PR: ROB HANES ADVENTURES RETURNS with ISSUE 13

Below is the official press release announcing the return of Rob Hanes Adventures in July! 

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Rob Hanes Adventures Returns with Issue 13

In keeping with the comic-book adventure series' tradition of connecting with real world current events, issue 13 will touch on the Arab Spring uprisings

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Randy Reynaldo, writer-artist of the long-running independent comic-book series, Rob Hanes Adventures, announced that the next issue of the title (#13) will be released July 2012 through his WCG Comics imprint. Images of the cover and selected interior pages are available at this link.

Inspired by classic globetrotting adventure comics like Terry and the Pirates and Buz Sawyer but set in the modern day—with frequent dashes of light-hearted humor reminiscent of The Spirit—Randy’s work on Rob Hanes Adventures has remained a standard-bearer for breezy, fast paced action-adventure along the lines of Indiana Jones and James Bond, and the work of cartoonists like Alex Toth and Darwyn Cooke.

Rob Hanes Adventures #13 will feature two complete stories: “Crime Takes a Holiday” and “Not Your Father’s Private Eye.”

In “Crime Takes a Holiday,” Justice International private investigator Rob Hanes goes on vacation in the French Riviera. However, when he discovers that an international crimelord named Nicolai Korda is also in the area, Rob interrupts his plans for some long-overdue R & R to investigate what his longtime nemesis is up to!

Then, in “Not Your Father’s Private Eye,” Rob gains notoriety when he is the subject of a print and online news magazine article about modern-day private investigators while on assignment in a Middle East country on the verge of regime change. Set in the fictional Middle East kingdom of Koman that has been frequently used in the series, the story echoes the real-life upheavals that have occurred in the Middle East over the past year.

As in all stories in the series, both adventures are complete and self-contained in the issue. While a cover price has not yet been announced, the issue is anticipated to be 28 black-and-white pages with a full-color cover.

“I know it’s been a long time since the last issue, but I’m glad to say I’m back on track,” said series creator Randy Reynaldo. “The time I spent preparing the recent trade paperback that collected the series’ early adventures took up more time and energy than I expected, but I’m excited to be working on all-new stories.”

Launched in 1991 as part of the era’s storied wave of small press black-and-white comics, Rob Hanes Adventures has developed a dedicated following for bringing a modern sensibility to the spirit of the classic adventure strip genre, while series creator Randy Reynaldo has developed a reputation for his continued long-running work on the series and his solid black and white art, reminiscent of Milton Caniff and Alex Toth.

In addition to the 12 issues of Rob Hanes Adventures that have been published to date, two trade paperback collections of earlier work from the series also remain available. This includes a 144-page trade paperback called the Rob Hanes Archives, funded by a Xeric Grant, which collected the series’ original zine run, and the more recent 140-page Rob Hanes Adventures, Volume 0, that collects four issues from the series’ earlier run under the title, Adventure Strip Digest.

Rob Hanes Adventures has been reviewed, spotlighted and featured in industry print publications like the Comic Buyer's Guide, Comics Retailer, Comic Book Marketplace, Diamond Dialogue, and Previews, and online at comicbookresources.com and Newsarama. Issue 10 was included in Tony Isabella’s 1000 Comic Books You Must Read (Krause Publications, 2009). For more information about the series, visit WCG Comics’s website at wcgcomics.com.

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Below: Large size scans of the cover and selected pages from Rob Hanes Adventures #13.

 

Remembering the Legacy of Will Eisner

Last week, I had an opportunity to attend a panel discussion about the legacy of cartoonist Will Eisner. The discussion was organized by the Cartoon Arts Professional Society (CAPS), a Southern California professional cartoonist’s organization that I belong to. As pictured above from left to right, the panelists included Mark Evanier, Batton Lash, Jackie Estrada, Charles Hatfield, Patrick McGreal, and Scott Shaw!

While Eisner’s life is well documented now and I’ve written extensively about him myself, the discussion nevertheless found fresh ways to look at the cartoonist. Significant time was particularly spent on Eisner’s years outside the mainstream comics industry—from the early 1950s to the 1970s—when he headed the American Visuals Corporation to produce education comics for the U.S. military (where he produced the training manual, P.S. Magazine).

This interest came out of curiosity about why Eisner, whose work in his later years showed a passion for telling personal stories, spent so much time on education and military training manuals. (The evening included a slideshow of his P.S. Magazine work by Scott Shaw!) While no one came up with a definitive reason, various answers included the fact that Eisner found the work important and wished to demonstrate the ability of comics to serve a wide range of needs, not just tell superhero stories; the desire to break away from the restricted bonds of the mainstream comics industry; and, of course, the simple need to make a living for his family.

Though he was given many opportunities by the major comic-book companies, including DC and Marvel, to work for them, Eisner never looked back. He had little interest in either the business model or the kind of comics the companies published at the time. Eisner also craved mainstream legitimacy. Finding a “real” book publisher to release his first graphic novel—A Contract with God—was important to him. (A Contract with God and the rediscovery of the Spirit set the groundwork for Eisner’s subsequent personal comics work that lasted until his death in 2005, as well as for the graphic novel market.) The name of Eisner contemporary Harvey Kurtzman, who similarly found escape from the comics industry by working for Playboy magazine where he produced Little Annie Fannie for Hugh Hefner, was often invoked and provided comparison to Eisner’s goals.

It was a wonderful reminiscence, not just of the man but also of the artist’s continued impact and influence on the industry.

A Preview of Things to Come...

I'm happy to announce that work on a new issue of Rob Hanes Adventures—lucky issue 13—is nearly complete!

More formal announcements about the issue will be coming out shortly, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a mockup of the cover to the issue. You'll see that part of it is still in pencil format, so the cover is subject to some change, particularly in the color schemes.

Hopefully, this whets everyone's appetite for the new issue—more to come!