Thor by Gary Panter

Gary Panter and Steve Niles came to town to promote Zune Arts' The Lost Ones, a graphic novel which they were giving away at an in-store signing at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, MD. I asked Gary if he'd be up for doing a sketch or two, and he was avid to begin! I told him the themes were Anything Marvel and Least Expected, and, after completing a Spider-Man for Least Expected, he opted for Thor in Anything Marvel. As with Spider-Man, this was not a character with whom he was particularly familiar, so he began (literally) with his eyes closed as he was describing to himself the wings on the helmet, the long hair, and then when he said, "And a Kirby face", he was off and running, having no trouble from that point on. He told me about how he got involved in this Zune book, and how he recently had his first Marvel work published in Omega the Unknown issue #7 (he's friends with Jonathan Lethem, the writer). Very gracious artist, happy to see and interact with his fans!