Final Notes

I hope that you've enjoyed the videos, but I do have a few quick observations on The San Diego Comic Con.

I went to a few panels and noted that the females who indentified themselves as Librarians, had pink hair!

The most popular items at the Con was the enormous, fake Jabba the Hutt Statue and the Yoda Backpack.

Is anyone hiring pencilers? Inkers? Even with all the money soaking up the place, I'm not sure.

My Final Report from Comic-Con!

It's me and the Stormtroopers! They are corrupt and I confront them!

More from San Diego!

I spoke with Simon Furman, the much-in-demand writer of the Transformers Comic! I cornered him on Friday morning!

My Report from Comic-Con!

I am sure you will read many reports from the convention in San Diego this week, but none have the same hard-hitting investigative style that you will find here! I blow the lid off Comic-Con!

Spectacle

In the film Ben-Hur, There's the chariot scene with a cast of thousands. Comic-Con reminds me of that scene.

My Conan Idea

A few years ago, when Dark Horse Comics started printing Conan, I had an idea for a story that I wanted to pitch on spec. I wanted to do it in Gouache and watercolor! I called my friend Vince, an excellent painter! We have collaborated before on a similar project and I wrote a few sample pages. It didn't work out. I sketched a few pages but then I got distracted by another job. I think it would have been fun.

Sketch of the day!

And what is the sketch of the day?

Shorthand for hands

I worked in animation for a few years and I learned a lot. This scan of hand positions was a cool learning tool. It's like a shorthand to drawing hands!

My little Garden

I have a little garden that I am proud of. it's more like a few pots on a fence. My friend Cat gave me a Strawberry plant that I was able to nurture, and now it's bearing fruit! I love watching things grow.

The Secret Defenders and Me

I came across a blog that talked about Tom Grindberg and his work on an issue of The Secret Defenders. That book was about Dr.Strange and his efforts to gather different heroes to combat evil. It was an early 90's attempt to bring back the old Defenders group, but with a twist! It was a good idea. I was there at the beginning.

Mike Rockwitz was Editor of the book. I was the regular inker of another book he was editing, Nick Fury, Agent of Shield and he wanted me to jump to SD. I was all for doing it, but I wanted to ink the final issue of Shield. I felt that I could do both jobs, but I wasn't given a choice.

When I got the first issue of The Secret Defenders, I was disappointed with the pencils. The penciler was just starting out and I could see that he was using a lot of 'swipe' shots insted of doing the hard work. The figures looked awkward and if you take a look at the 7th issue of the book, you will see some strange Michael Golden swipes. I'm no snob, I believe in photo reference and research and doing as little work as possible. I also believe in quality control.

So anyway, The Secret Defenders sold well in the beginning. But things went south and the penciler fell out of favor. Tom Grindbergs' art had been floating around the office for a little while. I had inked an 8 page Beta Ray Bill story that Tom drew in a "Magnola-esqe" style. He put in some powerful lines and it was different! I inked Tom on a few books. Daredevil, Spidey 2099 and a great looking story about MORG, a herald for Galactus. I remember him changing his art style constantly!
My opinion is he would change to whatever style that would get him work. Not a bad thing per se, but you would see a difference every two issues. From a Neal Adams style to a Mignola style to a mix of both. I think I was able to keep up and I wound up working with him for a while.

My favorite SD story was issue 14. It was the last of a 3 issue story arc that featured 4 villains deceived by Thanos. They were sent to steal a powerful item, then Thanos strands them to take the blame. Nice story by Ron Marz.

The book changed editors. New direction and all that. The new editor wanted me to stay on, but there were other jobs to do. I helped ink half of issue 18, but it was over another new penciller. I did my best to help out. Take a look at the pencils next to the inks.

Check out the above link to read the discussion about The Secret Defenders #9. Someone made a comment about my inking and I thought it was unfair. That guy has no idea.

Changing City

I picked up an old Life magazine and I saw this photo essay on crime in the city. The mag was from November 1971 and the writer spent some time with people living on East 78th in Manhattan. Crime was so bad back then, the residents were afraid to leave the apartment. Things would only get worse.

