this is an important event. I don't know the whole story of who did it yet, but the entire unpublished third issue of Big Numbers has been cobbled together. I recall asking publisher Kevin Eastman at the time why, even though the 12-issue series was abandoned, he couldn't put out the existing third issue. He looked at me as though I was daft. Who would want a third issue if they knew there wouldn't be any after that? Given the number of unexplainables he had already published, and the millions of dollars squandered, I couldn't follow his logic.
Photocopies of the pages have been going around for quite some time. I obtained an incomplete set from a purchaser of some of the artwork a long time ago. But even between this and filling in some spaces later, i only have 28 of the 40 pages. Add to that that even though the script also exists, nobody has ever taken the trouble to letter it onto copies of the pages. Until now. And the quality is good, or at least far superior to the copies i already have.You can see it in hi-res at Flickr.



The legend is that this was the last issue that Bill Sinkiewicz completed, with young Al Columbia assisting. Bill then dropped the project and Al allegedly drew a fourth issue, but his head imploded and he destroyed it. You can't make up stuff like that. I drew a detailed account of this muddle in my How to be an Artist, with no mercy for any of the participants. It's currently out of print but will be contained in The Alec Omnibus, due out in September. I've also added a new 2-page postscript to that story.

Bill changed the style considerably on the third issue, shifting the technique from grey wash and gouache to doubletone board, presumably to move things along quicker. Any attempt to see Columbia's hand in the technical change would be wrong, as Sinkiewicz tended to change his approaches just out of restlessness. And since Al got the job as he was able to imitate Bill's style, to try to ascribe this or that part of the job to him would be a waste of mental effort.

It's funny. Or sad. While reading it I felt that I was in 1992 and the fourth issue could be expected in June approximately. I was looking forward to it and had to stand back and remind myself it isn't coming. not ever.

Another thing I remembered, and I don't think I ever mentioned it to Alan, but I always felt a certain resentment that Billy the Sink got Big Numbers and blew it while i was stuck drawing Jack the bloody Ripper for ten years (I once described it as a penny dreadful that costs thirty five bucks). I stand by my opinion that Big Numbers was the superior idea and would have been Alan's masterpiece. Of course it is also true that Sinkiewicz is a world class illustrator and there's no way I could have done a job that complicated in 1992. I could have taken a crack at it later (post-Birth Caul/Snakes and Ladders), and offered, but Alan wasn't up for that. I love the ease with which Bill shifts from photographic mode to outright loony tunes. The separated Gathercoles remembering their courtship and early marriage is a masterstroke (pages 19-21). That's an odd note at the bottom of page 29 where he slips back into his Moon Knight style.

All we can hope for now is for a xerox of destroyed fourth issue to turn up.