I have experienced on various occasions, there are some on the message board who are simply mean-spirited and take great delight in creating situations such as this one. 

I apologize for my part in the misunderstanding.

I also thank you for acknowledging my efforts in bringing the Valiant Universe to life.  If you are a regular visitor to boblayton.com, then you know how passionate I have remained about those characters, regardless of the passing of time.  I consider the Valiant years as the high point of my long career in comics.

I'll have to go through my files and try to locate my original plot synopsis for Dr. Tomorrow #12.  When I find it, I'll send you a copy AND post it here for everyone to enjoy. ( I do recall that in my version--Bart Simms returns to the 1940's with the capsule and prevents himself from becoming Dr. Tomorrow--setting the Valiant universe and history aright.)

Although I have no plans to visit NYC in the near future, I will probably be in L.A. sometime in the next few months.  I would love to meet with Dino while I'm out there.

Thanks again for taking the time to clear this matter up with me. 

I feel better now.

Dear Mr. Layton,
I met you at the Toronto Comic Convention on weekend of April 28-30, 2006. I was very excited to meet you as I have been a fan for many years. But I must say, I was very disappointed with our meetings.
I say meetings because I spoke with you a few times during the weekend. On Friday, I waited in line to meet you (giddy as a school girl) not believing that I was going to meet the man who started off my twenty-year love affair with comics and whose art and talent I admired very much. So I fought through my nervousness and told you how Iron Man #223 was the very first comic I ever read and because of that, Iron Man's red and silver armour had a special place in my heart. You then proceeded to tell me that you hated that armour and basically you drew it under protest and, I quote, "a gun to your head." First off, if that truly was the case, no matter what you may think, your fans do not want to hear that. I certainly didn't. Imagine my sadness to know that the character (specifically that version of the character) I had loved for so many years was hated by the artist that drew him.
So after you went on your rant about how bad you thought the armour was ("the higher-ups wanting a more samurai feel, etc."), I decided to grin and bear it and ask for a simple head sketch of Iron Man in the red and silver armour. You asked if I had paid the $50.00 and I said no. You then looked at me like I was idiot. I was not looking for a finished drawing. I only wanted a simple head sketch. Something that for someone of your talent would take a couple of minutes tops. You said you had to do drawings for the paying customers first. I completely understood. You then asked if I was going to be there on Saturday. I said yes and you told me to leave my book with you and you would see what you cold do. Although a little heartbroken, I really was ecstatic! I had never asked an artist to do a sketch for me before and here I was going to get Bob Layton...THE...Bob Layton to be the first page in my book! I couldn't stop smiling!
So Saturday morning arrives. I'm really hoping you did a sketch...headshot...whatever of the RED and SILVER armour, but I would have been happy with anything! I get to the table, almost ready to explode with anticipation when I see you berating another fan because he didn't write on your list what he wanted you to draw and because of that he had to wait. I started thinking, "uh-oh, what list?" I didn't know of any list. But I was really hoping that after my gushing accolades to you and your work and our lengthy conversation on the red and silver armour, you would have remembered. You didn't. And because of that you hadn't touched the book. You proceeded to talk in a VERY condescending manner to me. I mean, VERY condescending. I was shocked to say the least. Maybe the list WAS on the table. I didn't see it. Had I known it was there, I certainly would have signed it.
What you have to understand is that fans of your work admire and look up to you. You are a legend in the comics field. When someone who has been looking forward to meeting you finally gets to shake your hand and tell you the influence you have had on their life, they are not looking around. They are looking at you and nothing else. Out of respect we want to give you our undivided attention as we know your time is valuable. So sometimes you might have to tell them there is a list on the table. And if you won't do a sketch at all (unless money is involved) then tell your fans that. Don't tell them that you will do a sketch for them and then make them wait a day and a half to get it (and in this case, still didn't get it.). It's self centered, it's unfair and above all, it's cruel. You should be ashamed of yourself.
But what can I say. I'm a glutton for punishment. After all the waiting, the condescending way you spoke to me and my disappointment of knowing that the image of a character that had brought me so much joy in my childhood and introduced me to the wonderful word of comics was something that you hated and did under protest, I still REALLY wanted YOU to be the FIRST artist to do a sketch in my book. So I waited again. I waited for a long time. I came by the table a few times over the next couple of hours. I just wanted a simple head sketch. Nothing more. Just something that said, "Bob was here."
So after you had it all Friday, Friday night, and over half of the day Saturday, I finally gave up on you and I asked for my sketchbook back. You seemed shocked that I did that, but to me, it was no longer worth it. You were no longer worth it. You said smiling, "What? Ran out of patience?" It almost seemed as if you were waiting for me to give up. I said, "Totally, but thanks anyways." and walked away. To get mad at you then would have been pointless. I did not want a "pity" sketch or just something to get me out of there. Getting a sketch that way would not have meant the same thing. I wanted a sketch from a man I had admired and who had brought me a lot of joy as a child. I cannot tell you how hurt I was. You lost a devoted fan that weekend, Bob.
I don't know what else to say other than please remember this letter the next time you are at a convention. There are still fans that are going to want to meet you. Treat them with the respect they deserve because without them, you would not be where you are today. You may have gripes with the industry, but that is not the fans' fault. They have their own vision of what it is like to work on certain projects and characters. Why ruin that vision for them. And if they do not know "how you work" at conventions. Let them know. They will appreciate it in the end.
Sincerely,
Dan Scott

