After seeing the new SPEED RACER film, and absolutely loving the film, I knew I had to contact Peter Fernandez and ask him for an interview. Well, he happily agreed! After I woke up from my feinting spell, I had to email some friends and share the news.
I've been lucky enough to meet some of my childhood favorites in terms of comics and such: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Romita, Mil Mascaras, Roddy Piper, Adam West, among others. So I am so glad to at least have the opportunity to talk to the man who not only voiced Speed Racer (and Racer X) but also wrote the scripts and directed the episodes. Remember, SPEED RACER came from Japan as MACH GO GO GO, so Peter had to translate all the episodes and get his small group of actors to voice the roles. So I will be very interested in asking him how all this was accomplished.
Back in the early-mid 70s, when I first caught the series, I was immediately captivated by the show: the characters and the outlandish car races. So it goes without saying that I'm so grateful that, in my role as show host, I can interview the man (and try to not geek out too much)! Anyways, please tune in on Tuesday, May 27 at 5pm (Pacific Time) if you can...
It was reported this week that comic book artist Gene Colan, whose career spans from the late '40s to today, has been reported as being in a serious medical condition. Liver failure and related complications, according to his wife. For the past week the comics community has been reporting on the story, and the call has gone out for assistance for the Colans. Apparantly, they don't have medical insurance (or adequate), and the mounting medical bills are pretty daunting.
Gene has done so much work for the various comics companies over the decades, but I think it's fair to say that his most memorable work includes work on DAREDEVIL, CAPTAIN AMERICA, DR. STRANGE and IRON MAN at Marvel in the 1960s and TOMB OF DRACULA and HOWARD THE DUCK in the 70s. He's worked on BATMAN, SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN at DC and also for various publishers such as Dark Horse and Eclipse in the 80s and 90s. He's even done occasional stories for Marvel on DAREDEVIL in the last several years.
When I was started reading comics in the 70s, my older brother gave me a box of his books he had bought in the late 60s/1970. Among those were several books by Colan; DAREDEVIL and CAPTAIN AMERICA, among others. His style stood out (and he was competing with Kirby, John Romita, John Buscema among others!) to my puny little eyeballs even then. His figures would often looks like swooshes of limbs propelling across the panels, the compositions featuring dynamic and innovative angles and perspectives. And when stationary, his characters had a life to them, their body language and facial expressions telling us all we needed to know.
HOWARD THE DUCK was one of my favorite books as a kid, probably because it was so different. A freakin' talking duck in the Marvel Universe! And at the same time Gene was drawing his waddling, cigar-smoking curmudgeon of a duck, he was also drawing the most ungodly horror book of the day, Marvel's TOMB OF DRACULA! Dracula was all flowing cape and billowing smoke, his persona a combination of unrelenting evil and power. Simultaneously drawing a duck and the Lord of the Undead...month after month! And no matter what he drew, Gene made each character believable. Humor, superhero or horror. When Gene drew those characters, they really lived on the page. Beyond it, actually. Unbelievable.....
A couple of things we can do to help: To make a donation to the Colans for help with medical expenses, you can Paypal some funds to Gene Colan's Paypal account at: genecolan@optonline.net (I sent a small donation myself the other day)
And/or you can send a card to Gene at: 2 Sea Cliff Avenue, Sea Cliff, NY 11579
A few words of support or appreciation could provide a nice comfort.
Obviously, we all hope that Mr. Colan recovers from his ailment. It was reported yesterday at writer Clifford Meth's blog that Marvel is making arrangements with Colan's wife Adrienne "to provide some immediate and long-term relief". That was wonderful news. Gene has always been there for Marvel, year-after-year, book by book. I applaud Marvel for helping out one of their legendary artists. Gene, in my own opinion, has to rank up there with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita and John Buscema as one of the pillars of Marvel classic artists.
Gene 'The Dean' Colan (as Stan Lee used to call him).... We're rooting for you man!
It's still amazing to me to see shows and comic books I loved as a young kid being made into multi-million dollar films. The most recent one I saw was SPEED RACER. And judging by the opening weekend box-office, there wasn't too many people watching (relatively speaking, of course!)
SPEED RACER was, and still is, probably my favorite cartoon show of all time (if you don't count the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes shorts). As a kid I would be in awe of the high speed chases, the dastardly villians, the mysterious Racer X and of course Speed Racer and his family. The show really was about a family, after all.
