A Peak Inside My Stechbook

It's been kind of a hectic few days, and what was supposed to be a more relaxed day turned out to be... not so much one. So as I'm preparing to head up to Morristown, NJ for Garden State Comic Fest tomorrow to hopefully add a sketch to my sketchbook from one of my all time favorite comic artists, I thought I'd put up a handful today.

I started this sketchbook on Free Comic Book Day back in 2011, and have constantly added new sketches at each FCBD and con I've gone to since. I've got over 50 sketches based around the theme of Batman, his allies, and his enemies (I know, what a surprise from me), and here are some of my favorites.

Here's the very first sketch I got, a classic Batman from Fernando Ruiz, best known for his work on Archie, Archie Vs. Predator, and his creator owned Die, Kitty, Die!

Art Baltazar, co-creator of Tiny Titans, does great crayon sketches, and back at NYCC, I got him to draw the three Robins, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake, as well as his creator owned character Patrick the Wolf Boy dressed up like Robin. Some day, I'm going to dig up my Patrick singles and write up a recommendation on it, 'cause it's awesome.

Ryan Dunlavey, who's worked with Fred Vane Lente on Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics, as well as the upcoming Action Presidents, did an appearance at Dewey's, and he gave me my first Mr. Freeze in his classic Batman: The Animated Series armor.

I've loved Jim Calafiore's art from the time he worked with Peter David on Aquaman, and have followed his work in Exiles, Leaving Megalopolis, and plenty of other comics. But my favorite work of his has to be Secret Six with Gail Simone, so I asked him to do Deadshot for me, and not only did he do it, but he rolled up the mask so we could see Deadshot's signature 'stache.

Tim Sale. Tim freakin' Sale. He has drawn some of my favorite Batman stories of all time, from "Blades" in Legends of the Dark Knight, to the Haunted Knight Halloween specials, Long Halloween, and Dark Victory. And when I got the opportunity to get a Sale, I was completely torn on who to choose, so I went with Scarecrow. With a little ink and a few brushstrokes, he was able to evoke his signature Scarecrow.

Joe Staton is a living legend, having worked with Paul Levitz on the '70s revival of the JSA, where he also co-created the original Huntress. But he also drew one of the stories from The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, Brave and the Bold #197, "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne," the story of how the Batman of Earth-2 and the Catwoman of that world finally got together, so his piece is  Catwoman of Earth-2

And the final piece for today is a recent addition, from Diane Leto, who co-created The Halloween Legion, as well a plenty of other work. I was really pleased to finally get my first classic Harley Quinn, here with her signature mallet and everything.

Darwyn Cooke: A Remembrance of His Work

I had a completely different, much lighter piece planned for yesterday, and I'll probably post that recommended reading next Friday, but when I heard the new that Darwyn Cooke, easily one of my favorite cartoonists in comics, had entered palliative care for aggressive cancer,  I decided to pull back and write an appreciation of Cooke's work and post it today. Sadly, it was just confirmed that Darwyn Cooke has passed away, and while part of me wanted to wait a little longer, I decided instead to just pour out my feelings right here and right now.

I picked up Batman: Ego, a prestige format one-shot that Cooke both wrote and drew the week it came out, and that was a comic that completely blew me off my feet. It was an examination of Batman's psyche, diving into the dark recesses of why Batman does what he does, and when I put it down, I looked at the name of the creator and I though, "This guy is going to be huge." I found out he had next to no comic credits before that. but had worked with Warner Animation on Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, and you could see the influence of those shows' designs on his work, or vice verse, but everything Cooke touched had its own special Cooke feel as well.

Cooke didn't stick to one genre. While he drew amazing superheroes, he didn't even stick to one universe. His work on DC was usually reminiscent of the Silver Age, with bright, bold panels, but he drew the first arc of Ed Brubaker's Catwoman, one of the most noir influenced of any Batman title, and Cooke wrote and drew the original graphic novel Selina's Big Score, a prequel to that run that was an absolute noir. While he wrote two charming, Silver Age-inspired Spider-Man stories in the anthology title Tangled Web he also pencilled an issue of the late X-Force series, a character spotlight on U-Go-Girl, a comic that was very modern in theme and tone, as well as a the spinoff mini-series Wolverine/Doop.

