Larry Hama Iron Fist Half-body Sketch

In a comic cover-dated November 51 years ago, Artist (yes artist) Larry Hama ended a four-issue epic chronicling Iron Fist’s earliest adventures in Marvel Premiere where he drew Danny Rand’s second appearance and the first appearance of Colleen Wing. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Hama at a convention in Montreal in 2018. He was surprised that I remembered his pencilling work, but went ahead anyway and produced a marvel-ous depiction of the Living Weapon. He also signed my first GI Joe comic (number 2), his first issue writing Wolverine and my favourite Wolvie issue of all (number 75). Another vivid memory I have of that day is that it was the day we all found out the sad news that Steve Ditko had passed away. We were finding out about this while I was speaking with Mr. Hama and he shared with me the special relationship he had with Mr. Ditko where Ditko would have a strong preference for working with Hama as an editor. When they would meet, they would only talk about the work at hand and not get into any discussion about anything else, and it was this ability to focus on the work itself that Ditko appreciated about Hama. It was an interesting insight into the life of one of truly great creators in comics. Thank you Larry Hama for your continued work in the comic industry, for this sketch, for sharing your professional connection to Ditko and for your high quality and sensitive portrayal of soldiers in books like the ‘Nam.