Because the filmmakers focused on the family apsect of Speed, I think this is what made the movie work for me. Mind you, I was not a big Wachowski Bros. fan. I saw the first MATRIX film and thought it was good...except for the stoic people walking around in black sunglasses and black trenchcoats for 2 hours! So I never saw MATRIX 2 and 3..... But I saw SPEED RACER for Speed Racer. When I first heard about the film, I thought the casting choices were really well chosen. And the Mach 5! Geez, is there a cooler car in the whole world? (The Adam West Batmobile and James Bond's Aston Martin DB4 come very close!). I'll admit though, when I saw the first images for the RACER movie I was a little put off. The night scenes with the huge neon lit racing track caused me some concern. Was this film going to be too dark and hyper kinetic?
But the draw of the movie was too much to pass up. I had to at least see the film. Well, the film really surprised me in all the best ways. First off, I was really surprised to see how well the dramatic family moments in the film came off. There are a lot of great dynamics in the film: Pops Racer's relationship with his two sons, Mom Racer and Speed, Speed and his younger brother. And the nice romance with Speed and Trixie. Real heartfelt family ties.
And the action of course, as I watched it, literally emulated the action in the cartoon series. The Mach 5 flying through the air with it's Jumper Jacks, Speed zipping his car along the most impossible routes imaginable. Right out of the TV show. The look of the movie reminded me of DICK TRACY with the MATRIX. I was probably thinking, originally, that the film would have looked like it took place in a world most closely resembling ours. But watching the movie, I think the Wachowskis took the right approach in creating a whole world to match the TV show. Here, Speed Racer's world looks like a brand new anime/video game. And the car chases were right out of the cartoon, racing along deserts and icy mountains and gigantic palaces!
It's a shame that the movie has performed so poorly at the box office. But as a lifetime Speed Racer fan, I am glad to see a great adaptation on the big screen.
STUMPTOWN in Portland was only my second out-of-state show, and like that previous WIZARD WORLD TEXAS, I had a great time at the convention and in the city.
I left LA on Friday around Noon and arrived in beautiful Portland, Oregon at about 3:30pm. My good friend Jason Martin picked me up and from there it was a non-stop 5 days of tourism, conventioneering and talkin’ comics! I’m glad I took the extra days to spend time in Portland, because what usually happens whenever I do any show in a city that’s not my own is I never really get to enjoy the location outside the exhibition centers, other than the inevitable dinners with friends and fellow artists.
Even as my plane descended on the city, I could see the lush forests and greenery surrounding Portland, that in itself was pleasant. Jason’s a great tour guide, as he’s been a resident in the area all of his life. Two things that floored me immediately where the fact that A) there is no sales tax in Oregon and B) you do not pour your own gas into your car!!!
Good-bye LA, hello Portland!!
We capped off that Friday with a huge Mexican meal and a pitcher of strawberry margaritas, then headed back to his home where we watched a DVD his wife had recently purchased…C.H.U.D. Luckily, we had some homemade cocktails to get us through that one!
So the next morning we hit the convention Downtown. I was surprised by the rather large exhibit hall, and even more so later when I would see rows upon rows of artists occupying those tables. By mid-Saturday, the room was packed with fans filling up every single isle. This show, like the A.P.E. in San Francisco, was comprised of true Independent/indie artists. From mini-comics and zines, to traditionally printed comics, all the books were created by independent creatos and publishers. There were people selling sreenprinted comics, T-shirts and even stuffed toys. The roller-skating fan got around pretty good!
I got to see several friends of mine, including local resident Ethan Nicolle, who’s new series, CHUMBLE SPUZZ has found a home with Slave Labor Graphics. And Stan Yan made the trek all the way from Colorado to attend the show! Stan’s another great creator I’ve know for quite some years now, mostly through San Diego Comic Con. Both of these gents will definitely be guests on my show in the near future.
It’s interesting, Portland is divided by the Willamette River. Both sides of the city are connected by numerous bridges every several blocks. So it shouldn’t have been too surprising that there were two Jason Martins exhibiting at the show! One for each side of the city?
Jason, being local and all, was able to bring his full line of display fixtures to maximize his presence. I was able to interview him on my radio show the previous week, helping to publicize his appearance and the debut of a new book he’s publishing, GNOME, by cartoonist David Dwonch (who was also on my radio show).
