My favorite comics, or Oh gosh Oh Golly Oh Wow!

I remember being twelve and I had just started buying comics. A Spider-Man book here and there, maybe an issue or two of Punisher but I never followed or collected a series seriously and I never paid any attention to creative teams. I remember going to House of Armand comics in Oceanside, CA and walking the aisles, smelling the newsprint and spending hours in there. I loved it. One day I stumbled upon Excalibur #1, a new and expensive book from Marvel. It was one of Marvel's first $1.50 books. After one glance at the cover, I knew I had to have it.



I knew who Nightcrawler and Shadowcat were vaguely, but I had no idea why they were not with the X-Men (I had not read the Fall of The Mutants storyline yet). I did know that the guy in the Union Jack costume was totally awesome and any story that took place somewhere outside of New York or Gotham was new to me. To this day I think this cover is perfect, and this is how I was introduced to one of my all time favorite art teams of Alan Davis and Paul Neary and the first writer I ever knew by name, Chris Claremont.

As seen in the original Prestige Format one-shot prior to Excalibur #1, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were recuperating on Muir Island after being injured in the Fall of the Mutants. Captain Britain and Meggan were shacking up in a lighthouse (best headquarters ever) and I forgot how Phoenix came into play, I think she was fighting the warwolves in London and that attracted the rest of the members to come to her aid. After their first mission they banded together to be the X-Men of Europe, Excalibur. The first 9 issues or so were absolutely perfect and it was easily, far and away my favorite comic. They sort of lost me when they did a twelve issue story arc where they bounced around time and space. Excalibur turned me onto X-Men and from there New Mutants and forward from that. If it wasn't for this specific cover, I don't know if I would be drawing comics today honestly. So thanks to Marvel, Alan, Paul and Chris for untold hours of enjoyment.



Shadowcat (Kitty Pride) has never been handled as well as she was with this team, in my opinion.


I forgot to mention the time traveling head-thing Widget who was part of the team, as was Lockheed the dragon. If I had a chance to do my version of the team I think I would go with the original line-up, minus Widget but add a Pete Wisdom.

UFC 116 predictions

Here are my thoughts on UFC 116 going down tomorrow night in Las Vegas. I'm only picking the fights I feel are interesting or I have a rooting interest in.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos (155lbs) - I think Sotiropoulos is on the rise, in his last win against Joe Daddy he displayed beautiful grappling and BJJ technique. Pelligrino annoys me to death as well, so I'm picking Soto here, hopefully with a submission against another BJJ black belt, but most likely he will win a decision. Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (205lbs) - K-Sos was winning their last fight when it was stopped by a bad cut caused by a headbutt. Either way he would have taken that fight I think and I believe he takes this one as well. Bonnar has never impressed me. Soszynski via unanimous decision.

Matt Brown vs. Chris Lytle (170 lbs) - I've always liked the Immortal, and this fight with "Lights-Out" has fight of the night bonus almost guaranteed. They both like to tee off but I think Brown may be more technical although Lytle could pull off a submission as well. I'll go with the guy with the better nickname and say Matt "The Immortal" Brown by split decision.

Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (185lbs) - Neither guy excites me. I like a slugfest as much as the next guy but Leben relies on haymakers and Akiyama didn't impress me in his last fight with Alan Belcher. Leben is taking this fight on short notice and just fought 2 weeks ago, he has a solid chin but two fights inside of 15 days may be a bit much. Akiyama is the favorite, I think he takes it by TKO.

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC Heavyweight Championship) - With only 12 fights under his belt, Carwin has almost 3 times as many as Lesnar. Lesnar has fought an over-hyped Frank Mir twice and split those two, an aging and undersized Randy Coutoure and Heath Herring who is no longer with the promotion. Not exactly a murderer's row. Carwin is in the same boat though with only Gonzaga and Mir as top-tier competition. Mir has faced them both and was knocked out by them both. Both has wrestling credentials and both are almost the same size. This is a very tough fight to call. I'm picking Carwin, I think his boxing is going to be slightly better and that is going to make the difference in this fight. I don't know if Lesnar even gets it to the ground without eating a few shots first and that may be all the difference. Shane Carwin by TKO, round 1.

