Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Richard Pace says he loves drawing Hellboy. I hope he likes drawing him as much as I enjoy the end results. This piece is so subtle. The demons are smug in their belief that they’ve got the drop on Hellboy, but we can see HB smiling as he slowly draws his pistol.
You can see more of Pace’s art here.
Here’s another gem from the vault. It’s of me as a werewolf as visualized by Chris Flick. Note the Stallone/Rambo reference.
Chris Flick is a professional illustrator, cartoonist, caricaturist, web and graphic designer. He created the webcomic Capes & Babes featuring Roy the Werewolf. All 1,200+ strips are available at capesnbabes.com. If you prefer hardcopies, Chris has collected the strips into trade paperback books and created three all ages coloring books available on Amazon.com.
Chris attends several conventions throughout the year where he primarily draws caricatures of people as werewolves and other monsters, sells mash-up posters, coloring books, stickers and so much more.
I’ve been a Seth Damoose fan since I first saw his art. Way back in 2017, Seth announced he was taking a few mail order commissions. I made the list with a request for Jack Carter and John Wick. Seth rocked the drawing! In addition he sent the sketch above as a bonus thank you!
I’m a sucker for a good crime story. Especially ones with a tough guy who refuses to bow down to mobsters. Way back in 2019, I’d never heard of Tom Reilly (or seen his art). I came across the pieces above and below and was SOLD. I thought they were preview art for a new series. I immediately e-mailed Tom to find out where/when I could purchase the series.
Tom wrote back to say, that there wasn’t one. He created the art for himself… just toying around with ideas. I asked Tom if he took commissions. He did and so I requested Sly Stallone as Jack Carter teamed with Keanu Reeves as John Wick. (No surprise, right?).
Tom came through with a winner. He also surprised me by gifting me the art above and below. I was (and remain) blown away. What a wonderful, kind thing to do.
Maybe someday Tom will return to the idea that sparked these drawings. You just KNOW it would make for an awesome story.
I was going through the vault and found this piece that Jim Ivey surprised me one day when I was visiting him. Jim (and most of my other friends) liked to occasionally razz me about my admiration for Sylvester Stallone.
Jim was one of my oldest (in age and length of time) and dearest friends. Jim was the owner of The Cartoon Museum in Orlando, Florida, when I first met him. At the same time, Jim also worked as a syndicated cartoonist [The Thoughts of Man], a political cartoonist [The Orlando Sentinel], a publisher [CartooNews], teacher [UCF cartooning class] and comic book convention organizer [OrlandoCon]. Jim made a lot of life-long friends through these activities and I was one of them.
Here’s a sketch I found in the vault that I never posted until now. That’s Ryan Cody’s riff on Rambo. Ryan had a Kickstarter with a sketch option and I jumped on board. The result is what you see.
Ryan is a comic creator (writer, penciler, inker, colorist) and podcast host with Scott Godlewski on The Illustrious Gentlemen. You can see more of Ryan’s art here.
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love seeing artists do their “take” on the big lug. Today we have a Marv by Ardian Syaf.
Truth be told, I haven’t read many comics featuring Blade. If there were drawn by Federico Vicentini that would change.
Thobias Daneluz has the “eye of the tiger”. Check out Thobias’ Instgram to see more of his art. (And plan to stay awhile.)
” The worst thing that happened to you, that can happen to any fighter: you got civilized.” – Mickey Goldmill
Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City is one of my all-time favorite characters. I love seeing artists do their “take” on the big lug. Today we have a Marv by Reggy The Marker Artist.
David Lapham is an Eisner Award-winning comic book creator best known for his independent crime series Stray Bullets. When Lapham offered a headsketch special, I jumped on board for two.
Lampham again quickly responded that he was up for both. I immediately sent a paypal for the amount requested and a few bucks more. He emailed a “thank you” and that was the last I heard from him for four years.
Every so often, for the first couple of years, I sent an e-mail to see if he was okay or going to do the sketches. No response ever came back. Then in February of this year, I was surprised to get an e-mail from Mr. Lapham apologizing for his lack of communication. He said that he wanted to get the art to me. This week (six months later) the sketches arrived. The first sketch was Sly Stallone as Jack Carter. This is the second, Sly as Rocky.
I don’t know what the hold-up was. I’m just happy to have the sketches and hope Mr. Lapham is doing well.
Batman is such a cool character. He can work as a brilliant detective, a creature of the night, an old man, a young man just starting out or an experienced crime fighter with a teenage partner. Batman stories can be camp or mysteries, comedy or tragic drama. The character is nothing if not versatile.
I’m particularly fond of Batman stories set in the past. His outfit was a bit funky and he often had futuristic gadgets. Steve Rude must like those types of Batman stories as well.
Check out The Bristol Board to see a Holy-KingSize, Batman! version.
Crom! THAT is one fine barbarian drawing by 🅹🅾🆂🅴 🅰🅽🆃🅾🅽🅸🅾 🅳🅴 🅻🅰 🆁🅾🆂🅰!
How to start a story? At the ending. Know your ending. I repeat: Know your ending.The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
If you know of Frank Miller, it could be for any number of reasons. Perhaps it was because of the comics he took to new heights (Daredevil; The Dark Knight Returns; Batman: Year One) or those groundbreaking comics that he created (Ronin; Sin City; 300) to name just a few. Maybe you know Miller from his work as a writer and/or director on feature films (Sin City; 300; Robocop 2 and Robocop 3; The Spirit). Miller revolutionized comics. Then he went to Hollywood. He’s considered a living legend.
PUSH THE WALL is Miller’s memoir. Through stories and remembrances he takes us back to his childhood in Vermont. Wanting to be a comic artist from an early age. Coming to New York City and discovering he’s not ready. Getting work. Getting lucky. Honing his craft. Getting better and wanting to be better still. Success that took him to the stratosphere. Expectations that rose as well. Falling short. Going to Hollywood. Again success… and failure. Getting back to what he loves… comics. With more stories to tell.
Miller set the book up as a series of lessons. These are lessons that he learned and can be used by other writers/artists to improve their craft. Miller’s anecdotes are both entertaining and enlighting. We get a glimpse behind the curtain of Miller’s thought processes, as well as the artists, comics, books and movies that influenced him. All told in a writing style that makes you feel as he’s talking to you.
The more of a Frank Miller fan you are, the more you will like the book.
Rating:
When Steven Sanchez announced that he was taking on double headsketch commissions, I jumped on board. As you can see I requested Sly Stallone as Jack Carter (from Get Carter) and Keanu Reeves as John Wick. I couldn’t be happier with Sanchez’s finished art.
What made it even cooler is that Sanchez sent a prelim rough for approval. In the rough he used a photo from Lock Up for Stallone reference.
I pointed out that I wanted Stallone as Jack Carter and Sanchez made the change with a new prelim for approval. He then created the prelim piece above. I loved it.
Sanchez then moved on to another marker prelim before tackling the finished pencil art.
This is my second commission from Steven Sanchez. I cannot recommend him highly enough to sketch collectors.
