Evan Dorkin - Milk and Cheese

2012.09.29 Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury Park, NJ

Evan Dorkin created Milk and Cheese, first published in 1988 in Greed Magazine. Milk and Cheese would eventalluy be published in comic book form through Slave Labor Graphics and Dark Horse Comics. The story line follows the anthropomorphic container of milk and a wedge of cheese. These dairy products "gone bad" drink to excess and are usually involved in violent situations...

Dorkin and his wife Sarah Dyer have written for Space Ghost Coast to Coast, episodes of Superman the animated series, the Adult Swim program Welcome to Eltingville. Dorkin co-created Beasts of burden with Jill Thompson...

Awards: 

• 2010 Esiner Award: Best Publication for teens
• 2005 Eisner Award: Best Short Story
• 2002 Eisner Award: Best Short Story (The Eltingville Club)
• 2002 Eisner Award: Best Writer/Artist (for Dork)
• 2001 Harvey Award: Best Single Issue or Story (Superman & Batman: World's Funnest, shared with several artists)

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...

John Holmstrom - Bosko

2013.03.30 Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury Park, NJ

John Holmstrom is an underground comix writer and artist. Known for his Ramones album covers

Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin, as well as Bosko "America's LEAST Favorite Cartoon". Founder of Punk magazine (1975-79) he has also worked for the Village Voice, Video Games magazine, K-Power, Heavy Metal, Spin magazine, Screw magazine and High Times.

Holmstrom started his career as an assistant for Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman.

Holmstrom also produced covers and posters for the Dandy Warhols, Murphy's Law, Animal Records record label lettering for Iggy Pop. He has designed posters and programs for the New Fillmore East Theater

Holmstrom asked for a first day cover with the postal service's most disgusting stamp. Since I didn't have anything disgusting with me I had to opt for the generic Patriotic Pen cover.

Shawn Allyene - Aaron - Street Team

Aaron from Street Team

2013.03.30 Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury Park, NJ

Shawn Alleyne is a freelance self-taught artist working on the Street Team Comic Book and Video game, as well as his November 2012 Kickstarter-funded comic Aizan, the story of a young woman who is a passionate artist and graffiti activist who lives in a world wher a super-powered war has left her city devastated. Aizan blends hip-hop, sci-fi, martial arts, Par-kour, graffiti and cool superheroes..

Street Team is a collaborative effort from 6 independent comic creators:
Plot - Stanley Weaver Jr and Joseph Currie
Writers - J Currie with S Alleyne, Koran Curtis and James Mason
Pencils - S Weaver Jr
Inks - S Alleyne
Colors - J Mason

The Street Team is: Aaron (Alleyne and Curtis); the Tiger (J Mason);Blackbird (Charles Goubile); Dodger (J Currie); Stalker (S Weaver Jr)
Street Team #0 features good old school team-up of their characters, who join forces to overcome a bad-ass (Shawn's term) villain named Lord Oguun, the Iron Dragon and his minions. The comic book was created as a follow-up to a video game that was based on a pin-up drawn by Alleyne featuring all of the characters.

Allyene has also provided the art for a chapter of a fantasy novel called Dusk: A Crown of Horns by John Cullins and Night Seeker by Eric M. Cooper

Interview at Comic Privy

Paris Cullins - Blue Devil

2012.11.10 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

Paris Cullins started his career by sending samples of his work to DC Comics for several years, until they offered him a script to work with 3 years later. His first work was as a penciller-inker on "Mystic Murder" written by Steve Skeates and published by DC in Secrets of Haunted House #42. Cullins would continue his work on House of Mystery, Ghosts, The Unexpected and Weird War Tales during the early part of the 1980s.

Then came Green Lantern with Cullins pencilling an eight-page Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, as a backup story in Green Lantern #154 (July 1982), followed by some work at Harvey Comics drawing Richie Rich and Hot Stuff. After co-pencilling duties with Rich Buckler on Justice League of America, Cullins would create the Blue Devil, with writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, premiering in 1984 as a special insert in Fury of Firestorm #24.

Blue Devil would run for 31 issues... Daniel Patrick Cassidy works as a special effects expert and stuntman, who creates an exoskeleton with built-in special effects. When his co-workers unearth the demon Nebiros, Cassidy fights him off with the help of his exoskeletal suit. Nebiros had blasted Cassidy with mystical energy which has permanently adhered the exoskeleton to his body...

Cullins drew the Blue Devil popping out of the inkwell, just as Koko the Clown did in the early Fleischer cartoons...

Cullins was a guest speaker at the Superheroes for Hospice, speaking on "Realism vs Cartooning" the War Between Comic Art Styles" to an intimate group, discussing the changes in drawing styles over the years from the inception of Superman to today's books.  It was a pleasure spending a little time with Cullins, and thanks for supporting the Hospice program...

Erica Schultz - Veronica Lake

Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

The first time I met Erica Schutlz, writer of the comic book M-3, was at Hospice show. After briefly looking over her book M-3 I purchased a copy, and Erica told me I was one of the first, outside of forced family members, to officially purchase a copy. I truly enjoyed the book. Since I try not to use this space to critique books or drawings, I felt I needed Erica to draw a sketch on a first day cover so I could feature her work. I had heard Erica had done some work in animation and as a colorist, but she was here to promote M-3 as the writer. The art for the book was done by Vincente Alcazar, (you can see a Moon Knight sketch by Alcazar on Matt's page)...

M-3 is the story of Machiavella Maria Marcona, an assassin who discovers her FBI boss is using her. M-3 is a powerful and independent female hero, without super powers, relying on natural abilities and intelligence, involved in corruption, greed, espionage and intrigue ....

