Category: Art

Kot + Walsh = Zero

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Zero by Ales Kot [writer] and Michael Walsh [artist] looks interesting.  Here’s how the advance solicitation describes it…

                         SAVING THE WORLD. ONE MURDER AT A TIME.
Edward Zero is the perfect execution machine – a spy who breaks the rules to get things done. When a stolen device appears in the center of a long-running conflict, Zero comes to retrieve it.  The problem is, the device is inside a living, breathing, bio-modified terrorist and there’s an entire army after it.

iFanboy has more about Zero and Michael Walsh.  I’ve seen enough to put in a pre-order with my local comic shop.  How about you?

 

Brother Lono Preview

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That’s the special Eduardo Rizzo cover for Brother Lono #1 created by Brian Azzarello [writer], Eduardo Risso [artist], Trish Mulvihill [colorist], Clem Robbins [letterer] and Rev. Dave Johnson [cover artist].

Yep, that’s the same award-winning creative team that brought us 100 issues of 100 Bullets.  Seems only right that they’d all return to bring us the spin-off series Brother Lono.

If you’d like to see an exclusive preview of Brother Lono, you can thanks to USAToday!

“Escape Plan” Gets a Poster & 3 Wallpapers

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The poster for Escape Plan, starring Sly and Arnold Schwarzenegger was released this week and it is a nice one!

Inspired by the Escape Plan poster, StalloneZoner, Ferhat TEMİZ made these three wallpapers. Click on each to get the wallpaper-sized version.  Thanks to Ferhat! – Craig

The Art of Sean Phillips is Coming!

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Yesterday I put in my preorder for The Art of Sean Phillips.   It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Sean Phillips’ art and have been looking forward to his art book for a while.  The Art of Sean Phillips is an over-sized 9″ x 12″ hardcover with more than 300 pages!

Here’s how the book description describes it…

The Art of Sean Phillips is a lavish, career-spanning retrospective of the acclaimed artist behind Criminal, Sleeper, Incognito, and Fatale.

Sean has personally selected the very best, most interesting examples of his art for inclusion, from comic strips assembled with childhood friends in his bedroom, through his work for British girls’ comics and 2000AD, to his role as a key artist in the early years of Vertigo, through his superhero work for Marvel, DC, and WildStorm, and finally from his creator-owned series with Ed Brubaker.

Also, the renowned artist has been extensively interviewed, along with many of his key collaborators, for the book’s in-depth commentary on his work and career.

Here’s where you can see some preview pages thanks to Comic Vine.

The Art of Sean Phillips is available for pre-order now.

“The Guns of Shadow Valley” Now on Kickstarter

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The Guns of Shadow Valley by Dave Wachter [co-creator & artist], James Andrew Clark [co-creator & writer] and Thomas Mauer [Letterer] is now available on Kickstarter.

The Guns of Shadow Valley started as a weekly web comic set in 1870’s in the mysterious Shadow Valley where a…

“posse of gunmen with special abilities must come together and defend against a tribe of ghostly warriors, an advancing army led by a deranged Colonel, and the perils of the valley itself.”

It’s more than just a western, it has elements of “science fiction, steampunk, superpowers, mysticism, and folklore.”

The Guns of Shadow Valley was nominated for the Eisner Award for ‘Best Digital Comic’ in 2010, and for the Harvey Award for ‘Best Online Comics Work’ in 2011. Dave Wachter was nominated for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award in 2012.

If you’ve never read The Guns of Shadow Valley, why not check it out?  Then if you like what you see, please consider swinging by The Guns of Shadow Valley Kickstarter and become a backer.  There are backer levels [with cool rewards at each level]  to suit every budget.

Z-View: HeroesCon 2013

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That’s the self-titled Corduroy Mafia at Heroes Con 2013.  From left to right we have Brian Jones, me, Gene Gonzales, John Nacinovich and Royce Thrower. How we gave ourselves the name Corduroy Mafia is a tale for another time.  Instead I present my HeroesCon 2013 summary.

The Drive Up:

Doralya and I left Friday morning.  We planned to leave earlier, but a late start got us on the road at about 5am.  Traffic was terrible, two different wrecks slowed us down and it rained almost the entire way.  From now on, we plan to drive up the night before the con starts.

The hotel:

We usually stay at the Weston, but this year it was the Hampton Inn Charlotte – Uptown.  What a great hotel!  It’s super-clean with the friendliest staff I’ve ever seen.  Free shuttle service and free breakfast made the stay even better. I’d definitely stay here again!

Main Goal of the Show:

My main goal was to meet (for the first time) and get a sketch from Rick Burchett.  I’m happy to report that Rick is as nice as he is talented — yeah, he’s really that friendly!  I hoped to get Rick to draw Jack Carter (Stallone) with Chris Mills/Rick Burchett’s character, Grave Digger (Lee Marvin).  Rick said he could make that happen!

