SUPER REAL NOTES - Emerald City Comicon this weekend!

I'll be in sunny (yeah right) Seattle all weekend (Satruday-Sunday) for the really really big (regional) show... Emerald City Comicon!!!
Woo hoo!

Artist alley is the place to find me, along with Gnome, Super Real, prints, sketchbooks and so much more!!!

More info HERE

BE THERE!!!!!!!

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... Clone Wars, begun they have.

Tune into a Turner network tomorrow at 7:58PM...

SUPER REAL NOTES - Stumptown Jav-wrap

Weekend before last was the big local indie (or artist if you ask the promoters) comics show, Stumptown Comics Fest, which brought my bud, LA area creator Javier Hernandez, up to town for the show.
It was a weekend and couple extra days of comics, sight seeing, and good times (and uh, a looming sketch card deadline)...
Jav-man recently put his wrap up of the events on his blog, so pop over there to check it out HERE
(That's our Chihuahua, Choco, pictured above, not our house guest Javier! ;)

SUPER REAL NOTES - Much brewin

Hello all,

I've been keeping pretty busy as of late, in terms of what I've been working on...
A combination of things really, my day job resuming, the 200 sketch cards deadline (this past Wednesday, phew) for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces 2 series, a series of 5 straight weeks of shows (Stumptown last weekend, a FCBD event tomorrow, and Emerald City Con wrapping things up next weekend), and the release of Gnome a couple weeks back. So yes, in addition to that I've been cooking up other things :D

As I've hinted at, in addition to Super Real (which has it's own developments of late I'm still chewing on), I've got another project I'm creating, that's continuing to move forward, on a global, kick ass scale... we're getting closer to me officially unveiling that....

Also, work continues to set up future volumes of the Super Real Graphics Presents original graphic novella series (with some potential really big news there cooking as well!)...

So, stay tuned, many things are under way, and coming to you all soon.

In the meantime, be sure and check out Super Real Graphics Presents: GNOME if you haven't, it's been receiving great critical response, and is a gem of a read!!

I'll be back soon with a comprehensive listing of my Marvel Masterpieces sketch card work (but many of those are in my DeviantArt gallery if you haven't seen them)!!

SUPER REAL NOTES - Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend!

I'll be at the Portland OR Stumptown Comics Fest all weekend (Saturday - Sunday 10-6)

I'll be sharing a table with my good bud Javier Hernandez (of El Muerto the Aztec Zombie fame) who's traveled up to our lovely city for the show!

I also did an interview on Javier's podcast, Planet Comic Book Radio, last week, you can listen to that here: CLICK
The same podcast/show has an interview with an organizer from Stumptown, and Dave Dwonch, the creator of my new OGN, Super Real Graphics Presents: GNOME

SUPER REAL NOTES - New York wrap up

Time for a recap from last weekend's New York Comic Con. Both my first time at the show and in the city.

The show ran 3 days, and I arrived Friday AM from a red eye direct flight via Jet Blue. Having got about 4 hours plus of sleep on the flight, I took a Super Shuttle (my preferred choice of airport to con/hotel transportation) to the Javits Center convention hall in the lower west side of Manhattan (overlooking the Hudson river).
From there I made my way, luggage in tow (all 3 heavy bags of gear) to the back right hand corner for artist alley and my 3 foot table space. Artist Alley's are generally in the back corners of cons, so nothing new there, but the double whammy of only getting a half table (I signed up for a full table, last June folks) and also being in the back corner, next to last row on an end, proved to be an unfortunate setup.

But before we sum up the weekend of the show, lets get to the fun stuff, more pictures!