I remember playing softball in Central Park in the early 90s. The team would head to the eastside around 86th st. to hang out and get an after game bite. I never felt like the city was on lock down at all. It seems like the city was as grey as the photos in LIFE shows. If there were any bad people on 78th street, I hope the high rents got rid of them.

Harry Potter

Today was a good day. I bought a set of new tires for the car, had a nice brunch in Santa Monica complete with people watching and I saw the latest Harry Potter film. I enjoyed it! No spoilers here, but I will say that it's darker than the previous films. As for darker I noticed something about the actor Daniel Radcliffe.

As he grows up, I see fewer photos of him with the rest of the cast. No more shots of him with a stupid owl. For example, here are two magazine covers. The Entertainment Weekly has Radcliffe in his movie outfit, but with a menacing kind of light above and behind him. The Details Magazine has brighter light, but that facial hair says no good brother-in-law that won't get a job.

I guess Warner Bros. is trying to sell a movie about wizards again. It worked with me!

iTunes

There was a TV show about Les Paul, the Jazz guitarist. After the show I bought some of his music from iTunes. Buying music online is a little too easy.

Underdog Bites

I got something in the mail from Disney. It's just a postcard advertising their latest movie playing at the El Capitan Theatre. It's a great place to see a film for sure, but I have no interest in seeing the next film opening in August.

Underdog opens Aug. 3rd. It's a live action film based on the cartoon series from the 1960s. The cartoon was kinda funny, why they need to make a movie about it, who knows. The hero would fly and fight crime and everything else, but when he would get in a bind or lose his power, he would open a compartment in his ring and pop a special pill to restore his strength!

Pop a pill to restore his strength? It would happen in every show and that's probably why you can find it on TV anymore. It was not so strange for that era in animation when The Flintstones sold cigarettes and Racial stereotypes on Saturday Morning shows were normal.

My beef with the movie is that there won't be any ring on the dogs hand. That's bogus! You would think Disney would show a few cartoons before the movie. Instead, they have some woman and her stunt dog.

Come on Disney!

Online Shopping

I have been buying a lot of stuff online lately. It started with Banana Republic. Once I got used to my slacks arriving 3 days later than promised, it was a cinch. Then it was ITunes. Looking for 'Jeff Becks 'Bolero'? It's only 99 cents! It was easy to buy 'Battle of the Bands' on Amazon. Now I hold in my hands another Amazon purchase. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin!

I must have been a kid when I first saw this flick on a Saturday. Before Cable TV, the local NY station would play Kung-Fu movies all day. When I found out about the restored movie on sale, I had to get it. I won't ruin the ending, but I'll tell you that the good guys win!

Lucky Day

I thought that I might be off of work these last few days. No such luck. I think it's the awkward wednesday holiday. I flirted with the idea of going to Las Vegas this weekend because of the once in a century day this Sat.

7-7-7! Can you believe it? How can anyone not make a bet today? I know that the streets will be clogged with wedding processions, so maybe it's best to stay out of Vegas. Oh boy...I gotta get lucky today!

Burbank Kwik E Mart

Today I visited a Burbank 7-Eleven store that was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart for the day! I love the power that advertising wields, so I waited 10 minutes to enter. They offered Simpsons inspired products like Buzz Cola and Squishee Drinks at a 7-Eleven price! It was a great idea to promote The Simpsons movie and I bought into it! I don't know if there are any such Kwik-E-Mart stores near you, but if you see one, stop in.

Membership

it's been a while since I've worked in Animation. I prefer the creative freedom of drawing comics, but every now and again I'll check the Animation Guild Blog.

Heroes are in Fashion!

These photos are from Paris Fashion Week. The designer, Felipe Olievira Baptista, has been influenced by comics. My question is for the ladies; would you wear this on the street? Am I missing the point to Haute Couture?

Pink Taco

There is a new place to hang out in LA. I remember going to the Pink Taco restaurant in Las Vegas. I caught a quick bite in the Hard Rock Casino inbetween Blackjack games. Now there is a new Pink Taco, located in Century City! It just opened, so I'll visit soon.

I found the concept drawing in a magazine and it's close to the finished bar. Except the finished bar has a lot more pink.