Hey, check this out!

This article contains a review of the CAG comic, Iconic which contains a very review of a short story of mine (illustrated by Rick Lundeen) about Gustave Whitehead, who flew before the Wight Brothers.

The Rusties

So, I was recently informed that (for the third year in a row), I’ve been nominated in the “Best Writer” category for a CAG Award (Now renamed “The Hallers” in honor of Rusty Haller). Once again I’m honored to be considered, and well it would be great to win (finally).

The story is my contribution in Iconic, entitle First in Flight, which is a story about the real-life Gustave Whitehead, who flew before the Wright Brothers, but has long been denied his rightful place in History.

I'm also told that others can vote in this poll even if you are not a member of CAG, so here is a link to the poll. vote away!

PollPub.com Vote

Best writer.

Robert J. Sodaro - "First in Flight," Iconic

Everett Soares - Sky Pirates

Steve Kanaras - Only In Whispers #2

Jesse Toves - "John Henry," Iconic

Scott Sheaffer - Hell's Blood #1

Joe Sergi - "The Return of Power Boy," A Thousand Faces #10

Carl Herring, Jr. - Crime Wave

Dwight Baldwin - "Repercussions," Iconic




   View Results

Poll powered by PollPub.com Free Polls

I



Thank you all in advance. I'm also told that that the deadline for votes is Sept 18th at 11:59 PM.

Feel free to re-post this on Facebook or where appropriate!

GirL SkOUT WARZ!

Several decades years ago some friends of mine developed a concept about Girl Scouts going door-to-door, but instead of selling cookies, they were killing people. I always loved the idea, and well, over the years it stayed with me and festered until I transmorphed it into GirL SkOUT WARZ!.



In this incarnation of the strip, the girls (all new characters that I developed recently) are part of a roving band of “protectors” who live in a Post Apocalyptic world inhabited by Zombies, Ghouls, and other semi-mythical creatures of the night. (As one of my nephews stated when he heard the description of the strip, “There’s nothing about that, that I don’t like,.”)

Yea, I can dig that.



Currently, there are five strips that I’ve written and have been illustrated (by Keith Murphey and Rusty Haller). Right now, two of them are posted up on the web, and I’m currently scripting more installments.

Another web comic (CAG Dog) that I’ve scripted (three installments) is going up soon. I’ll let you know as soon as it gets illustrated and posted.

GAG Dog is the creation of Zman (a CAG buddy), and he has been inviting writers and artists from CAG to contribute art and stories to the webcomic. For my contribution, he wanted to do a mash-up of CAG Dog and my very own Agent Unknown. From my perspective, it was a load of fun to do, and I can hardly wait to see it in, ah, digital.

Iconic in the news

Hey there folks, Iconic just got a very nice write-up in The Sun Chronicle.

Yep, that’s right, I got Mike Gelbwasser, a reporter/columnist for the Chronicle (who once interviewed me) to chat up Iconic editor, Liam Webb about the project (you’re welcome, Liam).

Also, thanks to Mike for enjoying comics, listening to us, doing the interview, and helping us get some press in the mainstream.

And that, folks, is the way it is done.

On the Local Front

A month back, while at MoCCA, my good friend, collaborator, and client, Mark Mazz produced a limited edition “Script Book” for his Mark Twain story, Expressions of Bull-Frog Wisdom on the Lady Mississippi. The story was originally supposed to appear in the CAG-produced Graphic Album, Iconic, but due to creative differences (Mark wanted to be creative and the editor wanted something different), it was pulled. The good news is that the story will be re-released in a book entitled Literacy that is slated to come out from Atlas Unleashed.

My good buddy Chris Torres (who is drawing my own Springload & Renegade — also due out from Atlas Unleashed) illustrated it. Chris is a major talent, and seriously should be busier (and more well-known) than he already is. We sold the script book for a buck a pop, and it received some very nice comments.

