Literary Master, RAY BRADBURY, kindly hocks my product, "SPACE BANANAS" #0. At the "Famous Monsters Of FilmLand" Convention, Universal City, Ca., 1995. ©2009 B. Krauz Prods. All Rights Reserved.
For the 1989 "NEW OUTSIDERS" DC Bonus Book project, Joe Orlando gave Michael Luck & I a list of names,..."ULTRAMAN, AMERICOMMANDO, COLONEL FUTURE, OWLMAN, & THE WRAITH"...& the name of the city they would inhabit,..."STARPOINT"... Michael & I were very excited as this was to be our chance to work for the big boys & to show off our talent. For the past few years we were doing various jobs that would fall through, or for publishers that would screw us. So after much disappointment & heartache, we felt this was it for us. Finally a good sign.
Pencilled Panel from TRT's "Ms. Abel". Unpublished strip from "Tales Of Adventure"#1, 1987. Art ©2009 B. Krauz Prods. All Rights Reserved.
Pencilled Panel from TRT's "Ms. Abel". Unpublished strip from "Tales Of Adventure"#1, 1987. Art ©2009 B. Krauz Prods. All Rights Reserved. 
My Inking over Michael Luck's Pencilled Ad for Double Diamond's "PROTOTYPE". A Complete Comic never Published, produced by "The New Breed". Ad is from "Gateways"#6, Nov. 1987. Art ©1987 The New Breed.
Michael developed a whole history & illustrated Map for "StarPoint City". Since we felt that the name "ULTRAMAN" was more recognizeable for the 1960's Japanese "Tsuburaya" Hero, we decided to change it to "ULTRAWOMAN"(even though DC did have an "Ultraman" back in the Golden Age, in M.C. Gaines' "ALL-AMERICAN COMICS"). I designed "UltraWoman", & Michael made designs for the others, which I followed for my Model Sheets.
When we returned to DC, Orlando made copies of our work & had a discussion with us about the "Hows & Whys" & "Do's & Don't's" of developing & creating a product. It was all very exciting, as I felt that Joe was sincere in trying to help us get a foot in the door. It was decided that Michael & I would focus on one character from the list, "THE WRAITH", instead of a team called "THE NEW OUTSIDERS". Joey Cavalieri, a Special Projects Division Assistant to Orlando, gave us a model sheet of his sketch of "THE WRAITH", to follow. Michael & I were now to go home & create a story outline & model sheets for "THE WRAITH"...
My Pencilled Model Sheets for "THE NEW OUTSIDERS", 1989. ©2009 M. Luck & B.Krauz. All Rights Reserved.
"THE NEW OUTSIDERS" March 1989. ©2009 M. Luck & B. Krauz. All Rights Reserved.
Original Design for "The Wraith" for "THE NEW OUTSIDERS" 1989. ©2009 M. Luck & B. Krauz. All Rights Reserved.
When I called Orlando a week later, he told me the "Bonus Books" were cancelled. The work we had been developing was all for nothing. Another disappointing blow for Michael & I. We had so hoped this was our shot at "making it", that it really made me lose all hope in Orlando & his position at DC. His Special Projects Division was everything, except, the Comics end. If it had been 15 years earlier, when he was Editorial Director, then maybe things would have worked, just as he helped to start the careers of Bernie Wrightson, Len Wein, & others...So with this absolute nonsense, I decided that since I owned an Art Supply Business, & was saving up some money,...that I would just publish my own product, showcasing the work of myself & Luck. This brought on a renewed excitement, but what I was soon to learn, was a tremendous lesson in delving into a business you know nothing about.
Revised "The Wraith" Model Sheets, May 1989. ©1989 DC Comics, Inc.
"The Wraith" Model Sheet. Character designed by Joey Cavalieri 1989. ©1989 DC Comics, Inc.
Orlando never had us sign any contracts or paid us for our "NEW OUTSIDERS" or "WRAITH" work. So the designs we created belonged to Michael & I, & we decided to eventually use them with different names. One of our Comic "Concepts" is called "THRILLING FICTION MYSTERIES", featuring "The Thrilling Heroes". I produced a set of Buttons in 1993 & had British Illustrater John Ridgway do a painting of the characters for a Holo-Prism Trading Card. "The Wraith" became "THE ENTITY", "ULTRAWOMAN" was our own, so that stayed, "Colonel Future" became "MR ROBOTO", & so on...What really pushed us to use the characters, was that DC did use our March 1989 design of "THE WRAITH" for their 1992 "Kilowatt" character in their "Team Titans" series. Seeing our design being used & not being payed or credited, really fueled our fire to produce our own product even harder. It seems that every turn was an even bigger pissed-off experience.
I voiced my opinion to Orlando about this matter, & our association sadly changed thereafter. Joey Cavalieri offered some wise thoughts, which still, overall, left a foul taste in my mouth. He told me, ..."You are a creator, you have ideas. So you move on, & keep creating..." And truthfully I have, since then, been constantly creating,...& have so many ideas, I will never be able to do them all in my lifetime...
"The Thrilling Heroes" Button Set 1993. ©1993 Karl Art Publ., Inc.
Signed & Numbered Print Insert for "NYC" CD, 1995. ©2009 B. Krauz Prods. All Rights Reserved.
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