Baltimore Comic-Con, 2026 (Part 2)
Baltimore, September 25-27, 2026
And even more talent…
Tag: Walter Simonson
Baltimore Comic-Con, 2026 (Part 1)
Baltimore, September 25-27, 2026
So much talent…
Walter Simonson & Tom Palmer — Yoo-Hoo!
Star Wars #58, April 1982
Ah, to have been a fly on the wall at a Marvel Comics- Lucasfilm meeting, about 9 months or so before the release of Empire Strikes Back in 1980:
Lucas: “So, guys, let us tell you— the next film is going to end quite dramatically: Han Solo will be in suspended animation, in the ship of a bounty hunter, on his way to the clutches of Jabba The Hutt. Chewie, and a new character, Lando, will appear to be going after them, and Luke, clearly not a Jedi yet, will remain with Leia and the droids in the rebel fleet.
Marvel: “Great, what happens next?”
Lucas: “That’s it, that’s the end of the film. It’s a cliffhanger.”
Marvel: “And we don’t know what transpires until the next film?”
Lucas: “Correct.”
Marvel: “For three years?
Lucas: “Also correct.”
Marvel: “Ok. That’s about 36 issues. You’ll give us the broad strokes of how the next film opens so we can create scenarios and plots with the remaining characters accordingly?”
Lucas: “Er, we don’t have all the details yet, but we will figure it out.”
All credit to Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Walter Simonson, David Michelinie and an hefty all-star group of talent for somehow making the challenge work.
And, of course, extra credit to Tom palmer, who, as always, made it visually come together, regardless of who penciled the book: Simonson, Ron Frenz, Gene Day, Kerry Gammill, et al.
Oh, and they recycled an unused Carmine Infantino John Carter of Mars story during this period as well.
Seriously, look it up.
Walter Simonson — X-Men, Redux
X-Factor #14, March, 1986
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.
Walter Simonson, Scott Hanna & Brian Bendis — Red Hulk, Frequent Flyer
Avengers #28, September 2012
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.
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 4 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
Baltimore Comic-Con 2023 — Part 3 Of 4
Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10, 2023
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 — 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.
Gil Kane & George Perez — Dinos, Bigger And Better
Jurassic Park #4, August 1993
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.)
Oh well…