Dan,

I distinctly remember apologizing to you for failing to get to your particular FREE headshot drawing in the time you were allotting me.

Had you been more patient, I would have easily gotten to it by the end to Saturday.  But, I distinctly remember you getting your 'tail in a knot' and taking off.

Let clear up one really important point here: drawing is how I make my living.  I do charge for the service and try very hard to give each customer their money's worth. I worked my ass off to insure everyone got a drawing while I was at the show--even staying up all night on Friday in a vain attempt to catch up with the very long waiting list. The fact that you're upset that I didn't put aside the drawings of other people, who paid good money to have them done, just to do you a freebee (that I acquiesced to do out of the goodness of my heart), is simply selfish, in my opinion.

You are the ONLY person at that show to make any sort of claim to my being rude or disrespectful to the fans.  I've received a score of e-mails since returning home from people at the show--thanking me for my attendance, patience and candor there.

I find it odd that out of the hundreds of people at the Paradise Comics Con, you seem to be the only one who took issue with me.

I have never been condescending or rude to my fans--especially at cons-- and I take exception to that remark. I make my living  these days by the good graces of my fans, so it wouldn't make much sense for me to be shitting on them, would it? So, something doesn't jive with your version of events, Dan.

However, I'm genuinely sorry that you feel so negatively about me.

The fact that my artistic opinions don't coincide with your imagined ideals of how I should feel about a certain Iron Man armor is, quite frankly, ludicrous. I'm totally entitled to my opinion concerning my own work, whether you (or anyone else) agrees with it or not.

In truth, I've always hated the concept of a big, bulky Silver Centurion armor--but not the actual armor itself (and I have stated that many times on my website).  After all, I DID design the bloody thing.

However, if you had taken the time to ask me to clarify my statement, I would have been happy to explain what I meant by it.  But, you didn't bother. You simply stormed away.  

Too bad. 

You seemed like a nice fellow to me. I suppose that why I agreed to do you a FREE sketch in the first place. And--the offer still stands.  All you have to do is ask politely.

Dan, I decided to run your less-than-flattering e-mail on this letters page, just to demonstrate to my readers that I don't filter out the negative comments (true or false) when they come.

Hi Bob,
A bit of background: I'm e-mailing from the UK where I've been a Marvel comics collector for the last 40 years. Needless to say I've been a fan of yours ever since your outstanding stint on Iron Man. I was lucky enough to find a link to your site yesterday and I've spent all my spare time for the last 48 hours looking over your galleries. Some absolutely brilliant pieces in there. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to commission a piece of art from you. I did read somewhere in your archive that you were a little reluctant to ship overseas. As I've fallen out of love with comics a little over the last couple of years I've become much more interested in getting original artwork from people I admire. I was fortunate last year to commission the great Gene Colan to do me a piece (clash on the rooftops - which is featured on his web-site) which is just stunning and I can assure you that any artwork from yourself would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time
Dr. Paul Sharpe

Paul,

I'm pleased that you enjoyed surfing through my website. Since that post that you read in the archives, I've availed myself of a PayPal account and have begun taking commissions from overseas.  In fact, these days, one-in-three assignments are coming from Canada or Europe (mostly the U.K.)

So, for those of you that have been reluctant to order a commission because of living outside of the U.S.--worry no more.  However, you should be aware that the postage is a little steep and can run you between $30-$40 dollars U.S..

Thanks for giving me a chance to clarify this overseas situation here, Paul.

