ON THE COUCH with…

ON THE COUCH with Ty Templeton was an idea I came up with last year as a promotional event for Ty, and for The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery. Inspired by The Green Room with Paul Provenza, a great series that reminded me of going out to dinner after a comic con, with Ty and other comic pros trading war stories. And given that Ty is known for his Bun Toons which have, on occasion, triggered a pretty raucous conversation all on their own, ON THE COUCH almost created itself. As The Lounge’s logo is a couch (sofa, davenport, chesterfield…pick your noun!), the name followed just as quickly.

There have been three so far…  The first was for Free Comic Book Day 2012, and featured guests Scott Chantler, Will Pascoe, Ken Lashley and Mark Askwith. Max Douglas (aka Salgood Sam) was in town for TCAF and attended so Ty called him up to the couch, to get a Montreal perspective on working as a Canadian comics creator. Although the show was recorded (thanks to the wondrous Joseph O’Brien who took time out from editing his first movie as director/screenwriter to do so), our editor ended up so booked, he wasn’t able to do it.

Ken Lashley, Mark Askwith, Will Pascoe, Scott Chantler on the couch, Ty Templeton on a very tall stool.

Max Douglas actually did record ON THE COUCH for his own interest (not knowing he’d end up on it!) and posted an edited-down version in his report on TCAF 2012. It begins at the 6:40 mark.

The second ON THE COUCH was done as an event at FanExpo 2012 and had Dan Slott, Jimmy Palmiotti, Darwyn Cooke, Ramón Pérez and Lar deSouza. Ramon was there to give the indie artist’s point of view–his gig on Wolverine and the X-Men wasn’t announced until the next day! This too was recorded, by the amazingJeff Brown, co-founder of Dork Shelf and The Nerd Mafia. Jeff put in some hard work editing the first portion of it, but for various reasons we didn’t get around to putting it up online (Short version–TOTALLY our fault.)

Darwyn Cooke, Jimmy Palmiotti, Lar deSouza, Ramôn Pérez, Dan Slott and Ty Templeton at FAN EXPO 2012 (photo from MTV Geek)

MTV Geek’s Alex Zalbin wrote a report on the panel, FanExpo Canada: Darwyn Cooke, Dan Slott, Jimmy Palmiotti And More On The Economics Of Comics

But! Third time has proven to be the charm…  Done as an event for the First Year Anniversary of The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery, with guests Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace and Rob Walton discussing “Collaboration vs. Control”, Alice Quinn of Tdot Comix/QCX  organised the recording and editing. Major thanks to Tyrone McCarthy for the recording.

Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace, Rob Walton

Alice has posted the video on QCX’s YouTube Channel for all to see:

ON THE COUCH with Ty Templeton #3

Keiren

 

Happy 1st Anniversary to The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery

Ty has been superbusy with workworkwork and occasionally talking to his children, but he managed to squeeze in some time on the weekend to join in on celebrations for The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery. Rising out of the ashes and some of the stock from Dragon Lady Comics, the store started up last February 8. At the time, Ty was still teaching in the space so he would see Joe, Kevin  several times a week.

While Ty moved into his own space for Comic Book Bootcamp in the fall, The Lounge is still one of his Local Comic Shops. He drops in at least once a week to pick up comics, and check out what Joe and Kevin have to say about our little industry.

On Saturday, The Lounge celebrated it’s first year anniversary by running a mini-artists con with local artists like Ty, David J. Cutler, Scott Chantler, Agnes Garbowska, Richard Pace and more. Ty had a Bun Toon to get out so we didn’t get there until the late afternoon but he did a number of sketches (Batman sketch comic covers were most-requested).

David Cutler and Richard Pace in The Lounge’s Artists Alley (photo by Debra Shelly)

There was a contest for cosplayers, hosted by the One and Only Sean Ward, then it was time for ON THE COUCH WITH TY TEMPLETON. Guests Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace and Rob Walton discussed their views on Collaboration versus Control. I don’t think they came to an actual consensus as to which they preferred–working as part of a creative team, or working on their own–but it was a lively conversation. The show was recorded and when edited will end up online (probably at Tdot Comics, thanks to the inimitable Alice Quinn!).