We start out with a quick photo tour of midtown NYC, starting with Times Square, which was just a couple blocks from my hotel, the Hampton Inn on 8th and 51st...I've some nighttime pics of Times Square, but they're on my camera phone, I'll see if they're worth getting to the pc...
The MTV studios, you can't really tell, but they're taping (but they don't play music, so who cares)...
5th avenue as I head east on 42nd street, you can't really tell, but this is looking North, where the city just disappears into the horizon...Grand Central Station, with the Chrysler building in the background...
Grand Central should look familiar, as it was just featured in Will Smith's I Am Legend, and the scene where he loses it to one of his dummies...On approach, and just beneath the famous Chrysler building and it's art deco design...
...and finally, the Empire state looming on approach from Park Avenue. Manhattan pics, to be continued, once I get my disposable camera film developed... we'll see more shots of the Empire State Building, the subway, and Central Park!

And being out of film to show for the time being of NYC, let's get back to the con...

Undoubtedly, NYCC is a great show. Having continued to grow both in terms of size and attendance each of it's 3 years, it's quickly become the next best thing to San Diego Comic Con (the mother of all cons). This year, from what I've heard and been told, it grew in space and offerings tremendously. Also, from what I've heard, the attendance last year was around 50k, with reports for this year being in the 65 to 75k range (haven't heard an official number yet), which is about half or more of the 115k the SDCC did in '07. So, NYCC is growing, and chock full of cool people and cool things.

A sketch I did of Phontom Girl (form Legion of Superheroes) and for my good buddy Dennis Budd (Model Operandi creator and Super Real special alumni)...
Gnome with comic book luminaries; Fat Momma, Green Lantern, and Jugghead!

How did I do?
Not great.
Look, I'm a straight shooter, I don't lie or cherry coat. Exhibiting at shows is hard, mystifying, and a continual learning process. Just when you think you have things figured out, and get great results, the same shows yield let downs the following years. Or in this case, you got to a great show, but don't do as well as you should. Having heard repeatedly from others at the show and artist alley, that they were seeing the same thing, and having been in a terrible location (sure, any spot at a show this side is good, but really, I'm not kidding you or myself, the show on Sunday was nuts, but our corner of artist alley was dead, people didn't filter all the way back to our area, ask anyone by me), with the dreaded 3' half table, when I'm hard pressed to exhibit in 6' of space, there were a number of factors working against me. So, all things considered I did fairly well, and made back most of my air and table expense... but hotels are very pricey in NYC.

A half table is terrible, just awful. Not only do you have no room to work (sketching etc), or properly display (I have 9 books to offer, prints, sketch cards, etc etc), but perhaps the biggest danger is that you can blend into your neighbors. I can't tell you how many times on Saturday, people looked at my stuff, and then turned to my neighbor and asked him for a sketch or took his flyer. Now Julien was a great guy, and really talented, but he had nothing on his half table, nothing, just a flyer, and a rate card. I think it's safe to say, people thought he was part of my display. And hey, I did what I could, having my own table cloth, and signs etc. too, but Sunday, I moved stuff around, and seemed to mitigate that some...

But, those are the breaks.

So the show, sales wise, was a let down. But as always, there are other elements to a con, networking and meeting peers being paramount, and I met and caught up with plenty of cool people, and you never know what may come from any of that; jobs, friendships, connections, collaborators, the list goes on and on. Plus I got to pick up my copy of the Flash Gordon comic preview... which features the amazing art of Paul Green and looks pretty promising!!Outside the con, I was alone in the big city. I was able to catch up with some friends Saturday night and join their crew on a trip to an after party. Which wasn't all the great, but got to meet and spend time with some cool people... and then wound up walking home about 20 blocks. Walking around NYC on a Saturday night is kind of like walking Vegas, everywhere you turn there a people and places buzzing.

I didn't fly out til Monday PM, so I had Sunday night and Monday afternoon to check out the city, something I rarely get to do on con trips.

Sunday, I met up with an old family friend in the East Village who lives in Brooklyn but works in the city (delivering food, and other odd jobs)... but first I had to navigate the subway for the first time. He'd given me the perfect spot to catch a train right by my hotel, but I had some difficulty finding the right one and right direction. Seemed no matter which side of the tracks/street I came from, they were going the wrong way... getting off twice, once at the terminal, and once down the line after going north instead of south. Something about that station being a cross junction or what not.
But amidst that, had the nicest Australian girl asking me for help getting the right train to Queens, ha ha!

