Major Find of Lost RALPH SNART ADVENTURES Art

Detroit, MI, April 14, 2004 - When the former publisher of Ralph Snart Adventures, NOW Entertainment Corporation ceased operations in 1994, they returned all published artwork to the artists. Unpublished art and film was put in storage by sister company General Learning Corporation, where NOW shared office space. Apparently, at some point, GLC discontinued their lease with the storage company and all of the films were destroyed. It was assumed that along with the film, finished art, mixed in by mistake, also was destroyed.

In late 2003, Patrick Williams, NOW's Associate Art Director at the time, still worked for GLC, found the finished art for the cover of Ralph Snart Adventures volume 5, #6 while cleaning out shelving units at GLC. Also found was an unused, unpublished alternate version of a Ralph Snart cover for volume 3, #12. This alternate version was for a special temporary tattoo giveaway that never came to be. "I was surprised to get the art," said Marc Hansen, the creator of Ralph Snart. "I had totally forgotten about this stuff."

After going through his own records, Hansen found evidence for issue volume 5, #6. "I actually thought that the series ended with #5, but my paperwork was telling me different," said Hansen. "Now there was a chance that the art for this forgotten issue could be out there somewhere."

Hansen contacted Patrick Williams and NOW's former Creative Director Barry Peterson to dig through what they had been able to save from GLC. Peterson was able to find the Ralph Snart tattoo prototype that was for volume 3, #12. "It's actually a cool piece of art that will make a nice t-shirt design," said Hansen.

It was Williams, however, that found the treasure trove of Ralph Snart art. He found the colored art and film positives for two 10-page Ralph Snart Adeventure stories; volume 5, #6 and #7, along with the cover for volume 5, #8. "All of which I had forgotten existed a long time ago," said Hansen. "I presume that the cover for #7 is either still missing or was destroyed by the storage company. The fact that the covers for #6 and #8 were found tells me #7 may still be out there somewhere."

"I remember Marc's pages coming in during my last days at the GLC office," said Barry Petersen. "One of the editors showed me the pages with just Ralph Snart's head bouncing around. I can't wait to finally get a chance to read the whole story."

Hansen plans on publishing the lost issues on his website for subscribers to his Ralph Snart Web Comic, but also it will be published in print for the first time in the second Ralph Snart trade paperback due out later this year. "I think any Snart fan who read the original series will be as happy as I am to see these unpublished and forgotten issues," said Hansen. "Whoever thought that their collection was complete is mistaken!"

In 2003, Hansen had reaquired the exclusive rights to Ralph Snart which he had sold to NOW Comics in 1993. Currently, Hansen is publishing new Ralph Snart comics on the web at http://www.ralphsnart.com. Hansen is also a board member of the new NOW Media Group, owners of NOW Comics 3.0.