Me, I was able to spead out my twin creations, EL MUERTO and DEMOLITION DOVE across all 8’ of table space. I had Muerto comics, buttons and DVDs, and also the new Demolition Dove Preview Book available.
I even had some of the limited edition sketch covers of the Preview Book, and couldn’t resist doing at least one El Muerto/Dove 'cross-over'image!
Good thing too, as one of my biggest fans made the trek from Washington to see me at the show. Good ol’ ‘Juny’! And his friend Brice (black hat) came down as well, whose turned into a big Demolition Dove fan (he loves the Punisher, so the gun-toting Dove gwets his approval). These guys were really fun to talk to, and it’s very nice that Juny’s mother brought them down to visit.
DEMOLTION DOVE got the usual hoped for reaction , an incredulous smile. But the interesting thing was, since no one really was familiar with me or El MUERTO, I didn’t get the ‘whoa, you came up with this?” reaction I would get when I debuted the new book in the LA area!
The show overall was very well attended, particularly on Saturday. Admittedly, I wish I had sold more product, but then again, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes you have to be a repeat exhibitor to start getting people’s attention. I had already planned to attend next year’s Stumptown, and nothing that weekend changed my mind.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m glad I took the time to stay in Portland a few extra days. Thanks to Jason and Tami for having me in their home, and to their little Chihuahua Choco for warming up to me in record time!
Jason took me around and out-of-town on Monday to sample the sights. Among the great locations were local burger chain BURGERVILLE, Multnomah Falls, a state-of-the-art dam and even a quick drive into Washington.
Later that evening Tami joined us for dinner at P. F. Chang’s and then we spent a couple of hours at the word’s biggest bookstore, POWELLS. I kid you not, this place occupies one city block, is four stories tall, and is divided into nine rooms!! Sheesh, their art/film/music department is as big as some bookstores I’ve been in!!
Those five days went so quick, to be honest. I wouldn’t have minded staying there longer, but it was time to get back to Whittier. I sure would consider staying in Portland over a summer. It’s a beautiful city, rich with artists and cartoonists, and I’ve got several friends in the area. And it would be nice to skip out one of LA’s sweltering hot, smog-filled summers!
I flew back into LAX later that Tuesday. And who better to great me there, after spending the whole weekend with Super Real creator Jason Martin? Well, howzabout Sonambulo creator Rafael Navarro?! Complete with Arriving Passenger sign…
I will be participating at the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY event at THE COMIC BUG in Manhattan Beach on Saturday from 12-4pm. Big group of artists/creators will be there, so it should be fun for all. Come on down and get free comics!!!
Here's the list of participants. There will also be a screening of THE ROCKETEER! Sam Sarker (writer, Caliber) Dave Wilkins (cover artist, Caliber) Phil Ortiz (artist, The Simpsons) Scott Koblish (artist/inker, Marvel Adventures: Iron Man) Joshua Dysart (writer, Buddha, BPRD: 1946) Rafael Navarro (artist, Sonambulo, TV's Spectacular Spider-Man) Robbi Rodriguez (artist, Maintenance, Hazed, Tek Jansen) Javier Hernandez (artist/creator, El Muerto) Ted Seko (artist, Billy Cole, TV's SpongeBob Squarepants) Ray Anthony-Height (artist, Spider-Man Family, Noble Causes) Danny Miki & Crime Lab Studios (inkers extraordinaire, New Avengers & more) Norm Rapmund (inker, Supergirl) Michael Aushenker (writer, Gumby, Back Issue) Mel Smith (editor, Gumby) Ryan Winn (inker, The Darkness) Jose Cabrera (artist/writer, Crying Macho Man) Lord Mesa (artist, Chibi hero art) Brett Nance (artist, Spazz, Manboy) Michael Delipine (letterer, Grimm Fairy Tales)
My birthday is April 23, so I thought I'd indulge myself with a special 70s Flashback episode on my radio show this tuesday!
This is a sequel of sorts to an earlier episode...MY SEVENTIES SHOW!! I met my guest, Rob Kelly, online a year or so ago, as I was visiting his various comics blogs. Looking forward to geeking out with him. Maybe you younger 80s/90s-influenced fans will learn sumthin'!!!
I was interviewed a few weeks back for CATCH DA CRAZE, a comic book radio show out of New Jersey. The host, Samuel Vera, was actually a guest on my own radio show a short while back, so it was really fun to be on his show!
