Victory Is Mine!

I spent a reasonably pleasant afternoon yesterday in downtown Cincinnati at the 2012 Cincinnati Comic Expo. This is the third one of these conventions and the second I have attended. The venue was ideal for a comics convention with lots of room by and large. The guest list was outstanding with Swamp Thing fans having a gaggle of artists assembled for the first and possibly last time. George Perez was in attendance and had a massive line the entire time I was there. Lots of small press folks, and scuds of vendors. A good blend of merchandise and memories.

I went mostly to see what back issue bargains I could find, and to meet Mike Royer, the inker on much of Jack Kirby's work in the 70's and 80's. I found him to be a friendly and garrulous chap more than willing to sign a ream of books and to share whatever was on  his mind. Meeting him was a real pleasure and he kindly signed my copy of Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers  #1, the very copy I bought off the stands so many years ago. He shared some stories about the lettering (the logo is his design) and seemed almost to want to spend a few minutes revisiting the comic.

I also got to meet a boyhood hero of mine, Steve Englehart, the writer of The Avengers, Captain America, Justice League of America and more. Unfortunately Steve seemed tired and mildly uncomfortable at the convention. To be frank I wouldn't have recognized him. I got him to sign a copy of The Avengers-Defenders Clash, a hardback I found for cheap, but he didn't seem to want to chat much.

After much  back issue searching, I came to the realization that I might just be done with back issues. I don't have hardly any issues I crave aside from a few Charltons here and there perhaps and frankly the idea of bringing in more to the house seems counterproductive. I might be finished with that side of the hobby.

What I did find were some great deals on trades, picking up four volumes of The Invaders for very small money. I also snagged a copy of Sword of the Atom, a vintage DC tale I've never ever read. The Gil Kane artwork looks outstanding!

All in all a great convention experience, and one in which I stayed within budget, always a challenge. A friend I went with also reported having a great time. Look forward to it again for next year.

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A Bridge Well Drawn!

Here's the latest artwork advertising this year's Cincinnati Comic Expo. This event is already three years old and I have to give them credit about the wonderful tradition of poster and ad art they've used.

Each year we've gotten some great material featuring a distinctive landmark, this year it is again the Roebling Suspension Bridge.

This year the great Jack Davis does the honors creating one of his patented monster mash-ups. Outstanding!

Here is an earlier rendition of the bridge by Allen Bellman.


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Cincinnati Comic Expo 2011!

Sadly as of now, I'll be missing this year's Cincinnati Comic Expo. My partner-in-comics has had to pull out of our trip up to the Queen City and it's likely just as well. I'm going to have to make a trip to Louisville tomorrow with my beloved spouse, and it's a bit much to travel two days in a row, at least for my geezer bones.

This year's Expo is in a larger venue and that means that parking has become something of an issue too. There's a big festival in Cincinnati this week, Oktoberfest, and that will put pressure on the parking downtown for sure. So I'm a bit unsure how all that will shake out.

It's a decent show this year, but aside from Jim Steranko and Jose Delbo (mostly the latter for his Charlton work) there are few pros I'm absolutely eager to meet. I imagine the line for Steranko will be heroic. Also my budget for comics this month has been largely shot, so prowling for back issues was not really a big option. The few trades I'm looking for I can find elsewhere I'm sure.

So I've got a bunch of excuses, but nonetheless I'll be sorry to miss the second annual event. Hopefully they'll do a good business and there will be a third one next year.

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Cincy Comic Expo Artwork!

The Cincinnati Comic Expo is arriving in a few months. I've posted on this before. One neat thing they do is develop a series of wonderful cards with event details featuring artwork by some of the talents who will be participating. Above is the card featuring the work of Jim Steranko, of course derived from his cover art for Captain America #111. Below that is a piece by Jose Delbo focusing on his turn on Wonder Woman and evocative of the covers he did for her title. Beautiful pieces of artwork.

Here's a link to the website for the event.

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Steranko's SHIELD!

Here's a gallery of the great Jim Steranko's work on his signature series. You can watch his talent blossom as the covers roll.

Jack Kirby Layouts
Wally Wood Assist On Female


John Romita Assist











Here are some covers for reprints.





Here's a cover for the 80's revival of the series.


Here are the covers to the collections, which I read Steranko is not crazy about.



Here's a closer look at the Marvelmania poster.



Here are a couple of overseas oddities.



And here's a gorgeous original for an iconic SHIELD cover.


And here's a link to a full-blown Steranko SHIELD classic. "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill!" is a lush tip of the hat to the awesome Arthur Conan Doyle classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.



And finally here's a link to "Who is Scorpio?", the awesome story from SHIELD's debut number. See the tragic tale of Flip Mason. Thanks Joe.


