Francavilla Comes Out Blasting
Wow! Francesco Francavilla scored a first round KO with his variant cover for The Shadow #1. To see more of Francesco’s fantastic art, head on over to his site!
Category: Art
Lance Sawyer Rocks Rocky
Lance Sawyer makes a return appearance at the StalloneZone, this time with his take on Sly as Rocky. I saw Lance was taking on some sketch and sketch card commissions, so I jumped on board.
If you’d like your own commission or to see more of Lance’s art, you can right here.
Have you seen these extremely cool fan made videos of Superman vs the Hulk? Ya gotta love how Superman is obviously based on Christopher Reeve.. Check out all three parts: Tom Hodges Draws First Blood
This week we have Sly as Rambo by Tom Hodges. I discovered Tom’s art through his DA site. I saw that Tom was going to be drawing live on UStream so I commissioned several sketches which will be posted in the coming weeks. Tom still draws regularly on UStream and it’s always a blast watching him sketch and interacting with the crowd.
Dan Panosian Gets Carter Again!
This is Dan Panosian‘s second appearance in the StalloneZone sketch gallery. His first was a drawing of Jack Carter that he gifted me at an FX Convention in Orlando.
Dan is a big Stallone fan and really gets the Jack Carter character. I love Dan’s art and hope this won’t be the last piece to go in my collection.
Check out more of Dan’s art here and here. Plan to spend some time, because everything he draws is worth a look!
Tales of MegaCon 2012: Paul Gulacy
Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I was at MegaCon 2012 with my buddy, John Beatty. [That’s not John Beatty with me in the photo above. No, that’s John “Hex” Carter. Hex was seated a couple of tables down from Beatty and I. You’ll hear more about Hex tomorrow.]
MegaCon was a lot of fun. Of course how could it not be? Beatty’s table was seated next to Bob “The Hardest Working Con Sketch Artist in the Business” McLeod. I was able to pick up sketches from several artists [which will be posted in the coming weeks] for my Stallone sketch collection. Beatty and I had a fun time hanging out with John Higashi. I met several new artists and got to see several old friends/artists. All in all it was a cool weekend that produced a couple of funny stories that I’ll share in posts this week. Although this story isn’t funny, it is pretty neat.
Paul Gulacy was a guest at MegaCon 2012. I first discovered Gulacy’s art when I was in junior high and he was working with Doug Moench on their classic run on Master of Kung Fu. Paul Gulacy quickly became my favorite artist. A few years later I began collecting original art and Paul was still my favorite artist. I had acquired a few sketches by him and somehow got his phone number.
I called Paul and the conversation went well and I commissioned him to do a Bruce Lee piece for me. We began to talk fairly regularly. Paul was always entertaining. In addition to being a talented artist, he is a great impressionist able to sound exactly like Brando, Eastwood, Stallone and so many others. Paul did a Stallone piece for me… followed by a Sabre commission.
I finally got to meet Paul in person in 1980 at a comic convention in Atlanta. Paul invited me to sit behind the table with him as he autographed and sketched for fans. So there I was with Paul Gulacy, Mike Grell, Bill Sienkiewicz, Pat Broderick, Bob McLeod and other artists. A fan about my age was making his way down the row getting autographs from all of the artists.
When he got to me, he looked at the program and then asked, “Who are you?” I said, “Oh, I’m nobody -” Paul spoke up saying, “This is Craig Zablo. He’s a friend of mine.” As you can imagine, I couldn’t stop smiling all weekend.
As I moved through college and got ready to enter the “real world” I decided to sell off my comic art collection so I wouldn’t have to work during my senior internship. I found myself reading fewer comics and had lost touch with Paul. The one piece of art that I did keep was the Stallone commission that Paul did for me.
Fast forward 28 years to MegaCon 2012. I hadn’t spoken to Paul since the early 80’s, but I wanted to go up and re-introduce myself and thank Paul for being so cool to a young fan. I wanted Paul to know that I still had my Stallone piece and that allowing me to sit with him while he sketched was a convention memory that still brings a smile.
I found Paul’s table. The show hadn’t started yet, but already a fan was speaking with him. When their conversation finished, I stepped up. I said, “Good morning. My name is Craig Zablo – ” Paul immediately said, “Wow! We’re going back in time.” I could see the wheels spinning as Paul tried to place me. I was surprised and said, “You remember me?”
