I am doing a pin-up for Marvel's tribute book to benefit the NY relief effort with CrossGen Comics' permission and blessing. It was important for me to contribute this way since, as a diabetic, I don't even have the option of donating blood. I did have to get some more pages of CROSSGEN CHRONICLES #5 finished first since I didn't want inker Pablo Marcos to be without work during any of this. Due to various circumstances, including having our 20th wedding anniversary European vacation cancelled due to the terrorist attacks, (my wife and I were supposed to fly out on Sept. 11th) I've fallen behind schedule, although not severely enough to jeopardize CHRONICLES #5's shipping on time.

I am drawing the Marvel tribute piece this weekend so that Tom Smith can color it and get it done in time for the Sept. 28th deadline (a very tight schedule on this job). Using an American flag motif, my piece will not feature any Marvel characters, but instead focus on the real heroes of this tragic event-- firefighters, police, EMT workers, doctors, nurses, engineers, etc. The two smoldering towers will each be placed in the center vertical stripes of the on-end flag. That's as close a description as I can give. As is usual with my work, there may be some changes made as I actually draw it.

As for AVENGERS/JLA, (as it is called at Marvel, which is publishing the first issue) I have now tied the page count I reached with the 1983 version. 21 pages have been pencilled-- although, unlike the original edition, seven pages have also been fully inked, thus putting me ahead of the game this time around. I wanted to finish my CrossGen commitments before I pencilled the historic 22nd page, just so that it actually marks the start of non-stop progress on the series.

One page of the new art holds the current record for the most characters on a page in either versions of this project. There are 36 individual characters drawn-- with 21 appearing in one panel alone. That number does not include the fact that a few characters make multiple appearances on the page. Tom Brevoort assures me that that record will be broken soon enough. I'm going to get to draw a LOT of characters in this limited series-- including the Keystone Cops.

I am also drawing a pair of covers for WIZARD's 2002 preview issue spotlighting the JLA/AVENGERS (as DC calls it) project. One version will feature Thor and Wonder Woman; the other will spotlight Captain America and Superman. All in all, my plate is quite full.