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!

My Comic Art Want List

As tough as it may be for me, I am going to try to make this brief. Although technically qualified, I am nowhere near the BSD range with regards to my comic art collection. I am not a guppy in this pond, but neither am I a shark. I swim in the mid-range pool. Nonetheless, I have lofty goals for the coming year(s). My previous want list is about this long:

1) Starman pages, any and all from the James Robinson run
        especially Starman 15 page 20
2) Dr. Strange double page spread by P Craig Russell from Ultimate Spider-Man Super Stories
3) Showcase '94/'95 pages featuring The Shade by Matt Smith
4) Chris Bachalo Amazing Spider-Man 555 pages with Dr. Strange
5) Paul Smith - the Golden Age pages, especially pages 68-70 in the trade (page 69 please!). This is Book Two, pages 10-12.
6) More Dan Green paintings from Into Shamballa
7) Another Dr. Strange Paul Smith commission. List was full last I checked, so what can you do.
8) More from Dr. Strange 170 by Dan Adkins. I have a 3rd page 50% paid off and want as many as I can ideally! Yes, I am a pack rat at times with these things.

Now I am still interested in those items. But now I also have my eye set on some truly spectacular, and significantly more costly, art. I would love to own the following items.

A Frank Miller page -maybe even a great one. I would prefer something from Elektra Lives Again or perhaps a page from Dark Knight Strikes Again with the DC superheroes featured. Lance Blastoff even. But really nice. The Elektra stuff is my ideal but he does some great work in many many different books.

A great Barry Windsor Smith page from Storyteller. I am looking at a real wonderful image and it would be the biggest purchase ever for me. Soon. Not now I think, but soon enough.

Art Adams commission - Another case of not now but eventually. The time and money must align, and the above may come first, but this will also happen should I continue to exist into the next decade.

A second, and then third, fourth, etc. page from Dracula 44 featuring Dr. Strange by the legendary art team of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. I tend to enjoy the Paul Smith, Marshall Rogers, Frank Brunner, and P Craig Russell Docs above Colan's, but this storyline could be the high mark for the character of Dr. Strange for me.

As I said before, I believe in creating your own destiny. I get only a few readers here, but I am grateful for the viewing and do not underestimate the power and effect of just one reader. So there it is.

Maybe someday I will seriously shoot for a Steve Ditko Dr. Strange page and really swing with the others. And before reaching that stage I would need to acquire some Alex Raymond, R. Crumb, Windsor McKay, and Frank Frazetta work. Maybe even a little Wood and some more Williamson. But for now these are my goals in terms of comic art. And when I say for now, of course I mean the very minute I type this. Because as any collector knows, the next object of desire is very hard to predict.

I mean, I have college for 2 coming up. I have to be realistic. ;-)

A New Comic Art Convention Theme

Okay, I got a bit tired of the whole 17X5 thing and decided to try something new recently. This is not to say that I am done with the 17X5 strip art theme or that I will stick with my new love exclusively, but when the Comic Geek Speak people cancelled their convention in Pennsylvania and a loosely affiliated business stepped up to host a show on the same dates in the town next to mine I figured there was no better time to try something new. And so I broke out the colored paper and set out for the Super Wild Pig Show a few weeks ago. I brought a few different colors and some ideas about what characters would work on each color paper. I had a small size, regular 8.5X11, and a few larger sheets about 26X22 or something like that. I also had a colored blue art board, firm, maybe for watercolors. I was most excited to use the largest sheets for head shots of The Hulk. My approach on head sketch jams is to try and get head sketches thrown in with, or negotiated alongside, convention sketch commissions and then consider a central figure if it is looking good. Lee Weeks was attending and hey, Lee Weeks = The Hulk, right? Well to me he does. Or at least did. He was next to Joe Staton, who could go a Green Lantern on another piece for a mixed character jam perhaps? Well Joe actually agreed to do a quick GL head sketch for free, or cheaply at least, but I never got around to getting it as he was usually busy or I wanted to go home. I had also pre-arranged a piece with The Shade from Chandra Free and figured she might do a small head sketch as well. And conventions always offer up unanticipated opportunity, so I always have that going for me. With that I set out for the long trek to Piscataway.