It was clear from his work how much Cooke loved crime stories. Not only did he do Selina's Big Score, but he resurrected Will Eisner's The Spirit for DC, following Eisner's mystery man/crime formula, folding Denny Colt into a more modern milieu without losing what made the series what it was. And his adaptations of Donald Westlake/Richard Stark's Parker series were a delight, these gritty noir stories adapted perfectly into comics, with style that matched the content; I write a recommendation of them very early on in this blog's life, and those books are some of the best adaptations of prose into comics that I have ever read.

There's so many other things Cooke did, that it wold take a series of posts to discuss them all. His Before Watchmen: Minutemen spotlighted his attention to historical detail. His work on Jonah Hex and All-Star Western showed he was just as capable with Westerns as he was with crime stories. He drew countless covers for all manner of comics. His last work (to date anyway. We can hope for some remaining work to make it out as a tribute), Twilight Children, was a sci-fi or fantasy piece with Gilbert Hernandez that was a strange little tale of a town in Latin America that is nothing like anything Cooke had done before.

And I've left one piece off this post until the end, because it was something that is so special to me that I wanted to thing a bit before I wrote. DC: The New Frontier was a retelling of the origins of the Silver Age of DC Comics set in a more or less historically accurate late 1950s. The Red Scare is in full swing, and racism is a day to day fact. But, despite all of that, it is a story of hope, of the dawning of a new age, of heroes, and of possibility. It is a comic that is filled with every DC hero you can imagine, and many an obscure Silver Age appearance. Martian Manhunter is a huge part of it, and Cooke captures the lost soul/stranger in a strange land thing better than most. Hal Jordan, the test pilot, is the standard bearer for the age, as he was a hero in both identities, but ti doesn't skimp on the big three either; as a matter of fact, his Wonder Woman in the series is one of the most physically intimidating and fascinating portrayals of the character I've ever seen. I not only bought all six issues, but I have the gorgeous, slipcased Absolute Edition with tons of research and background, and it's one of my favorite graphic novels in my collection.

I sadly never got the chance to meet Darwyn Cooke. I read all sorts of stories about him; some said that he could be prickly, others said he was a warm, pleasant soul. I think that just makes him human. He was the number one artist I would have wanted to get a commission from, and would have paid top dollar, and although I probably would have asked for the Batman Beyond suit to stay with my Batman theme, it would have been hard to resist asking for Martian Manhunter. Sadly, that will never come to pass. I wish he could have done a couple more Parker adaptations. I wish he could have released the Image mini-series, Revengeance, that was announced last year. I wish his family could have spent more time with him. My condolences to the Cooke family, and I hope you know how much his work touched me and his other fans. Thank you, Darwyn Cooke.

In his memory, the Cooke family has asked for donations to be made to the HERO Initiative and the Canadian Cancer Society.

Thursday's Adventures at New York Comic Con 2014

I love comics, and I hate crowds. Those are two gross simplifications of two of the defining aspects of my life. My love for comics has been one of the driving passions of my life, and you get me in a big room of people just milling around, and panic attacks have been known to happen. So something like the mighty New York Comic Con tears at my very soul. Can my love of comics trump my absolute loathing of crowds? Well, sorta. I have found the best balance is to only do NYCC on Thursday, which is by far the least packed day. So yesterday morning, I headed into New York bright and early for a day of comic con excitement.

As a Dewey's employee, I got to go to the Diamond Comics Distributor Retailer Appreciation Breakfast. You don't go to this event for the food, but for the announcements. We got to see presentations form all the major publishers except for Marvel (they have their own retailer presentation on Friday) and Image. DC really just recapped other announcements, so nothing there. Titan, a first time presenter, announced a 9th Doctor mini-series in their Doctor Who line and Made Man, a new series from Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero, which is a sci-fi mobster story, so it sounds cool to me. Valiant gave some details on their new #1s, including The Valiant, their universe wide team-up mini-series, which I'm excited for , and Ivar, Timewalker from Archer and Armstrong original creative team Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry (more Van Lente news is never a bad thing). And Dark Horse announced Archie Meets Predator. Yes, in the grand tradition of Archie Meets Punisher, the alien that hunts the most dangerous game is heading to Riverdale. This mini-series will be drawn by Fernando Ruiz, one of the nicest guys I've ever met, Dewey's regular, and the first artist to give me a piece for my sketchbook, so I'm all over that.

So, with that done, it was time to enter the con floor. The Javitz Center is sprawling, and after walking quickly through the floor to get the lay of the land, I headed off the floor to my favorite part of any con: Artist's Alley. This is usually less crowded, and is your best opportunity to talk to creators.  And to get sketches. I've talked about my sketchbook before, but for those who haven't read about it, I collect sketches of Batman characters (a Batman themed sketchbook? I know, I was as shocked you are when I thought that would be a good idea for me). After walking for a bit, I found artist Jay P. Fosgitt, who wrote and drew the adorable all ages series, Bodie Troll for Red 5 Comics. Bodie is the world's cutest troll, who can't scare anyone. At Jay's booth, he had a friend dressed as Cholly, the waitress who is Bodie's best friend, and had a life sized Bodie puppet.

Isn't that cute? So I made my usual pitch to Jay, to draw whichever Gotham City themed character he wanted. While he worked, I got to wander around, talk to the Atomic Robo guys about my love of Robo and their Kickstarter, to Greg Pak about his work, congratulated Fernando on Archie Meets Predator, and picked up a little something as a gift form someone who might read this, so I won't show a picture right now. And upon my return to Jay's booth, he had this waiting for me!

Sorry that I'm not a better photographer with my phone, but that is a wonderful Poison Ivy sketch. It's the first Ivy I have in my book, so that makes it extra great. From Jay's booth, I headed over to Scott Hanna's, whose list I had already gotten on. Scott Hanna is one of comics' most accomplished inkers, and did long runs on Amazing Spider-Man and Detective Comics, so this is a guy I was sure knew his Batman characters. I had forgotten that he had inked my favorite Joker story of all time, the vastly underrated Devil's Advocate, so I got to talk to him about that, which made my day. With my usual  request made, I wandered off again, now hitting the floor. It's crowded, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about that, but I was able to get a nice stack of back issues. I also swung by the IDW booth and talked up Locke & Key to someone randomly, which is one of the great pleasures of a con: you can share your enthusiasm and everyone gets it. I also got to see the Kill Shakespeare Board Game, which I am waiting to arrive through Kickstarter, and it looks incredible. I'll probably be writing up a play experience post once I get my hands on that.

I also spent some time talking to David Campiti, the COO of Red Giant Entertainment, a company released the zero issues of their upcoming line of free comics on FCBD. It was interesting to hear about their business model, and the idea that they really want to help drive people into comic book stores. The free books start rolling out in December, including one called Tesla, so you know I'm in for that. Expect to hear more about Red Giant as we get nearer to that debut.

But eventually, I wandered back over to Scott Hanna, and what was waiting for me?

Another new character for my sketchbook, Killer Croc! Yup, that's a pretty sweet haul. I have to say, maybe I just got lucky and talked to the right people, but all the creators I talked to, the ones I mentioned here and some that I just got a few words in with, were all gracious and happy to be there. I love that feeling of camaraderie and excitement that everyone has some of at these cons.

With my sketches done, I made one more pass around the floor, and took a couple of pictures of cosplayers. You couldn't pay me enough to cosplay, it's not my bag, but I respect the time it takes to do it and the passion that requires, and I try not to be too intrusive, despite knowing that most cosplayers are more than happy to have their photos taken, but I stumbled across a couple people already posing, so I figured I'd snap a couple pics.

It's the baby Groot that really makes it.

You've got to love the commitment for a group theme.

So, that was it for me this year. Next year, I'm hoping to hit what was Asbury Park Comic Con, which is now East Coast Comic Con, and then if all goes according to plan, Baltimore Comic Con, which has moved the end of September, much better time for me. It's a great feeling to see the level of excitement that people bring to all of their fandoms, and how they're willing to share it with everyone, and discovering new creators and comics that you wouldn't have encountered otherwise. And thanks to everyone I talked to! See you again soon.

Comics on the Boardwalk: This Past Weekend's Asbury Park Comic Con

The comic convention is as much a part of comic culture as the comic shop. I go to a couple cons a year, but they're usually the bigger ones, NYCC or Philly Con for instance. But this past weekend I went to a smaller con, Asbury Park Comic Con, for the first time in a few years. And it was a great experience.

While there were some problems with getting into the con, mostly I think due to this being the first year the con was in the Asbury Park Convention Center and not in a bowling alley, once I got in, it was a wonderful experience, well organized and laid out over two floors. This is the kind of con you can go to and actually spend time chatting with the guests for more than two seconds, and while busy you weren't surrounded by a stream of humanity so great you felt like you were going to get swept up in it. Real credit has to be given to con organizers Cliff Galbraith and Robert Bruce for making a con that feels friendly and excited about comics without all the Hollywood trappings you get in so many cons nowadays.

The con had a few dealers tables, and I was able to fish out some decent trades and a couple random back issues, and I feel like if this con takes root, there will be more in the future. But what it had in spades were comics creators, some legendary, some modern celebs, and some up and comers. One of the cool things were that the indy creators were mixed in with the bigger name guests. In a lot of big cons, these self publishers and new creators get ghettoized and people who might find their work never get the chance to. Here you could find Marvel creators next to guys who were pushing the first collection of their webcomic, and it got me to look at some stuff I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

My favorite part of any convention experience is getting new sketches for my sketchbook. It probably surprises no one that my sketchbook is Batman themed. I like to ask artists to pick whatever Batman related character they'd like to draw; this has gotten me some interesting character/artist combos I never would have expected. I was able to get two sketches this time. One was from Marvel inker Mark Morales, who gave me a beautiful Batman: The Animated Series-style Mr. Freeze. The other was from an artist named Bill Hewitt, who gave me my first Riddler.

Hewitt is the artist on a self published comic called Tiki P.I., about a supernatural private investigator in Hawaii who has a tiki statue for a head. Written by Erik Carlson, I picked up the first issue of Tiki P.I. along with a single Tiki P.I. short story booklet called "Stone Head, Stone Dead." I haven't gotten to read the short story yet, but the first issue of the comic was a ton of fun. The story is pretty simple: someone is murdering showdogs and their owners, and since the police are baffled, they call in Tiki P.I. to solve the case. Now I love a good supernatural crime story, and when it turns out the killer is a werewolf, well you're pretty much throwing one right over the plate for me. There was a definite Chew sort of vibe in both story and art, with everything askew and odd, but that's the world of the book. I got to chat with Carlson and Hewitt while my sketch was being done, and they were just great, friendly guys who clearly love what they do. Tiki P.I. is charming and witty, I am going to keep my eye on the Tiki P.I. website to see when I can get my hands on the next issue.

I got to spend a little time talking to some of the other guests as well, something you never get to really do at something like NYCC. I got to talk to Frank J. Barbiere, who wrote Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray, which I reviewed a couple weeks ago, and told him how much I enjoyed his comic. I chatted with Jamal Igle, former Supergirl artist and previous guest at my own shop, Dewey's, about his upcoming all ages adventure series, Molly Danger, which is going to debut on Free Comic Book Day, and I'm even more excited for it now. I also got to talk Batman with Michael Uslan, writer and producer of all the modern Batman movies; I like chatting about Batman with someone else who loves the character as much as I do.

All in all, a good day was had by all at Asbury Park Comic Con, and I'm looking forward to going back next year to watch it grow.