Ziggy Blumenthal - Sidekicked!

2014.01.26 Garden State Comic Fest, Ledgewood, NJ
"Kinetixx"

Ziggy Blumenthal, along with Cory Harris and Brad Smoley created the brand Fake McCoy Comics

Sidekicked, from Blumehtal and Harris, offers a comic with an unique story line.While the heroes are out of town, saving the town, their sidekicks are taking care of the mundane every day problems. The townspeople see their work and promote them to hero, demoting the heroes to sidekicks. A very interesting and funny concept. The character drawn on the first day cover is Kinetixx, sidekick to Brigadier, who can only fly feet first!

Operation Pajama Pants, a successful 2012 Kickstarter project, the story of a man in search of an ancient magical pair of pajama pants belonging to an Egyptian Sun God. The cover art to this book was drawn by Amanda Connor..

As Blumenthal told me, these books are meant to be fun and they offer some good laughs with the witty dialog by Cory Harris...

Blumenthal also publishes a web-comic called Chris Wnuk: Secret Jew

Chris Ivy - Raven

2014.01.26 Garden State Comic Fest, Ledgewood, NJ
"Nevermore"

Chris Ivy graduated from the Parsons School of Design, NYC. He started his career working for John Romita and Don Parlin in the Marvel Bullpen. Ivy is most well-knonw for his inking for Marvel over the pencils of Ron Garney (Ghost Rider), Dwayne Turner (Cage) and Michael Bair Tom Morgan (Alpha Flight), James Fry and Stephen Platt (Marc Spector: Moon Knight)...

Ivy eventually moved on to inking for DC Comics - Sovereign Seven, Flash, JLA, Beast Boy; Image Comics - Shadowhawk, Supreme; Valiant - Bloodshot; Dark Horse - Aliens v Predators v Terminator, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters-Kenix Kil; IDW - GI Joe: Cobra Civil War and Dynamite Entertainment - Army of Darkness...

Ivy has also worked as a penciller on JLA, Fantastic Four, Psi-Force, New Avengers, Cloak and Dagger and many other titles...

Ivy has also served as colorist and cover artist for many comics...

I thought the Raven subject matter for the Edgar Allan Poe FDC from 2009 was a perfect match...

Jason Baroody - Combat Jacks

2014.01.26 Garden State Comic Fest, Ledgewood, NJ

Sgt. Dorothy A. Darling - Combat Jacks
1983 Medal of Honor first day cover

Combat Jacks comes for the talented mind of Mark McKenna, who has been in the field for over 20 years working for DC and Marvel comics on titles like Batman, Justice League, X-Men and Spiderman...

McKenna created a children's book call Banana Tails, and now Combat Jacks, pencilled by Jason Baroody.

Combat Jacks tells a story of a a group of Marines who arrive on the planet Maia, to find the human inhabitants who were terraforming the planet to be missing. Early on they also find the locals are there to give them a deadly reception...

Jason Baroody is mostly known for his comic book work AIT/Planet Lar - Elvis Van Helsing; Image - Tales of the Starlight Drive-In; 5Finity - Archie Sketch card; Not Hardly Entertainment - Montana Briggs; Jim Krueger's The Clockmaker; Alterna Comics - Jesus Hates Zombies; New Adventures of the Human Fly; Voices of the Dead World...  Baroody has also written and provided illustrations for comic related magazines.

A founding member of Ten Ton Studios - Originally met Jason at a Widl Pig show in 2010 where he drew an excellent Galactus for my son Matt. Check it out on Matt's Collection page...

Medal of Honor first day cover  from 1983...

Mark McKenna - Green Arrow

2010.05.15 Wild Pig Con, Springfield, NJ

Mark McKenna has been involved in the comic book industry for close to 30 years. McKenna first work was on Marvel's Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion #4 (1985). Since then he has continued to become an influence in the comic industry.  His extensive list of titles includes Marvel Comics' Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Avengers, Psi-Force, Nomad, Iron Man, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Dead-Pool;  DC Comics' Batman, Justice League, Doctor Fate, L.E.G.I.O.N., Aquaman; First Comics' Nexus; Valiant Comics' Magnus Robot Fighter; Dark Horse Star Wars..and  many others...

In 2012 McKenna was honored with the Inkwell Award; which was started in 2008 to recognize the craft of inking...

McKenna has also started his own imprint with a book designed, with his father, for kids called Banana Tail. Banana Tail is a mischievous, kind-hearted monkey with an unusual yellow tail, who is always getting into adventures with his friends Tic Tac the zebra and Reena the rhino...

McKenna has also written Combat Jacks, pencils by Jason Baroody, inked by Kate Finnegan, lettered by Sam Eggleston. There is also a hot variant cover by Billy Tucci...

Green Arrow was created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, making his first appearance in More Fun Comics #73, November 1941...

Mark Morales - Iceman

2013.03.30 Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury Park, NJ

Mark Morales has provided cover art for Marvel Comics titles: The New Avengers - Transformers, Marvel Kinghts: Spider-Man, Avenging Spider-Man, Fear Itself, Deadpool, Seige, Thor, Captain America, Avengers vs X-Men, Exiles, Alpha-Flight, X-Men, X-Force and others....

