Category: Art

Dick Giordano: Demolition Man #2

Posted on by

To comic book fans, Dick Giordano is a living legend. During his fifty plus years in the biz he’s done everything from ink all the greats (including himself) to serve as Editor-in-Chief of DC Comics, to co-founding his own comic company. Mr. Giordano also has a great sense of humor.

I recently had the good fortune to pick up six model sheet headsketches of Sly that Mr. Giodano did before starting work on DC Comics adaptation of “Demolition Man.” That’s the second posted above.

Mike Zeck Kicks Things Off

Posted on by

Digging around in the ZONE vault and we find a Mike Zeck front piece for RBCC #145 from 1978. Mike was a regular contributor to the RBCC fanzine and he wasn’t alone. Many folks who went on to have successful careers in the comics field were proud to have their art appear in the pages of RBCC.  In this issue you could see the early work of Bob Layton, John Bolton, Dennis Fujitake, David Michelinie, Fred Hembeck, Don Rosa, and Kerry Gammill.

Two ads for fanzines caught my eye: the first, for Fandom Playhouse talked up “the fantastic work of Mark Chiarello” — who at that time was an 18 year old kid with a dream; and the second for a fanzine called Grymalkin which featured the work of Neal Adams, Frank Frazetta, John Byrne, Mike Nasser, George Perez, Don McGregor and many others.  [I may still have some of the art pages from it somewhere in the ZONE vault…]  Grymalkin sold for the outrageous price of a buck-fifty postage paid. 

Man, do I wish I had a time machine.

Gravedigger: Hot Women, Cold Cash

Posted on by

One of my favorite crime comics is Gravdigger: The Scavengers by Chris Mills and Rick Burchett. Long time ZONErs have heard me sing its praises many times.  I’m happy to report that the long awaited sequel, a graphic novel titled Gravedigger: Hot Women, Cold Cash is coming out in early 2010. 

Chris has posted six pages of preview art on his blog.  Check it out,  and you might notice that one of the characters looks a bit like someone you may recognize… and I ain’t talkin’ about Lee Marvin.  If you like what you see [with a story by Chris Mills, and art by Rick Burchett and Fred Harper is there any way you couldn’t?], then let your local comic shop manager know you’ll be ordering one.  I know I will.

Matthew Warlick’s “Jack Carter”

Posted on by

Matthew Warlick is a studio mate of my buddy Evan Bryce. Matthew is also freelance illustrator, art director and comic book artist based in Dallas, Texas. Matthew contacted me to say that he’d been talking to Evan and wanted to work up a Stallone sketch for the SZ. We exchanged a couple of e-mails and soon enough, Matthew sent in his very, very cool take on Jack Carter.

How could it get any better than that, you ask? And I’m glad you did because Matthew created a video of himself inking the piece. I love the art and the video is the icing on the cake. You can check it out here. You can also see more of Matthew’s art at his website and artblog.

BIG THANKS to Matthew for sharing his talents and to Evan for talking up the SZ. Hopefully we’ll see more from Matthew in the future!

Chris Moreno’s “Cop Land”

Posted on by

Chris Moreno worked up this very nice color take on Sly from “Cop Land” for me at a convention last year. My buddy picked it up when I had to leave the show early and I didn’t end up getting it in my possession until just recently.

Man, I really like Chris’ art and my piece is an excellent example of “why.” He’s a talented artist with a huge sense of humor. What a great combination! You can check out more of Chris’ art here.

“Boondock Saints” Too

Posted on by

CBR.com posted a larger version of the piece above along with a mini-interview with Troy Duffy, the man behind “The Boondock Saints.”  You may remember that Duffy was a bartender in 1997 who scored a million dollar deal with addtional benefits based on his “Boondock Saints” screenplay.  Before the film was completed, Duffy’s rampaging ego alienated his family, friends, and the production company behind his big bucks deal.  Ultimately “The Boondocks Saints” was never given a wide theatrical release, Duffy had burned his bridges and gone through the money.

A funny thing happened when “The Boondock Saints” went to dvd and cable.  It became a cult hit!  Now, tweleve years later, and without any additional films in between, Duffy is coming back with “The Boondock Saints 2.”  As a tie-in to the movie, Duffy has teamed with 12 Guage to create a comic that will expand “The Boondock Saints” story.  Chris Brunner [an excellent artist] will provide covers to the series with an interior artist to be named later.

The movie and comic are projects to keep an eye on.  Let’s hope that Duffy has become a bit of a “Saint” too.

Make Mine Marvel… Again

Posted on by

When I was in high school and college I bought a lot of Marvel comics. Then as I got older I found myself bying fewer and fewer Marvels. It even got to the point that I’d go months [years?] without getting anything from the house that Stan and Jack built. Of course I was buying fewer comics in general…

Imagine my surprise to find that my Preview order this month has nine comics and four of them are from Marvel [Punisher Annual #1, Punisher: Frank Castle Max #74, Dominic Fortune #2 and Criminal: Sinners #1]. Of course if Marvel continues to feature art by Dave Johnson, Jason Pearson, Howard Chaykin and Sean Phillips with stories by Rick Remender, Victor Gischler, Howard Chaykin and Ed Brubaker, how can I not buy ’em?