Amy Mebberson - Belle

2013.10.11 Comic Con, NYC
Belle - Art of Disney:Friendship fdc 2004

Prior to attending the NYCC, I usually try to do some research on the artists I am interested in. By chance I looked up Amy Mebberson's contribution to the comic industry. Originally from Australia, Amy has served as cover artist, penciller and illustrator for Walt Disney/Marvel Comics (Toy Story #2), Little Brown and Co (Muppet story books), APE Entertainment (Strawberry Shortcake, Sesame Street, Casper the Ghost, Richie Rich), IDW (Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (cover), Dorothy of Oz), Boom Entertainment (Monsters Inc, Muppet Peter Pan, Muppet Sherlock Holmes, Muppet Show Comic Book, Darkwing Duck (cover), Tokyopop (Princess Ai: Rumors From the Other Side, Return to Labyrinth, Legends of the Dark Crystal)....

All that is great, but what drew me to Amy was her Pocket Princesses. I enjoy the different approach to the Disney Princesses being treated like real people, a little strange, a little over the top, a lot of fun...

Check out her drawing of Belle as  a Blue Lantern, and her other sketches as well, it's all great...

Amy choose to draw Belle, from "Beauty and the Beast" for me...1991 Disney produced the animated feature "Beauty and the Beast"  based on the traditional fairy tale first published in 1740. The first English translation appeared in 1757, with an opera being produced in 1771. The classic story has been adapted many times for the stage, film and television. The first film production was in 1946. George C. Scott appeared in a 1976 television production, Susan Sarandon and Klaus Kinski followed with a 1984 production for television...

In 1994 Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney animated film to be adapted for the Broadway stage, followed by several more direct-to-video stories...

2006.04.01 the USPS issued a set of 4-stamps in the Art of Disney series featuring Disney's Beauty and the Beast characters...

The Art of Disney stamp series - Friendship (Goofy, Mickey and Donald; Bambi and Thumper; Lion King and Simba; Pinocchio and Jimminy Cricket) Celebration (Mickey Mouse and Pluto; Alice and Mad Hatter; Ariel and Flounder ; Snow White and Dopey) Romance (Beauty and the Beast; Lady and the Tramp; Mickey and Minnie Mouse; Cinderella and Prince Charming) Magic (Sorcerer's Apprentice, Peter Pan and tinker Bell, Dumbo, Aladdin and Genie) Imagination (101 Dalmatians, Mickey Mouse, Sleeping Beauty, Mowgli and Baloo) were designed by illustrator Peter Emmerich, who has been associated with the Walt Disney Co., for many years. Emmerich has designed Disney Dollars and the iconic Mickey Salutes America!

A great interview with Amy at Ziggy Nixon...

Steve Ellis - High Moon "Macgregor"

2013.10.11 Comic Con, NYC

Steve Ellis runs Hyperactive Studios, taking on large projects for clients and is co-founder of Bottled Lightning LLC, which handles the creation of new properties and works with Skinwalker Studios as co-founder and Lead designer

Ellis is illustrator and co-creator of the Silencers with Fred Van Lente from Moonstone Books and High Moon with David Gallgher, which was developed in 2004 and debuted in 2007 as pat of Zuda, DC Comics web imprint...

High Moon is the story of bounty hunter, Matthew Macgregor, who investigates a series of strange happenings in Texas. A former Pinkerton Detective, Macgregor uncovers the town secrets while protecting his own...

The Gary Cooper FDC was selected because Cooper starred in High Noon, a 1952 Western directed by Fred Zinneman. Cooper plays a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himslef. The film won four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes...

Ellis' works in comics include Lobo, Iron Man, Green Lantern, Crimson Dynamo, Wildstorm's Jexebelle, Tranquility

Ellis has also worked on CD covers, computer games, trading cards, toys and various other media...

