It’s been a minute (specifically, three years!)… Glad to be back in Long Beach with friends and fans!
Howard Chaykin sketching… Star WarsDenys Cowan, Michael Stradford, Michael PolisScott KoblishMatthew ClarkHoward and Greg… Together againGabe HardmanFighting crime is… tiringWith Show Promoter Extraordinaire Martha DonatoWith Chris Gossett
Carnage organizes a group of like-minded maniacs (Shriek, Carrion, etc.) on a murderous spree in the infamous 1993 crossover event from Marvel. In the intro issue, Ron Lim delivers this terrific splash as Spider-Man tackles Doppelganger, an evil near-mindless version of Webhead created during The Infinity War saga.
The “Comics Code” was completely superfluous by now, if not an outright joke. This storyline, which is the basis for a video game, and influenced the second Venom film, features so much bloodshed and violence its pretty much impossible to keep a bodycount.
The Green Goblin is a pussycat compared to these guys.
10 minutes with Ron Lim at a con and I spend the rest of the day grinning ear to ear.
Superman — Atomic Age Sundays Volume 3, December 2017
As described in a earlier post, Pete provided all the terrific covers for our DC superhero strip reprints for The Library of American Comics.
Pictured is a typical great example where Pete emulates legendary artist Wayne Boring — with some Curt Swan thrown in for good measure.
Oversized — and beautiful.
Fun Facts: (From the marketing copy):
Written by Alvin Schwartz and Bill FInger and Illustrated by Wayne Boring
The Man of Steel stars in thirteen classic adventures as the 1950s “Atomic Age” comes to a close. Some of the stories are original to the newspaper strip, while others were alternate versions of tales that were simultaneously published in the regular comic books. One of the featured adaptations is “Superman Versus the Futuremen,” written by Batman co-creator Bill Finger, which retells Superman’s origin. This concluding volume of Superman’s Atomic Age Sundays reprints all strips July 1, 1956 to October 11, 1959.
Pete hand colors copies of his original art, and those color guides are then handed off to the digital colorist who completes the work for publication.Meanwhile, over in the comics, Superman reminds us to read all his adventures.
Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert#1, January 2011
NYCC, about six years ago: I had previously heard a lot about John Byrne’s house and all the various art and collectibles that made up some of the décor, but hadn’t had a chance to get up to the wilds of Connecticut to check it out.
This time I was determined.
So, one rainy day at the end of convention hours Chris Ryall and I trudged our way through monsoon-like rain (seriously, no exaggeration) to Grand Central Station, and headed up north.
After one missed connection (rain again), we eventually made it up to Byrne’s town.
We dried off during a nice meal with John at a local Chinese restaurant, and headed back to his house.
It was everything as described. Great collectibles and memorabilia, and some great art hanging in his studio by comic book legends John admired. (No surprise, lots of Jack Kirby.)
Chris had already a working relationship with John, and in fact had been to his house previously. But I had actually not seen Byrne since the early 90s, and he had no memory of our meeting, nor should he.
As many colleagues can share, John can be reserved at times. Regardless, he was gracious, and he definitely warmed up a bit as we discussed art in detail while I enjoyed the tour. (Or, he was just being polite to his publisher. Ha.)
At the end of the night, he pointed us to his flat files of art and told us to each take something. These files were a potpourri of recent projects, pieces he had yet to give to his art representative to sell for him.
Chris found a page from DC’s OMAC series that John was especially proud of. I was a bit more interested in something that we had published at IDW, and after some deep digging, I came up with this great Jurassic Park double-page spread from the mini-series John created for us.
He was delighted that I admired it, and I, of course, was delighted with his generosity. It is a great piece, and to date, I walk past it every day and smile.
Permanent collection, for certain.
Getting it back to California from New York wasn’t easy, but that’s a story for another day.
Thanks again, JB!
I love the way the covers link up, especially issues #1 and #2.
Thor Artist’s Edition, Original Art Cover “Remarque” Limited Variant, 2011/2012& Sketch, 2012
Here are two terrific Walter Simonson Thor pieces with equally terrific “origin” stories.
First up: IDW Artist’s Edition Editor Scott Dunbier developed a unique concept with one of his earliest volumes — A blank cover that the artist could then draw on, making a limited amount of copies of the book true originals.
A challenge for the printer, but mission accomplished, at least with this volume.
Walter and Scott agreed on a price, and Walter drew approximately a dozen of these covers. I say approximately, because of some confusion about whether it was going to be 10 or 15 of them, and Scott ultimately chose to offer them privately to some well-known original art collectors in a addition to a handful of IDW’s senior management team. I have no recollection how many were actually ultimately created. And I’m not positive all the completed drawings were scanned.
(Yes, that is the way comics works sometimes, folks.)
In addition to the piece I own, I’ve seen about four others, and like this one, they are all terrific. The only challenge is figuring out a creative way to display one properly and safely. If anyone has solved that puzzle, feel free to chime in.
The second Walter piece is looser, but extra special. Walter generously drew it in my office after SDCC while I was tied up in a meeting elsewhere, with the plan to personalize my “regular” edition of the Artist’s Edition.
It was only after the art was completed that I noticed it was the book was damaged printer’s proof version, instead of my actual personal copy.
A bummer, certainly, but a solution presented itself with the help of a handy X-Acto blade. I removed the page, trimmed it to a more precise 11×17 size, and framed it.
Voila. Now I can view it all the time, instead of just upon opening the book.
As they say, it’s in the permanent collection.
It’s Thor’s 60th anniversary this year, so we have a few more posts lined up to celebrate Marvel’s God of Thunder. (Of course, technically, the Thor legend is eon’s old, but, as always, we digress.)
A few days late… and definitely a few dollars short. (Parts 2 and 3 coming tomorrow and Thursday.) So nice to be at conventions again, and you can quote me.