Bob Layton News



MARCH 2005
THE VALIANT MOVIES THAT NEVER HAPPENED--PART 2! *by BOB LAYTON*
As I explained in last month's editorial, after the acquisition of Valiant Comics by Acclaim Entertainment in 1995, CEO Greg Fischbach charged me, as Editor-In-Chief and co-creator of the characters, with drafting movie treatments for the three characters that I believed would make the best comics-to-film transition. Eventually, I narrowed the selection down to X-O Manowar, Shadowman and the premise I'm presenting to you this month-- Ninjak. I recently uncovered copies of those three Valiant film treatments during one of my regular forays into the darkened depths of my storage facility. Ninjak was the one character I created at Valiant that I had the most enthusiasm for...and was the most disappointed with in the final analysis. My love for the "James Bond-spy genre" had inspired me to create a character that would fit into the Valiant world--a guy with no super-powers and no allegiance to any of the other characters. He was to be a rogue agent who operated within the shadows of Valiant's universe. I approached Mark Moretti and Joe Quesada about executing the monthly series concept over dinner one evening at a restaurant named Il Tres Merli's in NYC's Soho district. Carefully, I explained what I had in mind and fed them the basic plot concepts for "Black Water" and for subsequent issues Unfortunately, when the time came to actually do the work on the comic series, Quesada was conspicuously absent (Joe was apparently making the comic convention circuit around the country his priority). Pages eventually trickled in from Joe--two one week--three another week--slower than molasses. Not only had the book become dangerously late, but Q's rendition of some of the characters (Dr. Silk in particular) bordered on a ridiculous caricature rather than the very credible, but highly-disturbed, genius I had originally conceived. Nothing was as we had agreed upon over dinner that night. But, due to the fact that the book was over six weeks late (The first book to ever miss it's shipping in the history of Valiant, by the way.) I was forced to go with the watered-down, clichéd versions of my creations. By the time Senior V.P. Steve Massarsky fired Quesada for cause, the Ninjak series was months behind schedule and had editorially spiraled out of control--losing much of the huge readership gained at the series' launch. And, it was almost impossible to find a replacement artist who wanted to inherit a book that was way behind the 8-ball on the production schedule. The Ninjak series never recovered. It went from fill-in artist to fill-in artist--until we mercifully cancelled the series. This was also the basis for the long-running feud that Joe Quesada has perpetuated with me over the years. Somehow, Joe still believes that the NINJAK mess was all my fault. Personally, I believe he behaved unprofessionally and paid the price for it. End of story. But, to this day, I hold fast to my love for the original Ninjak concept. And , as you can see from the Future Comics' Peacekeeper presentation at the bottom of this web page--I still hold fast to my love of the spy genre', as well. I am presenting the Ninjak film treatment, scanned directly off of the original documents. As with the X-O film treatment presented last month, there are several premise changes from the original comic concept, as well as new characters that appeared only in this version. I hope you enjoy this never-before-seen film treatment of Ninjak . 2/27/05		>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE NINJAK TREATMENT>>



	IRON MAN #143 unpublished COVER This cover was rejected after the Editor-In-Chief stated that he wanted more scope on the scene, since it took place in "friggin' outer space". So, in the final version, I made the figures smaller and showed more of the space station and debris. This page was originally penciled back in 1981 and inked by me in 2005. MINIMUM BID: $500.00


reinforced combat armor

CLICK ON THE BANNER ABOVE TO SEE WHAT THE LATEST ISSUE OF WIZARD SAYS ABOUT BOB & DAVID'S CLASSIC WORK ON MARVEL'S ARMORED AVENGER!

FROM BOB'S UNPUBLISHED CONCEPT VAULT FUTURE COMICS' UNPUBLISHED FOURTH TITLE-- *PEACEKEEPER #1* CREATED, DESIGNED & WRITTEN BY BOB LAYTON, CREATED & CO-PLOTTED BY DAVID MICHELINIE ART BY PAT BRODERICK & TERRY AUSTIN WITH COLORS BY TOM SMITH
PEACEKEEPER #1	PEACEKEEPER #1 VARIANT COVER	PAGE 1	PAGE 2	PAGE 3
		PAGE 4	PAGE 5	PAGE 6
		PAGE 7	TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH--
ABOUT THE STORY: The Brahman Objective is a computer-generated blueprint that could lead the population of Earth into a utopian existence. But in the wrong hands, it could be perverted into a plan to control the world's governments and economies. The benevolent Peacekeepers have clandestinely existed for over forty years, slowly manipulating global events to conform to the Brahman Objective--until today! The organization’s founder and mentor to our hero, philanthropist Raymond Soong, is a good man whose only goal is to preserve the American way of life. But when Raymond Soong discovers that one of their own trusted members, Industrialist Arthur Rathrock, is up to some very bad things, Soong is ruthlessly eliminated. In one fell swoop, Rathrock eliminates the Peacekeepers, manipulates their corporate holdings to line his pockets and steals the Brahman Objective--perverting it into a blueprint for global dominance. And from the ashes of this unthinkable holocaust, a single survivor rises: a reluctant hero obsessed with justice, retribution ...and retrieval of the Brahman Objective! ABOUT THE SERIES: PEACEKEEPER could best be described as “The Lone Ranger meets James Bond (with a slight touch of Star Wars)”. Two things primarily influenced me in the creation of the character--Ian Fleming's classic character and the work of Jim Steranko on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. David & I wanted to bring something to the Future Comics Universe that had that same global feel as Bond, since our other three series were set in specific locates. The thing that sets the Peacekeeper apart, from other characters in this genre’, is his morality...a quality something that's sorely lacking in most of today's characters. He's governed and motivated by a strong sense of morality and compassion for his fellow human beings… a man of vision and lofty ideals. He's the spy--with a heart. All Concepts & Illustrations (C) 2005 by David Michelinie & Bob Layton