Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The Walking Dead continues to be my favorite regularly published comic. You can read an interview with Walking Dead creator and writer Robert Kirkman HERE or artist Charlie Adlard HERE.
It’s been a while since we checked in on my buddy, Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes. Jazz is always working on something involving his creative talents. He’s an artist, musician, actor, director and more. Jazz’s latest video is a spooky, hypnotic combination of all his talents. 
I’ve updated my blog and artist links sections with a bunch of really cool sites. I’m sure that you’ll find at least a couple that you’ll bookmark for return visits. [Hopefully not at the expense of visits here.]
Today I swung by the April Sketch Society meeting for a couple of hours. The meeting is always held on the last Saturday of the month at the Java Junction in Holly Hill. One of the great things about Sketch Society is that you never know who’s going to show up. Two guys, O’Serimi and Owen joined the festivities for the first time. John Beatty [who started the Sketch Society], Rob Smith and Mark Dail were also in attendance. John worked on some Upper Deck Sketch Cards [sorry, but no pictures allowed]. O’Serimi, Mark and Owen worked on figure studies while Beatty and I did our best to keep up with Rob’s tales of his travels [and to NOT call him BOB].
Since I had to leave early I don’t have any photos of completed sketches, but promise to do better in May!
The art above is just a small sample of why I love Dave Johnson’s art. Click HERE for a bigger sample.
If you’re anywhere near Daytona Beach, Florida this Sunday, you may want to check out the Daytona Beach Comic and Toy Show. Jerry DeCaire who created the cool Punisher art for today’s header will be there. So will author Frank Feschino and a roomful of dealers. I’ll be there. Who knows, maybe I’ll come home with a new Stallone sketch for my gallery.
Saturday is the next meeting of Sketch Society. The festivities will be at Java Junction Donut and Coffee. I plan to arrive between 12:30 and 1 and hope to see you there!
Evan Bryce is one of the good guys. He’s started a new webcomic over at his blog that features his character Rick Dangerous. Expect a lot of action and a lot of fun. Check it out and tell him I sent ya!
Yesterday I headed over to the third Sketch Society meeting of 2008. It’s always held on the last Saturday of the month at the Java Junction in Holly Hill. You never know who’s going to show up. Due to the great summer weather and other commitments, the only folks who made the get together were John Beatty, Mark Dail. It was still a lot of fun. Mark was able to work on some art assignments for college and Big J created some Upper Deck Sketch Cards [wish I could show you photos of them…].
The next Sketch Society get together is April 26th at the Java Junction. If you like to sketch or hang out with those that do, then come on by. The food is good [they serve great sandwiches] and the company is even better.
The extremely talented Joe Bluhm is interviewed here. It’s short, sweet and worth a look!
Next month, the first issue of Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries, written by Chris Mills and drawn by Joe Staton, will be listed in Diamond Comics Distribution’s Previews. If you get Previews, I’d like you to check it out. My guess is after doing so, you’ll want to order a copy. If you don’t get previews, then please ask your local comic shop owner to take a look at it.Issues #1 and #3 are inked by Horacio Ottolini, issues #2 and #4 by Mark Stegbauer. Colors are provided by Melissa Kaercher and Matt Webb. As an added bonus, each issue is offered with two covers: one pencilled by Joe Staton and then digitally painted by Alfredo Lopez Jr, with the second by a guest artist. Those guest artists are Brian Bolland, Matt Haley, Phil Hester, and the late Mike Wieringo. [Some fans will buy the issues just for the guest covers!]
The official Femme Noir website is http://www.femme-noir.com. Check out the website and if you like what you see, help me spread the word. [And no, I’m not getting any kickbacks. I like Chris Mills’ work — especially his crime comic Gravedigger — and I’d like to see Chris and Joe Staton get the audience they deserve on Femme Noir. If it wasn’t a worthy comic, I wouldn’t be talking it up… and you wouldn’t still be reading this.]
One of my highlight’s from MegaCon was getting to spend a bit of time with two old friends. That’s Jim Ivey on the left and Mike Kott on the right. I’ve known these guys for over 30 years. Jim is an award-winning political cartoonist and founder of the original Cartoon Museum. Mike is the founder and co-owner of The Intergalactic Trading Company. Together they [along with Bill Black] put on OrlandoCon, one of the best comic book conventions you’d find anywhere. I knew them because of their respective business enterprises, but we became friends over countless hands and hours playing cards. I only get to see these guys about once a year now. But when we do see each other, it’s like the years melt away.It’s hard to believe that I’m almost the age that Jim Ivey was when we first met! And speaking of Jim Ivey, he has a new book out called Cartoons That I Liked. It features some of his favorite cartoons from the thousands that he did over the years. It’s available as a or $3.00 pdf download or $9.95 for the actual book. You can even order one from Jim which will come autographed and with a sketch for $20.00. If you’re at all interested in political cartoons, then I’d appeciate it if you’d order a copy. The pdf is a steal at three bucks and getting the autographed copy at $20 is a bargain. If you order a copy from Jim, please tell him I sent you his way. Who knows, I may need some goodwill from him should we ever get into another poker game.
Dave Stevens, illustrator/comic book artist, died yesterday. Probably best known for creating The Rocketeer, Stevens was also known for his “good girl” art and love for Bettie Page. Stevens didn’t have a prolific output, but each piece he created was a beauty. Mark Evanier explains why and writes a worthy remembrance.
Friday and Saturday I was at MegaCon in Orlando. Florida. I had a good time seeing some old friends and meeting a few new ones. The crowd seemed much larger this year and the number of fans in costumes, especially good costumes was the biggest ever. As you can see Wonder Woman and Superman also made the trip to the show.
Dave Johnson signed and sketched in my copy of Drink and Draw. That’s Rev. Dave in the photo above. Darwyn Cooke signed my copy of his classic take on DC Heroes in The New Frontier. I was able to get a few sketches for my Stallone theme collection — Ron Salas did a Rocky and Joe Peaker worked up a Deke from “Nighthawks.” I’ll post photos once I get them scanned. Chris Moreno was finishing up a humorous take on Freddy from “Cop Land” and Jason Walker still needed to add color to his very cool “Rambo” at the close of day two, so my buddy The James is going to pick them up for me today.
I’ll be back later to tell you more about the show.
