Mars Attacks!!!

1962 Mars Attacks - and every kid welcomed them. Their parents may not have been so open minded.

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, with both parents and several uncles working in the same factory in the Bush Terminal section off 3rd Ave. As a kid my main interest in their work was that they were located in the same building as the Topps printing facility. My brother and I would receive shoe boxes full of assorted cards, baseball, civil war, Mars Attacks, UK soccer. Once my dad brought home an uncut sheet of 1966 baseball cards. Unfortunately the only cards I still have from this horde are the UK soccer cards, which my Uncle John picked up in 1977.

The original idea for the card was developed by Len Brown,  and the story was written by Brown and Woody Gelman. The art work was done by Wally Wood, Bob Powell and Norm Saunders. Due to complaints several of the cards were re-painted to reduce the gore, but production of the cards was eventually stopped, making this a rare set of cards. The popularity of the cards has endured, with re-printed sets, movie adaptations and comic books.

The 50th Anniversary Heritage set features several cards painted by Jason Edmiston, based on the storyboard sketches from the original series that did not appear in the original set as well as 15 new cards from comic book artist John McCrea, illustrator of IDW's Mars Attacks comic series. (McCrea card above.)

When Topps announced they were issuing a Heritage set for the 50th anniversary, I became interested. I was fully drawn in when I saw some of the sketch cards being done. Magnificent. I was inspired to start collecting the set and picking up some of the sketch cards...

A Don Perlin pencil sketch. Perlin worked for Marvel on the Werewolf by Night title and is co-creator of the character Moon Knight. He also worked on The Defenders, Ghost Rider and Valiant Comics' Solar, Man of the Atom and Bloodshot. Perlin won the 1997 National Cartoonist Society Comic Book Award...

The second sketch is from Jeff Zapata, who previously worked for Valiant and Crusade comics before moving to the Topps company where is work can be found on Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages and Hollywood Zombie cards...

Jason Hughes - Has provided sketch cards for Breygent Vampirella, Versicolor Betty Page, Breygent Classic Movies, Breygent Woodstock, Topps Indiana Jones, 5Finity King Kong, Breygent Golden Age of Comics, Halo, Heroes 2, Star Wars....

Lin Workman - Creator fo the webcomic/geek travel blog "Have Geek Will Travel", Webcomic "Scared Silly" and co-creator of the self-published comicbook "Bushi Tales".
He has provided sketch cards for The Empire Strikes Back 3D,

I decided to obtain my own series of Mars Attacks sketches on space related first day covers (1962 Project Mercury - John Glenn first American to orbit the Earth, Robert H. Goddard - credited with building the first liquid fueled rocket and  Edwin Hubble honored by 5 stamps showing the Eagle Nebula, Egg Nebula, Ring Nebula, Lagoon Nebula and Galaxy Nebula not used on this project). The Barnabas SuperHeroes for Hospice show in Monmouth Mall, Sept 22 was the perfect opportunity to start. I threw Ed Coutts a bit of a curve, since I was asking him to draw out of his comfort zone (beautiful women), but he nailed it perfectly and managed to feature a beautiful woman! The others also    approached the project with delight and provided great sketches:

Ed Coutts (Fem Force)

 Joe Endres (the Colossians)

Dave Ryan (War of the Independents)

 Nick Mockoviack

Javier Cruz Winnick

Ack, Ack, Ack!!!!

Jacob Chabot - updated 2015.06.06

Fabio Redivo - Drake

2012.05.05 Free Comic Book Day, Dewey's Comic City, Madison, NJ

Fabio Redivo's entry in Epics Anthology is the Story of Drake, private investigator....

Redivo earned his degree from the University of Fine ARts of Sao paulo in Graphic Design. He has worked for the Kubert School as an instructor and in their art agency where he was involved in Joe Kubert projects and PS Magazine for the army. He has also worked for Archie comics as an inker and provides design work for A Wave Blue World.

