It's very possible that there are comic book artists out there who don't love drawing action sequences (or wish they could) but I've never met one.
Page 16 Yep. I love me some action/chase scenes. This one is pretty weak in comparison to later Reckless Life arcs but 2002 Tim was doing his best. I do remember the SCREECH panel being my attempt to draw what you see when anime swordsmen come to a dusty halt after running full speed at one another. I don't think that quite came off but it's not a bad panel anyways.
Speaking of bad, it looks like 2002 Tim saved over the grayscale versions of the next twenty-some pages or so we're back to that old-timey zipatone look. I'm breaking my own rule and adding the reds back in so there's SOME continuity.
I like Locke's reaction in the last panel here. He can do awesome action hero stuff but he'd just assume not.
Page 17
This is one of the better action pages in this book. Again, it's hard to look at compared to later pages but even for 2002 Tim, I don't hate it. There are foreshortening problems all over the place but the action is clear and I love how he catches his gun when he lands. That's of course, ridiculous but who cares? It's awesome. I like the use of sound effects here too. Most of them are courtesy of the Wild and Crazy Zap pack I bought on a floppy disk in like 1998 from Comicraft. If you'd have told the 18-year-old version of me that bought that disk that I'd be enjoying a beer with Richard Starkings (who is a great guy) at San Diego comicon 10 years later I probably would have died.
Page 18
Speed lines three ways! I love speed lines. I'm an illustrator at heart but I was trained as a graphic designer and any place I can merge graphic elements with illustration I'm going to. This is MUCH more prevalent in my current work but I can see myself scratching that same itch with some of the design choices on this page.
And Locke disappears into the crowd like so many movie spies and thieves before him! Reckless Life is FULL of genre tropes and for a time after I finished I hated that. It felt derivative but I think it's aged well. What I saw as cliche in my late 20's I see as the book just wearing its influences on its sleeves now and I kind of like that.
NEXT WEEK: A surprise cameo!
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