The other very cool publication I recently acquired is the new issue of DitkoMania (#73) which is produced by Rob Imes. The issue is B&W and a buck-fifty. You can acquie your own copy by going to Rob's website and purchasing one yourself. This issue cover-features Dr. Strange, and is well worth the price.

You can also write directly to Rob at 13510 Cambridge #307, Southgate, MI 48195.

This is a must fro any serious Ditko fan.

Reviewing Myself (sort of)

While I know that we can all agree that it probably isn’t entirely kosher to pen a review your own product, so let’s not call this a “review” but rather some some soft-sell marketing spin. Last weekend I received my copies of the CAG graphic album Iconic and I just have to tell you how excited I am about the book. Yeah, yeah, admittedly I contributed a story to the project, but mine is only one of the 10 stories that appear in the tome. Having just read the other nine stories I really have to say that I very much enjoyed them as well. (There is one about Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper that offers us a new take on these two characters that is positively chilling.)

Also of note are the John Henry story, plus the “sequel” to A Christmas Carol. As a long-time fan of the legend of Prometheus, I was drawn to the re-telling of that legend in it’s Sci-Fi setting. The re-telling of the story of Robin Hood took me a bit of time to get to patch into the legend on which it was riffing, but again, a fine tale.

Not to go all “Hey this is the best thing since sliced bread” route, I’ll talk a little bit about the parts of the book where I had a (small) issue or two.

On the “less than completely glowing” side, while the most excellent forward by comicbook author and high-school teacher Gary Cohn served as a very fine overview of the genre and hopefully will help “legitimize” the book to our potential audience, it was (for some reason) written in white text on a gray patterned background which made it a tad difficult to read. Then (a personal peeve of mine) due to the square-bound binding, the center of the pages tend to disappear into the interior margins. This is actually a common production error that many production folks fall into when moving from saddle stitched magazines (which can lay flat) to square bound books (which can’t). Thus they need to leave a slightly larger interior margin to allow for the binding. (I recently read a very good — square bound — Graphic Novel which suffered from the same problem.)

Then, of course there is the (slightly smaller) size of the book (9" x 6"), which really isn’t a negative, but given that CAG is targeting young readers with the book is actually a positive thing, as it is CAG’s intention that this more compact format makes the book more accessible and less formidable to this market segment, than would the traditional larger-format GN.


Anyways, if you you want to get a very cool gift for a young reader (or yourself) who wants to learn some history, be entertain, and perhaps explore some classic (dare I say “Iconic”) themes, follow this link and score yourself a copy (or three).

The Perfessor

Wülf Girlz: Resurrection

OK, perhaps that is a bit more dramatic than required. My Wülf Girlz haven’t really gone away, as much as have metamorphed. The last time we all saw them, they appeared in the Guild Work Production comicbook, Psychosis!, as illustrated by the incomparable Matt Ryan. Well, Matt is the heart and soul of MattsMineStudio, that produces the most excellent line of Free Lunch Comics. So, as you can probably expect, Matt is wicked-busy these days producing some of the finest Indie comics to come out of New England, so he really hasn’t had much time to devote to the Girlz.

And well, I really want to continue their adventures. Still, as much as I wanted to wait for Matt, I really couldn’t, so (with his understanding) I have engaged the services of the very talented Rick Lundeen, who as you all recall, illustrated my Gustave Whitehead story which appeared in the recently-published Iconic graphic album from CAG.

So, Rick has finished his first installment of Wülf Girlz (and agreed to do more), so I’m currently writing a new Wülf Girlz script for him, but the really big news is that I just finished my very first Wülf Girlz prose story. Yep. That’s right, prose (some 6,500 words long, I might add).

Needless to say, I’m really very excited about it and I can’t wait to tell you more about it (including where and when it will be released). Suffice it to say, that it (along with the first illustrated story by Rick, and perhaps even the second) will all be out sometime this year under the Atlas Unleashed banner.

