The Ones That Got Away – Ratatouille

We had one of our granddaughters over to stay at the weekend and she picked “the cooking show movie with the rat” (aka’ Disney-Pixar’s Ratatouille) as her movie night treat. Which was a bit of a surprise as she’d never really mentioned it before. We had a great time watching it together and it reminded me that back in the days I was writing the CARS comics at BOOM! Studios we’d been asked to pitch some ideas for some of the other Pixar movies, and one of the ones I put a four issue pitch together for was for Ratatouille. The company never did produce a comics series based on the culinary adventures of Remy the rat, although I believe that Disney did eventually do one themselves.

Anyway – here’s my outline for a proposed four issue story called “Smells Like A Rat!”

“SMELLS LIKE A RAT”

When the young chef Linguini asks his pet rat (and secret chef) Remy to help him select a perfume for his girlfriend, Colette it has disastrous consequences for his reputation as the rising star of Gusteau’s Restaurant

Issue # 1-.The evening after their first kiss, Linguini decides to buy the most expensive perfume he can afford for Colette. He knows nothing about perfumes, so decides to take along someone with a sensitive and discriminating sense of smell to help him – the rat Remy. The ever suspicious sous-chef, Skinner, follows Linguni wondering what he is up to. Peering through the window of a perfumery he discovers Linguni’s secret – the rat.

Issue #2 –.When Skinner bursts into the store carrying a camera, Linguini manages to hide Remy, adding to Skinner’s building paranoia that he is imagining the rat. A cycle and scooter chase ensues across Paris as Skinner follows Linguni from store to store determined to take a photograph of the rat. Linguini and Remy mange to evade Skinner and find what they think is the perfect perfume. But Linguini is shocked and heart-broken when Colette refuses to accept the gift.

Issue #3 – Colette explains that she never wears perfume because it dulls her sense of smell when cooking. Next day in the kitchen Linguini and Remy discover to their horror that Colette was right. After smelling so many perfumes, Remy can no longer differentiate the smell of ingredients. That day’s soup is a disaster. Gloating in triumph Skinner throws Linguini out of the restaurant kitchen.

Issue #4 – Sitting on the steps outside the kitchen, the dejected Linguni and Remy contemplate their failure. Remy starts to converse with the ghost of Gasteau who tells him to have faith. Suddenly the ghost fades and in his place is his brother Emile, who offers Remy a nibble from a piece of rancid cheese. Remy recoils at the smell from the cheese. Suddenly he jumps up and dash off into the sewers. Linguini can’t believe his luck, he’s lost his girl, his job and now his rat. Deep in the sewers Remy find’s his clan’s stockpile of garbage and dives into it. He starts grabbing handfuls of rotting food and inhaling deeply. Coughing and gagging he clears his nose of the perfume smells. His sense of smell restored, he races back to Gusteau’s. Meanwhile Colette has convinced Skinner to give Linguini another chance, and with the team back together the afternoon’s batch of soup is once again perfect.

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The Ones That Got Away – Shrek

Shrek and Donkey © 2001 DreamWorks LLC

Several years ago following on from my stint as the writer on the CARS comics I was asked by a new publisher to pitch some story ideas for a planned series of SHREK comics.

After rewatching all four films I decided to play up the pop-culture parody aspect and pitched several story ideas. The publishers and license holders liked three of them enough to commission full scripts and they were scheduled for issues 4, 5, and 6 of the new series.

I won’t go into details but working on those scripts very quickly went from being a fun experience to being a chore that sucked any enjoyment of working on some of the most enjoyable of movie characters. After over six months of constant, and contradictory, notes and revisions,  the publisher decided to “go in a different direction” with the tone and style of the book and basically threw out the work of several writers (myself included) who had been expecting to chart Shrek and friend’s adventures through the first year of the series. The publisher and license holder had every right to do that, it’s their property after all, and we were just the hired guns, but it could have been handled better – a lot better.

