John Handler - Green Lantern

2018.10.13 Lehigh Valley Comic Con, Schnecksville, Pa

Looking over John Handler's booth you get the view of a talented artist, with a passion for superheroes. Batman and Catwoman, Lanterns, Captain America....

John had a large poster sized artwork that featured several of the Lanterns. I liked the style in which he was drawing his Green Lantern, so I requested the above sketch..

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Jim Wiltshire - Magic

2018.10.13 Lehigh Valley Comic Con, Schnecksville, Pa

Jim Wiltshire studied illustration and animation at William Patterson University, currently working as a freelance artist. His art focuses on the fantasy, magical, video game style. The closest I could get to a related first day cover was the recent Magic issue, on which which Jim drew a beautiful red-haired witch

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Angel Santiago - Guardian City Saint

2018.10.13 Lehigh Valley Comic Con, Schencksville, Pa

Angel Santiago was born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, NYC. He always had a love for graphic novels and comics. He started creating his own comics in grade school and now he has started his own series, which was funded on Kickstarter... Guardian City Saint

Angel attends the Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art. He was also the artist on Project: Shadow Breed, Evil Cat Comics

Amazing Action Comics

Trew2Art - Stitch

2018.11.04 Long Island Comic Book Expo, Melville, NY

Tremaine "Trew" Worrell has had an eye on the art world since he was 5. He would see his mother sketching little doodles and the amazing transformation that a line could turn a reality

Trew is working freelance and producing amazing art. On his table he had an excellent TMNT sketch he had been working on. I asked what his favorite character was. His response Stitch. I commented that none of his art displayed featured Stitch. Since that was the case, I thought what could I come up with for a Stitch sketch.  Since Stitch is an alien it was feasible that his planet was part of the United Federation of Planets. That in turn meant Stitch could serve on the USS Enterprise, and thus the idea was born.

Drew has Stitch attempting the Vulcan greeting. I was wondering what color uniform Stitch would be wearing,... my guess would be red!

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Brett Breeding - Steel

2018.10.13 Lehigh Valley Comic Con, Schnecksville, Pa

The Folk Heroes stamp was issued in 1996, featuring Mighty Casey at the Bat, Paul Bunyun, Pecos Bill and John Henry.  John Henry the steel driving man, who challenged a steam driven rock-drilling machine and won, only to die in victory when his heart gave out...

The character of Steel, John Henry Irons, from the Death of Superman series in 1993 was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, has roots to the original John Henry

Brett Breeding, worked primarily as an inker for DC Comics Superman character and is the co-creator of the characters Doomsday, Shadowdragon, Saviour, Blaze and Satanus.

Breeding started his career as a background assistant to Bob Layton, inking backgrounds on Iron Man. At DC Comics, he would work on Weird Tales, The Superman Family and Green Arrow backup stories. He would work with Don Heck and George Perez onJustice League of America, as well as many other titles

I had been looking for someone to draw a Steel sketch for a while and felt Breeding was the right person for this

Mike Manley - The Thing

2018.10.13 Lehigh Valley Comic Con, Schnecksville, Pa
"It's Clobberin' time!"

I knew Mike Manely was currently working on the daily newspaper strips The Phantom and Judge Parker, and was co-creator of Dark Hawk for Marvel Comics. But I was not sure which character I would request.

I asked if he was given a piece of paper and asked to draw whatever he wanted to, what would he choose? His answer The Thing.

I selected the Science and Technology first day cover to coincide with the Thing's origins of Space Travel and radiation, and as the pilot of Reed Richards doomed rocket ship.

Matt Pace

2016.11.19 NJ Comic Expo, Edison, NJ

Matt Pace is a freelance illustrator and student at Joe Kubert's School of Cartoon and Graphic Art

Mike McKone - Johan Cruyff

2016.11.19 NJ Comic Expo, Edison, NJ

Mike McKone is an artist from Newcastle, whose work was published work includes Justice League of America, Justice League International, The Punisher War Zone, Exiles, Teen Titans, Fantastic Four, Deadpool: Suicide Kings, Ms Marvel, Amazing Spider-Man and many other titles...

Originally McKone was going to provide me with a sketch of Batman, an easy out.. but as we discussed other possibilities he was very willing to accept more of a challenge. Our discussion turned to his being from Newcastle, England and supporting Newcastle United, a football club that was recently relegated from the Premier League. A team that has a devoted fan base even though the team has had difficult seasons. (I have heard many stories from a friend who is also from Newcastle!)

