Rudy Nebres commission - colored by Gerry Turnbull

Well, I usually don't go for digital coloring but have made exceptions once or twice before. But that awesome Rudy Nebres commission that I got last week was so good I wanted to see what it would look like in color. And this time I decided I would contact a fellow Dr. Strange fan, Gerry Turnbull, because I thought he would really enjoy working on it. Gerry has been doing some coloring and showing off his mad skillz (yes, I did that!) on the comic art fans website. I may be wrong but I do not think he does it professionally, although his work is certainly of a professional quality. So I emailed Gerry and he agreed to take it on. And that same night I got the results. I think they are wonderful, but see for yourself.

Wait, we're not done! When I had Tom Smith color a Jae Lee commission (also of Doc, and Tom did great work as well) he was nice enough to throw in an alternate coloring scheme. Well, I must have been correct about Gerry enjoying the piece because he did the same thing and I soon got this as well. A little more of the night music in this one.

And we are still not done. In the morning I got another and it is a beaut!

The flourishes are all Gerry, even the ripped edge on the top! Masterful. He really outdid himself and I could not be happier with his work.Now I can't promise that you will get all these extras, but I can promise that you won't be disappointed with his work should you choose to employ him. Check his gallery on CAF (http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=3603) for other examples of his coloring skills, as well as a stellar Dr. Strange collection that rivals my own for sure. In fact, between Gerry, Robert Turner and John Sisson I better keep acquiring these Doc pieces or they will leave me in the dust. Keeping up with the Jones' has never been so fun!

EDIT: It turns out I was wrong and that Gerry Turnbull does have professional colorist credits. He was one of the colorists on John Byrne's FX (IDW) and has colored the official posters for the Mid-Ohio Con and Cincinnatti Con for the past few years. Sorry about that Gerry!

Rudy Nebres commission - Dr. Strange vs. Dracula

I have been seeing Rudy Nebres at conventions for about 20 years now. My first purchase from him was at the SuperMega Show in Seacaucus NJ in the late 80s/ early 90s. I asked him to draw a Dr. Strange and he seemed a little frustrated that I didn't just buy one from his portfolios, but truth be told they were more money than he was charging for drawing at the show. Since I returned from exile in Indiana in 1998 I have seen him much more frequently, getting a few more Dr. Strange pieces along the way. Well, I eventually opened my mouth and chatted with Rudy and his ever-present and lovely wife Dolores and learned that we were in effect neighbors; we live about 7 minutes from one another. In fact Dolores invited me over one time if I wanted to see some art. I decided it would be a nice offer to take her up on, but only if I was picking something up at the time. So in May when I saw Rudy and Dolores again, at the Super Wild Pig show in Piscataway I set up a commission. I gave Rudy reference for 5 different Marvel heroines and asked for Dracula draining a heroine and being surprised by Dr. Strange. I have one other commission along these lines by Norm Breyfogle, with Clea in the role of "woman in distress" and I love that one but I thought it a good idea for more commission. Rudy got a choice between Clea, Moondragon, The Valkyrie, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel/Photon/Pulsar, Monica Rambeau. Well, last week I got the call that the piece was complete and I was able to meet up with Rudy today at his home. Dolores was there, as were sons Ed and Melvin. A quick tour of the studio later and I was in possession of my commission. As much as I love it I must say the colored pieces in Rudy's studio really made me regret not going all out and getting this one colored as well. maybe next time, and there WILL be a next time. Why? Well, take a gander at this and you'll see why I am so confident about getting more.

So thank you to the Nebres family for welcoming me into their home. And thank you to Rudy Nebres for this wonderful piece of art. The Scarlet Witch may not like it, but I love it.

Profane Rant

Way back when, in January that is, I started this blog and thought I would do a few things with it. I have been entirely successful on posting comic art related things, one of the first goals. However, I have not written any humorous or political posts, which were some of my other goals. So I am cutting and pasting (errors and all) something I wrote for myself a few years ago. I like to think that I can be funny sometimes, so the following rant is offered in that vein. It is an attempt at being serious and funny, or hopefully seriously funny. Be warned though, there be profanity ahead.

GOLF WITH MY FRIENDS, or I HATE PEOPLE.

So I hate people. Really. I hate my neighbors. Idiots; with their sump-pump drainage into my basement and their cute fucking families. I hate the people on the block. Idiots squared.  Have you seen those cars? WTF? I hate the people I work with. Well, at least I only loathe some of them. But I would never choose to know them in any real capacity outside work. Drinks? Yeah, I have drinks every night as soon as I get home to forget you idiots and your stupid power plays and bullshit high school soap opera fuckshit. Oh, you mean go out for drinks with everyone. Fuck no, I don’t drink. (With assholes.)