I will say that it may have been the hardest I ever worked on a set of licensed property comics scripts, but I learned a lot.

Anyway here’s the brief solicitation copy for the three issues that never saw the light of day – the Shrek that might have been.

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#4 – Donkey’s Tale
Trying to calm his kids down Donkey decides to tell them the story of his adventures just before he met Shrek. Of course, the way that Donkey tells the tale may be a little different from what actually happened.

#5 – Elementary My Dear Shrek
When the Gingerbread Man goes missing from his cottage Shrek and Donkey set out to solve the mystery of their friend’s disappearance. Following a trail of clues across town they soon start to realize that they shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

#6 – A Locket Full of Secrets
When Pinocchio discovers that the Fairy Godmother has a locket that contains a secret that could threaten the Kingdom of Far Far Away, he decides to put together a team to recover it. With the help of the Three Blind Mice, and the Gingerbread Man he sets out on a seemingly impossible mission to retrieve the locket and save the kingdom.

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Under the Hood of the CARS Comics: Ramone & Flo.

Cover A for Cars: Radiator Springs #1 – by Allen Gladfelter.  (This image was also used for the cover of the Radiator Springs trade paperback collection).

After spending time at the track with CARS: The Rookie, it was time to head to Radiator Springs for the second World of CARS mini-series. The pitch this time around was to tell the stories of how the diverse cast of characters arrived in the sleepy desert town and why they made it home.

Deciding which characters to kick off the series with was relatively easy as the first releases of the CARS movie on DVD included a short on how Flo, owner of the V8 Cafe arrived in town. So for the first script, I adapted and expanded on the groundwork that had already been set.

The story kicks off with the various characters celebrating Ramone and Flo’s anniversary, and Flo being persuaded to tell the story of how they met. I established that Ramone had always been based in Radiator Springs and that Flo had arrived in style as part of a fleet of Detroit Motorama show cars who got stuck in town for a few days. It was a great excuse to do some research on the extravagant fin ladened show cars of the 1950s. As s troop of 1950s showgirls on a road trip, Flo and her friends sure knew how to have some fun, and the young Ramone was quick to offer new paint jobs, pin-striping, and all the things to make a girl look good. – But there was one car that Ramone refused to paint – that was Flo as in his eyes she was perfect as she was.  (We actually got a couple of complaints that this love story between two cars was “too sensuous” !)

Covers B and C for CARS: Radiator Springs #1 by Allen Gladfelter

One of the fun parts of developing this script was put in a one-panel cameo of a small car called Susie, who isn’t featured in the movie. She was the star of an animated short called “Susie the Little Blue Coupe” produced Disney in 1952, and her design style is a direct precursor to the one used in CARS.

 

 

 

 

 

My Almost Toy Story

 

With Toy Story 4 now playing in movie theaters, I thought it might be a good time to tell the tale of my close encounter with the denizens of Andy’s toy chest.

Back in 2009 when I was writing the CARS comic books I was asked to pitch some ideas for a possible four-issue Toy Story mini-series. I wrote down a few ideas and submitted them, and they seemed to be well received. I was asked to rework one of the story concepts a little, as well as put together another pitch for a potential second mini-series.

I then heard that instead of mini-series a new on-going title was being considered. Imagine my surprise one day to open the latest comics PREVIEWS catalog to see the new Toy Story series being promoted with my name attached as the writer.

A few days later I got a call that a decision had been made to go a different direction with the series and they would be using another writer. I never really got a good understanding of what drove that decision, but these things happen in work-for-hire type situations.  So I never got to hang out with Buzz, Woody, and the gang.

Now that the gang are back in action on the big screen I thought it might be fun to dust off those decade old pitches and share what might have been my Toy Stories.

TOY BE OR NOT TOY BE

​The story is set in the weeks immediately following the finale of the first Toy Story movie as Andy, his family, and more importantly, his toys settle in to their new home. While it’s a time of transition for all the toys, for one in particular it’s a major adjustment. BUZZ LIGHTYEAR must comes to terms with what it means to be a toy, and who better to show him than the other inhabitants of Andy’s Room?