Joe Endres - Weeping Angel Christmas

2013.11.09 Superheroes for Hospice, West Orange, NJ

While I was speaking with Joe and Paul Castiglia (Archie Comics) at the Superhero event, I noticed a drawing Joe had done of the Weeping Angels. It had a cute Charlie Brown quality but it still evoked the fact that they were Weeping Angels, probably the scariest Alien ever!

The Weeping Angels first appeared in the Doctor Who season 3 (2007) episode Blink, created by Stephen Moffet. They would go on to appear in seasons 5, 6 and 7...

That's when i got the idea of a Weeping Angels Christmas. I asked Joe if he could do the sketch and he did not hesitate to create this great piece... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and don't blink !!!

James Fry III - Black Panther

2013.11.03 Jersey Shore Comic Book Show, Forked River, NJ

James Fry has been a penciler, cover artist and inker for many issues from both Marvel and DC including such titles as Amazing Spider-Man, Astonishing Spider-Man, Avengers, Batman: gotham Adventures, CAptain America, Classic X-Men, Blood Syndicate, Checkmate, Doom Patrol, Excalibur,  Impossible Man, Inhumanoids, Sub-Mariner, Marvel Zombies, Slapstick, Nomad, Venom, Thunderbolts, Star Trek...

Dynamite - Darkman vs Army of Darkness; Harris Comics - Creepy, Vampirella; Acclaim - Concrete Jungle, Doctor Tomorrow; Claypool Comics - Elvira; Eclipse Comics - Liberty Project; Archie Comics - Sonic Saga Series; Image - New Shadowhawk;

Fry also penciled the Justice League Adventures Burger King Mini-comics (Green Lantern and Justice League)....

James chose to draw Black Panther after seeing the Disney Lion King FDC. When I asked him which character he preferred to draw James responded the Beast. The closest FDC I had featured a hamster stamp, to which James asked to look at the available covers to choose from. I like the choice of Black Panther and Lion King....  Black panther  first appeared in Marvel Comics Fantastic Four #52 (1966), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, as the first black superhero. Black Panther would eventually join the Avengers in 1968. Black Panther would gain his own title in 1977 and would continue with various  series...

Joe Martino - Shadowflame

2013.03.30 Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury Park, NJ

Joe Martino got involved with comics through his cousin and uncle introducing Joe to Superman. At 10 his mother bought a subscription to Spider-Man and Hulk.  By 5th grade joe was drawing pictures of superheroes taking on his teachers...

1996 with the idea of producing his own book as writer and artist, Joe published Shadowflame through CFD Publishing... Arcana Publishing has continued the Shadowflame title as well as Ripperman

2012 Martino started his first Kickstarter campaign, successfully launching The Titan, a character that takes Martino's personal battle with kidney cancer and wrapping them in a superhero shell. Planned as a 5-book mini-series this book brings a superhero battling villains, giant Mechas and mythological creatures, while fighting his internal battle...

Titan #2 was another successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013...

Martino handles the writing, with Cory Smith (#1) and Luca Cicchitti (#2) as pencillers, Jeff Austin as inker, Keith J. Betancourt as colorist and Johnny Lowe (#1) and Adam O. Pruett (#2) as letterer... 

The Titan cover for the first issue was drawn by Jerry Ordway, The Titan #2 was drawn by Jamal Igle...

Matthew J Fletcher - Winged Monkey

2013.10.11 Comic Con, NYC

Prior to attending Comic Con, I had attended an Imax, 3D showing of the Wizard of Oz in celebration of the movie's 75th anniversary. The movie was in theaters for only 1 week. Even though I could probably recite much of the dialog along with the movie, I had to go see it on the big screen. Since it was not intended for 3D, there were no cheesy effects like throwing items at the screen. However the 3D helped bring out depth in many of the scenes especially in Munchkin Land, wher you could clearly see many of the Munchkin faces (after all these years I learned they used children to help fill in the crowds).

