Storyteller artist Paul Ryan was more than just a "pencil guy". A consummate draftsman who came to comics work in his mid-30's, Ryan embodied a work ethic seldom seen then or now. The news of his sudden passing this past weekend took everyone by surprise this morning.

The majority of this episode is comprised of a "Modern Marvel Masters" panel we hosted at Dallas Fan Days in October 2015. The panel includes Ryan, his friend and colleague Howard Mackie, and Val Mayerik. Rather than edit the panel down to only Paul Ryan's anecdotes, it's presented here uncut, uninterrupted, and followed by a few minutes of further appreciation by your hosts. We'd originally planned to run portions of this as two separate episodes, but considering the circumstances of the day, we hope you agree that this is the best tribute we could offer.

Photo credit: Dallas Comic Con Fan Days 2015
From left: Moisés, Howard Mackie, Paul Ryan, Val Mayerik, the side of John's head

Special Guests

Paul Ryan (Comic Book DB bibliography)
Howard Mackie (Comic Book DB bibliography, Facebook)
Val Mayerik (Comic Book DB bibliography, website, Facebook)

Show Notes and Reading List

Danny Fingeroth travels to various conventions each year when not the target of pranks, and we can vouch for his being a great panel moderator and con storyteller otherwise.
Mark Gruenwald will be the focus of a future Creator Spotlight episode. We talked extensively about him in our truly Giant Size episode about Captain America, "Not Just a Boy Scout".
With what we can assume are rare exceptions (if any), all of Paul Ryan's work for Marvel should be available on Marvel Unlimited.
Paul's five-year run on Fantastic Four went from #356-#414 (September 1991-July 1996), and a great collection from within that run is called "Strange Days" and has stayed in print for some time.
Iron Man #271-273 with John Byrne should be the three-issue run Ryan describes as a series of Fin Fang Foom fights.
Ryan is the only artist who simulataneously drew both Avengers and West Coast Avengers. Imagine an artist drawing two ongoing, monthly, 30+page comics these days.
The New Universe line's D.P.7, which Ryan co-created with Mark Gruenwald and drew every issue of, was one of the standout sales successes of the New Universe line. It is not generally reprinted, but its original issues are not hard to find in back issue sections of local comic shops.
Paul Ryan's work on The Flash, with writing by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, is sadly not given equal billing to his now-superstar writer coworkers in the solicitation text for the April 2016 reprinted hardcover collection.

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