After careful consideration I've decided that it is important for me to address a post that was made here on the Forum by Ryan P Maxwell where he referenced my name and a matter between us.

It is a business matter, not a personal one, between Ryan and I and I would prefer to deal with it privately, not publicly.  But as he made it public I think it is important to respond to it in the same manner.

Ryan is owed a commission by me that was not delivered to him in a timely manner.  No question about it and despite some very real extenuating circumstances, I take responsibility for the drawing being late. 

However, several attempts were made by me to contact Ryan and resolve the matter, the last one on this very Forum dated Aug 2008:

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=27204 &KW=paging+ryan+maxwell

As you can see, that thread was never responded to and locked automatically per Forum protocol.  It was an attempt by me to communicate with him as my emails were not being answered, as referenced in the message.

I have not heard from Ryan in all of this time, since 2008, as I've remained active on the Forum and Facebook.  Email address and phone numbers have all remained the same during this time.  We've posted in the same threads and have FB friends in common where we've commented on the same pics and posts.  In short, I've never avoided or ignored Ryan.  I'm very accessible.  The whole "...personal record is five years..." doesn't work, as right there for all to see is a public attempt to communicate.  This all could have been settled at that time.

Reputation is very important, especially in this age of social media.  I have no issue with being called "late" and have offered to make amends and make good on the deal.  But you don't get to claim that you're still waiting on something that you've written off years ago and choose to not respond to offers to make right.  You don't get to have it both ways.

All of this has been communicated to Ryan in a lengthy email that, again, has not been responded to.  Fair enough.  But please don't try to paint me as unresponsive or dishonest when I'm making the effort but my efforts are being ignored.

This is my response to his comment and I don't plan to get into a public debate regarding the issue.  But after consulting with several colleagues I determined that I shouldn't let his public comment go unaddressed.   

Since you have no desire to communicate with me then I'll grant your wish.  I'm done with this.  You chose to stop replying to me; thanks for admitting it publicly on the record that it was YOU who did that, not me.  Thanks for essentially admitting that you lied when you claimed I stopped returning your emails...emails that were never sent because as you just stated, you had no desire to communicate with me.  You bailed on your own deal.  I've never heard of someone forfeiting their deposit and their property and then holding someone else accountable for it because they're angry.

As I stated, I'm not going to use the Forum as a platform to argue back and forth.  You keep claiming five years...well, four years ago you apparently decided that you'd had enough and chose to stop communicating with me so do the math.  No one bailed on you; you bailed on yourself.  Our business is concluded.   

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SAFARI IN SPACE, the episode which led into TERRA NOVA. The latter was my introduction to DARE.

As noted, it's actually cut together from two pages, and originally looked like this:

Note removal and actual cropping of panels!

Probably why it was so "cheap".

]Have you ever been tempted to try that Dan Dare coloring technique? My head would explode if I saw a Byrne commission in this style!

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I've played around with water colors, but I don't feel confident enough to try something on the Frank Hampson (Studio) level, as seen in the DARE pages I have posted.

Recently, tho, I've been taking another look at the work of the late Keith Watson, who was the fourth artist to work on DARE during my reading days (counting Hampson's Studio and Harley and Cornwell as one each). I didn't care for it much in my callow youth, but have come to appreciate it more as the years have passed.

As you can see from this sample, he seemed to depend more on "flat" color and heavy blacks -- much more in my wheelhouse.

And, no, I don't own that page. Kinda wish I did!

(NOTE: Thru-out its history, given that it was one of the most beautifully drawn strips EVER, poor ol' DAN DARE suffered from some of the WORST balloon placement!)