Anthony Marques - Katyusha

2012.05.05 Free Comic Book Day, Dewey's Comic City, Madison, NJ

Anthony Marques entry in Epics Anthology is Katyusha...

I have been a fan of men flying with rocket-packs since first seeing the 1952 movie Radar Men From the Moon (on TV) featuring Commando Cody. Then came the jet pack in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball, followed by Dave Stevens' Rocketeer and my favorite comic strip character Lio by Mark Tatulli (on the left), Royden Lepp's Rust - Visitor in the Field, Joe Banana's animated Rocketeer...Bottom line - Jet Packs are cool...

The jet pack is the inspiration, the story and art still has to hold the readers interest...

Marques is a free lance comic book artist, graduating from the Kubert School in 2011. One of Marques' designs was creating the logo for Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest character, The Ghoulmaster. Marques passion and inspiration for comics started after viewing the film, Superman the Movie...

I starting writing the above description when I returned home from Dewey's. The following morning while reading the Sunday Funnies I was pleased to see Mark Tatulli's other comic strip Heart of the City featuring a story of Rocket Lad, a jet-packed boy..(2012.05.06)...

The 1997 first day cover honors the 50th Anniversary of the US Air Force. The stamp features the Thunderbirds air demonstration squadron...

Fernando Ruiz - Iron Ghost

2012.05.05 Free Comic Book Day, Dewey's Comic City, Madison, NJ

Fernando Ruiz provided a sketch of the Iron Giant from his new anthology EPiCS.  An excellent artist working at Archie, an instructor at the Kubert School and a genuinely good guy, Ruiz mentioned this was his first sketch of the Iron Giant outside of the work provided for the book.  I had the opportunity to see several of the original pages from the Iron Ghost this day and they were excellent.

I also have received my copy of the book in digital format and found the Iron Giant to posses all of the elements of the classic comic story I enjoy. Ruiz was assisted on this story by Jack Morelli, letters and Fabio Redivo, colors...

Best of luck...

EPiCS Anthology

On April 5 - I originally posted this : The book is ready, and I have received my digital copy. An excellent effort.  On September 15 Dewey's Comic City, Madison, NJ is going to host an official release party and signing with all four artists from the book in attendance. Come out and meet the artists and get your copy of EPiCs anthology signed.

On free comic book day, Dewey's also hosted Ruiz, Marques and Redivo for sketches for the customers. I was very lucky to get them to provide me with sketches of their characters from the book. Tomorrow starts with Fernando Ruiz and the Iron Ghost!

Original post: Just learned about a project being put together by Fernando Ruiz, Anthony Marques, Fabio Redivo and Bob Hardin. It's called EPiCS, a book that will consist of 4 short stories featuring high flying adventure, intense horror and intrigue, adrenaline inspired thrills and mystery.

These talent writers and artists are raising funds to complete the project through Kickstarter. I have read articles about bands that have asked their fans to support their efforts to produce a CD, avoiding the trials and tribulations of big business. I had thought it would have been cool to have been part of this, helping a someone with their dream. Now I have. Since my limited artistic ability and writing skills will never get me published, I can still be a part of this project by providing support and so can you!

Bob C hardin - Rat Rod Daddy's Daughter - Hot Rod Racing 50's style
Fernando Ruiz - The Iron Ghost - Science fiction and intrigue
Anthony Marques - Katyusha - Rocket packed super hero in high flying adventure
Fabio Redivo -Drake - private investigator, deceit, murder and a beautiful woman

The fund drive at Kickstarter ends May 13!
Epic Anthology

I have had the pleasure of meeting both Fernando Ruiz and Bob Hardin, both great guys. The Epics website features previews of the stories, and it looks great. I am happy to be part of their adventure and glad I can help.

Thanks to Dewey's Comic City for the initial information. The cover is from Anthony Marques deviant art website.."This is the cover I did for an anthology book that should be done by spring time...Hope ya like it."