​Issue #1 – COWBOYS AND DINOSAURS

Andy is playing a made up game of the story of a Dinosaur (Rex) attacking a cardboard box Western town (an expanded version of the scene at the start of the first Toy Story). Buzz, who has been thrust into the role of Woody’s deputy, while grudgingly accepting that he is a toy, starts to comment on the implausibility of the scenario that Andy is developing. Until Woody shows Buzz that it’s the child’s imagination that is the most important thing, and if Andy believes it can happen that way, then the toy’s job is to make sure it does happen that way.

​Issue #2 – RULES IS RULES

When Andy gets the Buzz Lightyear video-game, Buzz shows Rex how to play the game and Rex becomes addicted to video games. The other toys aren’t happy about it, so Hamm and Mr. Potato Head with the aid of several other toys use the opportunity to help teach Buzz the “Toy Code,” while Buzz shows them that they can open up to doing things they were never designed to do.

​Issue #3  – THE RETURN OF MRS. NESBITT

Andy’s little sister Molly finds Buzz lying around and crawls off with him. She puts him in her room with her cuddly toys and cloth dolls. Buzz is desperate to get away from the cute toys, until Woody finds him and teaches him that even though he’s Andy’s toy, he needs to be whatever the child holding him wants to be.

​Issue #4 – FELLOWSHIP OF THE AA

When R/C’s batterers run down, Buzz decides that it’s up to him to make the perilous journey to the kitchen, to obtain replacement power units. The only problem is that as it’s a new house no-one is really sure of the way. Buzz and the green army men team up to map the house and restore R/C to working condition. During the quest Buzz learns the importance of team work and loyalty among toys.

THE ROUND UP GANG

We know how Woody ended up in the clutches of Al from Al’s Toy Barn; but what about the rest of the Roundup Gang? How did Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete end up in storage, and what’s the connection to the mysterious Mr. Konishi?

Issue #1 – THE PROSPECTOR

Left high on the shelf of an old-fashioned toy store, Stinky Pete, the prospector has been neglected for years. He’s seen children come and go, but one in particular he always liked. A chubby boy named Al, who often whispered to Pete that he would one day own a toy store of his own. True to his word Al opened his store, the discount Toy Barn, and promptly drove the local toy store out of business and bought its remaining inventory, among which was the still unopened Prospector. A disgruntled neglected toy who thought he had seen how being ruthless could get you what you wanted.

Issue #2 – BULLSEYE

The old fashioned horse was a favorite toy kept by an old lady who had owned him since new. She kept him around for her grandchildren to play with, but after she passed Bullseye found himself consigned to an estate sale where he was picked up in a job lot by a local antiques dealer. The dealer posted Bullseye’s picture on an online auction site, where Al found him. Poor Bullseye went from beloved family heirloom to Al’s storage unit – awaiting the arrival of Woody.

Issue #3 – JESSIE

After being abandoned by Emily, Jessie finds her way to a charity store, where she sits for weeks. Until Al enters the store looking for bargain “collectibles.”

 Issue #4 –THE LEGEND OF WOODY

In the Tri-county storage unit rented by Al, The Prospector is telling Bullseye and Jessie all about Woody’s Roundup and Al’s search for the elusive Woody and how he will mean their freedom. Meanwhile in Japan, the mysterious Koinishi-san is telling his young daughter about Woody’s Roundup and how as a child it inspired him to help others, and that e know wants to set up a toy museum to share these lessons with a new generation. The perfect center piece for that museum would be his childhood hero – a genuine Woody cowboy figure.