And that's the ever-lovin' end!


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Steranko In Porkopolis!

Coming up at the end of the summer is the second Cincinnati Comics Expo. Last year I went to the debut event and met artistic giants Murphy Anderson and Russ Heath.


This year Carmine Infantino was the headliner, but sadly he's having some surgery which will cause him to miss the event. The organizers though have replaced the ailing Infantino with a pretty big name...Steranko.


Jim Steranko is one of those artists who has an amazing influence relative to the small amount of comics work he's actually done. His breakthrough years at Marvel show a talent improving by leaps and bounds on SHIELD, X-Men, and Captain America. His second stint with Marvel as a cover artist in the early 70's showed a smooth and deft talent able to create compelling and lingering images.


I can't wait to meet this comic book icon.


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Cincinnati Comic Expo Report!

I just got back from the Expo a few hours ago and it was a big success, at least as far as I'm concerned. My friend and I got an early start, took in some tasty treats and some old fashioned coffee at the local Waffle House then headed on over to the Cintas Center in Cincinnati. It was my first time there, and I needed the expert navigation my amigo provided. We landed without incident but found ourselves on site moments before the doors opened but in a fairly long line that had begun to spiral in upon itself like a lethargic snake. A few minutes of patient waiting and we were in.


The expo was held in a hallway area and stretched in a half circle. Some friends of ours from a local store held fort in a front and center position and we started there looking for treasures and bargains. After some small time prowling long boxes for back issues, I took off to find the guests of honor, namely Russ Heath and Murphy Anderson. Both stalwarts were seated on opposite ends of the hall, each looking frankly rather lonely, with only a single fan talking to Heath when I found him and no one talking to Anderson, despite many folks milling about.


I spoke to Heath for a moment, but frankly he seemed rather weary, even so early. I regretted at that moment, something I'd not even thought about before -- that I'd not brought a single comic book for either of these gentlemen to sign. So a quick reconnoiter of some of the tables yielded Action Comics #380 which marks the debut of the "Swanderson" team on Superman. I also found a copy of the Atlas-Seaboard comic Planet of Vampires #3 drawn by Russ Heath. He took on that book from the Continuity Associates group and drew this one issue before passing it on. I got both books for tiny money, so as to not dent the budget too much, and then went off to get some signatures.


Heath was busy signing several G.I.Combat books for a fan. (I don't know about you all, but getting more than one signature without paying for it strikes me as a bit crass.) While he was waiting for this guy to get organized he reached out for my lone comic, smiled when he saw it, probably remembering how poorly paid he'd been for the work and happily signed it just above his printed signature on the cover. I thanked him and wandered off to find Anderson's table again.


Anderson was busy signing for a fan too, specifically three collected editions of Adam Strange stories and I'll have to admit the top moment of the expo was watching him create that distinctive signature. He writes his name first then draws the box before adding the patterned dots above and below. To see that name I've seen so many times over the decades take shape before my eyes was an actual thrill.


He took a gander at the book I brought him, and confirmed it was indeed a cover he had inked. Then he carefully inspected the indicia trying to recollect I think just what the circumstances were. When he saw that Mort Weisinger was still listed as editor he knew that he hadn't done the interiors. (For the record those were done by George Roussos.) Then he created that wonderful signature again. I thanked him and took my treasure away after a tiny conversation. He seemed tired, so I didn't want to weary him further with my idle speculations.


Meeting those gents was the highlight, but one of my missions was to buy the Moonstone prose collection of Spider stories. I found Joe Gentile manning the Moonstone booth, found the collection and gleefully paid for it. I chatted with Joe a bit about the Phantom situation, surprised that new Phantom books were still coming out. He said that as long as they had been solicited by the deadline at the end of June then they were fine to keep putting some out. I told him that the Phantom series from Dynamite was not nearly as good as what Moonstone had been doing, and he seemed genuinely pleased at that testimony.


The hall was filling up, and getting around was becoming harder and harder. So I checked with my buddy and he was about ready to bounce. So I spent my budget on a gem I'd had my eye on all day, an art portfolio by Stephen Fabian featuring Conan the Barbarian and the specifically Belit of the Queen of the Black Coast. It's a lush and beautiful collection of artwork, and tapped my budget almost to the dollar.

We headed out and soon were flying down the highway, both satisfied with our purchases. He'd bought an Allen Bellman drawing, and I envied him that, as Bellman had always been quite busy when I went by his table.


After a few tasty tacos at a local eatery we parted ways and I reported for duty again with the sainted wife. She was glad I had a good time, but she didn't really give a small rat's behind about the details. So I share them with you all.

As they say, a good time was had by all. In this case it's very much true.

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