In the “Green Room” waiting for ON THE COUCH, Richard Pace, Keiren Smith, Ty Templeton, Jim Zubkavich (photo by Debra Shelly)

The night finished with an Industry Night Party, but we headed out before midnight as Ty had to return the next day for a day of demos to promote AutoDesk Sketchbook Pro. We got there in time to watch Agnes Garbowska create a piece in Sketchbook and talk about her technique, then Ty got to try out the program himself. It was his first time using a Cintiq for any sustained period of time, and first time using SketchbookPro. An interesting program–Ty said he could immediately see some shortcomings (given his long familiarity with PhotoShop) but also some definite advantages. Ty said he’s looking forward to working with it some more, when he has free time in his schedule.

Recording ON THE COUCH (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

Ty tries out Sketchbook Pro 6 (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

 

Keiren

ON THE COUCH with Jim Zubkavich, Richard Pace, Rob Walton and host Ty Templeton (photo by Tyrone McCarthy)

For your bonus moment, here’s the cartoon Ty did to commemorate the end of Dragon Lady Comics which had been a part of his (and my) life for all of it’s thirty-plus years:

2012 Convention Schedule and more…

Ty promised himself that he was going to be posting more on the blog this year and was getting frustrated that he hasn’t had the time–until I pointed out that it’s that he has so much work to do, all of which he’s excited to be doing.  But I did promise that I’d pop in to mention a few things, so here ya go…

The official start to Ty Templeton’s 2012 Convention Season is next-next weekend. Usually, Ty only does the Toronto shows but after doing the wildly-successful wildly-enjoyable Montreal Comiccon last year, he’s agreed to do more for 2012.  There might be a few additions to the list later in the year but for now, this is it:

Formerly known as Fan Appreciation and now Toronto ComiCon as presented by Fan Expo. And expanded to two days– Saturday March 10-Sunday March 11.

Toronto Cartoonists Workshop will be there, sharing a booth with The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery. (You might be able to register for the upcoming workshops at the show…but classes will begin the Monday after the show, so best to not take any chances and sign up now for WRITING FOR COMICS LEVEL TWO and Ty Templeton’s COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP PART ONE.) If you’re not able to get to the show, but need to get some comics, make sure you check out The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery in it’s permanent space (shared with TCW) at 587A College Street West. Our oldest son will be holding down the fort.

Been waiting for Calgary Expo to announce this–now, we can confirm that Ty will be attending, for the first time, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. The show runs Friday April 27-Sunday April 29, and features an amazing list of guests.

Our buddies, Heroes of the North will be there as well, showing off all their books, posters, figurines and some of the actors! Artist Gibson Quarter (Holmes Incorporated, Undertow #2) has finished pencilling a new 8-Ball story for HoTN and will be there, too. (Ty just finished a script for HoTN, to be pencilled by Richard Pace. Like Ty, Richard divides his time between teaching and drawing comics. He’s an instructor at Durham College, and is currently hard at work on Ashes written by Alex de Campi. AND he just announced that he’s drawing a 3-part adaptation of a Robert E. Howard story for Dark Horse’s SAVAGE SWORD (#5-7), written by Ian Edginton.)

In June, Ty will be off to Austin, Texas…but that hasn’t been “officially” announced yet, so I’ll wait to put up all the info.

In August, it will be The Big One–the biggest comic convention in Canada, that is. Fan Expo Canada runs Thursday August 23-Sunday August 26 this year. It was wildly busy last year–slightly overwhelming by the last day, butgreat to spend time with so many other creators and to talk to so many fans.

Toronto Cartoonists Workshop and The Comic Book Lounge & Gallery will both be at the show as well. Heroes of the North will put in an appearance as well. Their second omnibus collection will be published by then. And the HoTN comic story drawn by David J. Cutler (artist for The Northern Guard) will be out by then as well.

Montreal Comiccon is the little comic book convention that didn’t so much grow as EXPLODE!! It was such an enormous, unexpected success that they’ve moved to a bigger location this year, Friday September 14-Sunday September 16. Ty and I really really enjoyed the show last year…had a very brief twenty minutes when we thought it was going to be quiet, when we first arrived at Ty’s table. That was the last twenty minutes of peace for the entire weekend! Got to meet Dan Parent, have dinner with Dan, Gibson Quarter and the Heroes of the North crew.

That is currently the extent of Ty’s convention schedule…

At the same time that all this fun is going on, and as Ty is busy working, he will be continuing to teach at Toronto Cartoonists Workshop.

