Christmas 2009: Johnny Quick and the Whizzer by Paul Ryan

The adorable one outdid herself this Christmas giving me a commission that I have wanted since I started collecting original art. This is truly a dream come true for me. I have wanted to do this commission since March of 2003 when I first met Paul Ryan. He was a guest at the first convention I attended after I started collecting Original Art. As I sorted through the art at his Mega-Con booth and feebly attempted a conversation with Paul, a page featuring the Whizzer caught my eye. It was from an issue of Fantastic Four and I don’t think I ever saw a better depiction of the old Timely hero. I did not buy the page because back then I only bought pages or commissioned work that I would put on my walls. Eventually I ran out of walls and discovered ITOYAs. But the image stayed with me.

Anyhow I got it in my mind that I wanted to some kind of an Invaders / JSA piece and one day was flipping through old covers when it hit me, what about a redo of the classic Superman 199 only instead of Superman and the Flash racing, it would be the Whizzer and Johnny Quick. Cheering them on; a variety of speed heroes from different companies. The artist? well there was no doubt it should be Paul Ryan, after all in my opinion no one draws the Whizzer better and Paul has experience with other speedsters based on his time at DC drawing the Flash.

Now it was just a matter of contacting Paul and writing the check. But a sense of urgency to get some work by older artists and life kept getting in the way of reaching out to Paul. Then Paul got the Phantom strip and kind of went off my radar. Flash forward to this fall and Amy asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I immediately thought of this commission and asked her for it. I sent Paul a letter, one Saturday morning I got a phone call that knocked my socks off as a voice said, “Hi this is Paul Ryan…” We talked and I explained why I always planed to have this project done by him or not at all. He agreed to do it and I sent him a bunch of reference including the Original Superman 199 by Carmine and Murphy as well as the Jurgens Superman re-do of the original Infantino cover.

I actually put my paste ups on the Jurgens re-do since I thought Dan did a better job of putting the two heroes up front allowing for a clearer depiction of the sideline heroes cheering.

Now you know my Christmas Story, 2009!