Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 4 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Category: Original Art and The Artists
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 3 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 2 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Dinesh Shamdasani, Adam “Atom” Freeman
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 1 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Once again, HUGE thanks and congrats to all the terrific folks who made this past weekend’s Baltimore Comic-Con just as perfect an event could be.
As noted in previous years, It’s easily one of my favorite conventions — an absolute delight to attend. I had a blast catching up with old friends and colleagues, making some new acquaintances, and hosting some fun panels.
I’m exhausted, but it’s a happy exhaustion, and once again, I miss all of you already.
Jack Kirby — Gorillas, Tigers, The Apocalypse, Oh My!
Kamandi #16, April 1974
I didn’t react well to Kamandi… at first.
I was a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes Franchise, and when I first saw the promo image (The Comics Reader, probably) for the cover of issue #1, I became miffed.
Why would Jack rip off POTA? Was the King finally out of original ideas?
Ah to be that young and foolish again. Kamandi quickly became a favorite. And little did I know that the Statue of Liberty “end of human civilization trope was already a SF trope by the time Rod Serling incorporated into his brilliant POTA screenplay. (See below.)
And, if you’re going to end human civilization with one breed of animals develop advanced intelligence, why not do it with all of them.
Heh.
That’s why the King is the King.
And, it gets better. Turns out Jack was incorporating some similar ideas he had previously used in a short story in Alarming Tales, 15 years prior to Kamandi. (Also, see below.)
So, what did I know? Not much, apparently. Like I said, to be that young and foolish again.
This page is the final issue Mike Royer inked, and the first that D Bruce Berry (working apprentice style) had a hand in. He took over solo the following issue. Tom Kraft of the Jack Kirby Museum believes both worked on this specific page.
Kamandi, apes and tigers — all on one page. What more could I ask for?
Now, or then.
Jack Kirby — Encore Presentation
Baltimore Comic-Con, September 8-10, 2023
After a five-year hiatus, the legendary Jack Kirby original art presentation returns with nearly 1,000 high-res images* featuring some of the King’s most important pages and covers. Join myself, the legendary Walter Simonson, the incredible Scott Dunbier (at least 80(!) IDW Publishing Artist Edition collections under his editorial belt — I’ve lost count) for a Kirby tribute unlike any other.
Baltimore Comic Con 9/8-9/10, exact time and panel room location TBD.
(*Yes, nearly 1,000. It’s an hour-long presentation, so if you blink, you’ll miss a few.)
In the meantime, I’m fortunate enough to personally own a few pages of Jack’s original art and have covered most of them previously in the blog, but here they are in one place for the first time.
If you want to see them and much more, simply enter “Jack Kirby” into the blog search bar.
Odds and Sods — August 2023
It was my turn to chat with Comic Art Fans (CAF) moderator Bill Cox this past Tuesday. We ended up talking about lots of interesting comic book publishing history… plus some great art. You can watch it directly through the link below:
And speaking of comic book history…
In celebration of 50 years of the creation of the comic book specialty distribution market, Milton Griepp of ICV2 is featuring a series of interviews with early “pioneers” in the business. The day before this past SDCC, my interview (video and print) appeared. If you’ve got some down time (Ok, if you’re bored with pretty much everything else on-line at the moment), please join me down the rabbit hole.
Good timing on the publication of the interviews; I am personally celebrating 40 years of professional contributions to the popular entertainment arts (Topps, IDW Publishing, Activision, et al) in one media format or another.
Teenage Greg (photo is October 1975, at Phil Seuling’s monthly Comic Book Marketplace show in New York City) would be very amused, if not startled.
Long, strange trip indeed.
SDCC Bonus — Ahoy, Maties!
Voodoo Ranger, Nerdin’ Out and… a Pirate ship
Live from the Voodoo Ranger Pirate Ship, Saturday July 22, 2023 — The Nerdin’ Out Podcast featuring Ravey, Cameron, Courtney, the rest of the great cast and crew, plus… pirates, parrots, a monkey and.. beer!
What does this have to do with comic art and/or graphic novel history?
Not much… But it was Comic-Con.
SDCC 2023 (Part 3 of 3)
San Diego, July 19-23, 2023
SDCC 2023 (Part 2 of 3)
July 19-23, 2023