 

The Ones That Got Away – Star Trek Manga

Back in 2006, Tokyopop, a US based publisher of Japanese style manga comics produced a volume of new manga style stories featuring the cast and concepts of the original Star Trek series. A couple of more volumes appeared in the following year, and as we were working with Tokyopop on GOD SHOP our planned manga series at the time, I was asked to pitch several story ideas for the Trek series. This was pretty much a dream come true to be asked to pitch for Star Trek. Although none of my ideas were picked, it was an honor to even be asked.

While hunting through some old files the other day I came across a document outlining those long forgotten attempts to help guide the adventures of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and thought it might be fun to share a few of them here.

THE GAME

Two years after its original visit to Sigma Iota II (in 2268 in TOS episode “A Piece of the Action”) the Enterprise returns to see how its “gangster culture” has progressed. The planet is now run like late 20th Century Las Vegas with the “mobsters” controlling strings of casinos. The landing party is captured by the current boss and Kirk must play a high stakes card game for the lives of everyone being held hostage. The game is “Fizzbin” an imaginary game invented on the fly by Kirk as a ruse during their previous visit. However the Iotians – known to be highly impressionable – have developed the idea into a real game. Can Kirk bluff his way out of this one, or will he be forced to play a game where he doesn’t know the rules? As the game progresses it turns out that the game’s underlying complex logic means that it is Spock who is the best player and wins the crew’s freedom.

THE GREAT HUNT

A young Klingon warrior is chosen by the empire for training on a special mission. A mission to totally eradicate one of the empire’s greatest foes. As the training goes one, the young warrior begins to wonder the exact nature of the foe he must face. Eventually he boards the ships of the armada being assembled to obliterate the foe’s homeworld, and once on board he learns that he has been assigned to take part in The Great Tribble Hunt.

THE THREE RUSSIAN PIGS

During a visit to a starbase Ensign Chekhov is nearly bowled over by a group of unruly kids. Deciding to try and calm the youngsters down he decides to tell them one of his classic “Russian” folktales. The tale he decides to tell is his version of the Three Little Pigs, in which the characters he describes pay more than a passing resemblance to Kirk, Spock and McCoy, while the Big Bad Wolf is portrayed by Khan. Unknown to Chekhov the three officers are stood behind him listening to his tale.

WAGON TRAIN TO THE STARS

The Enterprise encounters a convoy of old Earth ships deep in space being attacked by a hostile force. The Earth ships are clustered together for protection. The Enterprise arrives and scatters the attackers. The Earth ships belong to a collection of unauthorized colonists who had decided to set off on their own to find a new home on the frontier and had based their journey on the early American pioneers. Despite the unauthorized nature of the venture, Kirk decides to give them needed supplies and point them in the direction of the nearest uninhabited Class-M planet. The Enterprise crew is impressed by the spirit and determination of this “wagon train to that stars.”

 

 

Under the Hood of the CARS Comics: The First Win

Regular A and B covers for Cars: The Rookie #4 – art by Allen Gladfelter

My fourth issue of The World of CARS: The Rookie was designed to complete the story of why the newly nicknamed “Lightning” McQueen was considered to be the “rookie sensation of the year.” I once again kept the interview framing device at the start and end of the story, and returned to McQueen narrating what happened from his somewhat exaggerated perspective, which meant I could again use visuals to contrast between his narrative and what actually happened. As the story opens McQueen is seen is his now familiar Rust-Eze paint scheme for the first time, and having established his speed on ovals is about to tackle a road course for the first time.

If I recall correctly I wrote this issue after watching a pretty thrilling NASCAR race on TV that had been held at the classic Watkins Glen circuit in upstate New York, one of the few road races on the NASCAR schedule; so I decided to model my story on that.

Watkins Glen was renamed “Bowling Lake” and we were off to the races. But not before McQueen has a nap on the grid, a character trait I added that was borrowed from several top line drivers who have been known to nod off while waiting in their cars for a race to start.