HERO

I haven't done much in my short time in comics, not nearly as much as I have wanted to, but I still have plenty of time fortunately. Next to having my first book ever picked up by a publisher, released and optioned for a movie (VILLAINS from Viper Comics), the thing I'm most proud of is my work with the HERO Initiative. I've talked about them here before, I tend to do sketches for them every Free Comic Book Day and I have also done sketch-covers for their series of art books in conjunction with Marvel Comics. They are a wonderful organization that helps comic creators with financial and medical needs. Jim McLauchlin runs things over there and recently wrote an article for Wizard magazine about Wally Wood. He posted the article on their blog and was kind enough to send out an email about it. I'm glad I took the time to read it and I hope you do as well. If you read my blog then I assume you are a comic book fan as well and this is a wonderful and sad article about the life of an amazing artist. Wood's work was beautiful but his life was not perfect, much like the rest of us.

Click here to read the whole article.

The HERO Initiative

Please, when and if you can, think about donating to The Hero Initiative.

What am I worth?

If we are talking about the value I bring to the world around me in terms of pleasantness, then my net worth is probably right around $-2.33. But I am talking about my art, or more specifically my comic/cartooning artwork. I don't really consider myself an artist, I never mastered painting or sculpting or any other fine art discipline. My work will never hang in a museum, but some of it does hang on people's walls of their studios or homes, and that's pretty cool.

Sometimes I get paid to draw comics, sometimes not, but the real value of my art comes in the form of how much someone will pay for it. I hope I don't sound greedy or anything, I know my place in the pecking order of comic book artists currently working out there today. I often draw for fun and for free, but if it's my goal to make a career, I need to be paid for my work. An aspiring plumber will only unclog so many septics for free until he feels he should be rewarded for his work. Same rules apply here. I attended a con last year and I did free sketches for kids. I was happy to do it, I have kids, some of them are neat little people. In the end though, the majority of the drawings I did ended up being for infants or toddlers, with the parents proudly proclaiming they wanted a sketch of Wolverine. Somewhere between crapping himself and drooling, I doubt that kid asked his Daddy for a Wolverine sketch (yellow costume no-less). I didn't mind the sketching, it was a challenge and I agreed to do it. Over the course of the 2 days however, not one parent offered to buy a commission, a comic or a con sketch of their own. My point is, because I was doing sketches for free, I was given no value by the people.

So instances like the one above cloud my view about what I should be asking for my work. At conventions I do sketches for $15. I think that's a fair price for my 20 or so minutes worth of work to provide the buyer with a unique piece of art. Sometimes I get people who say I should charge more and actually force more money into my hands, sometimes I get people who make faces if I don't do a free sketch for them. I do include a free quick sketch if they buy a copy of my comic or sketchbook, but that would still cost money and they are not interested in that. I usually take on commissions ranging from $30-$50 and I sell most of my original art for only $10-25 bucks. This is a very fair price I think, and I always appreciate the customers who come back every year and support me.

I guess what prompted this entire hot-air filled post was that earlier today I was thinking about lining up some customers for some custom sketchcard art. I have a total of 4 artist return cards from work I did for 5finity cards that I am looking to sell so I tried to gauge my value and check eBay. It was then that I noticed a card I did for a panel at the Phoenix Comic-Con, a card that was raffled off and given away for free was posted up there for a $150 buy-it-now. The person who owns the card has every right to sell it of course, but they are seriously over-estimating the value of my art. So I estimate it at more than free, they obviously have a much higher opinion of me, god bless them. I have a strong feeling that this person would never buy any work from me at a convention however, but I hope they get something for their hard work in setting up that listing.

Okay, the little bit of curiosity and self evaluation is over. All that said, I am currently taking commissions for full size pieces and sketchcards. Let me know if you are interested. super75comics(at)gmail(dot)com.