Brian Buniak - Laurel & Hardy

2012.06.09 Super Mega Show, Whippany, NJ

After my previous post of a Brian Buniak sketch, I continuing reading his blog. I was impressed by his story of fulfilling a life-long dream of being hit in the face with a pie by Soupy Sales. I had decided if I had the opportunity of meeting Buniak again I would request a sketch related to the slapstick comedy genius of throwing a pie.  The  first thrown pie was seen in the 1909 silent movie Mr. Flip starring Ben Turpin, then being extended into the pie-fight by Chaplin in 1916. Laurel and Hardy would stage the largest pie-throwing episode on film in the 1927 film Battle of the Century using over 3,000 pies. Buniak uses the classic pie hitting someone other than the intended victim....Splabb! on this Comedians Laurel and Hardy first day cover. the design of the stamp is by Hirschfeld and Buniak utilizes his style masterfully.

In 1941 the Three Stooges staged a major pie-fight in In The Sweet Pie and Pie...

The Three Stooges started out as a vaudeville and comedy act, which would eventually turn to movie shorts, full-length features, cartoons and comic books, which played endlessly on television keeping their slapstick humor alive for generations to enjoy...

The trio originally consisted of brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and Larry Fine. Another brother, Curly Howard replaced Shemp, becoming the most popular of the Stooges. Shemp returned when Curly fell ill in 1946. When Shemp died of a heart attack in 1955 Joe Besser and Joe "Curly Joe" DeRita would fill in...

The above cartoon stamps, issued in 1959, are not postally valid, known as Cinderella stamps or poster stamps, however the Three Stooges would eventually be honored on valid postage stamps from Transdenstria, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Chad, Gambia, Guryana, Mongolia, Mozambique, Senegal, Liberia, Guinea, Turkmenistan (along with Jerry Garcia and Elvis), Tuvalu...

The poster stamps were designed and signed by Norman Maurer, comic artist, writer, director and producer and Moe Howard's son-in-law...

2011.08.09 Geech by Jerry Bittle

Even Ziggy by Tom Wilson gets into the act...

Matteo Scalera - Captain America

2012.06.27 Little Shop of Comics, Scotch Plains, NJ

Matteo Scalera was born in Parma, Italy.  He started his professional career with the publication of Hyperkinetic, a 4-issue series from Image Comics. Scalera has also worked on Dynamo 5 and PopGun for Image Comics. Scalera also was one of the twelve winners in the first ChesterQuest, a worldwide talent research by Marvel Comics...

In 2010 Scalera started working for the House of Ideas, mostly on the character Deadpool in Deadpool Team-Up, Deadpool Corps and Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth. He has also worked for Bomm! on Outcast and is currently working on Secret Avengers with Rick Remender for Marvel Comics.

Scalera has published Some Like It Rough, in 2012, through Essential Sequential, a sketch book of Scalera's work limited to a print run of 450 books. The book features 52 pages of beautifully rendered artwork... My signed copy on the left...

Scalera was at Little Shop of Comics promoting the upcoming Secret Avengers as well as his new sketch book. Sometimes when I am at conventions I do not get a chance to watch the artist. This night I was transfixed as Scalera drew this excellent sketch of Captain America. First he did a pencil sketch, erased most of it, then inked the drawing. white highlights were added to complete the sketch...

You can view more of Scalera's work at matteoscalera.deviantart.com

D'oh! - USPS the Simpsons

2012.08.22 - Stuck with the Simpsons

The Star Ledger (NJ)

In a article by Angela Greiling Keane, it was mentioned that the USPS wasted $1.2 million in printing costs for the Simpsons stamps. The over-production resulted from the USPS projection that the stamp buying public would welcome the commemorative stamp.  1 billion stamps were produced, while 318 million were sold. The Simpsons stamp were available from 2009-2010 and feature individual stamps of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

Currently the top selling stamps are the 1993 Elvis Presley and the 1995 Marilyn Monroe issues. The 1997 Bugs Bunny series and the 2010 Animal shelter pets both sold out and had to be re-printed.

