Wet Works, What went wrong?

[Defiant34]

I remember the huge anticipation for Wet Works in the early 90's. It was a very intense line because of MR. P's art, but I know that he eventually stoppped doing it & someone tried to follow the line but it bombed out with fans because of how long it took for the issues to come out. My question is if there is any talk of a re-release from either Top Cow/Image or Woldstorm/ DC.

 

 

Whatever happened to Mr. P by the way.

[FFB]

Wet Works was lame from the beginning, just like the rest of the Image titles. The main problem with Wet Works (aside from the most inane stories you've ever seen) was that it was MONTHS late. By the time it got going, the industry was in a major slump and with months in between issues, it never got traction with the few fans who cared about it when it finally did arrive.

[blutobc]

Yep, Wetworks suffered from Imagitist....a disease which can be identified by confusing stories, yet pretty artwork.

 

I thought the concept was interesting and the artwork was eye-catching but it left me wondering what happened each issue just minutes after I'd read it.

[awe4one]

Late...real late...so late the fanbase didn't care anymore...

 

Jim

[sd2416]

I think issue three is out next wednesday

[justiceleaguer]

I loved that book. I think i bought about 5 first issues when it first came out. I still have a #1 autographed by mr. p himself, but sadly the gold marker he used didn't dry by the time i bagged it. SMEEEEEEAR!!!

[Kevin Boyd]

Image was plagued with a lot of late books and lame concepts, and while Wetworks was no classic I will state that there were legitimate reasons for why it was delayed.

 

After leaving X-Men and launching Wetworks, Whilce Portacio's sister became terminally ill back in the Phillipines. He returned home and basically put his career on hold to help his family deal the sickness and, eventually, the death of his sister.

 

Since he didn't know when he would be back he sold his stake in Image (he was, at one point a "founder") and the Wetworks characters to Jim Lee, who kept Wetworks going as a Wildstorm title for a while until it was cancelled...

[justiceleaguer]

Hey Kevin, i'm not sure but is mr.p still in the comic industry? I'm not big an avid modern reader so i wouldn't know.

[Kevin Boyd]

He came back and did some work for Jim Lee under the Wildstorm imprint a few years ago. Nothing recently.

 

He did "Iron Man" for a while under the "Heroes Reborn" imprint/disaster in 1998.

 

 

He also has done some work for Avalon Studios, a Phillipine company.

[justiceleaguer]

Cool. Thx for the info Kevin. Hey, you should try and get him to attend the next Paradise con. I'm sure lots of fans would love to see him again. Maybe then i can get myself a smear-free autograph.

[Kevin Boyd]

According to this site:

 

http://groups.msn.com/whilceportacio

 

Upcoming recent/releases with Portacio artwork are:

 

Available now > Authority #14

 

October 20/04 > Coup D'état TPB

 

TBA (early 2005) > WetWorks Vol. 1

 

Plus he's done misc. covers for Stormwatch: Team Achilles.

[Kevin Boyd]

Cool. Thx for the info Kevin. Hey, you should try and get him to attend the next Paradise con. I'm sure lots of fans would love to see him again. Maybe then i can get myself a smear-free autograph.

 

 

What's a flight from (& back to) the Phillippines cost these days?

[justiceleaguer]

Cool. Thx for the info Kevin. Hey, you should try and get him to attend the next Paradise con. I'm sure lots of fans would love to see him again. Maybe then i can get myself a smear-free autograph.

 

 

What's a flight from (& back to) the Phillippines cost these days?

 

[Darthdiesel]

Last time I flew back in summer of 1999, it was $750 US...

[Kevin Boyd]

So, that's about $950 Canadian?

 

I looked on Travelocity.ca and they quoted me a lowest fair price of $1833 Canadian (approx. US$1450).

 

I'll mention it to Peter, but somehow I already know his answer. That's aboit 3-4X your average flight cost for a guest from the US.