Here is a sneak peak at Rick’s take on the Girlz...

Stay tuned.

Iconic is the Word

This just in, I’m part of a new graphic album of short stories featuring new/different spins on mythic, legendary, historic and/or fictional characters entitled Iconic, which is being published by the Comicbook Artists Guild.

Iconic is a 120-page, square-bound volume featuring the talent of some 30 writers, artists, and creators who developed 10 short stories revolving around such mythological characters as Prometheus, Talos and Cuchulainn; legendary literary characters as Ebeneezer Scrooge and Sherlock Holmes (each appearing in slightly altered narrations), the triumphs of heroes from folklore like Robin Hood and John Henry, and not to leave great historical figures behind, they also included Mark Twain, St. George, and Gustave Whitehead (mine).

All of the stories are tied together by the appearance of a fictional grandfather who shares the stories with his beloved grandchildren. The book was the year-long product of the membership of the Comicbook Artists Guild and is a weighty tome that is being targeted to be marketed to Book stores, libraries, schools, and to fans of historic and mythic fiction all over.

The Guild is planning to release Iconic at MoCCA Fest, being held June 6 and 7, 2009 at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. MoCCA Fest is a popular comic art festival sponsored by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and members of the Guild will be appearing to celebrate their special release. This appearance is the Guild’s first time exhibiting at MoCCA Fest.

As stated, my story is about Gustave Whitehead, a man who lived in Bridgeport, CT, and flew before the Wright Brothers (In fact, as legend has it, Gustave actually sold the Brothers a pair of his engines). My story is beautifully illustrated by Rick Lundeen. This is the first time Rick and I have worked together, but certainly not the last, as Rick has since picked up the art chores on my Wülf Girlz property which is soon to be published by Atlas Unleashed.



On a personal note, I learned about Gustave from my High School science teacher and Judo instructor who interviewed a guy who — as a young boy — worked for Gustave, and saw him fly. My Science teacher was an avid flier and went on to not only build a replica of Gustave’s plane, but ran a Gustave Whitehead museum at Captain’s Cove Marina in Bridgeport for may years. For years, he and I talked about the possibility of producing a comic about Gustave that could be distributed in Bridgeport schools. I hope that this short story leads to a longer-form story that can fulfill that dream.

What I got for Easter

Yeah, yeah, I know that Easter was like a month ago, but right after Easter (actually ON Easter), the wife and my daughter went south to Virginia for a week (the little one had school vacation, and was invited by a friend to head south, needless to say Management went as well). Well, as can be expected, they took the camera.

Then, no sooner then they returned then the boy had school vacation, and headed souther, to Florida. Well, I had assumed that he took the camera with him as well, but apparently he didn’t. Only it wasn’t until he got back that I realized he hadn’t.

What has all this to do with the Webbing in Freedonia? Well, without access to the camera, I was unable to take pics of all the wicked-cool Spidey stuff I had gotten for Easter. (Yeah, yeah, I could have used my cell-phone camera, but, well, I was having tech issues with that little piece of hardware as well, but that’s an entirely different story).

So what we wind up with this time is a Spidey Sticker, a Spidey Tic-Tack-Toe game, and (believe it or not) Spidey kite string (which will actually go quite nicely with the Spidey Kite that I have sitting out in my garage.



Well, that’s it for now folks, I have to hustle off to a CAG-CT meeting, and I’m already running late for that.

Another pull from the Indie pile!

I’d like to talk a bit about a friend of mine, named Rusty Haller.

Rusty is a damn-fine cartoonist with quite an impressive history. His first published work was back in the late ‘80s for a small CT-based publisher named Spotlight Comics. Rusty did work on a Deputy Dog comic and Mighty Mouse Christmas Special as well as Terry Tunes (an assignment he landed though Jim Main at Main Enterprises). Soon after getting published at Spotlight, Rusty was able to score a very gig at Marvel’s line of Star Comics working on such titles as Danger Mouse, Count Duckla, Heathclif, and Alf. Rusty also produced some illustrations for Marvel Age (a title that I myself worked on back in the day). Over at DC he worked on Tiny Tune Adventures, Looney Tunes, and Animaniacks. In addition to this, he worked on various Flintstones and Harvey titles for Archie Comics. As well as book and magazine illustrations.