Morales has served as inker on X-Men, Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fear Itself, Iron Man, Thor, Siege, Secret Invasion, Marvel Comics Presents, Young Avengers and many others...

As a long time fan of the X-Men I had requested an image of Iceman, in my mind the original snowboarder...

Darrell Goza - White Fire

2013.11.09 Superheroes for Hospice, West Orange, NJ
White Fire - Destiny Squad

Darrell Goza - has worked with many small press comic books, Tutt (with M.W. Harris, DAvid MClain and Danny Nunez), Kulprit (with Kevin Darmaine for Dreadlockedninja Publishing), Danse (with M.W. Harris for Blackthorne Publishing), Resonnance (with Mark Alfred for ScritpGraphics), Crusader (with Keith Royster for ScriptGraphics)

With DC comics he pencilled backgrounds on The Young All-Stars, Nintendo/Valiant Comics  Capt N, backgrounds on Hero Graphics' Icicle, coloring on Puppet Terrors, backgrounds on Dark Horse Comics' The American, pencils on The Scarlet Scorpion from AC Comics....

ScriptGraphics was created by Keith Royster, Howard Small and Darrell Goza issuing a 13 page fanzine. As high school ends and life happens ScriptGraphics was put on hold. Years later Goza revived ScriptGraphics as a small press publisher. Their first publication was "The Professionals" with art and story by Goza. Destiny Squad stories would soon follow with help from Royster, Jim Saldana, Willie Peppers, John Brown, Nick Alenikov, David Amaker and other talents....

Goza also worked on Psi-Girl with Jeff Wilcox, Ben Collins and David McClain...

Lady Spiritfist, A weekly comic strip about a martial arts in a story revolving around mysticism magic and a woman's determination..

Darrell Goza's second story, with art by John Davenport and Mike Dargo, on Smack Jeeves webcomic-hosting is Thunderhawk, a science fiction story with a lot of twists and turns that will pull readers in one direction and than another and yet another again. Heroes and villains will be interchangeable at one time and then back again, because everyone is multifaceted and within the structure of this we'll explore all the motivations for all the character.

David McClain - The Artifyce Connection

2013.11.09 Superheroes for Hospice, West Orange, NJ

A 2000 year cryogenic deep sleep... & you still manage to make the top 10 most wanted list... in the known galaxy? The Artifyce Connection is a space spy-thriller that sees the emergence of Lt Col Damien T. Hightower from a cryogenic sleep. XJ and her crew have extracted him from his cryo-chamber just when things are not looking well outside of the transport gate located between Mercury and the Sun...security bases have been notified...

The Artifyce Connection is a web-comic created by David McClain. McClain began working as a penciler and inker at ScriptGraphics in 1981. McClain collaborated with writer Mark W. Harris on projects including "Brother's of the Wood", "Brandon Tolliver" and "Tutt". He has also worked on other projects such a "Maverick" and "Psi-Girl".

McClain has worked for Blackthorne Publishing in 1987 as Logo artist for their Color Line books and background penciler on the Street Wolf series, penciler and inker on Beatnik Comics' "Few Survive the Mission", "Equilibrium" and "UrbanHood". McClain was inker for 3rd Eye Publishing's Shadow Walker #1 and as cover artist for Landmark Comics "Flying Objects #1" and penciler for "The Cradinal"...

James Silvani - Darkwing Duck

2013.10.12 NY Comic Con, NYC

James Silvani is a Maui based comic book artist and commercial illustrator. Working as a free-lance artist since 1994, Silvani has been providing art for Kaboom! Disney's Darkwing Duck, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (cover art), Ducktales (cover art) and APE Entertainment's Richie Rich, Boom Kids Muppet King Arthur (interiors and cover art), Muppet Snow White (cover art), Fozzie's Funny Business (interiors) and Bunsen and Beaker Save the Show (interiors).

Darkwing Duck is an animated television series produced by the Walt Disney Company in 1991, featuring Darkwing Duck (alter-ego of Mallard Drake) a pulp-fiction styled superhero who battled evildoers in the city of St. Canard. Along with his sidekick Launchpad McQuack and his adopted daughter Gosalyn. Darkwing's nemesis was Negaduck, an evil version of Darkwing himself...

Although this was produced a few years before my first son was born, I used to enjoy watching the Disney block of shows that included Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers and Ducktales. One of my cousins once told me that having kids was one of the excuses that allowed him to watch cartoons. I never needed an excuse to watch cartoons.

The Walt Disney first day cover was issued on September 11, 1968 in Marceline, Mo, where Disney grew-up on his family's farm, for Disney's contributions to America and the world. The design was draw by Disney artists Paul Wenzel (portrait) and Bob Moore (children emerging from Sleeping Beauty's Castle). Over 150 millions stamps would be purchased and almost a million first day covers would be canceled...

Silvani tumblr

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...