December 12th, 2006
Rustlin' Up Some Comic Books!

   Well, I went down to Texas Wizard World a couple weeks ago for two reasons: a) I have several old and new friends who live there and b) I'd been jonesin' to attend a con, since I hadn't been to one since Megacon. Family illness concerns prevented me from attending Heroes Con and other shows this past summer, so I'd been feeling out of the loop, depending on message boards and press releases to keep me in touch, and very few people post on the mb's unless they wish to complain, so it skews your perspective. At the Wizard show, like most shows, I met the real comics fans who shared their love of the comics medium and stories. I signed a ton of comics and I'm always pleasantly surprised when someone asks if I mind signing them. That's what I'm there for! It's a distinct honor to sign a fan's comic and I still feel personally touched when someone tells me I do good work. Hey, we comic guys are a needy bunch! For the record, the Wizard World crew, particularly Mike Scigliano, took good care of me, even providing last-minute guest passes for a couple of friends of mine

   I did a lot of pen & marker sketches as well as inking commissions. I inked a Jamal Ingle Firestorm and an Aaron Lopresti drawing of a very leggy Zatanna (that everyone wanted to buy from me, but it wasn't mine to sell!) Doing quickie con sketches really pumps me up and flexes the ol' artistic muscles that I don't usually have time for at home, as the inking work keeps coming in (I'm not complaining about that one bit!).

   The sketch subjects were usually left up to me, but if someone wanted something special, I'd do it. My fave sketch was a head shot of Jonah Hex. Wish they had copy machines at convention centers, because I was having a great time on the Hex piece. I didn't even need to reference him-I did it by memory!

   It was good to see longtime pal and occasional victim of my rambling phone calls, Steve Epting, at the show. He was brought there by Hero Initiative, formerly ACTOR. Steve, who intends to stay on Captain America for a long time, was scheduled to do sketches for the charity at their booth, but the times that he wasn't scheduled, he shared a table with me in Artists Alley. He wasn't selling anything but he signed books and brought his eye-popping original art for fans to study in glorious black and white. As talented as Frank D'Armata's dramatic coloring is, my b/w art prejudice had me merrily studying the subtleties that Steve adds with ink wash effects, which Frank picks up on and embellishes. Frank, a native Texan, also hung out with Steve and I as well as Ed Brubaker, who I only saw Friday. I asked Ed if he still had copies of his 1990's autobiographical comic, Lowlife, for sale, as I was missing a few issues. He never answered, but maybe he was just taking in all the activities around us. Ed's hat is pretty cool as a signature style and makes him easy to spot at conventions.

   Good buddy and occasional 'art sponsor', Michael Greczek treated me, Billy Tucci and Billy's friend out to dinner Friday night where we plowed through a couple buckets 'o beer. Tucci and I had met briefly at various shows, but never spent quality time together, but we made up for it that Friday. Five hours worth of shop talk, horror stories and embarrassing our poor waitress, who'd always pop by at the most innapropriate moments in a story. Billy, who's had a lot of success with Shi, which is coming out in a black & white Essential/Showcase format soon, gave me a lot of encouragement to persue my creator-owned work. So thanks to Billy, currently doing Marvel's Heroes for Hire, I sleep even LESS now, as my ambition has been amped-up, finding time to write and draw in between pages of 52, which I still proudly work on. Oh, yeah, I've been doing some Gen13 work over newcomer Sunny Lee, mostly because I really dig working with editor Ben Abernathy.

   Saturday night was spent with longtime pal Chris Nelson, television cameraman by day, and his lovely girlfriend, Julie, a teacher and fine artist in her own right. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant and caught up on each other's lives. What floored me was when they arrived at the con Saturday afternoon, Julie commented as I was surrounded with comics fans: "Wow, you're famous!". Never thought of that. Huh. Actually, I responded: "I'm not famous, just published!"

   To check out images from the Texas show, go to the News, Links and Checklist section of the site the photos taken by good pal and AM radio personality ("traffic and weather on the eights"), Taylor Millard!

   Coming back last week, I had to put in a lot of hours to wrap up my latest issue of 52 yesterday. However, I had quite a reward awaiting for me afterwards: A batch of books I'd ordered from TwoMorrrows. The Jack Kirby Collector #47, the Silver Star Graphite Edition and Back Issue #19.

   The last two issues of TJKC were a tad disappointing to me, as they covered a lot of ground that was already covered in previous issues and very little surprises, but #47 is terrrific. Mark Evanier, armed with more information from recent few years, submits that the mystery inker of Fantastic Four #1 & 2 was very likely George Klein. Klein spent most of his Silver Age career at DC, but there was a hole in his schedule that FF #1 & 2 neatly fit in. I'd elaborate more, but you'll have to pick one up to read Evanier's treatise. Also, there's a lost FF pencil page from FF #68 and more goodies!

   When Twomorrows published the Captain Victory Graphite Edition (which reprinted the first two issues from Kirby's pencil photocopies), I was very disappointed that the few pages that couldn't be found in pencil form were printed out of sequence, in inked form at a reduced size in the back of the book! Maybe others like me complained enough that error was not repeated in the Silver Star Graphite Edition. In this case, the inked pages are injected sequentially where no pencil copies exist and the flow of the story is unbroken. In fact, it's educational for students of the medium (of which I still consider myself). Silver Star is a handsome trade paperback reprinting all six issues of the 1983 miniseries, Jack's last complete new creation before returning to DC to work on some unfinished stories of the New Gods.

   Now, Back Issue #19 is the recommendation of the month. The reason? Two words: Don Newton. Don passed away far too soon in the mid-80's, just shy of 50 years old. Upon studying the Newton art, previously published and unpublished, I can say without much reservation that Newton must've had substantial influence on then-up-and-coming fan-favorite Alan Davis, particularly when you see Newton's Batman figurework. When Davis drew a run on Detective Comics (long overdue for a trade paperback treatment, no?) he was much looser than today, but growing by leaps and bounds each issue. Newton's Batman is the same Batman that I've seen in Davis' JLA: The Nail. No swipes, mind you, just the same masterful knowledge of anatomy and rendering. For those countless professional artists who count Davis among their inspirations (Bryan Hitch, Scot Eaton, Ivan Reis, Eddy Barrows, etc), they probably already know of Newton's contributions to comics, which is finally given it's due in Back Issue #19. For those fans who know not of Newton, but love Davis (and who doesn't ?), pick up this mag, where an unpublished Newton piece intended for a Batman cover graces Back Issue's cover. It was lovingly inked recently by Newton's inker of choice, Joe Rubenstein, who's done his best work in years!

   Well, I hadn't planned to blog, with deadlines and all, but I felt the compulsion to report on the successful trip to Texas! Adios for now, amigos!
 
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