Proof stuff...

Several months ago I heard about this relatively new comic called Proof. The whole word-of-mouth thing worked, cuz I picked it up and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so that I got the artist on the book, Riley Rossmo, to do a commission for me with the characters in a club band. I also picked up the original pencils to a pinup that I thought was particularly rad from issue 11 and sent copies of a few issues up to get signed. He sent me everything back and included an extra piece of art that's just pretty whacky, but also really cool... and I really want to color it in. I might... Maybe I'll do it in photoshop tho. So I got all of that stuff and it was rad... and then the writer, Alex Grecian, offered a this sketchbook for sale that was created for CCI and not offered anywhere else. So I took him up on it and also sent the comics that Riley signed to Alex to sign as well. Just recently got that stuff back along with 3 mini-comics that Alex did (mostly) on his own. And below is all the crazy Proof stuff I've picked up recently. "Snowfall," btw, is my favorite of the mini-comics I think. There's something about things that can make you remember what it was like to feel things as a child that are just impossible to feel now. There's a feeling of remorse at the loss of innocence and naivety, and then it's just kind of confusing b/c why would you want to be able to have feelings like that. But, really, it's the loss of wonder about the world around you that is sad. This comic is like 16 pages and it captures much of that very well.
Proof 11...
Alex Grecian mini-comics...
Proof Sketchbook...
And finally... Riley's artwork!

Con Sketches...

Erik Larsen did this on the backing board I'm using for Savage Dragon 2. It's "Hellrazor." When I asked him to do it, he was like, "I have no idea who that is." Which I anticipated. He was surprised to realize that it was his own character. Which was fun. And it, apparently, was the only time he'd been asked to draw Hellrazor. So. Yes, that was fun. :)	And this was done by Peter Laird on the inside back page of the new (FINALLY!) issue of the current TMNT series.

Grendel & Sandman

When it rains, it pours? Ask and ye shall receive? I dunno, but I solved the Grendel problem and somehow ended up with two complete sets for... well... for a very very nice price. :)
Then there's this book. I originally had a copy of this (it's a limited edition "Platinum" copy, which is why it's "special") back in the early 90's. At the same time, however, comic book trading cards were kind of all the rage. And getting the chase card holograms was considered cool by the kids I hung out with. (I'm looking at you Junior Duncan) I was in the comic store in Hickory where they happened to have all of the holograms I was missing from my set. For whatever reason, I decided that the first time I would have ever traded a comic book to a store would be to trade my original copy of this book for those cards. God, I was stupid. So the other day, I picked this up from someone at CGC as a 9.0/9.2. When it arrived, the mail wench had folded the freaking thing in half so she could shove it in the mailbox. Obviously it's no longer a NM book, which is extremely sad. But at least I've got it back. And signed in gold by Gaiman too.

on the CGC boards, someone asked people to list their 25 most important comics... this is what I came up with...

