When the time came to find someone to do the cover for my kid detectives Charlie and Chuck, there was really only one artist I had in mind and that was Randy Reynaldo. With his marvelous Rob Haynes Adventures, Randy has dedicated himself to carrying on the tradition of the bravura picaresque comic strip hero in the tradition of Lyman Young’s Tim Tyler’s Luck, Caniff”s Terry and the Pirates, and Noel Sickles masterwork Scorchy Smith. I just felt his style and touch would be perfect for my detective duo and I have to say that I’ve never been righter. When little or no stage direction from me (other than my showing him one of my Charlie and Chuck strips that I created in the fifth grade, which, believe me, was hardly any help at all) he skillfully extrapolated the essence of those characters and created a scenario with a pirate treasure that was spot on. He even tossed in tossed in a character of his own creation in Adventure Dan, the Pat Ryan surrogate who was the missing piece in my cast. The cover will be auctioned off during the Heritage Signature Auction November 16-17 in Beverly Hills and online.
I hope that seeing these examples of Randy’s work here will cause you to seek out more of his Rob Hanes Adventures comics. You’ll be happy that you did. And, while you’re at it, slide over to the Gallery and check out his terrific Batom Comics cover that was revealed today.