Once I got going the right way we met up, and caught up, first at an old Irish Pub with their own brew and sawdust floors. The place was packed, and they just seat you next to other folks at tables with open chairs. So after getting to know our new neighbors (a group of girls sending off their friend to the Peace Corps) we put back some beers and got to talking.
I've got to say, my evening, starting off with a night time walk through Times Square, and then to this point, had been pretty magical. Just fun as hell, full of sights, and great people. I was really impressed.

From there we walked to another pub/bar by NYU, caught some local beers, and then ventured a short subway ride to the Brooklyn Bridge.
What a cool bridge, no wonder it's so iconic, and a great place to view the city, and the financial district where the twin towers once stood. Even glimpsing the 1 inch Statue of liberty in the distance with it's tiny torch lit...

Having met up after 10pm, it was now approaching 2am, and it was time to catch a subway back to the hotel. Gotta tell ya, for a Sunday at 2am, the subway was more than interesting... yikes! Crazy stuff, one guy reading his lines, another talking to himself, and many other kooky passengers, but all things considered, not too bad. Especially when this train had a stop directly across the street from my hotel. How cool and convenient.

Monday afternoon I'd hoped to catch up with another friend, but that didn't work out. So I just took the walking tour of town myself, seeing Times Square again, the Chrysler building, Empire State, and then up to Central Park (all were amazing, some of which you see in the pics above, but check back for more pics to be added later).

Over all it was a good time, and under the right circumstances, I'd consider going back. It really is a great show, and even greater town!

SUPER REAL NOTES - New York Comic Con

I'll be exhibiting in artist alley space H22 this weekend, 4/18-4/20, for my first time at the massive NYCC!!!
I'll have Gnome, Super Real, sketchbooks, prints, sketch cards, and my smiling face all in a 3' space!!! Yikes!!!
Hope to see some familiar faces and new friends at the show!
I'll update upon my return!!!
(I'm also a NY/NYC virgin too!!) Fun stuff!

SUPER REAL NOTES - Gnome OGN available now!

The new book I'm publishing, Super Real Graphics Presents: GNOME is out in comic book shops tomorrow, Wednesday 4/16

Diamond Order Code
FEB084007

If you can't make it to a comic shop, it is available via Amazon.com as well HERE

And you can of course visit the book's website for more info HERE

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Clone Wars VS Tarantino

A sneak peek at the upcoming Clone Wars CG animated Star Wars movie (animated series pilot) is making the rounds.
Check it out HERE

Looks pretty good, and I'll keep hoping it's on par with the stellar Genndy directed cartoon series... if so we're in for a hell of a treat.

Also, if you're as big of a Grindhouse fan as me, check out this Italian Tarantino fan site.
They recently added some of my Grindhouse fan art to their gallery, and they've got a wealth of Grindhouse pics and what not there to peruse...
Check out the QT goodness HERE

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Cool stuff!

If in your poking around the infinite sprawl of interwebs you haven't glimpsed some of the artist blogs giving peeks at upcoming new projects, then perhaps I can help...

My good buddy Javier Hernandez will up here in Portland for the April 26-27th Stumptown Comics Fest, and he'll have a new creation in tow... Known for his indy comic turned indy movie, El Muerto the Aztec Zombie, Jav's got a new character of equal creatively blended intrigue, the forthcoming Demolition Dove!
Demo Dove looks to be a perfect blending of the pop culture zeitgeist, grindhouse/pulp inspired concepts (a concoction I'm currently brewing myself), with a timely reflection of American politics. Now politics is the great divider, but it seems the Jav-Man is savvy enough to know this, and appears to be approaching them from a higher level non-partisan view. We shall see. Either way, I, and many others are intrigued about this new creation.