Projects that never happened....

Here is a list of projects that I blogged about roughly four years ago or so. Most were unpaid, some offered great opportunity I thought and others just seemed fun. I thought it might be fun (and sad) to go back and update these projects now. Original list in red, current status in bold.

October 2006
- 10 page bonus story for the Villains trade
Finished & included in Villains:Thick as Thieves TPB
- Compose and put together Villains trade – Deadline November 1
Ditto.

November 2006
- Illustrations for Actionopolis book. – Deadline November 30
Never went beyond a handful of illustrations, mostly my fault for not being able to really supply what they wanted. Would have been fun to work with Shannon Denton & Doug Moench.
- Legendary Anthology Project Pages – Deadline January 1
I turned in my story but the anthology never got picked up anywhere, I eventually ran my story in the Hollow one-shot I put out through my Super75Comics brand.

December 2006
- "Jackpot” pitch*
Never got picked up, I was just a hired gun on this one.
- Unnamed Alter-Cody pitch
I can't even really remember what this was, Grant and I shot around so many ideas. Probably no art ever done for it.

January 2007
- Launch Top-Secret web-comic - I did launch a very short lived web-comic called Coral City Aeronauts but I burned out on it. I plan to go back to it someday as a series of short stories.

Projects waiting to hear back from publishers -

Empty Glasses – Written by me, Art by Federico Milella
This one had legs. A couple US publishers liked it and an Italian publisher was interested as well. The artist got bogged down by work and it sort of lumbered off into limbo. It was shame.

The Society of Modern Vengeance – by myself and others, tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release. Again, I had a publisher interested initially but it never really took off, still an idea I like and a title I LOVE. Developed with Adam Cogan, the writer of Villains.

So this just goes to show how often projects fall through, that why I have learned not to talk about them too much until I can see a realistic release date. With that said, I just wrapped a new pitch that I think has a good shot and I'm about to move on to illustrating a new graphic novel for a small publisher, but one with an established fan base so hopefully that all works out accordingly. Don't forget to check out My Daily Sketchjam for all my daily sketches, I've recently posted a few teasers, some Legionnaires and a bunch more.

Thanks!

So I got a big spike in visits yesterday and some new followers to the blog, I assume many of you found your way over here thanks to Dark Horse comics re-tweeting (what an odd world we live in that I just typed that) my B.P.R.D piece I did yesterday. Anyone that knows me has heard me say that Hellboy is one book I would probably draw for free. I think Mignola created the best character since the golden age and it's no surprise that he has been around almost 20 years and is still insanely popular among fans and creators alike. He just works, design wise and story wise. The B.P.R.D. is just as great and I hope someday I get to work on those characters in some capacity so if any of you have any pull with Scott Allie, you know I will appreciate it. Here is that BPRD piece and some random Hellboy sketches I have done over the last couple years.

My Favorite Artists

Every once in a while I like to write about things that I like. Chicken katsu, Irish car bombs (the beverage, not the terrorist act), beer, things like that. I also occasionally write about artists that I am currently in love with. I love their art I mean, although many of them are fine upstanding citizens, no doubt about that. I rarely, if ever, buy comics anymore and haven't in a while but I will buy certain comics because of the artist involved. Today's artist is someone I am lucky enough to call a friend, but don't let that turn you off, he's the real deal. Scott Godlewski is the shit, the bees knees, one of the best of the new guys. His work is mainstream enough to fit any DC or Marvel book without being a carbon copy "house" style ripoff. He is realistic enough that his characters and settings all look real without being so realistic that it looks flat. Most of all, his stuff is exciting. He's currently in the middle of a series for BOOM! comics called Codebreakers and then he's moving onto their new ongoing Dracula book this fall. I would otherwise never read or buy a comic about Dracula. Check out his gallery on deviantArt.com or his website.



If this kid isn't on an X-Men, Avengers or Batman book within 2 years I will have lost all faith in comic editors and fans. He is part of what is good about the new wave of artists.

