Pop Art: Aquaman (original page)

I've had the chance over the years to buy original comicbook pages, but almost always pass. Above is the only page I own because, at $5, it was simply to cheap to pass up. It's page 11 of issue 15 of the Peter David run of Aquaman. Drawn by Jim Calafiore, it shows Atlantis (well, Poseidonis) rising from the ocean floor. It also has notes from Calafiore on the colors of the various fish in the panels. Technically, Calafiore was a permanent fill-in artist on the series and backed up Marty Edgeland's work as the regular penciler. As much as I liked Edgeland, I was never disappointed by Calafiore's work.

Peter David's take on Aquaman remains my favorite and I recommend to all F.O.A.M.ers unfamiliar with it to find these back issues immediately. Start with The Atlantis Chronicles, follow with Time and Tide and the move on to the proper Aquaman series.

Pop Art: The Shadow by Budd Root

 This was drawn by N.C. artist Budd Root, most famous for his creator-owned comic Cavewoman. I got the first two issues of the original series from him at the 1994 HeroesCon on a pretty memorable day in TV history, and then asked him to draw ... The Shadow? I'm really happy with the sketch but it's just another example of how I sometimes ask artists to draw some pretty off-beat characters.

Pop Art: Danzig by Elf

Here's another sketch from the Charlotte HeroesCon, from the year I collected "rock star" art from the various artists in attendance. This is of Glenn Danzig by N.C. artist Elf, who I had met a few years earlier while standing in line at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find to meet — you guessed it — Glenn Danzig. (Note: I was also standing in line behind Jeff Clayton of Antiseen. Glenn always brings out a strange assortment of people.)

I also got sketches of Iggy Pop and Eric Bloom that weekend. Click on the links to take a peek.

Pop Art: Popeye

Here's a random sketch: Popeye by Terry Austin. I suspect that many people who have sketches from Terry have a similar sketch — Popeye seems to have become  his convention "signature sketch."

Pop Art: Blade

One of my favorite discoveries at last weekend's HeroesCon was artist Shaun Ward, who contributed a sketch of Blade to my collection. Ward's got a really energetic style and a great sense of humor. If you browse though the art at his website you'll find a very subtle criticism of DC's on-going decision to make Robin younger and younger every time his origin is retold. My favorite might be the image of Batman defending an infant Robin in a cradle.

He's also got a creator-owned series in development that sounds incredibly fascinating (and make sure you check out his re-designs of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles here.)

Meanwhile, enjoy his take on Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight below.

Pop Art: Sandman Mystery Theater Part 2

One of the highlights of last weekend's HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., was meeting Guy Davis. While it's easy for a lot of artists to get jaded with their fans (Brian Bolland spent most of Sunday hiding behind signs warning fans that he wasn't in the mood to autograph comics*) the times I've met Davis I found him warm and talkative.

A little background on this sketch: I've been going back and forth between Davis and Matt Wagner on a single 8X10 page as they've  taken turns drawing characters from Sandman Mystery Theater. Davis was first, followed by Wagner — who drew The Tarantula, the villain from the first story arc.

On Sunday, Davis contributed the third sketch to my "tag team" page of art, which you can see above (I mentioned the original here a few months ago.) After racking my brain last week over which character to ask him to draw, it finally occurred to me that Dian Belmont was the best choice. I don't know who will be next, but Davis has put the ball back in Matt Wagner's court.

(* I thought it worth noting that I respected Bolland's rather public display of privacy and didn't pester him. It's very likely he's neither jaded nor callous and simply had work to do. It's just frustrating to attend a convention and find one of the guests you were anxious to meet to be consistently unavailable. For example, I've attended a number of HeroesCon events where Bill Sienkiewicz was a guest and have yet to even lay eyes on the man.)

Pop Art: Muad'Dib by Tom Scioli

 I didn't have many plans for the HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend. I knew I wanted to ask Guy Davis to add a sketch to my Sandman Mystery Theater page, but I also wanted to commission a sketch of Dune's Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib from Tom Scioli.

Scioli is the artist on Godland, which is an homage to Jack Kirby's bronze age "big ideas" books. If you haven't read it, check it out ... it's a blast. (He also has a creator-owned property called The Myth of 8-Opus which you can read about here.)