You can check out more on Demolition Dove at Javier's blog HERE

Then over at Josh Howard's blog, he's put up a tease of his upcoming work (following his popular ongoing runs of Dead@17, as well as other creations like Black Harvest, or Lost Books of Eve), T-Bird and Throttle. While not much has been revealed yet, the book does look to be Josh's first efforts in a more superpowered direction (and maybe even blending in some of his love of the Transformers franchise?)... As with anything he does, I can't wait to check it out!

There's something so special, and inherently wholly unique from seeing new creator owned works brought to life as comics, so I can't help but share in my excitement!

And if you know of any upcoming creator owned works being teased out there that have you excited, be sure and let me know!

SUPER REAL NOTES - Model Operandi artwork

I don't normally post press releases here, but this little nugget concerns a personal favorite book of mine, Model Operandi, that's by my friends Joe and Dennis! (Not only that, but it involves me a tad too!)

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

New York Comic Con NEWS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 1, 2008

EXCLUSIVE SKETCHBOOK FEATURES JUSTINIANO, ELIOPOULOS
One-of-a-kind item to be featured at the third annual New York Comic Con

NEW YORK, NY-- Comic book creators Dennis Budd and Joe Caramagna have announced that they will offer a convention-exclusive sketchbook at the New York Comic Con the weekend of April 18th. The sketchbook will feature characters from their comic book property Model Operandi™ as drawn by Budd and an assortment of guest artists that includes Justiniano (DC’s "52") and Chris Eliopoulos (Marvel’s "Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius").

"Dennis and I are so grateful to all of the participating artists for donating sketches for the sketchbook," said Caramagna. "They all did such a great job and there is some great artwork here that can’t be seen anywhere else. If you’re a fan of any of these talented artists, or just a fan of good comic book art in general, you’ll love it, absolutely." Other artists that donated sketches include: Chris Giarrusso, Rich Molinelli, Brian Kong, Jason May, Jason Martin, Matthew Tow and Andrew Edge. And because the book features a bonus sketch cover, it is customizable to any fan in attendance at the convention.

Model Operandi™ is the story of a world-famous supermodel and her friends who stumble into trouble wherever they go. The first critically-acclaimed graphic novel "Affair of the Heart" was published by After Hours Press in 2006, and a special one-shot is due out in the Fall of 2008.

The "2008 Model Operandi Sketch Book: New York Comic Con Exclusive Edition" is sponsored by StupidVideos.com and will be available in limited numbers at the After Hours Press booth 2447 at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City, April 18-20.

wwww.modeloperandi.com
www.nycomiccon.com
www.stupidvideos.com
www.ahpcomics.com

IN CASE U MISSED IT: James Jean trip out

This was featured over on The Beat (you're reading The Beat right?) and I couldn't resist... It's a simply sublime animation/advertising effort from James Jean's concept art...


Prada Animation - Trembled Blossoms from kwest on Vimeo.

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... Snake Eyes!

No, not that dreadful Nick Cage thing from a few years back... SNAKE EYES as in YO JOE!

The first images from the upcoming GI Joe live action movie are up, a couple shots of Ray Park as the silent assassin, and I wasn't prepared for how geeked I would be to see Snake Eyes (and crew) brought to life!!!

I was a huge GI Joe fan circa 1983, when the new fully poseable 3.5" toy line launched, and they were so richly detailed and such strong character designs. I mean those toys were bad ass! The vehicles alone, the tank, the dune buggy, the Cobra tank etc, were just the coolest, and built for war! What 12 year old boy doesn't want to blow shit up and stage epic battles with their friends for 24 hours straight in their bedrooms (sounds kinky). Not to mention, the packaging? Holy shit, GI Joe was the full meal deal, you got these kick as ID cards with each figure, with a backstory and awesome painted artwork of Scarlet, or Roadblock, or whoever. Then there was Cobra Commander, with 2 cool faceless designs... but come on, the thing that put GI Joe over the edge? It was always Snake Eyes. Everybody loved him, what with his bad ass all black ninja inspired, visor wearing design? He was the coolest of the cool!