Phoenix Comic-Con Wrap!

I had a great time at Phoenix Comicon this weekend and I just wanted to say a big thanks to Matt Solberg and everyone who helped out at the con. I had a lot of fun sketching for and talking to everyone who came by. Some of the highlights for me were meeting and chatting with Tim Bradstreet and Cory Walker, drawing a bunch of Thors without helmets and hanging out with friends Andy Kuhn and the amazing Rob Osborne, who I only get to see at conventions. Another highlight was just getting together with the wonderful local artists we have here in the valley. Dan Bradford, Dan Davis, Ben Glendenning, Tony Parker, Patrick Scherberger, Shannon Denton, Jim Hanna and the whole lot. We are lucky to have such a great community. Sorry for all the name dropping. I'm putting up some of my con-sketches up on The Daily Sketchjam!


Me, sketching for Thomas of the Geek Speak boards, him and Bob are two wonderful and supportive gentlemen.

A Deadpool for a lil' Pool.

Jim Hanna

Patrick and Shannon must have called each other that morning so they could coordinate. It's cute.

Phoenix Comic-Con

I will be at Phoenix Comicon this weekend at Table T54. (MAP) I will have copies of my comics as well as my new sketchbook and some brand new prints for sale. I will be doing commission sketches as well and doing free, quick head sketches with purchase of a sketchbook. I will also be part of a panel discussing the importance of social networking for the freelance creator on Friday @ 4:30 with Scott Godlewski, Matt Bennet and Ben Glendenning. I will also have a new short story debuting in Mysterious Adventure Magazine, available at Booth #T129

Come out and say hello!

Bisbee Trip

I highly recommend anyone in Arizona take a weekend trip to Bisbee, AZ. 100+ year old architecture and friendly bars make it one of my new favorite places.

Update

Just some random thoughts. I am extrememly bored by most comic art I see in online previews. Many book and styles look so similiar and watered down that they just seem to flow together without anything popping out. When I was a kid getting into comics we had some of the most awesome and differing styles available. Rick Leonardi, John Romita Jr., Paul Smith, Alan Davis, Brett Blevins, and Mike Mignola to name just a few. If you are unfamiliar with any of those names, please Google them, you'll thank me later. The artists out now who do truly energetic and unique work are in the minority and mostly on smaller, less publicized books. Guys like Eric Canete, Sean Murphy, Dan Panosian, Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez and Dave Johnson are still keeping it real and keep me inspired. I just wish there was more reward for these guys who do great work. Google those guys too, you'll be glad you did.

Anyway, I picked up some calligraphy markers the other day and sketched this. Really loving that Alex Toth vibe here, his marker work is a huge inspiration to me. More later!

Recent commissions

Here are a couple recent commissions I've done. All traditionally done with ink and marker. I'm still open for more commissions as I try to line up some new work, so fee free to contact me if you are interested.

FCBD ReCap

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day 2010. I had a great time doing some sketches at Atomic Comics and look forward to it again next year. Here are a few of the sketches that I did.

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I sat next to artist/writer/editor Jay Fotos.


Artist Jim Hanna and "friend".


See everyone next year!

Free Comic Book Day!

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! I will be Signing & Sketching at the Atomic Comics in Mesa. Every year Atomic likes to help out The Hero Initiative so this year we will be doing sketches in exchange for a $10 donation to the HERO Initiative. The sketches will come on these nifty over-sized sketchcards. Sketches for kids 10 and under are free but will not be on the cards. On top of doing some totally awesome kickass sketches, I will also have copies of the Villains trade paperback and my brand new sketchbook on sale for only $5. Can't beat that with a stick.


Click on the images for full size.

New Interview

Recently I did a short and fun little interview with Tim over at The Marvel Smartass blog and I also contributed to Tim's other site 5 Minute Marvels where we tackled Atom Eve from Invincible. Please check them both out.