I had wanted to get at least one winged monkey sketch and Matthew J Fletcher did an excellent job on the Year of the Monkey FDC. Fletcher is currently the feature artist on Red Stylo Media's graphic novel the 7th Voyage... Fletcher has also illustrated The House of Montressor as part of the Poe Twisted Anthology, contributed sketch cards for Perna Studio's Classic Mythology card set and has been featured in Thunk Magazine...

Wizard of Oz FDC  1990.03.23 Hollywood, Ca

My lino-block print cachet of Dorothy (Judy Garland)

Wizard of Oz Day 1994.09.01 Chesterton, In - commemorative cancel

singed by Ray Bolger the Scarecrow of Oz

I thought the cover would look better if the yellow-brick road in the cancel were yellow, and I extended the design across the cover

Emerald City Station 2002.06.22 Aberdeen, SD - commemorative cancel

The Wizard of Oz is very popular as commemorative cancels exist for festivals held all across the country.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah!

Andy Price - Applejack: My Little Pony

2013.10.11 NY Comic Con, NYC

"C'mon, Ponies! Move it! You freakin' glue factories!

I got 20 bits ridin' on this!"

Andy Price is currently working for IDW on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, with writer Katie Cook.

Price has also donw license work for DC Comics, Marvel comics, Boom Studios, Innovation Comics (penciller for Quantum Leap), Slave Labor Graphics' Haunted Mansion (writer, penciler, inker) and Rittenhouse Archives,

 and WordGirl

Price is heavily influenced by comic book artists such as Don Newton (DC Comics: Batman, Captain Marvel and Aquaman in the 70s and 80s) and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Comics: Superman and Wonder Woman). Price has an unhealthy love for Batman and an obsession with Nightmare Before Christmas..

My Little Pony was created by Bonnie Zacherle, developed by Hasbro and is marketed to girls. Starting as a line of toy ponies in 1983, the ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on their flank. The Ponies were featured in their first animated special in 1984 titled My Little Pony and later retitled as Rescue At Midnight Garden. In 2012 IDW published the first Pony comic Friendship is Magic.

Price drew a very funny Applejack, a hard working earth pony in charge of family's apple orchard, watching the horse race on the stamp and cheering them on...

David G Hardy - Bride of Frankenstein

2013.11.03 Jersey Shore Comic Show, Forked River, NJ

I honestly do not remember who told me about David G Hardy, either Karl or Don who assist at the Hospice shows, about this fantastic artist. The first time David attended the Hospice show was the only one I had missed in several years. Seeing David's name on the Jersey Shore list, was the reason I made the trip. I had viewed his work on his site, which were beautifully rendered sketches of characters from old movies, Boris Karloff, Ingrid Berman, Elizabeth Montgomery and Ernest Borgnine as members of the Fantastic Four, and others. When I finally had the opportunity to meet David and his wife, and view the collection of drawings I was very impressed with the wide range of work and their friendliness...

I had picked up several first day covers that featured composers and I already picked up a sketch of King Kong on one of the covers. I had been looking for someone who could do justice to the Bride of Frankenstein (1935) beautifully portrayed by Elsa Lanchester, on the Franz Waxman FDC. Waxman is best known for the music he composed for the movie industry, including Rear Window, Rebecca, The Spirit of St Louis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sunset Boulevard, Tara Bulba, The Bride of Frankenstein and others (all nominated for the American Film Institute's list of greatest film scores)...

David proceeded to produce a beautiful pencil sketch, which captures Elsa's beauty. I could not be happier with the final results...

Hardy shared on his Facebook page that arrangements were made with the Boris Karloff Estate and Karloff Enterprises to work on several projects. Congratulations on a great achievement...

A nice writeup of meeting David G Hardy from Sabrina at Runnin' Down a Dream...

Janet K. Lee - Return of the Dapper Men

2013.10.11 Comic Con, NYC

Janet K. Lee has worked as a commercial artist, who is self-taught. She developed a layered art style soon after her son was born because it was portable and dried before a toddler could get his hands on it. After achieving critical acclaim as a gallery artist, Lee made her foray into illustration with the story "Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome", written by Alethea Kontis...

The Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee is a tale of a world between time, where children have played for so long it has become work. All the clocks have stopped at the same time. 314 dapper-looking gentlemen, with Bowler hats, rain down from the sky and set off to start the world again. Ayden, the only boy to still ask questions, Zoe, the robot girl all other machine hold dear and the Dapper Man "41" must discover what happened to make time stop...

I enjoy the concept of the story and I found Lee's style to be a fascinating blend of children's story and comic book art. I found myself going through the pages looking at the pictures and then going back and reading the story...

• The story won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - new -  2011
• Nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens - 2011
• Nominated for an Eisner for Best Publication Design - 2011
• Nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Writer, Jim McCann - 2011
• Nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art), Janet Lee - 2011

When I approached Ms. Lee and presented my idea of a Daper Man in Uncle Sam's hat, instead of the bowler they usually wear, her response was "Uncle Sam is a Dapper Man"...  

David T. Wenzel - Gandalf the Grey

2013.10.11 Comic Con, NYC

David T. Wenzel's early career path led him to work at an advertising agency, followed by pencilling comic books. He won an Eagle Award in 1979 for Best Continued Story for an Avengers story arc.

Wenzel moved to illustrating children's literature in the 1980s when he illustrated Robb Walsh's Kingdom of the Dwarfs for Centaur Books. Wenzel would then provide the fully painted art for The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic, written by Chuck Dixon and Sean Deming, published by Eclipse Comics, 1989. The collection was re-published in 1990 by Ballantine Books and is considered one of the most successful graphic format adaptations. Del Rey Books re-published the collection in 2001...

Wenzel with writer Douglas Wheeler adapted some of the Brothers Grimm's fairytales for NBM in 1995. In other publications, Wenzel has worked with writer Kurt Busiek on The Wizard's Tale (1998), with writer Robert L. May's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Grosset and Dunlap, 2001), Max Lucado's A Hat for Ivan (Crossway Books, 2004), the Little Bear series, under the direction of Maurice Sendak (Harper Festival, 2003-2004)....

Although the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit were English Literature, I used the American Libraries FDC for this sketch because of the Libraries theme... I did not have any covers that I could otherwise relate to this fantastic sketch...

July 1998 the UK Post (Royal Mail) issued a series of stamps titled Magical Worlds, one of these issues featured Bilbo Baggins and Smaug from the Hobbit... Following the release of the movie, New Zealand Post Office issued a series of stamps in 2012 featuring scenes from the movie..

In 2004 the Royal Mail issued a series of stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings. New Zealand would also commemorate the story with issues in 2001 for the Fellowship of the Ring, 2002 The Two Towers, 2003 Return of the King and 2004 New Zealand Landscapes featuring scenes from the movie showing the beautiful New Zealand countryside...

JJR Tolkien was no stranger to stamps. Every Christmas from 1920-1942, his children would receive a letter bearing a stamp from the North Pole. The letter from Father Christmas would contain colorful drawings and tales of Father Christmas' travels and adventures. The envelope contained North Pole stamps and postmarks drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien. these letters would be collect by his d=children and published posthumously in 1976...

Scott Wegener - Atomic Robo

2013.10.12 Comic Con, NYC

Atomic Robo's adventures come from the creative team of Scott Wegener and Brian Clevinger. Starting as a 6-issue limited series by Red 5 Comics in 2007, Atomic Robo was nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award in the Best Limited Series category. Following the first series, Atomic Robo's adventures have continued...

Atomic Robo is a robot that possesses automatic intelligence, created by Nikola Tesla in 1923. Now a member of Tesladyne Industries Atomic Robo explores the fringes of scientific inquiry, responding to the paranormal and supernatural emergencies... One of my favorite story lines was issued in volume 7, in the aftermath of World War II Robo joins with a band of female mercenaries who use rocket-packs to stop a rogue japanese super-science counter-attack of America...