So I hate people. I mean I love my family. Love my wife. Looove my wife. And I love my kids. Great daughters, perfect little princesses. But the rest of you people….? I would rather we didn’t socialize, if you don’t mind at all. I have friends, another group of idiots. I am reminded of the line from Porky’s, “yeah, he’s an asshole, but he’s our friend.” You cannot believe the bullshit a bunch of guys can get into. All because they’re stupid. Fucking. Idiots. Take golf for instance. Number one rule of golf…when playing, you should be QUIET. You people know this right? This isn’t a secret, is it? QUIET as a mouse. A little fuckin’ mouse. Tiny, barely even there. Cute as a button but ever so small. A still, little brown mouse. So cute. And QUIET. Fuckin’ quiet. Whisper-is-way-too-fuckin’-loud kind of quiet. So here I am out with the buddies, the guys, the crew. Hangin’ wit’ da’crew. And in the middle of my swing, clangitty clang clang. I hit my normal perfect golf shot, and then add the clangitty clang clang to it for a fuckshit ball-hard-right-and-into-the-water and turn in amazement at my playing partners. Fucking cocksuckers. Because that’s what they are to me know, a bunch of cocksuckers. But I couldn’t let them know I knew that, that they were a bunch of motherfuckin’ cocksuckers to me now. So I said, not too loud, “does it matter that I am swinging a club over here. Does it matter to anyone at all that I am swinging here.” Silence. After my best friend and golf cart partners also puts one in the shit, we commence our ride together. Pleasantries are exchanged, during which I am told that, hey since all 3 guys made noise at the same time, perhaps I should not have been hitting at that time. Perhaps it was a bad time for me to choose to try and strike my golf ball. Like I said, a bunch of fucking idiots. I am sorry, I replied; are you suggesting it was my fault for not checking mid swing with you people behind me to make sure it was all clear. The fact that someone else had already hit first, that I was hitting 2^nd, and that I was clearly addressing my ball is not enough. That I must now somehow infer everyone’s immediate intentions, what they are going to do in the coming seconds to determine if it is safe for me to hit. So of course I told him I knew he had been playing golf long enough to know better. That the number one rule is, the people playing golf expect you to be….? QUIET. His subsequent request that I not lecture him did not enjoiner a response, and we moved on to the last hole.

We did not play the last hole very well.

Fucking idiots. Idiot fucking cocksuckers.

Oh well. Perhaps next week we will do better.

...So yeah. That is what is in my head sometimes. If I get even one positive comment I have a few more of these, although I would prefer to generate some new ones as well. Lewis Black needs some competition.

I guess I was at Wizard World Philly today...

...although I really spent almost as much time in Market Station as I did the convention center. I am in something of a shift in my comic art focus, and the convention sketch is becoming less important and I plan on spending more money on larger items such as commissions and published pages/covers instead. However, I have been targeting this convention for about a year since Wizard posted that Stephen Segovia was going to be a guest. I had noticed Stephen's work through Comic Art Fans (CAF) and his representative, Kirk Dilbeck, and was very impressed. In fact, I was impressed enough to get on Stephen's commission list a while ago, even though it takes a few years I guess. So while I wait I figured I could get a nice convention sketch. I emailed Kirk through CAF and he told me the price and that I could get on an advance list. I gave 4 characters for Stephen to choose from and there it was; I guess I was going to Philly.

Thanks to Kirk for facilitating and Stephen Segovia for the heavy lifting. Here is what Stephen ended up drawing for me: Asgardian Storm.

And since I was going, why not go all in? I looked over the guest list and was surprised to find only a dozen or so sketch targets, and no real MUST HAVES besides Stephen. There were a few close calls, mostly with the other guys Kirk reps, especially Carlo Pagulayan, so I decided not to go all in at all. In fact, I decided to make it a quick hit instead. I arranged two other commissions for Sunday afternoon pickup and figured that would be it. Unfortunately one of the artists, Tom Raney, messaged me to let me know he wasn't going to be able to make it last minute but that he would still do the piece. Works for me! Thanks to Tom for being a great guy and honoring the commission even though he is not at the show!!! A real nice thing to do and something I did not ask for or expect.

That left me with the reason for this post, to show off my other acquisition: Stargirl by Chrissie Zullo.

Chrissie drew one of the earliest pieces I featured on this blog, a 17X5 Star Wars piece  I have a few other pieces by her as well and when I saw she was going to Philly for the first time I knew I had to ask her for something. I saw a torso she did of Stargirl on her site and knew I would love one for myself and thankfully she agreed to have one ready for me on Sunday. Thanks Chrissie! I love it!

I had hoped to ask for Stephen and Chrissie to draw a quick head sketch on my colored paper and brought blue for Batman, red for Hellboy, and green for The Hulk. Unfortunately for me, but nice for them, they were too busy and I could see not to ask. Maybe next time!

It will be next time as well for Nostalgic Investments and Bechara Maloof. It was nice briefly chatting with Bechara and nicer for misanthropist me to look over his great selection of original comic art. I saw a great page from Dr. Strange but low four figures is more than I had today. I will be back Bechara! It was fun talking to him, and Mark Texeira was there as well looking at Kirby pages. I saw a page from Texeira's Wolverine run, a nice page (for $550) and showed Mark. He was intrigued to see his work in Bechara's portfolios; I sense a deal in their futures. I also impressed myself, if not Tex, by picking out an uncredited page in Bechara's portfolio (for $195, a deal I think!) from Punisher War Journal inked by Tex.

So it was a fun hour or so in the convention center and then it was out, out into the street, across the street, and into Market Station in search of my favorite turkey sandwich anywhere. Warm moist turkey, lettuce, and bread. Yes simple. Not dry though, believe me. It was satisfying, almost as satisfying as getting my art. Not quite though, because as I sit here and look at the pieces above and remember the smiles on Chrissie's and Stephen's faces as we talked and they took my money I realize how much I enjoy the this hobby.

Okay, ramble off. See you in NYC in October comic world!