Joe Rubinstein was one of the few marquee inkers in comics when I was growing up, thanks to his work on The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and the original Wolverine mini-series. He's been to town once or twice before in recent years, but I always had it in mind to get him to embellish one of my pencil-only commissions, and I never got my stuff together to give that a go. Rubinstein's faces have a quiet nobility to them, and when I was considering artists to render Lt. Gorman, he seemed like a perfect fit. On the surface, Gorman was a handsome, stable commanding officer for the Colonial Marines. It was only after his inexperience came to light and the fit hit the shan that Gorman was revealed to be a less that ideal candidate. After getting Dietrich Smith's Carter Burke back, I thought Gorman could contrast the softness of the murderously ambitious villain with a firmer line and appearance of strength, even though we would still know that neither of these dudes were safe bets in the foxhole. It was great to finally meet Rubinstein, and even though he seemed a bit wary of the potentially negative association ("Why did you think of me" to draw Gorman?) I assured him that it was solely because the quality of his work seemed capable of making this cowardly dude come across as admirable. I think he nailed the likeness (more so in facial shading that was lost in the scanning process,) and when I presented the piece to the actor who played Gorman, he seemed to dig it. William Hope was also gracious and acquitted himself well in the cast panel later in the weekend, so don't assume the fellow has anything in common with Gorman beyond an IMDb credit.
Josef Rubinstein
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