WRITING FOR COMICS LEVEL TWO begins Monday March 12, 7-10pm. Completion of Level One is a requirement.  Wednesday March 14, Ty starts COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP Part One 7-10pm.

Rob Walton will be teaching CREATING YOUR OWN GRAPHIC NOVEL starting Thursday March 15, and Walter Dickinson will be teaching CARTOONING RODEO for kids 8-12 years of age Saturday mornings April 14-June 16.

                                                                                              Keiren

I’m breaking a rule and mentioning Rob Granito, but it’s for a good cause.

A few months ago, I swore I’d never mention Granito’s name in public again, mostly as a favor to his wife, who got caught up in the mess against her will, and got vilified by fandom when she didn’t deserve it.  I was a part of that, and have personally apologized to her, because the Bunny is nothing if not willing to admit when he’s wrong.  Also:  Not mentioning Rob helped make him go away.

But today, there’s a good reason to mention the “He Who Is Nameless”, and it’s all for the HERO INITIATIVE.

At a convention a few months back, I was presented with a Granito Hockey Jersey as a gift by Kevin Boyd-convention organizer and all around good guy.  The thought was that I could do what I wanted with it, perhaps as some sort of catharsis or something, as Kevin didn’t want it any more.  My first idea was to put it in a toilet and let convention-goers pee on it for five bucks each and give the money to HERO, but that would have excluded women from participating in the fun, as I wasn’t going to fish it out of one toilet and transport it to another.

But a much better idea was offered up (I think it was my wife’s idea, or Ethan Van Sciver’s, and she’ll correct me if I’m wrong)…”why not let all the guests at this convention do sketches on the shirt, and have them, in true Granito fashion, sign EACH OTHER’S WORK?” and then auction it off on ebay.

Richard Pace. Writer and/or artist for Pitt Crew, New Warriors, and other stuff, sketches on the back and signs on the front. I signed his sketch.

So…the list of illustrations, and signings of work we didn’t do goes as follows…

Scarlet Witch by Khoi Pham (signed by Chris Sprouse)
Hulk by Ethan van Sciver (signed by Khoi Pham)
Wonder Woman by Agnes Garbowska (signed by Leonard Kirk)
Evil Ernie by Dale Keown (signed by Richard Pace)
Spider-Man by Ty Templeton (signed by Agnes Garbowska
Sandman by Richard Pace (signed by Ty Templeton)
Gorilla-Man by Leonard Kirk (signed by Ethan van Sciver)
Tom Strong by Chris Sprouse (signed by Dale Keown)
…and a hearty “Sit the @#?!!@ down!” by Ethan van Sciver (this one properly attributed!)

Ethan (Sit the #$@)(#@ down) Van Sciver does his part for charity.

The shirt was donated to HERO, and the ebay auction started up today.  There’s no better souvenir of the whole meshuga  than this shirt, and you get some pretty cool artists’ work to boot.

Even mine.

Remember, HERO is the organization that aids aging comic book creators in need.  This group helps with medical expenses for the people that made our childhood dreams come true,  and it’s one of my favorite charities, and should be yours.

Pull together and give back to the biz that gave so much to us, toss in a bid, and maybe win one of the more interesting collectibles you’ll ever find.

Ty the Guy OUT!

If you haven’t figured out the links yet…the auction is HERE.

Here now, your BONUS HERO INITIATIVE MOMENT

This hardcover collection (one of ten copies for sale of only five hundred printed) is ALSO on auction for HERO at ebay.  This collection is probably the best set of covers ever done for Hero, and well worth having.  Ignore that I’m here, you HAVE to see the Steve Epting cover, the John Byrne cover, and so many others…

Convention report from Fan Appreciation Day

Every year in Toronto Hobbystar puts on a “Fan Appreciation Event” – a wonderful convention where the set-up is a little different from most comic cons.  The admission is free, and it’s about giving back to the fans, rather than trying to gouge them of money.  This year the guest list was impressive as Hades with Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason, Koi Pham, Geoff Darrow, Chris Sprouse, Dale Keown, Bob McLeod, Marcus To, Francis Manapul, Leonard Kirk, Dave Ross, Richard Pace and too many more comic book guys to mention, along with Captain of the Enterprise (and Ferris Bueller’s best pal) Alan Ruck, Richard Hatch (the one from space, not from Survivor) and Dominic (Enterprise) Keating, and more, more, more!

