Category: Art

RIP – Bernie Wrightson

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It was announced today that Bernie Wrightson has passed away after a long battle with brain cancer.  Mr. Wrightson was 68.

Known best for his drawings and paintings in the horror genre, Mr. Wrightson was a humble and soft-spoken man who appreciated his fans.  Wrightson was an artist’s artist.  Not only was his work loved by fans, but professional artists were also in awe of his talent.  Best known as the co-creator (with Len Wein) of Swamp Thing, Wrightson was also known for…

  • Being one of the young upstart talents of “The Studio” (along with Barry Smith, Michael Kaluta, and Jeff Jones)
  • His horror work at Warren Publishing
  • His Frankenstein project (beautiful pen and ink illustrations for Mary Shelley’s classic tale)
  • His work with Stephen King – creating the poster for the movie Creepshow and illustrating King’s Cycle of the Werewolf novella, illustrations for The Stand (restored version), and art for the hardcover editions of From a Buick 8 and Dark Tower V.
  • His comics at Marvel (Punisher, Spider-Man), DC (Swamp Thing, Batman) and IDW (The Ghoul and Doc Macabre – both with co-creator Steve Niles)
  • His conceptual art for films such as The Faculty, Spiderman, and George Romero’s Land of the Dead, and The Mist.
  • So much more

I was fortunate enough to meet Berni Wrightson a couple of times at HeroesCon.  He was kind and humble and appreciative of the praise fans (myself included) gave him.  On the first occasion, when my wife learned that Mr. Wrightson was a guest at the con she came into the show to meet him.  She wasn’t a real comics fan, but she did love Mr. Wrightson’s art, appreciated his talent and wanted to meet him.  When she spoke to him, he seemed genuinely touched. As we were leaving his area other fans were coming over to share their appreciation.  I’m glad Bernie Wrightson was aware of how much his art positively impacted so many people.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Berni Wrightson’s family, friends and fans.

 

Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 45: Sinnott, Eisner, Ditko, Harvey, Black and More!

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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 45, Ken took a look at Collector #29 from 1974 from Bill G. Wilson.

Collector #29 is a huge issue and features –

  • Color Star Trek cover
  • Very cool cowboy drawing by Joe Sinnott (dedicated to Bill – Black?)
  • An interview with Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek)
  • Star Trek art and articles
  • John Byrne Star Trek art
  • Captain Marvel art and articles (full pager by Bill Black)
  • C.C. Beck art and articles
  • Ken Barr full pager
  • RC Harvey story and art
  • Kurt Schaffenberger full page with Captain Marvel, Superman and Lois Lane
  • Steve Ditko comic story
  • Two full page drawings of The Thing from Another World
  • Art and articles about The Shadow
  • Art and articles about The Spirit
  • Bill Black full page Spirit piece
  • Additional art by Bill Black, Clyde Caldwell, John Byrne, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Steve Fabian, R.C. Harvey, Don Newton, Joe Sinnott and more.

I’d never seen Collector 29 before but would have really been blown away back in the day seeing so many pros and fans coming together in a fanzine.

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

SUPERMAN: THE GOLDEN AGE – a free FAN COMIC by Adrien van Viersen

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Adrien van Viersen  is storyboard artist (X2, X3, Game of Thrones, and The Flash) and self-proclaimed life-long fan of Superman.  His favorite Superman is that of the Golden Age.

van Viersen has created a Superman story that’s a love letter to that earlier, more innocent age. In the free fan fiction download (that is as good if not better than most published comics) we learn how Clark Kent discovered bullets didn’t hurt him, that a simple pair of glasses could be a great disguise and where he got the Superman persona.

All in all great fun!

 

Rocky and Mickey Limited Edition Maquettes

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Have you seen these Rocky and Mickey limited edition statues coming from NECA?

These limited edition maquettes (statues) are based on a famous stopmotion commercial from the late 1990s that starred Rocky and his trainer Mickey in puppet form. Even in stylized form, those two had selling power!

 

 

Working from the actual puppets used to make the commercial, we’ve reproduced Rocky and Mickey as extra-detailed maquettes. Rocky stands approximately 12″ tall and has fabric boxing shorts. Mickey stands approximately 10″ tall and features fabric hat and clothing.

 

Both statues are in accurate scale to each other and have movable eyes that can be positioned in various directions.

 

Comes with two display bases. Limited to 1500 pieces worldwide

Any of my deep-pocket buddies wondering about an early birthday or Christmas present for me… now ya know.  ; )

Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 44: Gulacy, Starlin, Simonson and More!

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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 44, Ken took a look at Whizzard 12, 13 and 14 from 1979 – 1981 from Marty Klug.

Whizzard 12 features –

  • Walt Simonson cover
  • Jim Starlin frontpiece (seen above)
  • Interviews with Simonson, Starlin, Michael Golden and Mike Nasser
  • Spot illos by Rick Burchett, Terry Austin
  • Indexes for Simonson, Starlin, Golden and Nasser
  • Fan art and articles

Whizzard 13 features –

  • Interviews with Marshall Rogers, Craig Russell, Tim Conrad, Steve Gerber and         Don McGregor
  • Indexes for Russell, Conrad and Rogers
  • Art by Conrad, Rick Burchett and art pulled from comics by Rogers, Russell
  • Fan art and articles

Whizzard 14 features –

  • Mike Nasser/Terry Austin cover
  • Interviews with Paul Gulacy, Dick Giordano and Mike Nasser
  • Indexes for Gulacy
  • Centerspread by Paul Gulacy
  • Art by Rick Burchett, Ken Meyer, Jr., Mike Nasser and others

Boy, did these bring back memories.  I owned all of these fanzines back in the day.  Ken points out in his Ink Stains article that Whizzard was more focused on interviews than art and that art is timeless.  As I looked back over these issues (which I loved at the time) I kept thinking I’d have loved to seen more art.  Still, it was great to revisit them.

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