Continuing a mini-celebration of the X-Men’s 60th anniversary.
What’s so great about this issue of X-Factor?:
Walter Simonson.
Classic X-Men characters.
Sentinels.
Story by Louise Simonson.
Terrific inks by Bob Wiacek.
Did I mention Walter Simonson?
You get the picture. I overpaid (really overpaid, I think) for this page in an auction bidding frenzy during the pandemic — you can look it up — but I love it, so it’s a win. It’s not going anywhere, unless, in all unlikelihood, I find a better page out in the wild.
Ten years ago, I purchased this terrific Avengers double page spread by Walter Simonson and Scott Hanna from Scott’s art representative at New York Comic-Con. Scott was at the convention, but I never managed to track him down. Walter was there, so he signed it before I returned to California, but since it was inks over blue-line printed pencils, it definitely needed Scott’s signature as well.
Problem was, I kept forgetting about it during my convention travels.
Finally, coming out of the pandemic two years ago, I see that Scott will be at Baltimore Comic-Con, so I pack it up, fly back East and… he needs to cancel. That’s not on him — a lot of creators cancelled in 2021, many because Covid had started raging again and travel stunk.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago, he’s an announced guest at BCC, so I bring it again, and voila, I catch up to him. Signature acquired.
And as a bonus, when I remind Walter about the piece, writer Brian Bendis happens to stop by, so I end up with a cool bonus signature as well. (He was genuinely delighted to see the original art — writers often don’t see the originals before they make their way back to the artists and/or disappear into the collectors’ market.)
If you’re counting, that’s 12,500 miles of travel for that piece of art.
I should have signed it up for a frequent flyer account.
Billy Tucci, Alex SaviukRon RandallMaryanne Marlowe, Tim LenaghanJoe PradoGreg Goldstein, Afua Richardson Mark WaidMike MckoneNikkol JelenicTony Fleecs, PL ForstnerArt BaltazarTom MandrakeWalter & Louise Simonson w/ Beta Ray BillCraig Rosseau, Dan BreretonMarty BaumannDave JohnsonJose Luis Garcia-LopezTony HarrisDean HaspielGlen Hauman
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.
Ron Garney, Walter SimonsonJamal IgleMike Grell, Mike Gold, John Workman, Steve RudeCully HamnerTerry Kavanagh, Howard MackieLouise Simonson, Chris Claremont, Walter SimonsonMike HawthorneDavid MackScott Dunbier, Joseph MelchiorBob Greenberger, Barry KitsonRichard Pini, Wendy PiniJoe StatonGreg Goldstein and Howard Chaykin with a super fan!
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.
Here are two great pages from the final issue of the 1993’s Jurassic Park adaptation, penciled by Gil Kane and inked by the George Perez. As I noted previously, the key Dino action takes place in issue #4 which covers half (or more) of the film. (Thanks a lot, Universal.)
Fun fact: Universal had a giant launch party for the JP licensing and marketing program at New York City’s Museum of Natural History in February 1993 (at the annual Toy fair event) and Topps received several invites. So what happens when I hop out of the Subway to walk to the museum? I run into George Perez, and we make our way in together. I had a great time, but George was even more thrilled. It was clear he was absolutely delighted to be a part of this.
Fun fact #2: Topps also had a few invites to the NY premiere of Jurassic Park at the Ziegfeld Theater and Walter and Louise Simonson were able to accompany us to the theater, and a swell time was had by all. But, apparently, the final version of the shooting script had not made it from Universal / Amblin to Topps to Walter, so naturally he immediately noticed that his script and the Final Cut differed in a few places. (Fortunately, only a few.)
Jurassic Park opened thirty years ago June 11, so it seems like an ideal time to present some more great Jurassic Park pages from 1993’s adaptation drawn by Gil Kane and George Perez this week. (I still can’t believe it’s been thirty years.)
Here’s a terrific splash from issue three, with George’s telltale detailed inking mostly only evident in the original art; the color obscures many of those fine details in the published page.
Fun fact: Because of licensing restrictions (including embargo dates) and publishing schedules, the film’s script and the four-issue comic breakdown are somewhat uneven. Not that much happens in Issues #1 and #2. Issue #3 has this cool opening, and some cool T-Rex action in the second part, but most of the exciting Dino action happens in issue #4. (Writer Walter Simonson did a terrific job balancing the script under those challenging restrictions.)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, #3, December 1992 (& A Topps Gallery, 1992-1995)
Better late than never — Topps Comics actually launched its first title, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in October, not November of 1992. By mid 1993, we had film adaptions, SF anthologies, Kirby superheroes and dozens more under our belt.
It was a wild ride.
In early 2023, we will have a more extensive look back with some new art, photos, memorabilia, etc. In the meantime, here’s a gallery of previously posted art. (Each piece links to the original post.)
