Spiderman Sighting!

Here's a shot of Spiderman outside of a toy store in Brevard, North Carolina.

The Wrightson Completionist: Part 10

The tenth in a series of posts highlighting oddball Bernie Wrightson items in my collection.

As part of my public service, I like to highlight weird items I've had trouble finding in my 25 years of collecting Bernie Wrightson's artwork. This installment features an item listed on Wrightson checklists as "DTFF Progress Report, 1972." I've never seen one of these for sale and I was lucky to pick this up last week from a good friend of mine. It probably belonged to his older brother who would have gone to this convention. It is an eight page (two sheets, folded over) flyer on the progress of the 1973 Detroit Trip Fan Fair Comic Convention. You can see Bernie's contribution to the flyer below.




This drawing was also used as bookplate in the limited hardcover edition of The Reaper of Love.

Thursday Night Trash

Cover for Bedroom Beat by R.C. Gold, 1962. Unknown artist.




Cover for Sex Swinger by Andrew Blake, 1963. Unknown artist.




Movie poster for Campus Swingers, 1973.



Movie poster for Candy Stripe Nurses, 1974.

Heroes Convention 2010

I attended the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find comic book convention in Charlotte, NC on June 5. I found out I was going at the last minute, and didn't have time to really go over the guest list.

This was the first large comic convention I have attended in about 12+ years. One thing I liked about it was that it was mostly about comic books. I've been reading about what a media event the San Diego Con has become since I attended in the 1980's, and it just doesn't sound like as much fun.

I really don't buy comic books much anymore, but a lot of the back issue prices seemed pretty reasonable to me. I picked up a stack of Gold Key Ripley's Believe It or Not comics at what I consider a bargain price. The best part of the convention for me was to see and catch up with Bernie Wrightson (see a couple posts below for the drawing I bought from him). It was really good to see Bernie happy and productive.

The biggest surprise was seeing Michael Golden. Next to Wrightson and Kaluta, he was one of my first favorite artists when I started collecting comics in the early 1980's. His work on Micronauts and Dr. Strange really stood out to me.

It was also nice to catch up with Scott Hampton. I asked him what he had done recently I should look for at the show. He suggested The Life Eaters and I was not disappointed. I'll try and post a review of it here later this week.

I'm definitely planning to go next year. Until then, here's some pictures:




The Convention Floor




Bernie Wrightson. His wife Liz on the left, writer Steve Niles on the right.




Michael Golden.




Scott Hampton working on a Batman painting. I believe this was for the art auction.




Comics For Sale.




Painting of The Thing from the art auction. I don't know who did this, but I like it.




Some art for the auction.




I have no idea who they are supposed to be, but they were happy to pose for a picture.




Darth Maul.




Star Wars Dixie Cups.




Costumed couple. I believe that is the Black Widow on the left. The guy: Nick Fury? I'm so out of it with superhero comics.




Comics for Sale.




Mike Mignola.




The Riddler.




And...it wouldn't be a comic con without an Imperial Storm Trooper walking around.

Al Williamson: March 21, 1931 - June 13, 2010

Comic book legend and nice guy Al Williamson died on Saturday, June 12. I met Al once at a comic show in Greensboro in 1990. He was extremely engaging and generous with his time. Some better write-ups and recaps of his career here and here.





His classic collaboration with Roy Krenkel: Food For Thought.

Al Williamson on Pencil/Ink: a Comic Book Artists Blog.

My New Wrightson Drawing

Below is a drawing I purchased from Bernie Wrightson at the Heroes Con in Charlotte last weekend:



It is a concept sketch for a cover Bernie did for a Vertigo titled American Vampires. Apparently this is a "variant" cover for issue #2. I'm not sure exactly what that means except for the fact the comic is a lot more expensive. Once again I'm reminded why I don't buy new comics much anymore. (Of course that didn't stop me from ordering a copy.) Below is a scan of the finished cover art from the Vertigo blog.




I will soon have some pictures of the con posted when I get my camera back from they guy whose car I left it in.

Sea Monster!

Here's a really cool painting of a sea monster. I don't know anything about it.

Enrique Torres

Enrique Torres (aka Enric and Enrich) is best known for his paintings of Vampirella. Here's some other stuff by him:




Princess Leia, n.d.




Cover for Creepy #115, 1980.





Dejah Thoris, n.d.