Not content wit working other people’s products, Rusty went on to create his own characters; Ace and Queenie an anthropomorphic action/adventure spy series that he has been producing for Furrlough Comics for over four years (generating over 150 pages of printed art). About 2 years ago, a little dissatisfied with his own progress on Ace & Queenie, Rusty brought his unique creation to the web, where fans can now not only read the new web adventure, but purchase print editions of Furrlough and other comics containing Rusty’s work. Rusty also posts his art at Deviantart and Furafininity.

Now I like Rusty a whole lot, he is a very knowledgeable and affable fellow, with a huge amount of talent, so I was extremely please when he give me a copy of The Licensable Bear(tm) Big Book of Fun!. This book is a collection of The Licensable Bear’s(tm) comicbook.

To be sure there are other cartoonist's art filling up the pages of the book, and the Bear himself is created and written by Nat Gertler, but I was there for Rusty’s work. To be fair to Nat and his Bear buddy, the book is a long joke, not several jokes, but a single joke. You see, the premise of the book is that Bear wants folks to license his image to put on stuff or promote their pet cause, and every single story is about the same exact thing.

You might wonder how many variations you can do on a single theme, and bless Nat’s dark little heart, he has found them all. Some of the stories are ordinary, and some are quite entertaining. Reading them all in one sitting is probably impossible (it took me a couple of months of going back to it over and over to finish it off), it is worth the endeavor.

In addition to all of the above, Rusty has contributed to CAGDog, the online comic produced for the web by several of the members of that group. He has also contributed to my buddies over at Free Lunch Comics.



Then, as stated, there is Rusty’s work on the very entertaining, and very sexy Ace and Queenie. If you are a fan of action/adventure, anthropomorphic comics, very exotic-looking characters (yes, they are quite attractive), or simply well-drawn, and well-written comics, then you owe it to yourself to run (don’t walk) over to Ace and Queenie and check out what Rusty has in store for you. The while you’re there, you should blow your entire allowance on as many back issues as you can afford.

2009 CAG Indy After Party

Hey folks, I don’t know if you are going to be coming to NY Comic Con, but if you are, why not check out the 2009 CAG Indy After Party the BEST party of NYCC.
We’d like to get the word out to as many people as possible. The Party Invite is being posted here.



You are all invited, as well as your friends and fellow industry folk. The party is open to the entire comics community. We have already received some responses from industry professionals expressing interest so we've hoping for some great surprise guests! Now you should come and have fun...!

We want to thank all our sponsors and acknowledge that with your support the Indy After Party is coming together quite nicely.

I’ve listed all 10 of our sponsors here, so feel free to list them in your correspondence for the largest East Coast comics convention... NYCC2009!



2009 Indy After Party Sponsors:

• Comicbook Artist Guild (CAG — Keith Murphey)

• Hell’s Blood! (Hector Rodriguez)

• Atlas Unleashed (mark mazz)

• The Toonseum (Joe Wos)

• Atomic Media Group (Chris Buchner)

• BullaClothing (Kirk Abrigo)

• J.M. deSantis

• MediaConnection (Eric Lopkin)

• Planet Lovecraft (K.L. Young)

• TOOLfist (Jose Andrade)

CAG means networking

I belong to a networking group called The Comicbook Artists Guild (CAG). I have been a part of this organization for three, or four years. I was first invited to join the group by my good Friend Mark Mazz. Mark set up a meeting between me and co-founder and current president Keith Murphey. I have since gone on to work with both Mark and Keith to actively promote the group at conventions and to various media outlets, as well as producing three newsletters for the group which have been handed out at conventions across the country. I was also privileged to relaunch my signature series, Agent Unknown in CAG #7.