Then you add on some serious marketing synergy, the comic (of which issues 1 and 2 probably still rank in my all time top 10), and the cartoon?!? Man, good stuff, and good times (again, Gerber, you will be missed).

So, decades later when they finally announce a GI Joe movie, after scores of reboots to the toys and such, and me not having been a fan in 20 years... and they attach a director, Stephen Sommers, who's VAN HELSING only ever put me to sleep (similar to Underworld - cool to look at, but the visual equivalent of a bedtime story), I didn't for a moment really stop to care. Sure, cool, I'll look forward to it, but actively wait for it? Or geek about it? Nah.

Well, that's changed. Man, Snake Eyes... you bad ass mofo. Can't wait!

In the immortal words of Joe, now I know, (and if you can't fill in the rest, you're no fan of Joe)!!!

SUPER REAL NOTES - Marvel Masterpieces sketch cards

As I've mentioned, I'm in the midst of doing sketch cards for the upcoming Marvel Masterpieces 2 set from Upper Deck, and since I've started to receive approvals for cards that I've done, I thought I'd share some...

Here's a set based on the current Ultimates cast, from Loeb and Madureira's Ultimates 3...
And a set based on the new X-Force book...
By their nature (you have to return all of the cards they give you, so there's no do-overs), some come out better than others!

I've got some more cool sets done, and will post more as I go!

SUPER REAL NOTES - WonderWrap

Well the annual aught eight Con to the Wonder was last weekend...
High hopes dashed on the rocks an all that aside, it was a good show (last years all pro sales were back to reality this year for me, but many I talked with said the same, and indeed said those they talked with concurred, so perhaps I wasn't alone).

As ever, it was cool to see returning faces, catch up with friends and acquaintances...

It was also cool to share space with the Gnome crew, Dave Dwonch (writer/artist/creator), and John Williams, aka Super Ugly (cover artist).
Dave, center here, was of course pimping Gnome and doing some slick sketches, mostly for his many fans on the Comic Geek Speak forums. John was doing his first con, with his Super Ugly artbook (which I had to pick up, good stuff), prints, paintings, you name it, all in that inimitable "Ugly" style!

Prepping late into the night Thursday, and only catching 2 hours rest before leaving for an early AM flight, I was tapped by the shows end Friday and crashed.
Saturday the Gnome gang and friends hit some dinner and the Isotope Darwyn Cooke party. We'd done the same last year, but the 'Tope was much more user friendly at that DeMaitais party... when we showed up for tip drinks, comics, art, and networking, the place was comfortably occupied, but within an hour or so it was madness and we had to escape the crowd.
I guess we were there long enough to make the scene though (see side pic from the Newsarama article)... too funny! We were barely there (but long enough for me to put back three Isotope super strength Jack and a tiny bit o Cokes)...

I've said it before, but the Isotope is a great shop, boldly going where others have yet to tread, and worth a look when in the Bay Area!

I did manage to get out my trusty "Friends and Neighbors" sketchbook I take with me on my journeys, where I do just as the name implies, and pass it to friends and neighbors at cons for sketches of either their characters, or mine, often times with humorous mash ups of the two... This time I got it to Dave, who worked up this great Kityana of Super Real, holding "gnome".
I'll try and remember to share these here from now on...

I got a little fanboy thrill (still happens some times) when I realized I was just across an aisle from J Campbell, and had to grab one of his 07 sketchbooks (wanted to get the awesome 10th anniversary oversized Danger Girl print too, but resisted)... It was fun to see some of the sketches he did at the show.

So, another show has flown by, with very little time spent outside my table... some day. Of course, the occasional good costumes go by, including the requisite Star Wars, Spider-Man, etc, but also a great troop of Cobra Commandos... why have I not seen more of those?!? They were cool!!

Coooooooobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next up? April and 3 shows, Portland, NYCC, Stumptown, followed by Emerald City 2 weeks later!
Is it April yet??!!