Category: Art

Time for Tampa

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On Sunday, August 19th, I’ll be joining Big Beatty and hundreds of other fans of comics, movies, sci-fi and other interesting hobbies as we converge on Tim Gordon’s Tampa Comic Book & Toy Convention.You’ve heard me rave many times about what a great show Tim puts on. This one could be the best ever! In addition to John Beatty, guests will include Bill Black, Alex Saviuk, Herb Trimpe, Gary Friedrich, Chuck Dixon, Pablo Marcos, and many others. There will be something for everyone… artists sketching and signing autographs, a costume contest, a continuously running film room and more.

If you’re able to make it, swing by Big Beatty’s table and be sure to say, “Hi!”

Frazetta’s Universe

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ComicBookResources.com posted a report today that Image comics will be expanding their take on “Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer” into several series based on other Frazetta paintings. As I read the piece, I started thinking, this could be very cool if done correctly. Then I read…

“The Silver Warrior” is a four-issue mini-series by Fotos, Nat Jones and Joshua Ortega. One-shots include Rick Remender on Frazetta’s “Creatures,” “Swamp Demon” written by Joshua Ortega, Steve Niles handling “Dracula Meets The Wolfman,” and Mark Kidwell doing the same for “Dark Kingdom.”
Rick Remender, Steve Niles and Nat Jones and everything is run by Frank Frazetta for his approval. Yeah, they’re doing it right.

No One is Safe

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Nearly four years ago issue #1 of The Walking Dead hit the stands. I bought it and really dug both the art and story. I soon discovered that I wasn’t alone. A lot of people were buying and loving it!

Before long The Walking Dead was my favorite comic. After the first six issues, artist Tony Moore left the regular art chores and Charlie Adlard took up the slack. The book remained my favorite regularly published comic.

Each month The Walking Dead was the comic that I most looked forward to reading. From time to time, I’d talk up the series so that ZONErs who’d never heard of it would have a chance to jump on board. Robert [creator of The Walking Dead] Kirkman’s interview at Newsarama.com reminded me that I hadn’t crowed about The Walking Dead in a while.

So I decided to remedy that with this post.

The Walking Dead Book 1 [Collects the first 12 issues in an affordable hardcover] A+ rating

The Walking Dead Book 2 [Collects the second 12 issues in an affordable hardcover] A+ rating

Mallow-Con Report

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That’s Brenna Barry surrounded by Keith Mallow and Wild Bill Black. For some reason the guys seem much happier than Brenna. I wonder why? That photo and those that follow were taken yesterday at Collector’s Comic-Con in Fort Pierce, Florida. Keith puts on the show and brought in Brenna, Bill and John Beatty as special guests. Keith and Big John always invite me along and since I enjoy their nonsense, I always make an effort to attend.
That’s Aleissa [hope I spelled that correctly] and her boyfriend. Aleissa is one of John’s returning sketch customers. This time she opted for a Batman and Beatty came through in style.
Jesse “Cadre” Hansen was set up selling prints and sketching!Wild Bill Black brought in a bunch of his movies and showed us the latest trailer [which features me, Big John Beatty, James “The James” Howell, and John Higashi in a cameo – where’s our IMDB listing?] for “The Ghost of Garganta.” Bill also talked about plans for future movies as well as a possible syndicated horror movie package complete with a horror host [the excellent Lon Midnight]!

Big Beatty was sketching away and each one was a winner. He was in the ZONE [and I don’t mean this ZONE… although he IS in it as well]. The Punisher sketch below got a lot of attention from fans, but it was the final sketch of the day, a Joker piece, that won the Best Beatty Sketch of the Show Award.

As always, Keith’s shows are a lot of fun. His next one is scheduled for late October. If you can make it, you should!

More Art from Heroes

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Mike Wieringo is one of the nicest and most talented artists you could ever meet. Soft spoken and humble, but oh man, what an artist!

Mike did this drawing of Rocky Balboa for his blog [which I read daily and suggest you do as well]. Mike knew about my Stallone art collection and told me it was mine for the asking when I commented about it.

Check out Mike’s Blog when you have some time to spend. You’ll be amazed and impressed with the amount that he’s posted [but his insightful comments will also be part of what brings you back].
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My buddy, Andy Smith whipped up this cool rendition of Rocky Balboa. Andy is mostly known for his penciling and inking work for DC and Cross Gen comics. But I like to tell people is that when it comes to dynamic drawing, Andy wrote the book. You see, he truly did. Really! You can check it out HERE! You can also check out Andy’s site by clicking HERE. – Craig
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Mike Wieringo’s drawing of Jack Carter is one of my favorite pieces from this year’s Heroes Con. I not only love the look and attitude of the piece, but I was able to watch Mike sketch it!