Six minutes later I was there, delayed who knows how long by having to endure the interminable wait of a passing train. I actually ended up going to this convention and home again two or three times each day since it was so close. I arranged for art from 4 artists: Lee Weeks, JK Woodward, Chandra Free, and Reilly Brown at a cost slightly north of $300. More than I wanted to spend but I had my new idea to pursue. Jk Woodward was quickly up for the challenge, as I new he would be. He took an 8.5X11 piece of red paper and agreed to do a Spider-Man shot. He seemed excited about it, so i was too. Then I got to speaking with Lee Weeks, who now knows me by sight if not by name. (For the young among you, dear readers, might I suggest it is a bad sign for your wallet when the artists recognize you when you enter the room. They poke each other and nod knowingly, saliva and spittle appearing at the edges of their slightly agape mouths almost imperceptibly, instantaneously. And when they speak you hear what the guppy hears when the shark speaks to him, what the fly hears when he alights on the web. "Welcome my friend. So good to see you.") Now I wouldn't want to cast any aspersions on Mr. Weeks with that digression, who is a gentleman and a scholar and overall nice guy. Deeply genuine, you can tell when you talk to him for even a few minutes that he lives by a strong ethical code. Nonetheless, he also possesses a bit of charlatan in him, and in this persona will amaze and astound you with feats of magic and prestidigitation. Although he did indeed do some great card tricks while I was in his presence, charming a young girl and her father both as Rudy Nebres and I looked on, it was his artistic ability that really left me amazed. When I approached him with the red paper and asked him to draw Spider-Man it was because I really like his version of the ol' wallcrawler. But he too got excited and told me about a Daredevil he had drawn a few years ago on red paper. DAREDEVIL! Lee Weeks "equaled" Daredevil for me long before Lee Weeks = the Hulk. So I left him the paper for a Daredevil and off I went. When I got back the next day I had the same reaction I had when Sean Chen handed me my first 17X5 piece. That of awe and of being astounded. This guy knew what he was doing, that is for sure.

Yes, another long trek awaited me. So one table down I ventured, down to the left where Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Nebres were seated. I had gotten my first Nebres sketch in the early 90s and reminded him of the show, the Super Mega Show in Secaucus. He had some wonderful art for sale, but I now have 3 Dr. Strange pieces drawn by Rudy and the convention sketch thing was covered for me. So we arranged a commission for him to complete at home and I gave him the rough idea and promised to bring reference to him by the shows end Sunday. That night I almost forgot and Rudy laughed late the next day when I finally showed up at his table, saying he was sure I had disappeared on him. So in the next few months I hope to have a sweet Dr. Strange vs Dracula drawn by Rudy Nebres in my possession. Doc will hopefully be discovering Dracula just after partaking of a little snack, to be one of the following heroines: Clea, The Valkyrie, The Scarlet Witch, Moondragon, or Photon aka Captain Marvel aka Monica Rambeau. So I also have that going for me. but I digress. Back to COLOR!

By the end of the day Saturday I had arranged for reilly Brown to do a Dr. Strange, but he was charging $50 for head shots and it didn't look like a good idea to ask for a freebie with my sketch. I often feel that if I spend $100 or more on a convention commisison from an artist than that is enough do-re-mi that I can feel okay asking for a quickie when I pay. But you have to feel each situation out and asking reilly would have been too big an imposition. He was going all out on my sketch and making good cash with his time on a Zatanna (really nice Zatanna, too) so it would have been unfair to ask, he likely would have done it too, but that don't make it right.

Now Chandra Free, on the other hand, was someone I felt fine asking for a quick sketch. I wanted to get a sketch from Chandra for a year or so since I became aware of her work but time and money had not yet aligned until now. She had arranged to do a Shade, from Starman, for me but since I wanted it big I had to bring the 11X17 paper to her late Saturday for Sunday pickup. That meant going home Saturday with 4 arranged pieces but nothing yet in hand. So when giving Chandra the paper I hit her up for a quick Batman on my blue artboard. She agreed and really did much more, and a much larger piece, than I expected. Now it is too big to scan and I have no picture yet, but believe me when I say it is way cool. Her take on The Shade was equally wonderful. but the main point is that I now have a large piece of blue art board with a sketch of Batman on the lower left corner. So I guess the colored paper thing may gain some traction after all. While the 17X5 pieces will continue, they will slow and be more carefully chosen. I only have a few more sheets left before I have to buy more. But colored paper, I got tons of that stuff. And with that DD up there to go by, I expect great things to come as a result.

