thelastblackhawk:"Right in the middle of our European...

thelastblackhawk:

"Right in the middle of our European campaign, some quiz kid at the State Department gets the bright idea to take a photo of me. ‘For the effort,’ he says."

"I figured it’d be for recruiting W.A.C.S. and W.A.V.E.S. so I played along."

"It wasn’t."

"I was told applications for naval pilots nearly doubled."

- Birds of Prey, Volume 1 Issue 75

The great Eduardo Barreto loved drawing this story so much, he gave me the two best pages of art, including this one, that he could EASILY have sold for serious money at a convention. He did it because that’s the kind of person he was, kind and generous and wonderful and talented beyond the moon.

I loved his art, always have. And when I found out he’d be drawing this short story, I knew it couldn’t just be good, it had to be special. And I did my best and he killed on it, of course.

He was sick already at the time, and got sicker in the next couple years, and then passed away. He sent these two pages to me unexpectedly.

I still want to cry every time I look at them.

It’s a weird, wonderful thing about comics. The blowhards, the boasters? They are often the least gifted.

When you can draw like Eduardo, you can be quiet, you can be kind, you can be generous, you can be humble…

…because your artwork shouts to Heaven.