And a handful of cosplayers, but only a handful.

With free admission, you’d have expected this thing to be packed to the rafters with wall to wall fanboys and girls, especially since Hobbystar is the same group that puts on the mega-convention FAN EXPO every year (Canada’s biggest con show).

So I can’t explain what happened.  It was, at best, lightly attended.  And a good chunk of the people that came by our section of Artist’s Alley were not really comic fans, but families looking for something to do on a weekend.

Templeton sketch Hulk. Hulk for young child. Child like Hulk.

When I’m at Fan Appreciation Event, my rule is that everyone gets a sketch who asks for one, so my table is usually fairly busy.  But there were some surprising lulls.  Every now and then I’d see some of the biggest names there with no one to talk to, which surprised me.  I hope we’re not oversaturating the market in Toronto with too many of these…I know when I was a kid living in the Big Smoke, we’d only get a convention every couple of years, so they were really big deals to us.

Okay, enough griping, here’s the good stuff.

I got to hang with Ethan Van Sciver for a while, and we compared notes on our calling out of the fraud-who-must-not-be-named.  The level of boyish glee in recounting how he told an armed man to “…sit the $#@! down!” was in such dichotomy to the content of the story, I couldn’t have been more charmed by it all.  As we both went back to our tables to talk to the folks waiting for us, Ethan went to shake my hand, and as I have done consistently since Obama was elected, I raised my knuckles to fist bump him.  He asked why, and I said “It was the age of Obama”.  Ethan, in classy fashion, fist bumped me back, but said with a grin, “I can’t wait to shake your hand someday”.  I burst out laughing.  And now Ethan is officially my favorite Republican, cause THAT’S how you talk politics and stay friends.

Speaking of the fraud-who-cannot-be-named….at the convention I was presented with a fraud-team hockey jersey (that the convention organizer Kevin Boyd had acquired somewhere) to do with what I wished…it’s pictured here, being held up by Pitt/New Warriors/Dream Detectives artist Richard Pace.

If you're wondering, the logo image was actually drawn by J. Scott Campbell

I didn’t know what to do with it…other than toss it in a urinal and ask con-goers is they wanted to piss on it for ten dollars a spray, all for charity.   But my wife didn’t want me to just hand it back without a plan in place,  and had a con-fab with Ethan, who agreed that they should get comic book creators to sign the shirt and then it could be handed over to a Hero Initiative rep.   (It eventually turned out that there wasn’t a Hero Initiative rep there, so event organizer Kevin Boyd–who had hoped to be done with the shirt which is why he gave it to Ty in the first place!–took it upon himself to take it with him to the next few big cons to get a few more signatures, before passing it onto Hero Initiative–Keiren)

 

Defacing clothing for charity.

To make it fun, all the artists who drew something on the shirt signed our names underneath someone else’s sketch so that they’re all sort-of fraudulent in some way.

Ethan signs his name to a blank part of the shirt.

The last I heard, the shirt is heading for a convention in Pittsburgh, where the remaining blank spots will be filled in and the whole meshuga will be donated to HERO.  I hope it goes for big bucks, as HERO is one of my favorite charities: it raises money for retired comic book professionals in dire straights (such as Gene Colan, Russ Heath and others whose medical expenses threaten their ability to make the rent each month).

I finished off the weekend’s sketching with a drawing of my website mascot “Ty-bunny” for Ethan’s wife,  Sharis Bunny Van Sciver.  Since we share a bunny in our name, and she’s an instructor for the NRA, there was little choice but to arm the furry rodent to the teeth with weapons.

Deadly, deadly rabbit.

All in all, I had a terrific time with my all my comic book peeps, including folks I talk to online all the time, but rarely get to see in person, so I’m glad I went.   If only it hadn’t put me two more days behind on all the stuff I’m always late with…sigh.  Back to the drawing board, literally.

Ty the Guy OUT!

Now, your cosplay bonus moment:

I'll bet you this woman is actually fairly shy, and would never dress like this any other day of the year.

Unseen Star Trek – from the LOSER.

As promised on the weekend, I said I’d do a fun blog about my recent Star Trek graphic novel whether I won or lost the Shuster Award for Best Writer for that very project.

As you can see from the title of the blog, I lost.  The winners of the awards can be found here!  Congrats to all the talented folks who were recognized for the contributions we get to make to canadian, and comic culture.  YAAAY all around.

