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

Dear Bob,

In your recent letter column, you wrote, "It's not any one person that is keeping me out of Marvel.  It is my distrust for the 'operators' in general....It was the inane editorial screw jobs I got on 'Dr. Tomorrow', [etc.]... that convinced me that I needed to put that bullshit behind me just to keep my sanity." 

I wondered what you meant by that, so I pulled out my old copies of the full Dr. Tomorrow series and was amazed to see that you had been evicted from your writing duties on the last issue!  That's got me insanely curious now:  What would YOUR ending to the Dr. Tomorrow series have been like?  

Can you please share?  Thanks!

Mike Partyka (reader of Valiant old & new + Future Comics + Colony)

Mike,

I tried to dig out the actual Dr. Tomorrow plot for issue #12 with the intent to publish a synopsis for everyone in this month's web updates. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find that document.  It was on an old computer that has long since been retired.  So I've been tearing up the warehouse looking for a hard copy.  But so far--no luck.

Concerning my premature departure from the series, the whole Dr. Tomorrow fiasco was one of the lowest points of my career and the only time I’ve ever walked off of a project. 

I have always prided myself on my professionalism and it took some truly heinous behavior to get me to abandon a series that I was so committed to doing.

For the record: The deal with my creating Dr. Tomorrow was part of the settlement of my lawsuit with Acclaim for ‘obstruction of duties’.  In order to look like ‘one, big, happy family’, Acclaim’s lawyers insisted that I stay on at the company for one year as a writer—in order to give the public impression that the settlement was amiable. 

But, nothing could have been further from the truth. 

Greg Fischbach, the company’s C.E.O. and my mortal enemy, had clandestinely ordered the staff to make my 12 month stint as a writer a living Hell, which they did without hesitation (By the way: I was told this by a reliable Acclaim staffer who had remained a loyal friend to me through all of this.).  What ensued was a systematic botching the deals I had made with potential pencilers (like Gil Kane), regular delaying of my paychecks, constant egregious editorial changes, etc.  And, the worst offense was the day I was going into the hospital for a routine procedure. According to the terms of my insurance coverage, I was required to notify the carrier of my hospitalization prior to admittance.  The day I went into the hospital, Acclaim cancelled my health insurance—a provision of my contract that was guaranteed in the lawsuit settlement.  With little recourse, I had to threaten to sue Acclaim once again before they reinstated my health coverage. But through it all, I kept working on Dr. Tomorrow, trying desperately to produce a quality product while being buried alive in Acclaim’s bullshit.

So, as I approached the end of the series, Fabian Nicieza had one last bomb to lob at me—telling me that he had decided to alter the approved outline of the series, in order to keep the character alive for other titles in his doomed V2 universe.  

In my original draft, the Bart Simms character dies while preventing the time capsule from going back to the past to alter the events that created Dr. Tomorrow.  Simms succeeds in altering the timeline, wiping clean the misery of his life as a superhero and ending the series with him as a normal old man in present day-- with no recollection of this alternate, fantastic timeline.

However, once Fabian ordered me to change the agreed-upon ending to the series, I decided that this was ‘the last straw’.

I told him to get someone else to write it and left the company.

I think it’s just a shame that Dr. Tomorrow never had a chance.

Mike, you have my word that as soon as I find that original plot synopsis to Dr. Tomorrow #12, I'll publish it here on the website

Fair enough?

Bob,

Any thoughts on Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man? Just curious what you think!

Thanks,

Heath McKnight

Heath

I have mixed feelings about it. The day that Hollywood sent out the announcement in their press release, I got about 20 e-mails from fans asking my opinion on the choice of Downey as Tony Stark.

First off, without a doubt, Robert Downey is a fine actor.  I've enjoyed many of his amazing performances.  I recall that there was a huge fervor about Michael Keaton playing Batman as I recall, but he wound-up up pulling off the role.

Add to the mix that Downey's real-life battle with substance abuse can actually add to the actor's credibility in the part of Tony Stark

But, is Downey the man I envisioned as the Armored Avenger?  God, no!

He's too old and too small in stature for the role, in my opinion. My vision of Tony Stark is a man well over six feet in height and at least in his early thirties.  A boy wonder, so to speak!    

If this is to be a film franchise, how is Downey going to perform six-to-ten years from now playing one of the most well-known playboys in the world?

That being said, I wish Downey luck and keep my fingers crossed that he pulls it off.  But, from what I've heard from insiders while I was in Hollywood last month, the production has been plagued with a myriad of political problems going on behind the scenes. 

That's not encouraging news, I'm afraid.

http://www.hardhero.com//ironmanstatue.html  

Dear Bob,

I have been a 'very big' fan of Iron Man ever since the 70s.  The two reasons are Mr. John Romita Jr. and Mr. Bob Layton's awesome artwork.

Every time I see an Iron Man's comic, I can easily identify if it is a 'Bob Layton's Iron Man'. I would like to thank you for your hard work on the Iron Man comics which kept me entertained during the 70s/80s.

May I kindly ask: was it you or John Romita Jr. who gave the Iron Man of the 70s/80s its distinctive look/style?  (E.G.  the re-designed helmet,  the silver-ish gleaming metal look.)

I recently came across a company called Hard Hero who created a statue of Iron Man.   Please see the web page link (far left):

This Iron Man design/style in my opinion is strongly based on your/John's Iron Man work during the 80s. The helmet is almost a carbon copy of your/John's style. I am ordering one hopefully by next week.  Finally, I can own an Iron Man statue based on your/John's design/style.

Do you know if there any plans by Marvel to release a Iron Man book based on all your work? I read on the Internet that the Iron Man comic isn't the same anymore after John/you left the project.  I notice that the artwork was definitely not the same anymore.

Is it ok if I ask how old were you when you started work on the Iron Man comic?

The Iron Man's armor has changed over the years.  The Iron Man's armor of today tries to incorporate too much technology and it has lost its organic muscular look.  I think sometimes, it looked some what fragile. 

Your Iron Man design/style will always be the best as it captured the essence of Iron Man very well.  It has that heavy metal/robust feel--literally.

Okay.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Take care & God bless,

Leonard Yeo  

Leo,

Marvel has recently released a trade paperback of the Iron Man alcohol saga but, as far as I know, there are no plans to release any other trades of the classic Michelinie/Layton runs.

As far as the responsibilities of creating the art, JR.JR basically did breakdowns for me and left the finished look entirely to my discretion. Johnny was one of the strongest natural storytellers that I've ever worked with and I rarely had to do anything to alter his work--I merely enhanced it and added the various metal techniques.  

The statue looks great--but it's hard to say if it was actually based on any particular drawing by Johnny or me.

Thanks so much for all the kind words about my contributions to the legacy of comics' greatest armored character--the Invincible Iron Man.

Hi again

You've said in the past that during Birthquake (and maybe even before that) you weren't that active in editing the VALIANT line, a virtual prisoner in your office "playing video games" or something like that. I was wondering, in light of that, what do you make of this page/parody from PunX #3? Is there anything in particular that inspired it?

Thanks!

Mike Sacal

Mike,

I have to be honest with you, after a few months of being exiled in my office, I quit looking at the Valiant books altogether.  It was far too painful for me to see what was occurring to the line without any editorial vision or guidance.

As many of my fans may already know, I got into a shouting match with Greg Fischbach, the C.E.O. of Acclaim, once he started allowing his suits to make wholesale changes in the characters and premises of our books. Greg, in his infinite wisdom, removed most of my authority and gave it to Steve Massarsky, Jon Hartz and the junior editorial staff.  

He couldn't fire me, because he'd have to pay me the full term of my contract.  So--Fischbach basically locked me in my office for the next year and a half.  During that time, I played video games and read boating magazines, while they continued to pay me 12K a month in salary for doing absolutely nothing.

I literally had nothing to do with the creation of the Valiant line after that. If you look back at it, you can see the point where I no longer influenced the line.  It sticks out like a sore thumb.

As shocking as it may seem, I have never even seen that Punx page until you sent it to me. So-- what is my opinion?

Keith Giffen is a funny guy!

1. The 2006 NFL football season is in full swing!  So I need to know: Have you ever, just for fun, designed a new uniform for the New York Jets?
By the way, your Jets meet my Vikings who have new uniforms this year in Minneapolis on December 17 (Week 15). The Vikes have re-adopted their purple ‘Easter-egg’ pants, as part of their away uniforms, from 1961.