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	Albedo #2 Seems to be a relatively popular choice, but I'll join the bandwagon. Beautiful cover, fantastic story, and the first appearance of one of the coolest and most original characters maybe ever. What's not to love? Plus, this cover is so badass, I got ajaxfarrell to make me a clock with this as the background. It just showed up today, and it's awesome. :)
	Usagi Yojimbo #1 The first ongoing from Fantagraphics. I wasn't around when this stuff started coming out. Although I'm only a recent fan, I still think it's fantastic, and even these early stories hold up really well. Whoever owned this before me must have really liked the rabbit too, cuz you can barely see where they had tried writing "Usagi Yojimbo" on another piece of paper that was laying on this book. Grade? What grade?
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Seems to be a pretty popular choice too... I was the right age for the cartoons and the video games, but I never got into the toys, and I didn't start reading comics until far too late. A few years ago, someone on the CBR boards got me into the current TMNT series, and I became rather rabid about picking up the original series as well. I'm about halfway there, and I got this (PLOD CGC 9.0 w/ slight amateur color touch) from a board member (via ebay). Plus purple's my favorite color, so the label doesn't bother me in the slightest.
	Daredevil #293 One of the first two comics I can remember buying on my own. Went on a ski trip with my family and, in the gas station on the way there, I picked this up. My infatuation with Daredevil began here and hasn't stopped since. Really need to replace my #1 and #131 to re-complete my set. This is the thing that started it. Have since upgraded, but I still have the original sitting on my coffee table along with...
	What If...? #26 (vol. 2) I dont' think I planned to buy my first two comics featuring Daredevil. Most likely I was actually buying for the Punisher b/c I wanted to appear edgy and cool. But this actually just made me become further enamoured with Matt Murdock. I also really like the juxtiposition between the two covers. (And I really really want a CGC 9.8 of this... if anyone ever does a pre-scan and has some candidates... (hm... turns out I don't have this scanned... will fix that tonight.
	The Kree-Skrull War starring The Avengers #2 My sister, my friend's sister, my girlfriend, and my girlfriend's sister all competed in ice-skating competitions. This first "away" game to which I travelled occurred in Gatlinburg, TN, and I rode there with all of the above mentioned people except my sister. While everyone else practiced, my friend (Gabe Cade now of Survivor fame) and I walked around downtown and eventually wandered into a comic book store. I was still really new to this whole comic book thing, and we were both young. We saw this series sitting on the shelves and decided that, given its "Special Edition" status, we should have them. So I bought #2, and he bought...
	The Kree-Skrull War starring The Avengers #1 The #1. Since Gabe was actually the one who led me into comics, it fell to him to be able to purchase the #1 while I got the #2. I have no idea how many times we ended up reading this series between the two of us, but it was... well... definitely more than once. At some point during Social Studies class (most of our comic reading occurred in school), he decided that he should be selling that book. Of course, I was the obvious choice, and I couldn't possibly let anyone else get it. He managed to convince me that I should pay more than the cover price we initially paid since "they would be worth more as a set." I think I gave him $5 for it or something, but I've never looked back. :) I never was able to cultivate a love for The Avengers, and I've since lost my excitement for big space epics, but this story is still one of my all-time favorites. Needless to say, I was bummed when I found out these were reprints. *sigh*
	The Infinity Gauntlet #4 Speaking of big space epics... I fell into this one head-over-heels. I loved everything about it from the word "Go," and I did everything I could to get every crossover, free bookmark, poster, whatever... Unfortunately, we lived more than an hour away from the nearest comic store, and I was not yet 16. So I just had to hope that I would end up near a comic store once a month to follow this series. And I got #1... got #2... got #3... then... I was pretty sure #4 should be out by now. But time kept moving, and I never saw it on the stands. Then, one day, there it was. The new issue of The Infinity Gauntlet! But, wait. It's number 5! Somehow I missed issue 4. And, damn, that is one kickass cover too! Devestation. It would be years before I finally located a copy. Shortly after realizing I missed out, I also found out that the Quasar cross-overs where Direct Market only, so my chances of finding those at the gas station were, well... zero. Although I still followed the series, the fire was reduced to a cinder.
	Judge Dredd #1 Yet another blast from the past... I remember sitting around the newest issue of CBG (or whatever that thing was called that was THE magazine to get before Wizard existed) and gawking at the "next wave of hot comics" or something like that. Judge Dredd was sitting there on the cover with that gorgeous Brian Bolland art. Even reproduced at a tiny scale, I thought it looked awesome. Plus there were all of these rumors of a movie coming out, and the price was sure to shoot through the roof! It was a holy grail. One day this guy that we kind of knew but who wasn't really known to us as a collector shows up with a beat copy in his bookbag. I happily handed him the $10 for the thing. Read it, loved it, but never really ended up following it as anything not published by the big two was near impossible to get. Several years ago, I pulled down a full run off ebay. I've still yet to read them all... or to see the entire movie... but I do love looking at those Bolland covers!
