Search Results for: darwyn cooke

If You Love Crime Fiction

Posted on by
Darwyn Cooke has just announced that he’ll be adapting Richard Stark’s “Parker” crime series into graphic novels.

Man-oh-man-oh-man! Talk about great news! How can it get any better than the combination of one of my favorite artists [with a love for the crime genre] adapting one of the most iconic characters in crime fiction?

You can read more about the pairing of Cooke and Parker here and here.

MegaCon

Posted on by
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.

Superman / Doomsday

Posted on by
I got a chance to watch the Superman / Doomsday animated movie yesterday.While not on par with the Fleischer Superman cartoons of the 30’s [not many cartoons are], Superman / Doomsday is an enjoyable tale brought to life by co-writer/co-director, Bruce Timm and a well chosen cast of actors including Adam Baldwin [Superman], Anne Heche [Lois Lane], James Marsters [Lex Luthor], Ray Wise [Perry White] and others.

The bonus features include behind the scenes with the voice actors, the animators, commentary tracks, as well as a sneak peak at The New Frontier [an upcoming animated feature based on Darwyn Cooke’s award-winning series — and I can’t wait to see it].

If you’re a Superman or comic book fan, my guess is that you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not a fan of either then you probably stopped reading this post long ago.

One Mega-Great Day

Posted on by

Usually when I plan to go to a comic convention, I post the news well in advance in case I have friends planning to be there. Much of the fun of cons is hanging with folks you seldom see! I hadn’t planned to attend this weekend’s Orlando MegaCon. Two weekends ago I attended FX and my wallet needed a break. Even though Darwyn Cooke was scheduled for MegaCon [and I really wanted a shot at a Cooke Stallone sketch], I figured to sit this show out.
Imagine my surprise, when at 7:30am Saturday, my good buddy John Highashi called me.  John knew how badly I wanted a Darwyn Cooke Stallone sketch.  Higashi said that Darwyn was sketching, and his prices were very reasonable. Unfortunately, there was no way that I could get over on Saturday since I had plans with my son Chris.
At 11:30pm, Higashi called me again to say Darwyn still had a couple of slots open. If I could get there early Sunday, I might still have a shot! To sweeten the deal, John had come up with two one day passes! [Talk about a true friend!] I spoke with Chris and he wanted to go.

That’s Chris and “The James” Howell looking all gangsterish. Chris and I got up early. I was first in line at Darwyn’s table. Right behind me came Randy Martin who hoped to get a sketch for his Edward Scissorhands collection. A few minutes later and the line behind us was huge! When Darwyn arrived, he said that he had room for just two more sketches. I was in!  As long as Darwyn didn’t run out of time, I’d get my Stallone piece!!

Usually when I hit cons, I have two or three days to hang with friends, set up sketches and look at what the dealers are selling. Since this was the last day of the show, I had to move quickly.  I visited briefly with Cadre and his crew, Alex Saviuk, Joe Pekar and Alberto Ruiz. [That’s Joe and Alberto in the photo above. Alberto’s the one flashing the lettuce!]
Keith and Monica Mallow were there. They joined Chris and I for lunch at the convention center cafe. Chris is pretty reserved the first time he meets someone, so he REALLY didn’t know what to make of Mallow, who’s a joke a minute guy. [Unfortunately his funny jokes only show up every five minutes or so… but I kid…] Keith is planning a one day show in Port St. Lucie, Florida on April 22nd. I’ll post more about that as the date draws near.

After lunch Chris and I hung out with the guys from Tsunami Studios [Gary McKee, Mike Torrance, and Jason Walker]. They’d prepared a studio sketchbook. It was a bargain, especially since they all drew small headshots free with every purchase. I’ll post up mine later this week.

The cool thing about hanging at the table is you get to see the guys working on commission sketches, you get to visit with other artists who stop by, as well as the folks who come to the show in costume.  Although he wasn’t in costume, I was surprised to see Jimmy Sanders III! It had been about 12 years since I last saw him. He’d made a splash in the comic biz as an inker and was going full bore for a while. Then a lot of things happened and he seemed to have dropped off the planet. He said that he’s hoping to back into comics.
As the afternoon wore on, I began to wonder if Darwyn would get to my sketch. He always had a huge line of fans who wanted to shake his hand, get a photo, and have him autograph a stack of comics. Darwyn was always friendly and took the time to make sure each fan left happy. He was making progress on his sketch list, but the clock was ticking. 
Matt Halloub hung at the table for a bit. He picked up some great additions to his collection. Hawaiian Dave visited and shared some of the great pieces that he scored at MegaCon. John Higashi would suddenly teleport in, and then just as quickly be off again. “The James” rounded up all the sketches that he’d set up. I had come to the show hoping to set up one sketch with Darwyn Cooke.
The show was almost over when word got back to me that Darwyn was drawing Sly! I swung by his table and it was ready! I thanked him then made my way back to table Tsunami. After just a few minutes the end of show announcements started. Before we said our goodbyes, Chris snapped a photo of us. That’s Gary looking proud of his pencil, and Jason to our right. I’m behind Gary, and Mike Torrance is behind me. Hawaiian Dave is directly behind “The James” who seems to be putting the Vulcan grip on Jason.

Before I go… let me leave you with a shot of Darwyn and his take on Sly as Jack Carter!

Midnight Mystery #1 / Z-View

Posted on by

Midnight Mystery #1 is part of a four-issue mini-series published by Alterna Comics.

Writer: Bernie Gonzalez
Artist: Bernie Gonzalez
Colorist: Bernie Gonzalez
Letterer: Wes Lochner
Cover Artist: Bernie Gonzalez

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

Follow the strange adventures of detective Zeke King as he goes from case to horrifying case. In this issue: King’s latest case goes from freaky to fatal when he’s hired to find the lost son of a deceased horror host! The mystery begins in this new supernatural horror series!

Bernie Gonzalez’s Midnight Mystery is the Alterna series I was most looking forward to and it lived up to all of my expectations.  Gonzalez created a fun issue that quickly introduces us to Zeke King’s world and things to come.  I grew up watching Sammy Terry introduce late night monster movies and love that Count Karloff (a perfect name for a horror host) is used in the first Zeke King arc.  The issue ends with a cliffhanger and left me wanting more.  What better praise for a comic?

Gonzalez’s writing, like his art, is clear and supports the story in a lean, efficient way.  Many folks compare Gonzalez’s art to Darwyne Cooke and I don’t disagree but I also see the influence of Alex Toth and Paul Grist.

Bring on issue 2!
Rating: