something new, something blue

aka my new blue room




Allison Sohn sent me a message about this picture. She was impressed with my impressive Z love.

Fangoria

I finally heard back from the guys over at Fangoria. They're going to start me up in the following week. I'm a bit nervous, but it's something else to add to the old resume.

Green Lantern Corps #35 (just a pellet)

In part 3 of "Emerald Eclipse" there is revenge, murder, backstabbing, and heroics with a reveal at the end that left me saying "Awww yeah." Truth be told, I had neglected GLC before this current arc. I think that's going to have to change. Patrick Gleason's art has grown on me and Tomasi's exploration of random Sinestro Corps members really opens up the world of the emerald space police and their adversaries. There is a huge prisonbreak as a boatload of Sinestros get their rings back and of course, there is a huge skirmish. In this issue there are also two family reunions: one being Green Lantern Sodom (who holds the power of Ion) and his father, as well as Soranik and her father...Sinestro. The panel layout wasn't really to my liking. It was over stylized and basically overdone. There were some pages that had frivolous panels and it just complicated the page. Gleason's art is still solid though, and being assisted by Randy Mayor really elevates the story. There is also a "Last Days of Animal Man" preview. I had remembered hearing something about that story, but nothing major, and it's cool to see the project being finalized. Bottom line: it seems to me that "Blackest Night" will be the coolest event of the year and I'm going to grab as much GL books as I can, just to make sure I don't miss anything.

I need to invest in a scanner.

So the FX Show is done and had some serious fun. Networked a bit and met a few new friends through the awesome that is art collecting.

So let's see the new pieces in the collection:

"Red Riding Hood and Wolf" by Ted Naifeh. Beyond what I had hoped for. It's from the new sketchbook. It makes me want to write. Something a mix of "Grim Kingdoms" but with a modern twist, so it wouldn't sound too much like Fables.


I was just talking about this piece in a previous post. I finally got it colored by Laura Martin and it looks spectacular. She even went over George's inks that he wasn't too proud of and it elevated the sketch to a new level. She really loved the idea and dug Lew's style.

The pictures were taken with Amanda's camera phone. We've known we needed a scanner/printer for a while, we just need to find one on the cheap-cheap. Though for the Naifeh piece, since it's bigger (11 x 14) we'd have to find something big/cheap, which I don't think really happens. I wish Kinko's would stop being such hard asses about scanning art. Yes, I know it's a copyright deal, but still, how else are us art collector's supposed to have good pictures of our collections? *Napolean voice* Gosh!

Esriprus deedni!

Ugh. This rocks my tiny nerd face. Hard. Zatanna by Gene Gonzales.

Color me beyond surprised. So, I went to the FX Show in Orlando this weekend and I was going to pick up a couple of pieces for a friend of mine, Chris Shields. Well, it turns out one of the pieces was actually for me. Knowing what a huge Zatanna fan I am...ugh, you have no idea. Thanks so much, man! The thing is I couldn't find a protectant to carry it around in, so Gene just let it hang out at his booth. I finally got a plastic carrier from Laura Martin and went to put the piece in it. Apparently, everyone who visited his booth wondered if they could buy it. Seriously, killer.

Ted Naifeh didn't bring the Zatanna to the con, since he's going to work on it from home and put as much love in it as I have for the character. I know he'll deliver.

Char and Bub. Just killer.

Clash of the Titans was a huge inspiration for, mainly in my character design for Bub the clockwork owl. Char is the commander of the Agency of Chronological Enforcement, or ACE. I have no real vision for my characters when I write them. I toss back a few ideas, and then the words manifest into their visual aspects. Char was designed by Lew after I told him she sounds like a mixture of Nick Fury and Storm with a hint of Emma Frost. A strong leader and compassionate, but has a cruel streak she tries to hide. An excellent sharpshooter and quite skilled in close-quarter combat.

This pin-up was colored by Chris Shields. I've been re-writing some of the pages and seriously trying to get this off the ground. Somehow. Ka-Blaam will be at FX this weekend, so I can get some rates on self-publishing.

Leggy magical brunettes in fishnets.

That's right. It's late and Amanda is fast asleep, but I'm all hopped up on cotton candy and chocolate-covered Oreos. Yeah, I'm a bit of a sugar junkie. Anyways, my brain is on fire, but in the good way. I just thought I'd talk about one of my favorite comic characters, as well as touch on my art collection.
This little number was done by a buddy of mine, well two of them technically. Lew on pencils and George on the inks. Though it was George's first time inking somebody else's work, I think it turned out pretty awesome. I've always had this fascination with magic and the occult. Nothing too heavy like I sacrificed the neighborhood cats or anything, but something about just seemed, well, un-natural. I LOVED stage magicians though, and around the time I was...either 12 or 13, I learned about Zatanna Zatara. I just thought she was perfect. I mean, what's not to love about her?