Sam's an amazing person, I really love his show. He's an electrifying Puerto Rican from New York whose got equal amounts of street smarts and Madison Avenue marketing savvy. He writes/draws and publishes his own comics, and his energetic personality is put to great use as a host. This guy could easily host a national tv show!
This is probably my favorite interview I've done for several reasons. Sam really knows the right questions to ask of a self-publisher cartoonist with a film adaptation to his credit. And Sam and I are very passionate about our independent spirits. Also, after having done about 6 months of interviews as a host myself, I think I have a new appreciation for being interviewed, in that I wanted to be as good an interviewee as I think I am an interviewer! I don't know if that makes sense to anyone, but I really felt I had my 'game face' on when doing the interview. Let me know what you think.
No bombshell surprises, but I do talk about the time I almost quit self-publishing after only my second time exhibiting! Also, learn about my less-than-stellar educational career! And it was cool to be able to do my first interview about DEMOLITION DOVE (as opposed to me talking about it on my own radio show!!)
The last couple of months have featured a nice, steady series of events that have allowed me to present multiple facets to what I do. I've blogged about most of these events, so you can scroll down the archives and see what I've posted.
In March alone we screened EL MUERTO at the first-ever WHITTIER FILM FESTIVAL and actually won the BEST FEATURE FILM award! Our Q&A, held at nearby GEEKS comic shop, was very well received. The weekend of March 14-17 I exhibited at the WIZARD WORLD LA comic book convention, where I drew some pretty good attention at my table with my DEMOLITION DOVE preview image. On Friday, March 28, I had a Q&A with an invite-only group of people at the Digital Business & Design College (the location from where my radio show is podcast from). The folks there had lots of great questions about me and my work, and the fact that they had over an hour to pick my brain really made it a great event. The following Sunday, March 30, I debuted my DEMOLITION DOVE Preview Sketchbook at Meltdown Comics SUPERMARKET event. A lively, small gathering of indie comics creators held in the gallery space of Meltdown, I had a great time meeting some new creators and sharing my new book with some fans.
April didn't let up. On Sunday, April 6, we held our first ever SAN GABRIEL VALLEY COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL, located just a block down from the building I podcast my radio show from. And later that week I found myself in Burbank, speaking at a library to a group of kids that form their Manga/Anime club. That was another cool gig. And it was fun mixing it up. I showed them some clips from the MUERTO DVD and talked about the filmmaking experience, but I was also able to get in a quick storytelling lesson and talk comics and art.
Here's the group of kids that attended (and look how nice they were to hold up all those great products!)
The kid to the left of the drawing board, his name is Tristan and I drew him in the comic page I used as an example. He was a good sport and even drew this really well done El Muerto sketch. This kid is about 15 years old and I was very impressed with his skill.
It's always fun talking at libraries because you know you're there because the librarians value what you can share with the attendees. And actually, you could make supplemental money by doing several of these type of appearances!
Coming up for me next week, April 26 & 27 is the STUMPTOWN Comics Festival in Portland, OR. I'll be sharing a table with my friend Jason Martin. I'm very much looking forward to attending the highly concentrated comic book city of Portland, and reaching out to new fans and fellow creators. While up there, I plan to reach out to some new artists to have on my radio show as well.
This is the busiest stretch of gigs I've ever had. Two solid months of film festivals and screenings combined with various comic conventions and store appearances, with the occasional speaking gig thrown in for good measure! And this is all intermixed with my weekly comic book podcast.
And blogging!
But I love what I'm doing, so no complaints from me.
My recent interview with web-toonist JIM LUJAN is now available to listen to at the PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO website!.
Here's my favorite Jim Lujan cartoon:
This guy is really talented, he was a great guest to have on my show, and I'm glad to call him a friend. We're working on some projects to bring more art to our lil' ol' San Gabriel Valley with our area artists! Stay tuned!
Jim Lujan, web-toonist and All-Around cool dude, came to the San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Festival and recorded a bunch of interviews with us artist types.
Here's me talking about a subject near and dear to me...ME!:
This past weekend’s first-ever SAN GABRIEL VALLEY COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL is now history. And what a historic event that was!
San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys in Southern California, (according to the Wikipedia link!) , consisting of such cities as El Monte, Whittier, Covina, Pasadena and several other cities. The Nuvein Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing literary and artistic interaction with the community, put on the event. Nuvein provides support to my radio show, and one day I, Enrique Diaz (Nuvein founder) and Renato Aguirre (Board member) tossed around the idea of putting on a comic book festival. So, next thing I new, I was rounding up artists and writers and exhibitors for the event!
