It was delayed by a week…but Marvel’s Strange Tales II #3 is out this Wednesday. I’m excited ’cause it’s my first ever official Marvel credit…for four little ol’ pages, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?
As Ty has recounted on his blog, he was quite stricken when Harvey Pekar had died, because Harvey had passed on his phone number through a friend and asked that Ty call him about a project. Ty had been up to his neck in work and was waiting until his schedule cleared up a tiny bit so that he could actually say yes (“I don’t want to say no to Harvey Pekar!”). So, he was especially devastated when I had to break the news of Harvey’s death to him…
A couple of weeks later, he walks into my workroom, looking slightly stunned…”Remember when I said that I couldn’t believe I would never get a chance to work with Harvey Pekar again? Guess what I just got offered?” And, luckily, I chose not to guess, because I never would have come up with the right answer!
Marvel Comics got a script out of Harvey for their Strange Tales II series. A charming, very Harvey Pekar four-pager about Harvey and The Thing. One of Ty’s favourite moments as a working professional…but given that he was still dead-busy with work he asked if I would letter it for him. Given that it’s a Harvey Pekar story, there’s no sound effects or big splashy lettering, but I got to letter a Harvey Pekar story…and for Marvel Comics. That’s not so bad…
KEIREN SMITH 