Networking is really the only way those of us struggling to get in can hope to survive. Take my pal Chris Buchner. I first “met” Chris while we were both on SpiderFan, and when I realized that he was local to me (he’s NY, I’m CT). I brought Chris over to CAG and then, once I was invited to contribute to The Official Index to the Marvel Universe, I was able to get the invitation extended over to Chris, who is now contributing as well.

When my Pal and fellow CAGer, Carl Herring needed an inker for his self-published comic, The Enforcers, I was able to hook him up with another friend, Chris Torris (who painted my re-launch of Agent Unknown).

When CAG-pal James Rodriguez, was producing a 2009 art calender with a bunch of other CAGers and the very lovely and talented Belkis, I lent him a hand in the production and editorial phase of the project. (You can still buy this calendar, it is not only spotlighted here on this blog, but if you reach out to James, he’d be very happy to sell you one of your very own.)

So, now in the same vein as all of that I want to direct you to a trio of other online pals-o-mine, first up is the CAG web comic page. It is hosted on Drunk Duck, and you will find a bunch of CAG writers and artists assembling an impressive array of online comics. Go there, bookmark the page and then go back to see what we put up there over the coming year. I promise you that it will be very cool.

Now that I’m on the subject of web comics, I want you to head over to Rusty Haller’s page and discover the very entertaining Ace & Queenie; an anthropomorphic action/adventure spy series that he has been producing for Furrlough Comics for over four years (generating over 150 pages of printed art). About 2 years ago, Rusty brought his unique creation to the web where they can be seen in a new storyline.



If his name sounds familiar, it is because he is a cartoonist with quite an impressive history in the print world. His first published work was back in the late ‘80s for a small CT-based publisher, Spotlight Comics. From there Rusty managed to score a gig at Marvel’s line of Star Comics working on such titles as Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Heathcliff, and Alf, as well as producing some illustrations for Marvel Age. Over at DC he worked on Tiny Toons Adventures, Looney Tunes, and Animaniacks. In addition to this, he worked on various Flintstones and Harvey titles for Archie Comics.

Another site I want you to bookmark is BelkisNYC: Marketing for the Creative Soul. This is the site of Belkis’ very cool and very knowledgeable marketing blog. (Hey I told you she was not only drop dead gorgeous, but wicked intelligent as well!) Currently there are only about a dozen posts, but I’m telling you that I’m already finding it invaluable.

These folks are all good friends of mine, and I want you to treat them well.

Whups, almost forgot...



Hell’s Blood is the creation of another CAG-buddy, Hector Rodriguez. This past Saturday (yesterday), CAG held it’s second annual mixer here in CT (in my old stomping grounds of Fairfield), and we held a Yankee Swap Gift Party. I donated a copy of Comic Values 2008 (of which I’m the features editor), and in return I wound up with a Hell’s Blood T-Shirt. A very cool gift indeed, as I’m currently in talks with Hector to team up his character and my very own Wülf Girlz, as well as the possibility of me colaborating on future issues of Hells’ Blood itself.

Now how cool is that?

Happy Belkis Year!

I’m officially declaring this the year of Belkis, as you all know she graces not only the cover, but each and every page of the NovaStar Studios Fantasy Illustrated Calendar. The (unfortunately slightly pixelated) image to the left is the first image of Belkis that greets you at the opening of the new year. It was drawn by by good buddy (and fellow CAGer) Keith Murphey.

If you still haven't purchased a calendar for 2009 (and even if you did), then you should hurry on over to James Rodriguez’s web page and snag yourself one of these beautiful calendars. For all of you who are too cheap to buy one who haven bought one as of yet, I’ll be posting the facing page for the rest of the year. I hope you all enjoy looking at Belkis as much as do I.

Some early Christmas gifts...