Okay, that was longer and more rambling than first intended, but I can live with it I guess! See you soon!!!

Making Your Future Happen, the selfish version

I can be rather preachy. I am a psychologist, after all, so talking things over and making my point clearly is something I am comfortable doing. Sometimes I can do it rather well, and I frequently make my children stop everything and listen as I expound dramatically on a life lesson that MUST be taught then and there. I think it is important to tell my children when I am being serious, because it doesn't happen every day. I also take perverse fun in making a spectacle of myself while I tell them something of utmost seriousness and, hopefully, profound parental wisdom. You know, stuff kids like me ignored and only learned waaaaaay too late.

Along these lines I was recently on the pulpit in my living room preaching to, if not the choir, then the captive. This captive was my daughter, M age 12, who had mere moments before been watching one of her shows before being loudly and rudely interrupted in the face of my fervor at needing to point out how I had once again conjured the secrets of the universe whilst sitting in my basement at the computer. Today's lesson, and listen now, because this is serious...YOU MAKE YOUR DESTINY HAPPEN. I should stop right there, because that is the message of this post. Sure, this post may be about comic art (really most of my life is about comic art believe me) and yes I know it isn't remotely about comic art yet but just you wait and see but the idea that you make your life happen is about the most important thing I could ever teach my children. If you don't make your life happen, your life happens TO you. Many of the people I grew up with, friends and family alike, let their lives happen. I quickly made my life happen. I went to college, that was unknown in my family before my generation but expected of mine, but then went on to graduate school and then married and moved 700 miles to get a Ph.D. People I knew, friends and family, were perplexed at my decisions but then, and now, I know my life is my life and no one else's. Don't let people live your life. There are many corollaries to this statement and chief among them is you damn well better put yourself in position to accept the consequences of your actions if you live as you alone see fit. But I digress. The point is, again, that you have to form your own future. You can make life happen as you want if you truly want to do it.

Now, the reason I was so eager to pass along this particular nugget of fatherly sagacity was the recent exhibition and sale of art by Frank Miller. From Galerie 9 in Paris France http://www.galerie9art.fr/index.php?expo=173 25 pieces were shown  and offered for sale from Sin City - Hell and Back; Family Values, and The Big Fat Kill. Most of the pieces sold in a few hours. This follows the first multiple piece offerings of prime Frank Miller comic art that I am aware of ever, recently made available by Frank himself through Graphic Collectibles. Now, I collect comic art. I spend a few hundred dollars on things, and have on occasion spent slightly more than than. I must admit than on occasion I have considered selling every piece I own to buy ONE magic Steve Ditko Dr. Strange page. But even as I think those thoughts, and I think them every so often, I realize I would never do such a thing even if I could. It would be too much in every way. But I looked at that gallery exhibit and I recalled those pages Mitch was selling and I decided then and there that I would one day own a sweet sweet Frank Miller page. And I decided as well that I would own this page sometime in the next 4 years. Five is too long and 2 is too soon, but I can see being able to go all out and pay what it takes in 4 years.

Now the reason this becomes noteworthy is that I immediately made this forecast public in a post on a comic art collector's message board. And as I looked at the published post, a boast of bravado and bluster now made public for all to see, I liked what I saw. I knew I was right, that I would own this page eventually, that it is out there right now in someone's closet or desk or even Frank's portfolios. It will make a journey from there to here, whether it comes from a gallery like Galerie 9, a dealer like Mitch at GC, or even from Frank Miller himself who I met at the Chicago Comic Con in 1995 or so where he signed my Elektra Lives Again hardcover and then had a drink next to, but not with, him at the bar in the Sofitel later that night. If I met him socially once hey, it could happen for sure. But it will happen. So I looked at the post and it was good.

Almost immediately I received a response from someone nice who could maybe eventually assist in possibly making this a reality. Equivocations mine, he could definitely make it happen today. But anyway. Nothing concrete at that time, just a note that my vow was heard. And that my friends is karma. The Good Lord looking over my shoulder. Destiny. Free Will. All of those and more. It is a Frank Miller page displayed prominently in every home I own until the day I die. As long as I live four more years of course.