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Wang Jiaxiang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 March 2022
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: 21 April 2022 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | 1
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You have all likely seen this cover pencilled by Ditko and inked by Byrne. However, I'm going to share something you may have never seen and perhaps only exists in my collection... the unaltered publisher's proof of pure Ditko / Byrne goodness (not the image below). Then you can be the discerning viewer, to see what was changed and imagine your own story to answer the why question. Or, better yet, maybe the man himself might share any behind-the-scenes insights with us.
I'll scan it ASAP and share in a subsequent post in this thread.
Edited by Wang Jiaxiang on 21 April 2022 at 11:47pm
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Wang Jiaxiang
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 21 April 2022 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | 2
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Here it is! The original, unaltered Ditko and Byrne cover for Secret City Saga #2 from a publisher's production copy.
Compare it with the final.
John, did the changes take place with your permission / knowledge?
Edited by Wang Jiaxiang on 21 April 2022 at 10:44pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 22 April 2022 at 4:58am | IP Logged | 3
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No memory of this, tho I can see why it was done. (Not sure of the point of this question. Seems a bit provocative. “Let’s you and him fight!”)
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Wang Jiaxiang
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| Posted: 22 April 2022 at 10:23am | IP Logged | 4
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Ha! Plenty of arguments on the Interwebs already. I was just curious if what I read elsewhere was true, that great Angelo Torres was brought in to redraw Clinton's face.
No expectation of receiving an answer. You've drawn so many things over the years, it's not possible or even necessary to remember details of it all. That's a good problem to have. ;)
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Eric White
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| Posted: 22 April 2022 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | 5
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I love the inking. It looks like Ditko with some of your touches.
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Jason Czeskleba
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| Posted: 22 April 2022 at 3:35pm | IP Logged | 6
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Clinton's face is redrawn on the interior art of this issue also (which was both pencilled and inked by Ditko). Clearly they just wanted a stronger likeness, and Ditko wasn't known as a caricaturist.
Clinton appears in the following two issues also. Oddly, they had his face redrawn on the splash page of issue #3, but left Ditko's work intact in the remainder of the issue. And there's no redrawing of faces at all in issue #4.
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Robbie Moubert
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 5:56am | IP Logged | 7
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The original post made this sound a lot more interesting than a single face being redrawn.
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Wang Jiaxiang
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 6:08am | IP Logged | 8
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Sorry for the letdown. I was not going to mention what was changed and then let everyone just examine and compare.
But then I figured that was a waste of time.
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 8:03am | IP Logged | 9
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It’s a question of scale. In a career that has lasted (choke) fifty years, something like this single job is tiny and insignificant. I appreciate how some fans want to burrow into the deepest corners of “history”, but consider how much it can be like an adult being asked something about a particular moment in kindergarten.
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Mark McKay
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 8:38am | IP Logged | 10
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JB, that a perspective I had quite considered before. That kindergarten analogy is apt.
How much do we as fans pour over something that for you, was something you did in a few hours and then moved on?
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John Byrne
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 9:48am | IP Logged | 11
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Stephen Fry tells the story of walking down a street in London and finding himself assailed by a man on the other side who appeared to be shouting obscenities at him. As they drew nearer, Fry realized the man was shouting “Flanders pigeon murderer!” It was a line Fry himself had bellowed in an episode of BLACK ADDER GOES FORTH. To this obvious fan it was a cherished line. To Fry, it was something from years earlier that had occupied his attention for only a few days.
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Wang Jiaxiang
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| Posted: 23 April 2022 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | 12
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Understandable.
As Ditko himself mentions in one of his essays, the memory is not a 24-hour / 7-day-a-week recording device. He was often asked questions of details on projects decades in the past.
Often certain events have more significance than others; sometimes it makes them more memorable. Given how much of a fan Byrne was (is) of Ditko, I didn't know if maybe the inking of this cover might have been one of those.
Now I know.
Thanks! I think this thread can be closed.
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