But here’s the fun blog anyway.

Star Trek:  Mission’s End was illustrated by a wonderfully skilled young Canadian named Stephen Molnar, who worked himself ragged to get the likenesses, the costumes, the backgrounds, the aliens, and the whole “feel” of Star Trek absolutely right.  He’s a big part of the reason people liked the book, if they did.  I’m going to show you guys a couple of Steve’s elegant pages in pencil and inks in a moment.  You’ll have to get the comic, GN or phone app to read it in colour; the final product belongs to Paramount and IDW.

Not mine to give away online, without a spanking.

But here’s where the fun comes in.  A couple of months ago, a fellow named Darrin Egan took one of my Comic Book Bootcamp courses, and was interested to try his hand at a full set of sample pages, based on an existing script that was yet to be published (so he couldn’t be influenced by the published version).   Though the Trek issues had already come out at the time, Darrin hadn’t seen them, and was interested in trying his hand at the pages.    Below are both versions:  First, the terrifically talented Steve Molnar, artist of the published story, in either inks or pencils,  followed by the vivacious version by Darrin Egan, from the same script, but without seeing Steve’s art.

Obviously, I’m a pushy writer, as the basic storytelling is remarkably similar.  So the parts that mirror each other, are the fault of a micromanaging writer…it’s the little ways in which they differ I find fascinating.  At any rate, I thought you guys might enjoy.  They’re both good at likenesses, and storytelling rules.  Each has strengths.  It’s like the Tiger and Princess.

Steve Molnar, pencils and inks

–

Darrin Egan - pencil

page two and three was a double page spread.  Click on the images to make them bigger…

Steve Molnar - pencils and inks

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Darrin Egan - pencil

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Next:  The sexy moment, with the ripped shirt and the flirty, sweet GLAVIN!

Steve Molnar - pencil and ink

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Darrin Egan - pencil

–

Finally, the two page spread that reveals that we’ve been inside a HUGE space ship, originally piloted by giants, and now long abandoned and overgrown with foliage and giant insects.   I think they both knocked it out of the park, though I do confess, the last panel of  Spock in the Molnar layout, is what made this whole introduction work for me.  The concept of the satanic character in the middle of Eden, interjecting and ruining everyone’s appreciation of the nature.  Darrin did a GREAT job on every panel,  but his Spock is a little too friendly for the “beat” of that moment.

Again, these are double page spreads, so click on ’em to make ’em bigger.

Steve Molnar - just pencil this time

–

Darrin Egan - pencil

Wasn’t that fun?  I’d love to hear how much you like Darrin’s pencils…so would Darrin, I imagine, and he deserves a little slap and tickle for these excellent pages (and please, feel free to equally gush about Steve Molnar’s work, but he’s already a comic book superstar, so he’s getting raves from all quarters fairly continuously!).

And one last bit of unseen Trek before we head on over to Ten Forward for the afternoon….When I first found out I had a chance to do some Star Trek comics, a good friend of mine, Richard (Pitt, X-Man)  Pace (here’s his blog, where he’s doing a GORGEOUS painting of a jungle girl at the moment…) jumped up and asked if he could participate.  Schedules and other things precluded his helping out, but the sample sketch he tossed my way was so lovely, I’m including it here at the bottom of this entry.

Richard Pace pencils

I’d love to do a Star Trek comic book with ANY of these individuals in the future, should the fates or the Great Bird of the Galaxy allow.

Ty the Guy

To share post:

Appreciating the fans…

and acknowledging the pros:

Tomorrow is the Fan Appreciation Event in Toronto, Canada. Cheap admission (if you buy product at local comic stores you can get free admission on Sunday. If you pay for admission on Sunday, you get a ten dollar voucher for local comic stores!), lots of pros, lots of product, lots of workshops, talks, etc. If you’re in the area, come check out Ty at…actually, I have no idea where he’ll be sitting. He’ll just wander around the building until he finds his name somewhere–so, heck, you can do the same!

While you’re wandering, there are many others to check out including some of Ty’s students and colleagues (David Cutler, artist of the upcoming not-completely-named Canadian Whites project Ty is writing); Gibson Quarter, artist for Wasted’s War on Drugs with Alan Grant,  FutureQuake’s Extinction Hunter; Greg Dunford, writer/creator of Cyberpunk Comics’ Hard Drive and Richard Pace, artist for The Pitt and so much more).

