As promised on the weekend, I said I’d do a fun blog about my recent Star Trek graphic novel whether I won or lost the Shuster Award for Best Writer for that very project.
As you can see from the title of the blog, I lost. The winners of the awards can be found here! Congrats to all the talented folks who were recognized for the contributions we get to make to canadian, and comic culture. YAAAY all around.
But here’s the fun blog anyway.
Star Trek: Mission’s End was illustrated by a wonderfully skilled young Canadian named Stephen Molnar, who worked himself ragged to get the likenesses, the costumes, the backgrounds, the aliens, and the whole “feel” of Star Trek absolutely right. He’s a big part of the reason people liked the book, if they did. I’m going to show you guys a couple of Steve’s elegant pages in pencil and inks in a moment. You’ll have to get the comic, GN or phone app to read it in colour; the final product belongs to Paramount and IDW.
Not mine to give away online, without a spanking.
But here’s where the fun comes in. A couple of months ago, a fellow named Darrin Egan took one of my Comic Book Bootcamp courses, and was interested to try his hand at a full set of sample pages, based on an existing script that was yet to be published (so he couldn’t be influenced by the published version). Though the Trek issues had already come out at the time, Darrin hadn’t seen them, and was interested in trying his hand at the pages. Below are both versions: First, the terrifically talented Steve Molnar, artist of the published story, in either inks or pencils, followed by the vivacious version by Darrin Egan, from the same script, but without seeing Steve’s art.
Obviously, I’m a pushy writer, as the basic storytelling is remarkably similar. So the parts that mirror each other, are the fault of a micromanaging writer…it’s the little ways in which they differ I find fascinating. At any rate, I thought you guys might enjoy. They’re both good at likenesses, and storytelling rules. Each has strengths. It’s like the Tiger and Princess.
Steve Molnar, pencils and inks
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Darrin Egan - pencil
page two and three was a double page spread. Click on the images to make them bigger…
Steve Molnar - pencils and inks
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Darrin Egan - pencil
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Next: The sexy moment, with the ripped shirt and the flirty, sweet GLAVIN!
Steve Molnar - pencil and ink
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Darrin Egan - pencil
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Finally, the two page spread that reveals that we’ve been inside a HUGE space ship, originally piloted by giants, and now long abandoned and overgrown with foliage and giant insects. I think they both knocked it out of the park, though I do confess, the last panel of Spock in the Molnar layout, is what made this whole introduction work for me. The concept of the satanic character in the middle of Eden, interjecting and ruining everyone’s appreciation of the nature. Darrin did a GREAT job on every panel, but his Spock is a little too friendly for the “beat” of that moment.
Again, these are double page spreads, so click on ’em to make ’em bigger.
Steve Molnar - just pencil this time
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Darrin Egan - pencil
Wasn’t that fun? I’d love to hear how much you like Darrin’s pencils…so would Darrin, I imagine, and he deserves a little slap and tickle for these excellent pages (and please, feel free to equally gush about Steve Molnar’s work, but he’s already a comic book superstar, so he’s getting raves from all quarters fairly continuously!).
And one last bit of unseen Trek before we head on over to Ten Forward for the afternoon….When I first found out I had a chance to do some Star Trek comics, a good friend of mine, Richard (Pitt, X-Man) Pace (here’s his blog, where he’s doing a GORGEOUS painting of a jungle girl at the moment…) jumped up and asked if he could participate. Schedules and other things precluded his helping out, but the sample sketch he tossed my way was so lovely, I’m including it here at the bottom of this entry.
Richard Pace pencils
I’d love to do a Star Trek comic book with ANY of these individuals in the future, should the fates or the Great Bird of the Galaxy allow.
Ty the Guy
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Ty Templeton's ART LAND!! 
Thanks for sharing this! As a longtime Trekkie/Trekker/Whatever we’re calling ourselves these days, and as someone who’s read comics since childhood, I really did appreciate this sort of “What If?” offering. It’s pretty unique to be able to contrast the work of two different artists from the same script; I certainly can’t think of another instance offhand.
And, yes, Darrin Egan’s work deserves some recognition; would love to see the two of you collaborate on an original series tale. Failing that, the two of you ought to consider an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s “A Princess of Mars.” (I know…who’d publish it, especially with the Pixar movie in the works. A guy can dream, can’t he?)
Wow. I’d LOVE to do a John Carter of Mars story, he’s one of my favorites from my youth. Always like him a wee bit better than Tarzan, mostly cause of the aliens and monsters. Glad to see you liked the entry. I thought it was too interesting to see two artists working from the same script, to keep to myself.
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Wow, William Shatner in comics. I can’t help but notice that every time I see him in comics I realize he is finally then acting…
John Carter of Mars and all of the other Edgar Rice Burroughs works, particularly the comic strips, are currently being indexed in our site. It is worth checking out as the work goes on (it is a slow process).
Cheers!
Steven G. Willis
XOWComics.com