The Dearth of Superheroes

A photo of a panel from Bobu Leene #13, done earlier this year.

When I first got into comics, it was the Mickey and Donald stuff of Gottfredson and Barks, reprinted via Gladstone comics, initially. Later, after I left these "childish" stories and got into superheroes, I traversed a route from Spider-Man through Batman to Wolverine, then left that genre somewhat and took in things like Cerebus. At the time I was doing Bobu Leene, I was trying, in my inevitably feeble way, to process the idea of the anti-hero; one of the themes of the book, that was not necessarily well developed on my part, was how does a bad guy try and make good on past misdeeds? In this case, Bobu Leene tries to set things straight by eliminating his former boss and crooked colleagues, but of course two wrongs do not make a right.

Over the course of the series, though, I was becoming disenchanted with superhero/action comics in general. In terms of my romance with art, in hindsight I realize that I intuitively elevated comic art to the same level as that of the grand master painters of old (your Michelangelo crowd), values I inherited from my dad, I guess (the Italians love their grand master painters and fumetti). So when I began to doubt the value of comic art, I began to question my commitment to the entire endeavor of art.

Anyways, just some 10 cent psychologizin'. Hope to add some more sketches down the line.