Personally as a collector I found the stamps very unattractive. I think if the designs were better, a family image or a scene from the series, the stamps may have been better received by the stamp buying public...

Neal Adams - Green Lantern

2012.08.04 The Great Allentown Comic Con! (Pa)

Neal Adams is known for helping to create images of several well-known DC Comics characters: Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Deadman...

Adams broke into the comics industry with Archie Comics providing some pages for The Fly, 1960. this led to work drawing backgrounds for the Bat Masterson newspaper comic strip with Howard Nostrand. After some freelance work in advertising, Adams was invited to draw samples for the newspaper comic strip Ben Casey in 1962...

At Warren Publishing, Adams' provided work with Archie Goodwin for "Curse of the Vampire", Creepy 1967. Adams' debut with DC came in 1967 on the anthology was series "Our Army at War". Adams would finally contribute to the Superhero comics with an Action Comics cover, featuring Superman, followed by Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane, Detective Comics, The Brave and the Bold, World's Finest Comics...

In 1969, while still freelancing for DC, Adams began working for Marvel Comics drawing for X-Men and horror anthologies...

The stamp commemorating DC Comics' Green Lantern, issued in 2006, comes from the Green Lantern-Green Arrow #76 cover, April 1970, featuring Adams' artwork. It was this issue that revamped the characters of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow. Adams and Dennis O'Neil brought together two very different heroes and took their story through social issues as well as the typical superhero adventure...

Adams would go on to illustrate - Tarzan, Megalith, Bucky O'Hare, Ms. Mystic, the Spectre, JLA, Teen Titans, Elongated Man, Avengers, Conan the Barbarian, Thor, Batman and Robin, Vampirella, and many others.

Adams was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame 1998 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame 1999, voted Favorite Comic Book artist 1977, 1978, Inkpot Award 1977...

It was a pleasure spending a few minutes with Neal Adams, a delightful man and excellent artist...we all know bow ties are cool, but Adam's was wearing a Joker tie, also cool...

Terry Naughton - King Triton

2012.08.04 The Great Allentown Comic Con! (Pa)
King Triton pencil sketch

Terry Naughton can handle many different styles in a variety of media. He worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation for 17 years as an animation assistant and storyboard artist. He worked on all the recent classics such as The Little Mermaid (King Triton), Beauty and the Beast (the Beast) and Aladdin (the Genie) to name only a few. Terry has also created the last ten U.S.C. football posters and various work for the N.F.L. Terry illustrates book covers and helps create and illustrate children's books. Terry is currently working on the "Abyss Walker Series" by Author Shane Moore...

I am still a kid at heart and I enjoy Disney movies, so it was a thrill to meet Terry, HE WORKED FOR DISNEY!

When I saw Terry's name on the guest list for the Allentown show getting a sketch was a must. Obviously my choices would be the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) or King Triton. Matt made the decision as he said Triton was cooler. The  Little Mermaid was released in 1989, based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, utilizing the traditional hand drawn method of animation. Mermaid was the last feature film to use traditional hand-paintd cels for animation. Personally I think CGI is great for some animation, but good hand drawn is still the best... Terry's Triton is awesome, and I like the way Triton is looking at Nemo, as if wondering what type of trouble will this one get into!?

Finding Nemo was a Disney computer-animated film release in 2003, voted the 10th greatest animated film by the American Film Institute in 2008. The stamp was released by the USPS as part of their Mail a Smile campaign, released with other Disney-Pixar based stamps (A Bugs Life, Incredibles, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.)