	The Sandman #1 Actually kind of life-changing... I don't remember what prompted the sale, but the owner of Super Giant Comics (R.I.P.) decided that he should try to sell me the complete run of Sandman (1-50 at the time +50 Platinum) that he had just purchased. I didn't have enough to afford the whole thing, but he let me buy half and put the other half up until I could come back and buy that too. Which is exactly what I did. I had no idea that comics could be anything like this. It completely changed my views on comics as a potential artform and a medium of ideas. Somehow or another it also helped me make connections with people with whom I otherwise might not have had them. Very strange. I still have all of the original issues that I passed around in high school to the people I liked. So very cool at the time. I loved going to the store every month to pick up the new issue of this. Of course the story was winding down by the time I got on board, but The Kindly Ones and The Wake are still tops in my book. But, naturally, this is the one that started it all.
	The Savage Dragon #114 Kind of moving away from those formative years, but this is the comic that really made me start collecting again. I wrote far more about this than I should have back in 2004, but it definitely helped remove some of the corporate feel from comics that, for some unknown reason, I had decided was required. Maybe it's not the most indy of indy and it might not be the coolest book in town to a lot of people. But, to someone for whom the creation of Image was such a huge deal, it was comforting to see this old friend still on the stands. And I really think that white cover is completely badass. If the cover had been any less cool, I might not have picked it up. And I wouldn't have started liking SD so much again. And I wouldn't have gotten some great convention sketches from Erik at HeroesCon and... :)
	Primer #2 Definitely a grail for a long time... another one of those books that I never thought I could afford. My first and, for many years, only encounter with Grendel was Dark Horse's Warchild. Those covers were ridiculously cool, and I definitely wanted to become a big Grendel fan. With all the Tales... and reprints and lack of Matt Wagner combined with the cost of the original books, I kind of gave up on it for a while. Once I got back into comics and realized that my purchasing power was slightly greater than it was when I was in high school (thanks, Visa!), this was one of my earliest purchases. This came from Kochcom on ebay and is, if I understand it, part of a warehouse find. Totally fine by me... I was stoked to get it, and soon followed it with...
	Grendel #1 Another former grail... and one that, even after the purchase, seems well-worth it. Wagner's early stories were so raw and seemed so vibrant dispite their dark nature. How could I not love this stuff? The last thing that crossed my mind when reading these stories was that he was trying to appease some suit upstairs. Or really even looking for perfection. Or any kind of competition with anyone else at all. There was just this awesome story that this guy wanted to tell. He thought that may he could do it, so he did. Put it all out there, and the result was this raw, imaginative, and emotional story
	Grendel #3 So, obviously, I'm still missing the #2, so.... Picked up the #3 at a little show in Charlotte just before the hardcover collection came out. Not sure what else to say about this that I didn't say about the last two. Except that I really really want to find my missing link!
	Miracleman #15 Well before Sandman, and well before I'd ever even heard of Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore or anyone from England except the Beatles, I picked up a handful of the later Moore and Gaiman issues of Miracleman out of a box on the floor of a coin store in Gastonia. They were a buck each, and I had no idea what I was getting, but the Buckingham cover art was sweeeet. I just had bits and pieces of a story that I knew was going to be amazing, but I ran into the "It's impossible to find indy books where I live" problem again and soon let it go as yet another thing that sucked about my shitty hometown. Once I started looking again, the prices on these things were certainly quite a bit more than $1. And #15? My God, that cover was amazing and the idea of what happened inside drove me crazy for a long time. Fueled, of course, by the prices it was commanding relative to the amount I had to spend on lunch every day. Years later, I secured a copy and have completed the set. I suppose this is still the stand-out issue. London sure got fucked up... stupid England.
	The Tomb of Dracula #1 I didn't start getting into Bronze age stuff until 4 or 5 years ago, but I really liked the idea of ToD the more I started reading about the era. This book was my first foray into Bronze and started me on a tangent that included Marvel Spotlight, Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, Werewolf, etc, etc... I remember buying some of the I... Vampire stories from a flea market many many years ago... recalled liking them, and I thought that ToD would be fun return to that. It certainly was and I ended up collecting the first half of the series but have since faltered. I managed to get those sigs at various Heroes Conventions (Gene Colan, Marv Wolfman, and Roy Thomas so far), and I hope to actually finish it up with the main creators some day. My infatuation with this title sent me to the Wolfman / Colan panel at HeroesCon one year which, luckily, let me into an encounter with The Dean himself. I was a terrible guide, but I got to spend a few minutes with him as I attempted to help him find his way back to his artist's table on the main convention floor after the panel. I wish I'd have been more clear-headed instead of being a fast-talking fast-walking geekoid. Alas...