So ‘tis the season to be feeling Mary, er, Merry and already the gift-giving has begun. My CAG buddy James Rodriguez brought me back a little gift of sorts from his recent trip to South America. A Spanish copy of Spider-Man. I have something of a collection of these type of comics. I like to ask friends of mine who are traveling to non-U.S. locales to snag a comic for me, or — failing that — grab a foreign fast-food toy for me. I don’t know why, but both are always cool for me to receive (hint, hint, hint).

Oh yeah, and if you haven’t already acquired your 2009 calendar, you just might want to check out the one that James produced (a visual of it is off to the right side of my blog at the top). Don’t forget to tell him that I sent you over. Head over to his Blogspace and locate the payment and shipping details.

Another gift I received was from another CAG friend, Liz Ortiz. I can’t recall if she scored this when she was recently in Texas or it was simply something that she had lying around her place. She tells me that it is a holder for a videogame system (I don’t remember which, but it it really doesn’t matter, as it is Spidey, and well, I’m enjoying it in my collection now.

While I haven’t yet received it, Chris Buchner (yep, another CAGer) claims to be sending me the Spidey Santa hat you see to the left. He found it on ebay, and well, knows my taste for (the truly odd) Spidey-Stuff. Still, whild I was (obviously) entertained by the Santa Hat, I was truly surprised by this Spider-Man 3 Santa hat.

Apparently with blockbuster success comes whack-job marketing. Well, happy, happy, merry, merry to you all.

How Spider-Man 3 Should have ended

My CAG buddy Chris pointed me in the direction of this vid, and, wel, it was too funny not to post here.

Enjoy.

Choice Cuts

So, While I was in Boston a couple of weeks back, I ran into a buddy of mine, David Quiles. I was originally introduced to David by CAG president Keith Murphey. David and I hit it off right away and soon after I picked up one of David’s self-published titles.

David has a very interesting style of art. He likes to get dirty. His art is all full of action, movement violence and darkness. It is truly something to behold. I knew right away that I wanted to collaborate with David on something, only he and I couldn’t quite hit on the right project. Well, it took almost a year, but I finally conceived on an idea that I thought that David would like, and when I pitched it to him he rolled it around in his head for a bit,and really warmed to the idea.

Well, it took me a couple of more months to script out my eight-page idea, and pass it over to him. Well, David is not someone who is going to be rushed, and I had no intention of trying to rush him, so I walked away and let the story simmer with him. Every couple or three months when I would run into him I’d check on the progress and he would have pretty much the same answer, that he was working on it in-between the other things that he was doing, and that was OK with me.

Well I ran into him again last weekend at the Nationals, and he told me that he had not only thumb-nailed the story (which he had expanded to 12 pages), but that he would send me the thumbnails if I texted him at 1:00 in the morning. (Seems he would be working at that that time, just as I was going to bed). I agreed, and sent him a couple of text messages as I went off to bed, and well, this evening I found the art in my in basket.

Let me say that I wasn't disappointed at all with what I saw. this is going to be a great story (due mostly to David’s art, to be sure). I’m hoping that he will be able to finish it off soon, and then get it into print. In the mean time, I think that you should hurry over to David’s site, and check out Choice Cuts along with the other comics that he had produced.

Get ready for a NYC Crime Wave!

No, I’m not kidding, I just read it in this press release form Three J Productions, LLC and Carl Herring Jr. set to launch Crime Wave on NYC.

Carl is a good buddy of mine (and fellow CAGer), who is way talented. not only has he produced a top-flight intro comic to his projected series (The Enforcers) but he also contributed a great Story to CAG #7. Now we cna see yet another incarnation of Carl’s talent as he give us the following:

Carl Herring Jr. founder and President of Three J Productions, LLC is pleased to announce that the company's latest publication Crime Wave Anthology vol 1 is set to debut at New York Comic Con in Feb 09 at the Javits Center. Crime Wave is a collection of three crime dramas that explode off the pages with non-stop action. Two stories feature the FBI duo - Chase and Hunt.