Really, what a great opportunity it was to present comics as a legitimate form of art. With that in mind we had scheduled two workshops, free to the public. One was storytelling/cartooning with Rafael Navarro and the other one was Writing For Comics with Mike Wellman. I also hosted a one-hour block of live PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO interviews with several of the exhibiting artists!
The event was held at the Cuban Club of San Gabriel Valley and ran on Sunday from 11am – 5pm. As it was our first time organizing this event, and because of the size of the venue, we were limited to about a dozen exhibitors, but the energy level in the room at times could have rivaled some of the bigger shows. I took so few pictures, sadly, but I can point you to several other blogs that covered the event: Hellakoala and Crying Macho Man
The staff and Board Members of Nuvein did a really good job of running the event, and I want to personally thank Ericka and Jason for their interview segments, Richard, Michael, and Miguel for their valuable assistance, and a shout-out to Ryan Storms for the great job M.C.ing the event. At times the pace of the show allowed the artists to really be able to get to know one another at length. And I have to say, seeing the artists interacting with the other artists really gave me a sense of the camaraderie you feel for your fellow creator. No sense of competition, just a strong feeling of mutual respect and admiration. My friend Alan Rutledge, who was set up with three tables of back issue comics, told me “You got the Nuvein Foundation to pay for a big party for you and your cartoonist friends!”. Well, it sure seemed like it!
But of course, the real reason behind the event was to provide the community a venue to meet comic book creators and learn more about one of the great American art forms: comic books. So while I was there to sell my comics , and promote my new Demoltion Dove creation, I was really glad to be able to help bring this event about.
Rafael Navarro in the distant backround, conducting his popular storytelling/cartooning workshop.
Near the end of the show, I called my two good friends, and fellow comic creators Michael and Will, up to the stage. Michael Aushenker had a birthday a few days prior, and Will Caulfield’s birthday was later in the week. So I decided to ask some of our mutual friends to toss in a couple of bucks so we could get them a birthday cake. Mike and Will were actually very puzzled when I called them up to the stage and sprung the cake on them! We had the whole room singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them, and everyone had a great time. Will reminded the audience that my own birthday was coming up (April 23, if you’re curious!), and I’m glad he did! Here’s the three of us with the cake. Mike on the far left, Will in the middle and little ol’ me on the right.
Our hope is to grow the show and in fact have another one in the future. As one of the organizers, I’ll be working with the Nuvein Foundation on the best way to proceed with that. As an exhibitor myself, I’m all for continuing this festival, especially because it is a local community event.
One thing some of us noticed was that there were several people there who wanted to share their portfolios with some of us, and ask for advice on self-publishing. That’s another reason I love this festival. Not only can people come as fans of comics, but even those with their own aspirations can meet folks who’ve published their own books and are willing to share advice. I wasn’t actually expecting this scenario, to be honest. But I’m so glad that we can be a resource for artists wishing to create their own books.
Most of the artists have said they hope we hold another festival next year. And to be honest, talking to some of the Nuvein Board, they feel the same way. So, with that in mind, our goal is to provide a bigger, more popular festival, with more comic creators and events. Stay tuned to this blob, and my radio show, for updates!
It's being organized by the Nuvein Foundation, a local non-profit arts and literature advocacy. They provide support to my radio show, PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO. I will in fact be conducting a one-hour live PCBR interview segment at the festival, talking to the various artists attending the show.
The Festival is on Sunday, April 6 and runs from 11am thru 5pm. Admisssion is free to the public.
This Sunday, March 30, I will be debuting the DEMOLITION DOVE Preview Sketchbook! A magazine-size limited edition book featuring 10 pages of sketches and commentary, plus a 4 page Demoltion Dove tale!!! This is my brand new character and I'm very excited to be working on this.
SuperMarket will be held from 12-6pm at MELTDOWN Comics in Hollywood. Meltdown is one of the great LA stores and they've always been big supporters of independent and small press.
The DEMOLITION DOVE Preview sketchbook will contain 16 pages of Dove goodness. A 10 pg. sketchook section with character designs and notes plus a 4 pg. Demolition Dove short story, pencilled, inked and lettered by yours truly. The comic will eventually see print later this year under a brand new imprint I'm starting with my friend Ted Seko. It's called XOMIX COMIX and the books we'll publish under this banner will be mini-comics in the form of photocopied, limited run publications. Underground all the way! EL MUERTO actually started as a b&w photocopied book, so call me superstitous or frugal, but I have a good feeling about proceeding this way with the new book.
