Category: Art

This is the splash page from Master of Kung Fu #29.  Paul Gulacy pencilled and inked it.  Ain’t it a beaut?

This Barry Smith piece is actually one of 15 Rejected X-Men Comic Book Covers that you can check out at CBR.com.  The article shows the rejected cover along with the one used.  In almost half of the cases I preferred the rejected cover.

If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 59, Ken took a look at Fantafolio 3 from 1980 from Editor and Publisher: Peppy White

Fantafolio 3 features –

• Cover by John Beatty and Jerry Ordway (Both who went on to long distinguished careers as comics pros)
• Doug Herring Portfolio
• Pin-Ups by David Mazzuchelli (Batman: Year One and Daredevil fame), Willie Blyberg & Doug Hazelwood (both who became comic pros)
• Fandom regulars in the issue include: Larry Houston, Pete Iro, Mike Machlan, Don Secrease and others.
• Tons of fan art, comic stories, spot illos and more.

This is a new one to me.  Interesting to see how many future comic super stars(Rick Burchett inked one of the stories) were included!

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

Diversions of the Groovy Kind has posted some really early John Byrne Batman sketches that fans will enjoy.

I always liked this What If… cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.  Of course there aren’t too many covers by Bill that I didn’t like.  You can see this one and a couple more even larger at The Bristol Board.

If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 58, Ken took a look at Fandomonium #1 from 1978 from Editor and Publisher: Russell Allen Stamets

Fandomonium #1 features –

• Cover by Rueben Pharms and Willie Blyberg (Does anyone know where Willie Blyberg is these days?)
• Frontpiece by John Beatty and Bill Mutschler
• Spot illos by Fred Hembeck and others
• Comic Story by Willie Peppers
• Full pagers by A.J. Hanley, Willie Blyberg and others

Man, this one takes me back to the early days when I discovered comics fandom.  Very cool to see Willie Blyberg and John Beatty early stuff again.

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 47, Ken took a look at Fantastic Fanzine Special #2 from 1972 from Editor: Gary Groth and Publisher: Alan Light

Fantastic Fanzine Special #2 features –

• Wraparound cover by Dave Cockrum
• Spot illos by Dave Cockrum, Dennis Fujitake
• Articles by Gary Groth, Jan Strnad, Martin Pasko
• Transcript of James Warren’ keynote speech at the 1971 Comic Art Convention
• Photos from the 1971 Comic Art Convention (the pros looked mighty young)
• Coverage of The Parade of Super-Stars with winner Mike Zeck as Black Bolt!
• Coverage of a Q & A with Steranko!
• Berni Wrightson full pager
• Plus more articles and fan art

I’d never seen Fantastic Fanzine Special #2 before.  To me the highlight is the Steranko Q&A, the photos from the 1971 con and of course see my buddy, Mike Zeck rockin’ it as Black Bolt!

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

The Bristol Board posted The Four Ages of Conan Portfolio by Barry Windsor-Smith.  The portfolio came in two limited editions.  The first edition was limited to just 30 hand-colored (by Smith) copies!

To see both editions check out this link.