The third story features D.E.A. Enforcers Clayton Jagger and Rio Mendez in their first appearance since the now famous Enforcers Limited Edition Zero Issue. In charge of the books design is Creative Director Ed Traquino. Supplying the interior artwork are two very talented rising stars of the comic book industry, Scott E. Ambruson and Chris Torres. Rounding out the creative team is veteran artist Norm Breyfogle supplying the cover art. Crime Wave Anthology vol 1 is the first of several projects that Three J Productions, LLC has planned for 2009.

Personally I can’t wait to score my copy!

One last trip to the Birthday Well

It seems that I somehow forgot to post the Spidey birthday card that was given to me by my wife. With this posting, this should be the last of my Birthday riff. Here you can see both the front and the inside of the card I received.

I plan to return to, well, interesting stuff tomorrow.

Today I have to run out early this morning, and meet with a client, so I really have to make this short this morning. However, I did recently acquire a couple of comics produced from some of my friends (Fellow CAG buddies), that I want to talk about, which I will do next time (yes, we can talk about stuff other than Spider-Man).

2009 in Belkis

When talking about Next year, I like to start with the fact that I was able to assist in assembling a very cool calendar of fantasy art. Yep, I’m no artist (even though I do play one on TV), but I did help handle the editorial chores on one that is out now, and should be on display all of next year.

Earlier this year I had the unique pleasure to work with Fellow CAGer James Rodriguez. James, in addition to his stellar work on Quantum: Rock of ages with Philip Clark, James has begun publishing his own comic The Chronicles Of Sara. Still, as much as I want to to talk about those comics (and, trust me, I will), I’m more interested, right now, in discussing the NovaStar Studios Fantasy Illustrated Calendar, featuring Belkis. (Wow, that’s a mouthful!)

James, gathered together a bunch of other top-flight NY illustrators to produce a dynamite calendar for 2009. Each artist got to illustrate the always-lovely Belkis. As for my part, I not only wrote the bios for the various illustrators, but I provided James with moral support and a bit of production help early on in the process.

I was grateful to James for allowing me to assist him in this wonderful endeavor. So I want to take this opportunity to let you know that if you are in the market for a 2009 calendar (and right about now, who isn’t?) I strongly suggest that you contact James and purchase one for yourself. The calendar cost a mere $20.00 (which includes Shipping and Handling). So head over to James’ site and get a better look at the imagery on the calendar.

It’s all about the art

This past Saturday I spent the day in The Big Apple. CAG (The Comicbook Artist Guild) — of which I am a member — held our annual NYC picnic get-together. This year the picnic was held in Morningside Park, and wonderfully arranged by our NY coordinator, Chris Buchner. We had members show up from not only NY, but CT, and our RI branches.

From there, I traveled with Chris Torres (who panted Springload & Renegade for me, which appeared in CAG #7) to a nearby pub to meet a friend of his for a couple of drinks. We were later joined by a couple more of Chris' friends, and then we traveled to an art party that was being held by some other friends at their studio in Astoria, Queens.

I wound up staying at the Art Party ‘til nearly Midnight, leaving only because I had to catch a 1:15 A.M. train back to CT. While I was at the party, one of the “events” there was a life model drawing party (with a couple of willing, and beautiful gals who posed for the artists). After the models were done with their posing sessions, many of the artists continued to sketch. One of these many talented artists was James Rodriguez, with whom I collaborated on a 2009 calendar project (More on that later, see below for the cover).



James did a wonderful sketch of Spider-Man which he handed to me (knowing my love of Spidey). I hung onto the sketch throughout the evening, but I did (unfortunately) spill some of my beer on it, causing it to run slightly (Sorry James — fortunately, I managed to photoshop the stain out for the post). Still. It is a wonderful sketch, and I have it hanging in my office, as well as posted at the top of this blog.