Mike was selling his latest sketch book and if you bought a copy, Mike threw in a head sketch for free! Talk about a great deal. I was worried that because Stallone isn’t a character that Mike had drawn repeatedly, it might be more difficult and therefore he might decline my request. Boy, was I wrong. Mike proceeded to sketch it out in no time and like I said, he really captured the look and attitude of Sly as Jack Carter.

In my previous post, I suggested you check out Mike’s Blog. I should have remembered to tell you about where you can buy Mike Wieringo original art. Now you have all the facts and links you need.

Enjoy!

 

Matt Wagner’s "Z"

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What do you do?… when one of your favorite comic book creators [Matt Wagner] loves a character [Zorro] so much that he contacts the company that has just gotten the rights to said character [Dynamite – the same company bringing us Clint Eastwood’s The Man with No Name] and offers them his services as cover artist for the series?What do you do?… when the company [Dynamite] counters with an offer for the creator [Matt Wagner] to not only provide the covers, but to come on board as the art director for the series and to write the first storyline?

Give up?

Here’s what you do: 1] You post the info on your blog. 2] You post a link to Matt Wagner’s website where they can see the full Zorro drawing that he did long before learning about the new gig. 3] You tell your local comic shop owner to keep his eye out for the new Zorro series coming from Dynamite and Matt Wagner and 4] You promise to quit asking so many questions.

I Say Crimeland, You Say Rumble in La Rambla

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It’s hard to believe that I’ve been talking up Crimeland for over a year. Of course when I first wrote about it, it was called Rumble in La Rambla and was to be a mini-series. I thought it sounded great and was on board. I knew we were in for a fun ride.

Unfortunately the mini-series was delayed. When we next heard about Rumble in La Rambla it had turned into a graphic novel with a new name [Crimeland] and a new publisher [Image]. It still had the same story by Felipe Ferreira and Ivan Brandon with art by Rafael Albuquerque. So all things considered, this worked out to an even better deal for us readers!

Art from Heroes Con

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I finally got a chance to post up some of the art that I picked up at this year’s Heroes Con. Let’s take a look…Sly Stallone by Rick Remender. I’ve been a fan of Rick’s work for years. He’s that rare talent that can write and draw and he does both very well. Check out his bio and you’ll be amazed at all of the cool things that he’s worked on. Check out his site and you’ll become a fan [if you’re not already]. Now if Rick could just find time to get around to The Last Days of American Crime!

Rambo by Megan Ruiz. Can you believe that Megan just turned 14 and she can already draw like that? Of course her dad is Alberto Ruiz so we know where she gets her talent. Not only can the young lady draw, but she is one of the nicest and most polite people you’ll ever meet. It was a true pleasure to get a drawing from her.

Cosmo Carboni by Robin Mitchell. I discovered Robin through Alberto’s site and Robin’s blog. I dug his art enough to pick up his first art book and was thrilled to get an original sketch from him. Robin has a second art book out and you can get both HERE.

Rocky Balboa by Kyle Baker. Kyle Baker is an amazing talent with a wicked sense of humor, mad drawing skills, storytelling that just sucks you in… let’s simplify life and call him a genius. Check out Kyle’s site and you’ll get a taste of what I’m talking about.

Rocky Balboa by Andrew Robinson. Andrew Robinson is an artist’s artist. When he starts to draw or paint, other artists gather round. I met Andrew years ago through my good buddy John Beatty. It was obvious then how much talent Andrew possessed… and he just keeps getting better and better. Andrew will have an art book coming out soon. Save some coin, because it’s a “must have” item. Until then, here’s a link to his site to hold you over!

Jim Ivey Honored

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That’s my buddy, Jim Ivey, between me and my oldest son, Mike. The photo was taken at Jim’s 81st birthday celebration. I just learned today that Jim has gone up to Washington, DC where he [along with Hy Rosen and Jim Lange] were honored at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists 50th-anniversary convention. Jim was quoted as saying, “I’m delighted the AAEC is still going.” Jim also noted that the organization could also be called the AAPC [American Association of Political Cartoonists] and that he hopes those initials never mean the “American Association of the Politically Correct.” Yeah, that’s definitely something that Jim would say!
You can  learn even a bit more HERE. Congrats to Jim! – Craig

Collector’s ComicCon Are You "N"?

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On Sunday, July 22nd from 10am – 5pm, the Collector’s ComicCon is going to be the place to be in Fort Pierce, Florida. Not only will my best bud, John Beatty be a guest, but he’ll be joined by Bill Black [artist, writer, publisher of AC comics, writer, director and producer of “GARGANTARAMA” ] and Brenna Berry star of “GARGANTARAMA”.


It’s a fun little one day show. Click HERE for all the details. Hope to see you there!