I will of course have copies available through this blog after the SuperMarket, so don't fret, all you out-of-towners! This book will most likely be kept in print at least until the actiul comic book comes out (which is scheduled for the Fall of '08), but ya never know. I'm also going to do a limited number of 'blank' covers which will allow for unique hand-drawn covers by me. Not sure yet of how many, but they'll be signed and numbered and once they're gone, that's it!!
Got a little behind here on my blogging, but here’s my report on Wizard World Los Angeles, held the weekend of March 14-17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
I’ve been doing Wizard World here in LA for several years now (it started back in Long Beach). It’s more of a ‘mainstream’ comics/pop culture show, catering to the same people who read Wizard magazine. That would be guys (and they definitely target male readers) who are into Marvel and DC comics, play a lot of video games, and gawk at the pictures in Maxim magazine. Not exactly my demographic….
But actually, WizardWorld, like any show, will always have a curious group of people with a very wide range of interests and tastes. So with that in mind, I decided to exhibit once again. Also, the fact that I live about 20-25 minutes away makes this a much more manageable show than out of town events. And the clincher this time was that my good friend, Jose Cabrera asked me to split a table with him. A better table price and partnering with such a great guy?
Yet another reason this particular show was a no-brainer for me: I had a lot to promote. Fresh from winning BEST FEATURE for EL MUERTO at the previous week’s Whittier Film Festival, I had to share the news about that! Also, I passed out flyers for my radio show as well as flyers for the San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Festival. I’ve helped organize that event with the folks from the Nuvein Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to introducing the community to the arts. The Nuvein Foundation actually provides support for my radio show, and in fact the head of the Foundation, Enrique Diaz, is also the Executive Producer of PLANET COMIC BOOK RADIO.
And the real reason I wanted to attend Wizard was to debut, or at least unveil in public my brand-new comic book creation, DEMOLTION DOVE! I had slapped together a quick DEMO DOVE Myspace page a day or so before the convention, but this showing the character in person. I have to say, I was honestly surprised how popular the character had turned out to be that weekend. Granted, people were only reacting one promo poster, but the design of the character, the name and the juxtaposition of his traits really caught people’s fancy. I really had no idea what to have expected. For the last 10 years I’ve only really been know for creating EL MUERTO in comics, zines, mini-comics and other forms of art. I’ll definitely be using this blog, and radio show, to talk more about the DOVE, but for now you can enjoy the same preview the Wizard audiences did!
In fact, the very first day, Friday, I had a fan of mine ask for a DEMOLITION DOVE drawing! Not one to disappoint, or miss a great photo op, I had him take a photo of me drawing. I’ve known Alejandro some years now via APE and Comic Con. He’s an enthusiastic comics fan but also an extremely interesting and intelligent person to talk to. In fact, we started talking quite a bit about the politics in the DOVE storyline as well as the events going on right now.
Another fan came by on Saturday and asked if he could have a sketch. I’m thinking I’ll be drawing El Muerto or the Dove…..but then he mentions ‘Daredevil’! I was really excited by the chance, to be honest. Anyone who knows me will know my love for the old-time classic superheroes (that’s pre-1985!). So I busted out this Daredevil for Edwin:
Edwin, and his girlfriend Crystal had come down from Las Vegas for the show. He had actually seen the Muerto movie on DVD and really enjoyed it. He ended up picking up some of my comics. I found out that when he bought the DVD, he didn’t get the mini-comic book that was supposed to be included. So I told him to come back to my table on Sunday and I would have a copy of that comic for him. Luckily I have a small stash of those! He really appreciated the gesture, and of course I really appreciate having such a great fan of my work.
Edwin even asked Jose for a Daredevil sketch, which really surprised me. Jose’s a great cartoonist, but his web comic is more geared to satirical/absurdist humor, not superheroes. So what a pleasure it was to all of us to see him knock out a Daredevil. I love it when artists who aren’t really doing any type of superhero/action books bust out a superhero! Most of those type of artists actually grew up on the same comics as the rest of us geeks anyway!
