1983 - Anatomy of a cover - Marvel Fanfare #3

A very cool homage to Avengers #221

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/04/30/avengers-assemble-who-wil-be-the-greatest-members-of-the-avengers/

Drawn by Chip Zdarsky!

1982 - Frank Miller

Photo snagged from wikipedia...

1988 - Anatomy of a cover - Marvel Fanfare #43

(http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=69191&gsub=8249)

Classic X-Men #20 frontpiece

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=11040&ArtistId=840&Details=1&From=Room)

1979 - Moon Knight House Ad

Boston Comic Con 2012

 

I was spoiled last year because of my 40th birthday last year and enjoyed a week at the San Diego Comic Con. This year, however, with a reno looming, I was looking for a cheaper and closer option. Narrowing down the options, I had to choose between Chicago's C2E2 and the Boston Comic Con. C2E2 conflicted with Toronto's Wizard World so Boston was the choice. My buddy John and I packed up the car last Friday and headed East.

After a 10 hour road trip the previous day, we were happy for the short commute into downtown Boston on Saturday morning. Although we were still laughing at how the US border guard had grilled us about the show and even had us open the trunk to inspect our comic books! Turned out he was a bit of a collector himself and really liked the old EC hardcover reprints. Parking was pricier than Toronto at $27US. But, it was across the street from the Hynes Convention Center and we had a lot of hardcover comic books to get signed. There was a good sized line up about an hour before the show opened up.

Cleverly, they split up the link into non-ticket holder and ticket holder. And for the ticket holder line-up, they marched down the line and scanned the tickets and distributed wrist bands. Fan Expo could learn a lot from this tactic. At 10am, the doors open and everyone in the ticket holder line walked right in showing their wrists bands. A simple thing but yet so effective.

Joltin' Joe Sinnott

Legendary Joe Sinnott was a class act, a gentleman through and through. The 86 year old smiled and talked as he signed all our Marvel Mastwork hardcovers.

Al Feldstein

Then we moved over a few tables to another living legend, Al Feldstein, the creative force beyind EC Comics. The other guests of the show ranged from modern (Cliff Chiang, Francis Manipul, Steve Epting, Clayton Crain) to the 1970s and 80s talent (Bob Layton, Bill Sienkiewicz, Michael Golden, Kevin Eastman and Bernie Wrighton). Kevin Eastman had the longest line-up of the show as he was doing free sketches whenever he was beyond his table. The line-up actually grew so long, that they moved his table out into the hallway.

Kevin Eastman

The last signature we need was from Tim Sale. It turned out that he had coming in on a red-eye flight and got to his table late. When he got to his table, he started sketching and refused to do any signing until 6pm that afternoon. Despite only having one item to sign (the Absolute Edition of Batman: Long Halloween), his handlers adamantly refused us. As paying fans (paying to attend the con and buying his books), I believe we deserved a bit more respect. We would have patiently waited for him to take a break from sketching for him to sign. But, being told to come back 5 hours later is rude. The convention is for the fans and a sketch list shouldn’t get in the way of meeting fans, let along leaving them with a lasting impression.

The small venue had a comfortable, intimate feeling, especially since it was focus exclusively on comic books, not the broad array of themes like Fan Expo or Wizard World. A solid show with a legendary guest list well worth the hours in the car!

Ivan Reis

1983 - Anatomy of a cover - Phoenix: The Untold Story

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=504630&GSub=87468

1985 - Original art from New Mutant Special Edition and X-Men Annual #9

The Asgardian Wars from the summer of 1985 will always hold a special place in my heart. It was an amazing coming of age story for the New Mutants. Claremont and Art Adams were at the top of their games...

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=10227&ArtistId=840&Details=1&From=Room)

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=8189&ArtistId=840&Details=1&From=Room)

1985 - Longshot unpublished page

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=9663&ArtistId=840&Details=1&From=Room)

1986 - Longshot commission

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=74405&gsub=9335

1985 - Thing sketch by Joe Sinnott

Met Joe Sinnott today the Boston Comic Con, what a gentleman and class act!

1986 - Cornerbox for The Mighty Thor

This drawing by Walt Simonson was used as the corner box on the covers of The Mighty Thor.

If you recall, this armour was the one crafted to protect his body as it had been cursed by Hela.

Off to the Boston Comic Con!

Hey there, leaving for Boston this morning. Not sure what happened to all my recent posts, there seems to be something wrong with Blogger's scheduler.

Hope you all have a great weekend!
Jason

1984 - Longshot illustration pre-miniseries

Found over at Ferran Delgado's blog (http://ferrandelgado.blogspot.com/2010/08/ilustracion-antigua-de-longshot-obra-de.html?zx=68c78fe003ea9bfc)

Just a lovely piece and its colours are stunning.

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Longshot #4

This is the first of a few Longshot posts. I'm a huge fan of Adams' 1980s art and loved this series. Not to mention that it was written by Ann Nocenti whose writing has always manage to connect with me. I know she's now writing DC's Green Arrow, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Has anyone else picked it up?

Looking at this cover, I can't help but see the lack of backgrounds, but for some reason it never bothered me. The dynamic of the action seems to almost imply that there's too much going on here to bother with backgrounds!


(http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=117502&gsub=17643)

1985 - Unused Longshot #1 covers

Here are a few unpublished versions of Longshot #1 by Art Adams. All three of them are interesting as their backgrounds are so busy compared to issue #4. I can't help but wonder if Adams was running behind on his art chores because of having to redraw it at least three times!

(http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/17adams.html)

And here's the published cover:

1984 - Star Wars #86 page 3

From Bob McLeod's Facebook page:

1984 Star Wars #86 page 3. My breakdowns inked by Tom Palmer, "The Alderaan factor" script by Randy Stradley, lettered by Rick Parker, colored by Glynis Wein.
This was my favorite issue from my run on Star Wars. Here's the journey from my initial 5" x 7" rough to my breakdown pencil, and finally to the printed page in the comic.

Jason: I loved the detail Palmer added to Bob's rough pencils. Keep in mind, Palmer is an overpowering inking, so much so, Bob was supposed to provide full pencils, but Palmer had asked him to simply do breakdowns.

1980 - Dazzler by the Romitas

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=11549&ArtistId=946&Details=1&From=Room)

A bit of 1980s love from Wizard World Toronto

Psylocke and Rogue circa Uncanny X-Men #217.

1982 - Black Cat by Romita Jr.

(http://romitaman.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=10632&ArtistId=946&Details=1&From=Room)

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Alpha Flight #35

Shaman was one of those character in Alpha Flight that they had real difficulty defining. I liked the idea of his daughter becoming the mystic Talisman, but she seemed to have twice the personality that Shaman did. Unfortunately, Shaman's development never really moved beyond the stereotype and his appearance became less and less frequent.

(http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=455175&GSub=71479)

1988 - Marvel Masterworks promo material

1986 - Anatomy of a cover - Alpha Flight #34

This cover featured some lovely work by Mike Mignola. Love how he captured the beauty and style of the Japanese armour. Nice to see a cover where Wolverine doesn't take up 80% of it! :)

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=47060&GSub=85259

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Alpha Flight #28

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=444860&GSub=5668

Some more Paul Smith love

Marvel Fanfare #2 backup 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=18655

Entry in the Official Marvel Comics Handbook

Marvel Age #32

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=138426&GSub=18119

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=651465&GSub=100358

1984 - Machine Man poster

1988 - Excalibur Special Edition Alternate Cover

Here's the published cover:

And here's the alternative version. The only difference I see is the "The Sword Is Drawn" lettering. Also, the credits are in a different colour. And the inking in the alternate version seems darker.