Bob Layton:
I chatted with you briefly at the end of the (Paradise) con – including taking the picture of you and Pat Davidson.  
You noted that I should take a quick scan at your website to see what you have been up to since Valiant. Extremely interesting: especially your commentary on the lack of professionalism with “some of the current” larger comic companies and the new business model attempt with Future Comics.  
Interestingly enough, that is what I do: I help companies be and stay more professional while helping the founders and owners achieve their own goals. Previously, I was the entertainment & “pop-culture” research & investment analyst for a large consulting firm.
I wanted to chat with you since I have been following the comic market and while there isn’t a recovery and “spike” like the one back in the early to mid-nineties, there is a subtle one. Potentially, there is an opportunity to pick up where CrossGen dropped off (replacing Acclaim’s drop-off): as a potential #3 company. I wanted to open a discussion about this and get your opinion. I noticed that you are doing some smaller projects with Dick (Giordano)… but do you think it is time to do something more?  
You had some significant success with Valiant – turning it around and helping it get sold as Editor in Chief and Senior VP.
I would enjoy starting a conversation in this direction.

Yours truly,
Derrek S. Lennox

Derrek,

Do I think it's time to do more for me, specifically...or the comics industry in general?

That depends on what 'more' means, Derrek.  It's not like I've been sitting on my hands since Future Comics, ol' chum.

First off, I’ll be kicking off the first installment of a new, free, web-comic series entitled--COLONY this month.   The series launch will begin with the second part of the saga and will be serialized here each month, exclusively on this website, until the saga is done--probably several years from now.

But, why do a web comic instead of launching a new, print comic book or comics line?

It goes back to when I was developing the project and the first round of pitch meetings on the project.

I had several producers read the entire screen treatment for Colony and they absolutely loved it but my Rep kept hearing back that they thought the premise was simply too big for the small screen. I remembered reading an interview with George Lucas, where he stated that he couldn't get any studio to bite on the Star Wars concept until he had Ralph McQuarrie paint those now-famous pre-production illustrations. That's when I decided to do the comic version first--to demonstrate how the words on the page translate, not only into powerful images, but a workable and compelling continuing story.
Also, with the large audience I’m now getting on this site, it's conceivable that I could reach as many regular, monthly readers than any given Marvel comic.  That was enough for me.

But that doesn't really answer your question, does it?

(Okay--it was another shameless plug...I'll admit it.)

Let’s discuss what needs to be done in the current comic industry.

In my opinion, the biggest problem today, and why you'll probably never see another Valiant or CrossGen, is Diamond Comic Distributors.

Independent thinkers need to find the leverage to break this monopoly and force them to compete in a fair marketplace.

I had nothing but bad experiences with Diamond during my days of operating Future Comics. They rarely followed up on any request and never promoted our products as promised. During that time, there was more than a hint of collusion between Quebecor and Diamond. 

All of that resulting in nothing but huge financial problems for us.
And today, Diamond is creating new distribution policies that will ultimately eliminate the Indy publisher.

In hindsight, it now seems clear that getting rid of the small press is the best way for the two (Quebecor and Diamond) to insure spreading the finite amount of consumer dollars evenly amongst their larger and more profitable clients. There's simply too much product being produced in the Direct Market each month. Marvel and DC (being corporately-owned) have to make their numbers. And, they do that by dumping more and more product into the Direct Market to bolster sagging sales on other titles. It is foolish and counter-productive to think that Diamond would ask Marvel and DC to cut the amount of monthly product. The simplest solution seems to be to get rid of Indy publishers.

So now, Diamond has begun placing Draconian regulations on distributing small print runs of comics.
End result: More rack space for their larger clients.
So, if someone is currently contemplating the possibility of becoming an independent publisher—I’d advise them to think long and hard about self-distribution.

Direct distribution to every comic shop in North America via the Internet is not a pipe dream.  I did it. And, for a short time, it was working. Before we succumbed to Diamond's advances, we had nearly half of all comic shops ordering directly from us.

If I wasn't successful at it, but that was probably due to me and my lack of experience in the distribution side of things (amongst other shortcomings that I'll admit to.). 

But--Future Comics did prove that the business model could work.

As I've said on several occasions to my marketing genius pal, John (Zoom Suit) Taddeo--if I had had him running the marketing at Future, I would still be publishing today!

So--let's get the readers opinion on the possibility of a creating a new business model for comics.  Send me your e-mails and I'll continue this topic next month.

Thanks for the thought-provoking questions, Derrek.

Hey Bob!

Care to comment on Hercules: Full Circle? We are discussing it here: http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70668
I can't find much info on it anywhere!
Web Hobbit

Dear Web-Hobbit (Not your real name--I presume.)

I think you said it all pretty well on the forum. 