Then, on Saturday night, come out and join the crowd for The Joe Shuster Comic Book Creator Awards (Ty’s up for best writer). As it says on the site,

“The 6th Annual Awards Ceremony starts at 8pm on Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at the Innis Town Hall (University of Toronto, 2 Sussex Avenue) with returning Master of Ceremonies Jonathan Llyr”

Keiren

Wizard World Toronto, a little convention art, and the GREATEST CON SKETCH OF ALL TIME!

Uncle Ty's Convention Sketches. Ready in just FIVE MINUTES

I just got back from Wizard World Toronto, and boy, are my arms not tired.

Not because I live in Toronto (and the flight back wouldn’t affect my shoulders, get it?)  but because I spent the weekend, not sketching particularly much.  No more than thirty  sketches over a three day weekend, and at a big convention, I usually do fifty on the Saturday alone!   At first I

One of my less embarrassing con sketches of Kara Zor-el.

thought it was me…did I have a piece of meatloaf hanging off my face?  Did I wear my misanthropy on my sleeve too obviously, or was it the whiff of urine on my street clothes?

No, it was happening to almost everyone at Toronto Wizard Con, (other than Dale Keown and Richard Pace, who seemed to have a crowd around for a while on Saturday, and Adi Granov, who had a minor crowd on Friday).  The attendance was thin, and mostly wrestling fans there to see the Iron Sheik and his pals.  It’s always a bad sign when you start doing sketches for the other con guests or dealers because neither they, nor you, have anything else to do for the next ten minutes.

Too bad… The Wizard folks were nice to us.  LOVELY volunteers, good people…they set up my bootcamp lesson/con panel and promoted it (surprisingly well attended, thank you), and were handing out the water and smiles.   It was Wizard’s first big convention in Toronto, and I was rooting for them.  Let’s hope there’s a few tweaks

Fans love Batgirl. And a lot of fans like her bum. I do what I'm requested...

and fixes before next year rolls around, and the thing rivals San Diego in the future.

The low point came on Saturday when some douche-twerp couldn’t resist the demon on the shoulder telling him to pull a fire alarm.  It emptied out the convention center in the middle of Saturday afternoon—taking nearly an hour to sort out whether we were burning up in a fire, or doing the world’s biggest HOKEY POKEY.   Not everyone came back when it was over.   Hats off the perished souls of Wizard Con Toronto, 2010—you will be remembered.

Highlights include:   being seated next to Gail Simone and Her Mysterious Husband, with Dave Ross to my left, and Kent (Planet of the Apes) Burles to my right.  With things a tad slow, I got to hang with the legendary Gail Simone and Her Mysterious Husband, and  got to see Dave Ross’s new pencils for an amazing Star Wars comic he’s working on, and  laugh with the always

A very non-Adventures style Joker. Dig that crazy haircut.

charmingly French Canadian, Yanick Paquette, and drool over piles of just gorgeous AGENTS of ATLAS original art by my buddy Leonard Kirk.   Len is one of those illustrators I’m openly jealous of, partly because he does THE best convention sketches on the planet

The rule with me at a con is, you get the sketch for free, but it’s done in five minutes.  That way, everyone who wants one gets one, and I give back a little for the fans.  You guys deserve it.  But we artists rarely get to see our con sketches after we let you have ‘em.   About one out of ten, I pull one off that I wish I could hold onto…it captured just the right gleam in Joker’s eye, or the right gesture as Robin jumps off a building.  I sometimes ask if the fan could scan it for me and send me a copy when they get home, but after twenty years of doing this, I have less

Must...eat....brains...unless....there's....donuts....

than a dozen scans of con sketches to show you, and hardly the best of the best.

Zombie Homer is the only one from this year,  as I used to think my BONGO contract forbids sketching the Simpsons, but Ken Wheaton (fellow toiler in Springfield) informs me, I can doodle inside published Simpsons books, just not regular sketch books and on blank pieces of paper…  Ken had a PILE of copies of TREEHOUSE OF HORROR: DEAD MAN’S CHEST for people to buy, so I did more Simpsons doodles this weekend than anything else.

As promised, here’s my favorite con sketch of all time, and the recipient was lovely enough to send me one.

A once-in-a-lifetime-art team.

