Revealed: MARK BROOKS in Doctor Aphra #10!
Yesterday, Doctor Aphra artist Ray-Anthony Height revealed that the appearance of one of the characters in Doctor Aphra #10 was inspired by fellow Marvel Comics artist Mark Brooks!
https://twitter.com/RAHeight/status/1398791956528914433?s=20
You may read about this story in the next couple of days on some other website, but remember: we broke it here first, Marvel Blog True Believers… And we might have broken the fourth wall, too! Oops!
Breaking the Fourth Wall in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Believe it or not, yours truly has a place in this story, too, Marvel Blog True Believers!
In my review for Doctor Aphra #10, I noted how excellent Height was at depicting the expressions of characters, and I included this image to illustrate (get it) that point:
Photo: Marvel Comics
However, after graciously retweeting the article, Height revealed that Brooks was this inspiration for one of the characters who appeared in that panel.
REVIEW: Meet Your Favorite STAR WARS Character in Doctor Aphra #10 https://t.co/uIleHIJunx #AlyssaWong #DoctorAphra #Guru-eFX #JoeCaramagna
— MarvelBlog (@MarvelBlog_) May 29, 2021
Brooks Quote Tweeted his friend Height to confirm that he had been unaware of the cameo until just yesterday, and a reply to Height from Alyssa Wong, who wrote the issue, revealed that it was news to her, too! Better update your Holocrons, Lucasfilm!
I was today years old when I learned Ray did this. I’m honored, Ray! https://t.co/5ek4ZxFEL7
— The Dread duck Pirate Mark Brooks (@MarkBrooksArt) May 30, 2021
Faces Gotta Come from Somewhere
You may not be aware of this, Marvel Blog True Believers, but a lot of the faces you see in Marvel Comics belong to people behind the scenes (we swear it’s not just Mark Brooks)!
Mark Brooks. Photo: Wikipedia
In fact, using your own face as a model for comics is such a long and venerated tradition that it even has a name: the mirror method! This method is so tried-and-true that even Leonardo Da Vinci regularly used it in his scientific and artistic endeavors.
If you want to get even more historical about it, an early purveyor of this method was Tarpé Mills, a 1940s cartoonist who created the extremely popular character Miss Fury.
Photo: Amazon
And we can’t forget Ann Nocenti, who was frequently featured by her Marvel Bullpen co-creators as a recurring Marvel Comics character.
Ann Nocenti in the Marvel Bullpen in the 1980s. Photo: Tom Brevoort
And showrunner Mike McMahan has revealed that many of the characters on the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks are based on the animators themselves. Hey, maybe that dream of enlisting in Starfleet isn’t as impractical as my mom said it was!
Are those bear pack security officers also Star Trek animators? Photo: CBS
The War Rages On
Who knows what other members of the Mighty Marvel Bullpen might be hiding in the panels of the ongoing War of the Bounty Hunters event! We’ll be investigating, Marvel Blog True Believers… won’t you join us for the journey?
Featured Image: Marvel Comics/Mark Brooks Wikipedia
