05) Howard Shum over Wrightson

I had started re-reading my collection of Aquaman books from the '90s. I really enjoyed the series written by Peter David with art by Martin Egeland and Howard Shum. And since I enjoyed the style of art, I thought I'd see if Howard "findable" on the web and explore whether he would consider adding a commission.

It turned out he does have a web site (http://www.howardshum.com) and was great to communicate with. After we worked out the details, I turned him loose. It didn't take long before I heard back with the good news that he was done.

There is a lot going on in this image created by Bernie. As I look at Howard's version it is striking how his style simplifies. Look at Aquaman. And see how clear you can see Superman's face. Notice how all the hair has the same structure. It "cleans up" some of the busy detail. And my favorite is the trees at the back. It is so cool to me that Howard's version has different shades to show an added depth.

I did ask Howard about his style of inks. When I first contacted him, I said I considered his to be a "clean" style so I wanted to know if I hadn't made that comment, how he might have inked the piece. He said, "I always try to keep in the penciler's style and Bernie's style is clean so I would have inked it the same way. Editors and pencilers sometime have suggestions. I will listen to what pencilers ask for and do my best to accommodate them."

I was also interested in knowing Howard's favorite inkers. "I like Kevin Nowlan's inks. Wally Wood and Al Williamson from the past."

And what inker he would like to see do this? "Mark Morales is a good inker. I would like to see what he does with this piece."