There are times when the opportunity dose not present itself for me to obtain a sketch on a FDC. Two such incidents happened this weekend. Fortunately I was able to get a couple of sketches of 2 other high flying characters...

Royden Lepp - Jet from the comic Rust

Another great title from Archaia - Rust, written and drawn by Royden Lepp is about a mysterious boy and a jet pack, involved in a World War where steampunk and robots are the technology used to fight the battles...

Geof Darrow - Rusty the Boy Robot

I was able to pick up thsi great sketch of Rusty from Darrow's series The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. Written in 1995 by Frank Miller and drawn by Darrow, the Dark Horse series was adapted into an animated TV series (1999-2001) which uses a different plot than that used in the comic... The animated series brought more depth to the characters back-story of Rusty as a replacement for the Big Guy, the robot champion of Earth, which is piloted by Lt. Dwayne Hunter. Rusty's inexperience requires guidance from Hunter and the Big Guy...

I picked up another sketch from Darrow while at the show, which is posted in Matt's Collection...

Three different characters with some similarity all bring me delight

Ramona Fradon - Aquaman

2013.10.11 NY Comic Con, NYC

When I found out Ramona Fradon was going to be at comic con, I made it a point to get a sketch from this matriarch of comics. Fradon, known for her work with Aquaman, is co-creator of Metamorpho.  Starting her career in 1950, Fradon landed her first assignment with DC Comics on the title Shining Knight, followed by drawing backup stories in Adventure Comics featuring Aquaman. Fradon is also credited with co-creating Aqualad. Fradon would also contribute art for Superman, Batman, House of Mystery, Gang Busters, Freedom Fighters and Plastic Man.  Fradon also put time in at Marvel comics on Fantastic Four and Girl Comics.

In 1980, Fradon took over the daily comic strip Brenda Starr, from Dale Messick continuing of the strip for 15 years... Brenda Starr was commemorated as part of the 1995 Comic Strip Classics issue

Fradon was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006, Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 1999.

I am always amazed that more attendees were not flocking to her table. They don't know what they are missing...

Amy Reeder - Rocket Girl

2013.10.11 NY Comic Con, NYC

Just got back from Comic Con and had a great time (I will be back there tomorrow helping to promote the Barnabas Hospice). My first post from the show features Rocket Girl from Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare. Getting this sketch was special, not juts because I enjoy stories about people with jet packs, but I had received my copy of Rocket Girl #1 on Wednesday as a supporter through Kickstarter. I have enjoyed backing a few successful projects, it is fun watching them take form.

Rocket Girl was funded June 7, 2013 and posted as a high-flying adventure comic by artist Reeder and writer Montclare. DaYoung Johansson, a 15 year-old cop from the future goes back in time (to 1986) to save the world... I look forward to the next issue.

Amy Reeder has previously worked on Fool's Gold, Madame Xanadu and Batwoman.  Brandon Montclare has written for Marvel's Fear Itself - Fantastic Four, Haunted Tank, Batman, Mystery in Space and many other titles. Together Reeder and Montclare produced Halloween Eve published through Image...

The stamp used on this cover features the Wright Brothers first flight commemorated as part of the Celebrate the Century issues of 1998. Otto Lillenthal made the first glider flight in 1895, in germany. Octave Chanute made the first flight with a hang glider in 1896, in America, and the Wright Brothers followed with powered flight by 1904.  I liked the idea of combining the beginnings of flight with a futuristic concept of the flight suit...

It is always a pleasure to see many of the artists and writers I have meet over the years at the conventions, Paul Castiglia and Fernando Ruiz at the Archie booth, Richard Clark, Erica Schultz and her husband. I was able to get Erica's M3 second issue with cover by Bill Sienkiewcz signed by Sienkiewicz.  Paris Cullins, Joe Staton, Joe Endres and Jesus Marquez, Jason Quinones, all who have provided me with great sketches in the past.