	Unity #0 (Red) I jumped on the Valiant bandwagon just before Unity began. My first issues were Magnus 13 and 14. Of course I missed #12. grrr... This was yet another case of me getting screwed by my shit towne and the lack of access to independent comics. I was able to catch bits and pieces of Unity, but I never got the whole story, the back issues were WAY out of reach, and... it just wasn't happening. Partially b/c Wizard told me to but also partially b/c I wanted to, I did see that the Unity storyline and the Valiant Universe as a whole were something different and special going on. Unity Red became another one of those, "Wow, if I ever could afford one of those..." types of things. But Valiant exploded, I got older, prices went down, I found ValiantComics.com, and suddenly I had my Pre-Unity set all the way through Unity Red. Rock on!
	Rai #1 (V.f.V.S.S.) While I'm in the VU, I might as well stay for a bit. ValiantComics.com produced some awesome fan projects back in the day that were created to mimic the Valiant Validated Signature Series books that had been created by Valiant back in the day. While I was new, these were only legends to me, but I was lucky enough to hang around long enough to actually get a few of these myself. I believe my first one was actually the Ninjak #1... I have no good reason for not including it here except that I don't have scans. Perhaps I shall do that later. But, for now, here's the issue of Rai #1 that was created for this fan project. It also included a fantastic sketch by Sean Chen ( Click Here) and a little certificate of authenticity. ( here). I liked these since they represented, in some way, being some small part of a community PLUS I actually felt kind of good about buying them since the proceeds went to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis...
	Magnus, Robot Fighter #5 (V.f.V.S.S.) / Rai #1 This book was actually part of the project I mentioned above, but I figured I should include it separately. Plus, I was having a really hard time coming up with 25... The back cover of this is at least as important as the front cover, and it also included a Sean Chen sketch a certificate for the Magnus and a certificate for the Rai flip book. A lot of time and effort went into creating these things, and I feel pretty lucky to have them.
	Harbinger #1 (V.f.V.S.S.) Last one of these, I promise. I'm including this one mostly b/c it's specially cool that both Bob Layton and Jim Shooter signed these for the vc.com community. Also, of course, came with a certificate. Although I never really cared for this book and I don't think this went to CF, this is still one of my favorite books to have.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10 (vol. 4) Finally start moving into some stuff from this decade. I had heard a rumour that the events in this issue had transpired, but I still wasn't really ready for it when it actually happened. Fantastic double-sized issue, look at the emotion on that cover, and poor Splinter! That's all I can say about that.
	Punks: The Summer Comic Special #1 This one actually just barely made the list as my expectations for it were higher than they should have been. Nevertheless, it turned out to be great fun. It's not that hard to please me when you combine comics, weird history, and music. This does all of those things beautifully. The art is incredibly off-beat and the story... God, the story is just freakin' weird. But I completely dig it and think it's one of the coolest completely "new" things I've picked up in a long time.
	Apocalypse Nerd #1 Although this story didn't end quite the way I thought it would, this issue is still pretty big. At the time, I wasn't even sure Peter Bagge was still making comics, so it was pretty shocking ( in a very good way) when I heard this was coming out. The story itself was good, but the backup stories about the Founding Fathers were just priceless. I got Peter to sign this for me, and I also managed to procure the original art pages for the entire backup story in this issue. (I'm still jealous that DetroitMike owns the cover to Hate #1...) Tom Paine in the Ass Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6
	Channel Zero I don't actually have the original issues to this series, and my copy of the TPB is completely beat to hell. I've given away 2 copies previously, and now I have a torn up 4th print or something. This is another one of those comics that really just changed the way I thought about comics in general. It made me think that they could actually mean something again. Since I picked this up, I've followed Brian Wood pretty much everywhere he goes. (and, dammit, will he EVER finish Local??) I had just finished reading The Brothers Karamazov when I read this and Channel Zero hit me in many of the same ways. Dostoevsky is, easily, one my all-time favorite authors ever; I can't think of much higher praise. Although I'm enjoying DMZ and Northlanders is finding its stride... Demo was amazing on a much different level, and the rest of his work has been enjoyable... nothing, for me, has really compared to the work he did with Channel Zero.
	Shock SuspenStories #1 I always liked the pseudo-horror stuff... House of Secrets type of things... but I'd never really read the stuff that came before. The pre-code stuff. I managed to actually pick up a few EC's prior to this one, but this issue quickly became a grail. I bought the hardcovers and, although the stories often get repetitive and predictable, the idea of these things being published in the context in which they were published just amazed me. When I found out that Al Feldstein would be at this year's HeroesCon, I really wanted to locate a copy of this book. Although it grades lower than the grade it was given when I bought it, I'm still super-happy to actually own this book, and I can't wait to get it signed and, hopefully, give it the Signature Series treatment (my first ever!) this summer. The colors are so bright on this, I can completely ignore the ncbc on the front cover. Well... maybe not completely. :)

