Fernando Ruiz - Cosmo - Animal Jam

2018.07.08 Garden State Comic Fest, Morristown, NJ

Animal Jam is an online virtual world launched in 2010 by WildWorks and the National Geographic Society. Players discover various facts about zoology. The popularity of the on-line game has launched other media products including shirts, notebooks, playlets, plush figures.

In 2017 Dynamite comics released a 4 book mini-series of comic books written and drawn by Fernando Ruiz and Eric Esquivel (this includes #0 a Free Comic Book Day publication).

When I came across the FCBD copy at my local store, I had to grab it because first there was a koala on the cover and second because it was by Fernando.

My wife does not know Fernando, but she loves koalas. Given the choice of me or a koala, it would be the koala. I knew Fernando would be at a local show, so I went on eBay to look for a first day cover that featured a koala stamp and kept an eye open for Fernando's appearance. I am posting the cover this week, as Nancy birthday is in a few days, so this is for her. (cheap gift)

There are several main Alphas that oversee the Animal Jam community which includes:

Liza the Panda (leader); Greely the Wolf (animal magic); Graham the Monkey (Inventor); Sir Gilbert the Tiger (warrior), Peck the Rabbit (non-conformist); Cosmo the Koala (expert herbalist), Tavi the Dolphin

Charles Paul Wilson III - Pooh's On First

2018.07.08 Garden State Comic Fest, Morristown, NJ

As a fan of Abbott and Costello, I had been looking for someone to draw a Frankenstein Meets AC. Then i taught it would be great to obtain a sketch related to the routine "Who's On First". Which is still one of the greatest comedy routines ever!

Then it hit me - "Pooh's On First!"

Why hadn't I thought of this before (this is where I smack myself in the head!). Charles Paul Wilson III was the perfect artist for this. If you ever saw Charles at an event you know he uses the Pooh character in many of his works. I had to wait it bit before Charles was at an event I was attending. Charles accepted the challenge to draw a baseball related Poh character.  Pooh is dressed in an early style uniform with the round painters style cap (See Willie Stargell - Pirates c.1970s)

Thanks to Charles Paul Wilson III for his great style...

Dylan B. Caleho - Love and Power

2018.07.08 Gaden State Comic Fest, Morristown, NJ

Source Point Press is a publisher in alternative fiction in books, comics and graphic novels, with a focus on horror, science fiction and pulp fiction. One of their books is The Seance Room, written by Ben Goldsmith and illustrated by Keyla Valerio. The story features a haunted mansion owned by a ghost monger. Six ghosts reside within, and should you find your way to the Seance Room, one of them will enlighten you.

As I walked past the Source Point Press booth, which was covered in books and staffed by several creators, I glanced a a sketch that was lying on top of one of the books. Ben Goldsmith noticed my interest and mentioned the sketch was from their artist intern, Dylan B. Caleho. The sketch was of Death, one of the ghosts residing in the Seance Room. As he pitched the story to me, I asked if it was possible for Dylan to provide a commission. Ben asked Dylan if she would, we discussed the subject and agreed on the ghosts from the second story Love and Power. 

Dylan is an art student at the Moore College of Art and currently serving an internship at the Source Point Press. Dylan's work can be followed at dylanbeedoodles and Instagram. Dylan provided a great sketch, thank you and I wish you the best of luck. Hope to see you at your own booth in the future!

The Seance Room follows the style of the Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt as a horror anthology. The cover above from The Seance Room 2, featuring Love and Power

Kevin Altieri - Batman

Kevin Altieri is a graduate of the Joe Kubert School. Alteri started working for DIC on Saturday morning cartoons and launched his career in animation. He is a director on Batman: The Animated Series, C.O.P.S. and Stripperella. Additionally he was a storyboard artist for Exterminator 2 (1984), storyboard designer and sequence director on Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), director and screenwriter on Gen13 (2000), visual development on Treasure Planet (2002)

Altieri also co-directed Pearl Jam's music video Do the Evolution with Todd McFarlane

Batman: The Animated Series developed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski and produced by Warner Bros Animation originally aired on Fox Kids in 1992 and ran until 1995 airing 85 episodes.
The series brought a new look to television animation with a darker tone and higher artistic quality, which had been missing on television.  The story lines shared continuity with DC Comics providing a broader range of fan involvement. As a Saturday morning kid, glued to my TV watching cartoons well into an age when my parents didn't think I should be watching kids' shows, I was overjoyed to see a return to TV of quality animation. The fact that it was Batman was even better.....