Search Results for: gulacy

Sly Stallone is Rocky by Paul Gulacy!

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Sly Stallone is Rocky by Paul Gulacy!

Back in the late 70s to 1983, I bought and sold original comic art and sketches.  My favorite series at the time was Master of Kung Fu by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy.   I loved Gulacy’s art.

It was so cool to discover Paul was as nice a person as he was great as an artist.  We’d talk on the phone from time to time.  I commissioned Paul to draw Sly Stallone as Rocky Balboa and this is the end result.  It was a dream come true for this Gulacy / Stallone fan.

When I graduated college, I sold my original art collection except for one piece.  You guessed it, this one.  When I started collecting sketches again a few decades later, I opted for a Stallone character theme.  So, it is true to say, this was the piece that started it all for me.

Sybil Danning / Paul Gulacy / Bill Black and Me

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The Black Diamond comics shown above each feature a cover drawn by Paul Gulacy.  A fan of the series and actress Sybil Danning recently posted the covers on Twitter with this response…

I responded to his Tweet with, “Funny story – I was Bill Black’s connection for both Paul Gulacy & Sybil Danning!”

I thought I had told that story here before but a search of the site indicates I didn’t… until now.  Let me take you back to 1980…

It’s about 10 at night and I’m watching tv.  The phone rings and I answer.  The voice on the other end asks to speak to “Mr. ZAB-blow.”  Dead giveaway that he doesn’t know me since he mispronounces my name. (For the record it sounds like ZAY-BLOW.)  I think he’s a nervy sales guy and am ready to hang up when he says, he got my name from a Bill Black publication that listed me as an editor.  The guy wants to get in touch with Bill Black.

Little does this guy know, my editing amounted to either putting Bill in touch with artists or copies of convention sketches.  My biggest contribution in this area was that I introduced Bill to Paul Gulacy.  Paul was my favorite artist, we talked fairly regularly and I had commissioned a few pieces from Paul.  Bill wanted to get Paul to do some art for him.

Ah, but back to the Sybil Danning phone call.

The guy says that he couldn’t find any phone number for Bill, but he was able to locate mine.  I tell the guy, that I can’t give out Bill’s number but would be glad to take a message for him.  The guy proceeds to tell me he is Sybil Danning’s manager.  He asks if I know who she is.  I do.  He says that they want to do a comic with Sybil as the main character.  They want Bill to publish it.  I take his number and tell the guy I’ll pass Bill the info.  We hang up and I go back to watching whatever I was watching.

I’m pretty sure it was the next day that I reached out to Bill to let him know that I had received a call from a guy saying he was Sybil Danning’s manager and they wanted to do a comic with him.  If you know Bill, you know how enthusiastic he gets.  Bill begins rapid fire asking questions, “When did he call – do I have his number – why didn’t I call him last night to tell him – etc.”  I explain to Bill it was late, I don’t know if the guy is on the level, etc.

Needless to say, Bill was able to contact Danning’s manager and the rest is history.

Paul Gulacy – Subject of Comic Book Creator #27

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Paul Gulacy will be the subject of Comic Book Creator #27 which is due out in September!  Here’s the synopsis…

Fall 2021 – 84 FULL-COLOR pages
Paul Gulacy is celebrated in CBC #27 with an extensive retrospective by Greg Biga that includes memories from the artist himself and a vast array of peers, including Val Mayerik, P. Craig Russell, Tim Truman, Roy Thomas, and others. From Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, Sabre, and James Bond 007 to Batman: Prey and Catwoman, we examine this superb cinematic comic book artist’s influences and his influence on an entire generation of creators. Plus we feature an extensive Joe Sinnott Memorial (also compiled by Greg Biga!) that includes heartfelt testimonials from an army of the masterful artist’s peers and admirers. Rounding out CBC’s main features is part one of a fascinating chat with distributor, publisher, and mail-order bookseller supreme Bud Plant, discussing his very early days as underground comix retailer, top West coast distributor, and fledgling publisher of Jack Katz’s First Kingdom. Of course, our regular team of Arndt, Whitehouse, Patrick, Ziuko, Thompson, and other stalwarts are onboard this ish, along with the latest from Hembeck! Edited by Jon B. Cooke.

You can pre-order a print or digital edition here.  If you have a local comic book shop, you can also pre-order through it.

Rare & Vintage Paul Gulacy Morbius Sketch!

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Above is a rare, vintage sketch of Morbius the Living Vampire drawn by Paul Gulacy way back in 1980.

The sketch reminds me of the first Paul Gulacy art I ever owned.  It was also a Morbius and victim sketch that I purchased in 1978 or 1979.  At the time he was a second or third tier Marvel character.  Who’d have thought that Morbius would be the “star’ of a movie in 2020?