"Starman" was a book from DC that came out in the mid 90's that I totally missed because it didn't seem to feature enough guns, claws and boobs for my 12-year-old tastes. I finally got around to reading the entire series a few years back and instantly fell in love. Not only is the story great and seemingly timeless, but the themes of family, responsibility, honoring the past and maturing into adulthood really struck a chord in me at the exact right moment in my life. Lately I've been rereading the entire series again and it's just as good the second time around. James Robinson was the writer for the entire series, and wrote such a perfect ending that DC has thankfully left the character alone since. It's a superhero book that has a very specific tone and voice, and really went against much of what was being published at the time. Its one of my favorite books of all time and highly recommended.
Daily Sketch: Batman & Bullock
The animated series still holds up fairly well. So good.
Daily Sketch: Electro
Electro was always one of my favorite Spider-Man villains. He wasn't super interesting, I just always liked the visual. The new movie looks.....like a movie....we'll see....
Daily Sketch: Rick Grimes, The Walking Dead
Post Con Thoughts
Sometimes you meet someone in your profession, or the profession you'd like to have, whose work you really respect and admire. And every once in a while, they are incredibly nice to you or go above and beyond when they have no real reason to. And maybe its because they may have been in your spot at some point, or they see something in you, but it means a lot.
Mike McKone is a longtime Marvel and DC artist whose work I've always enjoyed. I asked him to look over my portfolio this past weekend and provide any critiques he may have (something I try to do as much as I can at conventions). He was incredibly gracious with his time and advice, and even paid me to draw him a commission. Its one of those things that may not be a big deal, but has an incredible impact by encouraging you that maybe you're on the right path.
In addition to that, Brain Azzarello, a writer whose work I also really love, liked the concept behind our book enough to get us a meeting with the head of Dark Horse comics publishing to pitch our series, Cretaceous. We ended up talking with the publisher for nearly 2 hours and throughout that time met several other professionals who stopped by to say hi.
Also on Saturday, Marvel invited me to have my portfolio reviewed one-on-one by their editors, which was an incredibly encouraging experience as well. Marvel is fairly selective with who they give their time to, so it really made me feel like this crazy dream of mine might not be so crazy after all.
With so much complaining that goes on, I think its worth it to spotlight the good stuff, and the people who are genuinely cool to each other for no reason other that they're just cool people.