Supporters for this book include Bill Sienkiewicz who illustrated the cover of the second issue (copy signed by Erica and Bill Sienkiewicz below)...

Issue 2 also features an alternative cover (inside back cover) by Kevin Maher, 3rd issue features a cover by Andree Maitland...the fourth issue is now available from Hound Comics and the story continues

When I asked for a sketch from Erica of any subject of her choosing, she was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in. I told her I do not mind a simple sketch, so replied she can do actress Veronica Lake (1922-1973) with a distinctive hairstyle that covered her right eye) with just a few pen strokes. When she was finished, with a borrowed red pen from Mark Mariano, Veronica Lake adorned the cover.

If you should meet Erica at a show, ask her to show you the drawing Chris Giarusso did of Machiavella, she is very proud of it. Maybe it will make a future issue of M-3...

I had Sienkiewicz sign the cover at the 2013 NY Comic Con.
Updated 2013.10.14

Allen Bellman - Captain America

2012.03.31 NY Comic Book Marketplace, NYC

Allen Bellman studied at the High School of Industrial Arts and became a staff artist for Timely Comics during the Golden Age of Comics. Still a teenager, Bellman was drawing backgrounds for Syd Shores "Captain America", 1942, along with other titles The Patriot, The Destroyer, The Human Torch, All-Winners Comics, marvel Mystery Comics, Sub-Mariner, Young Allies, Jet Dixon of the Space Squadron. Bellman created the back-up crime feature Let's Play detective...

During the pre-code era Bellman worked on Horror, Crime, War and Western tales for Atlas Comics staying in the field until the early 1950's, when he moved to Florida and stared working in the art department of the daily newspaper The South Florida Sun-Sentinel...

Bellman is also an award winning photographer...

The Allen Bellman website contains a complete and extensive checklist of the comics he has worked on...

It was an honor to meet Mr. Bellman...

Shane Moore - The Omens

2011.12.03 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

Shane Moore is a self-published writer and artist who has recently formed Electro-Magnetic Press with fellow writer and artistLarry Morgan.

Moore's comic The Omens is on of EMP's first two publications, the other being Morgan's The Believer.

The Omens is a science fiction adventure that follows Maggie Goodwin, a young woman who discovers she is a posthuman, a genetically engineered breed, whose basic capacities radically exceed those of present humans as to no longer be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards.

Maggie's strange new abilities cause an abrupt end of her normal suburban life when she is forced to go on the run from both the US Government, strange extraterrestrials and the nefarious Dr. O...

Chris Notarile - The Protector

2011.12.03 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

Chris .R. Notarile is the writer and creator of "The Protector". A filmmaker by trade, Chris is the driving force behind his New Jersey based film company Blinky Productions Inc., and over the last decade Chris has built a very notable reputation for himself in the superhero comic community through his fan films as well as through his original work.

Chris Notrile is an illustrator whose career has span nearly forty years. Drawing inspiration from the silver age comics of his youth, Chris realized his dream of becoming a comic illustrator, when he created and drew a series of 2-page storylines for Teen Life Magazine, at the age of eighteen. Chris also worked briefly as a freelance artist for Marvel comics, while attending the Parsons School of Design. Chris has also produced artwork for TV Guide. Chris is the co-founder and owner of Outlines Inc, producing comps, storyboards and animated webisodes for the advertising community.

Chris' proudest accomplishment is his illustrations for The Protector, and thanks to his son for reconnecting him with his first love...comics.

The Protector tells the story of a golden age hero, who has virtually out lived his usefulness. Longing for the good old days, this now old hero tries to find his place in a modern world.

Rick Parker - Beavis and Butt-head

2011.12.03 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

Beavis and Butt-head is an animated series created by Mike Judge, originally appearing as part of Frog Baseball, 1992. MTV signed Judge to develop the concept airing the first episode on March 8, 1993 until November 28, 1997 (212 episodes). The boys were later seen on Comedy Central and UPN and in a feature film, "Beavis and Butt-head Do America"...

The shows center on two socially awkward teenage delinquents who live in Highland, Texas. Their unsupervised actions sometimes have dire consequences, for which they show little remorse. This has been a controversy for the show, as opponents of the show claim they promote dangerous behavior. However Beavis and Butt-Head proved to be very popular...

From 1994 to 1996 Marvel Comics published 28 Beavis and Butt-Head comics, written by a variety of writers, with each issue being drawn by Rick Parker...

I had met Rick Parker in June of 2010, when he drew Stinky Dead Kid for me. At this show he seemed like just one of many artists meeting fans. At the Superheroes for Hospice show, I saw a different man. He was the center of attnetion. Maybe it was the revival of the Beavis and Butt-Head cartoon, but when the other artists look to get a sketch, you know he is special. Parker's Beavis and Butt-Head drawing reflects the Patriotic Quill Pen stamp in that Beavis is holding the pen and both are wearing stars and stripes shirts.

Parker had a friend with him, who showed me a book of art drawn on matchbooks by Parker. These had been done over a series of time and over a thousand had been done.
This image of Hat was taken from Rick Parker's Art blog, in which he states in his bio...

I do quite a bit of humorous drawing to amuse myself and others, but I feel most fulfilled as an artist creating 3-dimensional objects, incorporating existing or found objects into my work. I believe that art can be a great form of self-expression and through the use of cartooning I endeavor to help people to express themselves and communicate to others their own personal thoughts, feelings and ideas about the world.
Rick Parker Art

Rick Parker has two sites that I have found, one featuring his art the other featuring his photographs, with a truly a strangely wonderful collection of art, well worth the time to look and think!