Captain America

On the CGC boards the other day, someone posted this: "Last March, beloved superhero Captain America was assassinated and fans everywhere thought it was all over. They should have known better." Really?! Please show me one fan that thought "it was all over", just one, go ahead, show me. They're just making this $hit up aren't they?

In response to this: Last March, beloved superhero Captain America was assassinated and fans everywhere thought it was all over. They should have known better. Marvel has worked out a new plot yet again and the Cap is back! While Steve Rogers, Captain America’s alter-ego, is still resting peacefully at Arlington National Cemetery, his faithful 1940s sidekick, Bucky Barnes, has answered the call to serve as the next Captain America. As Rogers’ sidekick, Bucky’s was frozen by Russian enemies nearly 60 years ago, and he hasn’t aged a day! Luckily for fans, the world of comic books allows Bucky to remain in his late 20s, unlike the “real world,” where he would be almost 85 years old. Bucky has appeared in Marvel Comics as the “Winter Soldier,” helping the other Marvel heroes with good deeds and thus redeeming himself for his actions at the control of his Russian keepers. "We were toying with the idea of someone new taking over the mantle of Captain America," Quesada said by phone from his New York office to Yahoo! News. "But we kept coming back to Bucky. Not only because he seemed such an obvious choice but especially because of the fact that when we brought him back as the Winter Soldier he was so incredibly popular." Although Bucky does not have the same superpowers Rogers gained from the “Super Soldier Serum,” it sure looks like he’s been hitting the gym, and he has become a master of special operations. In addition, the new Captain America will be carrying a gun on his adventures. The idea of a gun-toting superhero has become an extremely controversial topic, so let us know what you think about the issue by emailing samanda@gemstonepub.com. Don’t forget to include your feelings about the new Cap himself. Do you like Bucky taking on the role, or will the hero not be the same without Rogers? Quesada seems optimistic, as he mentioned that Captain America hasn’t been this popular since Bucky’s original days!

to which I responded (to the email address provided): Ed Brubaker’s current run on Captain America is, by most all accounts, the best Cap has seen in decades. He has managed to break a cardinal rule of comics by “bringing back Bucky,” and most of the fans, including myself, have been enthralled by the storyline. Your article, however, was nothing to write home about. From the opening sentence, the author comes off as an uninvolved 3rd party who neither knows nor cares about what is going on in the world of comics. If by “fans everywhere” you mean, “that one guy in Indiana who never read a comic before” perhaps it would make sense that said fans “thought it was all over.” Should we have known better? Is it surprising that “Marvel has worked out a new plot yet again?” Of course we knew better. Of course Marvel worked out a plot. That’s what they do. Or, more precisely, it’s what Ed Brubaker does. And does well. How can you attempt to write an article about Captain America’s recent past without mentioning Ed Brubaker’s name? The statement that Bucky “hasn’t aged a day” is simply wrong. I understand the need for brevity and the desire to be concise in these types of articles, but hyperbole and exaggeration are tools better left to grade-schoolers. In what circles do you travel in which “the idea of a gun-toting superhero has become an extremely controversial topic?” Superheroes have been carrying guns since, basically, their inception. Even Captain America has used firearms in the past. This is nothing new. And Brubaker himself has stated that he doesn’t plan or desire for Bucky’s decision to carry a gun to become a major plot point in his stories. It’s disappointing to read such a review of such a well-constructed story in the oft-maligned field of comic books. This reads like marketing dreck aimed at children barely old enough to read and, really, simply serves to perpetuate the idea that comics stories are juvenile, corporate driven, and lack artistic merit.

That is all...

The Spectre

I mentioned The Spectre the other day in passing. I guess in the mid to late 90's it was, hands down, one of my favorite books. I'm in the midst of re-reading the series; it's still really good, but maybe not quite as amazing as I remembered it being. Isn't that usually the case tho? Regardless, I finished scanning them all, and I thought it'd be neat to take a picture of the set. Not that it's worth anything or whatever, but I'd reckon there aren't that many people still holding on to their complete sets of this title. Plus, it's got to be one of the best sets for consistantly amazing covers. In, of course, my humble opinion. And none of them are by Dave McKean... Eh.
Also, I got the new Helio Sequence vinyl today... more on that later. I'm going to listen to it for the first time now.