My friend Michael Aushenker didn’t have his own booth at this show, but he was stationed with a publisher he’s working with. Michael is going to be writing an upcoming miniseries for the publishers of the GUMBY comics.
Here’s Michael with the GUMBY crew. On the far right you see creator Art Clokey’s daughter Holly Harmon.
Michael, besides being a great friend, an ingenous writer and a whiz bang artist, is always up for some laughs. Here’s he and Jose hanging out with some friends of theirs. Seriously, they’ve seen these Mario Bros. guys at various shows and they all seem like old buddies!
Michael joining me and Jose at the Crying Macho Man/Los Comex corner:
I’m told I was totally geeking out when I approached these folks! Check them out, the cast of Spider-Man from the comics! John Romita-style Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacey…along with Aunt May, Peter Parker and the Black Cat! Man, it was like walking into the comic book. Lucky ‘Peter Parker’, walking around with all them hot Spidey-Babes. Even the cutey playing Aunt May wasn’t bad!
Our neighbors at our booth were Kelly and Nico, writer and artist of the comic book TALES OF THE OZARK HOWLER. Kelly is a writer of books and screenplays, and in fact the comic book is an adaptation of one of her novels. I thought it was pretty cool that the novelist herself was self-publishing her own adaptation. Nico is a 19 yr. old artist working on his first comic. They were very nice to have as neighbors, and I wish them luck in their joint endeavor.
I’m know for not really being into STAR WARS (blasphemy, I know…) but I had to shoot this R2-D2. Looked like a Jedi R2. with the dark paint job! Anyone out there know if this one is in the movies??
My old chum Tony came by my table and literally dropped to his knee to get a better peek at this DEMOLITION DOVE character! Always nice to surprise your old college buddies, huh?
Speaking of surprise, I was asked by someone for a cheesecake pinup! The guy bought some stuff from me, then asked for a drawing. Thing is, he asked for Betty Page! Luckily my friend Tony was still around and he was carrying his Rocketeer graphic novel with him, which I used for reference!
Dave Stevens, creator of the Rocketeer, had passed away earlier in the week. Tony was honoring his memory by wearing that 15 year old Rocketeer T-shirt to the con. So, in a way, it was a nice way for me to pay tribute to Stevens as well. Dave Stevens was a huge admirer of Betty Page and in fact based the Rocketeer’s girlfriend on Betty.
There was an artist sitting across from me and he had heard I was from Whittier, same as him. Of course we hit it off immediately. Ruben Martinez is his name, and he’s a toy designer at Mattel. He had previously worked with Stan Lee at Stan Lee Media and in fact had Stan write the intro for his new art book he was selling at Wizard. Stan Lee wrote the intro for his book! I bought a copy of course. It’s a stunning book, full of pencil and computer artwork, showcasing Ruben’s keen imagination and great sense of character design. Me and Ruben talked about the growing contingent of comic artists/illustrators in Whittier, with some plan to do something with all that talent! Oh, and I asked Ruben for a Muerto sketch in my signed copy of THE AFTER LIFE!
Another artist I ran into was Keith Knight, one of the great cartoonists working in the field, in my opinion. Ketih’s strip is at times autobiographic as well as political/social commentary. His craftsmanship and entrepreneurial skills are to be admired. As he was inscribing my copy of his new book “I LEFT MY ARSE IN SAN FRANCISCO” we were chatting and catching up on one another. I noticed he kept glancing off to his left as he was doodling, then realized “Oh damn, he’s drawing me an El Muerto!” Sure enough, there in my copy of his new book, I have a one-of-a-kind Keith Knight El Muerto sketch! I’ll be danged if this ain’t one of the best things about this whole self-publishing bit!
I’ll definitely be back at Wizard LA next year. Too many reasons not to. I was actually pleased to hear from several people there that they had seen the Muerto movie either as fans of the comic book or discovering it on their own. I got a chance to talk to one fan at length about the movie and the comic. He had a few things about the movie he wasn’t happy with, but he and I were able to have an honest discussion about it. Another lady came by and scooped up a couple of 11x17 prints. She was a huge fan of Dia De Los Muertos and wanted to add these pieces to her collection of fine art. I actually knew one of the pieces she already had.
This really was, for me, a special show. I met old Muerto comic fans as well as new admirers of the movie. I promoted the heck out of my new radio show and the upcoming Comic Book Festival. Sold my share of comics, zines, buttons and prints. Met some other great artists. And even received an extremely enthusiastic response to my new character.
