She-Hulk vs Super-Skrull
By John Byrne
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John Byrne :
Michael Higgins : « But if I have to pick the cover I had the biggest impact on, I think it would be John Byrne’s cover to Fantastic Four #282. This might seem a little odd, especially given the fact that one of the very first things I ever did for Marvel was background inking on George Perez’s FF #194 cover… but even at that, I think I had more of a visual impact on the John Byrne cover.
In some ways, it may seem like this is not at all the type of cover I would like. Basically, it is four figures standing there doing nothing. At least that’s the way it started out. I can’t take credit for the idea, but when John Byrne handed in the “bare bones” inked image for that cover, he also explained that he wanted everything on the cover—the figures, the logo, the corner box and the copy—getting progressively smaller and smaller, receding into the distance.
I was the assistant editor on FF. I no longer worked in the Bullpen… but I think John Byrne and Editor Mike Carlin always knew I would be the one doing all the production work on this one. It may sound immodest, but I don’t think there was anyone at Marvel who could have done it as well as I did, let alone better. I was good at this. And, as John pointed out on his webpage, it “should be noted that in those days before computers and Photoshop, assistant editor Mike Higgins created the effects on that cover manually, with stats and literal cut and paste!” All true, and I guess I should mention that I also did the cover logo that was appearing on the FF at that time, and it looks like I lettered the copy on this cover as well. I’m all over it!
People have sometimes wondered how this effect was achieved, thinking there was some trick to it. There wasn’t. Using a proportion wheel, I had to figure out the percentage of reduction for every part of that cover—figures, logo, copy— at each and every stage as the image got smaller. The tricky part was to make sure that everything would fade back in straight lines, so it wasn’t just a case of shooting regular increments like 100%, 90%, 80%. That wouldn’t work. Each successive size had to be determined individually, and photostats had to be shot for each percentage of reduction.
Then I had to paste down every individual piece using two coats of rubber cement, cutting around every figure, every outline, every letter using a single edge razor blade with, well, razor precision! It was sort of like inking with a very thin blade. Then, on acetate over the guide coloured with Dr. Martin’s watercolours, I placed a sheet of acetate and using paint, I had to trace over all the black lines of the figures and lettering showing the different colours I wanted every section to become. Then, each colour had to be marked with the appropriate code for the separators to follow.
Normally, when we tried something out of the ordinary like this, the separators would find some way to really blow it. This was one of those rare times I worked on something so complex and in the end achieved the results I was hoping for.
I don’t think this was a stark, dramatic image at the onset, but I think in the end it qualifies. The receding, fading images themselves become dramatic elements! Instead of clashing figures, these colourful elements become the action.
One last thing that can’t be overstated is that the more unique an image is, the more likely it is to stand out and be remembered, and I think that’s true of the cover to Fantastic Four #282. I actually can’t think of any other cover like it. »
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