I asked if he would prefer to sketch a footballer to a super hero, and he took up the challenge. As a father of 2 football (soccer in the US) players I usually have a football FDC with me. I left McKone not really knowing what he would come up with...his final product was a beautiful rendition of Johan Cruyff.

Cruyff was a Dutch footballer who played in the Eredivisie (Dutch League), La Liga (Spainish League) and the North American Soccer League (USA). He is considered to be one of the most influential figures in football history. His style of play and his total football philosophy has influenced many managers and players..

Scott Kolins - Blue Beetle

2018-04-27 East Coast Comic Con, Secaucus, NJ

Scott Kolins is an illustrator, writer and creator of multiple superhero and science fiction comic books. His main credits are as a penciler, but he is an established inker and colorist as well. Kaolins has illustrated numerous titles for Marvel Comics from 1992 to 2008, including Excalibur, Hawkeye, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Thing, The Avengers, She-Hulk, Wolverine, The Fantastic Four and others

Kolins has also illustrated several DC titles including Green Lantern, Superbly, Legion of Superheroes, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman/Batman. Kolins started work on Blue Beetle in 2016

After studying at the Kubert School, Kolins landed a job with Valiant Comics, before moving on to Marvel

Kolins is credited or co-credited with the creation or co-creation of several characters including Peek-a-Boo (Flash super-villain), Iron Maniac Gear (alternate universe Iron Man), Tar Pit (Flash super-villain) and others

The Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) is the third incarnation of the character, created by Keith Gifffen, John Rogers and Cully Hamner. The original Blue Beetle, Dan Garret first appeared in the Fox Feature Syndicate Mystery Men Comics #1 (August 1939)

Karl Slominski - Astronaut

2018-04-28 East Coast Comic Con, Secaucus, NJ

After I obtain the sketches I had planned for a specific convention, I walk the room to look for unexpected surprises. Karl Slominski gave me the wow feeling. His con banner featured a skeleton astronaut, which grabbed my attention. I explained my collection and asked if he would be able to reproduce the astronaut, which was very detailed. I appreciate the detail Karl was able to provide in a small sketch.

Karl Slominski is a graphic novelist and an alumni of the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Arts. His work has been featured in a wide rate of cartooning and illustrative outlets, including the graphic novels Golgotha (written by Andrew Harrison), Run Like Hell (written by Jeff Dixon) and Ashes: A Firefighter's Tale (written by Mario Candelabra) Tad Caldwell and the Monster Kid (written by Kurt Amacker). His recent works include his creator-owned comic book series Star Child, Fixer and the graphic novel Teeter Topple.

Slominski has also worked in the film industry, notably for the horror anthology The Mortuary Collection from Trap Door Pictures

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Kyle Starks - Rick and Morty

Kyle Starks drew several web-comics before committing to comic books. His first venture was Sexcastle, funded through a Kickstarter campaign and eventually being picked up by Image Comics. Starks received an Eisner Nomination for the book.

Starks is a writer for Oni Press' Rick and Morty series, starting with issue #16. Starks also works on the Invader Zim comic and has a new book called Rock Candy Mountain.

Robot Mountain

Ben Harvey - TMNT

2018-04-27 East Coast Comic Con, Secaucus, NJ

Ben Harvey found an attraction to art at an early age, through cartoons, video games and comic books. Harvey attended the Art Institute of Philadelphia, which exposed him to the world of digital art, which he takes advantage of in almost all of his work.

He describes his style as heavily manga influenced to comic booky with hints of manga. Harvey has work on projects for publishers Tokyopop, Radical Comics, Beach Studios, Image Comics and IDW

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AJ Morrone - Micky Dolenz

2018-04-27 East Coast Comic Con, Secaucus, NJ

When I read the guest list for the Con, and saw Mickey Dolenz was going to be in attendance, I wanted to obtain an autograph. I have seen the Monkees in concert, grew-up on the TV show and I appreciate the music. 

Dolenz started out in television in 1956 starring in Circus Boy, portraying a water boy for the elephants in a circus. The show ran for 2 seasons. 

Prior to auditioning for the Monkees, Dolenz had led a rock group called Mickey and the One-Nighters. The Monkees success was both due to the music and the comedy of the show. It connect with the younger viewers.

Since I decided to obtain an autograph, I knew I did not want to carry around a record album, and I did not want a photo. I decided to find an artist at the show who could provide a sketch of Dolenz. AJ Morrone is a sketch card artist for Upper Deck and Fleer trading cards. He accepted my challenge and produced in short time a sketch that truly captured Dolenz' personality.

I selected a Richie Valens first day cover, a celebration of early rock n roll....