1. No.  Although I'm intrigued at the concept of redesigning my favorite team's uniforms, I've never taken a shot at it.  Perhaps I'll give it a try the next time I have a free moment. On a related note, the was a football related project that David Michelinie and I were involved in a few years ago where we redesigned the entire National Football League. The proposed movie project, entitled "QB-1", was a concept brought to us by screenwriters Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Deep Blue Sea, Tomb Raider). In the proposal, cybernetic enhancements were introduced to the league's rules and the result of that decision leads to some sinister and dangerous consequences.  There were seven pages of presentation art created for the project by Ron Lim, Brad D. Nault, Dick Giordano and me.  Here's a rare shot of the mocked-up cover to the proposed graphic novel:

2. Here’s a touchy one. These days, with comics companies trying like mad to squeeze every nickel out of their various characters by licensing their use in film, video games, toys, and etc., how can sketch and commissions artists draw these various characters without having to pay royalties to the characters' owners?

2. Mike, in the long run, every Iron Man sketch or commission that I create helps keep the legacy of the character alive and generates new interest in that property.  To restrict the commission of art for fans would be 'cutting off their nose to spite their face'.  Such drawings create what they call in the business as

'good will' and spurs fan enthusiasm.  It would be counter-productive to curtail such activity--unless it was being mass produced for profit.  At that point, it would be infringing on the company's copyrights and they would need to take steps to protect their legal holdings.  That's why, although requested by a hoard of my fans, I've never mass produced an exclusive Iron Man poster. Besides--Marvel want waaayyy too much money for the licensing rights.

3. While further researching the legend of King Arthur, I began reading about The Holy Lance, which, according to legend, was created in tandem with the sword Excalibur! The Holy Lance was poked into the side of the crucified Christ, checking to see if he had perished. The relic was said to have tremendous power -- for either good or evil, depending upon its owner at the time. Incredible story.
Anyway, in my studies, I came across two names: Arbogast and Rhodes.

Arbogast was a powerful Roman general, while Rhodes was a fortress, prison, and main supply base for crusaders battling the Ottoman Empire .
I know your fondness for King Arthur and of his era¹s history and legends. So, was there any historical significance in using ‘Arbogast’ and ‘Rhodes’ as names for two of your and David Michelinie¹s more popular characters in IRON MAN -- Bambi Arbogast and Jim Rhodes? By the way, the name of Visigoth leader King Alaric also popped up in my research. Alaric, in comic book history, was the uncle of Aric of Dacia: X-O Manowar! 

See, comic books CAN be educational!

3. Well--I wish I could claim that it was a personal homage' to those two names.  However, it was merely an entertaining coincidence, Mike.

However, King Alaric was someone from history that I researched and decided to utilize when I was creating the back story for the X-O Manowar series.

4. Did you and David Michelinie ever consider a ‘weird science’ theme or idea in IRON MAN, say something bizarre such as Tony Stark trying to cross a dandelion with a carrot, hoping for a plant (in this case a vegetable), that would grow quickly, in almost any location, under extreme conditions? I know the example is facetious, but you know what I mean.

5.  Mike--are you smokin' something you've grown in your garage?

Well...on second thought, there was Iron Man #237.

5. I¹ve somewhat touched upon this theme once before: Do you feel a twinge of pride whenever one of your creations or characters you helped make popular pop up in various forms? In this case, a Scott Lang Ant-Man action figure (packaged with a reprint of MARVEL PREMIERE #47, which you inked), The Ghost Heroclix figure, Justin Hammer Heroclix token, and Huntress Amalgam card.

Thanks, Bob.

Mike Kalibabky

5. Again, the answer is no.  Most of the time, it's the major corporations exploiting the work that David Michelinie and I contributed to the series without any financial compensation.  I equate it to having naked pictures of yourself on the internet--and there's not a bleedin' thing you can do about it.  The creation of those characters fall under the "work-for-hire' agreement that was prevalent at the time at Marvel and they can make millions off those characters without ever paying us a cent.  Is that fair?  No--but it is legal and there's no point belaboring it.

So--to answer your question: the twinge I feel when one of those items pop up is--pain.

        IF YOU WISH TO CONTRIBUTE A LETTER OF COMMENT TO THIS PAGE, PLEASE   SEND YOUR  E-MAILS TO: BOB.LAYTON@BOBLAYTON.COM