In the race itself I focused on a particular tight corner for all the action to happen with the ever eager McQueen learning an early lesson about the  differences between ovals and road circuits that don’t have banking. He was quick on the straights but just couldn’t figure out how to get around the corners quickly. As the race progresses the young hot shot learned about the apex of a corner, and thanks to, Strip “The King” Weathers, that the key to speed on road courses is not how quickly you enter a corner, but how quickly you exit it.

I had some fun along the way having the Hummer crew chief throw in a few quotes from racing movies like Grand Prix, and Days of Thunder.

The story ends with Lightning being true to character and ignoring his crew chief’s advice (again) and staying out too long on worn tires. But thanks to some defensive driving by The King to keep the charging Chick Hicks behind, the struggling McQueen just crosses the line as his tire blows, but it’s enough for the rookie to score his first win.

I’d had a blast writing this “prequel” series for the CARS movie building the backstory of Lightning McQueen, and was pretty proud of the miniseries – which would eventually be collected in both paperback, and a special limited edition hardback editions.

Now we just had to wait and hope that we had also scored a win and that the sales numbers would be good enough for the planned return to Radiator Springs.

Unused connecting covers for Cars: The Rookie #4 – art by Allen Gladfelter

 

 

 

I Never Met Stan

I never met Stan, but one year at San Diego Comic-Con my daughter, Meggan, and I were sat in the lobby of one of the hotels chatting with the editor of our upcoming manga series when I felt a kick on my shins, and Meggan mouthed the words “Stan Lee” and pointed. Sure enough standing right behind me with his back to my chair was “The Man.” Several years later at a Con in Chicago my wife, Gill, and I were almost bowled over by Stan as he rushed to a panel or signing. Only her last minute side step avoided a up close encounter. Two chances, yet I never did get the opportunity to thank him for what he inspired in me.

I never met Stan, but he introduced me to some amazing people. While I love the mythic grandeur of the iconic DC heroes, it was Stan who made me invested in the lives of Peter, Matt, Tony, Bruce, Steve, Don, Hank, Janet, Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny and the rest of the Marvel Universe.

I never met Stan, but his was the first name I came to recognize as someone who created the amazing worlds and characters on the comic book pages. He fired the imagination of a seven-year old boy that maybe one day he could write stories too.

I never met Stan, but I’m proud that we shared a couple of professions over the years, as technical writers (him during his brief military service, me for most of my career), and comics writers (him for a life time, me sporadically over the last decade).

I never met Stan, but he always reminded me of my favorite Great Uncle when I was growing up. Someone who would tell wonderful stories of his life and exploits, some of which might even have been true.

I never met Stan, and now I never will. It’s difficult to believe he’s gone. He’s been there for most of my life. But as I think about his passing I realize that I will never live in a world without Stan Lee. His words are on my bookcases, his cameos are forever in the 10 years of amazing movies he inspired, his philosophies on life, tolerance, respect, and a little showmanship inform ever character I create, every story I write, how I conduct myself in business, and in everyday life.

Thanks for everything, Stan.

Nuff Said.

Under The Hood of the CARS Comics: The First Race

The third issue my Cars: The Rookie series debuted around the same time as that year’s Heroes Con held in Charlotte, North Carolina; the heart of NASCAR country and home to many of the race teams. To mark the occasion a special limited edition of 500 was produced with a cover spotlighting the Strip Weathers character (above), based on, and voiced in the movies, by legendary 7-time NASCAR champion, Richard “The King” Petty.  One of my prized possessions related to my time on CARS is a poster sized copy of this special cover signed by Richard Petty himself. – A special thanks to cover artist Allen Gladfelter who made that happen.

For this issue I continued the TV interview framing device, but this time had Strip Weathers tell the story of how he had first seen the young rookie McQueen in testing and been impressed by him, which then led into a flashback sequence of McQueen’s first Piston Cup Race at the “Beachside 500.”