This was a quick little sketch I picked up at NYCC this past year. Cully knocked it out in, what had to be, two minutes. It's funny. I bought two of the most important people in my life pieces from him (George's Futurist piece, seen here and Amanda's Velma right here), but I haven't gotten anything. So I waited in line and originally asked for Madame Mirage (I was on a Top Cow kick), but he didn't have a reference, so I said Zatanna.



Ted Naifeh SERIOUSLY hooked me up when he did this number. She's simply my favorite sketch in my sketch book. Currently that is. I know he has something planned for me at the FX Show in Orlando later this month. I am all sorts of excited. I LOVE the Lily Munster thing she has going on. I tried cleaning the page up since it was a dirty, but it just ended up making blotches. Meh. You get idea.


Fiona Staples did this little number as well in NYCC. We had exchanged emails since I saw her Zatanna redesign that is so out there, you have to see it for yourself. She was very polite and just all-around awesome. Her stuff be here! (I'd upload a picture to showcase it, but there seems to be something wrong with that.)



Enough cannot be said about Phil Noto's style. It may come off as too angular and downright pointy for some, but the way how he just flows a pencil over the page and then inks? Ugh. It's just sickening somebody has this much talent. He actually did a pencil sketch last February at the now defunct Atlanta Comic Expo, or simply ACE. I didn't have any money since my wallet was stolen RIGHT before we got there. Yeah. Bad timing, right? Well anyways, I literally ran into him at NYCC and he informed me he would be at this year's MegaCon in Orlando. I gave it to him to ink and he knocked it out. I thought about going to him again for some grayscale, but not sure about that just yet.



And finally, my Cal Slayton. Well not really finally. I have one more Zatanna piece, but it's freaking huge. George did it for Christmas and his fiance was glad he was finally done with it since he had been working on it since Halloween. I digress. Cal Slayton. Man. This guy is just killer. I had seen a piece he had done on comicartfans.com and I just wanted one for myself. I had him do a simple pose used by a Vargas model, and then later he added the stool. I was blown away. And it's pretty big too. It looks awesome hanging in my office. I just ordered something else from him and we shall see how that fairs later, yes?

I'm sure we all have our characters we just can't get enough of. Ms. Z is definitely one of mine, if not THE one. Take my former room for example:



Yeah. I'm kooky like that. And yes, that is an Alex Ross Zatanna poster signed, as well as a Mark Brooks print, an ACE program (with Zatanna by Adam Hughes on it), and another collaboration of Lew and George: Zatanna wishing me a happy birthday via a magical cake. Now THAT one I'll have to scan sometime. Along with that is a print of the Detective Comics cover by Dustin Nguyen. That guy has a stupid amount of talent as well.

Pretty nice, huh?

Billy Batson finale

Billy Batson and the Magic of SHAZAM! #4
This is sadly the final issue of this arc. I could honestly watch Cap and Black Adam slug it out for a few more issues. I understand that Mike Kunkel is working full time at Disney and doing his own thing, it's just a shame this book is not monthly. I love the way the paneling style just flows; it almost makes it look like a cartoon, which Kunkel excels at. I digress, in this issue Captain Marvel and his sister Mary finally thwart Black Adam with the help of the Wizard. The Marvel family tricks Black Adam into fighting the sin of Selfishness and eventually turns him back into Theo Adam. Quickly, the Wizard makes him forget all what has transpired and with the assist by Mary, makes him think that his favorite animals are unicorns and how he loves to blow bubbles. Simple Kunkel sense of humor, and it pays off. The one gripe, besides the book not being monthly, is the huge error on the front page. Wisdom of...Samson? Oh well, I'll chalk it up to exhaustion on Kunkel's part, but his editor should have caught that. I'm hoping these issues are coming out in a trade format. At least that way, my Christmas shopping will be a lot easier. SHAZAM!

Wrestlemania: Por que muy serioso?

This past Sunday marked the "25th anniversary" of the WWE’s spectacle of the year. The Intercontinental Title match starts out with the, then, champion J.B.L.. He does a bit of a promo and plug and all that usual stuff a heel does. Heel, being the term us fans use for a “bad guy”. Anyways, his opponent, Rey Mysterio, a veteran to the business comes out from the ring and pyro goes off…and then I notice his attire. White mask, red lips, green “hair”, purple pants and suit. Yep. Rey Mysterio was “Ledgerized”. I have to admit, it was sort of cool looking. Rey walked down the ramp giving out Joker cards to random fans, and even the commentary team were sort of taken aback. Though, they should not have been that surprised: Rey’s done this before. Rey himself is a huge comic book fan and has made several masks and attire in honor of the likes of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, the Flash and Daredevil. There was one hiccup during the aftermath. Jerry Lawler made a comment about how Rey is honoring Heath Ledger’s Joker, but Jim Ross made a VERY snide comment about how “at least Rey’s career is alive and well.” Seriously, bad form there, JR.

Here are some photos. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool looking.

Ted. Kord. Must. Have.

I have hardly any money, but I want this BAD.