After the graphic novel, I did a three-part Arimathes/Herc story that appeared in Marvel Comics Presents.

I submitted a plot for a last Herc story but left Marvel for Valiant before anything happened with it. Years later, after returning to freelance life, I retooled it for Marvel's "The End" series and resubmitted it.  Unfortunately, I received no response from editor about the story.  Not a phone call, e-mail or smoke signal.

Anyway, I'm sending you a copy of the springboard for that mini-series.  I thought you might get a kick out of reading it and seeing where it was all going to go.

Thanks for kind words about a series that was a labor of love for me.

1. The Summer 2006 Mega Movie Issue of WIZARD pretty much confirmed that Venom will be one of the villains in SPIDEY 3. The film, as you no doubt know, will also feature ol’ Webhead’s black suit. This is great news for Michelinie/Layton fans. Bob, you worked on the SECRET WARS miniseries, which debuted the symbiotic Spidey suit, and designed the SW toy line. Mr. Michelinie created Venom!

Question: Do you feel at least a hint of satisfaction with any of this, knowing your and David¹s work will be a part of it?
Meanwhile, I finally saw SPIDEY 2. My local Wal-Mart had a VHS copy for $3.88. Bought it, watched it, loved it! Funny thing: The movie Doc Ock was based upon the Ultimate Spider-Man version, whose origin in the comic was loosely linked to... Ultimate Justin Hammer.

1.  I can take absolutely no credit for the symbiotic suit or Venom.  Although I was involved in creating the designs for the Secret Wars toys (see this month's Art Find of the Month), the concepts came from elsewhere.  As far as Venom--that was all Michelinie ( Sorry, Todd McFarlane--!). Although Todd was the regular artist on the Spider-Man book, the concept for the Venom character was 100% David Michelinie.

Personally, I hope David gets a huge payday for the use of Venom in Spider-Man 3.  If so—I know there'll be a free dinner in it for me somewhere down the line! 

 2. Roughly, how long does it take to produce a regular monthly comic book -- story, script, art, editing, printing -- provided all parties involved are doing their jobs in a timely manner?

2. Are you asking me how long does it take to cook a three-minute egg?

A month.

The quick response would be two weeks for each step of the writing, penciling and inking.  Since editors feed the pages to the next process in small increments, the whole project is being worked on simultaneously in the different stages. The really smart editors make sure to build "wiggle room" into their schedules by creating inventory issues or guest penciler issues--or creating a backlog of material prior to a series' release. Unfortunately, that sort of editorial bird is a rare breed.

 3. Who decides on advertising placement inside of a comic book, and how is the placement decided upon?

3. Generally, the companies have departments dedicated to bringing in advertisements and such to supplement revenue and defray the unit costs of producing their monthly line of books.  During the speculator boom, the ad revenue actually covered the costs of producing, printing and distributing the books (man--those were good times!).  These days, most advertising (at least, in the Big Two's case) are subsidiary departments or in-house ads which are provided gratis.

 4. Are advertising costs based upon where in the comic ads are placed (near the front, in the middle, near the back)?

4. The inside covers and back of the mag generally demand a higher fee than interior pages. Ad rates are also tied exclusively to circulation--which is why ad revenues are down around the board in today's comics.  If you look at the number of a company's monthly comics in circulation, the combined totals set the rates that a company can charge for ad space.  That's why you'll see a Hell of a lot more ads in People Magazine than you'll see in a comic book.  Most advertisers look at that total circulation and make a determination as to where to spend their ad dollars. 

Comics are generally at the bottom of that list.

 5. One of my biggest pet peeves is a comic book cover NOT drawn by the artist who does the book¹s guts. To me, I’d think that providing the cover illo would be icing on the cake for the comic¹s artist. Would you provide your thoughts on this, since you were a top cover artist at Marvel?

5. I know from my first stint as Marvel as a cover artist (at one time, I did about six a month), that the editorial thinking was that not all artists are good cover illustrators. And--in some cases, that is true. A cover should tell the maximum amount of story with a minimum of copy or explanation (which is why I hate today's meaningless pin-up covers). Getting the assignment to draw a cover (which paid rate-and-a-half at my time at Marvel) was definitely the "icing on the cake", Mike. However, the sales of a book are, most assuredly, tied to the appeal of the cover. Companies tend to use folks whose work is the most popular at the time to increase the revenue.  It's simple math.  I know that I've purchased several comics in my lifetime just because the cover was 'The Bomb!

But personally, I prefer to have the 'collars and cuffs' match.
Thanks for the insightful questions, Mike. 

See you next month!

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