I have a vague memory that my friend, and occasional creative partner, Paul Benjamin, who was writing the Monsters Inc. comic at the time, and I talked about trying to sneak in some mutual cross-references into our scripts at this point. I think I asked for some of the gate signage at the entrance to the race track have the Monsters Inc. logo and Paul asked for one of his characters to be drawn playing with a Lightning McQueen toy car; but it didn’t work out. – Shame it would have been a fun Easter Egg moment.

Also on the art front, it was important for a pay off on the last page that McQueen’s race livery was just plain red with the 95 number and a single Rust-Eze logo on the hood at this point. Thankfully my description in the script was followed to the letter (not something that always happened in later issues).

One of the things I wanted to establish in this issue was why McQueen couldn’t keep a crew chief. I played up that having only recently come up from local events that he was used to working on his own, and that he felt himself to be a “one-man show.” It was a nice throw away line that highlighted his selfish character trait (at this point). It also provided the catalyst for him being taught a lesson when he comes in to the pits for fuel and tires and the crew don’t move, reminding him that he is a one-man show and should  be able to do it all himself.  His reluctant apology results in him getting the fuel and tires he needs. Once back on track he tries to use some of his old local track “bulldozer” racing techniques, but they don’t work and he is quickly schooled in the realities of big league racing, especially by Chick Hicks who doesn’t take kindly to the new kid on the block.

McQueen ends up third (appropriately enough for the third issue of the series) behind Weathers and Hicks.

The issue ends back with the Strip Weathers interview who let’s it slip that he was so taken with McQueen’s zig-zag attempts to overtake in that first race that he told the young racer that he looked like a streak of Lightning.

The regular “A” and “B” covers for CARS: The Rookie #3

Under The Hood of the CARS Comics: The Big Break

In many ways writing the second issue of a new comics series is a lot harder than writing the first one. When launching a new series or story arc you know what the overall idea is about, and you’ve already come up with an opening that you hope will hook the reader into wanting to pick up the next issue, and the one after that, and so on. This makes the second issue the real foundation of the series.  In the first issue we had introduced the young out of control McQueen. I wanted the second issue to progress his story to the point that he was ready to race in The Piston Cup and looked a little more familiar. So how did I approach that challenge? Once more I returned to the source material; the movie.

The World of Cars: The Rookie #2 – Cover B by Allen Gladfelter

In the movie Mack reminds McQueen that no matter how much he dislikes the clients of Rust-eze, it was the owners of that same company who gave him his big break. So what was that break, and how did he end up with the Rust-eze sponsorship in the first place?

I opened up this issue continuing the narrative caption overview with the TV interview switching to Mack who gave us his version of what had happened in the previous issue. A nice way of doing a recap for new readers yet still fitting it into the overall narrative flow.

At the end of the last issue, thanks to Mack’s connections we had McQueen arriving at a Piston Cup test session hoping to impress one of the big teams. Ever confident he starts off asking the top running Dinoco team to give him a chance with predictable results. With each refusal he works his way along the pit lane asking each team. The fun part in this sequence was coming up with different ways to tell essentially the same scene, McQueen asks for a test run and is refused, over and over without it becoming boring. I decided to pick five of the race teams we’d seen on track in the movie and give them each a distinctive personality that produced correspondingly different ways to give McQueen the brush off.

Mack eventually persuades McQueen to go talk to the Rust-eze team whose car is on track. I decided that the incumbent Rust-eze car should be a one time great racer who was past his best, sort of like an alternate version of The King. As the design of The King in the movie was based on Richard Petty’s iconic 1970 Plymouth Superbird, I thought it would be fun to have this racer be based on another Petty car, the Dodge Charger he drove from 1971 to 1974.  In the original script I had this car carrying the number #57. This was the number McQueen had in many of the early CARS movie concept sketches and story board images I’d seen. The #57 was a nod to CARS creator and Pixar head honcho John Lassiter’s birth year. But I guess that attempt to include a Pixar style easter-egg wasn’t approved as by the time the comic arrived in the stores this new race car was carrying the #01. And yes I’d broken the “no new characters” rule again but that transgression had slipped by.