I then got Greg Rucka to autograph two of my Atticus Kodiac novels.  I’ve been a Rucka fan since before he started working in comics — and was pleased when he teamed with Rick Burchett on Lady Sabre.  Eric Newsome was at the table as well.  Eric assists with the Lady Sabre website and more.  Since I am a backer of their Lady Sabre Kickstarter, I knew the password to get an advance look at a Lady Sabre script!  Eric also reminded me that he had done a Stallone sketch for the SZ!  It was great talking to Rick, Greg and Eric.

Books signed:

  • My original hardcover Berni Wrightson’s A Look Back
  • My first edition Chandler by Steranko
  • Two of my Greg Rucka Atticus Kodiac novels
  • Road Trip by Sean Murphy.  

All books autographed — mission accomplished.

Sketches:

  • Dave Wachter (mini-head sketches): Lords of Flatbush and Bullet to the Head
  • Drew Moss (busts): Get Carter and Rocky
  • Jerry Gaylord: Get Carter and Demolition Man
  • Mitch Gerads (head sketch): Expendables 2
  • Mike Torrance: several sketch cards
  • Gene Gonzales (head sketch): Get Carter
  • Manny Aguilera: Over the Top and Demolition Man (surprise gifts from LittleJohn312 & Patricia), Get Carter.
  • Rick Burchett is going to do my piece from home.

Panels:

  • The Inkwell Awards (and keeping with tradition, LittleJohn312 and Patricia joined me).
  • Jim Steranko (again with LJ & P) – Steranko is a charmer and captivated the crowd with his great stories!
  • Crime Panel: Greg Rucka (Whiteout), Jason Latour (Loose Ends), and Jason Aaron (Scalped) interrogated by Vito Delsante.  

It’s only been in the last several years that I’ve made a real effort to attend panels.  Without a doubt, they have made the con experience even more fun.

Drink and Draw:

Because of weather it was held in the lobby of the Hilton.  Jack the Radio provided live music — they’re good!  The place was packed, but the Hilton staff was very accommodating and brought out more seats. Patricia, Doralya and I enjoyed watching and messing with LittleJohn312 as he attempted to win some art — and he did!

HeroesCon Auction:

As always the auction was a fun night.  LittleJohn312 won a Wizard of Oz piece (as well as the companion piece that was in next day’s auction).  The move to have professional auctioneers is helpful, but Alison’s presence as the Mistress of Ceremonies was missed.

Kickstarter:

Some HeroesCon guests had Kickstarter projects that I had backed.  I made sure to swing by and congratulate each on their Kickstarter success:

  • Greg Rucka / Rick Burchett with Lady Sabre
  • Jeremy Haun with Bad Karma  (I missed seeing Alex Grecian, B. Clayton Moore & Seth Peck)
  • Eric Powell with The Goon movie

Meals:

The biggest surprise is that we only ate at Fuel once.  It was good to keep that tradition alive, but not over do it.  The best meal we had was at Fujo Bistro — we will definitely hit that place again next year!  Bojangles and Einstein’s Bagels also got our business.  Sadly we did not make it to Mert’s.

The Drive Home:

We left about 5:30 and arrived home at about 12:30am.  Traffic and rain were both light and we were exhausted, but in a good way.

In closing:

HeroesCon this year was huge with twice the floor space as previous years.  The wider aisles made movement easier.  There were also additional sections this year with chairs and tables for con guests to sit, eat and visit.  The bigger painting area was also a plus.

I’ve had to rewrite this sentence several times, because I come off like a real fanboy trying to say how “cool” it was to meet Rick Burchett and Steranko.  Let’s just say it was great and leave it at that.

Seeing old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun part of the show.  I won’t try to list them all because invariably I would leave some out.

Thanks to Shelton and his crew for another great HeroesCon — see everyone next year!

HeroesCon, Here We Come!

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In just a few hours, Doralya and I will be heading up to Charlotte for our annual pilgrimage to HeroesCon.  I can’t wait.  It’ll be nice to get away for a “long” weekend… especially since I’ll be spending it at Heroes.   There’s always plenty to do.  Look at the guest list and schedule of events and you can see I’m not kidding.

Hope to see you there, but if you can’t make the show, don’t worry, I’ll post a full report later in the week.

[And Chris, if you’re reading this, remember: No parties!  Be sure to feed Bruiser!]

 

The Walking Dead 100 Project

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Image Comics printed blank covers for The Walking Dead #100, and the Hero Initiative commissioned 100 top artists to do an original drawing on each cover to be auctioned for charity.  You can see the results here.

Talented artists including folks like Charles Adlard, John Beatty, Chris Ivy, Casey Jones, Karl Kesel, Peter Krause, Jeff Lemire, Shawn McManus, Paolo Rivera, Alex Saviuk as well as so many other turned in awesome art for a great cause.

I posted my favorite of the 100 at the top of this post — it’s by Ken Lashley.  Ken’s a new artist to me, but one that I’ll be following.