I have so many pictures in my laptop that it’s impossible to get everything loaded and into a post. But, I might as well chip away at the stack. The reason most of you come to my site is because of the pictures (I have about 4,000 loaded already), so I figure I should share as many as I can. Here are a few items I picked up at Comic-Cons past.
Charles Vess’ Book of Ballads and Sagas
Charles Vess has beautiful fantasy artwork and I have several comics with his work. So, I was really happy to see him at a table and chatted him up a bit. Charles was giving away a preview of his then-upcoming personal project so I snagged one. It’s a thin, full-size, black-and-white promo that contains a couple of pages from a story written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles. What gorgeous stuff.
Geoff Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy
Geoff has done several projects for other people, but this is a solo comic book he’s created, co-written and illustrated. Shaolin Cowboy is a weird bit of science fiction-fantasy-western-dystopian-post-apocalyptic-drug-addled-European-comix-inspired comic book fun by one of the most detailed artists in the industry. Just the art alone is a viable reason to buy this book. It’s too bad Geof hasn’t made this story an on-going thing. Here’s a print we bought form him a few years back. He added a little sketch of the monk’s head on the lower right corner.
Here’s a close up of a quick sketch Geof did when I was buying the print.
Here’s what the published artwork looked like.
Instant Piano
Instant Piano was an anthology project put out by Dark Horse Comics (which I’ve always considered to be the HBO of comic books) that took some of the most inventive yet less well known creators and gave them free reign to write and draw some short stories. The following promo sheet was handed out at a table where all of them were signing stuff. I was already a big fan of Evan Dorkin’s Milk and Cheese, and Kyle Baker’s art on The Shadow (which was a series of very good stories but also a hilarious send-up of the Howard Chaykin mini-series). The other artists were: Mark Badger, Robbie Busch, and Stephen DeStefano. Funny story: All the guys to sketched and signed the sheet. Kyle Baker was last. He said something to the effect that I should buy the book because it was going to be the greatest thing ever. I kind of chuckled. He shot me back a dirty look and said something like “It IS! Why are you laughing.” I smiled, picked up my promo sheet, and hurried away. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t actually bought the books. Hmm. Add those to my list.
And here’s your bonus: the covers to the Instant Piano Comics mini-series.
Whomever put Axel back together again after his experience with the man-eating plant had a twisted idea of what an appropriate cyborg configuration ought to be. He was equipped with a chest button that, when pushed, gave him a powerful orgasm. The ecstasy of the experience left him incapable of functioning, so the button was actually more of a hindrance than a benefit … well, at least in battle. When he wasn’t catatonic from his rapture, many died at the slice of the cleaver which was also provided in his corporeal rebuild.
We were flipping through old independent comics from Eclipse and First tonight and came across a couple of Dave Stevens illustrated comics. Dave was an instant hero of ours when we first discovered his Rocketeer stories in Pacific and Eclipse Comics way back in the day. His illustrations were steeped in the 1940s era of cars, speech and mannerisms, story telling, and art.
If you’re not familiar with Dave Stevens because you’re too young, let’s just say he was Adam Hughes well before Adam Hughes was Dave Stevens. Whatever that means. Dave died of leukemia at 52 years of age in 2008 but left behind a legacy of art that was clearly unique in style. Even if the art didn’t contain any of his sexy girls, one could recognize his fine pen strokes and his fantastic use of shadow. We only wish he had done a bunch of additional Rocketeer stuff before he got bored with it.
At a Comic-Con a few years ago, we meandered around the artist area and stumbled on Peter Kuper‘s shingle. If you don’t know him, Peter is one of the primary artists that illustrates Spy vs. Spy for Mad Magazine. He’s also a contributor to various news magazines like Time, Newsweek, and Businessweek, and he has illustrated for newspapers like The New York Times. Peter’s non-comic artwork is typically cerebral in nature so it was interesting to leaf through his original art and prints. He has a unique style that combines spray paint and stencils. Recently, however, he decided it wasn’t such a good idea to use aerosol paint since some of his subject matter involves environmental responsibility. So, we assume he must be using discarded Denny’s crayons. That’s what we would do.
We found a piece of unpublished art titled “Population Explosion” that reminded us of that period in Thailand years ago and decided it was still a good representation of our anxieties and political bent. So, we bought it. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Time for a new Asterix review. We’re up to Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield. The story starts out with a narration of the defeat of Vercingetorix, the mighty chieftain who united Gaul but ultimately succumbed to the Roman forces. In the comic’s next scene, the chieftain’s shield is shown lying forgotten at the place where Vercingetorix dropped his arms in front of Caesar. A legionary absconded with the icon, loses it to a legionary in a game of chance, who in turn loses it to centurion, who in turn trades it for some Gaulish wine in a pub. This is the prelude.
Six from Sirius, created and written by Doug Moench and illustrated by Paul Gulacy was a 4-issue mini-series published by Epic Comics in 1984. The story is self-contained outside any of the other universes in the comic book publishing houses. The story centers around a group of six agents of an intergalactic governmental organization. It’s kind of like a spy story in space.
Sooooo, anyway. We’re tired of writing and editing images all the time. We’ve had guest contributors before and we think it’s about time to solicit more. If any of you have any interest in providing content for a post, let us know by dropping a comment below. We don’t even care what it’s about so long as it isn’t completely immoral or useless.
1. Benny Blue (supporting character), Langier Publishers.
2. Swiss Miss (hero), Milestone Color Printers.
3. Col. Ludwig Von Limburger (villain), Starlight Enterprises.
4. Lorraine Brie (supporting character), Ace Comics
5. Comrade Cheese (villain), Marvel.
6. Chester Cheese (goofball), Disney.
7. Hard Round (villain), DC
Our recent tongue-in-check post on the 
Why he is a big ass: Have you heard him talk at a Comic-Con panel? We’re not sure why he tries so hard to be edgy and devil-may-care-ish. He has enough street cred that he doesn’t have to do it. And, you know we love the F-Word — its versatility makes it exactly the right word for a variety of contexts. But there is a threshold that changes a dialogue from edgy and passionate to unnecessary and annoying. Kevin can be very annoying and given his recent trend in movie making, he may be making himself unnecessary as well (ouch). Time for a makeover and a career overhaul, Kevin. Or, just stay the way you are but switch to show tunes.
comicsagogo.com