Alphabet Series

So in case you don't follow my Daily Sketchjam - here is what I have been posting for the last couple days.

A is for Alita

B is for Bizzaro

C is for Cable

D is for Daredevil


After I reached the milestone post of 100, I decide to do a series of Alphabet sketches, so for each letter I will pick a character that starts with the letter and try to incorporate the letter's shape somewhere in the sketch. Wish me luck and check the Daily Sketchjam...... Daily!

UFC 112

Only two fights intrigue me on this card. The are the two title fights and I'm picking both champs. Outside of the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions, the UFC is having a hard time finding contenders for the lower weight classes. BJ Penn should dominate Edgars via TKO, or rear naked choke. I anticipate BJ winning the stand up but if Edgar lasts into the 3rd he will probably take him down and finish him off. Damien Maia is my favorite BJJ fighter right now and probably the best in the world. Sadly he has to get Anderson Silva to the ground long enough to work a submission and I don't see that happening. I would be happy if Maia did win however as it would drastically free up that division and allow Silva to take on huge fights in other weight classes.

If it's art you are looking for - look no further!

Website Update!

I updated www.super75comics.com, please check it out and let me know what you think!

UFC111 picks + some art

If you haven't been checking out the Daily SketchJAM then you have been missing most of my art postings. I am currently working on a new short story for The Phoenix Comic-Con, so I will be quiet with art postings here for the next couple weeks, but I post there everyday along with a couple other fantastic artists.

I sketched this and then the awesome Derek Toye threw some colors on it.


This was a commission for http://heyoscarwilde.com/

Here are my real quick, non-researched UFC 111 picks - Winners in Bold.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy: St-Pierre is annoyingly great at everything, he doesn't have knockout power but could catch Hardy in a submission or most likely will grind out a decision.

Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir: A lot of people are picking Frank Mir here but I like Shane Carwin. Mir got destroyed by Brock Lesnar in their last fight and has since beaten a very beatable Cheik Kongo and now he gets right back into the title picture? Mir did have an impressive win over Nogueira but even that looks suspect after Cain Velasquez dismantled Big Nog last month. So I am going with Carwin via TKO.

Jon Fitch vs. Ben Saunders: Saunders is getting a big step up in competition on short notice to take on Fitch since Alves was refused a license to fight. Fitch had been training for a short stocky kickboxer and now with only 3 days notice is taking on a very long fighter with an incredible thai clinch game. I have always liked Killa B and I've always found Fitch to be a very tough and durable opponent, but very boring as well. This fight either goes to Fitch by decision or Saunders by TKO. I'm counting on Saunders.

Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham: Diaz via submission, Round 2

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown: Brown via TKO.

Emerald City ReCap

Emerald City was a blast. Seattle is one of my favorite cities in the world so it is always a great place to visit. The con was packed both days and I was able to meet some great people from all over the globe who attended the con. Big thanks to everyone who bought a poster, sketchbook or comic from me. Your support makes it all worth it. I did not get to visit with as many of the other guests as I would have liked to and I am way too cool to name drop the guys I did chat with. Big, Big, Big thanks to Brian Meredith and the whole staff of ECCC and all the cool Vancouverites and Pacific Northwesterners for stopping by.

The Good.

Books I picked up: Anchor by Phil Hester & Brian Churilla and Incredibles Vol.1 (Boom Studios) and Polly and The Pirates Vol.1 (Oni Press)
Beer I enjoyed: Rainer
Best Food I ate: A tie between ramen at Uwajimaya and homemade curry at my friend's house.
Best Bar: Bimbos Mexican Joint, they had $6.50 pitchers of Rainer.
Music that got me by on the plane: Johnny Cash Live @ Folsom Prison & The Arctic Monkeys.
Best Airline: Alaska return flight.
Best Host & show assistant: The pimp in the hat below.

The Bad.
Flight there, passengers and crew of US Airways. Worst company and service ever.

Next con is Phoenix comic-con, I'll post about that when we get closer to it in May.