After getting a small pencil sketch of Omega the Unknown from Scioli last year, it occurred to me that his Kirby-drenched style would be an interesting match with Dune. I caught him with a free hour on Sunday and he drew the image you see above, which is based on designs from the David Lynch movie. To your left is a photo of him working on the piece.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Blade the Vampire Killer by ...  I don't know. Again, I didn't do a good job keeping track of who drew Blade for me that year at the HeroesCon. I think there were 6 or 7 Blade sketches drawn for me that day, so the details got lost in the shuffle.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

The Demon by Matt Wagner. Matt's one of the few guys who's been able to make Etrigan work (the others are Alan Moore, Garth Ennis and, of course, Jack Kirby) and I hold out hopes that he'll return to the character if for no other reason than to wash the taste of that John Byrne series out of my mouth.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Nightwing by Phil Jimenez. I caught Phil at his table at the HeroesCon a few years back just a few minutes before the end of the day (you could see the doors closing as they ushered folks out.)

Nightwing is one of the few characters I'm fanatical about, along with Daredevil, Aquaman and, of course, Batman.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Daredevil by artist Anthony Hightower, a fellow South Carolinian (and fellow Dune fan.) This is one of two sketches I have by Anthony. The other is of Jack Nicholson as The Joker, which I'll post eventually.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Blade the Vampire Killer, as drawn by .... well, I don't know. I jotted his name down somewhere and lost the note.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Yoda by Thomas Boatwright (I think.) I had a hard time getting artists to commit to sketches that year at the HeroesCon. Admittedly, I didn't do a good job of keeping up with those who were kind enough to draw me a little something.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

I've got a handful of sketches that fall into two categories: 1: I think I know who drew it, and 2: I have no idea who drew it. This is Type 1. I'm pretty sure this was drawn by Chuck Wojtkiewicz, but I'm not 100% sure of that. This was the year I didn't bring a sketch book and simply bought a bunch of 25 cent comics and used their backing boards for sketches.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

What do you know? I actually have some convention sketches that make sense: The Sandman, as drawn by Guy Davis, and the Tarantula by Matt Wagner. Now, if I could get John Watkiss to draw The Brute ...

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Looking through the handful of sketches I own, there aren't a lot of conventional pieces. Sure, there are a few (Kyle Baker's drawing of The Shadow, for instance) but I don't have a lot of superhero art drawn by regular superhero artists.

The one above is among the lot I'd call typical of my collection: Superman, by Georges Jeanty.

Now, the request was for a sketch of Christoper Reeve as Superman. Likenesses are very difficult to do, and I've even had some professional artists pass on some requests because they don't trust their abilities to capture someone's likeness.

So I wasn't surprised - or even disappointed - when a convention sketch didn't look like Reeve's spitting image. What's funny is that Jeanty has spent a lot of time over the last few years drawing Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Dark Horse. It's not my imagination that his sketch of Superman looks a little like Xander, is it?

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Back in 1996, nobody gave a crap about Steve Epting. I always liked his work but had heard quite a few people disparage him over the years (mostly, I suspect, because his early stuff wasn't especially good.)

Epting developed into a great comic artist and is one of the most influential figures of the last 10 years. There's almost a cottage industry inside Marvel devoted to knocking off his style. At last year's HeroesCon his line for autographs was so long that I didn't bother trying to meet him. When I got this sketch back in 1996, though, when there were no lines.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Here's an older one: Barnabas Collins by Casey Jones. If I remember correctly this was drawn back at the Charlotte HeroesCon in 1994 on the same day as my Judge Dredd sketch.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Blade, by Paul Maybury. I had no idea who Maybury was when I asked him to draw this, but have since discovered he's done some really great work — such as Aqua Leung.

Pop Art: From my personal stash

Ironically, Iggy Pop is the latest addition to the Pop Art series. This was drawn by Philip Xavier. I had a variety of musicians I wanted to get sketched, but wanted the artists to tackle someone they were comfortable with. From Glenn Danzig, Iggy Pop and Johhny Cash, Xavier selected Iggy.

This sketch is based on the famous Mick Rock photo on the cover of Raw Power.

Below is video of one of the greatest moments in rock history.