brianmichaelbendis: Walt Simonson. today will...

brianmichaelbendis:

Walt Simonson.

today will mark the end of my run with comics legend Walt Simonson in the pages of avengers. when I was 13 years old I met Walt Simonson at a local comic book show in Cleveland Ohio. I dropped my 13-year-old crappy portfolio in his lap and I started rattling off questions like: what do you draw first the perspective or the figures? I can’t remember much of what he said that day but I remember him filling me full of uncharacteristic confidence. whatever he said to me that day pushed me into the creator I am today. or at least the creator I am trying to be.

without question that was the day i became a comic book creator.

over the course of my high school years I would send Walt updates on my art and he would send me back letters of encouragement. I still have every single one. he genuinely seemed to remember who I was even though I’m very sure he didn’t.

slowly over the course of these many years I found Walt Simonson at a convention, in Columbus Ohio, and told him how important he was to me. years later he was trapped with me in a convention circuit in Australia for weeks. when things started working out for me at Marvel I made it very clear that when he was done with his work at DC I would love to collaborate on something. something big fun and superhero-ey. many years later he finally called and said were you serious?

and here we are. I tried to give him something that was a mix of what he does best and some things that I’ve never seen him do.

the good news is that someone I admired from afar was just as impressive when I got to work with him. it was a complete joy and definitely a time machine moment. I desperately want to go back in time and tell teenage me that not only was I writing the avengers but Walt Simonson was drawing them.

thank you Walt.

8 months ago