Paul said, “Youngstown, right?”
“I used to call you when you lived in Youngstown – “
Paul said, “I did the Stallone piece for you.” I was amazed that he’d remember. We had a nice conversation and Paul introduced me to his wife. I thanked Paul for the great memories and art.
So now I had two great con memories of interactions with the talented Paul Gulacy… and MegaCon 2012 hadn’t even officially started.
Thom Zahler Remembers Oscar
This week we have Sly from Oscar by Thom Zahler. I was introduced to Thom at HeroesCon 2011 and to his art through his Love an Capes website. In addition to being an artist and writer, Thom is a great entertainer. He’s funny and does a better Shatner than the guy on the Priceline commercials.
So Ya Wanna Play with The Walking Dead
Most of the folks that regularly check in here are fans of The Walking Dead [both the comic and tv series]. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to provide a link to the TellTale Games’ The Walking Dead information page.
Cooke / Stark’s The Score
That’s the cover to the third Darwyn Cooke grapic novel adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker series. The first two, [Hunter and The Outfit] set the bar high, but I have no doubt that The Score will, uh, score big with fans when it’s released in May.
Tom Hodges: Barney Ross
This week we have Sly from The Expendables by Tom Hodges. I discovered Tom’s art through his DA site. I saw that Tom was going to be drawing live on UStream so I commissioned several sketches which will be posted in the coming weeks. Tom still draws regularly on UStream and it’s always a blast watching him sketch and interacting with the crowd.
Kirkman Responds!
Just as last week seemed to be all about the new Riddick movie staring Vin Diesel, this week is shaping up to focus on all of the news about The Walking Dead. Two days ago the news broke that Tony Moore [artist on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series, and childhood friend of Robert Kirkman] was suing Kirkman over profits from the hit comic and television series.
The Hollywood Reporter ran the image above [provided by Kirkman] that shows he is listed as the creator of the series with Moore listed as “penciler, inker and gray tones” — essentially the hired artist. Kirkman’s reaction to Moore’s lawsuit included:
- “The lawsuit is ridiculous, we each had legal representation seven years ago and now he is violating the same contract he initiated and approved and he wants to misrepresent the fees he was paid and continues to be paid for the work he was hired to do. Tony regularly receives payment for the work he did as penciler, inker and for gray tones on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series and he receives royalties for the TV show, to assert otherwise is simply incorrect.”
It appears that any hope for a quick resolution to this suit is fading fast.
Moore Sues Kirman Over The Walking Dead
The Hollywood Reporter posted the news that Tony Moore, the original artist and co-creator of the hit comic book series The Walking Dead has sued long-time [former?] friend, Robert Kirkman. Kirkman is, of course, the writer and co-creator of The Walking Dead.
According to The Hollywood Reporter…
- Moore claims that in 2005, Kirkman and his agents devised a scheme to fraudulently induce him to assign his copyright interests over to Kirkman’s company. Moore, who grew up with Kirkman and worked together on several projects, claims he signed a deal granting him 60 percent of “Comic Publishing Net Proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and another project called Brit; 20 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and Brit; and 50 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” from another project called Battle Pope.
The suit goes on to say that Moore has received little in the way of revenue from the hit comic and tv series and hasn’t seen any profit statements from Kirkman and/or his company.
This is a sad situation for all concerned. Not only were Moore and Kirkman childhood friends, but they had also worked on many projects together up to The Walking Dead. Hopefully, they will be able to come to a mutually satisfactory solution soon.
Comic Book Easter Eggs
The image above is an enlargement of a panel from Aliens/Predators: The Deadliest of the Species #5, by Chris Claremont [writer] and Eduardo Barreto [artist]. It’s a shot of a Predator’s trophy wall. It’s obvious at this size that the trophies consist of an alien, Wolverine’s hand, Batman’s head, and the heads of other heroes. Writers and artists regularly throw in little extras, or Easter Eggs, for observant readers.
I love stuff like this.
Lance Sawyer Got Carter
Lance Sawyer makes his third [and hopefully not last] appearance, this time with his take on Sly as Jack Carter from “Get Carter.” I’ve been a fan of Lance’s art for a while. Recently I had a chance to purchase a few sketches from him and I could not be happier in how they turned out!
If you’d like to see more of Lance’s art, you can right here.