In 2003 we had taken a family vacation to Disney World, Orlando. part of the park featured a Disney-MGM studios, complete with tours that featured Disney animation. One part of the tour featured a Disney animator who explained the animation process while he was drawing. His drawing was projected overhead for all of the guests to see. It was an excellent demonstration and learning process. As the group moved on, Matt and I hung back. I had brought a small journal to document our trip to the park. I asked the artist if he could provide us with a drawing. The animator was most pleasant and did not hesitate. He discussed art with us, while encouraging Matt to continue his drawing. He even gave Matt some of his pencils, to encourage his drawing, he could not have been nicer. He provided the above sketch of Koda from Brother Bear. I had quickly written down his name as Issac, but I don't have his last name. He also did some work at the time on Treasure Planet...
Update: after a little more research I believe the artist to be Isacc V Cropp III (IVCIII)
2012.08.14

Terry and I had a great conversation on working at Disney and we shared our stories, his about hearing from some grateful fans, he still carries the letter which he let me read. It was very touching, and as he said "that is what it is all about"...reaching people and knowing they enjoy his work...

Sean Chen - Iron Man

2012.03.31 NY Comic Book Marketplace, NYC

Sean Chen, started his career after being discovered by Barry Windsor-Smith. His first job was for Valiant Comics, penciling X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, harbinger and Rai and the Future Force...

Moving to Marvel, Chen drew Ironman for over three years, along with Wolverine, Elektra, Nova and The X-Men: Then End. While working on Wolverine he was listed as one of Wizard: Guide to the Comics' Top Ten artists...

Chen is expanding his talents by working on designing furniture, kitchens and designer toys and figurines...

Henrik Jonsson - The Joker

2012.05.05 The Joker - Dewey's Comic City, Madison, NJ

Since I have started building my collection of sketched covers over the past few years, I have been making the effort to attend Free Comic Book Day at Dewey's.  Besides the free comics, there are usually guest artists providing sketches. Dewey's manages to get 3rd year students from the Kubert School in Dover, NJ. these up and coming young artist are a joy to watch as they work before a crowd of fans, probably for the first time...

This year Henrik Jonsson was on hand. Continuing with my Joker's theme, last year provided by Nick Justus and Gavin Smith, Henrik drew a very sinister looking Joker. Excellent...

Jesus Marquez - The Rocketeer

2012.06.23 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

After listening to a lecture on creative comics writing by writer Alex Simmons, where he asked the attendees to pick a hero and develop an out of character synopsis, I had picked the Rocketeer, I came upon Marquez. My first questions was "Can you draw the Rocketeer?" His response "I can give it a shot." Good enough for me...

Marquez draws a comic book called Live by the Sword (killin' zombies for God!). He has also worked along side Joe Endres on Megazeen #4, Megazeen #7 and Megaunity and the Megazeen Convention Special. 

Marquez's blog lists his profile as sequential assassin, wanna-be luchador and all around good guy...and features some excellent art... Marquez was interviewed on Positively Popular as artist of the week...

I like the drawing Marquez did on the Charles Lindbergh FDC. Lindbergh was the first man to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean solo in 1927. He was obviously a hero to Cliff Secord...

Alex Simmons signature -  2012.06.23 Superheroes for Hospice, Livingston, NJ

Simmons was one of the speakers for the Hospice Get into Comics lecture series, "From Batman to Scooby Doo: Imaging Your Idols". Besides hearing his lecture, Matt and I were able to spent a great deal of time speaking with Simmons and Paul Castiglia (Archie Comics), on topics of movies, comics, education. It was a pleasure to listen to his lecture as well as being able to spend a little time with this gracious individual...and we made it to the train on time!

Simmons has written comic books for Archie Comics - a four arc series featuring Chuck Clayton, DC Comics Scooby Do, Disney movie adaptations for Lion King, educational documentaries, biographies, stage plays including Sherlock Holmes & the Hands of Othello, which received critical praise and was published in black Thunder: Anthology of Contemporary African American Drama, Signet/Mentor Books. Simmons travels as a speaker, conducting workshops on creative writing.

Simmons serves as the Arts in Education Director for the Children's Art Carnival (NYC), sits on the board of the NY State Alliance for Arts and Education, is affiliated with the Museum of Comic & Cartoon art, is a member of the NY Writer's Workshop and is involved with Kids' Comic Con...