It was in Paris, and I was seated in between Bernie Wrightson, Neal Adams, and Scott Hampton.  A group of BATMAN artists were touring through Belgium, France and Switzerland and enjoying all the lovely sauces we got with every meal, when some Euro-fan asked if Mr. Wrightson minded inking

Another Paris sketch from '92, featuring Tintin and the original appearance of ELSEWORLDS T-SHIRT BATMAN, seen last month!

the Batman portrait/sketch I had just done for him.  Watching my meager sketch be inked by Bernie was mind blowing enough, but then watching Scott Hampton add those moody water colours, I came this close from stealing the image back for myself…I have the scan though, and I share it here with you guys…the word’s only Templeton/Wrightson/Hampton collaboration.

Neal Adams did not participate in the sketch, but I have something better from Neal…something I’ll show you guys in a future post.  I have to keep the suspense going SOMEHOW.

Ty the Guy

Oh, and PS:  This week, I’m promoting this new Simpsons collection, NOW ON SALE.  I’ve got a fun pin-up inside, and the rest of the book is okay too, I suppose, if you like hysterical comic books.

In hardcover. Kirby says: "Don't Ask! Just Buy It!"

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More March Marvel Madness. Hoverboy Friday Below! (scroll down!)

I promised myself I was going to post my “unseen Marvel” work this week, but I’ve started to realize that I have a LOT of unseen Marvel, and there’s no way to get through it all without just dumping it on the site like a fish bucket spilled onto a baby’s change table.    I still have pajamas designs, t-shirts, Christmas party invitations, video and DVD covers, Bullpen portrait cards, TV guide ads, toys and an avalanche of this mess to get through.  But digging through it all is kind of fun, so here’s more of the rock slide. I promise, I’ll stop before Monday.  Marvel Madness comes but once a year, and it’s best not to push your luck.

Up above is the rarest of all my Marvel work…though strictly speaking, I did it for the THE HERO INITIATIVE.  It’s a one-off.  Only one comic like this as the cover was drawn on the comic with pen and watercolour dyes and auctioned off (for a few thousand dollars, if I recall, which shocked me senseless!) to raise money for our cartooning brethren and sistren who need a hand.  I’ve never met the guy who dropped the couple of grand on this, but bless his generous heart.

Here’s a couple more of the X-Men video boxes.  The Magneto cover was featured in adverts that appeared on the back of national magazines, and even the back of some DC comics!  The one with Bishop and Wolverine used Marvel artist (of the New Warriors at  the time),  RICHARD PACE as a model for Bishop’s face.  It still looks like him, even though Richard has long since had his facial tattoo removed, and gotten that haircut properly attended to.

This spoof version of Amazing Fantasy #15 was done for for Wizard Magazine, covering the launch of the Spider-Man animated series, SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED, which was the most bizarre ripoff of Batman Beyond and lasted only one horrendous season.  According to that show, to improve on Spider-Man, you send him to counter-Earth, have him fight the High Evolutionary and the armor plated Ani-Men, and write MJ out of the series.   This art was a supposed to be for a Wizard cover alt (back when Wizard did two covers for every issue) but since I’ve never seen a printed copy, I’m not sure they ran it.  I tossed Kirby’s name in there, just as a tip of the hat.

And now, a couple of the many collector’s cards I’ve done over the years for Upper Deck.  There’s probably twenty or thirty of these all told and there’s not enough room to come near putting them all up.  But I think I might force you guys to sit through about six of ’em in total.  I like the inking on the Radioactive Man card to the left, and I like the big goofy fun of the H.E.R.B.I.E. card below.  Considering that H.E.R.B.I.E. represents the last Fantastic Four character that Lee and Kirby created together (for an animated series, rather than a comic, replacing the already licensed-to-someone-else Human Torch to make a foursome), I couldn’t help but enjoy working on his card.

I’ll leave this post with more of that mysterious X-Men comic book giveaway art that I worked on sixteen years ago, that I can’t remember where it got used but it might have been for Pizza Hut.   Dana Morsehead, (former head of the department at Marvel for which most of this stuff was done) thinks it might have been for a PITCH to land an account, rather than an account itself.  What?  Ah, all that Don Draper stuff is above my pay grade.  I was just happy to have a few months drawing up them X-People, and working with the lovely and talented Mr. Morsehead.

Keep scrolling down for the feature Hoverboy Fridays!.  We now return you to it, as regularly scheduled.

Ty the Guy