The story had the old car crash during the test after blowing a tire, and promptly retiring on the spot. This of course leaves the Rust-eze guys wondering what to do, when Mack literally pushes McQueen into their pit and announces his buddy can run the test. The reluctant McQueen with newly applied Rust-eze logos promptly heads out onto track and breaks the track record.

With a new found sense of over-confidence and his place in the Rust-eze team secured McQueen heads of to his first Piston Cup race.

Cover A by Allen Gladfelter | Cover C – Photo cover

 

 

Under The Hood of the CARS Comics: The Start Line

So I had been given the go-ahead to write a four issue story line to launch the first CARS comic book series. Where to begin?

To make sure we had an audience the decision was made that rather than an on-going series we would launch with a mini-series to be titled The World of CARS: The Rookie.

My pitch for a prequel story had been to explore the line from the first CARS movie where the lead character, Lightening McQueen, was introduced as “The year’s rookie sensation.” What made him a rookie sensation? How did he arrive on the Piston Cup racing scene.

My idea for the four issue arc was to have a bookend of McQueen being interviewed just before his intro in the movie, and as he told his story in typical self aggrandizing style it would continue in captions as a voice over while the art and dialog showed what actually happened.

After the two page intro the action flashbacked to young aggressive “Bulldozer McQueen” in action on a local short track. And promptly broke one of the Disney rules; when I’d landed the gig I’d asked what the rules were. I was told:  “(1) Don’t create any new characters (2) Don’t write anything that will be in CARS 2.” Of course I asked “Does that mean you’re going to tell me what will be in the next CARS movie?” – The answer was “No. But if you do something we don’t like we’ll let you know.” – Well Rule #2 would come in to play later, but for the first issue I broke Rule #1 on page 3 by introducing two stupid race cars numbered 66 and 99 so I could do a joke about the numbers being flipped when one of them rolled over after being barged off track by McQueen.

Not only did I get away with that in the pages of the comic, those two guys ended up on the cover, and on the poster used to promote the Free Comic Book Day version.

The  track I chose for the introductory action was modeled on and named for Thunderhill Raceway, our local short track just south of Austin, TX where the family spent many Saturday nights watching some great local racers in action.  About six months after the book came out I got to do an signing at the track, which was a cool event.

After wrecking at the track’s championship race I had the dejected McQueen meeting Mack for the first time. At this point in the story Mack held ambitions to be a race transporter and had studied race car dynamics and was able to offer McQueen some unwanted advice. But poor Mack was stuck working for Eggman Movers – a nod to the moving company featured in Toy Story.  When Mack says that he’s friends with the truck for the leading Dinoco team and could get McQueen into the Piston Cup test sessions a reluctant partnership is formed.

Shortly after this first issue was completed we found out that the book had been selected for BOOM’s Free Comic Book Day title, which meant a 100,000 print run of the FCBD issue. The original plan was to run an interview with me and a few pages of my original script in the back of the FCBD issue, but they were replaced by some preview pages previewing the upcoming Incredibles title by Mark Waid instead which made a lot more commercial sense. Free Comic Book Day that year was special as I ended up doing signings at three different stores across Austin and met a lot of CARS fans of all ages.

The first regular release came with two covers, which became standard procedure for the rest of my CARS issues. It debuted fairly high in the comics sales charts – the best selling all-ages comic that month – and soon sold out with a second printing under yet another cover issued.

Then more special covers were issued for the Emerald City Comic Con, and even a 1:25 store incentive version. – We were of to a great start.

Alternate cover for regular issue.

Second printing

Special ECCC foil cover. Limited to 500

1:25 Retailer Incentive cover

Left to Right:

• Alternate cover for the regular issue – also used as the cover on the trade-paperback collection.
• Cover for the second printing.
• Special foil edition for ECCC limited to 500 copies
• 1:25 Retailer Incentive edition.  – This design was also used for a special San Diego limited edition hardcover collection.