Here Come Ol' Flat Top

Here Come Ol' Flat Top

or: Heroic Geometry

This weeks grab bag turns up Marvel Universe #3 starring the Invaders and sporting a lovely cover (if I say so myself) by yours truly.

Pity the poor editor that has to deal with freelancers. I still remember Greg  Schigiel asking if I was interested and telling him only if I could do round-head, Gene Colan, silver age Namor. Greg was fine with that (little did I know interior artist Steve Epting was already using the Colan version on the inside) Couple weeks later, with cover in hand, he's on the phone laughing at me for using the golden age triangle head. What happened?

Truth to tell, I never followed the Sub-Mariner and, as a result, never tried drawing him. Of what I saw, Colan's visual was the only one that appealed to me. But one of the lessons I learned drawing the Golden Age at DC was, that as primitive as those early books were, and you don't want to confuse bad drawing with canon, with a few tweaks here and there, I could make much of it work without looking silly. 

Turns out I didn't need a misshaped head, I just need to grow his hair out a little and, bingo, WWII era Namor.

Happy Trails,

Smitty